College Achievers: Suburban players go for the title
North Dakota State will suit up several area players for tonight’s Football College Subdivision championship game …
Homers
The FCS championship between the top two seeds, No. 1 Montana State and No. 2 North Dakota State, is at 6 p.m. tonight, broadcast on ESPN.
Congratulations to both teams — but local interest definitely favors the North Dakota State Bison (13-2).
Redshirt freshman cornerback Jailen Duffie (Warren High School) has played in 12 games and started eight including the last three. He’s made 18 solo tackles with 8 assisted tackles, has broken up 3 passes and recovered a fumble.
Senior linebacker Luke Weerts (Batavia) has played in 11 games with three starts. He’s made 16 solo tackles with 11 assists, 1.5 tackles for loss, a forced fumble and a pass breakup.
Sophomore defensive end Kelton McCaslin (St. Charles East) has seen action in eight games. He’s made 6 tackles, but 2.5 were for loss including 2 sacks, plus a forced fumble and a recovery.
Sophomore quarterback Nathan Hayes (St. Charles East) has played in five games supporting All-American Cam Miller. Hayes, who threw for 141 yards and 2 touchdowns against Murray State, has run for 90 yards and a touchdown and passed for 214 yards and 3 touchdowns.
Redshirt freshman running back Kelly Watson (York) played in three early-season games and continues to be a valuable member of the Bison scout offense.
Montana State (15-0) brings no local athletes into the title game at Toyota Stadium in Frisco, Texas.
Savannah the striker
Savannah Johnson (Wauconda), a fifth-year forward on the Loras College women’s soccer team, earned United Soccer Coaches All-America and Division III first-team all-region honors for a second straight season. Her 45 points this season on 18 goals (8 game-winners) and 9 assists put her tied for sixth all-time in goals for a single season at Loras, and seventh in points. Overall, Johnson finished fourth in program history with 53 goals, tied for fourth with 133 points, and tied for ninth with 27 assists as she helped the Duhawks earn four consecutive A-R-C conference titles and four straight NCAA Tournament appearances.
Wise (and fair) young Owls
The United Soccer Coaches also present the College Team Ethics and Sportsmanship Award. A self-nominated award since the USC can’t monitor all matches nationwide, it measures fair play and sportsmanship by the number of red and yellow cards a team is shown divided by the number of games it plays. One red card and a team is disqualified.
Announced Dec. 31, 64 teams received either Gold, Silver or Bronze awards (no Platinum this season for zero cards shown). Only two programs in the nation earned Gold distinction. One was from New Jersey and the other was the Oakton College women’s team, the National Junior College Athletic Association program in Des Plaines. Tristram Bisgrove has coached the Owls since 2022.
Of the 64 teams recognized, 63 were women’s teams.
Reunion
Familiar faces filled the Shirk Center court in Bloomington when Illinois Wesleyan beat Washington University of St. Louis, 84-68 in a men’s basketball game on Dec. 19.
Washington got action from starters Connor May (Palatine) and Will Grudzinski (Barrington). Wesleyan countered with starter Hakim Williams (Round Lake) and, off the bench, Marko Anderson (Maine South), Nathan Boldt (Barrington), Alex Miller (Downers Grove North) and Alex Schmidts (Barrington).
That doesn’t even count familiar names like Wesleyan’s Jackson Niego, out of Lyons Twp., or Washington’s Ryan Cohen and Wesleyan’s Josh Fridman, who played in the same backcourt at Glenbrook North.