Unlikely rivals

Updated: March 22, 2011 4:14PM

The two schools are, on the face of it, somewhat unlikely rivals.

Carmel is way up north, within spitting distance of the Wisconsin border, while Joliet Catholic is on the other end of the Chicago area, just this side of the cornfields and farm towns that stretch across the rest of Illinois.

But there is something special about this series, which will be renewed tonight when No. 4 Joliet Catholic makes the long trek up to Mundelein to face the No. 7 Corsairs in an East Suburban Catholic Conference showdown.

Brian Serio, the Corsairs' senior quarterback, appreciates this rivalry more than most. He and a few other guys on this year's team grew up hanging out on the Carmel sideline while their big brothers were starring on the field.

It probably makes Carmel coach Andy Bitto wonder where the time went when he looks at Serio and sees in his mind's eye the little kid who was playing Nerf football pickup games just a few years ago.

But here Serio is, leading the Corsairs' super-charged triple option attack seven years after his brother Mike was starring at fullback for the best Carmel club of all time.

"That 2003 team was one of the best I've ever seen play," Serio said. "My brother was on the team, so it was special. We'd all go to someone's house after games to celebrate. It was one of the things that got me into Carmel football."

TV time

There was plenty of partying that season, as the Corsairs went 14-0 en route to winning the Class 6A championship. In a Week 9 nationally televised showdown for the ESCC title, Carmel rolled by Joliet Catholic 41-14.

The Hilltoppers bounced right back, though, and went on to go 13-1 and win the 5A championship.

That wasn't the only time the two teams met with plenty on the line in Week 9. The same thing happened two years before, when 8-0 Carmel faced 7-1 Joliet Catholic on the road for the Catholic Metro White title.

"We are just at this point starting to emerge as a playoff team, a good playoff team," Bitto said. "There were 10,000 people at the game. Oh my God, right before kickoff, I turn around and there's Otis Wilson standing behind me."

The former Bears star and the rest of the crowd got a good show that day, as eventual 5A champ Joliet Catholic won 28-25. The Corsairs reached the 6A semifinals and finished 11-2.

That's just one of the many happy memories Joliet Catholic coach Dan Sharp has of the series with the Hilltoppers' faraway league rival.

"Andy Bitto, I consider a great friend and a great person," Sharp said. "The two of us have a lot of fun with it."

Another personal connection is shared by Sharp and Carmel assistant Joe Rejczyk, who went to college together.

The schools' consistent success has something to do with the rise of the rivalry - Joliet Catholic has gone 144-26 during Sharp's 13-plus seasons and and Carmel is 107-37 in Bitto's 12-plus seasons. Ditto for the fact that both are Carmelite schools. And each has a passionate bunch of supporters.

Everyone's ready

"Their fans, they'll be fired up. They're loud," Sharp said.

"This place is going to be hopping," Bitto said.

Both the Carmel fans and the Joliet Catholic fans who make the long road trip - though not as long as last weekend's four-hour drive to Muskegon, Mich. - will have plenty to cheer about.

It's a little bit too early to know whether this matchup will feature a pair of state champs like the 2003 showdown. But it's safe to say that no regular-season game this year will feature as much talent in the backfield.

Joliet Catholic has Illinois-bound senior Josh Ferguson, junior Malin Jones and sophomore Ty Isaac taking handoffs from quarterback Breshion Tucker, who is capable of tucking away the football and gaining big yards himself.

The one issue the Hilltoppers have faced en route to a 3-0 start against a tough schedule has been keeping all those runners healthy.

"It seems like we always have one or two backs not able to finish the game," Sharp said. "Those were three very physical games."

Carmel counters with Michael Panico, Jordan Kos and Matt Maher as well as Serio.

"That might be the fastest backfield Andy's had since he's been there," Sharp said. "They run that option game so well. They're so disciplined. If they make you miss, they can go 60 yards."

And that would add another memorable chapter to this long-running rivalry.

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