Playoffs hope mysteriously vanish for some

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There will be celebrations tonight across the Beacon News coverage area for eight teams that will begin making plans for the opening round of the postseason. Then there are the other seven teams in the coverage area that are finishing out the string. Some have made strides and laid a foundation for next year, while others fell short of expectations.

West Aurora and Marmion Academy fall into the latter category.

I fully expected the Blackhawks to be hosting Glenbard North tonight in front of a rabid home crowd with a playoff berth on the line. Instead, practice problems led to game-day issues and a lopsided loss to a one-win West Chicago team last week.

The team had made such strides the last two seasons and many of the school's top athletes began to wear pads during the fall -- but this was undoubtedly a step back as the Blackhawks lose a talented senior class.

And what of the Cadets?

They were unlucky in their playoff loss last year to Prairie Ridge in that if Ricky Bird stays healthy, they win that game. Those are the breaks sometimes, but it set the stage for this season, in which several players talked of not only making the postseason but contending for a conference crown.

Instead, the Cadets fell like a rock off a mountaintop following a 2-0 start, losing five straight.

Now, both of these programs play in two of the toughest conferences in the state. But I believe the players and coaching staffs expected to be playing for something not only this week, but next week as well -- which makes the results disappointing.

So what went wrong?

How does West go from being four or five plays away from a 6-3 record in 2007 to just getting hammered this year? How does Marmion not take that step forward in the Suburban Catholic Conference when any opponent would love to have some of the names on that roster?

Perhaps you can chalk it up to the nature of the game. Players get injured, or don't take care of their duties off the field. Maybe an opponent finds the right hole and exploits it perfectly.

Whatever the reasons, all involved at both programs will look back at 2008 as a lost season, and one that could have been.