Ask Neuqua Valley coach Bill Ellinghaus what makes Hinsdale Central’s offense so good and he’ll give you a succinct answer.
“I think that’s what makes them good,” Ellinghaus said of the Red Devils’ quarterback combination of Michael Sessa and Josh Bean. “You have one kid who comes in and throws the ball all over the place and then the other kid is a little more of a scrambler. But they’re both very, very talented. Offensively, they do a lot of different things and you can’t just lock in on one thing.”
For 19th-seeded Neuqua Valley, its Class 8A first-round trip to Hinsdale on Saturday night offers an opportunity to get back to playing the way it did to get off to a 6-1 start.
Any success the Wildcats (6-3) hope to have as they look to snap a two-game losing streak starts and ends with how they deal with a potent offense that the Red Devils (7-2) feature.
Sessa and Bean have been charged with operating an offense for 14th-seeded Hinsdale Central that has averaged 39.2 points a game while putting up an average of 416 yards a game.
While Sessa has thrown for 1,573 yards and 17 touchdowns, Bean has 729 total yards from scrimmage and 12 touchdowns for Hinsdale Central.
The presence of Christian Bobak’s 990 rushing yards and 10 touchdowns in the backfield and four receivers who have at least 20 receptions just adds to what Neuqua Valley will be concerned about.
“They do a lot of different things offensively that you got to control,” Ellinghaus said. “They’ve been able to put up monster numbers offensively, So we’re obviously concerned about their offense being very good.”
One way for the Wildcats to try and limit the production from Sessa, Bean, Bobak and the Red Devils’ depth at receivers is to control the clock.
The return of Nick Osikowicz from an injury last week against Glenbard North is a good place to start when considering Osikowicz leads their running game with 415 yards and nine touchdowns.
Five Wildcats have run for at least 125 yards while six players have recorded a rushing touchdown.
No matter who’s getting reps, the caliber of the offensive line charged with blocking for them gives Ellinghaus hope they can get back to what they do best.
“I think it’s going to work well,” he said. “I think we have to be physical with them and we have to continue to establish a run game and you also have to stay the course with the run game. So I know it’s not going to be easy. I know they’re a good team. They’re 7-2 for a reason. They’ve lost two football games to two outstanding football teams.
“But we feel good about our running game, eventhough we’ve had multiple kids in the backfield. Getting Nick back this week should be a boost to our run game and we feel like our offensive line is very strong and we feel like we can establish a run game.”
In addition to a failure to establish a running game, turnovers played such a big role in the consecutive home losses to Lake Park and Glenbard North to end the year.
Quarterback Jack Stankoven threw a red zone interception against the Lancers and the Wildcats turned the ball over four times against the Panthers last week, all on interceptions.
Through nine games, Stankoven has thrown for 1,495 yards and 14 touchdowns to go with six interceptions, four of which have come in the last two weeks.
His ability to consistently get the ball in the hands of Isaiah Robertson, Owen Piche and Brett Borske has been there at different times throughout the year.
Getting Stankoven back settled in offensively is as imperative as it is to establish a run game and Ellinghaus’ recipe to getting a victory over Hinsdale Central is concise.
“Get back to how we were playing the first six, seven games of the season,” Ellinghaus said, “when we were pretty good not turning the ball over and getting numbers to the ball and tackling the football, then we’ll be good.”
The one thing that can’t happen is getting behind early to the Red Devils, especially when you consider what their offense has done.
Hinsdale Central’s defense has come up with seven interceptions and eight fumble recoveries on the year while allowing four of nine opponents to 14 points or less.
Defensively, they’ve been able to get teams into predictable situations,” Ellinghaus said, “and making teams throw against them because they have been jumping out to early leads. So when you do that, their defense becomes that much better. Any time you make a team predictable, it makes them that much better.”
