Jason Paquette scored three touchdowns to lead No. 1 Naperville Central to a 26-7 victory against Conant in a Class 8A quarterfinal Saturday night in Hoffman Estates.

The victory puts the Redhawks in the state semifinals for the fifth straight year. They'll play Wheaton North (9-3). The victory was coach Joe Bunge's 144th win since taking over the program in 1986.

"Central deserved this win,'' Conant coach Dave Pendergast said. "They played with confidence, which is the mark of a good program.''

Naperville Central (12-0) got on the board first on its opening drive by going 75 yards on 12 plays and scoring on a Paquette four-yard run to go up 7-0 with 6:04 left in the first.

After a Conant punt, the Redhawks went 84 yards on 13 plays. That drive was capped by a two-yard run by Paquette, who finished with 156 yards on 26 carries.

The extra point attempt failed and the Redhawks led 13-0 at halftime.

"Our game plan was to play them physically,'' Paquette said. "We had a passing strategy coming in, but we had so much success on the ground we stuck with [the run].''

Paquette added his third touchdown on a nine-yard run with 6:19 left in the third quarter to make it 20-0.

Eric Small scored on a one-yard run with 10:39 left in the fourth quarter to finish the scoring for Naperville Central.

Conant quarterback Jason Ortiz, who was sick all week with the flu, was unable to overcome a punishing Naperville Central blitz. Ortiz finished 4-of-10 for 31 yards, and was sacked three times, hurried four times and knocked down twice.

The Cougars' only score came on defense, when linebacker Dave Francioni recovered a fumble and ran it back 52 yards with six minutes left in the fourth quarter.