Injuries leaving Raiders depleted

Last week's Glenbard South loss to Geneva was painful in more ways than one to the Raiders.

Standout senior quarterback Kevin Marshall, who has accounted for nearly 800 yards of offense and 5 touchdowns, suffered a broken index finger on his throwing hand. Marshall, a tremendous athlete who is 6-foot-3, 215 pounds, stayed in the game to play linebacker, but his presence certainly was missed on offense.

"It's tough," said Raiders coach Dan Starkey. "We still had him on defense, but he's done such a nice job at quarterback."

Junior Trace Wanless, who saw time at quarterback even before Marshall was injured, takes over behind center. The Raiders, who head to DeKalb for Saturday's Western Sun Conference game, also will be missing linebacker Nick Slezak and defensive lineman Branden Shustar because of injury.

"For the time being we're pretty depleted," Starkey said.

The big boot: When you see Wheaton Warrenville South junior Nick Immekus he doesn't look like the prototypical kicker.

He's a 6-foot, 225-pound starting center on the offensive line, but his soccer background - he played until his freshman year - gave him the perfect starting point as a kicker and punter.

In last Friday's game against Glenbard North Immekus blasted a last-second 45-yard field goal to give the Tigers a 16-14 win. It was his second field goal of the season.

Immekus has attended kicking camps over the last couple of off-seasons, and the work clearly paid off. Tigers coach Ron Muhitch said 50 percent of his kickoffs this season have sailed into the end zone for touchbacks.

"We don't stereotype our players," said Tigers coach Ron Muhitch. "A player with a lineman's build, you don't expect him to be a kicker. But he's done a lot of work to get to this point."

Triviata: The last time Immaculate Conception won a football game over Driscoll was in 1992, when current IC coach Bill Schmidt was in his senior season for the Knights.

A two-way starter, Schmidt recalled catching a 45-yard touchdown pass in IC's 8-7 victory over the Highlanders.

That win gave IC the Suburban Catholic Conference title. Driscoll came back to defeat the Knights 20-19 in the second round of the Class 3A playoffs.

Coaches of the weeks: Last week's St. Francis-Montini game featured coaches who had been named Chicago Bears High School "Coach of the Week" in two of the first three weeks of the season.

Montini coach Chris Andriano earned the honor after a Week 1 34-31 comeback win over Springfield Sacred Heart-Griffin, bagging his 200th career victory in the process.

The Bears tabbed St. Francis coach Greg Purnell as their Week 3 coach following the Spartans' 27-7 victory over Driscoll, the first time St. Francis had beaten the Highlanders since 2000.

If they don't meet again in the playoffs, Andriano and Purnell will still get to shake hands on the field - Soldier Field - as they'll be recognized with the other winners at the Bears-Jaguars game on Dec. 7.

Snappy: Benet senior lineman Phil Dukleth and Glenbard North junior lineman Bobby Dunn are both ranked among the top long snappers in the state by the Ray Guy/ ProKicker.com Kicking Academy.

The Academy ranks the 6-foot-2, 230-pound Dunn 14th nationally and Dukleth 46th. It has Dunn third in the Class of 2010, and puts Dunn and the 6-foot-1, 255-pound Dukleth Nos. 1 and 3, respectively, in Illinois.

With the program: After an 0-3 start, Waubonsie Valley coach Paul Murphy demanded changes at practice and in pregame preparation. He characterized the Warriors' bus trips to road games at Prairie Ridge and St. Charles East as unfocused, the on-field run-throughs as "a zoo."

After Waubonsie's 28-26 win over Neuqua Valley, it sounded like there was a direct correlation between improved attitude and performance.

"We probably had the best week of practice in the four years that I've been here," he said on North Central College's field after the game. He spoke of playing with passion and emotion, of practicing at game speed, of commitment.

"They laid it on the line," Murphy said. "They all believed."

Beforehand he told his players about his 1998 Marmion team - "a 40-point underdog" - that in the Class 4A playoffs beat Joliet Catholic, 13-7.

Then came the ultimatum.

"I told anybody who didn't believe we could win tonight, don't get on the bus," Murphy said.

"Everybody got on the bus."