Naperville North sacks West Aurora

With the way Naperville North was blitzing, it looked like an orange and blue blur in the West Aurora backfield Friday night.

"Actually in the first half we weren't blitzing at all," corrected Huskies defensive lineman Tim Wiedenbacher.

Wow, OK.

Wiedenbacher should know. He was in on 4 of the 7 Naperville North sacks of Blackhawks quarterback John Nunnally in the Huskies' 48-12 win in Naperville.

Five of those sacks came in the first half, when Naperville North blew out to a 28-6 lead.

"They're pretty darn good," West Aurora coach Buck Drach said. "as good as I've ever seen from anybody up front defensively."

Casey Domek dropped Nunnally on West Aurora's second play from scrimmage, and the feeding frenzy was on. Wiedenbacher, Alex Helms, Nick Liftka and Lonnie Bracey also got in on the sack party.

"A lot of it comes from our defensive backs playing good defense. If they don't do that, we can't get to the quarterback," said Wiedenbacher, who added 8 tackles for good measure. "We're real physical and quick off the ball. Coach tells us every week we're the quickest off the ball. We take that to heart, and take pride in it."

Not to be outdone, Naperville North running back Nick Mlady powered his way to 220 yards, needing just 13 carries. Two of those went for 14-yard touchdowns.

A 50-yard Mlady burst set up Jack Roberts' 28-yard touchdown run - untouched - that gave the Huskies a 14-0 lead two minutes into the second quarter. Touchdown runs by Mlady and Pat Waite made it 28-0 before West Aurora got on the board with 1:32 left in the half on a Tray Peoples' 12-yard touchdown.

Mlady's second 14-yard score with 8:57 left in the third made it 35-6.

"The offensive line was doing a great job opening up some huge holes, clearing everything," Mlady said. "Coach had a great game plan for us and we executed it well."

Roberts also caught a 5-yard touchdown pass from Matt Manade.

Nunnally completed 9 of 18 passes for 108 yards before leaving the game in the fourth quarter with a blow to the back of the head. Markus Cocroft caught 5 of those passes for 58 yards for West Aurora (3-4, 1-4 DuPage Valley Conference).

Naperville North (7-0, 5-0) threw out any thoughts of a letdown after the emotional crosstown win over Naperville Central. The Huskies' next home game in two weeks will be against Wheaton Warrenville South for all the marbles in the DVC. Naperville North's PA announcer didn't miss pointing the game out to fans as the seconds ticked down Friday.

"This was our second-to-last home game of the year, senior year, so we were just laying it all on the line," Mlady said. "You never know when it's going to be your last play."

- Joshua Welge

Glenbard North 44, Glenbard East 17: Glenbard North coach Ryan Wilkens knew if senior receiver Mike Carev got the ball on the kickoff, he'd do something special with it. Turns out Wilkens was right.

The Panthers used a 93-yard kickoff return from Carev to spark a second-half dominance that finally put pesky Glenbard East away. After the Rams nursed a 14-13 lead into the half, the Panthers outscored their DVC brethren 31-3 in the final 24 minutes en route to a 44-17 victory Friday evening.

"It was huge for us," Wilkens said of the kickoff return. "I told the team to pick up a man and he'll beat a person. And then bang, it lifted us in the second half."

Carev admitted his coach wanted him to touch the ball more.

"Coach actually wanted me to get the ball every time (on kickoffs)," Carev said.

Rams coach Dennis Lueck admitted the quick score changed the complexion of the game.

"That opening kickoff doesn't help," Lueck said. "It just seemed like everything snowballed from there."

Glenbard North opened the scoring after senior Watkins hit Carev with a 39-yard strike after a flawless play-action fake. Glenbard East responded with a 14-play, 73-yard drive that ended on a 3-yard score by junior Matthew Clark.

Glenbard East (3-4, 1-4) took the lead after turning a fumble recovery into a 5-play touchdown drive that was punctuated by a scrambling touchdown pass by junior quarterback Jack Merrithey. Merrithey eluded two tacklers, scurried to his left and made a throw on the run to senior tight end Nick Hogan for a 9-yard touchdown score.

Watkins and the Panthers answered almost immediately after the senior quarterback found fellow senior receiver Andrew Ngyuen with a 55-yard pass that set up another Glenbard North score. Senior back Tyler Doll rushed for a 3-yard score, but the Panthers missed the extra point, trailing 14-13 at the end of the half.

Following Carev's kick return, the Panthers dominated the second half. Watkins utilized both his arm and legs to score touchdowns while sophomore running back Devin Harkins found the end zone twice. The Panthers rolled up 377 total yards. Watkins finished with 159 yards through the air and 46 on the ground.

"We started out rusty," Watkins said. "The kickoff return gave us a lot of momentum and we marched downfield well."

- Nate Brown

Glenbard South 55, Yorkville 14: Glenbard South's offense is set up to take whatever the defense gives the Raiders, according to coach Dan Starkey. On Friday night at Yorkville, Starkey's offense did just that, with additional contributions from the defense and special teams.

The Raiders (5-2, 4-1 Western Sun Conference) overwhelmed host Yorkville (1-6, 0-5) in a 55-14 victory.

True to Starkey's words, the offense excelled in all areas from start to finish. Running back Curtis Ford paced the running game with 131 yards and 3 touchdowns. Junior quarterback Trace Wanless, playing in his third game after replacing injured starter Kevin Marshall, threw for 177 yards and 3 touchdowns. Wide receiver Jon Holland not only caught 4 passes for 129 yards and a 50-yard touchdown but also contributed a blocked punt that was recovered for a touchdown by Connor Douglas.

"You have to give credit to our offensive line first, not only allowing for the night we had running the football but for protecting Trace, who wasn't sacked," Starkey said. "We also had a lot of open receivers, and that's because our kids ran great routes. And you can't discount how Ford's running opened up the passing game. It was a total team effort."

The Raiders quickly opened the night's offensive onslaught. After a 44-yard pass from Wanless to Holland, Ford scored his first touchdown on a 25-yard run. Then after forcing a Yorkville three-and-out, the Raiders turned the ball over on downs, and it looked like the Foxes might have found an answer to the Raiders' offense.

But on the following Yorkville possession, Holland blocked the punt, and the ball was recovered in the end zone for a touchdown. Following the special teams touchdown, the Raiders went on to score 20 unanswered points, a deficit from which the hosts would not recover.

On defense Glenbard South held Yorkville to just 48 yards rushing and 154 overall. Raiders defensive back Brandon Phillips intercepted 2 passes, and Dan Parks added another to stifle several Yorkville threats.

"Brandon is a guy that no one seems to know about, but he's a tough hitter in the box, and tonight he made his presence known to Yorkville," Wanless said.

Speaking of himself, Wanless would only give credit to his offensive linemen and receivers. "I'm just trying to improve each week," he said.

Starkey, though, sent a bit of praise to the quarterback that wouldn't give any to himself.

"He's just a heck of an athlete. Trace can help us in a lot of different ways, but as you can see, as a quarterback, he has a real knack for making plays," Starkey said.

- Roy Taylor

Wilmington 24, Lisle 0: Lisle came up on the wrong end of a 24-0 Interstate Eight Conference Small Division loss to Wilmington on Friday but finished on the right side of Lions football coach Dan Sanko.

"I asked them to play hard and play for 48 minutes and I think they did that," Sanko said. "We made some mistakes - costly mistakes - but these guys played their hearts out. It was a physical game, but you know what, we were pretty physical with them too."

Two of Wilmington's scores came after Lisle fumbles. As Sanko said, that can't happen against a team like Wilmington (7-0, 4-0).

Yet in front of a nice homecoming crowd at Benedictine University, Lisle (3-4, 2-2) displayed backbone by shutting out the Wildcats in the second half.

"I was just real happy with our team. They didn't back down," said Lions quarterback Jon Surber. "Butted heads the whole game, played hard."

Wilmington's double-wing offense moved like clockwork on its first possession of the night, also its best.

Using six athletes on a 15-play, 77-yard drive of all running plays, the Wildcats took a 7-0 lead at 4:29 of the first quarter on Jeremy Bailey's 3-yard run and Trey Berndt's kick.

Lisle back Jake Kretman answered with a 52-yard run, and Surber threw to tight end Lee Gorski for a first down inside Wilmington's 11-yard line, but two plays later the Lions lost a fumble.

A 71-yard screen pass to Zach McWilliams from Colin Webb led to Bailey's second touchdown run, a 4-yarder for a 14-0 Wildcats lead at 10:10 of the second quarter.

Another lost fumble had Wilmington at the Lisle 37, but the defense held to force a Berndt 25-yard field goal.

The killer for Lisle came in the last minute of the first half. Webb hit Cort Scheel in stride dragging the middle and the wingback took the reception 60 yards into the end zone for the 24-0 lead.

"That was big," said Wilmington coach Jeff Reents. "I'm glad to be 7-0. That sets up a big game for us next week, Plano at our place for the (IEC Small) championship.

It was a testament to Lisle linebacker Nick Nigro and the defensive line of Tyler Triplett, Chris Jensen, Cole Beidelman and Tony Kisla that after Wilmington's first series of running plays went nowhere, Reents went to the air in the third quarter.

From then on the game became a defensive struggle that included an interception by Lisle's Ryan Liss.

"The second half we did great," said Kretman, who led all running backs with 112 yards on 10 carries. "We didn't score but our defense stopped them."

- Dave Oberhelman

Lake Park 42, Streamwood 7: Lake Park entered the season with high expectations, but those expectations were shattered after the Lancers lost five of its first six games.

Lake Park started picking up the pieces at Streamwood.

Junior running back Artie Monaco scored four touchdowns leading Lake Park (2-5, 2-3) to a convincing 42-7 Upstate Eight Conference victory over host Streamwood at Millennium Field.

"Three of our five losses were down to minimal mistakes, if we would have taken care of it we would be in a different position," said offensive coordinator Chris Roll of the Lancers, who lost three of their games by a total of 11 points. "Tonight we feel a little bit better, but it's still a bit bittersweet because a lot of these kids have put a lot of years into this program and are still hurting a bit."

With starting running back Chris Jasinski sitting out, Monaco put a hurting on the Streamwood defense.

The junior rushed for 207 yards on 11 carries, scoring on runs of 1, 30, 4, and 2 to lead the Lancers.

"It feels so good to get a win, we've been struggling and it's been so close," Monaco added. "The linemen really help me with these big holes, all I did was run straight, made a couple moves. Now we have some momentum."

Junior quarterback Larry Nawrot completed his first five passes, including a 21-yard completion to Julian Figueroa that set up Monaco's first touchdown, giving the Lancers a 7-0 first-quarter lead.

Monaco then scored on 30-yard draw up the middle, accelerating the final 20 yards to increase the Lancers' advantage to 14-0 with 10:26 remaining in the second quarter.

Monaco's 77-yard run gave Lake Park the ball on Streamwood's 7-yard line, two plays later the junior added his third score on a 4-yard burst up the middle, giving the Lancers a 21-0 halftime advantage.

"Artie stepped in and did the job," added Roll, whose team rolled to 311 total yards in the first half.

The Lancers defense, led by Ben Coleman, Will Kalish, and Matthew Kaiser, limited Streamwood to 124 total yards in the first half.

"We knew what their weakness was," said Coleman, who had 2 tackles for losses including a sack. "We wanted to show who we actually are"

Streamwood (1-6, 1-4) lost both starting quarterback Noel Rivera and starting running back Derrick King to first-half injuries.

Junior quarterback Joey Hanover came off the bench to lead the Sabres on a 14-play, 72-yard scoring drive to begin the second half.

Hanover finished the drive with a 1-yard sneak to narrow the deficit to 21-7.

"The offense was able to come out against the defense after struggling in the first half and drive down the field," said Streamwood coach Cal Cummins. "I give our guys a lot of credit for that, it was a nice showing."

But Lake Park answered with three scores, including one by Monaco to put the game away.

- Michael Eaken

Riverside-Brookfield 63, Fenton 19: Riverside-Brookfield didn't post any rushing yards against Fenton, but then you can't post rushing yards when you don't run the football even a single time all night.

Instead, the Bulldogs' everyone-is-eligible passing game - spearheaded by quarterback Bill VandeMerkt - posted 517 passing yards in a 63-19 win over the Bison in Bensenville.

"He was on tonight. That was his best game all year," the Bulldogs' Will Lusthoff said of VandeMerkt. Lusthoff had 8 catches for 221 yards and 4 touchdowns on the night, while VendeMerkt finished 31 of 39 for 432 yards and 8 touchdowns.

"He's a good quarterback, they've got a couple good wide receivers, and they block well in space," said Fenton coach Mark Farrell.

"We needed to create pressure immediately, and you have to be able to go tackle in space. We just didn't tackle in space very well tonight, and it seemed like every time they threw the ball deep, we weren't in position to make plays."

With three offensive linemen and everyone else spread out to the sidelines, VandeMerkt and backup quarterback Tyler Wienke connected with 12 different receivers in the Metro Suburban Conference game.

Fenton fell to 3-4 overall and 2-2 in MSC play, while the Bulldogs improved to 4-3 and 4-0 in the conference.

Fenton led 6-0 on an 11-yard touchdown pass from Ricky Prignano to Vince Esposito, but the Bulldogs put up 3 touchdowns and led 21-6 after a quarter.

Fenton running back Tyrell McGee led the Bison with 105 yards on the night, including a 35-yard first-quarter run, and D.J. Anderson ran the ball hard in the third quarter to help set up a 5-yard touchdown run by Andy Dexter.

"D.J.'s a big back and he runs hard, and that's one of the things they were giving us," Farrell said. "But when they started to take that away we tried to get to the edge, we weren't able to do it."

Dexter's run cut the Bulldogs' lead to 21-13, but Riverside-Brookfield scored three more times before halftime to take over the game. Dexter scored again in the third quarter on a 37-yard passing play.

"When we were in position to make plays, our kids didn't go and play the football," Farrell said. "Their kids played the football and made some tough catches. Our kids were with them stride for stride but didn't play the football."

- Gary Larsen

Driscoll 42, Aurora Central Catholic 21: For a Driscoll team seeking its eighth consecutive state championship crown, first-half efforts like Friday night's against Aurora Central Catholic have to be avoided.

The Highlanders came out flat by their own admission and held just a 14-7 halftime lead over the 0-6 Chargers. A players-only meeting at halftime, led by seniors Andrew O'Reilly and Steve Schwabe, eventually lit a fire under Driscoll (6-1, 4-1 Suburban Catholic Conference), as the home team scored 21 third-quarter points en route to a 42-21 victory in Addison.

"I don't know why, but we came out flat as can be," Driscoll coach Brandon New said. "We didn't say anything at halftime. The seniors asked the coaches to leave the locker room - and we came out in the second half with some fire."

The Highlanders wasted no time exploding out of the gates in the third quarter. On the opening play of the second half, Driscoll running back Pierre Washington-Steel broke loose for a 50-yard touchdown score, using the entire width of the field to elude one Chargers defender after another.

Just five minutes later, junior running back Nick Campanella busted a nearly identical touchdown run, this time from 30 yards out to give the Highlanders a sudden 35-7 advantage. It was Campanella's second rushing touchdown of the game and his third overall score of the evening.

"All the wideouts - every wideout - made perfect execution blocks," Campanella said of the Highlanders' ability to break long touchdown runs. "We just came out in the second half with a spark, and did what we had to do."

Aurora Central Catholic coach Mike Curry compared harnessing Campanella to chasing down a wild animal.

"Campanella made some great moves on us, and there was nothing we could do to stop him," Curry said. "It's like trying to catch a runaway giraffe that can run."

The Chargers (0-7, 0-5) hung around for so long thanks in no small part to the play of senior quarterback Mike Adams. The 6-4, 225 pound jack-of-all-trades carried 22 times for 103 yards, while completing 12 of 17 passes for 189 yards. Adams accounted for all three of the Chargers touchdowns, passing for two and running for the other.

"He's one of the best football players I've ever coached," Curry said. "We're trying to utilize what we have-and it's a process whereby whatever Mike gets for us, we'll take."

- Matthew McClarey

Chicago Christian 46, Wheaton Academy 21: Wheaton Academy has good athletes. Quarterback Brian Pell, running back Christian Reddick, wide receiver Evan Klisares and tight end Anthony Ritchie were some of the players who came up with big-time plays in Friday's Private School League football showdown at Chicago Christian.

But the Knights have plenty of good athletes themselves. According to Wheaton Academy coach Ben Wilson, they have more of them and that proved to be the difference in their 46-21 homecoming victory over the Warriors in Palos Heights

"We can't match up with the other team's athletes," Wilson said. "We don't have as many go-to guys as them. We just let in too many plays."

Chicago Christian quarterback Jason Vander Laan turned in a marquee performance, passing for 3 touchdowns and running in two more. Perhaps his best highlight of the game was when he slashed his way through the Warriors defense for a 58-yard touchdown run in the first quarter. Vander Laan piled up 123 yards on 7 carries.

One of his wide receivers, Andy Stuursma, had 5 catches for 108 yards to complement a balanced ground attack led by the power running of Dan Merrick who ran for 80 yards on 15 carries. Chicago Christian coach Joe Hamstra felt Merrick's running was key in leading the way for his team to improve to 6-1 overall and 4-1 in the conference.

"They have good players just like we do," Hamstra said. "I think the difference is that we were able to run the ball upfront. When we needed to move the sticks, we were able to put the ball in the belly of our fullback and our line was able to get a push."

With the loss Wheaton Academy dropped to 3-4 overall and 3-2 in the conference. The Warriors must win their last two games against Lake Forest Academy and Aurora Christian to qualify for postseason play.

To get the job done, Wheaton Academy will need Bell and Co. to play like they did on Friday but avoid costly mistakes such as a bad snap, penalties and missed tackles. Bell did turn in a strong game at the helm, passing for 312 yards. He punched in a pair of touchdowns too on quarterback keepers.

Ritchie made some highlight reel catches himself and showed he has great hands and the ability to pull in a pass with the defense draped all over him. Klisares turned in the Warriors' longest play of the game - a 58-yard reception - that led to Bell's touchdown one play later during a drive in the third quarter. Reddick also had a 10-yard touchdown run early in the third quarter that made the score 26-14.

- Brian Pitts