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Kortenhoeven kick gives Wheaton North win vs. WW South

Seth Kortenhoeven does it all for Wheaton North.

When coach Joel Wardynski needs a big catch on third down, Kortenhoeven is the guy.

On Friday night, when Wheaton North needed Kortenhoeven's right leg to connect on a 39-yard field goal to win the game as time expired against rival Wheaton Warrenville South, no problem.

The senior's kick flew well through the uprights to send the Falcons crowd home happy with a 10-8 DuKane Conference victory over Wheaton Warrenville South.

"I have been working on my range," said Kortenhoeven, who is also a striker for the Falcons soccer team. "I would say 40 to 45 (yards) is my range, so that's what I feel comfortable with. I think we just wanted to get down as close as possible."

Kortenhoeven was instrumental in helping the Falcons (6-1, 4-1 DuKane Conference) get into his field-goal range. He caught four of his game-high 11 catches on the final drive, finishing the game with 105 yards. He also got Wheaton North on the scoreboard in the second quarter with a diving catch in the end zone - a 6-yard connection with quarterback Mark Forcucci.

While the Falcons led for almost all of the game following his touchdown with 7:23 to go in the first half, Wheaton Warrenville South (3-4, 2-3) kept battling.

The Tigers couldn't sustain much offensively until its final drive of the night when Lance Kottke capped off a 12-play, 67-yard drive with a 1-yard touchdown run with 1:04 to play. Instead of kicking the extra point to tie the game, Tigers coach Sean Norris elected to go for what he thought would be the win.

Senior quarterback Matt Sommerdyke found Quentin Spencer for the conversion to give the Tigers an 8-7 lead.

"We were always going to (go for the 2-point conversion)," Norris said. "We had been prepared and practiced that play all year. We knew we were going to go for the win, the kids wanted to and they came through in that moment."

Forcucci wasted no time, connecting on 6 of his 9 passes on the final drive to get the Falcons to the WW South 22-yard line with 3.5 seconds to go.

"It's nice when you practice stuff and then come out and execute it," Wardynski said. "(Wheaton Warrenville South) played outstanding. Their defense really battled and their offense kept the ball from us. Anytime you win a rivalry game it means a lot. This is a good football team, and anytime you can over here and leave with a win means a lot.

"Seth has been our guy all year. Teams try to take him away and we continue to find ways to get him the ball because he's that good."

Wheaton North had just three second-half possessions prior to its game-winning drive. All three of those drives resulted in punts, eclipsing just 7:50 off the clock. Its final drive went for 49 yards in just over one minute.

"We just knew we had to make plays," Kortenhoeven said. "We knew we had to get into field-goal range. Mark is always out there throwing the best balls and making it easy for us to make plays. I said it last week, and I'll say it again ...'s an amazing quarterback."

Forcucci finished the night 16-of-26 passing for 135 yards, while his counterpart, Sommerdyke, completed 11 of 18 through the air for 164 yards.

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