When the offense is clicking, the defense isn’t. When the defense is clicking, the offense isn’t. Unfortunately, this has been the story of the season so far for the struggling Naperville North varsity football team. This trend continued on Friday night when the Falcons of Wheaton North beat the Huskies 20-7.

In a game marred by penalties and turnovers, Wheaton North’s junior quarterback Luke Anthony rose to the occasion, completing 18 of 23 passes for 219 yards including both a rushing and passing touchdown.

In what has been a common theme for the Huskies thus far, the defense got out to a slow start and it only took five minutes for the Falcons to score on a 20 yard pass for the score and the 7-0 lead.

The momentum appeared to swing toward the Huskies with a critical goal line stop at the beginning of the second quarter, denying Wheaton North an early two-touchdown lead. This carried over to the offense when junior Cam Hardy took a hand-off 96 yards for the touchdown. This knotted the score at 7.

The touchdown was all the offense could muster up throughout the rest of the game. The defense, after allowing the early touchdown, would allow only 13 more points the rest of the night, on a hand-off from Wheaton North running back Steele Graham in the second  quarter and on a touchdown run by Anthony in the third quarter.

Despite the loss, senior captain Jack DiRienzo said he thought the team played very well.

“To be in a tight game with a really good team like Wheaton North is a good sign regardless of the score,” DiRienzo said. “We just have to keep fighting.”

The Huskies stay home next week to take on conference foe Lake Park.