Does a loss sometimes eventually become a good thing?
While Naperville Central coach Mike Stine wholeheartedly doesn’t subscribe to that theory, his quarterback has a different take on its 15-14 loss at Waubonsie Valley back in September.
[alert type=blue ]Kickoff – 1:30PM Saturday at Dick Kerner Stadium at Waubonsie Valley, the corner of Eola Rd. and Ogden Ave. in Aurora.[/alert]
“That loss just kind of humbled us in a way to where we realized that we weren’t really as good as we were thinking we were,” Joyce said. “We needed to get back to basics of just practicing hard and just playing football the Naperville Central way. Then, after that, once we got a few of those wins under our belt – we just kept rolling after that and didn’t want to feel a loss like that again.”
At 10-1 overall, Joyce and the sixth-seeded Redhawks make the trek to Dick Kerner Stadium for the fourth time since 2014 to face the 30th-seeded Warriors with the program’s third state semifinal trip since 2011 at stake.
Seven victories have followed that loss to the Warriors, which saw the Redhawks surrender a 14-0 lead entering the fourth quarter, and that humbling feeling has led to an offensive explosion of sorts.
Of the seven victories they’ve posted since that one-point loss at Waubonsie Valley on Sept. 19, five times their offense has put up at least 28 points.
The 49 points scored last week against 22nd-seeded Warren in a 49-28 victory marked a season-high for Naperville Central as its offense has kicked into high gear behind Joyce, Emmanuel Rugamba and Matt Lehmann.
Through 11 games, Joyce has thrown for 2,024 yards and 14 touchdowns – as 10 of them have gone in the direction of either the Iowa-bound Rugamba or Lehmann.
Waubonsie Valley coach Paul Murphy, whose team is in the state quarterfinals for the fourth time in program history, has definitely taken note of Joyce’s handiwork.
“I’d say that they’ve opened up their offense quite a bit since we played them in Week 4,” Murphy said. “They’re what … seven games now since we played them and I think in three or four of those seven, they opened up with a big pass to Rugamba in each game. So they’ve definitely opened up their offense.”
For the 7-4 Warriors, who sit a victory shy of the program’s first state semifinal trip since 1992, the key towards combating Joyce and company may lie in their 210-pound senior running back and linebacker.
Max Ihry, headed to Northern Illinois as a wrestler, ran 36 times for 190 yards and a TD in Waubonsie Valley’s 21-14 upset of Neuqua Valley last week.
How the Redhawks deal with Ihry, who had two fourth-quarter touchdown runs in the first meeting, will be just as important as how Waubonsie Valley deals with the Redhawks’ offensive arsenal.
“I think the key is just getting more hats around the football and making sure that any scheme or anything we do,” Naperville Central defensive coordinator Mike Ulreich said, “just making sure we have enough guys where we’re not putting defensive backs or linebackers in tough positions. Having to single-tackle Ihry is just really asking kids to do too much.
“So, really, the emphasis is going to be how do we get as many hats as we can around the football, especially in space, if not one-on-one on a DB? But, other than that, we’re not going to change too much of what we do. Certainly there’s an awareness of where (Ihry) is at on the field.”
From first-hand experience, Ulreich knows the difficulty of trying to deal with Ihry, who has racked up 1,228 rushing yards and 13 TDs thus far.
Much like with the first meeting and similar to what every team has tried to do with the Warriors, putting the focus and pressure on Warriors’ quarterback Jack Connolly would be ideal.
Connolly – up to this point – has thrown for 847 yards and seven touchdowns while running for 485 yards and five touchdowns and will be ready to step up if needed.
“I’m confident that if comes down to that, I’ll be able to,” Connolly said. “Obviously, it’d be nice if Ihry just keeps running all over people and I don’t need to. … I got faith in my O-line that they’ll be able to give me time and then I feel I got enough weapons in the passing game, guys like Chuck (Robinson) and Milan (Fowler), that if it comes down to it and I need to win a game with my arm, then I’ll be able to.”
But it’s no secret of the way Waubonsie Valley will try and be successful – ride Ihry.
Against the Wildcats in the fourth quarter last week, Ihry touched the ball 15 of the 17 times the Warriors snapped the ball during the game’s final 9:41 as he single-handedly willed his team to victory.
That recipe won’t change at all if Waubonsie Valley has its way.
“It’s just making good decisions with the football, not turning it over,” Murphy said. “We got to keep the ball away from their offense and that’s kind of been our M.O. all year. The games that we’ve won we’ve been able to keep the ball away from the other team’s offense for a lot of the game. And that’s going to be any different this week.”
Naperville Central had first-half drives of 16 and 13 plays against the Warriors back in September but could only manage a Luke Brady touchdown run early in the second quarter.
The second half opened by seeing the Redhawks score on a 55-yard Jeremiah Wiggins touchdown run to take a 14-0 lead.
Ron Griffin’s defensive charges would buckle down and keep Naperville Central off the scoreboard until the heroics of Ihry and Tanner Westwood, courtesy of a halfback pass, took hold in the fourth.
Stine knows his team controlled matters during the game’s first 36 minutes and that’s what he’s choosing to focus on as the two programs meet in the postseason for a second straight year.
“We moved the ball plenty when we played them the first time,” he said. “We just didn’t score. So it’s not like we need to change a whole lot. We won’t change a whole lot. We are what we are. We’ve talked about the game to the kids, but we haven’t focused on it.
“I told them Monday, ‘What happened in Week 4 doesn’t matter.’ It really doesn’t. It about this week, preparing the best we can prepare to beat a team in the quarterfinals. We got to go 1-0, 48 minutes, to earn seven more days together and that’s really what our battle cry is.”
