The moments to remember

Updated: December 31, 2011 8:14PM

They’ve been playing high school football in Illinois since the 1880s, so you might think we had seen
everything.

But the lesson of 2011 in Chicago-area high school sports was that every year brings something new. That was true on the football field, where Mount Carmel coach Frank Lenti passed another milestone and Montini and Joliet Catholic put on an offensive show for the ages.

Those are just a couple of the highlights of the year in high school sports. Here’s what caught our attention in 2011:

Lenti’s record

The stands were packed
Sept. 17 in Westchester, and everyone came to see Lenti make history by passing Gary Korhonen to become the winningest football coach in Illinois history. That it would happen was a foregone conclusion: St. Joseph administrators had a crystal trophy engraved and ready to present to Lenti as soon as the Caravan had wrapped up a 62-8 victory. It was No. 307 for the 60-year-old coach, who got six more before the season ended.

Game of the year, Part 1

The stars were out for the Class 5A title game Nov. 26, when Montini and Joliet Catholic scored points at a video-game rate. Montini won 70-45 in the highest-scoring title game in the 39-year history of the state playoffs. The biggest numbers were put up by Joliet Catholic running back Ty Isaac (515 rushing yards, six touchdowns), Montini quarterback John Rhode (587 passing yards, seven touchdowns) and Montini receiver Jordan Westerkamp (331 yards, five touchdowns).

Game of the year, Part 2

The Simeon and Benet basketball teams were on a collision course all last season, and their matchup lived up to the hype. Playing before almost 8,200 fans Feb. 19 at UIC, Benet won 58-54.

They’re No. 1

As the year ended and another season began, the Chicago area boasted the top-ranked boys (Simeon) and girls (Bolingbrook) basketball teams in the country.

Ahead of the pack

Sandburg distance ace Lukas Verzbicas broke his own U.S. high school indoor record in the 5,000 meters by running 14 minutes,
6.78 seconds March 11 in New York. By choosing to compete in that meet, though, Verzbicas ran afoul of a National High School Federation rule banning prep athletes from participating in most non-school events during the season. Because he wasn’t given a waiver to run in New York, Verzbicas wasn’t allowed to compete for Sandburg last spring.

Milestones

Several athletes set IHSA career records in 2011: Oak Forest’s Tim Barry (home runs, RBI) in baseball, Crete-Monee’s Carlos Posada (goals) in soccer and Montini’s Westerkamp (receiving yards, touchdowns) in football.

No busting Broncos

A once-in-a-lifetime event for most schools, a state title is an annual affair for some Montini teams. The Broncos won their fourth title in a row in wrestling, their third consecutive crown in football and their second consecutive title in girls basketball.

City highs and lows

Feel-good stories in the Public League included Class 2A boys soccer champ Mather and Jones runner Jamison Dale, the city’s first two-time cross country all-stater. On the flip side, Young boys basketball coach Tyrone Slaughter was suspended in February and the school was put on probation for violating IHSA recruiting bylaws. And financial issues left the location of the Prep Bowl in doubt till the week of the game.

Notable deaths

Two legendary figures died in 2011. Dave Perry, who guided Fenwick’s boys water polo team to 757 victories and 16 state titles in 31 seasons, died at 63 on Sept. 11 after battling prostate cancer. McGlother ‘‘Mac’’ Irvin, one of the most influential club basketball coaches in the country, was 74 when he died Christmas Eve.

Both sides now

Westminster Christian’s Ryan Perez is a pretty good right-handed pitcher — and a pretty good left-handed pitcher. Anything but a novelty act, Perez has reached 91 mph on the radar gun as a righty and 86 mph as a lefty.

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