Harper seeks redemption

This could be viewed as a trap game when Harper College hosts North Iowa Area Community College in Saturday's 1 p.m. Midwest Football Conference game in Palatine.

The MFC East-leading Hawks (5-1, 4-1), who are 11th in this week's NJCAA/JCFootball.com poll, have a trip to MFC West leader Ellsworth (Iowa) next week. But there is plenty to keep the Hawks focused on NIACC (2-3, 1-3).

"The kids are excited about the opportunity to redeem themselves," Harper coach Dragan Teonic said of last year's 55-24 loss at NIACC. "Last year we were embarrassed by NIACC. They really took care of business and we have to be better this year.

"A lot of our kids felt that pain."

A coaching change has resulted in NIACC going to a shotgun, spread offense. Defensively it will play pressure man-to-man coverage against the Hawks' high-powered passing attack as sophomore Garrett Barnas (1,355 yards, 12 TDs, 4 INTs) needs only 225 yards to pass Griff Jurgens (4,434 yards in 1999-2000) as the school's career passing yardage leader.

"They're going to challenge you to make plays," Teonic said. "It's a little different than anything we've faced so far."

John Baldwin (24 catches, 434 yards, 5 TDs), Tafari Mahou (23 for 280, 3 TDs) and Eric Watts (16 for 163, 3 TDs) have been Barnas' top targets.

"This team is a very talented team," Teonic said of NIACC. "This team will be better and better as the as the season goes on and they're dangerous. We have to be at our best."

What happened last year should help make that happen for Harper.

Rock the house: Harper lost the first of two highly anticipated N4C showdowns with Rock Valley 25-20, 20-25, 25-15, 25-23 in Rockford last Thursday.

But the Hawks, now ranked sixth in the NJCAA Division III poll, don't have to wait long for a rematch in Palatine on Tuesday with third-ranked Rock Valley.

"We walked away saying we can play better," said Harper coach Bob Vilsoet. "But we know they're walking away saying they can do even better.

"I was impressed with them and impressed with the way we played."

Vilsoet said the Rock Valley match showed Harper (26-8, 3-1) needs to improve in cutting its errors and getting to the right places defensively.

Harper was up 23-22 in the final set but a lost serve cost it 2 points and the match.

"We kind of shot ourselves in the foot with mistakes," Vilsoet said.

Vilsoet did like how Harper rebounded in a 25-21, 25-15, 18-25, 25-21 win Tuesday on the road against an improved Joliet team.

"We played better and more often were in the right spots," Vilsoet said.

Vilsoet also experimented with putting All-American outside hitter Christy Lima in the middle and she had 16 kills and 5 blocks. Anie Fitzpatrick added 10 kills.

Fitzpatrick and Lima had 13 and 10 kills respectively and 6 blocks apiece against Rock Valley. Setter Nikki Maize continues to lead the nation in assists and assists per game.

Harper hosts a nine-team tournament Saturday and Vilsoet is hoping for a possible matchup with Division II power McHenry.

"It's a good tourney and we should be well-prepared," Vilsoet said. "McHenry is similar to Rock Valley with a good, tall front line."

Nice-looking tie: It was a tie that could almost be considered a victory for the Harper women's soccer team. The Hawks rallied from a 2-0 halftime deficit against College of DuPage, the fourth-ranked team in the country, and earned a 2-2 N4C draw in double overtime.

Movina Lazar and Heather Pawlish (Schaumburg) scored the Harper (2-5-1, 2-3-1) goals and keeper Kourtney Ciszek (Conant) kept COD off the scoreboard after intermission.

A little revenge: The Harper men's soccer team improved to 2-7 overall with a 5-0 win over Waubonsee. Zach Rosen (Wheeling) got his first shutout in goal and Mike Marks (Conant) scored twice to avenge an earlier 2-1 loss.

Daniel Gomero (Hoffman), Lukasz Borys (Elk Grove) and Mike Schubert (Hersey) had the other goals.

Run north of the border: The men's cross country team took seventh at last Friday's Carthage College Invite and was second among junior college teams. Chris Hoffman (Hoffman Estates) led the way by taking 39th out of 134 runners (27:50) in the 8,000-meter race.

Irene Villadares (Buffalo Grove) finished 55th (25:40) in the 6,000-meter race.