Matt Lehmann making explosive plays all over the field for Naperville Central.
In what has quickly become a broken record and a weekly occurrence, the Conor Joyce-to-Lehmann connection was once again in full force on Friday night.
Lehmann caught a pair of touchdown passes from Joyce, who threw three touchdown passes while running for one, as No. 6 Naperville Central cruised to a 28-7 DuPage Valley Conference victory over Lake Park in Roselle.
All told, Lehmann caught four Joyce passes for 93 yards while coming down with TD receptions of 47 and 33 yards for the Redhawks.
In the past four weeks, Lehmann has recorded 637 total yards to go along with five touchdowns to help spark a five-game winning streak for the Redhawks.
“They’ve been special,” he said of his last four weeks. “I love it. When they double-team Manny (Rugamba) like that and all the focus is on him, other guys got to step up. I love it.”
Its first outright DVC title since 2001 now in hand, along with its first 8-1 regular season since 2004, Naperville Central (8-1, 7-1) will await its Class 8A postseason assignment come Saturday,
“For the seniors, it’s huge for us,” Lehmann said. “That was our first goal coming into the season. That’s one of the three goals we have: (DVC title), make playoffs and then win state. It means so much to us because we’ve been working for two hard years. It was awesome to do it.”
Spurred on by a goal-line stand late in the third from Mike Ulreich’s defense, which saw the unit hold the Lancers three times inside the Naperville Central four-yard line, Joyce led a drive to remember.
Naperville Central put the nail in the coffin of Lake Park (4-5, 4-4) by going on a nine-play, 97-yard scoring drive that Jordan Crissy ended with a 13-yard touchdown catch with 8:34 to play.
Highlighted by an efficient first half, which saw him complete 10-of-12 passes for 131 yards and a score, Joyce ended his night by completing 18 of his 24 passes for 264 yards and three TDs.
“Each week, we’ve been trying to build off the previous,” Joyce said. “We got an outstanding offensive line. It starts right there and without them, we’re not able to do what we’ve been doing and we got outstanding playmakers – all of our receivers – and we’re just lucky to have them to help us make plays each week.”
Aside from the goal-line stand at the tail end of the third quarter, Ulreich’s defensive charges and the Redhawks’ special teams made opportune plays.
Already up 14-7, Naperville Central turned a muffed punt around midfield with about four minutes gone in the third into Lehmann’s second TD of the night, a 33-yard TD reception with 7:41 to play in the quarter.
A Garrett Purdy interception of Jaron Fields late in the first half helped stem a Lancers’ drive and kept Naperville Central up 14-7 as the two teams eventually went into halftime.
“The focus was to come out and play and take away what Lake Park liked to do,” Naperville Central coach Mike Stine said. “That’s a really good football team. They really are and we made some plays in the second half – our playmakers did. Our defense stands up and if you’ve watched us much this year, no one really talks much about our defense.
“We don’t have any superstars on that team, but – damn – as an unit, they’re really good. It makes it easy to call an offense when you got guys with like our defense.”
Joyce and the Redhawks’ offense picked up where it left off last week against Wheaton North by taking the ball down on the game’s first possession and scoring.
Joyce’s three-yard TD run capped a 10-play, 65-yard scoring drive for Naperville Central which took its first lead with 8:18 left in the first,
After a pair of three-and-outs from both teams and Lancers’ senior wide receiver Zach Okolita’s seven-yard touchdown reception from Fields, Joyce and his offensive mates were at it again.
Highlighted by a 47-yard touchdown strike to Lehmann over the middle of the field, Joyce led a six-play, 80-yard scoring drive to put the Redhawks up 14-7 with 8:38 left in the half.
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