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Hinsdale Central connects for triumph over York

Hinsdale Central's Michael Brescia and Braden Contreras have quite the chemistry going.

That has spelled doom for their opponents.

The junior quarterback and senior wide receiver connected for three more touchdowns on Friday - raising their season total to 10 - as the visiting Red Devils stayed undefeated with a 28-21 win over York in Elmhurst.

In improving to 6-0 in the fall, and 3-0 in the West Suburban Silver, Hinsdale Central moved one step closer to a showdown with Glenbard West in Week 8 while clinching a playoff berth.

"We always have three goals as a program," said first-year coach and longtime assistant Brian Griffin. "Make the playoffs, win the conference and win playoff games. That's probably everybody's goals in the conference, but that's how we measure ourselves."

With Brescia leading the way, anything seems possible. The QB broke a 21-21 tie midway through the fourth quarter with a 3-yard touchdown run on a fourth-and-2 play. He finished with 53 rushing yards on six attempts. Mark Skokna led the ground attack with 146 yards on 28 carries, which included a trio of first-down runs to kill the clock at the end.

"Our O-line was doing great, our wide receivers were doing a great job getting open," said Brescia, who also passed for 148 yards. "Each of us had to do our part. I just had to come up with the first down and that (the touchdown) happened. It's a real testament to our wide receivers and offensive line.

"(The victory) was huge for our team. They were a tough defense, they were coming up and always putting pressure on us. That's a huge win for our program. I wish it wasn't that close, but you really figure out your team and what you have in a game like that."

Contreras caught TD passes of 18, 11 and 7 yards from Brescia, the first two of which gave the Red Devils an early 14-0 lead.

But the host Dukes fought back behind the legs of Nick Conroy, who ran for 180 yards on 29 carries. He found the end zone on a pair of short scampers to knot the score in the second quarter.

But Brescia and Contreras answered with 17 seconds remaining before halftime to give Hinsdale Central a 21-14 edge.

"We've been hurting a little bit on defense (Hinsdale Central was missing four defensive starters)," Contreras said, "so we pulled the offense together and said we had to step up. We had to make big plays and a lot of guys ended up stepping up.

"It all starts with our O-line, they are a great group of guys who work as hard as anybody. And then you have Skokna pounding the ball. We all make each other better."

Conroy's third touchdown run, this time of 30 yards, evened the score at 21 in the third for the Dukes (3-3, 2-2). York travels to Willowbrook next week and must win at least two of their final three games to have a chance at the postseason.

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