Naperville North senior quarterback Josiah Nothacker had some trust issues at the beginning of the season.
As a first-year starter and the successor to former star Jacob Bell, the 6-foot, 175-pound Nothacker lacked confidence in his abilities as well as his blockers.
But now he can stand and deliver.
“I feel like I’ve definitely gotten a lot more comfortable in the pocket,” Nothacker said. “Weeks 1 and 2, I feel like I didn’t really trust my O-line enough. But throughout the weeks, we’ve been practicing, and I’ve been able to trust them.”
It showed Friday night, when Nothacker completed 13 of 16 passes for 152 yards and two touchdowns to rally the visiting Huskies to a thrilling 29-23 Southwest Valley Blue victory over Neuqua Valley in Naperville.
“He’s just done a good job of consistently getting better, and we’re really proud of him,” Naperville North coach Sean Drendel said. “He’s starting to learn, and he’s starting to take what they give you rather than trying to make big plays.
“Tonight, we didn’t start overly fast, but we got it going in the second half again, so I’m really proud of our kids.”
The Huskies (4-3, 3-2), who have to win one of their final two regular-season games to be eligible for the playoffs, trailed 14-7 before Nothacker hit senior tight end Finn Bretag on a play-action pass from a yard out on fourth-and goal in the second quarter to tie the game.
But Neuqua Valley (3-4, 2-3) went ahead on senior kicker Michael Creedon’s 21-yard field goal as time expired in the first half. Senior running back Andrew Barkley, who rushed for 172 yards on 30 carries, scored his third touchdown to extend the Wildcats’ lead to 23-14 at the 5:19 mark of the third quarter.
Nothacker responded by leading the Huskies on an 80-yard drive, which junior running back Mason Hill capped with a 5-yard touchdown run.
Three plays later, senior defensive back Griffin Jurjovec intercepted Neuqua Valley junior quarterback Drake Mennecke, who was 15 of 17 for 138 yards, at Naperville North’s 45-yard line.
That set up Nothacker’s dramatic second touchdown pass, a 26-yard strike down the middle to junior wide receiver Jack Zitko with 8:27 left in the fourth quarter. The go-ahead score was Zitko’s fourth touchdown catch of the season.
“I can’t ask for a more beautiful ball, right in the middle of the end zone, perfectly executed play,” Zitko said. “Great play call, by the way, and he just threw it up so I could make a play.
“He told me he didn’t even really see me.”
Indeed, Nothacker stepped up into the teeth of the pass rush and was hit as he threw.
“I kind of lost him in the middle, right after he broke,” Nothacker said. “But I knew where he was going to be.”
Nothacker may have been the only person in the stadium who didn’t see Zitko catch the ball. That’s because he was lying on his back at the time.
“I didn’t know at first because I got hit,” Nothacker said. “But I looked up, and JZ is in the end zone on the ground, and everyone else is celebrating. So it felt great.”
Zitko, who had five catches for 71 yards, had similar feelings.
“It felt awesome,” he said. “It definitely got the energy higher because in the middle of the game we had a little bit of low energy.
“Coming in, we had great energy, but especially when we go down, our problem is we put our heads down. But when I scored, the energy was so up, and then the defense got a stop.”
The Huskies caught a break when Mennecke, after catching a 26-yard pass from Barkley, was ruled to have fumbled into the end zone just before he hit the pylon, resulting in a touchback with 2:05 left.
The Wildcats got the ball back, but Mennecke was forced out of bounds by junior linebacker Brady Marino at Naperville North’s 34 as time expired.
Marino has witnessed the steady improvement by Nothacker, who has completed 81 of 128 passes for 774 yards, six touchdowns and one interception.
“He’s just learning from his mistakes,” Marino said. “Earlier in the year, he missed a lot of open touchdowns, to be honest. But he’s definitely dialed that in and really hits our receivers.”
Zitko appreciates that.
“I knew he had this talent,” Zitko said. “It’s just the confidence part because he was behind Jacob Bell.
“To see how he’s grown with his confidence is unbelievable. He throws so many balls that are just beautiful balls, and there’s not much more you can ask for.”
Matt Le Cren is a freelance reporter.