Neuqua Valley clears Naperville North
The logjam atop the DuPage Valley Conference got a little less congested Friday.
Neuqua Valley (5-1, 4-1 in the DuPage Valley) scored on four consecutive possessions to build a 25-6 lead, and Stephen Ruiz hit field goals of 37, 45 and a school-record 50 yards as the Wildcats hung on to beat Naperville North 31-28 in a DVC showdown Friday in southern Naperville.
"We felt real good about the way we were doing things in the first half, made a few adjustments at halftime and in the second half came out and scored right away," Neuqua Valley coach Bill Ellinghaus said. "Then we kind of went flat. But the kids battled. The kids fought. It's always good to come away with a victory. We'll get better from this."
Neuqua Valley opened the scoring on a 2-yard touchdown run by running back Cameron Raupach (23 carries, 123 yards) to cap a 7-play, 64-yard drive. Ruiz's 37-yard field goal extended the lead to 10-0 with 8:13 remaining in the second quarter.
The Huskies answered two minutes later on a 3-yard run by Brett Zdrubecky, but Miles Rathell caught a 16-yard TD pass from Jake Eskoff (13 of 18, 119 yards) and Will Chevalier's (13 carries, 125 yards) penalty-aided 2-point run gave the hosts an 18-6 lead at intermission.
Meanwhile, Naperville North (4-2, 3-2) wasted two scoring opportunities in the first half.
The Huskies reached the Neuqua Valley 28-yard line on their first possession before the drive stalled on a sack and three incomplete passes, and a holding penalty and incomplete pass squashed a first-and-goal chance at the Neuqua Valley 7-yard line with fewer than 20 seconds remaining.
Eskoff's 35-yard pass to Rathell set up Raupach's 2-yard TD run to push the lead to 25-6 a little more than two minutes into the second half, but Naperville North got an 11-yard TD pass from Drake Davis (34 of 53, 366 yards, 3 touchdowns) to Nick Calcagno and a 2-point conversion with 1:41 left in the third quarter to close within 25-14.
Ruiz, who missed wide left on a 43-yard field goal try late in the third quarter, then eclipsed the school record by 8 yards when he hit his 50-yarder with 9:40 remaining in the fourth quarter.
"The coach was going to punt to pin them down and play a little defense, then he looked at me and asked me if I could hit it," Ruiz said. "I'm just glad my coaches trusted me to put me out there in a big game like this, the fourth quarter, huge playoff implications. It's a game I'll remember my whole life."
Naperville North's woes continued in the fourth quarter. The Huskies came up short on a fourth down try deep in their own territory a few seconds into the final 12 minutes, then lost a fumble at their own 33-yard line with just under six minutes left in the game.
But after holding Neuqua Valley on fourth down deep in their own territory, the Huskies drove 77 yards to get within 28-20 on Davis' 27-yard pass to Ryan Laurenzo with 4:10 remaining. However, the try for 2 points and a subsequent onside kick failed.
Ruiz booted a 45-yard field goal with 1:32 remaining to seemingly put the game out of reach, but Davis found Calcagno from 11 yards out with 26.8 seconds remaining and Clifford Vickers ran the 2-point try to get Naperville North within 31-28.
However, Naperville North's onside kick failed and Neuqua Valley ran out the clock.