"I knew we had to score or the season was over," Horvath said. "We had failed a couple of times on third down and I had to step it up. I had to keep my confidence. We were down, but the attitude turned around."

Horvath keyed a 70-yard drive with a 14-yard pass to Kevin Noel and a 34-yarder to Kyle Griffith, who made a sensational over-the-shoulder catch. He scored from the 1 with 1:10 to play as the top-ranked Redhawks rallied to beat New Trier 22-17 Saturday in Northfield.

It was Naperville Central's 25th victory in a row and snapped New Trier's eight-game winning streak. The Redhawks will host crosstown rival Naperville North next Saturday in a quarterfinal matchup.

"We made a ton of mistakes and they played with a lot of heart," Redhawks coach Joe Bunge said. "I'm happy to get out of here. We're lucky and happy and we get to live another day. Games like this happen every year. To get by this is really big."

New Trier (8-3) came within a yard of pulling off the upset. With fourth-and-2 at Central's 31 with 3:23 remaining, quarterback Mike Duda passed to Bobby Teten. But Teten had to dive for the ball and was stopped one yard short of the first down.

"If we get that first down, the game is over," New Trier coach Dan Mortier said. "We didn't make some plays down the stretch. But Mike is a great quarterback. They are a great defensive team and it's to his credit that he made a lot of plays."

Duda, a 6-2, 190-pound junior, completed 18 of 31 passes for 245 yards and two touchdowns--a 58-yarder to Teten and an 11-yarder to Pat Neumayer that gave New Trier a 17-16 lead with 5:03 left in the third quarter. Ryan Lynch kicked a 26-yard field goal.

Central built a 16-10 lead as Griffith (20 carries, 133 yards) scored on a 79-yard run and Kyle Adams kicked field goals of 22, 22 and 25 yards. In the second half, the Redhawks' offense was stymied (nine yards rushing) until the final drive.

With Duda scrambling and throwing, the issue still was in doubt in the closing seconds until Central's Brett Anderson intercepted a desperation heave at his 30. Joe Alvarez, Pat Spaeth, Mike Lucas, Drew Kocsis and Brian Uhlir anchored the Redhawks' defense.

"I've never been in that kind of a situation before," said Horvath, who replaced injured starter Owen Daniels in Week 4. "There was a lot of pressure. But we couldn't think about the dropped passes or the penalties or the mistakes. We had to keep going."