Naperville Central aiming to stop Glenbard North

Updated: September 29, 2011 10:14PM

With four of its five losses in 2010 coming by a combined 14 points, Naperville Central was closer to making the playoffs than some people may realize.

Holding leads in the fourth quarter in all four of those close losses, only to see them all eventually disappear, Naperville Central came agonizingly close to a playoff berth.

But it’s that final fourth-quarter lead that it let get away in its season finale at Glenbard North — resulting in a 21-14 loss — that has served as motivation for several players throughout the entire summer and fall practice.

“Losing the playoffs in one quarter of football, that just makes us want to not even get to that point. We want to get to the playoffs early, so that we know we’re already in. That’s our ultimate goal is to make the playoffs,” senior quarterback Ian Lewandowski said before the season.

In light of last week’s 14-7 loss at Wheaton Warrenville South, Naperville Central gets a golden opportunity to get back on track and stay in the DuPage Valley Conference race tonight when the No. 13 Panthers pay a visit to Memorial Stadium.

And like in the Redhawks’ close loss at Wheaton Warrenville South last week, which they have come to know all too well, tonight may also all be about the running backs.

Tigers’ senior and Northwestern-bound running back Dan Vitale bested the Redhawks’ Matt Randolph by running for 180 yards and the eventual game-winning score, an 82-yard touchdown run early in the third quarter that gave the Tigers a 14-0 lead.

Randolph had a rough go of it last week in rushing for only 60 yards on 19 carries, as Wheaton Warrenville South became the first team this season to hold him to under 100 yards and will look to get back on track against a Glenbard North defense that limited him to only 19 yards in last season’s regular-season finale, his lowest rushing output through 14 career games.

“I know they were down a guy or two last year up front on the offensive line,” Panthers’ coach Ryan Wilkens said. “We just had one more guy in the box than they could account for. … (Randolph) is one of the top backs in the area.”

Undefeated Glenbard North (5-0, 3-0 DuPage Valley) will stroll into Memorial Stadium tonight behind the exploits of its own senior running back, Phil Jackson.

Jackson ran for 127 yards and scored twice last week in the Panthers’ 31-21 victory over West Aurora and has 11 touchdowns in five games this season.

Slowing down Jackson and the rest of the Panthers’ offense, which has averaged 42 points through five games, won’t be an easy task, but the Redhawks’ defense has been playing well and both Wilkens and Naperville Central coach Mike Stine said the two teams are very similar.

“I think they’re gonna be a little bit different (from Wheaton Warrenville South),” Stine said of Glenbard North. “Their quarterback (junior Brian Murphy) is just as much of a threat as Jackson is. He can hurt you with his legs and he can throw the ball well enough.

“They’ve got more weapons than just besides Jackson. We just have to play sound, fundamental responsibility defense. We can’t put all of our focus on one guy or we’ll get hurt. We’ll go back our basic stuff and try and play good, sound offense and good, sound defense and try and cut down our mistakes.”

A year ago, Jackson was held under 100 yards on the ground by the Redhawks, gaining 89 yards on 18 carries.

A similar effort from Naperville Central defensive coordinator Mike Ulreich’s charges will be needed if Naperville Central (3-2, 2-1 DuPage Valley) hopes to rebound successfully from last week’s loss at Wheaton Warrenville South.

Ulreich expressed disappointment at the defense allowing Vitale and the Tigers to score the eventual game-winning touchdown last week on their favorite play, while also stressing the need for the defense to do a better job on getting off the field on third down against Glenbard North, in light of Glenbard North converting several critical third downs last year.

“Last week was on us. We allowed Vitale to have a better game than Matt,” Ulreich said. “That was on us. That’s a goal this week. We’ve got to do a better job stopping the run and make Matt have a better game.”

With a road date with Wheaton North coming next week, the conference race is still in Naperville Central’s control.

Pinning a loss on the undefeated Panthers tonight would leave four of the five perceived contenders in the conference before the season with one loss after six weeks.

“That’s kind of an interesting twist,” Wheaton Warrenville South coach Ron Muhitch said last week of a Naperville Central victory over Glenbard North tonight leaving four of the five contenders in the conference with one loss. “(It) puts everybody in the driver’s seat of their own destiny.”

There’s little doubt tonight marks the beginning of the three-week stretch that will define the Redhawks’ season, a stretch that culminates with their annual meeting with crosstown rival Naperville North at North Central College on Oct. 14.

It’s a three-game stretch that begins tonight in the midst of Stine concurring with Muhitch’s assessment and with the program still on course despite last week’s loss at Wheaton Warrenville South.

“We’ve told our team (that) all of our goals for the season — to win the conference and to win a state championship — are still all attainable,” Stine said. “We still control our own destiny. Losing (last) Friday night (at Wheaton Warrenville South) was a stumble, but we still control our own destiny. That’s what this group set their goals to be — to be the conference champs and to contend for a state title. Those are the goals that we’re still striving to reach.”

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