It’s that magical time of year with Halloween in the rear view and playoff football on the horizon. The round one edition of Football Friday is here with four local teams in the post season, three in class 8A and Benet Academy playing in the 5A bracket. Let’s get to the highlights from Friday night! Football Friday is sponsored by BMO.
Schaumburg vs. Naperville Central
All season long Naperville Central has proven to be the team to beat in the area, finishing the year 8-1 and earning a seven seed in the 8A playoffs. The Redhawks host the 26th seeded Saxons of Schaumburg, who finished the regular season 5-4.
Aiden Clark has been battling a knee injury over the second half of the season, but on this night, the Redhawk running back looked right as rain bursting through the defense for a 44-yard touchdown to open the scoring.
Later in the quarter, Central quarterback Sebastian Hayes rolls to his right out of the play action before finding Ryan Downey for the touchdown pass. The Redhawks take a 13-0 lead.
In the second quarter, Hayes drops back and finds a streaking Garrett Nichols down the sidelines and he walks the tightrope 63-yards into the end zone. The Redhawks take a 27-0 lead into halftime.
The Naperville Central defense has been stout all season and this would be no exception. Paul Peradotti with an interception along the sidelines to help preserve the shutout. The Redhawks roll into round two following a 48-0 blowout.
Waubonsie Valley vs. Oswego
On last week’s edition of Football Friday, we were unsure if five-win Waubonsie Valley would have enough playoff points to make the cut, but the Warriors were able to earn the 30 seed when the 8A bracket was announced. Waubonsie makes the short road trip to face the undefeated three-seed Oswego Panthers as the green and gold returns to the post season for the first time since 2018.
Early in the third quarter with Oswego holding a 6-0 lead, the Panthers go for it in Waubonsie territory. Defensive back Owen Roberts makes a nice break on the ball to force the incompletion and give the ball back to the Warriors.
Waubonsie Valley with second and goal from the six and the team uses the Wildcat formation with Chrisjan Simmons taking the snap and throwing into the end zone. But Jeremiah Cain makes the interception for Oswego to keep the Warriors off the board.
The Panthers drive down the field and hand the ball off to Dekker Zelensek who cuts through the line and breaks through a few ankle tackles to find the end zone. Oswego gets a two point conversion to take a 14-0 lead into the fourth quarter.
Late in the fourth, Waubonsie Valley gets on the board for the first time as Chrisjan Simmons cuts through the defense and finds the end zone from ten yards away. However, Oswego recovers the onside kick and holds off the Warriors for a 21-7 victory. Waubonsie finishes the season 5-5 while the Panthers advance to face York in the second round.
Perspectives vs. Benet Academy
After three consecutive 4-5 seasons, Benet Academy is back in the post season dance for the first time since 2019 following a 6-3 campaign. The Redwings are in class 5A this fall and play host as the seven seed against the Perspectives/Leadership Co-Op from Chicago, who visits Benedictine as a 10 seed.
Midway through the first quarter, Benet with the ball at the Warriors 14-yard line. Marty Radgowski takes the handoff and follows his blockers into the open field and into the end zone to put the Redwings up 7-0.
Later in the quarter, following a Luke Doyle interception, this time Doyle makes the reception for the Redwings via Ryan Kubacki Jr to put the Wings in front 13-0.
This game was all Benet Academy, Kubacki shows that he can run the ball as well, darting through the defense down the sidelines for a 45-yard touchdown run. The Redwings win their first playoff game since 2017 by the score of 48-0 and advance to the second round.
Round Two Schedules
Naperville North plays its first round game on Saturday, November 2nd at home against Maine South with the 7-2 Huskies earning a 13 seed in the 8A playoffs. You will be able to find the full highlight later that night on nctv17.org.
Moving on to round two with a pair of games on the docket next Friday night. Naperville Central will be back at home for a 7:30 pm kickoff against the 10-seeded Fremd Vikings in hopes of returning to the quarterfinals for the first time since 2017. Fremd defeated Andrew 42-20 to advance to the second round.
Benet Academy will be playing on the road at the two-seed Rochelle in the 5A bracket at 7 pm on Friday as the Redwings look to knock off the 9-1 Hubs, who crushed Marmion Academy in round one.
If Naperville North is able to defeat Maine South, the Huskies will play at 10-0 West Aurora next Saturday. The Blackhawks are the four-seed in 8A, defeating Huntley 31-21 in the first round. In that scenario, next week’s Football Friday will be released on Sunday morning. But for now we know at least one more week of Football Friday is upcoming next week. Only 16 teams remain in each bracket as the competition grows! We’ll see you following round two, thanks for watching!
For more prep sports highlights, visit the Naperville Sports Weekly page!
