Naperville North stops WW South's streak
Naperville North's football team ended two years of DuPage Valley Conference dominance Friday night.
The host Huskies topped two-time defending DVC champion Wheaton Warrenville South 17-14 to halt the Tigers' 15-game conference winning streak.
More than that, though, Naperville North (2-2, 1-1) put itself on much firmer ground in terms of the playoff picture. WW South (1-3, 1-1), meanwhile, will feel a much stronger sense of urgency in the coming weeks.
“A win like this is huge,” said Huskies running back Dan Puknaitis, who rushed for 114 yards and a touchdown on 15 carries. “This really shows us what our potential is. It can only get better from here.”
With Naperville North leading 17-7 following Ron Coluzzi's 40-yard field goal midway through the third quarter, WW South made it interesting in the final minute of the game on Thaddeus Armstrong's 4-yard touchdown pass to Brady Banda.
The Tigers attempted an onside kick trailing 17-14 with 30 seconds left, but Puknaitis recovered the ball to seal the Huskies' key victory.
For the last eight years the DVC title has gone through either Wheaton Warrenville South or Naperville North. Friday night the edge swung back to the Huskies.
“We have the utmost respect for (WW South), and if you can beat them you're playing pretty well,” said Huskies coach Sean Drendel. “It's big to beat Wheaton South because no one has in our conference for a long time.”
Naperville North led most of the way after Puknaitis scored on a 48-yard run late in the first quarter. Quarterback Tyler Gehr, who rushed for 119 yards, ran in from 68 yards out to put the Huskies up 14-0, but Armstrong, who completed 20 of 32 passes for 194 yards, narrowed the halftime gap to 14-7 with a 1-yard scoring dive.
Five turnovers and three sacks, however, vividly showed the struggles of WW South's offense against the Huskies' defense.
“We knew going into the season that this was the team to beat,” said Huskies defensive lineman Brett Jones. “We definitely accomplished a big goal tonight.”
It doesn't get any easier for WW South, which faces Naperville Central (3-1, 2-0) next week in Wheaton.
“It's frustrating,” said Tigers coach Ron Muhitch. “The sense of urgency is that we've got to fix what's broken, and that's the mistakes we're making.”