Plenty of talent returns to ESCC
Six teams made the playoffs last year, four won at least one postseason game and two reached the state quarterfinals.
Just another football season in the East Suburban Catholic Conference.
The league will be strong as ever with another crop of talented teams expected to challenge for the title. Look for Carmel and Joliet Catholic, last year's champion, to be among the early favorites.
They won't be alone. Nazareth, Marist and St. Viator, which just missed the postseason at 4-5, also plan to mix it up with the perennial powers.
It'll take all nine weeks and plenty of sleepless nights for coaches to sort it out.
"I think Joliet Catholic and Carmel are the teams to beat," said Benet coach Gary Goforth. "But there are a lot of other teams that'll be up there, too. If we play well I think we can compete."
Arizona-bound Mickey Baucas, 6-foot-8 and 255 pounds, and David Steele return to Carmel's powerful offensive line. The Corsairs look to dominate on the ground with running back Eric Stevenson.
Joliet Catholic defends the ESCC title with a young but talented group. Linebacker Jake Stockman boasts four scholarship offers, including three from Division I programs.
It'll be quite a opener between Carmel and Joliet Catholic, although it's technically a nonconference game. Both ESCC favorites, however, have a season-long grind awaiting them.
Marist, which upset previously unbeaten Naperville North in the second round of last year's Class 8A playoffs, returns the ESCC's top quarterback in Mike Perish, who committed to Western Michigan. Nazareth brings back a pair of offensive playmakers in quarterback Adam Marske and running back LaSteven McKinney, who has three Mid-American Conference offers.
A sleeper in the ESCC is St. Viator. Quarterback Julian Sipiora and receiver Richard McLoughlin are both back as third-year starters.
How good is the conference this season? Even St. Joseph, which never has qualified for the playoffs, is poised to improve greatly.
One of the deeper ESCC fields in recent memory includes Benet despite the return of only six starters. Linemen John Cannova and Pat Flavin lead the offense along with first-year quarterback Luke Terna. Linebacker Mike Runger keys the defense.
With six of its nine games coming against 2008 playoff teams, Benet's schedule figures to be fierce.
But after years of experience in the ESCC, it'll be nothing new for the Redwings.
"As tough as it is, we want to be in the upper echelon of the conference," Goforth said. "All we have to do is get on a roll and the kids will start believing."