Friday’s neutral-site game is ONLY 155 miles away

Updated: September 23, 2011 11:55PM

When a prep football program has won 124 games with only 41 losses in the past 14 seasons under one of the top coaches in the state, it’s hard for that team to find non-conference opponents willing to face a huge challenge.

Especially when that non-conference game-opening fell on Week 5 of the schedule when most teams are smack in the middle of their heated conference contests.

That was the problem Carmel High School coach Andy Bitto faced last winter when trying to find a non-conference opponent for this weekend when his team had a break from East Suburban Catholic Conference play.

After several weeks of searching, Carmel lined up a game against the Minnesota Class 5A (large school) defending state-champion Wayzata High School at the University of Dubuque in Iowa. The two teams will square off on Friday at 6 p.m. at the college located 155 miles from Mundelein on the Mississippi River at the Illinois, Wisconsin and Iowa border.

Bitto faced a similar situation last season on the final week of the regular season when the Corsairs had to put their 8-0 record on the line with a trip to Elder, Ohio, coming away with a 21-14 loss to the non-Illinois school.

Scheduling the non-conference game this season was made even more difficult with the timing of the contest.

“We called teams from Indiana, Michigan, Ohio, Wisconsin and Iowa, and, of course, we couldn’t find a team in Illinois that wanted to play us,” said Bitto.

Bitto made a few calls even farther north to Minnesota and was able to connect with Wayzata, but the Minnesota school located a few miles west of the Twin Cities couldn’t commit to a two-year home-and-away contract so a new problem arose — finding a neutral site so that one of the teams didn’t have to make the 380-mile one-way trip to an away game.

“We tried a couple of colleges in Wisconsin with no luck, and were right in the middle of negotiations (with Wayzata) when a coach from the University of Dubuque walked into my office,” said Bitto.

“He thought it would be a great idea to play the game at his school because they have a new football stadium and it would give his (NCAA Division III) program great exposure to a couple of pretty good high-school programs. He just had to clear it with his athletic director, and once that got done, we were able to sign a contract in March.”

Wayzata (3-0) has another strong team that is expected to challenge once again for a Minnesota state title, while the Corsairs (3-1) have bounced back with three straight wins after their disappointing 32-31 loss in Week 1 to Joliet Catholic.

“It’s going to be a blast for our kids to play a quality opponent on a college field,” said Bitto. “Even though it’s non-conference, we know the importance of having a good record for a good seed in the state playoffs, so every game is important. Last season, losing (to Eder, Ohio) changed our record form 9-0 to 8-1 and changed our seed. We still got to the quarterfinals, but who knows what would have happened if our seed was different.”

Bitto isn’t surprised his team bounced back strong from the season-opening loss to Joliet Catholic.

“After the game, we asked the kids what kind of character this team was going to have?” said Bitto. “Were they going to lay down and toss in the rest of the season, or were they going to come back and work hard in each practice and try to get better. Yeah, if you paid $5 to watch us against Joliet Catholic, it was a great high-school game and you got your money’s worth. But for us, close but not winning doesn’t cut it — not anymore for our program.

“Our coaching staff is proud of the effort our kids have given over the past few weeks, but there is still a lot of work to be done. This trip (to Iowa) is going to be fun, but we need to take care of business too and try to find a way to win the game.”

Carmel has traditionally been a run-oriented team and this squad is no different.

Averaging 32 points per game, the Corsairs average 310 yards rushing per contest and have three players who could have 1,000-yard rushing seasons if the team makes any kind of playoff run.

Three-year varsity starter at fullback Jordan Kos leads in yardage with 485 yards on 87 carries. Quarterback Brian Brennan has gained 370 yards on the ground and speedy wingback Michael Panico has 350 yards and is averaging 7.8 yards per carry.

Panico’s also dangerous on kickoff returns, averaging 32 yards on five returns, including one he took to the house.

And junior kicker Steve O’Block is 5-for-5 on field goals, with a long of 48. He’s also boomed 11 of 18 kickoffs into the end zone.

Defensively, Tyler Lees leads the team in tackled with 50, while Kevin Cox, Sean Brennan, Sam Duprey and Mitch Nelson have 30 or more.

After this non-league contest, Carmel will play four more conference games before the start of the playoffs.

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