Redhawks off to postseason with OT win

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October 10, 2009

By PATRICK MOONEY pmooney@scn1.com

WHEATON - Naperville Central lined up with an empty backfield, two receivers split out to either side. A matter of inches would push two teams onto two different tracks toward the postseason.

On fourth down, the Redhawks were inside the 1-yard line, and there was no question they were going for it against Wheaton North. Falcons kicker Steve Jones had already nailed a 25-yard field goal in the first overtime, meaning this would be the fourth Central game decided on the final play this season.

Quarterback Nick Linne and his offensive line moved on first sound. The sneak worked, and with a 26-23 victory on Friday night in Wheaton, Central (6-1) clinched a Class 8A spot in the 256-team field.

"I just kind of told our center (Nick Smetana), 'I'm gonna go right up behind you, just get a push off the ball and we're gonna get in the end zone,'" Linne said. "That's what we did."

That preserved any ideas about a possible DuPage Valley Conference championship. While the Redhawks are still playing for a top seed and a first-round home game, Wheaton North (3-4) will have to win its final two games - at Naperville North and home versus Glenbard East - and hope it has leveraged the DVC schedule and accrued enough playoff points in Class 7A.

"It was just a good ballgame. It hurts to come out on the losing end of it," Wheaton North coach Joe Wardynski said. "We really needed that one. We'll try to regroup and bounce back next week. We have two more to go and we know we need to get both of them."

When it ended, the two teams had combined for seven turnovers and two missed extra points. Central ran 74 offensive plays to Wheaton North's 38, and generated more than twice as many first downs (23-to-9). Still, the Redhawks needed a 66-yard fourth quarter drive - capped by a 15-yard pass from Linne to tight end Chris Levine - just to force a 20-20 tie.

Entering Friday, Wheaton North had been outscored by the DVC frontrunners - Glenbard North and Wheaton Warrenville South - by a combined score of 77-0. Central kept the Falcons in this one by committing two turnovers within the game's first six minutes. Wheaton North quarterback Taylor Graham, who has verbally committed to Ohio State, was sidelined with a knee injury and will miss the rest of the season.

In his absence, Central's defense could focus on the running game. It buckled on one big play just before halftime. Richard Finley caught a screen pass from Reece Butler, cut around a wall of blockers and weaved in and out of traffic for a 50-yard touchdown. That gave Wheaton North a 14-13 lead.

"We knew their quarterback was a runner, so we put more guys in the box," Central linebacker Matt Soria said. "They had that 250-pound fullback, so we definitely could've used a couple more bodies in there."

Jhamal Johnson did score Wheaton North's first touchdown, a 1-yard plunge after Hayden Daniels dropped a punt. But both teams primarily made plays through the air.

Daniels caught eight passes for 135 yards and a score, and tight end Cam Brate had nine receptions for 61 yards. Linne went 25-of-41 for 259 yards and three touchdowns, running for 77 additional yards.

Central became more methodical, draining more than seven minutes from the clock, driving into Wheaton North territory on the first possession of the second half. It yielded zero points, however, because Wheaton North linebacker Ryan Coleman intercepted a deflected Linne pass before it could hit the ground.

It quickly mattered when Finley beat single coverage - Butler didn't have to worry about safeties deep - on a third-and-11 play for a 34-yard gain. Two plays later, Finley found space along the right sideline, caught the pass, made a spin move and found his way into the end zone. The Falcons led 20-13 with 54.8 seconds left in the third quarter.

Finley accounted for six catches for 136 yards - Butler completed only one other pass to another receiver. The quarterback finished 7-of-11 for 138 yards and two touchdowns. The junior also rushed nine times for 94 yards.

Each defense got a big stop in the final four minutes of regulation, leading to overtime, where the Redhawks again didn't make a critical mistake. That's now five victories by an average margin of five points.

"When you look at our defense, (there's) a lot of senior starters and there's a lot of leadership," Soria said. "We come together in those big situations. I think that's the reason we get it done when we need to."

In the end, Central wants the ball in Linne's hands.

"Never a doubt, never a debate," Central coach Mike Stine said of the fourth-down decision. "(Linne's read:) Stay low, drive his feet, get some line surge and move the pile."