Naperville N. gets shutout against Marian Central
There were at least a couple of plays Friday night in which Marian Catholic football coach Dave Mattio thought his team would score, but a quick look at the final score tells a different story.
Naperville North's defense came up big whenever the Spartans threatened and the end result was a 21-0 Huskies victory in first-round action of the Class 8A state football playoffs in Naperville.
The second-seeded Huskies (9-1) took a 14-0 second-quarter lead following touchdown runs of 18 and 9 yards by Tom Costantino, but Marian Catholic looked in position to draw within a touchdown before safety Dave Hess came up with two huge plays back-to-back.
With Marian Catholic (5-5) driving inside Huskies territory, speedy tailback Malcolm Allen broke free down the left sideline, only to have Hess cut him off and knock him out of bounds with a touchdown-saving stop at the 15-yard line.
Hess then cut in front off Marian receiver Mark Scott for an interception in the end zone on the next play to preserve the shutout and help send Naperville North into a second-round game against the winner of today's Bolingbrook-Lincoln-Way Central game.
Hess credited his coaches with having him ready to defend deep passes.
"The coaches put a great game plan together and they had us working the post routes all week," Hess said.
When asked about the big tackle on the previous play, Hess replied, "Just doing my job as a safety and getting over there."
Mattio was impressed with the job Hess and his teammates accomplished.
"This team is a great ballclub," he said. "They're going to go a long way. On a couple of those plays it looked like we had them, but then they made the plays. They have some athletes back there."
Mattio was equally impressed with the Huskies offense, namely quarterback Jordan Tassio, who completed 7 of 15 passes for 120 yards in the rain, including a 28-yard TD pass to Alex Dieckmann late in the third quarter that ended all suspense on this night. Tassio also set up the Huskies' second score with a 28-yard run on a fake punt late in the first quarter.
"That's a great ballclub,' Mattio said. "Their quarterback … what a weapon. He throws the ball well, he's very poised and when they needed a big play, he made them."
Costantino, who had missed 1½ games with an ankle injury leading up to last week's regular-season finale, gained 106 yards on 15 carries and set the tone with two early TD runs on Friday.
"We came out firing and it was a great win for us," he said. "Coach (Larry McKeon) said weather would have an affect, obviously, but that we just had to play easy with the cuts. We followed through with the game plan. We knew we'd run the ball a lot."
McKeon credited the Spartans with some adjustments that slowed his attack a little in the second quarter. He also credited Hess with some senior leadership in the secondary.
"He's a great player and he's fun to watch," McKeon said of his free safety. "He's a tough kid and it's nice to have him back there."