DAILY HERALD REPORTS
Why? Because the Redhawks defense never rests. The Naperville Central "D" pitched its second shutout of the young season on Friday night, leading the top-ranked Redhawks (2-0) to a 40-0 pasting of visiting Stevenson (1-1). And despite the lopsided final score, the defense needed to rise to the occasion when called upon. Naperville Central had a 14-0 lead 90 seconds into the second quarter when the Patriots, who had 4 punts and a lost fumble in their first five possessions, suddenly found an offensive spark. Starting from their own 25, the running of Mark Paskvan and Brian Shust moved Stevenson to a first-and-goal at the Central 5. But a 2-yard loss by Shust and 3 straight Joe Sobolewski incompletions ended the threat. "We had our chances," said Stevenson coach Bill Mitz. "I wish we couldıve got in when it was 14-0, but they've got a good defense." The reason the defensive stand was pivotal was that despite the 14-0 score, the Redhawks' offense had sputtered. They did score on their first possession courtesy of a 14-yard flip from quarterback Owen Daniels to fullback Matt Yellin. After that, however, the Redhawks struggled. Central's next possession ended when Daniels was sacked on fourth down at the Patriots' 35-yard line, one of five takedowns of Daniels on the night. Then came 2 punts before Central capitalized on a fumbled punt by David Hoesly with Kyle Griffith's 36-yard run making it 14-0. "They threw something a little bit different at us that we hadn't seen all week," Daniels said. "It took some time to adjust to it, but we were confident we could get going." Unlike Central, Stevenson couldn't convert its chances. The most glaring gaffes came when tight end Evan Witkowski got behind the Central secondary but dropped Sobolewski's perfect pass. Then after Central's Kevin Noel fumbled a punt near midfield, the Patriots went three-and-out. After Stevenson was thwarted deep, the Redhawks needed just four plays to answer, as Daniels hit Tyke Spencer from 62 yards. The halftime lead was 27-0 when Noel gathered in a 7-yard scoring strike in the final minute. Naperville Central's second-half touchdowns came courtesy of Griffith's 70-yard run and Kyle Schuler's 2-yard plunge with less than four minutes remaining. -Chirs Traczek Hinsdale Central 24, Leyden 0 Hinsdale Central proved why it is one of the best teams in the state as Red Devils ran past host Leyden for a 24-0 West Suburban crossover victory Friday night in Northlake. Despite not having starting running back John Perkowski, the Red Devils (2-0) controlled the line of scrimmage, with junior Max Tornatore gaining 133 yards on 21 carries in his absence. Hinsdale Central ran for 163 yards on the evening, while Leyden (0-2) was only able to gain 88 on the ground in its home opener. "We didn't have long drives," said Hinsdale Central head coach Ken Schreiner. "We just had big plays." Two of those big plays came courtesy of Red Devil quarterback Brad Bower, who had 2 first-half touchdown passes to Justin Arquilla covering 74 and 40 yards. The 74-yard bomb was on the second play of the Red Devils' second drive, 8:06 into the game. The second touchdown was scored on the first play of Hinsdale Central's first drive of the second quarter after a Leyden punt left the Red Devils at the Eagles' 40-yard line. "We didn't really earn anything tonight through hard work," Schreiner said. "If a team is explosive it causes a problem. I think we were somewhat explosive tonight." Bower completed 6-of-14 passes for 189 yards on the evening. Arquilla caught 4 of those passes for 164 yards. "He showed a lot of poise tonight," Schreiner said of Bower, a sophomore. Leyden, who lost to Schaumburg 36-7 last week, was able to get on track offensively. The Eagles netted 234 total yards, but couldn't penetrate deep enough into Red Devil territory to make any noise. The closest they came to scoring was a missed 31-yard field goal midway through the third quarter. Leading Leyden was junior quarterback Dan O'Connell, who completed 9-of-16 passes for 146 yards with 2 interceptions. The first was picked off by the Devils' Rob Anderson and returned all the way to the Leyden 9-yard line. Leyden's defense buckled down, however, and shut the door on Tornatore on fourth-down from the 2-yard line. Hinsdale Central's dominance on the line of scrimmage forced the entire the entire second quarter to be played in Leyden's half of the field, save one play. Hinsdale Central outscored Leyden 10-0 in the second quarter, building a 17-0 halftime lead. The Red Devils' other touchdown was also a big play, a 60-yard scamper by Tornatore with 3:11 remaining in the third quarter to make it 24-0. Leyden was able to put together a long, four-and-a-half minute drive in the third quarter, marching 62 yards, before 2 incompletions led to the missed field goal. Leading the Eagles on the ground was senior John Kornecki, who gained 56 yards on 20 carries. -Alex Janco |