Heading west for postseason suits Aurora Christian fine

Aurora Christian's boys basketball team is headed in a different direction this postseason.

Instead of taking an eastern route through the Class 2A playoffs as they did in 2011 the Lisle regional, the sectional back at Aurora Christian, then southeast to the Joliet Central supersectional where the Eagles lost to eventual state champion Hales Franciscan they're going west.

Filtering into the Northern Illinois University supersectional in DeKalb, Aurora Christian is the No. 1 seed at the Somonauk regional. If successful, the Eagles go all the way up to the South Beloit sectional.

"We're kind of glad to be going west," said Aurora Christian coach Steve Hanson. "Not because there's not any good teams out there, but basically based on our experience last year running into Hales. But when you do a little research, there's some really, really good teams out there."

Sounds like Hanson's done not a little, but a lot of research on teams including No. 2 seed Mendota, which fields his cousin, Ryan Dornink. Hanson is a Mendota alumnus.

Aurora Christian gets the winner between No. 4 seed Plano and No. 5 Oregon. The Plano Reapers feature an Interstate Eight all-conference returnee in Devin Haws and one of the state's top athletes in Joseph Jones, a Northwestern football recruit who won last year's Class 1A 110-meter hurdles championship and placed sixth in the 100 dash.

Should Aurora Christian survive it'll face the winner of the Gordon Tech regional, whose host figures to advance from an all-Chicago group.

Prospective South Beloit finalists include a 23-0 Byron team, seeded first at the Pecatonica regional; and Rockford Lutheran or Rockford Christian from the Genoa-Kingston regional. Hanson said Rockford Lutheran has beaten Rockford Christian twice but has lost three times to Byron including Saturday at the buzzer.

"As we learned, anything can happen," Hanson said. "We entered the (2011) regional as a three-seed."

First, the Eagles sandwich Suburban Christian Conference crossover Chicago Christian between Blue foes Marmion and St. Francis.

"One thing I can say about my guys is they play loose and they have a little confidence," Hanson said. "We have football players that experienced a lot of success. C.J. (Schutt) and (Johnathan) Harrell are track athletes, my son (Jake) is a catcher going to a Division I (Valparaiso) school. They're not afraid of competition."

Shootout in Wheaton:

Kaneland has a unique weekend doubleheader.

The Knights, coming off an upset loss to Sycamore, visit DeKalb on Friday with the aim of knocking off the Barbs and maintaining hope of a Northern Illinois Big 12 East Conference title.

Saturday, Kaneland travels to West Chicago for the Wheaton Academy 3A Shootout, an inaugural event.

Wheaton Academy athletic director and boys basketball coach Paul Ferguson emailed invites, and Kaneland accepted. The Knights will face Nazareth at 4:30 p.m. Saturday. Bloomington-Rochelle follows at 6 p.m. and Wheaton Academy-North Lawndale at 7:30 p.m.

"I just thought it was a real good opportunity to get involved and see a team we probably never thought of facing," said Kaneland coach Brian Johnson.

Nazareth is a first-time Kaneland opponent, but Johnson knows the school. His wife, Katie, is a LaGrange native who went to Lyons Township, and the best way to get there runs right past Nazareth.

"I've been able to see them a couple times now, so I know they're pretty good and will pose a lot of challenges to us," Johnson said.

"I think we need to step up," he said. "We had a rough loss to Sycamore at our place, and I'm just curious how our boys will respond."