By Brad Engel
STAFF WRITER

  For every Batman there's a Robin. For every Green Hornet there's a Kato.

  For Naperville Central tailback Jason Paquette, it's the tag team of senior right tackle Rob Bentley and senior right guard Justin Swartz — just two of the five starting offensive linemen for the Redhawks.

  "They keep getting better every game," said Paquette, who rushed for 233 yards against Wheaton North in a 48-20 state semifinal win Friday at Memorial Stadium in Naperville. "They were unbelievable last week and even better this week. There's nothing I can say that explains how good they've been doing out there."

  Central will play Maine South/Downers Grove South at 7 p.m. Saturday at the University of Illinois' Memorial Stadium. You can bet Central's offensive line will try to give Paquette another shot at a 200-yard performance.

  "We've been concentrating really hard on what we've been doing, and we've been going out a lot as a group," Bentley said. "We just trust each other a lot more, and we just know each other will be there. And it works."

  Bentley and Swartz line up with senior center Brad Shipley, senior left tackle Jeff Houghtaling and senior left guard Brendan Baskin, all of whom have played together for four years. They protected senior quarterback Phil Horvath the entire night, keeping Wheaton North from pressuring the second-year starter.

  Behind the offensive line and its applied theory of zone blocking, Paquette has become the latest in Central's recent running-back factory. Ryan Clifford set the state record for most touchdowns in a season in 1999, and Kyle Griffith has led the Redhawks in rushing the past two years up until tearing his anterior cruciate ligament this season.

  "Even though we aren't big like '99, we have the heart and soul that they have," Swartz said, recounting the most infamous Central offensive line in recent years.

  The 1999 squad became the only team to win the state championship for Central. Its newer version is one win away from capturing a second after beating its DuPage Valley Conference rival Friday and ending the Redhawks' streak of home playoff losses (in 1997, 1998 and last season to Naperville North in the quarterfinal round).

  Wheaton quickly tested Central's defense, one that entered the game allowing an average 7.8 points per game, now 8.8 points per game after allowing 20 points for the second time since beating Glenbard North 49-20 in Week 6.

  The Falcons drove the ball 75 yards on 11 plays on the first drive of the game, scoring when junior quarterback Zach Ullrich threw complete to junior wide receiver Dareon Spencer from the 6-yard line. Central and Wheaton then traded possessions before the Falcons drove 70 yards on seven plays, ending with senior running back Andy Cvengros breaking several tackles for a 19-yard touchdown run. The Falcons led 14-0 with 9:29 left in the first half.

  "We were down 14-0 and we weren't panicking. It was more like a kind of anger, like 'Let's get things back together and play how we play. Let's do our thing and play our game,'" said Central linebacker Mike Lucas, who recovered a fumble and scored a touchdown with a spot appearance at tight end. "We knew we could come back. We were 0-0 at half with (Naperville) North and we blew them out. We knew as soon as the offense put the ball in the end zone we were fine."

  The Redhawks found the end zone on the ensuing possession, their third overall. On a 70-yard drive, Paquette carried the ball four times. Horvath mixed in 14- and 39-yard completions to senior wide receiver Tyke Spencer. The latter set up a Horvath keeper from the 1-yard line, cutting the lead to 14-7.

  Central's defense forced Wheaton to punt after three plays. The 11-yard punt by senior Mark Slocum gave the Redhawks the ball on Wheaton's 37-yard line. Four plays later, Paquette broke a 19-yard run, tying the game 14-14 with 2:32 left in the half.

  "Last year helped a ton — the (Naperville) North game," said Horvath, who remembers Central scoring 22 unanswered fourth-quarter points but still losing on a last-minute Huskies touchdown. "When we went down tonight, I was saying to myself, 'This ain't going to happen again like North.' The experience for a lot of these guys helped out. We knew what to do. We knew how to keep our composure."

  After tying the game 14-14, Central added 27 more points for a 41-14 lead that carried into the fourth quarter. With five minutes to play in the game, the Falcons forged one more scoring drive, ending in an Ullrich pass to Slocum from the 3-yard line

  The Falcons attempted an onside kick following the score, but junior Dan Passarelli collected the ball in a crowd at the 50-yard line and outran everyone to the end zone, giving Central its winning margin of 48-20 with 3:12 left in the fourth quarter.

  "That was crazy, definitely unexpected," Passarelli said.

  To playoff predictors, Central's march to the state championship game was definitely expected. Football prognosticators have forecast success for the Redhawks since they won the Class 6A state title in 1999. Earning the top seed in the playoffs last year and falling short has only made this trip that much sweeter, especially for Paquette and the offensive line.

  "It's a great feeling, we get to play another week of football," Paquette said. "There's only 16 other teams in the state of Illinois that get to play next week."

  Naperville Central 48, Wheaton North 20

boxperiods2: Wheaton North 7 7 0 6 — 20 Naperville Central 0 21 14 13 — 48 ag WN — Spencer, 6-yard pass from Ullrich (Ullrich kick). WN — Cvengros, 19-yard run (Ullrich kick). NC — Horvath, 1-yard run (Szatko kick). NC — Paquette, 19-yard run (Szatko kick). NC — Paquette, 79-yard run (Szatko kick). NC — Lucas, 6-yard pass from Horvath (Szatko kick). NC — Paquette, 38-yard run (Szatko kick). NC — Spencer, 9-yard pass from Horvath (kick failed). WN — Slocum, 3-yard pass from Ullrich (pass failed). NC — Passarelli, 50-yard kickoff return (Szatko kick).

11/18/01

NC WN First downs 19 21 Comp-att-int 11-14-0 16-28-0 Yards passing 148 161 Rushes-yards 39-279 39-187 Total yards 427 348 Fumbles-lost 0-0 2-1 Penalties-yards 8-50 5-55

Individual statistics

RUSHING: Naperville Central -- Paquette 27-233, Horvath 3-23, Small 5-15, Barenbrugge 4-8. Wheaton North Cvengros 18-117, Harris 6-42, Griffin 4-37, Ullrich 11-(-9).

PASSING: Naperville Central -- Horvath 11-14-0 148. Wheaton North -- Ullrich 16-27-0 161, Spencer 0-1-0 0.

RECEIVING: Naperville Central -- Passarelli 5-85, Benson 2-23, Spencer 2-23, Long 1-11, Lucas 1-6. Wheaton North -- Slocum 7-74, Spencer 6-70, Glienke 2-9, Cvengros 1-8.

number:25 Senior outside linebacker Dave Atkinson, No. 25, recorded two sacks, one in the second quarter for minus 3 yards and one in the fourth quarter for minus 10 yards. Both led to punts.number:3 Senior linebacker Jason Henderson, senior linebacker Tom Arrigo and junior linebacker Bob Lynch all contributed to Central's third sack of Wheaton North junior quarterback Zach Ullrich late in the game.number:51 The Sun's Defensive Player of the Week last week, No. 51 Brady Hester, showed more value at the linebacker position this week with two blocked passes.