Central Football Has To Win Two For Postseason

In the aftermath of Friday's 27-24 loss to Naperville North, Naperville Central's football team was facing a harsh reality.

At 3-3 with three games to go in the season, the Redhawks have to win two games to qualify for the postseason. On paper, a Week 8 game against West Chicago looks to be a winnable game.

That leaves Friday's home game against Wheaton North (4-2) and a Week 9 trip to Glenbard North (6-0). And the Redhawks have to win one of those games to avoid missing the postseason for the first time since 2002.

"We have to win two out of our last three," Central coach Mike Stine said. "They're not going to be easy. But you know what? You don't want them to be easy. You want to earn them. We'll have to earn our way in."

Central has had to overcome the loss of three defensive starters to injury. Offensively, the Redhawks had to get creative Friday as North tried to take tailback Matt Randolph out of the equation by loading up the box to stop him.

Quarterback Hayden Daniels and all-purpose threat Ian Lewandowski provided a new twist for the Redhawks.

Lewandowski lined up under center a few times Friday, even completing a pass to Daniels split out wide at one point. He ran the ball, caught passes, anything to help keep the Huskies off balance.

"He's a great athlete," Stine said. "Our offense is really Hayden, Ian and Matt. They make us go. They really wanted to take Matt out of the game. They had eight guys in the box most of the night; so we had to mix it up with formations, try to change things up. We were able to do that. We just needed to have the ball one more time."

Stine stopped short of calling last week's game a must win, saying that every DVC game is a big game. But after losing Friday, the onus is on the Redhawks to topple a playoff-bound team to get to the playoffs.