Naperville North tops Metea Valley
Watching a football game, one can get a sense when the eventual winner took control of the contest.
That moment came early in the second quarter for the Huskies as they won their homecoming contest 38-14 over visiting Metea Valley.
The Mustangs led 7-6 when the Huskies got the ball back nine seconds into the second quarter.
A 14-yard keeper by Clifford Vickers and a 12-yard pass from Vickers to Reggie Fleurima moved the ball along with Vickers finding Matt Maschmeier down field for a 55-yard TD pass, his second scoring catch of the evening.
The Huskies went for the 2-point conversion and Vickers was almost swarmed, but he got the ball off it made its way to Matthew Heinz and Naperville North led 14-7.
"That gave us a lot of momentum," Vickers said. "Our offense showed a little bit in the first half. That 2-point conversion motivated us," he said. "The team was outstanding. The defense was outstanding. A great team win."
Naperville North finished the contest scoring 24 of the last 31 points to win its first victory of the season.
Vickers said the team felt they were close to finally getting in the win column.
"The last three weeks the scores didn't really show how close the games were. It seemed like we were just one block, one pass from getting into the end zone," he said.
The Huskies (1-3) got on the scoreboard first with another big Vickers to Maschmeier pass play, this one a 51-yard toss with 7:22 remaining in the opening quarter.
The second half saw two Vickers to Matthew Heinz touchdown passes, an Ameir Wilbourn touchdown run and a 37-yard field goal by Maschmeier.
Naperville North finished with 385 yards in total offense. Wilbourn led all rushers with 125 yards.
"It's a good game, but we can do a lot better," Wilbourn said. "It's good to get the first win. We never gave up."
Metea (0-4) again showed moments of what it's capable on offense and more than it did last week against DeKalb.
Colin Wilcox's 10-yard run on the first play of the second quarter and Ryan Bingham's extra point gave Metea that 7-6 lead. The Mustangs' other score came late in the third quarter on Tate Smith's 80-yard kickoff return.
And it was another strong game from Julian Wlodarczyk.
"Colin and Julian are a couple of our best players," said Metea coach Ben Kleinhans. "We ask a lot of them on offense, defense and special teams."
It was Wilcox who recovered a Naperville North fumbled that led to Metea's touchdown.
Kleinhans added that the blocking of running back Elijah Wright and the offensive line were also crucial to what the Mustangs did offensively.
Friday's contest was nonconference. The teams meet again Oct. 5 at Metea and that game will count in the DuPage Valley Conference standings due to the smaller nature of the DVC this season and some teams playing others twice.