Naperville Central quarterback Jackson Loth’s varsity career got off to a rocky start.
The 5-foot-11, 185-pound junior began the season opener against Oswego on the bench and entered the game in the fourth quarter after sophomore Ethan Tryon got hurt. The Redhawks lost that game as well as the next two with Loth under center, scoring a combined 32 points.
The early struggles weren’t all that surprising. Getting acclimated to the varsity level, especially as a quarterback, can be a big adjustment.
“Yeah, I know, but I’ve got a team around me,” Loth said. “I’ve got coaches around me that have trust in me, and that’s just the biggest part. That makes you play so much better.”
Loth did play much better during a Southwest Valley Blue game at Neuqua Valley in Naperville on Friday. He completed 10 of 22 pass attempts for 141 yards and a career-high three touchdowns, all to different receivers, with one interception as the Redhawks won 24-17.
“It takes some time to get a feel for how to play quarterback at the varsity level,” Naperville Central coach Mike Ulreich said. “So we’re learning together.
“That’s kind of a big part of it, is learning what he does well and learning what strengths we can rely on. He made some really big throws tonight.”
That was a change from the week before, when the Redhawks (1-3, 1-1) lost 5-3 at home against Sandburg. Ulreich took some of the blame for that defeat, saying he didn’t allow Loth to air it out enough.
“Shame on me for a week ago,” Ulreich said. “I’ve got to trust him more, and that’s kind of what tonight was. We were going to trust him a little bit more and let him take shots down the field.
“And we’ve got some guys who can run, so we’ve got to use that.”
That’s exactly what the Redhawks did. After Drake Mennecke, another first-year junior quarterback, fired an 82-yard touchdown pass to senior wide receiver Benjamin Stefanski to give the Wildcats (1-3, 0-2) an early 7-0 lead, Loth responded in impressive fashion.
Loth marched the Redhawks 80 yards, capping the drive with a 10-yard TD pass to junior wide receiver Kyle Clark, who made a diving catch in the back of the end zone. It was Clark’s first varsity touchdown.
“As much as I’ll take the glory for this, I love that our O-line has been coming together and lit that spark for Jackson to throw that perfect ball,” Clark said. “We’ve been scheming up that play all week.
“We knew that was going to hit right there in that spot. It just happened to be we were in perfect position to do it, and I just did what I’m supposed to do and caught the ball.”
That play gave the Redhawks momentum, but Loth didn’t consider it his best throw of the game. That honor goes to the 75-yard fade he threw to sophomore wide receiver Mark Williams that gave Naperville Central a 17-7 lead with 3:11 left in the second quarter.
“The touchdown pass to Mark kind of put me in the groove,” Loth said. “But we’ve just got to stay groovy.”
Mennecke’s 6-yard touchdown run pulled Neuqua Valley within 17-14, but Loth and his teammates stayed on their path to victory.
Loth tossed a 9-yard scoring strike to senior wide receiver Vincent Bern with 19 seconds left in the third quarter to bump the lead back to 10 points. It was a season-high point total for the Redhawks and reflected the improvement made by Loth, who also picked up three first downs rushing.
“In the last couple weeks, it’s been unbelievable improvement, just from the way he sees the defense, even the arc he’s putting on the ball,” Clark said. “It’s awesome to watch, especially those QB runs. There’s nothing better than watching a quarterback run over a defender. We love seeing that.”
Ulreich loved what he saw from Loth.
“Part of it is we had to do a better job as coaches of giving him things that were playing to his strengths,” Ulreich said. “I don’t know if last week we did a good job of that.
“So we let him be decisive, and we gave him some throws down the field. We knew he’d have the confidence to get the ball to his receivers.”
Loth does have confidence, but he knows more is to come.
“We were clicking,” he said. “We’ve just got to keep clicking and keep winning games.”
Matt Le Cren is a freelance reporter.
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