Can one game turn the tenor of a season on a dime?
For sixth-seeded Naperville Central, it certainly hopes it doesn’t.
The 22-21 victory Bolingbrook earned over Homewood-Flossmoor in the waning seconds last Friday – courtesy of a field goal from Gino Carcerano with 12.6 seconds remaining in regulation – sent it into the postseason for a 24th straight time.
The Redhawks, outright DVC champions for the first time since 2001 and owners of an 8-1 regular-season record for the first time since 2004, aren’t taking any chances in regards to the 27th-seeded Raiders.
“They’re a good football team,” Naperville Central coach Mike Stine said of the 5-4 Raiders. “They’re good this year. Their record is misleading. It’s going to be a big test for us. We’re excited for the opportunity. I don’t know a lot about them, except what I’ve watched on film.”
What Stine and his coaching staff will see is a Bolingbrook team that has averaged 29.7 points despite only winning two games in a row only one time throughout the year.
The task for quarterback Conor Joyce, Iowa-bound Emmanuel Rugamba, Matt Lehmann and the Naperville Central offense will be surrounded around how to deal with Tuf Borland, the Raiders’ Ohio State-bound linebacker.
“He’s a tremendous player,” Naperville Central defensive coordinator Mike Ulreich said of Borland. “He’s as fundamentally sound, too, at linebacker as there is. He does a great job of moving. His feet are unbelievable, so if we can stretch the field – I think always for us that’s what gives us problems. Teams that can spread you horizontally and vertically, that negates some of the players you have at times.”
Over the last four weeks, Joyce, Rugamba and Lehmann have turned the Redhawks’ offense into overdrive en route to averaging 34.3 points in recording victories over Batavia, Naperville North, Wheaton North and Lake Park.
After recording a pair of 264-yard passing games against Batavia and Wheaton North, Joyce threw for a season-high 273 yards in last week’s 28-7 victory at Lake Park.
On the year, Joyce has thrown for 1,644 yards and 13 touchdowns with just two interceptions while running for 256 yards and five touchdowns.
“Each week, we’ve been trying to build off the previous,” Joyce said after throwing for three touchdowns and running for another against Lake Park. “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.”
Whereas Joyce has been the guy under center from day one, Bolingbrook has used both Michael Freeze and Joseph Coates at quarterback.
D’Angelo Colon, Jazontae Howard and Jaylen Griffin rotate at running back for the Raiders while Kendall Smith gives either Freeze or Coates a primary receiving target.
In four of their five victories this season, Bolingbrook has scored at least 37 points.
On the other hand, its four losses have seen Bolingbrook surrender an average of 31.8 points a game, so Joyce and the Redhawks’ burgeoning offense should have opportunities to move the ball.
When the two programs last met four years ago, Aaron Bailey single-handedly sent the Raiders into the 2011 Class 8A state title game by utilizing his arm and legs while operating out of the triple option.
As Naperville Central prepares to welcome Bolingbrook back to Memorial Stadium, it does so knowing Bolingbrook is completely different from the team that eliminated it with a 22-19 victory.
“When we played them in the semis, they were a triple option team,” Ulreich said. “That was kind of the staple of what they did. Now they’re a gun spread team that runs zone, zone-read and triple right out of the spread.”
Much is made every year of how the DVC prepares its teams for the postseason.
A one-point loss at Waubonsie Valley in Week 4 represents the Redhawks’ only blemish of the year and with many outside pundits believing they can get back to DeKalb, they’re putting faith in what they’ve done.
“We got to go 1-0 this week,” Stine said. “We got to prepare for Bolingbrook and hopefully the schedule we’ve played – in terms of the guys. I think the nine games that we’ve played up to this point has prepared us to play anybody.”
