Big Homecoming Win Sends Redhawks to Playoffs on a High Note

The seniors on this year’s football team had not done a lot of winning the last three years and had not earned a berth to the state playoffs prior to this season.

But the Redhawks capped off the regular season Friday night in front of a large Homecoming crowd in fine fashion, pounding visiting West Chicago 42-7 behind another strong defensive effort and another big night from the legs of senior running back Matt Randolph.

With the win, Naperville Central improved to 6-3 on the year and 5-2 in the DuPage Valley Conference heading into next weekend’s IHSA state football playoffs. Last year’s squad went 4-5 and missed the playoffs, while this senior class also suffered some tough lumps while they were freshmen and sophomores.

Randolph, who had five touchdowns in last week’s crosstown win over , picked up five more Friday against the Wildcats, who close out the year 1-8, 1-6. The Redhawks defense, meanwhile, scored a touchdown of its own when Cody Campbell scooped up an errant West Chicago pitch and scampered 28 yards to the end zone for a quick 21-0 first-quarter lead.

“We’re definitely filling the holes and making the plays, and getting turnovers is big,” said Campbell, a 6-foot-3 defensive lineman. “I missed one (fumble) last week, but this week I got it and then (John) Dulleck made a nice block or else their running back may have been able to stop me.”

But, on this night, West Chicago had a difficult time stopping much of anything Naperville Central threw its way. Randolph scored on a 56-yard run on the first play from scrimmage and following a punt by the Wildcats, he added a 6-yard TD to make it 14-0 less than three minutes into the contest.

Campbell’s defensive score then made it 21-0 after one quarter and Randolph, who now has 17 touchdowns on the season, added rushing scores of 28 and 3 yards as the hosts took a commanding 35-0 lead at the half.

“Now the real season begins,” Central Coach Mike Stine said. “As I told these seniors, we challenged them last November. We asked them how they wanted to be remembered. We did Chapter one, which was to make the playoffs. Now our goal is to go make a run at the state title.”

Linebacker Luke Roth thinks the Redhawks can indeed make some noise in the playoffs. “We’ve really come together as a team,” Roth said. “And the games that we lost were really close. We feel like we can beat anyone.”