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 three straight Joe Sobolewski incompletions ended the threat. "We had our chances," lamented Stevenson coach Bill Mitz. "I wish we couldıve got in when it was 14-0, but theyıve 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, one of five takedowns of Daniels on the night. Then came two 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 hadnıt 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 4 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.