Naperville North sees positives despite loss

Even after coming up short in Friday's season opener, Naperville North senior running back Jalen Lockhart and his teammates walked away with several reasons to smile.

The host Huskies were sloppy early on and lost three fumbles while falling behind 14-0 in the second quarter to Sandburg, which eventually won the nonconference game 28-21 on the second of two touchdown passes from Alec Fidan to Avery Verble.

But after the sluggish start on offense, Lockhart flashed some speed and strong running on his way to 138 yards on 11 carries as Naperville North fought back to tie the game at 14-14 and 21-21 in the second half before coming up short.

"There were a lot of bright moments. We were down, but the Huskies have been down before which we all know," said Lockhart, who had two runs of more than 50 yards on Friday night. "It's going to help us tremendously. We're going to learn off the mistakes we made early and we're going to build off the momentum we gained late.

"This isn't it. This is only the beginning."

The Eagles didn't mount a steady attack in the first half against a Huskies defense that was led by linebackers Tom Rizzi and Jake Jegglie, but the visitors took a 7-0 lead on a 25-yard yard TD pass to a wide-open Verble with 5:02 left in the opening quarter.

The Huskies then drove into Sandburg territory on their next drive only to have a fumble scooped up by Eagle defensive back Andy Gaytan and returned 71 yards for a score and a 14-point hole for Naperville North.

But Naperville North brought junior quarterback Dylan Fadden in relief of starter Vic Slopecki looking for a spark, and that is exactly what it got.

Fadden kept alive a late first-half drive when he broke free from a pair of would-be sackers and converted a fourth-down run in the final minute. That play led the way to a 23-yard TD pass to EJ Vaughn that closed the gap to 14-7 at the half.

"We just had to keep fighting," Fadden said. "We definitely had a lot of momentum going into the second half … I mean you don't get to win every one obviously, but it was a tough loss. We showed a lot of good signs. We've just got to look forward to the next one."

The Huskies were able to draw even twice in the second half with Lockhart's 51-yard run tying the score at 14-all early in the third quarter and Matt Montgomery's 19-yard run midway through the fourth quarter knotting the score at 21-21. On that final Huskies score, Montgomery broke three tackles on his way to the end zone.

But Sandburg had one more big play of its own left, and when Fidan hit Verble cutting across the middle, the speedy senior wide out was able to cut back to the right and outrace the Huskies defense for what proved to be the game winning score.