After inclement weather resulted in the cancellation of the game Friday night, the Naperville North Huskies fell to the Naperville Central Redhawks in the Crosstown Classic Saturday afternoon. 

Gallery • 7 Photos

Photo by June Sun

Junior Stephan Williams (17) secures a pass.

The Naperville North Huskies (1-4, 1-1) were defeated by the Naperville Central Redhawks (2-3, 2-0) by a final score of 23-7.

Despite many successful offensive drives and a touchdown from sophomore Zeke Williams, the Huskies were unable to convert deep in Redhawk territory. The Huskies had many penalties that made it hard to create a rhythm on offense; most notably a hold that negated a touchdown to Zeke Williams. 

“Unfortunately, the margin of error in football is super tight but I’m really proud of our guys,” Head Coach Sean Drendel said. “They fought hard, they played hard, they kept going and they did everything we asked them to do.”

Led by juniors Adam Sturtz, Connor Corrigan, Ethan Hilgert, and senior Cole Loebig, the Huskies played strong defensively. This was one of the highlights for the Huskies, according to Drendel, who saw improvement in their coverage and communication.

“Our defensive backs did a great job of coverage on their games,” Drendel said. “They [Central] have a lot of high level guys that really didn’t get going at all. They have some Division I kids that didn’t even catch passes during the game.”

Looking to next week, Sturtz sees room for the team to continue to improve.

“Practice harder, go over game plans more, just do everything we can to beat Metea,” Sturtz said. 

The Huskies will continue their season on Friday, Oct. 4 against the Metea Valley Mustangs in this year’s homecoming game. The game is set to start at 7 p.m.