Twist of fate sinks Harper

A twist of fate in the form of a twisted ankle took the momentum away from Harper College on Saturday night.

The Hawks dropped a 24-14 decision to host Joliet Junior College in the Midwest Football Conference East Division championship at Joliet Memorial Stadium.

Quarterback and NJCAA passing leader Garrett Barnas, who led the Hawks back from an early 14-0 deficit into a tie at halftime, went down with an ankle injury in the third quarter and Harper couldn't recover.

Joliet scored 10 late fourth-quarter points for the win.

"We felt like if we could make them try to sustain drives and not give up any big plays, that would work in our favor," said Harper defensive end Kyle Jenkins, a Driscoll graduate who came up big with 2 sacks. "But we gave up a couple of (scoring) plays of about 30-40 yards, and that hurt us.

"We played solid defense, but we did give up 24 points."

Quarterback Mitch Watkins put host Joliet up early with 2 long touchdown passes while the Hawks (6-5), who couldn't muster any scoring chances, had the ball bounce their way late in the first half.

The Hawks recovered a muffed punt and one play later, Barnas ran 29 yards for a score.

After a Joliet punt, Barnas connected with John Baldwin on a 38-yard pass into the end zone, as Baldwin make a leaping catch to tie the game.

"I ran a straight deep route, and the quarterback found me -- he did a great job," Baldwin said.

"We definitely had the momentum at that point," said Harper coach Dragan Teonic.

But on the first possession of the second half, Barnas, who had already completed 13 passes for 204 yards, was injured on Joliet's fifth sack of the game -- and he did not return. Barnas' 2,517 passing yards broke the Harper single-season record of 2,402 by Eric Schultz in 2003.

The Hawks defense held until Joliet's Justin Zeeb kicked a late fourth-quarter field goal.

The Wolves (9-2) tacked on a Joshua Fitzgerald 6-yard touchdown run with three minutes left.

Backup quarterback Matthew Brandt played well in relief and led the Hawks on a late drive deep into Joliet territory, but Harper turned the ball over on downs after a botched field-goal attempt.

"Matt had started one game for us this year, and he did a good job tonight," Teonic said. "He definitely wasn't the reason we lost this game. We've got a bowl game coming up and we're excited about that."

Harper will play the noon Graphic Edge Bowl game on Nov. 18 at the University of Northern Iowa against Iowa Central, a 48-47 overtime loser to North Iowa Area CC in the MFC West championship. Joliet and NIACC will play the 3 p.m. feature bowl game.

Women's volleyball

Harper College couldn't have picked a worse time to see Rock Valley at its best.

The two nationally ranked NJCAA Division III women's volleyball teams met for the Region IV title and a national tournament berth Saturday at the College of Lake County in Grayslake.

And sixth-ranked Rock Valley ended the season for eighth-ranked Harper 24-30, 25-30, 29-31.

"The bottom line is Rock Valley played the best game they've ever played this year," said Harper coach Bob Vilsoet. "I told their coach that after the game … and agreed.

"The first two games we were probably trying too hard to win. We were running around and making bad plays because we were trying too hard."

Harper (29-23) led 29-24 in the third game but a service error started a 7-point run for Rock Valley. The teams had split their N4C meetings and Rock Valley had won a 2-game match early in the season.

"They effectively won pretty convincingly," Vilsoet said. "I'm totally surprised we didn't win and very surprised it went only three.

"If they play this well they will win the national championship."

The Hawks will have to replace sophomore middle hitter Lisa LaMasse (Hoffman Estates). LaMasse had 18 kills and 3 blocks against Rock Valley and 20 kills and 10 blocks in Friday's 30-18, 30-13, 30-25 semifinal win over Joliet.

"It probably hit Lisa the hardest," Vilsoet said, "because she played so well and we didn't win."

LaMasse and freshman Christy Lima (Rolling Meadows), who had 9 kills Saturday, made the all-Region IV team. LaMasse, Lima and Nikki Maize (Elk Grove), who had 34 assists and 15 digs, made the all-Region IV tournament team.