For one Wheaton team, time is running out

Here we go again.

Wheaton North (8-2) and Wheaton Warrenville South (10-0) square off in a second-round Class 7A playoff football showdown in their second meeting in five weeks. The Tigers rolled to a 42-14 DuPage Valley Conference win in the first game.

“I just don't like either of us having to play this game in the second round,” said Tigers coach Ron Muhitch. “I think there is good football being played in these communities, and it's nice to see those teams given the chance to make playoff runs.”

Wheaton cross-town playoff games are pretty rare. They've met only twice, with Wheaton North winning in 1988 and Wheaton Central winning in 1989.

They've made the playoffs a combined 40 times but only 10 times in the same season. In nine of those seasons, they've been in the same class including the last four years in Class 7A.

Under the IHSA's current regional quadrant scenario, it's a little surprising they haven't played each other more often. Now that they're playing at 7 p.m. Saturday at Red Grange Field for a berth in the quarterfinals, it almost seems appropriate.

“There are only 16 teams left so there's really no place to hide,” said Falcons coach Joe Wardynski. “You're going to get a tough game no matter where you're at.”

WW South has enjoyed a dominant advantage in the cross-town series, including a streak of eight straight wins dating back to Wheaton North's unbeaten romp through the DuPage Valley Conference in 2002.

That's little consolation to Muhitch, though, who expects a top effort from the Falcons as they try to derail the defending Class 7A state champions.

“This is a program game for both sides,” he said. “Our program is on top and trying to stay there and their program is trying to get to the top.”

Have bus, will travel: Gusts up to 81 miles an hour plagued the area last week, but there were no power outages in Montini's playoff preparation against St. Francis.

Faced with the prospect of having their spread offense blown off the practice field, the Broncos instead went indoors on Tuesday and Wednesday.

Coach Chris Andriano said assistant coach Frank Trilla “discovered” an indoor facility, Westmont Yard. Marked for three small soccer fields, the Broncos turned it into an indoor gridiron.

“It really helped us to get good practices in,” Andriano said. “We stayed sharp. When you go outside on windy days like that you can't get anything done when you throw the ball.”

When the winds died down the Broncos headed over to Ralph “Babe” Serpico Memorial Field in Melrose Park, a turf field Walther Lutheran has played on in inclement weather.

“We needed to do that because we needed lines and hashes, to get our spacing down,” Andriano said.

When the defending Class 5A champs have a specific need, it gets done.

“We're a bunch of traveling guys when we want to be,” Andriano said. “We put them on buses.”

On the line: With a first-year coach in Sean Drendel, Naperville North (7-3) went through an understandable adjustment period this season. The biggest adjustment may have come on the Huskies' offensive line.

“A lot of our guys have been running the double wing since they were in fourth grade,” Drendel said. “We went to a whole new style of line play, and we struggled with it early in the season. But now our offensive line is really jelling.”

Leading the offensive line is senior right guard Soern Osborne, who will be starting his 21st varsity game in the Huskies' second-round Class 8A game against top-seeded York (9-1) at 7:30 p.m. Friday in Naperville. Anthony Dimonte, Sean Connor, Peter Kemna, Eric Frey and David Meyerhoff are also creating holes for the running game and protecting quarterback Matt LaCosse.

“Soern's played in a lot of games for us, and that experience shows,” Drendel said. “They've all gotten better and better each week.”

Change of pace: Everyone knows that York (9-1) butters its offensive bread with running back Ryan Kent, who leads DuPage County with 1,526 rushing yards and 20 touchdowns.

While the Dukes need Kent to have a big game in Friday's Class 8A second-round game at Naperville North (7-3), they'll also get support from backfield mate Ken Boesenberg. The junior has rushed for 374 yards and 2 touchdowns including 8 carries for 51 yards in last week's win over Lockport.

“He's gotten more carries the last couple of weeks because teams have been focusing on Kent,” said Dukes coach Bill Lech. “He's become more and more involved in the offense.”

Lech's made full use of Boesenberg's abilities by playing him at fullback and wingback. Boesenberg's also responded by improving his blocking.

“He's gotten better every week because of how much he can now do for us,” Lech said. “He's developed into a good running back.”

Ice packs: Glenbard West (9-1) has been patching injury issues all season long, and nothing's changed in the playoffs.

The Hilltoppers pounded Plainfield North in the first round of the Class 7A playoffs despite being without starting quarterback Mike Matthew, linebacker Andrew Garwood and running back Trace Sorey. Safety Mike Laning and defensive lineman Tommy Schutt played sparingly because of nagging injuries.

Add it all up and the Hilltoppers' 51-12 win looks even more impressive. They face another stiff challenge in the second round against Lincoln-Way East (9-1) at 1 p.m. Saturday in Glen Ellyn.

“We've just got to keep our guys healthy as best we can,” said Glenbard West coach Chad Hetlet.

Hetlet lauded the play of sophomore linebacker Erik Strittmater and quarterback Daver Glawe replacing their injured teammates. The running back tandem of Nick Burrello and Kendall Johnson has been tremendous.

Resting Laning and Schutt for much of last week's game, meanwhile, hopefully will give them time to heal their minor injuries.

“Nobody can absorb those kind of losses, but we're doing what we can to get everyone healthy and back on the field,” Hetlet said.

Focus: Some football teams may be two-touchdown favorites before they even take the field. Their reputation precedes them.

Mt. Carmel (8-2) is one of those clubs. Neuqua Valley coach Bryan Wells is making sure his Wildcats (7-3) aren't spooked by the 10 state championships won by the Caravan, ranked No. 11 in the state by Edgy Tim/Rivals.com.

“Our kids are fully aware of who Mt. Carmel is, but we don't have to play all those other teams,” Wells said. “We just have to play the one they field this year. That's the one we're concentrating on.”

Wells, who's led Neuqua every step of the way over its 13 varsity seasons, compared Mt. Carmel to Upstate Eight Conference Valley Division foe Bartlett in its commitment to a mainly ground-based game plan. Wells said Neuqua has greater size at most positions and also seems to have an edge in speed at some.

“What it really comes down to,” he said, “is they are a team that places just an extraordinary emphasis on execution, and they don't make many mistakes. That's certainly going to be our goal as well.”

As far as facing this legendary program, Wells said, “We'll think about the significance of that later.”

‘Excitement in the air': Waubonsie Valley (8-2) beating Brother Rice, out of the proud Chicago Catholic League, gave the Warriors a boost of confidence and raised their profile. It was the first time the Warriors had won a playoff game after five straight one-and-dones, the first time Waubonsie's been in the second round since 2001.

That replaced pressure with a better feeling.

“I think there's an excitement in the air here,” coach Paul Murphy said. “No matter what anybody says, we're in the top 16 of Class 8A.”

Not to place the cart before the horse with tough Homewood-Flossmoor up Friday, but the last time Waubonsie Valley reached the quarterfinals was in 1994. Its last state semifinal berth was in 1992.

Friday's game in Flossmoor is one of Comcast's games of the week (along with another 8A game between Bartlett and Maine South). The Waubonsie game will air at noon Saturday and again on Monday.

“It's a nice challenge and a reward for our players for all the effort they've put in since last November,” Murphy said. “Hopefully it's a steppingstone that we can use to become one of the elite teams in Class 8A.”