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Fourth Quarter Heroics Lead Waubonsie Valley to 15-14 Upset of No. 4 Naperville Central

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All week long, Paul Murphy’s mantra to his Waubonsie Valley charges was simple: create chaos atop the DuPage Valley Conference.

Max Ihry and Tanner Westwood were happy to oblige.

Football Naperville Central Waubonsie-0053-September 19, 2015
Waubonsie Valley sophomore Tanner Westwood throws a halfback pass setting up the winning TD against Naperville Central on Sept. 19.

Ihry’s two fourth-quarter touchdowns – the second of which was set up a Westwood halfback pass to Jake Schroeder – allowed Waubonsie Valley to pull off an unbelievable comeback in upsetting No. 4 Naperville Central, 15-14, on Saturday.

“As (Jack Connolly) pitched it out to me, I just looked it back there and I saw the corner shot up,” said Westwood of his pass to Schroeder on a second-and-three from the Warriors’ 27 with under three minutes to play. “I just knew I had to complete it.”

Westwood, a sophomore making his varsity debut, had provided a spark with Rodney Gee out as he ran for 39 yards on three carries prior to his pass to Schroeder.

Four plays later, Ihry found paydirt with 53.6 left in regulation as the game looked to be headed to overtime.

That is before the Redhawks jumped offsides.

Murphy and the Warriors took full advantage as Connolly called his own number and ran into the end zone for the two-point conversion and a 15-14 lead.

“Definitely the craziest quarter of football I’ve ever played,” said Ihry, who ran for 105 yards on 17 carries. “Just getting those two touchdowns and then making that two-point conversion – it felt like I was on top of the world after that. Shout out to our line for performing very well on both sides of the ball.

“Our young defense stepped up. I think everyone actually stepped up today. So a great game of football.”

Waubonsie Valley senior running back Max Ihry.
Waubonsie Valley senior running back Max Ihry.

The Warriors (3-1, 3-1), owners of a second straight regular-season victory over the Redhawks (3-1, 3-1) established a five-way tie in the loss column atop the DVC.

“That was our goal: make sure there were no more undefeated teams left, after this week, in the conference,” Murphy said. “It’s a well-balanced conference. Naperville Central’s a damn good team. Our kids responded.”

Finally able to get some offensive traction courtesy of a five-play, 65-yard drive that Ihry ended with a 36-yard TD run with 7:22 left in regulation, the Warriors’ defense reciprocated by getting a stop.

Armed with newfound confidence, Connolly proceeded to lead the Warriors down the field 80 yards on six plays as Ihry ended the drive with his short TD run.

Behind the exploits of Jeremiah Wiggins and Luke Brady, the Redhawks built a 14-0 lead after three quarters by controlling the ground game.

Wiggins’ game-high 108 yards, highlighted by a 55-yard TD run on the first drive of the second half, allowed Naperville Central to run for 244 yards as a team.

Wiggins, Conor Joyce and Brady combined for 225 rushing yards.

The Redhawks ate up massive time on the clock with separate first-half drives of 16 and 13 plays.

Brady’s one-yard TD run with 11:13 left in the first half ended a 16-play, 70-yard scoring drive for Naperville Central, which only threw the ball twice in the first half.

After forcing a Waubonsie Valley punt, it got the ball back and proceeded to go on a 13-play drive that reached the Waubonsie Valley 19, but Brady was stuffed for no gain on a fourth down.

“We were able to run the ball and then, for whatever reason, we weren’t able to run it,” Naperville Central coach Mike Stine said. “We’d have a play here or there, so I’m not sure exactly what (changed) until I watch the film – to see exactly where the breakdowns were. But give Waubonsie credit. They made stops when they needed to – to get the ball back.

“We had a chance to run it out, to score to go up two scores or to run out the clock and we didn’t do either one of those. And Waubonsie got the ball back and went down and scored and then made a two-point conversion. So they deserved to win the game.”

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Blake Baumgartner
Blake Baumgartner
Raised in Naperville, Blake Baumgartner is a 2001 Naperville Central alumnus and a 2005 graduate of Michigan State's School of Journalism. Since March 2010, he has covered football, boys' basketball and baseball for both The Naperville Sun and Positively Naperville. Follow him on Twitter @BFBaumgartner.

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