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Thursday, March 28, 2024

Thorne, Redhawks too much for Neuqua Valley

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Payton Thorne’s influence on Naperville Central’s offense has been immediate.

If given the chance, the Redhawks’ offense won’t waste much time in making you pay for mistakes.

A pair of five-play scoring drives helped highlight Naperville Central’s 24-14 DuPage Valley Conference victory over Neuqua Valley on Friday.

“I think we played well in the first half,” Thorne said. “Our O-line played fantastic in the first half. I thought they gave me plenty of time to throw the ball.”

Jayden Reed and Tommy Coyne don’t hurt matters in that regard.

The Western Michigan-bound Reed and Coyne combined to catch 13 of Thorne’s 14 completions on the night for the Redhawks (2-0, 2-0).

Thorne’s 73-yard heave to Coyne in the first half’s waning seconds gave Naperville Central a 14-0 lead into halftime.

“We think it’s lethal,” said Coyne, who caught two passes for 110 yards. “We think we got a bunch of weapons and we think that we can open up, really anything, from anywhere on the field – with AJ (Deinhart), with us and with Payton, whether he’s running or throwing the ball. I think as long as we’re reading our keys, executing and just breaking down our fundamentals, we’ll be good.”

Thorne ended his night 14-of-20 passing for 264 yards while his counterpart, Neuqua Valley’s Jake Eskoff, threw for 141 yards with one touchdown and two interceptions.

Less than two minutes into the third, the Redhawks were up 17-0 on the Wildcats (1-1, 1-1), courtesy of Vaughn Hallstrom’s 28-yard field goal.

The Redhawks celebrate after Tommy Carlsen’s pick-six.

Tommy Carlsen’s pick-six of Eskoff with 7:17 left in regulation came minutes after Braden Lindmark intercepted Eskoff deep in Naperville Central territory.

“We game planned that all week, especially in the defensive backs’ room,” Carlsen said of stopping the Neuqua Valley passing game. “We trusted our keys Tuesday and Wednesday at practice. … It was really about trusting our keys. The defensive backs played really well (Friday). It was just unbelievable.”

With the Naperville Central defense focusing heavily on Eskoff, running back Cameron Raupach was ready to go for Neuqua Valley.

Raupach had the Wildcats’ first TD – a three-yard run with 4:31 left in the third – to get them on the board.

All told, he ran 31 times for 144 yards.

“Our offensive line was getting a great push,” Raupach said. “They deserve a lot of the credit – actually most of it. I was just going to the holes that they opened up for me. They were being horses. We just (have) to execute a little better.”

His team finally getting an opportunity to play at home next week against Waubonsie Valley, Bill Ellinghaus knows the Wildcats are still in a good spot.

“I’m proud of the way our kids battled,” Ellinghaus said. “They weren’t … I guess they weren’t ready to shut down for even a second. We battled, I thought, that whole second half. I’m proud of our kids for that.”

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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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