Spring season caps successful FVC year

Forget about the widespread skepticism:

The FVC continues to close the gap between itself and the so-called power conferences.

That has never been more apparent than this school year, which concluded with two baseball teams representing the FVC in the state semifinals last weekend.

Prairie Ridge won the Class 4A state tournament and Crystal Lake Central took fourth in Class 3A Saturday, proving the FVC has more than arrived as a force in baseball.

Success in one sport hardly qualifies as a trend.

But just look at last fall, when Crystal Lake Central's girls volleyball team capped an undefeated campaign by capturing the Class 3A title.

Speaking as an Mid-Suburban League alumnus, I'm convinced the Jacobs boys basketball team would have had no problem winning the hoops-crazed MSL last winter.

And how about the Crystal Lake South girls softball team, which took eventual Class 4A state runner-up Barrington to extra innings in the Elgin Supersectional at NIU June 2?

The top FVC clubs are as good as the best teams from loops like the MSL and North Suburban Conference. In fact, depth from top to bottom might be the only thing preventing FVC teams from posting gaudy numbers.

There are those in the Chicago area who never will grant the FVC its due.

They will say this year was a fluke. The IHSA's four-class system has watered everything down. Weak schedules lead to impressive nonconference records.

But listen to what Rolling Meadows girls soccer coach Jeff Adkins said after his team lost 3-0 to Huntley in the Class AA Jacobs Regional final last month:

"We had a real hard time trying to figure out how good or bad they are because their schedule is a joke for as good as they are," he said. "But they are the real deal."

Huntley coach Kris Grabner seemed to finally grow tired of the trash talk after pushing powerhouse Maine South to the brink in a shootout loss in the sectional championship a week later. Hawks coach J.J. Crawford proclaimed himself a "Huntley believer" after surviving in PKs.

Grabner insisted some of the credit for the Red Raiders' best ever 21-2 campaign should go to the teams that helped prepare them -- the rest of the FVC.

It's time the rest of the state joined in.