CL South vs. Cary-Grove - it lives up to the hype

Stores in Cary and Crystal Lake stock up on blue and green body paint.

Voices grow hoarse from cheering before games reach the halfway mark.

The electric atmosphere, if ComEd could devise a way to harness it, could power the lights of a high school for a month.

When rivals Crystal Lake South and Cary-Grove clash each fall, whether the contest takes place on the football field, the volleyball court or the soccer pitch, sparks fly in a way unmatched by games against other opponents.

The athletic programs of the respective Fox Valley Conference schools have emerged as the most successful in the FVC overall, often challenging each other for titles in several major sports since the middle of the decade. For one school to win a Valley Division title in a given sport, it usually has to go through the other, heightening the natural rivalry between District 155 institutions separated by just 5.81 miles.

"I think if you look at many of our sports it seems to come down to who wins between Cary and South," Cary-Grove athletic director and football coach Bruce Kay said. "I think rivalries come down to who gets in your way for trophies. There was a while there when we weren't in anybody's way, and there was a time there when South wasn't. I just think both schools' athletic programs are on a roll."

In football, Cary-Grove has won five straight FVC titles and is gunning for its sixth. The Trojans have not lost a conference or division game since Week 8 of the 2003 season and have won 5 straight regular-season games against the Gators, dating back to 2002. The Trojans also defeated CL South in a state quarterfinal in 2004 and a second-round game in 2006.

However, CL South has twice turned the tide on Cary-Grove in the postseason, beating the then-undefeated Trojans in state quarterfinal meetings in 2005 and 2008.

This season both football teams are 4-0, state ranked and boast, perhaps, the most talented and cohesive units each has fielded to date. They will collide on Oct. 16 in Cary, a date players from both teams have had tucked away in the backs of their minds since the day the schedule was released despite pleas from their coaches not to look beyond next week's opponent.

"It's very easy as a football coach to say, 'Take it one week at a time and don't look ahead,' but we all know you look at certain games where you have a rivalry or what could potentially be a big game," CL South athletic director and football coach Jim Stuglis said. "You look forward to those games, especially kids. They're not stupid. They know it's become the big game. They know about it and they think about it, I'm sure."

Football sets the tone for both athletic programs, but the rivalry between Trojan blue and white and Gator green and gold translates just as intensely to the volleyball court.

The CL South volleyball program won 11 straight FVC titles between 1987-1997 and 13 overall before the conference split into the Fox and Valley Divisions for the 2006-07 school year. The two squads, each populated by some of the best club volleyball players in the area through the years, have played to a near draw since.

In 2006, the Trojans swept the Gators in divisional play en route to the Valley title, but CL South got the final word by upending Cary-Grove in a regional final in three games.

The reverse was true in 2007. The Gators swept the Trojans to win an undefeated Valley title but lost to Cary-Grove in a regional final. In 2008, the teams split the Valley title but were placed in separate regionals and did not meet.

Tonight at 6:30 p.m. in Cary, CL South (11-0, 3-0) travels to Cary-Grove (14-1, 3-0) for what could be the first of as many as five head-to-head clashes between the talented teams this season. In addition to two Valley Division matches, they could face each other at the Nike Tournament at Mother McAuley Oct. 2-3 and at the Schaumburg Tournament the third weekend in October. If they meet in the postseason, it wouldn't be until the Class 4A Huntley sectional.

"South has been strong for so many years and we've been strong for so many years it's just a really cool rivalry that's developed between the two teams," Cary-Grove volleyball coach Patty Langanis said. "Neither of us seems to be able to develop a dominance over the other one. It's always our goal to say this is the year we're just going to take it to South, and I know that's their goal when they start the season. It just goes back and forth so consistently between the two teams, which just makes it a wonderful matchup."

Off-the-court friendships between the players add to the intrigue.

"Especially in volleyball you have that club dynamic where the kids are on the same team in the off-season, so they love that dynamic of being teammates and now opponents," said CL South girls volleyball coach Jorie Fontana, whom Langanis instructed in club volleyball when, as Jorie Miguel, she starred at Jacobs. "It plays in their minds. 'I know exactly what do, coach, because I've played with her. I know her strengths and what she does well.' Sometimes that bites you in the butt, but it adds to the fun of it, the atmosphere of it, the frustration of it when you lose and the excitement when you win. It's exciting.

"I have a unique group of girls this year and I'm eager to see, especially when you see a team like Cary-Grove with a lot of weapons, what they really are capable of."

The boys soccer team from CL South was undefeated until the Gators were tripped by a 2-0 score by defending Valley champion Cary-Grove last Tuesday.

"The conference games are always more intense, but the Cary-South game is always a special, clean but very intense match," CL South boys soccer coach Brian Allen said. "We haven't had problems between us as far as the match getting out of control. As (Cary-Grove coach) Mark (Olson) and I always say, 'Nice hard match as always and we look forward to another battle.' I think that extra adrenaline rush always plays a factor. Too much of it can be a bad thing, which is what happened (last Tuesday) to the few seniors I have. And if you don't have enough of it, if you're not ready, you can be on your heels."

Cary-Grove won Valley boys soccer titles in 2006 and 2008. CL South added spice to the rivalry when they defeated the Trojans in a regional semifinal in 2006, but Cary-Grove returned the favor in regional play the following year.

Cary-Grove (8-1, 5-0) will face the Gators (11-2-2, 3-1) again in Crystal Lake on Oct. 8, possibly with first place in the Valley on the line.

"From a soccer standpoint you know it will always be a battle," Cary-Grove boys soccer coach Mark Olson said. "All our other games are battles, but this one might have a little bit more just because South gets up to play us."

"Soccer, football, volleyball - they've all become pretty good rivalries between the two schools," Stuglis added, "and those big games have lived up to the hype, so people latch onto that as well."