Mistakes, missed opportunities and penalties plagued Naperville North‘s young team for much of Friday’s game, yet the Huskies still found themselves with a chance to pull out the season opener with New Trier.

But it was just not to be on this night as the Huskies’ potential game-winning drive came to a screeching halt as the Trevians made a fourth-down stop deep in their own territory to prevail 20-14 in Naperville.

New Trier, which won just twice last season, broke a 14-14 tie when Jackie Ryder connected with Keefer Baxter on a 27-yard touchdown early in the fourth quarter. But the Huskies star defensive lineman Gabe Hill blocked the point after kick so the score was 20-14.

Naperville North, coming off a 7-3 playoff year, followed the Trevians’ score with a three-and-out, but Hill came up big again forcing a fumble and recovering the ball to give the hosts plenty of hope again.

The Huskies then marched down the field, gaining a first down at the New Trier 14 after a Josiah Nothacker pass to CJ Geist. William Eloe, who ran for 102 yards, then picked up three yards down to the 11 before the Trevians’ defense stood tall, stopping the Huskies next three run plays to turn the ball over on downs.

“We didn’t help ourselves,” Huskies coach Sean Drendel said. “We had opportunities, and we just didn’t make enough plays. We had too many penalties and we didn’t do enough when we needed to make plays.”

The Huskies had 85 yards in penalties, and a pair of short punts didn’t help matters. With the score tied 7-7 late in the first half, New Trier got great field position after a 1-yard punt and turned that opportunity into a 14-7 lead at the half.

Despite the errors, the Huskies still liked their chances after Hill’s blocked PAT and then after his fumble recovery. The team’s all-time leader in tackles for loss also added a couple more of those on Friday.

“That’s not us,” Hill said when asked about the penalties and the untimely mistakes. “We’re a humble team, but we’re a really talented team. We have to work together as a team and we need the cohesiveness to come together. But we were in the position to still win this game at the end.”

Drendel agreed.

“For sure, we were thinking we were going to win 21-20,” he said. “We’ve been in games like this, and we’ve pulled them out.”

The Huskies rotated quarterbacks with Nothacker and Dante Colasante splitting time, but the passing game just missed on a couple key plays, while New Trier always seemed to take advantage of their few chances against a Naperville North defense that played well.

Nothacker and Mason Hill each ran for touchdowns for Naperville North, while Oceian O’Meara ran for a score and also had a 14-yard touchdown catch on a screen play for the Trevians.

https://www.dailyherald.com/20250829/prep-football/naperville-north-comes-up-just-short-against-new-trier/