Central survives New Trier, advances to quarters 

By Dan Wiederer 
STAFF WRITER
Posted on November 5, 2000 
The dynasty is alive. The streak is intact. And now the showdown is set.

Naperville Central, the top seed in Class 6A, survived a scare on a perfect Saturday afternoon in Wilmette to defeat underdog New Trier 22-17.

"We get to live another day," Central coach Joe Bunge said. "Things like this always happen in the playoffs. I don't care who you are. Games like this occur every year. To get by a game like this is great."

Phil Horvath's nerves hadn't quite settled when he met the media after Saturday's triumph. But his smile was as big as ever. The junior quarterback, who passed for 56 yards on Central's go-ahead drive late in the fourth quarter, scored the game-winning touchdown with 1:10 left on a 1-yard sneak.

The Redhawks' final drive, an eight-play, 70-yard trek, was impressive to begin with. What made it more amazing is how the Redhawks suddenly snapped from an offensive funk after being shut down for most of the second half.

New Trier forced Central to punt three times in the second half and had held the Redhawks to minus 7 yards in the fourth quarter when Horvath took over with 3:06 to play, facing a 17-16 deficit.

After completing a 14-yard pass to senior receiver Kevin Noel along the right sideline, Horvath engineered the play of the game when he found running back Kyle Griffith turning upfield out of the flat.

Griffith, looking into a blinding sun, made a fingertip catch on the sideline and raced all the way to the New Trier 22.

"It was a go route up the sideline," Griffith said. "I couldn't really see the ball because of the sun. But luckily Phil placed it right in my hands and it turned out to be a huge play for us."

The Redhawks, behind Griffith, fullback Matt Yellin and receiver Dan Prazak, eventually marched to the Trevians 1. Horvath did the rest, following his offensive line across the goal line.

"I knew right away I was in," Horvath said. "It took awhile until I saw a signal. But when I crossed, I knew we were in good shape."

Central wrapped up the victory a little more than a minute later when senior Brett Anderson intercepted a desperation pass by New Trier quarterback Michael Duda.

"That was a very close game," said senior defensive lineman Joe Alvarez. "At the beginning, we thought we might have a chance to break away. But after they scored their first touchdown, from there on out it was a game the whole way. We knew we had to keep busting our butts out there."

New Trier took a 17-16 lead with 5:03 remaining in the third quarter when Duda hit Pat Neumayer with an 11-yard touchdown pass. That strike capped an impressive 11-play, 70-yard drive by the Trevians.

The one-point disadvantage didn't seem insurmountable to the Redhawks. But things became progressively more tense as the Trevian defense stiffened and the bad breaks mounted for Central. 

The Redhawks forced New Trier into a punting situation early in the fourth quarter. But Central lineman Chris Hill ran into Duda on the punt, allowing New Trier to pick up a first down and milk the clock.

The Redhawks' biggest defensive stop came with 3:12 to play when they stopped Trevians tight end Bobby Teten short of a first down on a fourth-and-2 play from the Redhawk 31.

"Our defense hung together," Alvarez said. "Because we have so many seniors coming back from last year, we have the experience and we can play under pressure."

Central took a 13-10 lead into halftime thanks to a 79-yard touchdown run by Griffith and a pair of Kyle Adams field goals. Adams' third field goal of the game from 25 yards out put Central ahead 16-10 early in the second half. But those were the last points the Redhawks would get until Horvath's winning score in the final minutes.

"This is a great win for us," Griffith said. "As an offense, we came off the sidelines and had to get fired up.

"We came through."

With the victory, Central improved its winning streak to 25 games and advanced to the quarterfinals for the eighth time in the past nine seasons. The host Redhawks will play cross-town rival Naperville North next weekend with a berth to the state semifinals on the line. 

NAPERVILLE CENTRAL 22, NEW TRIER 17 NC 7 6 3 6 — 22 NT 7 3 7 0 — 17NC - Kyle Griffith, 79-yard run (Kyle Adams kick).
NT - Bobby Teten, 59-yard catch from Michael Duda (Ryan Lynch kick). NC - Adams, 22-yard field goal. NT - Lynch, 26-yard field goal.
NC - Adams, 22-yard field goal. NC - Adams, 25-yard field goal. NT - Pat Neumayer, 11-yard pass from Duda (Lynch kick). NC - Phil
Horvath, 1-yard run (run failed). NC NT

First downs 14 19Comp-att-int 11-20-0 16-29-1Yards passing 182 230Rushes-yards 29-160
40-100Total yards 331 330Fumbles-lost 2-1 1-1

Penalties-yards NC 9-92 NT 7-53

RUSHING: Naperville Central — Griffith 20-135, Matt Yellin 6-38, Horvath 3-(-13). New Trier — Ryan Spellman 27-66, Duda 13-34. 

PASSING: Naperville Central — Horvath 11-20-0 182. New Trier — Duda 16-29-1 230. 

RECEIVING: Naperville Central — Griffith 2-59, Tyke Spencer 2-53, Kevin Noel 4-46, Yellin 2-16, Dan
Prazak 1-8. New Trier — Bobby Teten 6-104, Pat Neumayer 2-49, Chris Peters 4-36, Spellman 3-33, Chris Robinson 1-8. 

11/05/00