Football: Naperville Central Crushes Belleville East 43-3

Host Naperville Central overwhelmed Belleville East 43-3 Friday in the second-round of the 8A state playoffs, advancing to the quarterfinals for the first time since 2006.

The Redhawks (8-3) will face Homewood-Flossmoor (8-3) next weekend at Naperville Central. The Vikings beat Lockport 48-7 Friday. Central has not made the state semifinals since 2001.

“We had a meeting over a year ago with our current seniors after we didn’t make the playoffs,” head coach Mike Stine said. “I challenged them to dedicate themselves to get where they’re at now. They bought into it and we never had a class of seniors work this hard."

Senior running back Matt Randolph had 13 carries for 189 yards and two touchdowns. In the last four games, Randolph has 832 total yards and 14 scores.

“Matt was special again tonight with help from our offensive line,” Stine said. “Our defense shut down a great offense. To hold them out of the end zone, that is a great effort.”

The Redhawks defense held the Lancers (6-5) to 167 yards of total offense, including stopping senior running back ReShawn Bean. Bean, who has over 1,400 yards this year, was held to 48 yards.

Senior cornerback Pat Clark had two of Central’s three turnovers. Clark had a second-quarter fumble recovery and intercepted Belleville senior quarterback David Carter in the third.

“We practiced all week just keying into the quarterback’s eyes,” Clark said. “We watched film and how he locks into the receiver he’s going to throw to. I just did that, saw he was throwing to the guy crossing and jumped the route.”

Naperville Central exchanged field goals with Belleville in the first quarter. Then, Randolph exploded for a 60-yard run and scored the following play.

“Their corners were playing a little off, so we did some short passes and that opened up some runs for Matt,” Redhawks senior quarterback Ian Lewandowski said. “We knew if we scored again, we would have the defense’s back.”

Senior defensive lineman Zach Borta then sacked Carter in the end zone for a safety to make it 12-3 Redhawks. Lewandowski had two rushing touchdowns and threw a 31-yard strike to senior tight end John DiCianni to make it 33-3 at the half.

In the third, the Redhawks had another field and a 76-yard touchdown from Randolph to finish the scoring.

For Homewood-Flossmoor, Stine said the Redhawks have to find a way to slow a Vikings team that scores 44.1 points a game.

“The stakes are high now,” Stine said. “There are only eight of us left and we all have the common goal of winning state.”

Notes:
There were three streakers, two were naked and one had short shorts on, who ran onto the field during halftime. A fan tackled one while the Naperville police arrested the other two in the parking lot.