This battle will be fought by the parents of the Redhawks and Rams who must now try to clean the mud encrusted jerseys of their sons after 60 minutes of football in what can be at best be described as a quagmire painted to look like a gridiron.

With both teams bogged down, the Redhawks used two big pass plays on offense and relied on a swarming defense as Naperville Central bumped its record to 8-0 and notched its third straight DVC title.

"Our defense played great and they are getting better all the time, Naperville Central coach Joe Bunge said. "It is important that we peak at the right time and I think we are doing that. We used the conference championship as motivation all week and it really worked."

Glenbard East (3-5, 2-4) opened the game on offense and looked like they might give the Redhawks a challenge. The Rams drove to their opponents 35-yard line before the Naperville Central defense stiffened and forced Glenbard East to punt.

That opening drive was the lone highlight for the Rams' offense. They amassed 45 of their 99 total yards in the game on their first possession and never moved the football within the Redhawks' 35-yard line the rest of the night.

After stopping Glenbard on their opening drive, the Redhawks took control on offense from their own 6-yard line and powered the ball through the slop to Glenbard East's 29-yard line. From there, Philip Horvath hit Tyke Spencer (5 receptions, 67 yards) on a 20-yard pass and Spencer danced his way past two defenders into the endzone to put Naperville Central up 7-0.

The Naperville Central defense helped set up the Redhawks second touchdown midway through the second half.

After pinning Glenbard East deep in their own territory, a poor Rams punt gave the Redhawks the football on the Rams' 28 yard line.

A Jason Paquette (32 carries, 149 yards) dive up the middle picked up a quick 8 yard on first down. Then Paquette took the pitch on the next play and before reaching the line of scrimmage, took a step back and unloaded a beautiful pass on the halfback option to Dan Passerelli who had beaten the defensive backs down field after they bit on Paquette's fake run. The 20-yard touchdown strike closed the Redhawks scoring.

"The conditions were horrible and it was a game of power running with no cutting, just straight ahead," Paquette said. "We worked on that all season and we finally had a chance to use it tonight. I had to rip off my gloves before the play and wipe off my hands to make sure the ball wouldn't slip. I just threw it up there and Passerelli made a great catch."

- Mike Ramsden

Naperville North 44, West Aurora 20: Like a cork trying to plug an erupting volcano, West Aurora was virtually powerless to cap the pent-up frustration that Naperville North brought to Friday night's DuPage Valley Conference game in Naperville.

Smarting from their first three-game losing streak "in umpteen years," in the words of coach Larry McKeon, the Huskies ran over the Blackhawks like a fast-moving lava flow on the way to a 34-7 halftime lead before cruising to a 44-20 victory.

"It feels good, let me tell you," said fullback Steve Sarm. "One win doesn¹t take away all the frustration we have, but the win gets us the momentum we need going to the end of the season."

After totaling an uncharacteristic total of 21 points in the three-game skid, the North (5-3, 3-3) offense returned to life last night, rolling up that many points in the first quarter alone on the way to 284 rushing yards and 363 total yards at halftime.

"We had a hard week of practice," McKeon said. "They want to win and a lot of kids came to play tonight."

North struck early, often and from long distance in the first half. Before six minutes had elapsed, the Huskies had a 14-0 lead courtesy of Mike Costantino¹s 54-yard run and Sarm¹s 41-yard burst.

After West quarterback Kevin Hoffman took an option keeper 59 yards to slice the deficit in half, Corey McKeon gave North a 21-7 lead after 12 minutes when he shook off three would-be tacklers at the line of scrimmage and sprinted 78 yards for a 21-7 edge.

"This week at practice was the best we¹ve had as an offensive unit all year," said Sarm. "It¹s in large part thanks to the offensive line. They drove their hearts out. They just did a great job."

The lead continued to balloon in the second quarter. North took advantage of a lost Blackhawks fumble and Bryan Vavruska¹s interception of Hoffman with Kyle Morgan¹s 6-yard run on a reverse and Mike Roney¹s 32-yard scoring catch from Rob Slette, which capped a 95-yard drive and came 16 seconds before halftime.

Nick Costakis¹ 29-yard field goal pushed the edge to 37-7 before Sarm closed North¹s scoring with a 22-yard fourth-quarter run.

The Blackhawks (1-7, 0-6) did tally Chris Jenkins¹ 39-yard diving TD catch and Marquis Hubbard¹s 70-yard option sweep in the second half, but the North defense stopped West twice on fourth down in the half and when Vavruska picked off another pass, he had the school record for interceptions in a season with 9.

"We got some momentum back," said Sarm. "We¹ll come out next week (at Glenbard East) even more fired up and then go to the playoffs. It¹s a clean sheet."

- Chris Traczek