Wheaton Academy mistakes add up to defeat
There will always be some bumps in the road for emerging football programs, and Saturday afternoon was one of those moments for Wheaton Academy's first-year varsity.
The Warriors traveled to Luther North and ran afoul of turnovers and penalties in addition to a host school that wanted to gain its first win of the season.
Three lost fumbles and 75 yards cut short a series of Wheaton Academy drives, and Luther North took full advantage for a 10-6 Private School League victory.
"Really what cost us the game was penalty errors," Wheaton Academy coach Ben Wilson said. "We haven't been penalized that much this season. Today the penalties really killed us."
Wheaton Academy fell to 2-2 overall and 1-1 in the Private School League with the defeat.
"We have to learn to play when we're up," Wilson said. "We've played when we were down, as at Genoa (50-7 loss). The thing about our team is that we're young. This year is going to be a great year for experience for these guys. As we go on, they'll learn more and more what it means to play in a varsity season."
The game was decided largely on field position. For the game Wheaton Academy had 149 offensive yards while Luther North (1-3, 1-1) had just 96 yards offensively.
That made the two plays that carried the Warriors inside the Wildcats' 10-yard line that were nullified by penalties especially painful.
"We had one of the best catches I've ever seen in high school play called back because of a penalty," Wilson said.
A roughing-the-kicker penalty helped set up the Wildcats for their first touchdown -- scored on a 53-yard pass from quarterback Mark Dryndrozyk to receiver Travis Mpistolarides on the opening play of the second quarter.
Mpistolarides was particularly devastating to Wheaton Academy. When Dryndrozyk left the game with a foot injury, Mpistolarides took over at quarterback. While he failed to move the ball with great effectiveness, Mpistolarides was able to engineer a drive for a field goal as time expired in the first half.
That drive began after a Wheaton Academy player muffed a punt -- and the Wildcats only had to drive 50 yards before Mpistolarides made a 21-yard field goal.
Wheaton Academy put together the best drive by either team at the end of the third quarter. The 12-play, 66-yard drive culminated when Brian Pell hit Hayden Goeckel for a 7-yard TD pass.
Pell completed his first 7 passes and finished 15 of 23 for 139 yards. His featured receiver was Jake Jones, who caught 8 passes for 78 yards.
-- Darryl Mellema
Marian Central 35, Marmion 0:ŒFor the first time since the parents of today's Marmion football players were themselves young, the Cadets played a football game under the lights.
And while T-shirts sold as brisk as the evening temperature, one of the signature moments of the ballgame came when a group of shirtless Marmion fans with their chests painted exhorted the Cadets faithful to make some noise.
Unfortunately for those hometown supporters, Saturday night's contest ended in despair. The only team to change the scoring portion of the scoreboard was visiting Marian Central -- and the Hurricanes exited Aurora following a 35-0 Suburban Catholic Conference win.
"As I said during the week, you have to beat Marian -- they're not going to beat themselves," Marmion coach Dan Thorpe said. "You have to stop the run and you have to be able to move the ball on them."
Marian (4-0, 2-0) controlled the ball for huge chunks of the contest and kept Marmion (2-2, 0-2) from establishing any offensive rhythm. After one quarter the Hurricanes outgained the Cadets 102-9. By halftime, when Marian Central led 14-0, the disparity was 231-80.
"We probably played our best game of the year," Marian Central coach Ed Brucker said. "I told the kids I had a bad taste after last week (a 14-0 win over Immaculate Conception.)"
By game's end the numbers narrowed to 279-209 -- but the Hurricanes took advantage of turnovers and short-field situations to add 3 touchdowns.
"We don't execute in key times," Thorpe said. "I'm proud of my football team. We went toe-to-toe and the score's not indicative of what it was. It was a 21-0 game against the No. 1-ranked team in the state."
Marian Central played backup quarterback Andrew Stochl in place of injured Jonathon Budmayr. Normally a wide receiver, Stochl played as sophomore quarterback at Grant last year. He warmed to the challenge. He completed 9 of 16 passes for 112 yards and added 72 rushing yards and a rushing TD.
"A full week of practice helps," Stochl said. "We played as a team and that's how we got our victory."
The main ground force for the Hurricanes was fullback T.J. Pappas, who picked up 85 yards on 19 carries and scored 2 touchdowns. He also ran in an interception return for a third touchdown.
Pappas had little to say after the game, but the Hurricanes were more than aware of his accomplishments.
"We get the run down and the pass works," Stochl said. "Once the run clicks and then the pass clicks."
Pappas was at his most devastating in the opening half. Marian Central's first scoring drive took 7:23 off the clock.
"For the size back he is, he runs really hard," Brucker said. "He plays really good linebacker too."
Marmion's defense got tougher in the second half. A pair of late fourth-quarter touchdowns created the 35-0 final score.
"I was very proud of the defense," Thorpe said. "That was what we didn't have the last couple of weeks. We improved in that area. But offensively, if you don't score, you'll never win."
-- Darryl Mellema
Boys soccer
Naperville Central 2, Downers Grove South 1:ŒHeading into Saturday's game between Downers Grove South and Naperville Central, neither team had been outscored during regulation play this year.
The Redhawks still haven't lost a game in regulation.
Naperville Central (8-1-1) won 2-1 over the Mustangs (9-1-1), getting a goal and an assist from Jerry Maddi and a game-winning head shot goal from Matt Sterner in Naperville.
"Scoring 2 goals on Downers South any year is a great (accomplishment)," said Redhawks coach Jay Konrad. "They're good, (coach Jon) Stapleton has them defend very hard, and they've got a great goalie."
Mustangs goalkeeper Brett Petricek was aggressive off his line all day in cutting off crosses and leaping after free kicks sent toward the goalmouth, and it was a play between Petricek and Maddi that proved the ultimate difference on the scoreboard.
With the score tied 1-1 in the second half, the two players challenged each other for a ball that Maddi won, popping it up toward Sterner in front of the goal.
"They collided, so I knew nothing was in front of me," Sterner said. "I had two people around me and I just had to get up over them."
Sterner's head shot from 10 yards out came in the 44th minute, giving the Redhawks a 1-goal lead they wouldn't relinquish.
Through 40 minutes the game was all Naperville Central. The Mustangs didn't manage a single shot on goal in the first half. At the other end of the field, Maddi broke in alone on Petricek in the 14th minute and calmly slipped a ball inside the near post.
"I actually know Brett from club team, so I kind of know what he does," Maddi said. "He covered the far post pretty well, and I knew I could get it to slide under."
The Redhawks' Tim Zimmer lined up for six free kicks in the attacking third of the field, and his squad earned a 5-0 edge in total shots in the first half.
"Through the whole first half, we got sucked into a style that wasn't ours," Stapleton said. "We were more direct than we typically are, and we're not effective when we do that.
"To Naperville's credit, part of the reason we ended up playing that way was because defensively, they're on you so quick."
The Mustangs were more settled and cohesive throughout the second half, tying the game with their first shot on net when Frankie Damian settled a cross sent in from the left side and scored from 15 yards out.
Sterner's goal came two minutes later and the game was played evenly to the final buzzer, as the Mustangs' play was much improved in the second half.
"Well, we had chances," said Mustangs senior Steve Lucianek. "It was better than the zero chances we had in the first half."
-- Gary Larsen
Boys golf
Aurora Central Catholic Invite: Rockford Lutheran took the team title at Phillips Park with a 290, ahead of West Aurora and Wheaton Academy, who both finished at 314.
David Flynn of the Warriors earned medalist honors with a 69. West Aurora's Brandon Vicory finished third with a 71. Jeff Hund's 81 paced the host Chargers.