Kachmer piling up the points

St. Francis senior running back Mark Kachmer has run for 27 touchdowns and two 2-point conversions. He's caught a touchdown pass and has returned a kickoff for a touchdown.

All by himself Kachmer has scored 178 points.

That doesn't rank him among the top 50 single-season scorers in IHSA history - 206 points is the cutoff. But Kachmer has equaled or exceeded the point totals of eight DuPage County teams.

Kachmer's 178 points are 23 more than Class 7A quarterfinalist Downers Grove North has scored in 11 games.

No repeat rule: Immaculate Conception running back Carlos Rodriguez was named the offensive player of the week after his performance in Week 7, when most of his 187 yards rushing and each of his 3 touchdowns came in the second half of a 40-38 win over Marmion.

Knights coach Bill Schmidt was seeking any takers for a repeat after the Knights' 43-22 win over Lena-Winslow last week. The 200-pounder ran for 191 yards and 3 touchdowns, on top of his 11 tackles at linebacker.

Speaking to assembled writers after the game, Schmidt said: "Any of you still do players of the week? Because I'll put his nomination in now."

Renaissance men: IC's Schmidt, a one-time all-area player himself, sounds like he has quite a few players of the week.

In previous losses to St. Francis and to Driscoll, Schmidt said his team came out flat and played without focus. That is no longer the case.

"All I can say is from Week 9 on I don't know if there's a light switch, whatever you want to say it was, but we've sharpened our focus to such a fine level it's hard to articulate," Schmidt said.

"They have just been phenomenal, getting in early, watching extra film, taking film home with them. They've been all over the scouting reports.

"Practice is like playing in a game, we have to end up pulling them back a little bit. And when you have that type of focus and intensity from Monday to game day, you come out and you see the product on the field. Now we have to continue to take it to the next level."

LaHarold: It takes a team to win a title, and just like Rodriguez saying IC's scout team did a great job mimicking Lena-Winslow's offensive and defensive looks, St. Francis' scout team did the same with Nazareth.

Nazareth's most deadly weapon is junior back LaSteven McKinney. Though it's hard to run like a Division I prospect, the job of "being" McKinney on St. Francis' scout team fell to Harold Beron.

Listed on the Spartans' roster as a 5-foot-6, 150-pound junior split end and defensive end, Beron's McKinney act earned heaps of praise from St. Francis coach Greg Purnell. For the week Beron was known as "LaHarold."

"All week long he had the No. 21 (jersey) on and he just did a fabulous job of juking and jiving and running like (McKinney)," Purnell said.

It must have worked since the St. Francis defense, choreographed by coordinator Jesse Pierce, held McKinney to 79 yards on 21 carries, more than 20 yards under his average.

11 for 1: Brandon New has been a player on state-caliber Driscoll football teams, an assistant coach on seven title teams and now hopes to win No. 8 straight as head coach.

He's seen what it takes. Asked what type of team he's got on his hands, New said these Highlanders have taken time to overcome a lack of experience.

"There's a lot of kids playing who haven't played before, and I think it took some time maybe to figure out their potential, I think both physically and mentally," he said.

New said it's been a challenge to get offense, defense and special teams all clicking at once, a trademark in Driscoll's historic run. New also noted the 14-13 loss to Montini in Week 9, which could just as easily have gone the other way, took a lot of out of his players.

The Highlanders' 42-14 win over Herscher to begin the playoffs, and then last week's goal-line stand that held off Mendota in a 14-7 victory may have finally helped turn the corner, New said.

"That last play took all 11 kids on the field at once, playing as one, the true definition of a team, to make that final play. They're kind of understanding what it takes at this point."

"Eventually they're all going to get on board. I hope it's now," New said. "You don't have to be the most talented team, you just have to be a team that plays very well together."

Saturday Afternoon Live: Glenbard South's Class 6A quarterfinal game against Antioch, originally scheduled to kick off at 1 p.m. Saturday, was switched earlier this week to a 3 p.m. starting time.

And with good reason.

Sandwiched between a pair of Big 12 college football games, Comcast SportsNet Chicago will broadcast the Raiders' game live from Glen Ellyn.

"It's nice for our program," said Glenbard South athletic director John Treiber. "It should be pretty exciting out here."

According to Treiber, it'll mark the first time a Glenbard South football game will be broadcast on live television.

The sixth-seeded Raiders (9-2) are hoping to add a couple of other firsts on Saturday against No. 2 Antioch (11-0). A win would be a program-record 10th and it'd advance Glenbard South into the state semifinals for the first time.

Treiber said the school plans on putting on its best face for a statewide audience.

"We'll have to paint the mud green for television," he said with a laugh.

Seniorities: At halftime of last week's Glenbard South game against Hubbard, Raiders coach Dan Starkey looked around his locker room and didn't like what he saw.

"Honestly, I saw some concern in our players' eyes," he said.

The Raiders trailed 7-0 after struggling for 3 first downs and 54 total yards of offense in the first half. The team's potent offense shut down at the most critical time of the season, but Starkey knew just where to turn.

"I left the room to the seniors," he said. "We've got some great senior leadership and they showed it on Saturday. I came back into the room, and I could tell they were ready to go for the second half."

The Raiders, who face Antioch in the Class 6A quarterfinals on Saturday, scored 14 unanswered points in the second half and held Hubbard to 9 total yards to pull out a 14-7 victory.

Starkey credits his seniors - a list that includes Paul Andrzejewski, Louis Erkins, Jon Holland, Kevin Marshall, Ryan McKean, Kevin O'Brien, Kyle Slott and Billy Trakas - for the quick and crucial turnaround.

"Those guys just do a great job for us," Starkey said. "They know how to get the team going."