Carmel ready for its big trip

The trek down to Joliet on a Friday night through rush hour is always a long one for Carmel fans.

But pretty soon, they might be aching for the traffic jams.

After this year, because of the East Suburban Catholic Conference's scheduling format, Joliet Catholic drops off of Carmel's schedule for two straight years.

The Corsairs, who battle Joliet Catholic for the league crown tonight, won't face the ESCC's other heavyweight until 2010.

"They just roll off the schedule and then they'll be back on. That's how it works," Carmel coach Andy Bitto said. "It's too bad really, because we love playing them."

On paper, the Corsairs shouldn't.

Carmel defeated Joliet Catholic in Mundelein last season, but have had very limited success otherwise. The Corsairs got a win in 2003, the year they won the Class 6A state championship, and one in 1972, but that's been it.

The all-time series between Carmel and Joliet Catholic is 23-3 in Joliet Catholic's favor.

Also, Carmel has never won at Joliet Catholic.

"To be honest with you, I would rather play Joliet Catholic and lose than to play a team that's no good and win," Bitto said. "We really have a lot of respect for them, it's a great program and it's always fun to play them.

"Since 2001, just about every time we've played them, there was something big on the line."

Carmel lost the Catholic Metropolitan White Conference championship game to Joliet Catholic in 2001, beat the Hilltoppers in 2003 for the East Suburban title and finished second in 2005 thanks to a loss to Joliet Catholic midway through the season.

Back at it: Just two weeks ago, Lake Zurich running back Dan Kalcsics was cleared to return to the field after missing some games with mono.

So much for easing back into the routine.

In just his second game back, he carried the ball 17 times for 150 yards to lead the Bears to a 33-0 shutout of Lake Forest.

"Dan was saying all week that he was feeling really good and that he was ready to go," Lake Zurich coach Bryan Stortz said. "We found some success with him early so we rode him a lot. I think he was a little tired at the end.

"But he says that he's pretty much back in game shape. It's nice to have him back."

The Bears hung in there pretty well without Kalcsics. Reserve Andrew Maloney got the call and stepped in well.

"Andrew is one of our better blocking backs," Stortz said. "His name doesn't get in the stats a lot, but on a lot of the big runs we had with Adam (Simpson) and Jon (Janus), it was because Andrew was doing a great job with his fakes and blocks."

Shutout city: Lake Zurich's 33-0 thumping of Lake Forest last week was well within hand at halftime, which meant that a lot of reserves were playing for the Bears by the end of the game.

Not that Lake Forest could tell.

In the fourth quarter, the Scouts went for all the marbles by hoisting big passes to 6-foot-6 receiver Kevin Finney on third down and then again on fourth down, but Lake Zurich held.

"Our reserves wanted the shutout, too," Lake Zurich coach Bryan Stortz said. "Everyone on this team takes so much pride in what they do and it was nice to see the reserves perform so well."

The shutout was Lake Zurich's second on the season. The Bears are allowing a North Suburban Conference low 6.9 points per game.

Hello again: After seven straight years in the playoffs, Warren missed the cut last season with a 4-5 record.

Making a triumphant return has been the Blue Devils' mantra all season -- even after starting out 0-2.

Now, after winning five of its last six games, including four straight, Warren is in position to achieve its top goal. Even a loss tonight to Stevenson shouldn't derail the Blue Devils. They've seemingly got plenty of playoff points to qualify at 5-4.

"We were so disappointed last year when we didn't make it," Warren coach Dave Mohapp said. "These kids are very competitive kids. And we challenged them, too. We asked them if they would be the team that got Warren back in the playoffs. We said, 'This is what last year's team did. Are you going to be better?'

"I think they've been really motivated by that."