By Scott Merkin

October 14, 2000

About four hours before Friday's Naperville Central-Naperville North neighborhood battle, Central defensive lineman Chris Hill took a quick trip to North Central College to soak in the atmosphere of game night.

You couldn't blame him for his interest, especially since Hill was living in Columbus, Ohio, last year when the Redhawks were claiming a 34-19 victory over the Huskies. But Hill quickly found out the pregame was nothing compared to the game.

"There's nothing like this in Ohio," said Hill with a broad smile after the top-ranked Redhawks rolled over the sixth-ranked Huskies 31-14 before an estimated crowd of more than 15,000.

"This is a special rivalry, something you never forget once you are part of the game," Hill added. "I was just glad to be out here tonight."

In a matter of 53 seconds early in the second quarter, Central turned a scoreless contest into a rout. Kyle Griffith's 2-yard run with 10:21 to play seemed harmless enough at the time, giving Central the game's first score. But four plays later, following a tipped pass by Hill that turned into a Pat Spaeth interception and set Central up at the Huskies' 18, Griffith scored again on a 6-yard scamper around left end.

The Redhawks (8-0, 6-0) continued to run over the Huskies in the second quarter, scoring one more time and claiming an insurmountable 21-point halftime lead. The Huskies (7-1, 5-1) were held to 102 total yards in the first half.

"We made a mistake, and this is a team that takes advantage of any mistake you make," said Naperville North quarterback Jay McCareins of the second-quarter momentum swing in the DuPage Valley contest. "We put ourselves in too big of a hole, and we gave them all the momentum."

Naperville North could have swung the momentum back before half, engineering a 14-play drive down to the Central 10. But a Spaeth sack threw quarterback McCareins for a 15-yard loss with :17.9 seconds remaining, forcing the Huskies into two desperation heaves which fell incomplete.

After a scoreless first quarter, Central broke free behind fullback Matt Yellin's pounding through the middle of the line. With the defense spread out and caught twice in blitzes, Griffith was able to maneuver for runs of 24 and 10 yards to the outside, setting up his first score.

Griffith rushed for 70 of his 85 yards in the first half and finished with three catches for 89 yards. But after the game, Griffith gave a lot of the credit to Yellin.

"Matt did a great job," Griffith said. "He really ran hard in that first half and helped us open up the field."

"We started off slowly, but we knew eventually we would move the football," Yellin said.

North's Steve Sarm scored from 8 yards to bring the Huskies within three touchdowns. But even a positive like the team's first score turned into a negative, as North took 14 plays and most of the third quarter to get the ball in the end zone.

"The second half was how we really want to work our offense," McCareins said.

"We really haven't been in a situation like we were in the first half against such a good team."

Quarterback Phil Horvath hit Yellin with a 9-yard swing pass for a touchdown to close out the first-half scoring, and he continued to find targets with relative ease to start the second half. Horvath, who completed 11 of 17 for 182 yards, found Kyle Adams for a 29-yard gain, hit Griffith for 25 more and hooked up with Kevin Noel on a fade route in the right corner of the end zone for Central's fourth touchdown.

The crowd more than doubled the North Central record of 7,100, with a line spanning 100 yards being turned away after the field reached capacity. Some fans even resorted to sitting at the top of the North Central baseball stands, watching football from a nearby field.

Central has won six of eight in the series, including the victory last season behind the running of Ryan Clifford. It was a win Hill only heard about, just like the Redhawks' unbeaten season and Class 6A championship.

But just like the rest of his teammates, Hill isn't thinking too far ahead.

"This team will prepare the same way for (Glenbard East) as we did for Naperville North," Hill said.

"This was a great effort tonight, but we aren't satisfied."

Meanwhile, North will have to regroup as the playoffs approach. Even with the loss, Friday's memories will last a while.

"I'm sorry we ended up on the wrong end of the score," McCareins said. "But this is something I'll never forget."

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