Rhattigan, Neuqua Run Past St. Charles North

The way Joey Rhattigan was running the ball he made life really easy for the coaching staff.

Behind Rhttigan, used a punishing rushing attack to blitz St. Charles North, 43-3 on Friday night in Naperville.

Rhattigan, a junior running back, led the way as carried 21 times for 204 yards and four touchdowns.

“That is a big score,” said Rhattigan as he took a minute to glimpse at the scoreboard. “I’m surprised we scored that many times. We had it all working — we had some good play-calling, good blocking and we executed.”

Things did not start out so hot for the Wildcats (2-1) as they struggled moving the ball on their first two possessions as they failed to earn a single first down. However, something clicked as the Wildcats really got after it starting with their third possession, when Rhattigan and fellow running back Danny Dudek accounted for all 80 yards on a scoring drive capped by Rhattigan’s 35-yard scoring run to make it 7-0 midway through the first quarter.

Rhattigan also added touchdown runs of 4 and 6 yards before halftime and Dudek added a 2-yard run to help the Wildcats to a 29-3 lead at intermission.

Dudek finished with 10 rushes for 98 yards.

Rhattigan capped his night with a 67-yard touchdown run on his first touch of the second half to help increase ’s lead to 36-3 with more than 9 minutes remaining in the third quarter.

“Rhattigan had some real nice cutbacks when he cut back there was nobody there for us defensively,” said St. Charles North coach Mark Gould, whose team fell to 0-3. “He has really good cutting ability and some pretty good vision. He really found some holes.”

The Wildcats finished with 347 rushing yards.

“We have run the ball a lot,” Rhattigan said. “The run-game this year really seems to be working.”

’s defense also had it working as it was put in tough situations throughout the night, but made plays when it had to.

St. Charles North began four first-half possessions in territory, but could only muster three points.

“We were down there a couple few times, but that is a tough defense to run against,” Gould said. “We missed some passes, but they are a real tough defense and when they had to tighten up — they did.”

St. Charles North, which came into this game after consecutive tough losses in the final minute, finished with 123 yards of total offense.

“It has been a tough week,” said Gould, referring to close losses to Hinsdale Central and Plainfield Central. “I will say that. It was a tough week for everyone from the players to the coaches, but when the score is 43-3, I don’t know how much blame can go on that.”

Both teams enter conference action next week. St. Charles North is at Streamwood while  is at East Aurora.