Sophomore Andrew Hebron has played in nearly all of Naperville North’s games this season, starting most of them at defender.
He didn’t start the Class 3A Plainfield North Regional championship game on Saturday. But he did finish it — with a flourish — although not from his natural position.
“He’s a key guy who started a ton, but then we moved some guys around, so he’s been kind of filling in,” Naperville North coach Jim Konrad said. “He’s our utility guy.”
That utility was on full display in the second half against Plainfield East. Konrad brought Hebron off the bench to play forward. Hebron hadn’t played there until recently.
“My dad was surprised when coach put me up top for the first time,” Hebron said. “It’s fun, but I’ll always love defense.”
The top-seeded Huskies love Hebron no matter where he plays, and it’s easy to see why. He scored his second goal of the season with a terrific heads-up play at the 16:30 mark of the second half, capping the scoring in Naperville North’s 2-0 victory against the eighth-seeded Bengals.
It was the 10th consecutive regional championship and 17th in the past 18 seasons for the Huskies (19-1-3), who extended their unbeaten streak to 22 games. They will play fourth-seeded Romeoville (17-5-3) in the Plainfield North Sectional semifinals at 4:30 p.m. Wednesday.
“We needed someone to change the flow of the game, and (Hebron) did it for us,” Konrad said. “Obviously, he’s an incredible athlete, and we put him in the game up top to add some pressure.”
Sophomore defender Sam Hess had given the Huskies a 1-0 lead when he volleyed in a throw-in from junior midfielder Niko Ladas just 67 seconds into the game.
But the Bengals (13-5) were able to avert further damage until Hebron got the ball on the right wing and sent a long pass into the middle to junior forward Noah Radeke.
Radeke tapped the ball to his left to junior forward Jaxon Stokes, whose shot was deflected by a defender. But Hebron had followed up the play and toe-poked the rebound inside the left post.
“I saw Noah play Jaxon, and I was thinking, ‘What if he misses?'” Hebron said. “So I went in and just hit it with the outside of my foot.”
Hebron’s goal unleashed a variety of emotions among the Huskies.
“I was relieved,” Hebron said. “I was surprised, too, but I was relieved because I know they had a bunch of momentum.”
Konrad marveled at Hebron’s heads-up play.
“It’s a 40-yard sprint to get on the end of the ball you played,” Konrad said. “Those are things that win games.
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“Some people say, ‘I’m not going to make the run.’ Andrew did the run and, boom, got there and finished. It gave us a little breathing room.”
Stokes was thrilled for Hebron, who scored his first varsity goal in a 6-2 win against Downers Grove South in the regular-season finale on Oct. 12.
“When I got it, I was open, so I turned and shot it, and he was in the right place at the right time because he was working hard, following up the play,” Stokes said. “When he got it in the goal, we all were super happy, and we felt really good for him because he had a good goal in a good moment.”
Hebron has had plenty of good moments in his first varsity season, but most have come as part of a young but solid back line. His presence wasn’t needed there Saturday, as sophomore goalkeeper Jack Bouska had to make just two saves, although one was a tremendous stop on a point-blank shot by Plainfield East leading scorer Ben Basta.
Wherever Hebron plays, he makes a difference.
“He’s probably one of the most athletic kids on the team,” Stokes said. “He’s really fast. We just play where we need to play, and we work hard to get the win.”
The Huskies have done a lot of winning, of course, and have seamlessly integrated newcomers like Hebron.
“Once I came onto varsity, I felt really welcomed,” he said. “A lot of these people know each other from club and stuff, but now they’re all fun friends. It’s really cool.”
Matt Le Cren is a freelance reporter for the Naperville Sun.