Wheaton North 2-point try with 2:22 remaining tops Lockport 22-21

LOCKPORT – The Wheaton North football team enjoyed winning its opening game by one point so much, the Falcons went out and did it again.

Dylan Jung plowed in from 1 yard out with 2:22 to play. The deuces were wild, and the Falcons then made a 2-point decision that led to them going wild.

They went for two, and quarterback Nick Johnston found junior tight end Shane Diericx alone in the back of the end zone to complete the conversion. That held up for the winning score, as Wheaton North toppled the host Porters 22-21 on Friday evening in Lockport.

“We knew we were going to win,” Johnston said. “There was never a doubt, we were going to go to win the game.”

The same pair connected in the opening week when Johnson found Diericx with a fourth-down pass from 6 yards out as time expired for a 23-22 win over visiting Providence.

“You get used to the rush, and I was just mentally prepared,” Johnson said of the 2-point pass. “I just hung in, and the receivers made the adjustments. They’re the ones that get the credit. They make it easier for me.

“We’re just a team that keeps fighting. Our team mentality is to win games.”

Johnston finished 22 of 35 for 284 yards and a touchdown pass. Fellow senior Jung, who came in on short-yardage situations and added an interception on defense, agreed it’s just the team’s belief they are going to win.

“It’s awesome, it’s just incredible to be a part of this team,” Jung said. “It’s my job to get the ball in that short-yardage situation, and that was my mentality, to score.”

Lockport (1-1) had scored on a 4-yard run by senior fullback Tyler Pospisil (7 carries, 60 yards) to take a 21-14 lead with 3:26 to play in the game. But on second-and-7, Johnson found junior wide receiver David Hyde (three receptions, 81 yards), who dashed and darted for a 59-yard gain down to the 3. Jung scored two plays later.

The Porters gained 8 yards to their own 29 on first down, but went backward from there and turned the ball over on downs with 1:34 to play. Wheaton North then ran out the clock.

“We decided midway through the fourth quarter that we were going to go for two if we were in that situation,” Wheaton North coach Joe Wardynski said. “It was another exciting game. We started bringing more pressure on defense in the second half.

“Coming into the season, this group had a lot of questions. But the guys have been winning games, and they are excited.”

Things looked good for the Porters to start as they scored on their first two possessions. Senior running back Johnny Wesolowski (23 carries, 123 yards) scored on runs of 2 and 5 yards, and Lockport led 14-0 three seconds into the second quarter.

But the Porters struggled on offense after that, and Wheaton North cut the lead in half when Johnson found senior Nik Schaafsma for a 30-yard touchdown pass on third-and-13 with 4:35 left in the second quarter. The halftime score was 14-7.

The Falcons held the ball for a 7-minute, 43-second span in the second half. Schaafsma had a 1-yard run with 11:25 to play to tie it at 14-14. That capped a 66-yard, 17-play drive that started when Lockport turned the ball over on downs.

Lockport won last season’s game 37-22 in Wheaton.

“I wasn’t surprised at all,” Lockport coach George Czart said of the Falcons going for two. “We’ve got to get better. We’ve got no one to blame but ourselves. We’ve got to execute. We can’t let them have the ball most of the third quarter.

“We had every opportunity to win this game. We didn’t get it done.”