Much riding on crosstown matchup

Updated: March 22, 2011 5:28PM

With both teams very much alive for a divisional crown in the Upstate Eight Conference, Waubonsie Valley and Neuqua Valley renew its crosstown rivalry on Friday.

At 5-1, Waubonsie is off to its best six-game start under coach Paul Murphy and will face its stiffest challenge in the conference to date with 4-2 Neuqua.

The additions of Metea Valley, Batavia and Geneva allowed the conference to divide into two divisions, the Valley and the River.

All seven of the conference's Class 8A schools comprise the Valley while the conference's seven-team Class 7A contingent makes up the River.

"I think, within a year or two, we're gonna have one of those kind of conferences where anybody can win on any Friday night in the conference and the crossover games are gonna be battles as well," Murphy said.

Bartlett's 42-23 upset of previously undefeated South Elgin last Friday has opened the door for both the Warriors and Wildcats, who lost at South Elgin 21-14 on Sept. 24.

The Warriors, who enter this week atop the Valley with a 3-0 record, get their crack at the Storm in the season finale two weeks from Friday on Oct. 22.

Murphy believes the three-team expansion will help the conference prepare for the postseason and advance once there, which has become a rite of fall in the DuPage Valley Conference.

"I think in the future, we got a chance to be a pretty good conference," he said.

Since West Chicago captured a Class 3A state title in 1974, the DuPage Valley Conference has won 13 state titles in football, led by Wheaton Warrenville South's six championships.

Over that same time period, the DVC has combined for 22 state title game trips with six of eight schools making at least one appearance.

In contrast, only two schools that are currently in the Upstate Eight have made a state title game appearance since 1974 - two of the newcomers, Batavia and Geneva, who both made the move from the Western Sun.

Geneva lost in both the 1975 Class 3A state title game and the 2008 Class 7A title game.

Batavia lost 30-20 to Normal Community High School in the 2006 Class 6A state title game.

"Everybody talks about the DuPage Valley Conference and the reason they're good is because every week they better show up ready to play or they're gonna get their tails whipped," said Metea coach Ted Monken, who previously spent five years at the helm of St. Charles East.

"I'd rather have the better teams and battle week in and week out. And it's not just varsity. It's from freshman A and B through sophomores through varsity. Then having enough players in all these great programs to have a JV game and a sophomore B.

"That's what has made the DVC very good. It's because week in and week out, you play six levels of good football. If we're ever gonna be a competitive conference and do something downstate once in a while, boy, we got to have that ourselves. Is it tough? You bet. Are we shying away? Heck no. We love it. That's what we want to be a part of."

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