Naperville North uses its power for victory
Editor's note: This story has been updated to correct an error that said Naperville North had lost to Thornton four straight years. The Huskies have defeated Thornton four straight years. It also was updated to correct the score of Friday's game.
Naperville North powered its way to an early lead and hung on through a physical game on the road to beat Thornton 35-18 Friday night.
The Huskies jumped out to a 28-0 nothing lead amid a heavy showers thanks to a running attack led by running back Mikey Caldarrazo, who finished with a game-high 133 yards and 2 touchdowns.
“We kind of hit them a little bit early with some big plays,” Huskies coach Sean Drendel said.
It was Naperville North's fourth straight win over Thornton.
Caldarrazo set up his first touchdown with a 33-yard run to the Wildcats' 9-yard line on third-and-9, and then punched in it on the next play to take a 7-0 lead.
After forcing a fumble to take possession at the Wildcats 42-yard line, the Huskies used another run on third-and-long to set up a score as quarterback Chris Gajcak gained 32 yards on a keeper to the Wildcats' 13-yard line. D'Angelo Hyshaw followed with a touchdown run to make it 14-0.
Caldarrazo broke loose for a 55-yard touchdown to make it 21-0 with 10 minutes, 54 seconds remaining in the second quarter. He was sprung by a great downfield block from receiver Austin Mezmer.
Gajcak, who had 13 carries for 79 yards, connected through the air with Morgan Osborne to make it 28-0 less than three minutes later.
“They got some short fields and they took care of what they had to do,” Thornton coach Bill Mosel said.
Mosel's team responded with under two to play in the half when fill-in quarterback Leslie Wilson scored from 12 yards. The extra point failed to make it 28-6.
The Wildcats came out more aggressively in the second half but weren't able to cut into the deficit when Zechariah Moore dropped a sure touchdown on third-and-13.
After forcing a three-and-out, the Wildcats got a 20-yard run from Remie Simmons to make it 28-12 after a failed 2-point attempt.
“They got down, but they're a great football team and you knew they were going to come back,” Drendel said.
His team responded with a drive to start the fourth quarter that lasted nearly seven minutes, capping it off with a touchdown on a fumble recovery by Mezmar to make it 35-12.
“We knew they were coming out firing and we just countered right back and put up some points,” Caldarrazo said.
Thornton scored with less than two seconds remaining in the game on a fade pattern from 6 yards out when Wilson connected with 6-foot-5 receive Brian Davis.