Randolph, Naperville C. like this time better
Matt Randolph already had a five rushing touchdown game on his resume before Friday.
This second one will carry a little more cachet in Naperville.
The Naperville Central senior ran for 252 yards and 5 touchdowns, including the go-ahead score from 58 yards out, in the Redhawks' 36-26 win over Naperville North on Friday at North Central College.
Randolph previously went for 271 yards and 6 touchdowns — 5 rushing — Week 3 versus Glenbard East. He's now over 1,000 yards on the year.
“This is Naperville North. This is way bigger,” Randolph said. “We look forward to playing this game all year.”
The win all but guarantees the Redhawks (5-3, 4-2 DuPage Valley Conference) a playoff bid. Doubly sweet for Naperville Central, it also eliminated rival Naperville North (5-3, 4-2) from the DVC title chase with Wheaton North's win 27-17 over Glenbard North.
“The whole goal of the season is to make the playoffs, and we did it tonight,” said Redhawks senior Pat Clark, who had two critical fourth-quarter interceptions. “We couldn't have done it at a better time.”
Naperville North actually led 19-15 going into the fourth quarter, Danny Puknaitis taking in a 10-yard touchdown run on the last play of the third.
On the first play of Naperville Central's third drive of the fourth quarter, Randolph took a pitch right, cut back left and scampered 58 yards for a 22-19 lead with 5:28 left.
Randolph earlier broke a 90-yard score on a similar pitch and cutback.
“Matt got going, and he wasn't going to be denied,” Redhawks coach Mike Stine said. “For a kid who's 205, 210 pounds, he's a downhill runner and he's got that ability to get his shoulders square and get downhill and make some cuts and make people miss.”
The game got away from the Huskies in a hurry.
On the first play of the ensuing drive, Clark picked off Huskies backup quarterback Johnny Brown. Three plays later Randolph scored from 3 yards out.
Clark did it again on the Huskies' next possession, stepping in front of a pass on the first play. Two plays later Randolph took a pitch left, broke two tackles and scored from 15 yards out for a 36-19 lead.
Three touchdowns in a stunning span of 160 seconds from a Redhawks team that scored three touchdowns total the last three weeks.
“That was unbelievable. It was good to put the offense in good field position,” said Clark, who also made 10 tackles, forced a fumble and recovered one. “We're trained to drop to a curl and then play the flat once we see the quarterback's hand come off the ball. That's what I did.”
It was fitting that mistakes played a part in the outcome. The two teams combined for 20 penalties and 8 turnovers. Not helping the Huskies' cause, quarterback Tyler Gehr was injured on a play late in the first half and didn't return after the first series of the third quarter.
“We had four turnovers all year coming in and we turned it over six times tonight,” Naperville North coach Sean Drendel said. “It's football. It's a funny-shaped ball and it can bounce different ways for you. It just didn't bounce our way.”
Puknaitis gained 122 yards on 23 carries and 3 touchdowns. Brown did complete 8 of 12 passes for 94 yards and led all but one of the Huskies' scoring drives in relief of Gehr.