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Turnovers costly to Naperville Central

Fourth-seeded Naperville Central knew it would have to come through with a standout performance against second-seeded Simeon on Saturday in a Class 8A football quarterfinal if it wanted to see the semifinals.

That didn't happen. The visiting Wolverines (11-1) scored 28 second-half points after trailing at halftime to win 34-20.

Naperville Central (9-3) fumbled four times, losing three, with two of those lost fumbles leading to touchdowns.

"We made too many mistakes in a quarterfinal game against a good team. The team that wins the turnover battle is going to win," said Redhawks coach Mike Stine. "But give credit to Simeon. They played a great football game."

The Naperville Central defense ended the Wolverines' 7-play opening drive with a third-down gang tackle of Simeon quarterback Timon Watkins for a 9-yard loss, which poured ice on the drive's momentum. However, the Redhawks fumbled the ball on the subsequent punt return and the Wolverines found themselves on the Redhawks' 18-yard line.

Three plays later Dion Earls Jr. ran the ball in from the 8. Simeon missed the extra point and the Wolverines had a 6-0 lead.

Naperville Central responded in the second quarter in a big way. The Redhawks took over at their own 49 with 4:06 left until halftime. On the drive's first play quarterback Conor Joyce found running back Kevin Clifford open with a pass. Clifford made it through the middle of a group of Simeon defenders into open ground and he hit end zone after 51 yards. Conor Assalley's extra point gave the Redhawks what turned out to be a 7-6 halftime advantage.

Life continued to go well for Naperville Central at the start of the second half. The Redhawks had the ball to start the third quarter and put together a 7-play drive that was capped by a 14-yard scoring pass from Joyce to Emmanuel Rugamba, who caught the ball in the end zone just ahead of a Simeon defender.

Then the Wolverines took over.

After Rugamba's TD catch Simeon put together a 13-play scoring drive to tie the game. A fumble by Naperville Central on the kickoff led to Earls' second touchdown of the game.

Early in the fourth quarter a botched Simeon punt attempt was saved by the punter. He completed a pass for the first down, and that extended the drive that ended with Watkins' second score of the game on a 1-yard run. That put the Wolverines up by two touchdowns with just more than eight minutes left in the game.

Simeon added another touchdown about five mninutes later to seal the victory. Naperville Central got one last touchdown for the 2014 season when Joyce connected with Michael Kolzow on an 8-yard pass.

"We knew Simeon had a lot of athletes. Hat's off to them. They played a heck of a game," said Redhawks senior Bobby McMillen. "You had to play 48 minutes against them. It's tough to be on the short end of the stick, but it's part of the game."

It's been a memorable last two seasons for the Naperville Central seniors. They were part of the Class 8A championship team last season and went deep in the playoffs this fall.

"I'm proud of the kids. They'll bounce back. Our seniors are a special group of kids. We'll miss them," Stine said.

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