Wauconda's thinking playoffs
After starting the season 1-4, you would think the confidence level would have dropped substantially.
Not if you're the Wauconda varsity football team.
The Bulldogs have since rolled off four victories in a row, including a 47-0 pounding of North Chicago in the regular-season finale on Friday night in North Chicago.
The North Suburban Prairie Division win all but clinched an at-large postseason berth for Wauconda (5-4, 5-1), which had 38 playoff points going into Friday and was guaranteed of at least two more.
The victory also gave Wauconda its first four-game winning streak since it started 4-0 in 2007. It will be the Bulldogs' first playoff appearance since 2012 and just their third since 1999.
"This feels so good and there aren't any words right now to describe it (making the playoffs)," said senior quarterback Kevin Malisheski, who tossed for 30 yards on 3-of-4 passing during limited action. "We never gave up when we started 1-4. Our confidence level has never been an issue."
The Bulldogs didn't play poorly during the 1-4 start but rather it was simply a matter of just a couple of costly mistakes, according to Mills.
But then the four-game winning streak started with a victory over Vernon Hills, which was 5-0 at the time. Then came a big win over Grant, a team Wauconda hadn't beaten in 17 years. And last week, the do-or-die victory over Antioch kept them within reach of the postseason.
"Hats off to our kids," said Bulldogs coach Dave Mills. "The guys have stayed calm and confident all season. We definitely could get used to this (making the playoffs) and would like to do it a little more frequently."
By the way, making the playoffs this season is something the program has accomplished only seven times in the 101 years since opening their doors.
One of the many reasons Wauconda has had one of its best seasons is the play of Malisheski, who has been efficient to the tune of only one incomplete pass in the past three games.
"We've been working on capitalizing on big drives," said Malisheski, who started the scoring against North Chicago with a 6-yard run early in the first quarter, his fourth rushing touchdown of the season. "Personally, I can always execute better and be smarter with my reads. Normally we set things up with the run and we hit'em with a play action."
And speaking of that running game, the Bulldogs rumbled for 205 yards and racked up 235 total yards on a rainy evening.
After staking to a 7-0 lead after the opening act, Wauconda found the end zone four more times in the second quarter and all of the lead grew to 34-0 by the end of the first half.
Junior running back Tyler Stankiewicz started the scoring barrage with a 1 yard plunge early in the second. Then, junior running back Jacob Bicknase raced in from 8 yards out to make it 21-0. Stankiewicz then added his second score, this time from 5 yards. The defense also wreaked havoc when sophomore linebacker Andrew Nolan picked up a fumble and returned it 20 yards to end the first half scoring.
Senior running back Paul Stanek then scored both Wauconda touchdowns in the third period on runs of 3 and 14 yards.
Stankiewicz ended up with 72 yards rushing on 10 carries, while Bicknase added 68 yards on 10 carries in limited action as most starters were given the rest of the evening off after the lob-sided first half.
Back on defense, senior linebacker Jeremy Hollander picked off a second-quarter pass, while Malisheski and Collin Tyrrell also had fumble recoveries. Overall the Bulldogs held North Chicago (1-7, 0-6) to just 20 yards of total offense.