Kuceyeski, Libertyville to honor Stevenson's Mitz

It will be all-out war once the clock starts at Stevenson today.

Libertyville and Stevenson are two of the heaviest heavyweights and fiercest rivals in the North Suburban Conference.

But before kickoff, the gloves will come off, and sincere pleasantries will be exchanged.

Since the beginning of the season, it's been rumored that this will be the last year at the helm for Stevenson head coach Bill Mitz. While Mitz is retiring as a teacher at the school, he says he may or may not also retire as head football coach. At this point, he's just not sure.

But, just in case Mitz does retire, Libertyville head coach Randy Kuceyeski didn't want him to leave empty-handed. So Kuceyeski will be presenting Mitz with a plaque before the coin toss that lists the score of every Libertyville-Stevenson game since Mitz took over as Stevenson's head coach.

"We wanted to have a way to honor him," Kuceyeski said.

"That's really nice," Mitz said.

What might not be so nice for Mitz, however, is what is actually inscribed on the plaque. According to Kuceyeski, Libertyville leads the series 15-13.

Well received: For having not played football until his sophomore year, Stevenson wide receiver Nate Johnson, also a standout on the basketball team, is making quite an impact.

Quarterback Kevin Earl has about 1,000 passing yards and his main target is Johnson, who has at least 20 catches.

"Nate is a great basketball player, but he's a great football player now, too," Stevenson coach Bill Mitz said. "He's become a huge weapon for us."

Mitz says that Johnson, a strong student in the classroom, has also become a student in the film room.

"He's watching film all the time, studying it, studying defenses," Mitz said. "He's a great athlete but he's also done a lot of work off the field to get better."

Musical backs: It was offense on the fly last week for Libertyville.

Against Lakes, the Wildcats had to quickly adjust their game plan at running back because of some injuries.

Starting running back Kevin Penny was scheduled to sit out the game because of a sore shoulder and Jake Duguid was going to rotate in with James Zotto and Nick McDowell.

But on the opening kickoff, Duguid got a stiff hit to the shoulder.

"A guy from Lakes speared him with his helmet," Kuceyeski said. "So he was out hurt."

Kuceyeski and his staff then dug deeper and used backup quarterback Matt Persin in the running back rotation.

"We were kind of scrambling there for awhile," Kuceyeski said. "We were changing back and forth but it turned out OK."

The Wildcats went on to get a 35-17 win and extend their winning streak to three games heading into tonight's tilt with rival Stevenson.

It's not over 'til: When it's Libertyville-Stevenson, there are no shortcuts.

"You've got to play the full 48 minutes," Stevenson coach Bill Mitz said.

The Patriots learned that the hard way last season. Stevenson took a quick 14-0 lead but Libertyville wound up winning the game, 28-21.

"We got out to that good jump last year and it didn't mean anything," Mitz said. "It's always an exciting game from start to finish."

Shouldering a burden: Mountains of padding should have made Craig Tanner practically bullet proof.

The Antioch senior offensive lineman recently wrapped up his injured shoulder with padding galore so that he could take a hit and not worry about his shoulder going numb. That's been a very real problem for him this season.

"With all the padding he was putting under there, he should have been able to get hit by a truck and not feel a thing," Antioch coach Brian Glashagel said. "But with every hit, his shoulder has still been going numb every time. It's like this really bad stinger."

Tanner has had range of motions issues with his shoulder in the past and he took a big blow to his shoulder during a Week 3 game against Warren. It would appear that Tanner's history is playing a role in his current problems, but doctors aren't quite sure yet about exactly what is causing the numbness.

"He's had X-rays and now an MRI," Glashagel said. "It's really a weird thing, but it also seems pretty bad. That (numbness) shouldn't be happening."

Glashagel says that because of the mysterious and serious nature of Tanner's problems, it's possible Tanner could be done for the season and his high school career.

"I hope he'll be OK, but I don't know," Glashagel said. "We'll just have to see what the doctors say."

Sophomore step-in: To fill the void left by injured Antioch offensive lineman Craig Tanner, head coach Brian Glashagel has had to dip deep into the reserves.

He's brought up a sophomore to start on the line. In fact, Antioch now has two sophomores doing that because Tanner isn't the only veteran lineman to go down with an injury.

On Opening Night back in August, senior offensive lineman Zach Avila went down with an injury. His injury and Tanner's has opened the door for newcomers Gregg Van Dycke and Lee Shannon, who were part of a freshman team that went 9-0 last season.

"Those guys are sophomores, but they're really, really good sophomores," Glashagel said. "They're very talented and very athletic."

But the transition from two veterans (Tanner and Avila) to two varsity rookies hasn't exactly been easy, and it's shown. Antioch has lost its last two games and even got shut out (14-0) last week against Vernon Hills.

"(Van Dycke and Shannon) are doing a nice job," Glashagel said. "But part of the reason we're having some trouble moving the ball right now is that we've had three kids rotating in (at Tanner's spot) and we just haven't had a lot of continuity on the line. We need to get things settled there."

Serious stuff: Last season, the wins kept piling up for Antioch, which ultimately went 9-0 during the regular season and advanced to the Class 6A state semifinals.

By this point, the Sequoits could rest easy about one thing: the playoffs were a guarantee.

No such guarantee this year for the Sequoits, who are 3-3 and just one loss away from likely elimination from the playoff pool.

So is the panic button getting a workout?

"No, there's no panic," Antioch coach Brian Glashagel said. "Do we know there's a chance we won't be going to the playoffs? Yes. Do I feel that will happen? No.

"I think we'll be all right because I see what's going on with our kids. At practice (on Wednesday) the kids never took their helmets off, never even loosened their chin straps. They were drinking water through their helmets. It was serious out there, and they were at high rev all day."