Friday night’s Southwest Suburban Conference Red Division clash between Lincoln-Way Central and Bradley-Bourbonnais, two of the top Class 7A teams in the state, ended with host Knights (5-1, 3-1) picking up a 28-20 homecoming win to hand Bradley-Bourbonnais (5-1, 2-1) its first loss of the season.

The Knights led 28-7 midway through the fourth quarter before the Boilermakers tacked on a couple of late touchdowns.

Bradley-Bourbonnais got the ball back with 28 seconds to go, but with no timeouts and 89 yards to go for a possible tying score, had time run out on its comeback attempt.

Lincoln-Way Central got a pair of passing touchdowns from quarterback Drew Woodburn, one to Justin Cobbs and another to Lucas Andresen. Both Cobbs and Andresen added a rushing touchdown as well.

Andresen said being able to celebrate on his home field in front of packed bleachers as a senior is something he doesn’t want to take for granted.

“It’s a feeling that’s hard to describe, but it’s a very special feeling,” he said. “Especially to get this win, and come together as a unit and persevere through the adversity that we faced, it’s a good win.”

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Football: Lincoln-Way Central vs. Bradley-Bourbonnais Week 6 Lincoln-Way Central's Lucas Andresen evades a tackle by Bradley-Bourbonnais' Jordan Fitch during the Knight's 28-20 victory over Bradley-Bourbonnais on Friday, Oct. 3, 2025. (Tiffany Blanchette/Tiffany Blanchette)

Andresen caught a 47-yard pass along the sideline on the team’s third play from scrimmage and scored with a 7-yard touchdown run on the next play.

He added a 9-yard receiving touchdown in the second quarter and finished the game with five catches for 118 yards and nine carries for 44 yards.

Bradley-Bourbonnais did a good job limiting Cobbs on the ground, holding him to 37 yards on 15 carries, but he still punched in an 8-yard touchdown and reeled in a 9-yard touchdown pass from Woodburn.

Woodburn was 8-of-10 passing for 156 yards and the two touchdowns.

With the Knights having reached the semifinals last season, he said they are focusing on finishing this season as strong as they can before trying to find more postseason success.

“I feel great (about where we’re at),” he said. “We can do some big things down the line. We just need to work hard, keep our heads down and keep working, and that’s all we do.”

The defense had another strong showing for the Knights as well. Bradley-Bourbonnais was averaging 38.6 points per game heading into Friday and were held to a season low in points and had only one touchdown until just under six minutes to go in the game.

Shawn Mowry made an interception in the first quarter and Aiden Hennings added one in the third, tipping the ball in the air and lunging to catch it inches above the turf. Both interceptions led to Knight touchdowns.

“They work extremely hard during the week, and that’s why it went the way it did,” Lincoln-Way Central coach Dave Woodburn said of his defense. “We knew we had to stop their best guys, and then they got some other guys involved that are really good players. They’re going to be a real tough out down the road because they don’t just have one or two guys. But our defense flew around, ran to the ball and just had one or two errors that gave up a couple scores there at the end.”

For the Boilermakers, quarterback Ellis Johnson was 19-of-36 passing for 215 yards, two touchdowns and two interceptions. Rontez Smith had five catches for 89 yards while Lyzale Edmon had five for 39 yards and a touchdown and Dachaun Anderson had four for 45 yards and a touchdown. Ky’ren Edmon added a 4-yard touchdown run.

Although the Boilermakers came up short, coach Mike Kohl said games against good teams like Lincoln-Way Central are always beneficial.

“We’re excited to play a team like Lincoln-Way Central,” he said. “These guys are really good. It’s fun to play a really good team, and to be in the game at the end is awesome. We’ll get better from this, for sure.”

The Boilermakers will play DeKalb at home next Friday while Lincoln-Way Central will travel face Andrew.