DuPage County: Five storylines for the 2010 football season
Class action: Venerable Wheaton Warrenville South coach Ron Muhitch has been an integral part of a football program that's claimed six state titles in four classes, including last season's Class 7A championship.
Muhitch knows talent when he sees it.
"We saw quite a few teams this summer, and 7A is absolutely loaded," he said. "As good as it was last year, it might be even better this year."
University of Illinois-bound quarterback Reilly O'Toole leads the Tigers as they enter the season favored to repeat in 7A. Like last year, however, nothing will be easy.
Staring them down again will be last year's state runner-up, Glenbard West, which is headed by University of Iowa recruit Jordan Walsh, one of the state's premier offensive linemen. St. Rita, East St. Louis and Lake Zurich also will be state title contenders in a class that could be more powerful than 8A.
The state's top team, though, may be two-time defending 8A champion Maine South. Riding a 28-game winning streak, the Hawks enter the season nationally ranked and faces WW South in Week 2.
Last year Maine South handed the Tigers their lone defeat in a 27-9 decision. Combined with an opener against Hinsdale Central and a typically tough DuPage Valley Conference slate, WW South will be tested from wire to wire.
"It's a difficult schedule, no doubt about it," Muhitch said. "But we look at it as a challenge."
Going in motion: The status of conference alignment is definitely not quo.
The Suburban Christian Conference continues tweaking things in its second year. Glenbard South hangs in limbo between last year's Western Sun Conference affiliation and 2011 participation with Fenton in the Metro Suburban. The Upstate Eight Conference has undergone an overhaul.
Left high and dry when the Western Sun dissolved - spinning Batavia and Geneva into the UEC and creating the Northern Illinois Big 12 out of Kaneland, DeKalb, Sterling, etc. - Glenbard South joined the Metro Suburban after football schedules were completed.
Raiders athletic director John Treiber had to do something. One of the Illinois High School Association's five football independents this fall, Glenbard South landed nine opponents from near and far, starting with Glenbard West, Nazareth and Fenton. The Raiders play Benet on Sept. 24 and Missouri's Fort Zumwalt South in Week 9.
"The trade film really comes in handy because we won't be as familiar with these teams," said Raiders first-year head coach Jeremy Cordell, part of Glenbard West's renaissance as defensive coordinator. "Film always is the most important thing, but it'll be even more important in our case."
The SCC is now a balanced unit of two six-team divisions, the larger-enrollment Blue and the smaller Gold. Walther Lutheran, a Private School League émigré that was quickly accepted after Driscoll's 2008 closing announcement, joins the Blue after last year's 4-5 mark as an independent.
As in Chicago Public School League basketball, 2009 Gold Conference winner Aurora Christian gets promoted to the Blue while last-place Aurora Central gets bumped down.
It's been many moons since the Upstate Eight was indeed eight. Now the UEC is a two-division league of seven teams each. The initial news release of September 2008 stressed its alignment based on geography - which in part "address(ed) the fiscal responsibility of our member schools" - but is now more enrollment-based.
The UEC River offers Elgin, Larkin, St. Charles East, St. Charles North, Streamwood and newbies Batavia and Geneva, none larger than Elgin's official enrollment of 2,473 students. The UEC Valley includes Waubonsie Valley, Neuqua Valley, Lake Park, South Elgin, Bartlett, East Aurora and upstart Metea Valley.
"I think Geneva and Batavia are going to enjoy being on the River side," said Andy Livingston, entering his 17th and final season coaching the Lake Park Lancers. "I think the Valley will be dominated by the three 'Valleys.' Who knows what this year is going to bring, really."
Major commitments: It's been a busy summer for the area's top senior football recruits as they try to hone in on college choices before the season begins.
Glenbard West offensive lineman Jordan Walsh made his decision just in time. Among about two dozen scholarship offers, this week Walsh committed to the University of Iowa.
Wheaton Warrenville South's Reilly O'Toole, who last season threw for 2,119 yards and 24 touchdowns against only 3 interceptions, verbally committed to the University of Illinois, while teammate Luke Luhrsen, an offensive lineman, committed to Kansas.
DuPage Valley Conference rival Naperville North also boasts a pair of Division I recruits. Quarterback Matt LaCosse verballed to Minnesota and linebacker Nick Lifka will attend Boston College. Waubonsie Valley receiver Mark Szott chose Northwestern.
The goal for many of the athletes was to commit this summer so they could put their full focus on the season.
Several area recruits, however, are still sorting through their options. Benet offensive lineman Pat Flavin, like Walsh, is choosing among about two dozen offers.
While the timing varies, the relief is the same once the decision is made.
"I was going to play it by ear, but I was just real excited about what Illinois had to offer," O'Toole said. "Just getting that decision out of the way was a big lift off my shoulders."
Mustangs mount up: Along with realignment, the Upstate Eight Conference welcomes Metea Valley to varsity team sports, the first true rookie since South Elgin debuted in 2006.
Rejoining the UEC is Mustangs coach Ted Monken, who produced a 36-17 record at St. Charles East from 2004-08. The eighth Monken to be a head coach in Illinois - his father, Bob, former Lake Park coach and an Illinois High School Football Coaches Association Hall of Fame inductee, is assisting his son with defensive backs, kickers and punters - Ted won a UEC title in 2007 and had four playoff seasons at St. Charles East before founding the Metea program last year.
Bearing a roster of juniors and sophomores, Ted Monken has no huge expectations for 2010.
"Number one, I think, is just play good, solid football," he said. "We don't want to look like a bunch of babies playing rinky-dink football out there."
Having coaches around like the Monkens ensures the Black and Gold won't be rinky-dink, or be babied. Ted Monken's main concern may be getting "outphysicaled" by teams with bigger, stronger seniors.
"We want to go out and play tough and see what happens," he said.
On the sophomore level in 2009 Metea finished 6-3, losing to Brother Rice, Marian Central and, late, to District 204 mate Neuqua Valley, 14-6. Primarily playing on sophomore A and two freshman levels, the Mustangs were a cumulative 19-7.
Monken continues to have solid competition for running back in an offense that promises speed and execution over pounding. He said quarterback-safety Jarrett House, receiver-cornerback Ray Parker, offensive lineman Tyler Janczak and defensive linemen Zach Wood and Justin Pruitt looked sharp in camp and at 7-on-7 contests at Bolingbrook, Hinsdale Central and on Metea's own turf field.
"I think we have the pieces in place that if everybody stays healthy, I think we'll be OK," Monken said.
New faces: Notable this season will be the numerous changes in the ranks of area head coaches.
Three familiar faces with nearly 100 years of coaching experience retired at the end of last season: Naperville North's Larry McKeon, Benet's Gary Goforth and Addison Trail's Paul Parpet, who was naturally replaced by his son and longtime defensive coordinator Paul Parpet Jr. The Huskies also turned to their longtime defensive guru by hiring Sean Drendel, while Benet hired former standout Pat New.
Drendel, a 1990 graduate of Naperville North, is a veteran of preseason two-a-days, but this camp definitely has a different feel to it.
"I've been around long enough not to get the butterflies, but it's an exciting time," Drendel said. "It's not just another year for me. But the transition's been pretty seamless and I think we'll hit the ground running."
Fenton turned to Mark Kos, a former freshman, sophomore and varsity assistant in the program, to replace Mark Farrell.
Glenbard South went across town for its new coach. Jeremy Cordell, the defensive coordinator at Glenbard West the last three seasons, takes the reins from Dan Starkey, who left the Raiders to become New Trier's new coach.
Cordell's head coaching career will start with a bang when the Raiders face Glenbard West in the season opener at Duchon Field.
"I think any season you're a little anxious because so much is new," Cordell said. "But the summer was packed and we did as much work as we could, so we're going into this season as prepared as we can be."