Glenbard West came into the season expecting to lean on multitalented senior Julius Ellens, the reigning West Suburban Silver Offensive MVP who owns a Power Five offer from Kansas State.

But Ellens is one of several Hilltoppers who’ve been sidelined by injuries at some point this fall. Other players have stepped up though, including his younger brother Mason and fullback Jack Moellering.

Both played big roles as No. 18 Glenbard West improved to 16-0 in IHSA first-round games under coach Chad Hetlet with a 23-8 Class 8A win over visiting Naperville North on Saturday afternoon.

Ellens ran the opening kickoff back 92 yards for a touchdown to put the Hilltoppers (8-2) ahead to stay and played effective defense on Purdue-bound receiver Luke Williams.

Moellering, a 5-10, 190-pound fullback, handled the bulk of the offensive workload, running 25 times for 116 yards and Glenbard West’s other two touchdowns.

Mason Ellen’s thoughts are never far from his brother, especially when he’s playing on the Hilltoppers’ old-school grass field.

“He’s very inspirational to me,” Mason Ellens said. “I love him. I’m just glad I got to win this game for him.”

What’s it been like seeing Julius miss out on his senior season? 

“It crushed my heart,” Mason said. “I don’t even know what to say. I felt terrible. I know he wants to be out here as much as we do.”

But the Hilltoppers have persevered, winning seven in a row since a 1-2 start, including signature wins over Lyons and York.

Lyons “was a big turnaround game for us with all those injuries,” Hetlet said. “And then when we started getting kids back it helped with a confidence thing. And defensively we’ve been playing lights out each week.”

Ellens has been part of that.

“Every time we play somebody who’s got a good receiver, Mason’s covering them and you don’t hear about that kid,” Hetlet said. “That’s a huge thing. Now I don’t have to roll a guy up, I don’t have to bracket [the good receiver], I don’t have to double-cover him.”

Kirsten Stickney/For the Sun-Times

Williams finished with five catches for 55 yards, all after halftime. Huskies quarterback Jacob Bell’s first pass was picked off by Zach Mally, setting up an Aidan Nelson field goal that made it 10-0 less than four minutes into the game. Bell finished 18-for-38 for 183 yards. The Hilltoppers also held Naperville North (6-4) to 49 rushing yards, which included Lonzo Duckworth’s seven-yard TD run with 4:29 left in the game.

“Offensively we’ve kind of struggled a little bit all year,” Naperville North coach Sean Drendel said. “We’ve been a big-play type of team, which is great. But in games like this, it becomes difficult because they’re not gonna let you get a big play.”

Meanwhile, Moellering was churning out gain after gain for Glenbard West.

“Jack was a downhill runner all day,” Hetlet said. “Naperville North’s defensive line is very good. And it was tough sledding, but Jack is the guy who made us go.”

“This is what we’ve been working at all year,” Moellering said. “First couple weeks were slow, we got off to a cold start. We’ve been starting to turn it up and get hot. ... We kept running trap and it kept opening up and o-line did a great job.”