In front of 12,000 fans at the Wes Spencer Crosstown Classic at North Central College's Cardinal Stadium, the Redhawks rolled to a 35-0 victory over Naperville North in the 33rd meeting between the rivals.

Naperville Central (7-0, 5-0 DuPage Valley) was locked in a scoreless tie at the half before exploding for 28 third-quarter points.

With the victory, the Redhawks claim their 25th straight regular-season win, as well as a 17-16 edge in the series. It's the first shutout by either team since the Redhawks blanked the Huskies 17-0 in 1987.

"We knew they were going to be just as psyched as we were, we just had the intensity," Redhawks defensive lineman Pat Watson said. "We knew we had to step up. That's exactly what our defense did."

The Redhawks pushed inside the Huskies' 30-yard line three times in the first half, but to no avail.

Naperville North (4-3, 2-3), feeding off the inspiration of new orange jerseys issued to the team in a surprise move before the game, moved it into Redhawks territory only once.

The Redhawks' offense - and senior tailback Jason Paquette - emerged in the third quarter.

Paquette, the starting fullback at the beginning of the season, was moved to tailback when two-year starter Kyle Griffith was lost for the season last week with a torn anterior cruciate ligament.

Paquette responded with 160 yards and 3 touchdowns on 18 carries, including 134 second-half yards. On the Redhawks' opening drive of the second half, Paquette carried the ball on five of the six plays capped by a 37-yard touchdown burst up the middle.

"I definitely came out a little more intense in the second half knowing that it was do or die," Paquette said.

The scoring rolled up in a hurry. A fake punt attempt by the Huskies was thwarted, leading to a 5-yard touchdown pass from Naperville Central's Phil Horvath (14 of 21, 231 yards) to Tyke Spencer (5 catches, 75 yards).

Watson's fumble recovery on the Huskies' next possession led to Paquette's 6-yard touchdown run, set up by Horvath's 27-yard pass to Curt Benson.

"Central's a very opportunistic team," said Naperville North quarterback Rob Slette (10 of 21, 86 yards). "They get big plays on you, and it's hard to recover."

Naperville North punted on its next possession. Horvath answered with a 52-yard touchdown pass to Dan Passarelli (4 catches, 102 yards), who seemed doomed on the play but broke through for a surprising score.

That made it 28-0, with all the damage being done in about nine minutes.

"We were just explosive in the third quarter," Passarelli said. "We knew we had to come out and prove ourselves in the second half."

Naperville North's vaunted ground game managed just 80 rushing yards, led by Corey McKeon (6 carries, 42 yards).

Paquette added a 51-yard touchdown run in the fourth quarter to make it 35-0.

Naperville Central outgained Naperville North - which dropped its third straight game - 436-166.

"They found holes in our defense in the second half," Huskies defensive back Mark Kieso said. "Our heads started to lower, and we couldn't get ourselves back up."