Fields quickly putting his stamp on St. Charles East program

ACDC fans rejoice. If you can't get enough of Back in Black, it's going to be coming at you twice as often this fall.

Not only will it be blaring when the Knights take the field at Kaneland, there's a change coming at St. Charles East.

New coach Mike Fields is putting his stamp on a program since taking over for Ted Monken in March. And one of the easiest changes to spot will be the jerseys the Saints are wearing.

Orange is out. Black is back. Just like ACDC sings, which is one of the changes you'll notice.

"We've gone back to the tradition at East," said the 43-year-old Fields, who comes from a highly successful run in the Geneva program as the Vikings' sophomore coach.

"Coach Monken really wanted orange emphasized. But talking to alumni, black was the predominant color."

Like the rest of the teams around Illinois, St. Charles East went through its first official practices Wednesday. Fields is the only first-year coach in the area.

The Saints will wear black home jerseys with white pants, then white jerseys with black pants on the road. Those who miss the orange will still love the press box, freshly painted orange a couple years ago. Fields said he told the boosters who worked on that paint job they could "leave it alone" instead of a new black coat.

Of course, it's not color the Saints are wearing as it is the level they are playing that matters most to Fields. Monken established a high standard for Fields to keep the program at, taking the Saints to the playoffs in the final four of his five years before leaving to start the Metea Valley program.

"The main goals are getting a program established, freshmen to seniors, get the community involved," Fields said. "We want to build the program up."

Fields enters his first year with lower numbers than he's used to working with at Geneva. They have about 42 players on varsity, and they'll have their share of holes to fill like star running back Wes Allen.

"We're not going to be able to replace Wes Allen," Fields said. "There's a lot of great senior leadership. They want to do well. I know they are in great shape and they are excited about it."

Fields will have his hands full starting opening night when the Saints draw the school he just worked at the past seven years, Geneva. They also are drawing a Vikings team coming off a 13-1 season who beat them in the regular season last year and in the playoffs two years ago, both times at Geneva. This will be the Saints' first crack at Geneva on their home field.

"I couldn't have written it any better," Fields said. "My and I wife bled Blue for seven years. Let's play the ones you love. There's kids over there I love. They work hard and are good kids, it's a good community. They've been so supportive for me to get this opportunity, and to start with them? Hopefully we'll get the right result."

Staying close: Wicinski, out at Broadview Academy Wednesday where the Vikings traditionally start their practices, said he still talks often with Fields. That included a Tuesday phone call.

"I told him I have a new defense, 3-3 stack, and run the spread, so prepare yourself," laughed Wicinski.

"It's going to be a carbon copy, mirror images," Wicinski said of the season opening matchup between two coaches with the same philosophy. "He's going to do what he's had success at. It adds a little spice to the game. It's going to be interesting."

Wicinski said he has three backs in the running to fill the shoes of Michael Ratay, who rushed for 44 touchdowns last year.

North Stars news: Fields will get his first look at the Cross-town Classic in the season finale against St. Charles North. Coach Mark Gould's North Stars return five starters on both sides of the ball, including Jordan Huxtable (961 yards, 12 touchdowns) at running back, and Josh Peters, J.J. Weaver, Ben Dvorak, Dominic Imbordino and Conner Mohs on defense.

"I think we are going to be pretty good," Gould said. "We have as much or more speed than any previous North team. Defensively we have some guys that can get there and they will hit. Offensively we have good speed and some tough kids. We are pretty optimistic about this group."

New-look Bulldogs: When we last saw Batavia, the Bulldogs were on the short end of one of the wildest, wackiest, most entertaining games in IHSA playoff history, a 70-63 loss to Huntley.

Coupled with a 47-14 loss to Geneva the week before, it wasn't the easiest way for Dennis Piron and his defense to end the season. Piron, the Bulldogs' defensive coordinator, has been around long enough not to let the playoff loss phase him.

"There are games in every sport played on earth that are aberrations," Piron said. "That game on that night I don't know if anybody on our coaching staff will ever be able to explain it. I don't know if they (Huntley) will either. They were the top team in their league defensively. We shouldn't have been able to do what we did offensively either. To me, that game once things got rolling it just became an unusual set of circumstances."

With starters like Ian Powers and Mike Greco back, defense could be Batavia's calling card this year while a young offense gets its feet wet. Only one part-time starter returns on offense, and coach Mike Gaspari's son Noel, a sophomore, joins senior Kevin Flinn and two others in a four-way battle to replace Jordan Coffey at quarterback.

"Lot of new faces, probably as young as we've been in a long time," coach Gaspari said. "But that's exciting too."

Numbers game: Tom Fedderly is starting his third year as head coach at Kaneland, and his 17th overall in the program.

The Knights only had four seniors start in their final game last year, so there is plenty of talent back led by junior quarterback Joe Camiliere, who spent part of his summer in 7-on-7 camps and part of it as a lifeguard.

With 41 or 42 varsity players, Kaneland once again will have a roster half the size of Geneva and Batavia in the final year of the Western Sun Conference.

"We've got a lot of competition in a lot of spots," Fedderly said. "I think we are pretty deep team. Hopefully we won't have to do a lot (of two-way starters)."

Welcome aboard: Daily Herald sports writer Dave Oberhelman introduced himself at the top of this page, and I'd just like to add how excited I am to have Dave covering the Tri-Cities this year.

I've worked with Dave for over 10 years at the Daily Herald and I know what a professional he is, how much he loves high school sports and writing about them in a positive, entertaining way. Like Dave writes, please drop him an e-mail or phone call to say hi or to give him any feedback. I know you'll enjoy his work - even if he went to Indiana.

jlemon@dailyherald.com