Naperville Central bounces back

After a heartbreaking loss last week against Neuqua Valley, Naperville Central knew they had to open a daunting DuPage Valley Conference season with a statement.

The Redhawks did just that in a 45-6 victory over West Aurora on Friday night in Naperville.

Naperville Central (2-1,1-0) established a dominating rushing attack behind great blocking and the legs of Matt Randolph as the Redhawks seized control of the line of scrimmage early.

"Last week I think Neuqua was kind of more physical than us so this week we stressed that we needed to run the ball and really establish the run game," Naperville Central quarterback Hayden Daniels said, who had a 14-yard touchdown run of his own. "I don't know how many yards he had, but Matt had a great game."

Randolph indeed had a great game to say the least as the junior ran 19 times for 176 yards and 3 touchdowns.

"Everyone opened up the holes tonight," Randolph said. "They were closing the linebackers in so I was able to bounce outside and the receivers did a great job on the corners."

The Redhawks were able to get on the board early, via the air however, as Daniels hit receiver Tyler Bell for 47-yard strike down the left sideline for a 7-0 lead.

Then the ground attack got going for Naperville Central as Randolph and Daniels put up 3 rushing touhdowns and a Nathan Laskowski 29-yard field goal before halftime to give the Redhawks a 31-0 halftime lead.

West Aurora (2-1, 0-1) meanwhile, couldn't get enough time to get their offense started and things got away from them quickly.

"They were rushing a lot of guys on the edge and we couldn't get over there to get enough time to get my shoulders around and throw the ball," West Aurora quarterback Josh Campbell said.

After another frustrating start to conference play, West Aurora coach Buck Drach vented about his team's play.

"They handled us up front; it was a trainwreck," Drach said. "We couldn't run, pass, block or hold onto the ball, which makes it tough on the defense. Then we have trouble tackling, which makes it tough on the offense. The last five years we started 2-0 then we got it handed to us. We'll see who shows up tomorrow and go back to work."

Conversely, Naperville Central coach Mike Stine got a full team effort bouncing back from a tough loss.

"We were able to control the line of scrimmage, and defensively we flew to the ball and kept up and contained pretty well," Stine said. "Matt ran well and we mixed in some passes, but it was a great team effort."

The Redhawks will look to keep the momentum going as they host a very confident Wheaton Warrenville South team next week.

"They're the defending state champs and they're very very good again this year," Stine said. "Offensively, they're a special team and defensively they're very quick so they present a lot of problems. We just want to try to keep it close into the fourth quarter and see what happens."