North Chicago varsity still suspended, for now

BLOOMINGTON - It's back to the gridiron at North Chicago - at least for some of the football players in the program.

On Monday, the Illinois High School Association announced that it has reinstated part of the North Chicago High School football program that was suspended following a bench-clearing brawl with Simeon on Sept. 4.

For the time being, the IHSA has maintained its suspension of North Chicago's varsity team, which was required to forfeit last week's game against Vernon Hills. However, the freshman and sophomore teams, which were also suspended last week, will be allowed to play this week's games against Zion-Benton as scheduled.

The freshmen will play Thursday night and the sophomores will play Friday night at 5 p.m.

"We hope the varsity will be able to join the sophomores on Friday night," said North Chicago coach Glen Kozlowski, whose team has been allowed to continue practicing since the suspension was handed down late last week. "There's a chance we could play, but there's also the possibility we won't. We have to wait for the IHSA to decide."

North Chicago athletic director James Hentschel said Monday he and other North Chicago officials had a constructive meeting with IHSA officials, including football administrator Dave Gannaway.

Gannaway was to present his findings to IHSA executive director Marty Hickman, who will then make the ultimate decision as to whether North Chicago's suspension, which is currently listed as being active "until further notice," will be lifted or continued.

That decision is expected to be announced sometime this week.

"They're going to take their time and that's expected, they want to get this right," Kozlowski said of the IHSA's decision process. "The bottom line is, sportsmanship has to be important, there has to be accountability and we accept that. We just want to do the right thing."

Simeon was ahead 21-0 with about five minutes remaining in the first quarter when the game, played at North Chicago, took a horrible turn. Players started fighting on the field and some fans ended up leaving the stands to join the melee.

The game was called off and Simeon was declared the winner.

While Simeon wasn't held blameless, IHSA officials said film of the game shows North Chicago players were "way out of line in this case."

The Associated Press contributed.