York 28, Willowbrook 7

When the York football team became playoff-eligible with its 28-7 nonconference win over Willowbrook Friday in Elmhurst, there was no excessive celebration.

"We told our kids before the season like we do every season, the playoffs aren't a goal, the playoffs are an expectation," York coach Bill Lech said. "With the way these kids work in the offseason and the things they do, it's a flat out expectation that we're going to qualify every year."

York (5-3) ended a two-game losing streak and likely clinched its fifth-straight playoff appearance. The Dukes can guarantee a trip to the playoffs by beating Oak Park in their regular-season finale, but should have plenty of playoff points to get in with five victories.

Neither team scored in the first quarter, but York scored 21 points in the second quarter to take control of the contest. Joe Santiago caught a perfectly thrown 42-yard touchdown pass from quarterback Tom Judge to begin the scoring. Judge (13-for-21 passing, 214 yards) then threw a 20-yard TD pass to Andrew Johnson and 3-yard TD pass to Jimmy Harvey to put the Dukes ahead 21-0 at halftime.

York's defense was improved over recent weeks, except for Willowbrook's 20-play drive to begin the second half that ate up all but 51 seconds of the third quarter and was capped by a 9-yard TD catch by Mike Kane from quarterback Bradley Collins that trimmed the Warriors' deficit to 21-7.

York then put the game out of reach with an 11-play, 60-yard drive capped by a 3-yard TD run from junior Mike DeBernardis with 1 minute, 56 seconds left in the game.

DeBernardis finished with 56 yards on 12 carries, including 49 yards on York's final scoring drive.

The Dukes outgained Willowbrook 349-138 in total offense, with linemen Scott Helton, Andy Caron, Sean Crowe, Andrew Lockhart and Jack Deiters playing a big part.