Steve Hlavac didn’t need a lot of carries to create havoc Friday night in Naperville.
The 5-foot-9-inch, 180-pound running back scored four touchdowns on only 12 touches from scrimmage to lead No. 13 Naperville North to a 44-33 victory over Glenbard North in the Du Page Valley opener for both teams.
The senior scored on runs of 4, 11 and 23 yards and caught a 10-yard touchdown pass from Jordan Tassio to help the Huskies (2-1, 1-0) rebound from a loss to Libertyville last week.
“Hlavac is a gamer,” Tassio said. “We go to him in the clutch. He’s a team leader. He does everything for us.”
With Naperville North down 27-21 early in the third quarter, Hlavac got busy.
He scored on two consecutive possessions to put the Huskies up 34-27 and added the insurance TD with 8:03 left in the game.
“I can’t explain what just happened,” Hlavac said of his career night. “Our offensive line, the holes–anybody can score. The touchdowns go to the offensive line.
“We knew we could move the ball from the first play of the game. Confidence was not a factor. We had the confidence and that was huge.”
Tassio added a 26-yard touchdown run, a 22-yard field goal and five extra points.
Dan Matkovic was a horse for Glenbard North (2-1, 0-1). The 5-9, 165-pound quarterback ran 12 times for 105 yards and two scores and had 22 completions in 36 attempts for 307 yards, two touchdowns–and four interceptions.
Naperville North scored on the first play from scrimmage, a 79-yard run by fullback Tyler Shelton.
North’s Matkovic responded with three straight scoring drives. The Panthers scored twice in 1:01 in the second quarter to build a 19-7 lead with 10:11 left in the half.
The hosts rallied to lead 21-19 with two scores in the final 5:22 on runs from Hlavac and Tassio.
Sean Denard blocked two extra points and Bryan Bailin had two interceptions for Naperville North.
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dsurico@tribune.com
