Neuqua Valley has no problem with controlling pace and the clock by running it time after time after time.
On a windy Friday night against Naperville North, that desire to run, run, run almost became a necessity.
On the way to becoming postseason-eligible, No. 10 Neuqua Valley accumulated 257 yards on the ground during a 34-7 DuPage Valley Conference victory over Naperville North.
DeVaughn Welch – courtesy of 75 yards and two TDs on eight carries – led the way for the Wildcats (5-1, 4-1), who got rushing touchdowns from three players while six players ran for positive yardage.
“Going against the wind, Coach (Bill Ellinghaus) told us, ‘We’re about to run the ball the whole time,’” Welch said of the 11-play, 65-yard scoring drive on the first possession of the game. “I credit the line because I can’t do my job without the line. The line’s the most important thing and I just couldn’t do it without them.”
Greg McClellan and Griffen Philgren joined Welch in the end zone with rushing TDs for Neuqua Valley, which scored on four of its five first-half possessions.
Welch had first-half touchdown runs of 15 and four yards while McClellan added a 15-yard TD run as the Wildcats ran for 197 yards in the first half.
Aside from a Jack Stankoven fumble, the Wildcats found pay dirt all four other times they had the ball in the first 24 minutes.
The four first-half scoring drives Stankoven engineered spanned 65, 78, 80 and 61 yards.
“We challenged the kids and they responded,” Ellinghaus said. “They weren’t happy with the way we played last week (in a 21-7 victory at Bartlett) either, so it was good to see them come out (focused). I felt like we dominated the line of scrimmage – No. 1 – but then our kids ran hard and played pretty mistake-free. … The kids played well. I thought the kids played really well.”
Stankoven finished six-of-10 passing for 101 yards and a 29-yard TD pass to Michael Wisinski, which gave the Wildcats a 27-0 lead with 8:17 to play in the first half.
Defensively, the Wildcats limited the Huskies (0-6, 0-5) to 20 total yards in the first half, including forcing three three-and-outs and a JaQuere Williams interception of Luke Cegles.
Isaiah Robertson’s interception of Dylan Fadden on the first drive of the second half immediately preceded Philgren’s 18-yard touchdown run that put the Wildcats up 34-0 with 10:25 left in the third.
“I was just watching the tight end release,” Robertson said. “It was third down. I knew they had to throw, so I just keyed in on him. We played fast and physical and we were really able to shut their offense down.”
Naperville North played all three of its quarterbacks – with Cegles getting the start – and was held without a first down until 4:05 was left in the third quarter.
Jaylen Lockhart’s 10-yard TD run early in the fourth finally got the Huskies on the scoreboard as they only had 114 total yards.
Lockhart ended up with 33 yards on nine carries for Naperville North while the three quarterbacks combined for two-of-11 passing for 28 yards and the two interceptions.
“They’re outstanding,” Naperville North coach Sean Drendel said of Neuqua Valley. “They’re a very good team, so when you don’t play well against a good team – that’s what you’re going to get. But that’s a lot on them, a lot on Neuqua. They made us not look good.”
[shareprints gallery_id=”48483″ gallery_type=”squares” gallery_position=”pos_center” gallery_width=”width_100″ image_size=”small” image_padding=”2″ theme=”dark” image_hover=”false” lightbox_type=”slide” comments=”false” sharing=”true”]PURCHASE PHOTOS FROM THIS GALLERY
