Pardon John Wrenn and B.J. Luke if they haven’t been themselves this week–both are treading on unfamiliar ground.
Wrenn’s Homewood-Flossmoor has been a postseason certainty the last nine years, Luke’s Waubonsie Valley the last six. As such, these two football coaches normally are scouting possible playoff opponents and collecting more hardware for their trophy cases about this time.
Not this year.
Defending Class 6A champion H-F (5-3) remains locked in a struggle for its playoff existence and needs a victory over Joliet (3-5) on Friday night to qualify.
Ditto for Waubonsie Valley (5-3), except the Warriors must overcome Upstate Eight co-leader St. Charles (7-1) with Waubonsie’s best player trying to come back from a season-long injury.
“We’re going to take a shot and let him play,” Luke said of running back Herschel Dixon, who broke a bone in his foot on the first play of the season. “He was able to work out, but we’re not sure how long he can play. He looked like the real deal on Thursday.”
In Dixon’s absence, the Warriors’ offensive burden has been shouldered by 6-foot-3-inch, 220-pound sophomore tight end R.J. Luke, the coach’s son. Luke, being hailed by college scouts and recruiters as among the best sophomore tight ends in the nation, leads the Chicago area with 48 catches for 769 yards and six touchdowns with an average of 16.1 yards per catch.
He is the primary target of Anthony Vasconez, who has completed 82 of 151 passes for 1,061 yards and six TDs. The Warrior defense is led by Kenan Morrison, Jeff Winiarski (6-3, 295) and Steve Olieh (6-2, 265).
“St. Charles doesn’t have a dominating player, but they do have such a strong group of juniors–a bunch of real athletes,” Luke said. “Their top running back Kevin Cohoon is tough, and quarterback Tyler Evans–son of Glenbard North coach Dale Evans–displays good leadership.”
Wrenn conceded that SICA Blue losses to Lincoln-Way, Thornwood and Sandburg were a bit unsettling.
“We did lose some confidence in ourselves, but that’s all in the past now,” he said. “I’m real proud of these kids, because they didn’t want the season to end.”
Instead of bowing out, the Vikings last week upset league preseason favorite Thornton–ranked ninth in the Chicago area at the time–to keep their playoff hopes alive.
Quarterback Ryan Harper and sophomore wide receiver-defensive back Chris Oliver head the offense while Oliver, linebacker Adam Lewandowski and tackle Lee Linde anchor the defense.
The mad scramble for the final postseason berths concludes with the Saturday night announcement of playoff pairings. With teams seeded according to overall record and the state’s tie-breaking points formula, playoff qualifiers such as St. Charles, Loyola, Naperville North, Wheaton-Warrenville South, Palatine and Fremd are striving for that higher ground.
That makes it that much tougher on a team like St. Rita (5-3), which must knock off Loyola or begin turning in equipment Monday. Other 5-3 teams in similar predicaments: Thornwood, playing at No. 16 Lincoln-Way (6-2); Downers Grove North at No. 20 Downers Grove South (7-1); Hoffman Estates vs. Schaumburg (7-1); plus De La Salle (4-4) taking on Brother Rice (6-2). If De La Salle wins, the Meteors qualify as the Catholic League South champion. If they lose, they’re out.
The tension and drama are magnified when playoff hopefuls face one another. That’s the case with Notre Dame at Marian Catholic, Reavis at Andrew, Kankakee at Crete-Monee and Lyons Township at Hinsdale Central.
Every playoff hopeful is aware of its playoff point total. That number represents the total number of victories by opponents and is supposed to reflect schedule strength. Last year’s cutoff for the final at-large berth of 6-3 teams was 38. It was 36 in 1993 and 34 in ’92.
For example, Marist finishes at 6-3 after gaining a forfeit victory this week from St. Viator. The Redskins, with 30 points, can finish with 36 only if St. Patrick (2-6) upsets Joliet Catholic (6-2) and St. Laurence (3-5) does likewise with No. 15 Fenwick (8-0).
