Seconds after Nick Calcagno grabbed the 2-point conversion pass from quarterback Luke Cegles in the right corner of the end zone in overtime, he was gone.
Calcagno sprinted up the sideline, finally stopping at midfield, where he was mobbed by his Naperville North teammates.
It was the clinching score in a wild finish Friday night as the host Huskies edged Metea Valley for a 41-40 DuPage Valley victory in overtime.
“That’s one of the plays me and Luke have been working on all summer and it was just there — perfect ball,” said Calcagno, who also caught a touchdown pass.
Naperville North (2-0, 2-0) and Metea (0-2, 0-2) played a tight first half, which ended 10-10.
After the Mustangs took an 18-13 lead into the fourth quarter, the fireworks started. The teams traded touchdown after touchdown.
Trailing 19-18, Mustangs quarterback Ryan Kriceri hit Ben Loutsis from 26 yards for a 25-19 lead.
Eric Wright, who ran 31 times for 118 yards, ripped off a 14-yard gain to the Metea 8 on Naperville’s next possession. Cegles connected on a 5-yard pass to Matt Malan as the Huskies regained the lead 26-25 with 6:35 left in regulation.
Metea’s Payton Thorne then threw a 26-yard TD pass to Blake Williams to retake the lead. The Huskies’ Cam Hardy replied with an 85-yard kickoff return to tie it at 33-33.
“I let up a touchdown the play before, but it was just a matter of me bouncing back,” Hardy said. “I had a lot of anger stored up in me and I just had to take care of business.”
Naperville North missed a 28-yard field goal at the end of regulation to send the game into overtime.
In OT, the Mustangs struck first when Kriceri found Williams in the end zone from 7 yards out.
The Huskies answered on first down with a 10-yard pass from Cegles to Mitch Lewis to set up the 2-point conversion.
Naperville North’s confidence was bolstered with 46 seconds remaining in the first half when Julian Collins returned an interception 21 yards to tie the game 10-10.
“I just waited for it,” Collins said. “As soon as I saw the quarterback bring his hand off the ball, I just hit it.”
Cegles, who went 15-for-34 for 134 yards and three TDs, threw six incompletions and an interception to end the first half. He finished 8-for-8 with a pair of TDs in the fourth quarter and overtime.
“After last year we didn’t want to remember that we were 2-7,” Cegles said. “We’ve kind of fed off that for momentum and energy this season. We were all confident in each other.”
“We’re 2-0 and we’re excited to be there,” Huskies coach Sean Drendel said.
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Bob Hurst is a freelance writer for the Naperville Sun.