Naperville North ready for WW South

Updated: September 15, 2011 7:10PM

Standing on the practice field late in the 2010 season, as his first year of being the head man as his alma mater was winding down, Naperville North coach Sean Drendel made a frank observation.

As the Huskies were battling down the wire to claim a postseason spot, which they eventually did for a 14th straight season, Drendel talked openly about his team’s inability to grab a marquee win at that point in the season.

Seeing his team lose at Wheaton North a few days later only established more credence to that comment and left them in a position where they had to begin the postseason on the road.

Although a pair of victories would eventually come Naperville North’s way in the postseason, including the program’s first victory over a No. 1 seed in 10 years, one could argue that honest assessment still rings true three games into Drendel’s second season.

Sitting at 1-2 after last week’s 24-13 defeat at Wheaton North, one could very easily argue that Naperville North’s season could be on the line tonight when it welcomes two-time defending DuPage Valley Conference and Class 7A state champion Wheaton Warrenville South to Harshbarger-Welzel Field.

“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 before the Wheaton North game last week. “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.”

But consider the following scenario.

If Naperville North were to fall short against Wheaton Warrenville South, which has won six of the past seven meetings in the series, it will need to beat at least one of the two marquee opponents left on its schedule after tonight, crosstown rival Naperville Central and No. 16 Glenbard North, two meetings that come in the final two weeks of the regular season, to become playoff-eligible with five wins.

Regardless of who is and who isn’t left on the schedule, one thing the Huskies will need to do much better if they hope to extend their playoff streak to 15 straight years and avoid missing out on the postseason for the first time since 1996 is throwing the football.

Senior quarterback Tyler Gehr threw for only 47 yards against the Falcons last week and managed only 17 passing yards in Naperville North’s lone victory, a 14-10 triumph over Thornton in Week 2.

“(Wheaton North coach) Joe (Wardynski) does a great job defensively and they have more guys that we could block,” Drendel said after the Wheaton North loss last Friday. “We kind of struggled throwing the football in the second half. It gets tough. If you can’t throw it, they’re gonna keep loading it up.”

Loading eight people up in the box in order to stop Gehr and senior running back Dan Puknaitis, who combined for 124 rushing yards and a pair of touchdowns against the Falcons, is a look Gehr and the rest of the maligned offense is going to keep seeing until he starts beating people with his arm.

Back at quarterback after spending last season on defense and practicing on a daily basis against former Huskies’ QB Matt LaCosse, Gehr is still adjusting to the demands that the quarterback position places upon you.

“Playing defense last year is probably one of the (biggest helps) of getting back to quarterback,” he said. “I understand what the defenses are trying to do. When coach tells me what kind of coverage they’re doing, I know exactly where the defensive backs and linebackers are trying to force me to throw the ball and where the key zones are and all that. That’s really helped a lot. Playing defense helped extraordinarily last year.”

Off to a 1-2 start to begin the season, as well, the No. 17 Tigers have gotten there in a much different fashion than the Huskies.

Replacing the vast majority of the team that went undefeated a season ago in winning the Class 7A crown, Wheaton Warrenville South has struggled offensively, given all of its personnel changes. Doing a better job of finishing offensive drives has been an issue in the season’s first three weeks.

Ottawa transfer Thaddeus Armstrong and sophomore Ryan Graham have both seen action at quarterback as the Tigers are still looking for a consistent replacement for Reilly O’Toole, who moved on to the University of Illinois.

“We’re playing both of them and they understand that. It’s whoever doing things the best at this time,” Wheaton Warrenville South coach Ron Muhitch said. “Have to have somebody who can make plays and can keep the offense moving, particularly in the red zone. But, more importantly, (keep the offense moving) on the third down conversions. We got to get somebody who can make a third down pass.”

Opening the season against the top two teams in the state, including a nationally-televised game at home against No. 2 Glenbard West on Aug. 28, Wheaton Warrenville South got off the schneid last week at home against West Aurora.

Trailing the Blackhawks 6-0 late in the third quarter, the Tigers scored the final 20 points of the game behind senior running back Dan Vitale.

Vitale, headed for Northwestern next fall, ran for 189 yards and scored three touchdowns late to help Wheaton Warrenville South avoid going 0-3.

With the loser tonight put in the unenviable spot of being 1-3, the significance of the game is there as the regular season enters its second trimester with both teams yet to play either Glenbard North or Naperville Central.

“That’s unusual for both teams in the history of all their success,” Muhitch said. “That doesn’t mean it can’t happen and it doesn’t mean it’s something that you can worry about. You have to play the game that you got coming up and worry strictly about that game and do the best you can.”

Muhitch’s counterpart on the sidelines tonight, Drendel, has also said repeatedly he believes his team will get stronger as the year goes on and that he wouldn’t want to play Naperville North down the stretch.

Recording a seventh loss in eight years to Wheaton Warrenville South tonight could make that proclamation a moot point.

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