Barnas, Harper ready for Grand Rapids test
It didn't take long for the Harper College football team to make a major adjustment.
Unfortunately for sophomore quarterback Trevor Bupp, his season is over as he suffered a broken arm in the first half of last Saturday's 29-28 loss to Joliet.
Fortunately for the Hawks, freshman Garrett Barnas filled in nicely and gained more than a half of experience going into Saturday's 3 p.m. Midwest Football Conference visit to sixth-ranked Grand Rapids.
Barnas was a Class 3A coaches all-state selection at downstate Bureau Valley. He was 20-for-41 passing for 244 yards and 3 touchdowns and rushed for 84 yards.
"He's a heck of a player," Harper coach Dragan Teonic said of Barnas. "He's a talented kid and he's tough.
"He made a few small mistakes but he played very well. We're looking for bigger and better things from him."
Teonic said he expects Bupp to redshirt.
"He's disappointed and really, really beat down," Teonic said. "He worked so hard to get to this position."
Teonic was upbeat even though Joliet scored the winning touchdown with 32 seconds left. He was happy with the play of running back Billy Buehring and receivers Charles Davis, Brian Whitehead and Terron Bibbs.
Kyle Jenkins, Kevin Pacholski, Boone Freund and Jake Powell looked good on defense as coordinator Todd Koehler rotated 30 players "to build as much depth as we can get."
Teonic said it took his young team a half to get adjusted as the Hawks rallied from a 23-6 deficit. He hopes Grand Rapids, which has preseason All-Americans in offensive lineman Nick Toth (6-foot-3, 295 pounds) and defensive lineman Jerrell Hering (6-2, 270) will have similar issues in its opener.
"We were right there with the toughest team in the conference," Teonic said. "But the team we're about to play is pretty darn good, too, and they're huge."
On the run: First-year men's and women's cross country coach Dan Delahunt saw Harper's invitational last weekend as "something to build on."
Especially since the Harper women had only two of its five runners and the men were missing two runners.
Rolling Meadows freshman Jesus Escareno (16:45), Tim Hoskinson (17:07) and Matt Damhauser (17:37) finished 1-2-3 on a sloppy 3-mile course but Harper (42) took second to Joliet (39).
"We're looking for someone to step up in the fourth and fifth spots," Delahunt said. "Jesus is a lot better than that. The course was really slow."
Delahunt hopes Tony Russo, a Fremd product who hasn't run in a couple of years, can step in to help the top three.
Nicole Anderson, who was second in the nation last year, is battling knee problems and didn't run. Bartlett freshman Heather Cebulka (14:53) and sophomore Tabitha Thomas (14:58) were fourth and fifth as the Hawks finished behind Waubonsee (43) and Sauk Valley (43).
Tough tests: Harper's women's volleyball team hopes to look back and see a 1-4 start that paid dividends.
The Hawks, who got their first win in three games Tuesday over South Suburban, faced Division II teams in all five games. The first four were at the College of DuPage tournament.
"Our mission was accomplished, to play tough Division II opponents from outside our region, in an attempt to lift up our level of competitiveness," said Harper coach Bob Vilsoet. "We learned fast this weekend how to play together."
Lisa LaMasse and Karlee Didier had 10 and 7 kills respectively. Harper had 14 aces with six from Angie Skonieczny and four by Nikki Maize (15 digs, 21 assists).
Katie Reed had 17 digs, Didier had 14 and Diane Janik added 11.
Harper is at Wisconsin-Whitewater this weekend.
Rough openings: The Harper men's soccer team lost 1-0 to Joliet in its season opener. The women lost their first two matches 4-0 to Heartland CC and 4-1 to Joliet.