Looking back at our favorite high school sports moments of 2022

It's impossible to look back at 2022 for 88 high schools in the Daily Herald coverage area that compete in 32 sports and try to narrow it down to a top 10 list without feeling like we're leaving out countless deserving teams.

So instead, we asked our staff to share their most memorable moment covering the prep scene this past year. Could be the most exciting finish, the most extraordinary accomplishment — one of the many beauties of writing about high school sports is you never know what you are going to see.

I know I speak for all of our writers when I say how happy we are to have a 2022 school year that started with basketball players still in masks end with packed stands at Friday night football games and pack the place nights with pep bands in basketball gyms.

We made it through a school year with all the sports played in the right seasons with regular state postseasons for all.

Thank goodness.

It was a year that felt closer to normal filled with memorable moments like these:

Class 4A South Elgin girls basketball supersectional

Unfortunately, the game wasn't competitive at all — a 64-33 Barrington win over St. Charles East — but the victory couldn't have been sweeter for coach Babbi Barreiro. A dominating effort on both ends of the court sent Barrington to state for the first time in Barreiro's 29 years — where they would finish second to Stevenson. ”We have so many fans here and alumni here that have been part of it,” Barreiro said. “It's really special. It's an honor and privilege to coach here at Barrington.” The Daily Herald area once again showed nobody in Illinois plays girls basketball better — with Benet also making the 4A state tournament and Carmel winning the 3A state championship.

— John Lemon

Glenbard West's magical boys basketball season:

I covered the Glenbard West boys basketball team exactly once in 2022, a playoff game where the Hilltoppers easily dispatched their opponent. Whether it was perimeter shooting by Bobby Durkin and Paxton Warden, or in-the-paint play by Braden Huff, West just couldn't be stopped. They were the greatest high school basketball team I had ever seen in all my years of covering in both Wisconsin and Illinois, and I told Huff and Warden that afterward. They simply smiled a little, which made it clear they were on a mission to win a state title ... which they achieved. Easily.

— Gregg Voss

Despite having an impressive collection of talented players, the Hilltoppers played like a true team in every sense of the word. They played for their school, community, coaching staff, all while uniting to form an unbreakable bond en route to one of the best overall basketball seasons in Illinois history — boys or girls. Glenbard West coach Jason Opoka and his staff did a masterful job keeping the team focused and united throughout a difficult season. I'll never forgot watching them in amazement at their ability to share the ball, find the open teammate and play selfless basketball in the pursuit of a state championship.

— Bobby Narang

Barrington softball continues MSL dominance:

When it comes to winning Mid-Suburban League softball titles, nobody does it better than Barrington. Hall of Fame coach Perry Peterson's Fillies won an unprecedented 16th crown last spring led by three players who will return in 2023. Sophomore catcher Emma Kavanagh and junior first baseman Ainsley Muno crushed home runs to stake the state-ranked Fillies to a 3-0 lead after one inning and they never looked back in an 8-4 triumph over visiting East champion Buffalo Grove, which had a 16-game winning streak halted. Kavanagh's battymate, junior pitcher and Daily Herald Cook County All-Area Captain Allie Goodwin, earned the win while running her record to 22-4.

— John Leusch

St. Francis beats Glenbard South 1-0 in regional final:

It took nine innings to decide the Class 3A Burlington Central regional baseball final. Will Gilroy's bases-loaded walk gave the Spartans the championship. St. Francis junior Rocco Tenuta pitched all 9 innings.

— Dave Hess

Class 4A South Elgin baseball sectional

Trailing Lake Park 2-1 with two outs and nobody on base in the bottom of the seventh inning, York loaded the bases with back-to-back singles and a walk before junior Ryan Turner delivered a clutch 2-run single up the middle during the Dukes' stunning 3-2 victory at Elgin Community College. “That's a scene in a movie right there — it's crazy,” Turner said. It marked York's first sectional diamond championship since 1996.

— Craig Brueske

Emotional football season opener in Highland Park:

It was the opening night of the 2022 football season, and I was in Highland Park for their game against Leyden.

Opening night of the football season has always been a been kind of a rebirth. Summer is over. The kids are back in school, and the students, faculty and staff gather with the community for a football game on a Friday night.

This was different. It had a different feel to the 44 opening night football games that I had covered before it. That's because it was nearly seven weeks after the tragic shooting in downtown Highland Park had taken place.

It was understandable that there was a larger than normal police presence at the game. The crowd was large, but a bit spread out in the stands. They were respectful during the dedication and the moment of silence before the game and remained mostly subdued throughout the first half.

That was until the final 50 seconds before the end of the half when Highland Park recovered a fumbled punt. The Giants then turned that into a 40-yard touchdown pass and suddenly, it was all back to football in Highland Park.

The Giants would rally twice and come back and win 28-25. After the game, when I spoke with coach Anthony Koop and some of his players, the conversation was all about football.

Just like it should be.

— Dick Quagliano

Class 2A Warren girls golf regional

It was a first for Kate Dirst, and it ensured that it wouldn't be the last tournament of the year for Libertyville. With just two holes remaining, the Wildcats trailed in their attempt to qualify for sectionals, and it looked like their season was coming to an end. That's when Dirst stepped to the 17th tee and fired a hole-in-one, leading her team to the sectional advancement. The humble junior said that “I never thought I could do something like this.”

— Bill Esbrook

DuKane Conference girls tennis tournament

Wheaton Warrenville South's Brooke Ittersagen beat Batavia's Dhruthi Daggubati to win the No. 1 singles title. The first two sets in the nearly three-hour match went to tiebreakers. After dropping the first set, Ittersagen, a sophomore, rallied to win the next two. It was the fifth match between Ittersagen and Daggubati. The Batavia senior had won the first four in straight sets. Both girls qualified for the Class 2A state tournament.

— Jared Birchfield

Another wild Naperville football finish

Naperville North and Naperville Central have squared off in a number of classic contests over the years, including playoff games when both teams were among the state's elite. When the two met up again this fall at North Central College, it was yet another down-to-the-wire storybook ending. The Redhawks stuffed the Huskies with an impressive goal-line stand in overtime before Logan Ellison kicked the winning field in a 10-7 thriller. Just to prove how unpredictable this rivalry is, the Huskies thumped the Redhawks 31-3 just a couple weeks later in a season in which both teams qualified for the state playoffs.

— Stan Goff

Girls state tennis tourney

It was brief. It was firm.

It was so ... Sarah Wang.

My favorite prep sports moment in 2022 had nothing to do with the Stevenson ace's brilliance on a tennis court.

It featured, instead, what the junior did the moment she defeated Plainfield North sophomore Jessica Kovalchik 7-5, 6-2 for her second straight Class 2A state singles championship in October.

Wang, a righty, executed an understated, lefty fist pump as she jogged to shake Kovalchik's hand at the net. I hadn't seen her make such a gesture at any point in the match at Buffalo Grove, unless I missed it while either sneezing or jotting something down.

Wang choosing not to express a scintilla of satisfaction until after the final point didn't surprise Patriots coach Jose Morales in the least.

“What helps Sarah a lot is her strong mentality,” he said. “She's always thinking, ‘Next point, next point, next point.' “

Can't wait to watch Wang go for title No. 3 next fall.

The last Illinois female to net three consecutive state singles titles was Naperville Central's Elizabeth Lumpkin, who won four from 2001-04.

— Bill McLean

Stevenson soccer wins 3A supersectional:

It was in dramatic fashion that Stevenson advanced into the 3A state tournament where the Patriots would earn their second state trophy in program history by finishing in third place. Filip Janda would provide thrilling late game-winning goals against Waukegan and Fremd before Rohan Gopalam stunned New Trier in the 93rd minute to win the supersectional to play into the final weekend of the fall season. Patriots senior Steven Nyc would earn all-state honors in addition to being named captain of the 2022 Daily Herald Lake County All-Area team.

— Mike Garofola

43rd IHSA girls state cross country meet

It was a banner year for Hersey in Class 3A and Grayslake Central in Class 2A as they both brought home girls cross country championships from Peoria. With five runners in the top 18, Prospect coach Peter Wintermute's squad recorded the lowest score in state history with 39 points to defeat defending champion York by 19 points. The Rams had a more difficult path to toppling rival Lakes 106-124 for the title as coach Jimmy Centella's team brought home the first-place trophy for the second straight year.

— John Bumbales