Ryan Sieckman felt the need to atone when a pass-interference call went against him late in Friday’s game at Wheaton Warrenville South.
All was forgiven minutes later.
The Glenbard North senior safety had a game-saving interception to halt one late Tigers drive and then deflected a pass on a last-ditch Wheaton South effort in the final minute to help the No. 16 Panthers preserve a 14-10 DuPage Valley triumph.
“We had already given up 10 points in the first half,” Sieckman said. “So we said we’re just going to try to get a shutout in the second half, and luckily we did.”
The victory helped Glenbard North (7-1, 5-1) secure at least second place in the league.
The Panthers trailed 10-7 at halftime but claimed the lead with a time-consuming second-half drive that chewed up 7 minutes 31 seconds by the time junior running back Matt Smith scored on a 2-yard run with 11:37 left in the game.
Wheaton South (5-3, 4-2) opened the scoring late in the first quarter on a 35-yard field goal by Todd Snyder.
With 4:17 left in the second quarter, a short Glenbard North punt gave the Tigers good field position, and quarterback Nick Panno found split end Matthew Stevens in the back of the end zone on a 4-yard TD.
