Naperville North looks for better offensive showing

Updated: September 8, 2011 10:14PM

Discussing the DuPage Valley Conference race and the power structure within it before the season, second-year Naperville North coach Sean Drendel was quite candid about where his team stood.

Mindful of an inability to defeat the likes of Glenbard North and Wheaton North in the recent past, Drendel knew where his program needs to go as it continues its quest to claim its first conference crown since 2008.

“Until we start knocking those teams off, we can’t put ourselves above them,” he said of the two programs, which both have defeated Naperville North in each of the last two years. “Right now, we’re in the middle of the pack.”

While a meeting with No. 16 Glenbard North must wait until Oct. 21, the final night of the regular season, Naperville North travels to Wheaton tonight for a second straight year to deal with the Falcons, who defeated the Huskies, 14-7, last year while erasing a 7-0 halftime deficit.

Getting back to the principles that have long defined the program, Naperville North (1-1) got a much needed victory last week against Thornton behind its defense.

After getting shredded for 37 points and 492 total yards by Neuqua Valley’s offense in a lopsided Week 1 loss, the Huskies’ defense stepped up and did what Drendel and defensive coordinator Anthony Silvestri each expect it to do every week.

Despite giving up 360 total yards, the Huskies allowed just one touchdown and kept Thornton off the scoreboard in the second half en route to a 14-10 victory, avoiding an unenviable 0-2 start.

“We played a lot better defensively. I would think offensively, I don’t think we played very well at all,” Drendel said of last week. “We had too many mistakes, (had) too many what we call ‘wasted’ plays. We’ve got to shore some things up and stop being penalized and get a lot better at those types of things.”

While senior quarterback Tyler Gehr surpassed the 100-yard mark both passing and running in the loss at Neuqua Valley, Naperville North’s offense did get back last week to another principle that has long defined its program — the running game.

Engineering a performance that permitted Gehr to toss only five passes, senior running back Dan Puknaitis ran for 151 yards and a touchdown against Thornton, a week after tallying 108 yards and a touchdown against Neuqua Valley.

Tonight also marks the return of the two starters who were suspended for being in the presence of alcohol during the incident where 15 seniors were suspended for underage drinking on the night before the first day of school on Aug. 17.

“It’s really nice (to have them back),” Gehr said. “They’ve really been looking forward to playing and it’s really gonna help us get more fresh legs in the game. I think they’re definitely gonna help us, especially defensively. It’s just gonna have more fresh legs that we didn’t even have last week. (The defense) obviously stepped it up last week. It’s kind of scary to see what (the defense) can do with them, too.”

Much like Naperville North, Wheaton North begins DVC play at .500.

Earning a season-opening victory against Bartlett on the final play of the game courtesy of an 18-yard touchdown reception from senior wide receiver Coleton Hrgich, the Falcons — ranked 21st in the preseason by the Sun-Times — were upset by Geneva last week.

In the 33-24 loss at Geneva, Wheaton North junior quarterback John Peltz threw for 318 yards and three touchdowns, including two touchdowns to senior wideout Micah Penn.

But it’s the defense that has allowed 57 points in its first two games that has Wheaton North coach Joe Wardynski, a former defensive coordinator at Wheaton Warrenville South, worried.

“We’re not playing very well defensively right now and our special teams play hasn’t been very good,” Wardynski said. “Offensively, I’m satisfied with where we’re at. I think our offense has given us a chance to be 2-0 and our defense has given us a chance to be 0-2. Probably fortunate to be where we are.”

While Puknaitis is coming off a pair of 100-yard games to begin the season, how Naperville North deals with the Falcons’ vast array of offensive weapons like Peltz, Penn and senior wide receiver Johnny Daniels will go a long way in determining if Drendel’s program is ready to take the next step toward challenging for another DVC crown.

“(Wheaton North is) very skilled. If we’re not careful … They’re a lot like Thornton, in terms of being skilled on the edge and can do a lot of the same things outside. I think they throw the ball a lot better than Thornton does,” Drendel said. “But if you’re not careful with skill teams, they’ll get after you pretty good on the scoreboard. I think that’s what scares us.

“Defensively, Coach Wardynski does a great job, so I’m sure they have a great game plan ready to go and his players always play hard. There’s a lot of things to worry about with Wheaton North. Ever since Joe has taken over, I really think that they have gotten very disciplined and very hard-nosed. That’s how they play.”

A year ago, the Huskies’ loss at Wheaton North in Week 8 effectively sealed its postseason fate as a No. 9 seed, which represented opening the postseason on the road.

Three victories followed that defeat, including a pair in the postseason, so Naperville North isn’t placing any added significance on tonight’s game, even though defending Class 7A champ Wheaton Warrenville South, off to an 0-2 start after a pair of losses to the top two teams in the state, is up next on the docket.

“If you go out and tell them, ‘If we don’t win this week, we got problems,’ then if you don’t win, now you got a team that doesn’t believe it can win next week,” Drendel said. “I don’t think we ever overemphasize games until we get to the playoffs. We’re trying to get better each week.

“Wheaton South, they’re a good 0-2 but they’re struggling a bit, too. I don’t think we’re overemphasizing any game. We’re focused on Wheaton North because it’s Wheaton North and they beat us two years in a row. They have a great program and we need to focus doing our things to get better.”

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