Naperville Sun Week 7 football preview capsules

Updated: October 6, 2011 6:16PM

Naperville North (4-2, 3-1 DuPage Valley) at West Aurora (2-4, 0-4 DuPage Valley), 7:30 p.m.

Last week: Naperville North won at Glenbard East 51-13; West Aurora lost at Wheaton North 38-7

 

Storyline: Facing an opponent coming off a lopsided loss at DuPage Valley Conference-leading Wheaton North for the second straight week, Naperville North finds itself in a four-way tie for second place in the DVC.

Traveling to Aurora tonight to face West Aurora while on a three-game winning streak, the Huskies recorded season-highs in points and total yards with 51 and 462, respectively, in last week’s 51-13 rout of Glenbard East in Lombard.

A week after seeing senior quarterback Tyler Gehr throw for a season-high 230 yards in its 45-7 home rout of West Chicago, Naperville North got back to what it knows best against the Rams last Friday—running the football.

Large parts in the Huskies running for a season-high 391 yards on the ground, senior running back Dan Puknaitis ran for 95 yards and three touchdowns on eight carries, while Gehr ran for 93 yards on seven touches as the Huskies scored on their first five possessions while racing out to a 41-0 lead early in the second quarter on Glenbard East.

Tonight marks the final game of a three-game stretch against the bottom three teams of the conference for Naperville North, which concludes the season against Naperville Central and Glenbard North.

Meanwhile, West Aurora is on a four-game losing streak after beginning the season with two straight wins and a loss tonight would eliminate it from postseason contention, where it hasn’t been to since 1994.

Currently saddled with a five-game conference losing streak, the Blackhawks haven’t won inside the DVC since beating Glenbard East, 55-32, on Oct. 15, 2010.

Naperville North coach Sean Drendel on West Aurora: “Defensively, they attack you from a lot of different angles. They run really well and they pretty physical. They’re gonna present some problems there. I think, offensively, they have some skill kids that can do some things. They pose a good task for us. We’ll consider it like a playoff game like we have the last couple games.”

Naperville Central (4-2, 3-1 DuPage Valley) at Wheaton North (5-1, 4-0 DuPage Valley), 7:30 p.m.

 

Last week: Naperville Central beat Glenbard North 10-6; Wheaton North beat West Aurora 38-7

 

Storyline: Finding themselves in a four-way tie for second place in the DuPage Valley Conference after upsetting previously unbeaten Glenbard North at home last Friday behind another solid defensive showing, Naperville Central heads to Wheaton North tonight looking to throw another wrench into the DVC race.

Thanks to the defense forcing a pair of turnovers and a blocked field goal from senior defensive lineman Zach Borda, Naperville Central was able to pull out a 10-6 victory over the Panthers despite gaining a season-low 164 yards on offense.

Ratcheting up the offense, which has recorded season-lows in offensive output in each of the past two weeks, will be crucial if the Redhawks are to keep their momentum going.

With three weeks to play, the Redhawks sit one game back of Wheaton North, which is 4-0 in the conference and on a four-game winning streak following its 33-24 loss at Geneva in Week 2.

Wheaton North has gotten off to the unblemished start in the DVC behind its defense, which has recovered nicely from a rough first two weeks of the season by allowing an average of just 9.5 points per game in conference play.

Junior QB John Peltz has emerged as a dual-threat force for Wheaton North, as he has thrown nine touchdown passes and run for six TDs, four of which came in a 56-12 rout of Glenbard East on Sept. 23.

Winners in its last four trips to Rexilius Field, a victory over the Falcons tonight would get Naperville Central to playoff eligibility with five wins and would likely forge a four-way tie for first place in the conference, setting up a mad scramble within the DVC in the season’s final two weeks.

Naperville Central coach Mike Stine on Wheaton North: “They got a lot of skill players on offense. They spread the field. They’re about 50-50 run-pass. They’re gonna make defend all 53 yards of the width of the field. We’re gonna have to do a good job of slowing them down. If they get a lot of snaps, their offense is very potent. They’re probably averaging close to 40 points a game.

“Arguably, they might be the best offense we’ve faced all year. Probably will be. On film, I’d say they’re gonna be the best offense we’ve faced. Until you play them, you don’t know. On film, they’re gonna be the best we’ve seen.”

 

Benet (0-6) at Washington High School (South Bend, Ind.) (5-2), 8 p.m.

Last week: Benet lost at Notre Dame 14-0; Washington High School beat Clay High School (Ind.) 21-19

Storyline: Off to a 0-6 start and going through the program’s first six-game losing streak since losing its last six games to conclude the 2001 season, Benet’s offense has gone into a deep freeze, having not scored in its last 10 quarters of play.

The task doesn’t get any easier tonight for the Redwings, who travel out-of-state to play Washington High School of South Bend, Ind. in their lone nonconference game of the season.

Benet’s defense continues to play well, but the offense managed only 112 total yards last week against Notre Dame and its last score came late in the first half in its 17-14 loss to Marist on Sept. 16 courtesy of a 7-yard TD pass from senior Nick Mankowski to junior wide receiver Jack Euritt.

The Panthers feature a pair of Division I recruits in seniors David Perkins and Gehrig Dieter.

Perkins, a running back who has become the first-ever Panther to commit to Notre Dame, ran for 99 yards and a touchdown in their win over Clay High School last week.

Dieter, a 6-foot-3 wide receiver, owns a pair of high school receiving records, having set the national record for receiving yards with 447 yards against Elkhart Central High School (Ind.) on Sept. 3, which came off the heels of establishing the Indiana state record two weeks earlier with 373 yards against Bloomington High School North (Ind.).  

Benet coach Pat New on Washington High School: “I told our defense David Perkins is a lot like or is as good as Malin Jones or a Ty Isaac (from Joliet Catholic). I also think Gehrig Dieter is a lot like the kid from Marist (Ryan Meyer) we played against. We’ve seen that caliber of athlete on our schedule already. I don’t think it’s going to be anything new to our players. We just have to play a total team game in order to come out with a victory.”

 

Metea Valley (3-3, 1-3 Upstate Eight Valley) at Bartlett (4-2, 3-0 Upstate Eight Valley), 7:30 p.m.

 

Last week: Metea Valley lost at Neuqua Valley 52-6; Bartlett won at South Elgin 52-10

 

Storyline: Being handed three straight lopsided losses while losing its starting quarterback at the very beginning of a tough four-game stretch, Metea Valley ends the stretch tonight at co-Upstate Eight Valley leader Bartlett.

With Jarrett House on the sidelines while recuperating his knee that he injured Sept. 17 in the Mustangs’ 33-0 loss at South Elgin, the Mustangs’ offense has struggled mightily in scoring just six points combined in their last three games.

The lone completion against Neuqua Valley last week for sophomore quarterback Peyton Mitchell, who has started the last two games in place of House after taking over for him early in the South Elgin loss, went for an 81-yard touchdown to junior running back Cameron Wilcox.

In the past three games, Mitchell is seven-of-40 passing for 172 yards and has been picked off five times.

Meanwhile, the Hawks find themselves tied with Neuqua Valley in the Upstate Eight Valley standings after scoring 34 unanswered points in their 52-10 rout of South Elgin last week.

Bartlett senior quarterback A.J. Bilyeu, who has committed to Air Force, completed nine of his 13 passes for 201 yards and three touchdowns against the Storm last week.

Metea Valley coach Ted Monken on Bartlett: “They’re gonna be physical. They’ve got a size advantage. They’re very physical up front. We’re gonna have our work cut out for us trying to get those guys moved off the ball, so we can try to get our offense going.

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