Last year at this time, Reilly O’Toole was behind center at Wheaton Warrenville South, leading the Tigers through the Class 7A playoffs and to an eventual second straight state championship. These days, O’Toole makes his football home at the very locale—University of Illinois’ Memorial Stadium—where he and the Tigers marched to those state titles. O’Toole finds himself behind sophomore starter Nathan Scheelhaase on the depth chart at Illinois, which has been enjoying one of its better seasons in recent years despite losing successive games to Ohio State and Purdue in Weeks 7 and 8. The Illini…
“Devin Hester, you are ridiculous!” Wheaton resident Jeff Joniak coined what has become his signature phrase as the Chicago Bears’ radio play-by-play announcer during the excitement of describing Hester returning a kickoff 96 yards for a touchdown during the fourth quarter of a Bears vs. St. Louis Rams Monday Night Football game back in December, 2006. Earlier in the game, Hester took a kickoff 94 yards to the house. The Bears went on to win that game and eventually earned a trip to Super Bowl XLI in February, 2007, where Hester ran back the game’s opening kickoff for a TD. Joniak’s had the …
The road to what Chicago Wolves left winger Bill Sweatt hopes will be a spot on the NHL’s Vancouver Canucks’ roster began right here in central DuPage County. Sweatt, who just turned 23, was born in Lombard. But he and his family—Dorothy, Walter and older brother, Lee—moved to Elburn when Bill was around 5 years old. As commuters who frequent Metra’s Union Pacific/West trains know, Elburn is the last stop on the line. It’s a quaint town of around 5,000 situated halfway between Wheaton and DeKalb. The only drawback for fledgling hockey players like Bill and Lee is that Elburn had no skating …
Are you jonesin’ to experience college football live? Well, you don’t have to take a road trip to Champaign, Evanston or South Bend in order to do so. There’s plenty of high-quality Division III football being played on Saturdays right in DuPage County. North Central College and Wheaton College are home to two of the top Division III programs in the nation. The Cardinals are ranked 11th in this week’s American Football Coaches Association (AFCN) poll, and the Thunder is 19th. The Cardinals, Thunder and Elmhurst College were 3-1 going into action over the weekend, while Benedictine University …
With Week 6 now in the books, local prep teams head into the final three weeks of the 2011 season. Here’s a look at how each school is faring so far. Schools listed have players who live in either Burr Ridge, Darien, Downers Grove, Elmhurst, Glen Ellyn, Hinsdale, Lisle, Oak Brook, Warrenville or Wheaton. Benet Academy—The Redwings qualified for the playoffs in Pat New’s first year as head coach last fall. Unfortunately, several key players from that squad were lost to graduation, and Benet is trying to reverse its fortunes following what has been a difficult season. The Redwings (0-6) nearly …
Mark Hiben and Reece Butler were vital components in their high school teams’ offenses last season at Glenbard West and Wheaton North, respectively. Today, Hiben and Butler are learning what college football is all about as freshmen at Wheaton College. Hiben, who compiled more than 1,100 receiving yards and caught 14 touchdown passes for the Hilltoppers in 2010, has seen some action for the Thunder early this season. Meanwhile, Butler, who led the Falcons to consecutive postseason appearances (2009 and 2010), is the No. 3 quarterback on Wheaton College’s depth chart. The two former prep …
This fall, a number of non-football student-athletes are competing in their respective sports at four-year colleges in central DuPage County, only a few miles (in some cases, a few minutes) from where they played in high school. These fall sports athletes now wear Benedictine University, Elmhurst College, North Central College and Wheaton College uniforms, and are residents of either Burr Ridge, Darien, Downers Grove, Elmhurst, Glen Ellyn, Hinsdale, Lisle, Oak Brook, Warrenville or Wheaton. Benedictine University Men’s golf—Connor Langen (Wheaton/Wheaton North) is a senior who’s starting his …
To me, the fall sports season is, well, a lot of different things. The fall sports season is … Rolling my eyes whenever a home team’s public address announcer reads off some unsuspecting co-ed’s name in front of a few thousand people, and informs her that so-and-so wants to ask her to homecoming. Talk about a dereliction of duty. C’mon, fellas: Show some intestinal fortitude and ask her yourself. Cringing while listening to certain P.A. announcers who, as the game progresses, morph into cheerleaders for the home team. Talking to a photographer on the sidelines during a football game, asking …
The high school football season got under way a week ago this past Friday, and now the spotlight is on college football. Colleges and universities across the country started their non-conference schedules over Labor Day weekend, including major schools in Illinois, Big Ten teams and Notre Dame. The following football teams are stocked with players who either played high school football at central DuPage County public and private high schools and/or are residents of various communities in this area: State Universities Eastern Illinois—Veteran head coach Bob Spoo’s Panthers landed three members…
Teachers at Downers North got together for the first time since summer break last Monday and Tuesday in preparation for the start of the 2011-12 school year. Will Kupisch, however, wasn’t among his peers either day. The longtime guidance counselor and boys varsity cross country coach—an institution at Downers North for more than three decades—retired at the conclusion of the 2010-11 school year in June. Kupisch’s old friends and co-workers at DGN have been on his mind, but “Koop,” as he’s affectionately known, resisted the urge to drive past the school and look at the parking lots last Monday…
Reilly O’Toole, Matt Rogers, Titus Davis, Travis Kern, Caleb Bednarz and Sparty Chino became household names at Wheaton Warrenville South and around the community last fall as the Tigers marched to an undefeated season and their second straight Class 7A state title. Dan Vitale? Not so much. Vitale more or less flew under the radar most of his junior year. Although listed as a running back, he wasn’t an every-down back like Rogers last year. “That’s why you don’t remember him,” head coach Ron Muhitch said. “He played ‘S’ receiver in a package that came on the field when I needed him at …
Those of us who watch Chicago Bulls television broadcasts know Stacey King, the Bulls’ color man, calls for hot sauce whenever Kyle Korver or another Bulls shooter gets hot and starts sinking a few three-pointers. “Get me the hot sauce, Kyle!” King exclaims. To the best of my knowledge, viewers have never heard King go cuckoo for Cocoa Puffs during Bulls games. But when King was a kid growing up in his native Oklahoma, he revealed to a number of youngsters attending a recent basketball camp at the Lisle-based Bulls-Sox Training Academy that he developed quite a taste for the chocolate-covered…
Could Dan Dierking, lifelong Chicago Bears fan, morph into Dan Dierking, member of the 2011 Chicago Bears? That depends on how things play out for Dierking, a former Wheaton Warrenville South star running back, over the next couple of weeks at the Bears’ summer training camp in Bourbonnais. Dierking (5-10, 195), who remains WWS’ all-time leading rusher with 6,309 yards, starts his second full week at camp on Monday. He was signed by the Bears in late July as an undrafted free agent. Dierking is one of nine running backs already in camp—among them incumbents Matt Forte, Chester Taylor and …
The victory bell at Glenbard West High School has been getting a workout over the past two seasons, given the Hilltopper football team’s combined 23-3 record which includes appearances in the Class 7A state title game (2009) and the 7A quarterfinals (last season). College football coaches, scouts and recruiters are getting a workout, too. They’ve been routinely climbing up the hill to Glenbard West to offer players either scholarships or spots on their team. Several seniors from last season’s 10-2 team agreed to play at colleges and universities across the country. Offensive lineman Jordan …
I caught up with Tom Kleinschmidt, York High School’s new boys head basketball coach, not out on the court, but behind the concession stand across from the entrance of the Green and White Gym. This particular afternoon, Kleinschmidt was busy taking orders for hot dogs, soda and candy during a three-day DI-Elite NCAA certified high school basketball event held at York which featured several Midwest AAU teams and a number of top college prospects. The event concluded early last week. “I was just trying to help out in any capacity I could,” said Kleinschmidt, who became head coach early last …
Alex Brown, the former Chicago Bears defensive lineman, was jovial and relaxed as he sat on a sofa inside Scholl Hall at Benedictine University—headquarters for last week’s eighth annual Alex Brown Football Camp. Teaching fundamentals on both sides of the ball to the nearly 200 kids ages 8-18 who came from all over the Midwest to attend the camp is one of Brown’s passions. “Fundamentals and having fun,” Brown adds. “If you do it right and have fun while you’re doing it, it’s probably going to be a good play. It probably will end up positive unless the kid you’re going against is far superior…
The end of another high school sports season gives scribes such as yours truly a chance to collect our thoughts and take a sabbatical from checking team schedules and other information on the athletics2000.com Web site. But in a mere six weeks from Wednesday—Aug. 10, to be exact—football teams in your area will be putting on the pads once again. And with it, the beginning of the 2011-12 prep season. I’m not prepared to turn the calendar just yet, though. Join me in a walk down memory lane from a reporter’s perspective one last time regarding the 2010-11 campaign. Here we go… Impressive …
It was during the National Anthem—I want to say around the “Oh say does that Star Spangled Banner yet wave?” part—when Pricilla caught my eye. As Glenbard South players clasped hands and began swaying their arms back and forth toward the end of the anthem (a team tradition), two players grabbed Pricilla’s tiny hands, and she swayed along with them … If you stand two first baseman’s mitts on top of each other, Pricilla might be a shade taller than both mitts. She can’t speak, and she needs constant attention. And when it comes to looks, it appears as if the Raiders’ Raggedy Ann-looking doll …
Websites devoted to scouting potential major league baseball players—and predicting where they’ll go in the draft—aren’t as prominent as sites that focus on scouting NFL players and conducting mock drafts. But the baseball sites exist. And prior to last week’s Major League Baseball amateur draft, several sites agreed that recently graduated Downers Grove South star Nick Burdi is one of the top high school pitching prospects not only in Illinois, but in the country. Some sites had Burdi penciled in as a second- or third-round pick. One site, winatfantasy.com, a site for fantasy baseball …
