Santhanam applauds Naperville Central’s win over Neuqua Valley

Hari Santhanam is hardly a household name in the world of high school football.

Few people outside of Naperville Central’s program know of the junior defensive back.

“Hari is a kid that all offseason he showed up to every workout,” Naperville Central coach Mike Ulreich said. “Early in the morning when it’s dark out and everybody’s sleeping, Hari was here working hard.”

It turns out that the 5-foot-10, 142-pound Santhanam does his best work when it’s dark outside, and he finally got the spotlight shined on him Friday night.

Santhanam made his first career interception, picking off a pass in the end zone with 34 seconds left, as the Redhawks pulled out a 21-17 DuPage Valley Conference victory over Neuqua Valley in the regular-season finale at Memorial Stadium in Naperville.

“He had some adversity early in the year, but he’s gotten better as the year’s gone on,” Ulreich said. “The last couple weeks he’s been so close to making big plays like he did, and he was in the right position and made a play, so I’m proud of him.”

Neuqua Valley junior quarterback Ben Travis, who was starting in place of injured senior Drake Mennecke, completed 19 of 28 passes for 194 yards against the Redhawks (5-4, 4-1). After senior linebacker Pierce Stevens recovered a fumble, Travis drove the visiting Wildcats (3-6, 2-3) from their 32-yard line to the Redhawks’ 13.

Travis then lofted a pass into the left corner of the end zone, where Santhanam came down with it.

“The outside receiver went in, and someone else came out,” Santhanam said. “I was just watching the QB’s eyes, and he looked to the deep corner, and I played the ball.

“I was lucky my coaches put me in the right position to succeed, and I just did my 1/11th as we say, and I was just lucky to make a play.”

Santhanam was glad he held onto the ball.

“I was just making sure to catch it,” he said. “I dropped one last week, so I was just happy to come out with this one.”

The Redhawks were happy too. They chanted his name in the postgame huddle.

“That’s my guy,” Naperville Central junior cornerback Eron Kennedy said. “I’ve known him since sixth grade. We spend so much time together, and no matter whose name is chanted at the end doesn’t really matter to me because that’s my guy and he gained those credits.”

Kennedy earned some credits too. He got his first two interceptions of the season to lead a four-turnover performance by Naperville Central’s defense.

“We’ve been showing it on film how close we’ve been in the last couple weeks to picking the ball off,” Ulreich said. “We knew it was going to happen.

“We knew if we got in position, we were going to make a play, and we did. Eron Kennedy was unbelievable.”

While Kennedy is a Division I prospect in his second season as a varsity starter, Santhanam was an unknown varsity rookie before Friday. But they are consummate teammates.

“We’ve been buds since I don’t even know how long,” Santhanam said. “We’ve been doing everything together, offseason workouts.

“Obviously, he’s a lot better than me, but I just try my best. We’ve just been working on technique together, so it was just fun to grow and succeed at the highest level of high school football.”

The Redhawks had to play at a high level to beat the Wildcats, who held leads of 7-0, 10-7 and 17-14.

Naperville Central senior quarterback Simon Hayes completed 14 of 22 passes for 197 yards, three touchdowns and an interception. His last two TD strikes went to junior receiver Mark Williams, including a 26-yarder that capped the scoring with 24.6 seconds left in the third quarter.

The win put the Redhawks in position to potentially host an opening-round playoff game, and they may have found another reliable starter for their secondary.

“I’m happy for him,” Kennedy said of Santhanam. “He faced some adversity at the start of the season, and he really bounced back and fought through no matter what, so I’m really proud of him.

“We should celebrate him because he made the play to finish the game.”

Santhanam is hoping to celebrate more victories.

“We talk about having that chance, and I was grateful enough to put in the work and given the opportunity to succeed this week,” he said. “Now we’ve figured it out so we’re going to try to get some more.”