Naperville Sun Week 4 football preview capsules

Updated: September 15, 2011 7:03PM

Lake Park (1-2, 0-1 Upstate Eight River) at Waubonsie Valley (2-1, 0-1 Upstate Eight Valley), 7:30 p.m.

Last week: Lake Park lost to South Elgin 42-7; Waubonsie Valley lost at Bartlett 27-20

Storyline: Having gotten off to the first 2-0 start in program history since 1992 behind the sound and solid play from senior quarterback Mitch Stefani, Waubonsie Valley will have to face the immediate future without him, beginning tonight at home against Lake Park.

Breaking his collarbone early in the third quarter in last week’s 27-20 loss at Bartlett, Stefani will be out at least a month.

Looking to help the Warriors rebound and get the bad taste of their mouths as a result of playing so poorly against the Hawks will be junior Dylan Warden.

Entering the game with Waubonsie Valley trailing 20-0, Warden led the offense on three scoring drives in the fourth quarter, including using his legs for a couple scores from three yards out to help close the gap to 27-20 late in the game.

After giving up a combined 21 points in their first two games, the Warriors’ defense surrendered 27 points to a Bartlett team that tied them for the Upstate Eight Valley crown a season ago.

They’ll look to get back on the winning track against the Lancers, who struggled mightily last week in losing to South Elgin, 42-7.

Running for only 18 first-half yards as a team, Lake Park running back LaCurt Evans struggled individually in being held to just 14 yards on 13 carries by the Storm, after scoring a combined five touchdowns in season’s first two games.

Murphy on Lake Park: “New coaching staff, so they’ve got new energy there. They’ve got six guys who were varsity experienced that were sophomores last year that are now juniors, so they’re starting some young guys. It’s the unknown of what a new coaching staff might change up for you offensively and defensively (that concerns me). We’ve seen them on film, but what are they going to change between now and their last game that we won’t have seen on film.”

Marist (2-1, 2-0 East Suburban Catholic) at Benet (0-3, 0-3 East Suburban Catholic)

Last week: Marist beat St. Viator 35-0; Benet lost at St. Patrick 27-9

Storyline: Coping and needing to respond to the program’s first 0-3 start since 2007, Benet returns home while continuing to look for answers in hopes of getting on track.

Despite intercepting St. Patrick senior quarterback Ryan Tentler three times in last week’s 27-9 loss to the Shamrocks, the Redwings’ offensive problems continued.

Making his first start of the season at quarterback for Benet last week, senior Nick Mankowski eclipsed the 100-yard mark both passing and rushing and accounted for Benet’s lone score of a game with a TD pass to senior wide receiver Bobby Hayes.

The Redwings’ young offensive line gave up six sacks to the Shamrocks last week and will need to improve if they hope to gain any significant traction the remainder of the season.

Meanwhile, Marist, the Class 8A runner-up in 2009, is off to a 2-0 start in the East Suburban Catholic Conference after shutting out St. Viator last week.

Against St. Viator, RedHawks quarterback Ian Woodworth was 14-of-22 passing for 185 yards and three scores, including tossing a pair of touchdown passes to wide receiver Nic Weisha on the first two drives of the game last week.

Benet coach Pat New on Marist: “Marist is always traditionally a tough team and Pat Dunne, I think, is one of the best young coaches in the state. Like every week, we have our work cut out for us. As I told our players, if we continue to play good defense and we continue to improve on offense, we’ll improve our chances greatly. … They’re a zone-read team, which everybody’s running in college. They have a nice play-action off of that. They play a hard-nosed defense. They’re very similar to what they’ve done in the past.”

Naperville Central (2-1, 1-0 DuPage Valley) at West Aurora (2-1, 0-1 DuPage Valley), 7:30 p.m.

Last week: Naperville Central beat Glenbard East 48-7; West Aurora lost at Wheaton Warrenville South 20-6

Storyline: The Redhawks’ first road game of 2011 brings them to Aurora tonight to play against West Aurora, which is winless against Naperville Central since joining the DuPage Valley Conference in 1998.

After putting up 48 points last week against Glenbard East, including instituting a running clock, Naperville Central will be looking to continue the momentum it built last week behind a career night from senior running back Matt Randolph.

Randolph exploded for a career-high 271 yards on the ground and scored five times in the first half before adding a touchdown reception early in the second half as the Redhawks built a 48-0 cushion.

Under first-year coach Nate Eimer, a 2001 West Aurora graduate, the Blackhawks got off to a 2-0 start for the eighth straight season and gave Wheaton Warrenville South a challenge before eventually falling 20-6 last week.

West Aurora led 6-0 over the Tigers late in the third quarter before Tigers’ senior running back Dan Vitale, headed for Northwestern next fall, scored three touchdowns.

Much like a year ago, Naperville Central needs to guard against looking past West Aurora tonight and towards a road meeting next week with two-time defending DVC and Class 7A state champion Wheaton-Warrenville South.

Naperville Central coach Mike Stine on West Aurora: “They’ve played a couple different quarterbacks. (Senior wide receiver Nate) Zinzer (is a problem). A couple of their other receivers (are threats). They can hurt you throwing the ball a little bit. We got to be able to contain that the best we can. Offensively, I think they return eight or nine starters. They’re athletic, they’re gonna be aggressive. They’re gonna come after us. We gotta be able to put up their blitzes. Hope they guess wrong at times, and if they guess wrong, we can get our guys into the secondary and see what happens.”

Lake Park (1-2, 0-1 Upstate Eight Valley) at Waubonsie Valley (2-1, 0-1 Upstate Eight Valley), 7:30 p.m.

Last week: Lake Park lost to South Elgin 42-7; Waubonsie Valley lost at Bartlett 27-20

Storyline: Having gotten off to the first 2-0 start in program history since 1992 behind the sound and solid play from senior quarterback Mitch Stefani, Waubonsie Valley will have to face the immediate future without him, beginning tonight at home against Lake Park.

Breaking his collarbone early in the third quarter in last week’s 27-20 loss at Bartlett, Stefani will be out at least a month.

Looking to help the Warriors rebound and get the bad taste of their mouths as a result of playing so poorly against the Hawks will be junior Dylan Warden.

Entering the game with Waubonsie Valley trailing 20-0, Warden led the offense on three scoring drives in the fourth quarter, including using his legs for a couple scores from three yards out to help close the gap to 27-20 late in the game.

After giving up a combined 21 points in their first two games, the Warriors’ defense surrendered 27 points to a Bartlett team that tied them for the Upstate Eight Valley crown a season ago.

They’ll look to get back on the winning track against the Lancers, who struggled mightily last week in losing to South Elgin, 42-7.

Running for only 18 first-half yards as a team, Lake Park running back LaCurt Evans struggled individually in being held to just 14 yards on 13 carries by the Storm, after scoring a combined five touchdowns in season’s first two games.

Murphy on Lake Park: “New coaching staff, so they’ve got new energy there. They’ve got six guys who were varsity experienced that were sophomores last year that are now juniors, so they’re starting some young guys. It’s the unknown of what a new coaching staff might change up for you offensively and defensively (that concerns me). We’ve seen them on film, but what are they going to change between now and their last game that we won’t have seen on film.”

Metea Valley (3-0, 1-0 Upstate Eight Valley) at South Elgin (1-2, 1-0 Upstate Eight Valley), 1:30 p.m. Saturday

Last week: South Elgin won at Lake Park 42-7; Metea Valley beat East Aurora 47-0

Storyline: Bolstered by the first 3-0 start in program history, Metea Valley will start to get a better sense of how far it has come beginning with a visit to South Elgin tomorrow.

Tomorrow begins a stretch of four games with teams that beat Metea Valley by a combined score of 152-40 last year.

The Mustangs will head to Elgin brimming with confidence after last week’s 47-0 shutout of East Aurora, which saw them rush for at least 200 yards for the third straight week.

After junior Cameron Wilcox busted out of the gates with a combined 367 rushing yards and five touchdowns in victories over Plainfield East and Quincy to start the season, Metea Valley used a more balanced attack on the ground in amassing 200 rushing yards against East Aurora.

Four players recorded at least 25 yards rushing, paced by 87 yards and three scores from senior Tre’Sean Mackey, who has totaled 173 yards in his first two games of the season after missing the season opener against Plainfield East with an injury.

Meanwhile, South Elgin, which routed the Mustangs 48-13 a year ago, started the season with consecutive losses but got in the win column last week with a 42-7 victory at Lake Park.

In the victory against the Lancers, Storm running back Adolfo Pacheco ran 17 times for 154 yards and scored four touchdowns.

Metea Valley coach Ted Monken on South Elgin: “They’re a little bit different team than they were last year. They lost quite a bit, but they’re still a very good team. They’re very strong, very physical. They’ve got a big defensive front that we need to make sure we get those guys blocked up, or we won’t run the ball (against them) again this year. Offensively, they’ve got the fast quarterback (senior Zach Gross) back from last year, who’s more of a runner than a thrower. Anytime, if he gets loose, he can be six points in the blink of an eye. So we got to make sure we keep track of him. … I know they’re getting better and better each week with him throwing, as he has taken on that starter role this year. They’re going to be a real test for our defense. They’ll be the first real test for our defense, as a team that’s a little more balanced.”

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