Central Football Comes Up Short Against Defending Champs

Naperville Central's football team had nationally-ranked Wheaton Warrenville South right where it wanted it Friday.

Early in the third quarter, the Redhawks had pulled to within a score of taking the lead on the defending Class 7A state champions.

But the Tigers did what great teams do. They wiggled out of trouble.

Wheaton Warrenville South went on to a 38-13 DuPage Valley Conference win, but it didn't feel like a 25-point loss to Central coach Mike Stine.

"I was proud of them," Stine said of his team. "How could you not be proud of the way we battled? We were down, 17-0, to the No. 1 team in the state and we came back and gave ourselves a fighting chance in the third quarter. That's a credit to our seniors. They hung in there and battled."

Wheaton South (4-0 overall, 2-0 DVC) struck quickly, as Northwestern-bound quarterback Reilly O'Toole found Titus Davis for a 76-yard touchdown strike in the first quarter. O'Toole and Travis Kern then hooked up for a 7-yard TD. But Central (2-2, 1-1) fought back.

The Redhawks put together an 11-play, 85-yard drive to cut the WWS lead to 17-7. Matt Randolph punched it in on a bruising 4-yard run. He also had a 33-yard run in the drive, and quarterback Hayden Daniels converted a fourth-and-three with a 6-yard run to keep the drive alive.

Tyler Bell then returned the second-half kickoff 75 yards to set Central up in great shape. Six plays later, Daniels leaned in from a yard out and all of a sudden it was 17-13 Tigers.

"It was 17-13 and we were one stop away from taking the lead," Daniels said. "We played with one of the best teams in the nation for more than a half. We knew we could play with them."

The Tigers were unfazed, however. They responded to Central's score at the start of the third with a crippling, 13-play, 91-yard drive that sapped 7:19 off the clock. They had five plays of 10 or more yards on the drive, which was capped by a 6-yard O'Toole pass to Jason Schuman.

Central then lost a fumble on the first play of the next drive and O'Toole scored from 10 yards out two plays later. In just over a minute, the Redhawks went from down only four points to being down 31-13.

"We got it where we wanted it," Stine said. "We got it within a score. We just couldn't get a stop on them and they went down and scored. Then, we fumble on the first play and they score again. All of a sudden, it's 31-13 in a matter of seconds. I felt like the game was closer than that."

Central heads to Glenbard East next week. And Daniels knows his team will be ready.

"We'll come back strong next week," Daniels said. "They're a good football team. We battled. But we're a pretty good football team, too. We'll just keep getting better every week."