By Brad Engel and Alan Ferguson
10/15/00
STAFF WRITERS
John Urban has coached against Larry McKeon and Naperville North for the past 13 years.
But experience didn't make it any easier for the Naperville Central defensive coordinator during the week leading up to the Redhawks' game with the Huskies at North Central College on Friday.
"Naperville North has the best offense year in and year out," Urban said. "Larry knows it inside and out, and this is the one week of the year that I don't get sleep because I am thinking of what he's going to do."
With a defense that didn't surrender its first points of the season until the seventh game, Urban should have been as confident heading into the annual matchup as Michael Jordan with 3 seconds left in Game 7 of the NBA Finals.
But Urban had another reason for his sleepless nights. Central didn't just spot Glenbard North a touchdown in its previous game. The Redhawks gave up 30 points and only averted defeat when they stopped a last-minute, 2-point conversion. The Glenbard North game also was the first time this season in which the defensive starters had to play all four quarters.
Coming into Cardinal Stadium, Central's defense had to prove the Glenbard North game was a fluke.
"The one thing (the Panthers) did was they stepped up with their defense," McKeon said, reflecting on Glenbard North's ability to force four turnovers — three interceptions and one fumble recovery. "That gives your offense the ball four more times in a game. Given enough tries, something's bound to happen if you have the ball enough times.
"That's what we're hoping for. That's what we're shooting for is try to get turnovers from our defense, get the ball back more often."
The North offense, meanwhile, looked to follow the Panthers' lead and show there were indeed soft spots in the Redhawks' triple-Kevlar defense.
Calling the psychic hot line
The Huskies received the opening kickoff and moved inside Central territory effortlessly. North reached the Redhawks' 41-yard line needing a big play on third-and-6 to keep the drive going. But Jay McCareins fumbled the snap, and Central defensive lineman Chris Hill threw the quarterback for an 11-yard loss.
"If the defense can make some stops, then the offense is going to get the ball more often," McKeon said. "If you let them stand on the field and drive or even if they go two plays and score a touchdown, now you're fighting from behind all the time. And you don't want to do that. You want the defense to come out and try to stop their drive."
Despite the inability of its offense to score early, North's defense allowed a combined 29 yards on Central's first two possessions to close out a scoreless first quarter.
The Redhawks finally got on the scoreboard less than 2 minutes into the second quarter when Kyle Griffith punched it into the end zone from 2 yards out.
During the drive, Urban gathered his players on the sidelines and told them to be ready when North passed because he sensed the defense was due for an interception.
"Be in position when the ball's in the air," he said. "We're going to get (an interception)."
On North's next play from scrimmage, McKeon called for McCareins to throw a hitch pass — a typically successful play for the Huskies. The offensive line would chop block the incoming defenders, and McCareins was supposed to find a wide-open receiver.
When the play began, Central's Hill didn't fall for the chop. He saw McCareins dropping back for the pass and timed his jump with the release of the ball. Hill put his paws on the pass and deflected it into the air.
Despite the full moon hanging over the field on Friday the 13th, destiny dropped the ball into senior linebacker Pat Spaeth's hands.
"Before the game, (Urban) told me I was going to get an interception," he said. "He's psychic or something."
Urban, however, shied away from comparisons to Jeane Dixon.
"Our backers in years past have always done pretty well," he said. "I'm no guru. It just happened. The kids played well. They covered everything."
Spaeth nearly had a touchdown, but McCareins tackled him at the Huskies' 18. Griffith would run for 12 yards, then for 6 more and another touchdown to give the Redhawks two touchdowns in 47 seconds. Central then stopped North in six plays, and the Redhawks came back with an 66-yard drive capped by Phil Horvath's touchdown pass to Matt Yellin for a 21-0 advantage.
It was yet another successful second quarter for Central, which has scored 140 points in the second period this season.
Just short
North began its sixth possession of the game with 2:14 left in the first half. But with nearly all the wind gone from its sails, North assembled its longest drive of the game. In a 14-play, 47-yard march, McCareins either passed or ran the ball 13 times, helping the Huskies creep inside Central's red zone for the first time in the game.
On first-and-goal from the Redhawks' 10, McCareins threw an incompletion after getting flushed out of the pocket, got sacked by Mike Lucas for a loss of 15 yards and watched Central's Bob Siciliano break up what would have been a completion to Mike Roney a couple yards from the end zone. On fourth-and-25 from the 25-yard line, McCareins threw incomplete to Kevin Hahn in the end zone with 11.9 seconds remaining in the half.
"That's unfortunate because we're still maturing as a team, and that's kind of important to take a hit like that and come back," McCareins said.
North finished the first half four for nine on third-down conversions, converting two out of three on its final drive of the half. But the Huskies also dug themselves an early grave when they failed to reach the end zone.
"We dug ourselves in a hole a little bit in the first half," McKeon said. "We didn't convert on some third downs."
Oh no, not again
Central opened the second half with an 82-yard drive, resulting in a Kevin Noel touchdown catch in the right side of the end zone on 12-yard pass from Phil Horvath.
North's Andrew Gordon returned the ensuing kickoff 27 yards to the Huskies 37-yard line. In all, Gordon would return five kickoffs for a total of 144 yards.
With good field position, the Huskies began their drive with 8:06 left in the third quarter. Steve Sarm carried the ball 11 yards on the first two plays.
With 7:55 remaining in the third quarter, Sarm took the handoff again and rushed for another eight yards.
Sarm would get up from the pile. Central senior linebacker Ryan Amberson wouldn't. Amberson stayed on the ground clutching his right knee.
Chris Hill had landed on top of Amberson during the play.
"I could hear somebody screaming, and I looked down and saw Amberson's knee," Hill said. "His knee looked torn to shreds. And I was just devastated.
"We knew we had to go out there and win this one for him because that kid has got more heart than anybody else on this team."
The initial diagnosis from Central's trainer was a torn anterior-cruciate ligament and a torn medial collateral ligament.
Amberson's parents left the stands to comfort their son. When the trainer told them the news, Amberson's mom covered her mouth with her hand and nearly started crying. His father was stoic and silent.
"The trainer looked at it, and he didn't look too happy," Redhawks coach Joe Bunge said.
Amberson sat with an orange towel hiding his face, looking toward the ground in silence.
The senior defensive standout then handed his chin strap to Spencer Palmer for the senior running back to use. Then Amberson took off his shoulder pads and pulled his jersey back over those Peterbilt shoulders.
He picked up his new appendages, two metal crutches, and hobbled to stand. Then he moved toward the sidelines with the orange towel back over his head.
Eventually, he returned to his seat on the bench, and teammates came to his side to rub his head or ask how he was doing.
Amberson managed smiles. And when the team gathered around him during a third-quarter huddle, Urban looked at him and told him to "stay positive."
"I don't know the extent of his injury, but Ryan Amberson is the smartest linebacker I've ever coached," Urban said. "He's a great, great kid. We don't know what's going to happen to him. Life turns out sometimes. It doesn't treat you right, but sometimes it does. If it doesn't, we'll move on. He'll still be the brains of our outfit because he'll teach everybody. He'll be another coach. He'll be my assistant coach. There's no doubt about that. If he's back, then we're in good shape.
"It's an emotional thing sometimes because the kid always thinks of the worst thing. We don't know what's going to happen yet. We don't know the results. Whatever it is, we're still going to be positive because if he's back, that's good. If he's not, then he's going to be a coach for us. He'll help us that way."
The team won't know Amberson's status until sometime this week. While an MRI has been scheduled, his mother said Saturday, the results won't be immediately available.
"Our offense lost Owen Daniels in the third game of the year, and somebody picked it up," Urban said. "If he is out, somebody is going to pick it up. We have confidence in that."
Hill echoed Urban's comments.
"Now we've lost one of our stars on defense, and we lost our star on offense," he said. "We're going to come out next week and we're going to come out in the playoffs, and we're still going to get the job done. Wehave lots of depth on this team. That's what I like about our team."
Without their defensive leader, Central allowed North to run the ball 22 yards on eight plays and convert a fourth-and-1. McCareins completed a 16-yard pass to Steve Sarm, who got taken down at the Redhawks' 14-yard line. Three plays later, Sarm ran the ball 9 yards for the touchdown.
"At the end, they started opening up the holes," Sarm said. "We got fortunate."
Nick Costakis' extra-point attempt sailed outside the goalposts, and North began the fourth-quarter in a 28-6 hole.
A fourth-quarter lullaby
The Redhawks added a 37-yard field goal with 9:28 remaining, and North scored a touchdown with 1:37 left on Kevin Hahn's 2-yard plunge. McCareins would add 2 points on the conversion run.
But North's offense hadn't accomplished what it had set out to do earlier in the week.
"They have to defense us; we're not trying to offense them," said McKeon on Thursday. "They have to make sure that they're doing the things that they need to do against our offense. And if we feel during the game that they're giving us something in particular, we're going to have to exploit that. And I'm sure Joe (Bunge's) saying the same thing when putting his offensive game plan together."
The Huskies defense also hadn't force any turnovers like Glenbard North had against the Redhawks the week before. Moreover, North didn't sack Central quarterback Phil Horvath. The Huskies broke up only three passes, and forced Central into negative yardage on only one play.
The Redhawks had met their goals coming into the game. They re-established their defense.
"Last week we got cut down a few notches by (Glenbard North) running the ball for four scores," Urban said. "We challenged the kids today and said, 'If you are as good as everybody says you are, this is game you have to step up the hitting.'
"I think everybody, because of last week and the impetus carried over to this week, said let's get back to playing the football we're capable of playing. And I thought we accomplished that."
As soon as Steve Jarvis kneeled on the ball to run out the clock, Amberson hobbled onto the grass alone, crossing the 40-, 30- and 20-yard lines on his crutches to join his teammates, who welcomed him with smiles wide from victory over their archrivals.
"We just had to come here, get refocused and prove to everyone that we are still the No. 1 team in the state," Griffith said. "Naperville North played a great game tonight, but, luckily, we came out on top."
Urban walked with the players back up a hill and toward the team bus, heading for a peaceful night's sleep.
Contact Brad Engel at (630) 416-5289 or brad.engel@copleypress.com. Contact Alan Ferguson at (630) 416-5291 or at alan.ferguson@copleypress.com.