St. Francis gets one more look at SCC rival Montini

What a coincidence.

Out of 16 teams in the Class 5A lower bracket, No. 12 seed Montini and No. 5 St. Francis are poised for a first-round game.

With enough to worry about, neither Montini coach Chris Andriano nor St. Francis' Greg Purnell disputed the pairing.

"It came out the right way," Andriano said. "It just came out with the records and the seeds. I don't think there's any tampering or shenanigans."

"I am just happy that our young people are 7-2 and they're in the playoffs," Purnell added.

One of these Suburban Christian Blue teams won't stick. In 2008 it took until the quarterfinals for defending 5A champion St. Francis to eliminate the Broncos, retribution for Montini's regular-season win.

This past Sept. 19, St. Francis used 3 quick interceptions and a fumble recovery to go up 35-7 in the third quarter. Montini quarterback Brandon Pechloff then threw 3 touchdown passes to get the Broncos within 35-31 only to have the Spartans put it away with 16 unanswered points. St. Francis quarterback Collin O'Donnell ran for 105 yards and backs Mark Schmitt ran for 118, Bob Miller for 131.

"It's going to be a matter of who executes what they do and who takes care of the football," Andriano said of his 5-4 Broncos, who made the playoffs a 17th straight season.

Many names have changed since St. Francis won its 5A title. Some key players remain, like defensive back-wingback Tony Vargyas and linemen Russ Kalfas, Joe Pfeiffer, Jon Giovenco, Ryan Spatz, Nick Pfeiffer and Wes Herwaldt.

"We had a great run a year ago but it's all behind us," Purnell said. "This group of juniors and seniors is working hard trying to create their own run."

Moving to West Chicago's artificial turf from St. Francis' grass field may be a wash, benefiting both St. Francis' overall speed and Montini's passing game. It could extend beyond that.

"I've got an artificial hip," Purnell said, "and I coach better on turf."