No. 28 is for teammate Kyle Griffith and No. 5 is for receiver Dan Salvesen, both sidelined by season-ending knee injuries.

"Those are two of my best friends, and I go out every game playing for them," said Paquette, the 6-foot-1-inch, 200-pound running back who had 27 carries for 226 yards and three touchdowns Friday night in No. 1 Naperville Central's 48-20 home-field victory over Wheaton North.

That sends the unbeaten Redhawks on to Champaign for next week's Class 8A championship game against the winner of Saturday's Maine South-Downers Grove South matchup.

Naperville Central (13-0) trailed 14-0 after an inspired Wheaton North (9-4) opened the game with quarterback Zach Ullrich's 5-yard touchdown pass to Dareon Spencer and fullback Andy Cvengros' amazing 19-yard touchdown run in which he broke four tackles. Cvengros wound up with 120 yards in 18 carries.

"We came out a little too pumped up," said Naperville Central linebacker Mike Lucas. "The defense had to settle down, hit people and get back to basics."

With Naperville Central trailing 14-0 and facing a fourth-and-1 from its 39, coach Joe Bunge rolled the dice. Freshman fullback Eric Small converted with a 3-yard run.

"That play turned the game around," said Naperville Central quarterback Phil Horvath, who was 11-of-14 for 151 yards and two touchdowns while rushing for another score. "That got the offense going."

The Redhawks proceeded to score six straight touchdowns, including Horvath's 1-yard run, a Paquette 20-yard run and Paquette's 79-yard scoring run just 20 seconds before halftime.

"Be conservative," Bunge told his offense just before that play. "Just hold on to the ball and don't make any mistakes."

Paquette figured a 14-14 halftime score would be just fine.

"It was really just a 20-yard run until Nick O'Connor threw a great block downfield," Paquette said. "The rest was simply outrunning the Wheaton defense."

The Redhawks resorted to a little trickery in the third quarter as linebacker Mike Lucas lined up in the backfield and caught a 6-yard touchdown pass from Horvath. Naperville Central put it away with Paquette's 35-yard touchdown run near the end of the third quarter.