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Matt Randolph runs Naperville Central into next round
Updated: October 28, 2011 10:18PM
Naperville Central welcomed Minooka, a Class 7A quarterfinalist a year ago, into the Class 8A football playoffs by handing it a 40-13 loss in a first-round match up Friday in Minooka.
No. 9 Naperville Central (7-3) will host No. 16 Belleville East (6-4), a 14-7 upset winner over No. 1 Waubonsie Valley (9-1) Friday.
Matt Randolph ran for 192 yards and scored three touchdowns, Ian Lewandowski passed for 176 yards and a two scores and Tyler Gillen kicked a pair of field goals for the Redhawks.
“We figured they were going to put eight or nine guys in the box to try and stop our running game,” Naperville Central coach Mike Stine said. “Our passing game is better than people give us credit for. Ian can throw it, we have receivers who can catch it and we have a line that can protect him.”
Lewandowski threw a 30-yard touchdown pass to John Dicianni and Randolph ran 20 yards to stake the visitors a 13-0 lead.
Minooka’s next play was an 82-yard touchdown from Joe Carnagio to Luke Stovall that cut the lead to 13-6.
The Indians’ defense came up big on the Redhawks’ next drive, forcing a punt.
However, Lewandowski took the snap and hit Randolph for a 41-yard touchdown pass on a fake punt that stunned Minooka and gave Naperville Central a 20-6 lead.
Gillen hit field goals of 40 and 35 yards, Randolph ran 67 yards for a touchdown and Lewandowski went in from 20 yards to bump the lead to 40-6 seven seconds into the fourth quarter.
Nate McGuire’s 3-yard touchdown run finished the scoring for Minooka, which started and ended the season with back-to-back losses.
“They are a good football team,” Minooka coach Bert Kooi said. “We made some mistakes early and you can’t do that against a good football team. They were certainly the better football team today.”
Minooka’s Kalvin Hill rushed for 62 yards on 10 carries and Carnagio completed 8 of 21 passes for 140 yards.
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