Wheaton North (0-2, 0-1 DuPage Valley) @ Naperville North (0-2, 0-1 DuPage Valley), 7:30PM
Last week: Wheaton North lost at Joliet Catholic, 34-14; Naperville North lost at Metea Valley, 29-28
Storyline: In the race to five victories and postseason eligibility, both Wheaton North and Naperville North are still looking for that first victory.
In hopes of snapping an eight-game losing streak dating back to last year, Naperville North jumped out to a 21-8 halftime lead at Metea Valley a week ago and had a 28-15 lead with 5:50 to play following a T.J. Agyakye pick-six.
However, Conner Lovely rallied his troops with a pair of late TDs passes to Jordan Cagigal and Brad Fekety, which gave the Mustangs their first lead at 29-28 with 51 seconds left to play.
The Huskies totaled 430 yards offensively, with 381 of those coming on the ground as running back Jalen Lockhart ran for 206 yards and a TD on 29 carries while Dylan Fadden ran for 84 yards on 14 carries.
Defensively, Naperville North gave up 383 total yards to Metea Valley but intercepted Lovely three times with Agyakye hawking two and Nate Hankin picking a pass off, as well.
Meanwhile, Wheaton North is coming off a 34-14 loss to Joliet Catholic, which saw the Hilltoppers churn out 352 rushing yards as a team.
The Falcons come to Naperville for their third straight road game to start the season after a 10-7, double-overtime loss in Week 1 at Wheaton Warrenville South and the 20-point loss to Joliet Catholic.
Junior quarterback Luke Anthony threw a pair of TD passes to Steele Graham and Marcus Gustaveson to account for the Wheaton North scoring against the Hilltoppers but was intercepted twice.
Gustaveson has caught two of Anthony’s three touchdown passes on the year.
Naperville North hasn’t beaten Wheaton North since a 27-7 road victory on Oct. 17, 2008.
Naperville North coach Sean Drendel on Wheaton North: “Defensively, they’re super physical and offensively, they’re super skilled. Their defense does a lot of good things. I know Joliet Catholic can run the ball on a lot of people, so Joliet Catholic being able to run the ball on them doesn’t discredit anything Wheaton North’s doing. They’re really good defensively, as you saw against Wheaton South. So their defense is going to be a lot to handle.”
“(Anthony) is a returner and they have some great receivers. Their sophomore running back (Bo Neidballa) is a big, physical kid, so they got a lot of skill on offense that you got to slow down and stop, which we’ve struggled with – teams throwing the football.”
“(Anthony) is a year older and he’s in control of his team. He looks very confident (as a) quarterback back there, so he’ll be tough to handle.”
