Wheaton North (3-4, 3-3 DuPage Valley) @ No. 8 Naperville Central (6-1, 5-1 DuPage Valley), 7:30 p.m.
Last week: Wheaton North lost to Neuqua Valley, 34-17; Naperville Central beat Naperville North, 41-10
Storyline: Back in the Class 8A postseason officially after beating Naperville North last week, Naperville Central returns to Memorial Stadium for its final home game of the season.
Tied atop the DVC with Neuqua Valley at 5-1, positioning inside the conference is something for the Redhawks to play for these last two weeks.
Conor Joyce led scoring drives on six of the Redhawks’ first seven possessions against the Huskies last week – with all six of those drives resulting in TDs.
Joyce and Matt Lehmann each had two rushing touchdowns while Joyce and Lehmann connected through the air five times for 89 yards.
Jeremiah Wiggins and Luke Brady each ran for a TD as Naperville Central collectively ran for 176 yards on 40 carries a week ago.
Meanwhile, Wheaton North has to win out to become postseason-eligible and avoid missing out on the postseason for a second straight year after losing at home to Neuqua Valley.
Falcons’ junior quarterback Luke Anthony completed 10 of his 20 passes for 182 yards against the Wildcats last week.
Riley Lomenick accounted for both Falcons’ TDs against the Wildcats with a pair of touchdown runs to highlight a 88-yard night on 26 carries.
After a three-game winning streak following two losses to start the year, Wheaton North has lost its last two games by a combined score of 48-17.
Naperville Central coach Mike Stine on Wheaton North: (The fact the Falcons aren’t scoring) is a little bit surprising to me because their offense looks pretty good on paper. They’re very athletic, so they present a lot of problems. So I hope they don’t get healthy this week with their offense.
“(Anthony) is obviously a good player. I think he plays with a little more confidence. I think the game’s probably a little slower – just like it is for Conor. I think it’s similar. Just playing in our league, that year experience just makes a huge difference.
“They’re going to run their 4-3 defense. They’re going to be very fundamentally sound. It’s very similar to what Wheaton South runs. Obviously they got some ties there and their guys are going to play aggressive. They’re going to get seven, eight, nine guys at times in the box to try and stop the running game.
“When they do that, we got to pick our poison and be able to throw the ball. Teams that want to put seven, eight, nine guys in the box, then you got to single-cover our receivers. And if you’re single-covering our receivers, we like our chances.”
