Football: Battle-tested Bolingbrook ready for Naperville Central

Updated: November 17, 2011 7:32PM

The outcome of a high school football game can sometimes turn on a player or two emerging from the congestion of X’s and O’s and making an athletic play in a key situation.

That could be the case in the Class 8A semifinal match-up Saturday between Bolingbrook and host Naperville Central.

Quarterback Aaron Bailey and linebacker Antonio Morrison have been frequent game-changers for Bolingbrook (11-1). Bailey has 10 touchdown runs in the playoffs, while the Morrison-led defense stymied Downers Grove South running back Josh Williams in the quarterfinals.

“Take that one athlete off the field and it could have been a different story,” Neuqua Valley coach Bryan Wells said of Bailey after his team’s first-round loss to Bolingbrook.

Running back Matt Randolph and defensive end Zach Borta often have been the difference for Naperville Central (9-3). Randolph was the Offensive Player of the Year in the Du Page Valley Conference and Borta was named the conference’s top defensive player.

Those awards carry a lot of weight in Naperville’s conference — fellow members Glenbard North and Wheaton Warrenville South are still in the playoffs, too. Glenbard faces Loyola in the 8A semis while Wheaton plays St. Rita in 7A.

With playoff teams Lincoln-Way East, Homewood-Flossmoor, Lockport and Sandburg in the SouthWest Suburban Blue, the regular season was a good tune-up for Bolingbrook as well.

“Our schedule really got us ready for the playoffs,” said Robert Bain, a three-year starter on the offensive line.

To reach the state title game, Bolingbrook will have to contain Naperville quarterback Ian Lewandowski (1,737 total yards), who rushed for 94 yards on nine carries in its quarterfinal victory over H-F, as well as Randolph.

A well-balanced offense is one reason the Redhawks rebounded from a 4-5 record in 2010. They’d been a playoff team 17 of the previous 18 seasons.

Bolingbrook and Naperville Central have split their only two playoff meetings thus far. The Redhawks won in 2004 and the Raiders took the rematch a year later, both in the first round.

The previous time Bolingbrook reached the semifinals was 2001, the year before John Ivlow became coach. Among Ivlow’s nine previous playoff teams, two reached the quarters.

“We have more good football players than we’ve had in the past,” Ivlow said. “We have a lot of good football players on this team.”

After a 5-5 record in 2010, the Raiders had to prove to some that 2011 would be different.

“A lot of people were doubting us just because we didn’t have a good season last year,” Bain said. “But us in the program we knew we had a real chance to be special this year. So far we’re doing pretty well.”

Bain attributed part of the team’s point production to its work in the trenches.

“The offensive line is really jelling together this year,” he said. “We’re all friends, we all get along. That really helps the ‘O’ line. You’ve got to be a unit.”

When asked what it will take to move on, Bain replied, “No mistakes, it’s just the mental part. Doing your assignment, making the right plays.”

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