Game day comes early for Benet
If Benet's football team hoped for some time to celebrate a big win, this isn't the week to do it.
The Redwings (5-3, 2-3) play a rare Thursday game against East Suburban Catholic Conference power Joliet Catholic (7-1, 4-1) at 7 p.m. at Lisle's Benedictine University. The short week is due to a conflict with Lisle High School's football game that will be played on Friday.
As much as the Redwings would love as much time as possible to prepare for one of the state's top teams, they'll make the best of the situation.
“It should be fine for us,” said Benet coach Pat New. “It's one less day, but it's not that hard for us to adjust our practice schedule.”
It helps, of course, that much of the pressure to beat Joliet Catholic is off the Redwings' shoulders. By beating St. Viator 10-7 last week Benet hit the magical 5-win mark that makes the program playoff-eligible.
With an impressive 42 playoff points heading into the final week of the regular season, it's a virtual guarantee that 5 wins would get the Redwings in the playoffs.
Getting that sixth win won't be easy.
Since losing 31-28 to unbeaten Carmel in Week 4, Joliet Catholic has used its dominating ground game to unleash impressive offensive numbers. Behind running backs Josh Ferguson, Malin Jones and sophomore Ty Isaac, the Hilltoppers are averaging 57 points a game the last four weeks.
While the Hilltoppers are rolling, Benet's on the verge of its first playoff berth since 2006 after a series of close games.
Last week the Redwings' defense, spearheaded by linebacker Pat Boyle and lineman Jeff Schmittgens, played one of its best games. The offense got a spark by the return from injury of quarterback Nick Mankowski, whose fourth-quarter touchdown pass provided the margin of victory.
Running back E.J. Howe notched another 100-yard rushing game to move within 109 yards of becoming the program's first 1,000-yard rusher in 30 years, according to New.
The Redwings won't have much time to prepare for Joliet Catholic, but there is one advantage of playing on Thursday.
“Now we can go out and scout on Friday,” New said.
Bright future: Unbeaten heading into its regular-season finale, Glenbard West (8-0, 5-0) is obviously playing for this year heading into Saturday's West Suburban Silver game against Lyons Twp. (7-1, 4-1).
But while the clear goal this season is to claim the program's first state title since 1983, the future also looks great.
Five sophomores are contributing to the Hilltoppers' success this season, perhaps the brightest star being running back Kendall Johnson. In last week's 47-7 win over Downers Grove North, Johnson rushed for 185 yards and 3 touchdowns on 11 carries.
Combined with senior Nick Burrello a key member of last season's Class 7A state runner-up team the tandem piled up 280 rushing yards last week.
“Kendall's a sophomore and we're just trying to get him a lot of touches so he can be the guy who can carry the load,” said Hilltoppers coach Chad Hetlet. “We'd like to balance it out so we're not always giving it to Nick. (Johnson's) coming of age.”
Johnson's especially dangerous on jet sweeps and pitch plays, but he's also a good receiver. He's a strong punter as well who offers a constant threat for fakes.
Hetlet, however, believes Johnson's best position may rest on defense.
“He's probably a better linebacker than he is a running back,” Hetlet said. “We don't need him to play linebacker this season, but in the future you'll definitely see him on defense.”
Next...: Downers Grove North's tough season became even tougher in Week 7 when starting quarterback Riley McGinnis went down with a broken arm.
In last week's 47-7 West Suburban Silver loss to Glenbard West, the Trojans were forced to turn to their fourth-string quarterback in Cody Pooler, who's normally a starting defensive back.
“We've lost McGinnis and (Matt) Underdown, our rover who was a quarterback,” said Trojans coach John Wander. “A kid that can throw the ball, (Nick) Barker. Cody's a great kid and tried to do the best he could. It was moving too fast. For your first game playing quarterback, you don't want it to be against Glenbard West. It's tough to come into this situation.”
Many Silver coaches have said the Trojans (1-7, 0-5) are far better than their record indicates, an opinion backed by Downers North's scores this season. Before the Glenbard West loss, the Trojans' five previous defeats came by 6 points or fewer.
If Hinsdale Central wins this weekend to qualify for the playoffs, seven of Downers North's nine opponents will be in the postseason.
“You try to keep telling them they're a halfway decent football team,” Wander said. “Hopefully, they believe it, but I don't know.”
Faith rewarded: Friday marks the last regular-season game for St. Francis' Class of 2011. Entering their finale against Suburban Christian Conference Blue Division foe Aurora Christian, the Spartans' 18 seniors comprise coach Greg Purnell's first four-year group.
“We're excited for the challenge,” Purnell said. “Going 6-3 would be a great thing.”
Purnell said the Class of 2011, football-wise, may have had a difficult decision as eighth-graders. There was a span of several months when the varsity coaching position was vacant, between the end of Bobby Bennett's tenure in January 2007 and Purnell's hiring that spring out of Iowa.
Purnell recalled the seniors' struggles as underclassmen and praised the development of players like Bobby Miller, Ben Trimble, Brian Herr, Nick Pfeiffer and Mike Stolte, who are making a run for the program's third straight playoff appearance.
“They've worked hard and have shown a lot of improvement,” Purnell said. “That's why this sixth win would be huge for this class.”
Against the wall: With 30 playoff points 5-3 Wheaton Academy's playoff prospects seem slim without a win over a 6-2 St. Edward team that seeks an outright Suburban Christian Conference Gold Division title.
“I'm 95 percent sure we won't make it if we don't win,” said Warriors coach Ben Wilson.
Crunching numbers, Wilson said that even under the shaky proposition that a team on Wheaton Academy's schedule wins its game this week, the Warriors would have 37 playoff points. Since the current alignment of 256 playoff teams began in 2001, the low to gain qualification was 28 playoff points in 2002. Over the past four seasons, however, it's been 38, 36, 36 and 38. Speculation has it that number may grow this season.
While St. Edward coach Mike Rolando believes his Green Wave hasn't won a conference title since 1978, Wheaton Academy's last conference title came in 1958, shortly before the program went dormant for 19 years. A Warriors win Saturday at West Chicago would clinch two goals.
“Our goal from the beginning of the season was to win the SCC Gold, so if we win it we achieve our goal,” Wilson said. “And we'll go into the playoffs though we feel like we're in the playoffs already.”