Milestone triumph for Bunge

September 22, 2001
BY RANDY WHALEN
Host Naperville Central defeated DuPage Valley Conference rival Wheaton North 35-14 on Friday to give coach Joe Bunge his 200th career victory.

Bunge has been coaching for 23 years, the last 16 at Naperville Central.

''You can't really make a big deal of it,'' Bunge said. ''But it is a nice thing to have. When I started, I didn't know if I had this goal. It makes me reflect on all the teams I've had here. I'm just a lucky guy, and I thank God for that.''

The No. 2 Redhawks (5-0, 3-0) wasted no time in taking a big lead. Naperville Central scored on its second possession when quarterback Phil Horvath connected with Dan Passarelli on an 18-yard touchdown pass. Horvath found Passarelli again in the second quarter for a 26-yard scoring strike.

Kyle Griffith capped a seven-play, 90-yard drive with a 25-yard touchdown run. Griffith scored again with one minute left in the half on a three-yard touchdown run to make it 28-0. The last drive took 2:13, covering 95 yards in 10 plays.

Griffith finished with 24 carries for 129 yards, and Horvath was 11-of-19 for 238 yards, 212 of those coming in the first half.

''Coach didn't tell us that this was his 200th win, but we knew all week,'' Horvath said. ''We played the game for him today. We were able to take advantage of some one-on-one coverage on our receivers.''

Wheaton North (3-2, 1-2) got on the board in the third quarter when T.J. Griffin capped a 16-play, 76-yard drive with a five-yard touchdown run to make it 28-6.

The Redhawks came right back and scored on their next possession when Jason Paquette ran it in from nine yards. It was the fifth consecutive possession on which Naperville Central scored a touchdown.

The Falcons scored again when Zach Ulrich found Mark Slocum with a 16-yard touchdown pass in the corner of the end zone on a fourth-and-seven play with 9:43 left.