'Grandfather Koz' goes into effect at Wauconda
No wonder Wauconda coach Glen Kozlowski sounded almost giddy on Saturday night.
His mind must have been spinning with all the good news.
Wauconda's quest for its first playoff berth in nine years had just become official when the IHSA announced that the Bulldogs' first-round opponent in the Class 5A bracket would be Belvidere.
Kozlowski and his players and some parents and fans were all celebrating at a local restaurant.
But the celebrating didn't end there.
Kozlowski had just found out shortly before that he had become a grandfather for the first time.
Son Brent, who was a standout football player at Warren before graduating in 2001, broke the news that his wife Stephanie delivered Mary Ava in Utah in the wee hours of the morning Friday.
"I'm a grandpa. That's so great," Kozlowski beamed. "My wife went out there to be with everyone and see the baby, and now I'm not sure if she's ever coming back."
Kozlowski's wife, Julie, might also find herself spending a lot of time at Brigham Young University.
That's where the other bit of Kozlowski's good news from Saturday came from.
Son Tyler, who also played football at Warren and graduated in 2002, is on the BYU football team and had the play of his life Saturday.
The Cougars were playing Eastern Washington. Tyler, a walk-on, blocked a punt that turned the momentum in BYU's favor for good.
"The game was still close at that point, and after Tyler blocked the punt, the offense scored immediately and that opened up the game," Kozlowski said. "It's amazing, really, because he tried out last year with 432 other guys and he was one of two guys they kept. Last year, they had him on the scout team. This year, he didn't even start out on the depth chart and now he's traveling with the team, playing special teams and even getting in a little bit on offense at wide receiver."
That hurts: A fire extinguisher would be a good prop this week for Carmel coach Andy Bitto.
"I want our guys to play like their hair is on fire," Bitto said. "That would make me feel good. I want them to play with complete reckless abandon."
Bitto says that would be the exact opposite of how his Corsairs played last week while getting waxed 45-8 by Joliet Catholic.
"It's not just that we lost that badly, it's that we didn't show up," Bitto said. "We have to know that we can't do that again. We have to play at full-speed and give it everything we have because it's win or go home now.
"From what I've seen of them in practice, it looks like they've got that determination in their eyes. Sometimes, losing a game like that can be a positive because it reinforces exactly what you want to do and what you don't want to do in the playoffs."
Long ride: A trip from the far north suburbs to Belvidere, just outside of Rockford, is neither short, nor convenient.
So Glen Kozlowski is taking his travel plans as seriously as his game plan for tonight's Class 5A playoff opener against Belvidere.
"We figure that without traffic, it would take at least an hour for us to get out there," Kozlowski said. "So who knows with traffic."
Kozlowski will know soon enough. He enlisted a couple of friends to drive the same route the Bulldogs will take to Belvidere -- from high school to high school so that the timing is as precise as possible.
"I don't want to leave anything to chance," Kozlowski said.
Star gazing: Vernon Hills coach Tony Monken is used to being around coaching legends. His father, Bob, after all, had nearly two decades of football success at Lake Park High School in Roselle.
Tonight, Monken will go head-to-head with another coaching giant when his Cougars take on undefeated Richards in Class 6A action.
Gary Korhonen has been coaching football at Richards for 44 years -- 36 as head coach.
With more than 300 career victories, he's the winningest football coach in IHSA state history. He has also guided Richards to two state championships -- in 1988 and 1989.
"He's a great coach," Monken said. "He's got a great program."
Gimme it: There's no doubt what the winner of tonight's coin toss between Wauconda and Belvidere will do.
"We're going to take the ball -- and so will they," Glen Kozlowski said. "A lot of teams will defer until the second half, but not us. We like to get the ball right away and establish the run.
"We say, 'This is who we are, try to stop us.' It's kind of a mentality that we're trying to establish."
Belvidere does the same thing.
"We've got stats of three games, and they seem to want to do the same thing and get the ball right away," Kozlowski said. "The coin flip will be interesting."
Grant parking at a premium: Grant Community High School will be a busy place Saturday night.
While the football team will be playing its Class 6A playoff opener against Simeon, a Barbershop Festival will be going on inside the school.
The north parking lot in front of the high school will be reserved for the Barbershop Festival attendees. All other parking will be shared with football fans on a first come first served basis.
Parking will be available at:
• South lot in the back of the high school, 285 E. Grand Ave.
• Lot west of the high school, off Devlin Road, is available for handicap parking and authorized personnel. This lot is adjacent to the bus barn and next to the football field.
• Lot at Stanton Middle School, 101 Hawthorne Lane, which is at the southwest corner of the high school campus. Please park on the pavement only and not on the lawn. An admission gate for the football game will be open adjacent to this lot.
• On Hawthorne Avenue (east side of street only), which is directly west of the football field.
• North lot (including adjacent grass field) of the Fox Lake Police Station, 301 S. Route 59. Also, the playground lot directly behind the police station.
• Parking lot of the Fox Lake Public Library, 255 E. Grand Avenue.
• Parking lot of the Fox Lake Village Hall, 66 Thillen Drive. (West on Grand Avenue, take a right on Holly, staying to the left, to Thillen Drive). Shuttle/bus service will be provided to and from the game at this location.
Unlucky Lakes: After reading in the Daily Herald last week that Vernon Hills coach Tony Monken implied his team's win over Lakes changed around the Cougars' season, Lakes coach Luke Mertens echoed the same about his Eagles.
"I firmly believe that that Vernon Hills game was our turning point," Mertens said. "Unfortunately, for the negative.
"But we have a good group of seniors and a lot of them are going to play college football. We were right there in some games and we just didn't get to finish them all the right way."
Vernon Hills rallied late against Lakes to win the teams' Week 3 game 22-20. While the Cougars went on to earn an at-large playoff berth with 5 wins, the Eagles finished out of the playoffs at 3-6.
Ramblin' Ramblers: Warren's 6-3 Blue Devils will have their hands full Saturday when they travel to Wilmette to face Loyola Academy.
The Ramblers (7-2) average 33.6 points per game. They're led by quarterback Pete Badovinac, who's completed 60 percent of his passes (110 for 182) for 1,436 yards and 17 touchdowns with 4 interceptions.
Loyola's offense also features tailback Mark Harvey (691 rushing yards, 6 per carry, 7 rushing TDs, 5 receiving TDs), wide receiver Brian Lindsay, Northwestern-bound tackle Brian Mulroe and fullback Mark Puch.
The Ramblers' defense, which has allowed only 110 points, is led by a group including strong safety James Kurzawski, middle linebacker Matt Mugnaini and sophomore lineman Chancellor Carter.
Warren's offense boasts sophomore running back Greg Kennedy, who's rushed for 1,091 yards and 13 touchdowns in his first season on varsity. Middle linebacker Tom Hajnos and defensive back Corey Harris lead the defense with 108 and 86 tackles, respectively.
"They do a ton of things and got great team speed," Loyola coach John Holecek said.
Z-B optimism: Zion-Benton went just 1-8 this season, but the Zee-Bees have some reason to be excited about 2008.
Their leading tackler, Craig Williams, is only a sophomore. He totaled 69 stops.
"He is a big kid who played strong side linebacker for us," defensive coordinator Mike Corcoran said. "He has great closing speed and lots of room to grow."
Including Williams, four of the Zee-Bees' top six tacklers will be returning next year. Those players are strong safety Bryan Brodt and tackles Henry McDaniel and Rodney Nixon.
Zion-Benton could potentially return eight starters on defense.
"With our kids' work ethic," Corcoran said, "I feel we have the potential to be much better defensively next year."