Akui running up big numbers at St. Rita

CHICAGO — The pain is gone, and the rushing yards are piling up for St. Rita (Chicago) running back Jahwon Akui.

After a 2009 season in which Akui battled ankle and Achilles’ tendon injuries, which caused him to miss games and practice just once a week, the Mustangs tailback has returned in impressive fashion to help St. Rita to an unbeaten 4-0 record and into title contention in the Chicago Catholic League Blue.

Those expressions of pain have turned into smiles on St. Rita's campus in the southwest section of Chicago.

"I really want to win it this year really big. We've got a great team this year," said Akui, who has totaled 506 yards and six touchdowns in four games. "I've got the same offense, the same entire offense back. I'm just anxious to get out there and play the big teams."

Those big games are coming up. Friday night, the Mustangs face unbeaten Bishop McNamara (Kankakee) in a nonconference game, followed by Catholic League Blue battles with rival Mt. Carmel (3-1, 2-0 Catholic Blue) on Oct. 1 and defending league champion Providence Catholic a week later.

"Every game is important, especially in our conference," St. Rita head coach Todd Kuska said. "If you lose one game, you're pretty much waiting on somebody else to lose."

In the midst of a Catholic Blue race that is heating up, so too is the college recruiting attention on Akui, who is just 5-foot-7 and 175 pounds, but described by Kuska as one of the most physical running backs he has had at St. Rita. Akui came back from his injuries to rush for 137 yards and four touchdowns in the Mustangs' 2009 season-ending 34-20 win over Chicago Simeon in the Prep Bowl at Soldier Field. According to reports, college interest in Akui ranges from Arizona of the Pac-10 to Boston College of the ACC to Indiana, Michigan State and Purdue of the Big Ten.

"He is going to get some attention," Kuska said. "People are going to have to take the bite on his size. I think he's physical enough that he has overcome that in the past. Now it's time for the (college) guys to step up to the plate and really show some interest and get some offers."

"I just want to let my game this year just show off my talents," Akui said. "I just want to go out there and play hard, just show colleges what I can do."

Akui's biggest game, numbers-wise, was in the City of Champions Classic in East St. Louis, Ill., when he rushed for 222 yards and four touchdowns in a 35-14 win over 10-time Missouri state champion Jefferson City. But Kuska was just as impressed with Akui's performance in Week 1, when he rushed for just 83 yards but delivered several key blocks in a 22-0 win over Portage (Ind.).

"He's probably the most physical running back we've had here," Kuska said. "He's an excellent blocker, whether it's pass or run. That's a big part of his game. He enjoys the punishment, so to speak, because he likes to try and dish it out, too. … He's got the mentality of, 'If I'm going to get hit, I might as well hit 'em back.'"

RECRUITING: Young’s Thompson will be a Buckeye
* Samuel Thompson, a 6-foot-7 senior forward who started on the Whitney Young (Chicago) state championship basketball team as a sophomore in 2008-09, verbaled his commitment to Ohio State. A quad injury slowed him in his junior year, but he is expected to be at full strength his senior season. He also had offers from Florida and Oregon State, where 2010 Young graduate Ahmad Starks is expected to play as a true freshman at point guard.

* Julius Brown, a 6-foot point guard from Hillcrest (Country Club Hills) who averaged 13 points a game for the Class 3A champion Hawks, verbaled to Toledo. He was also offered by Tennessee State and had interest from Missouri State and Western Michigan, a Mid-American Conference rival of Toledo. "I felt really comfortable there when I was on my visit. I had a bond with the coaches there and Toledo fit with my style," Brown told the Chicago Sun-Times.

* Victor Nelson, a 6-foot-7, 300-pound offensive lineman at defending Class 8A champion Maine South (Park Ridge), verbaled to Boston College. "It was everything that I wanted. I felt at home when I was there. It was a very tough decision," Nelson told the Chicago Tribune. He also had scholarship offers from Illinois, Indiana and Louisville, among others. Nelson has been battling a leg injury which resulted in an MRI last week.

* Zach Colvin, a 6-foot-4 defensive end at Minooka, verbaled to Bowling Green State University of the Mid-American Conference after making a visit to the campus last Saturday. "I had a lot of schools that I really liked. But Bowling Green just felt like the best all-around fit for me," Colvin told the Chicago Tribune. He had offers from at least six other schools, including Illinois, Wyoming, and MAC schools Ball State and Northern Illinois.

5 BIG PERFORMANCES …
* A goal by Jose Montes with 1 minute, 55 seconds left in overtime gave Morton (Cicero) a dramatic 2-1 boys soccer victory over previously unbeaten Lyons, sending the Mustangs to the championship game of the Pepsi Showdown. Xavier Corona's goal with just 3:52 left to play in regulation began the comeback for Morton. The Mustangs (11-1) will play Libertyville (11-0) in the Pepsi Showdown title game at noon Sunday at Toyota Park in Bridgeview, home of the MLS Chicago Fire.

* Mt. Carmel senior running back Michael Banks rushed for 186 yards and two touchdowns (covering 57 and 33 yards), helping the Caravan to a 31-24 overtime victory over Chicago Catholic League rival and previously unbeaten Loyola Academy. Banks' longest run covered 82 yards. The Caravan (3-1 overall) is 2-0 in Catholic League Blue play and tied with St. Rita for first place.

* Rochester's Colten Glazebrook ran for two touchdowns, leading the Rockets to a 13-10 victory over Springfield Sacred Heart-Griffin in front of more than 9,000 at Memorial Stadium in Springfield. The loss halted Sacred Heart-Griffin's Central State Eight win streak at 59, and gave Rochester head coach Derek Leonard an emotional win over his dad, Ken, the longtime coach at Sacred Heart-Griffin, in a game labeled as the "Leonard Bowl." "What a treat for everyone who was here. What a game, what a battle," Derek Leonard said.

* Bolingbrook sophomore quarterback Aaron Bailey ran for three touchdowns, including from 64 yards out, and passed for one score in a 48-6 win over Joliet Central. The Raiders (3-1) are 2-0 in the Southwest Suburban Blue Conference.

* Simeon (Chicago) quarterback Robert Gregory passed for 92 yards and three touchdowns, and ran for 77 yards and two touchdowns, all in the first half, leading the Wolverines to a 61-12 Chicago Public League win over Whitney Young. Simeon (4-0) plays Chicago Curie on Friday at Rockne Stadium.

3 TO WATCH …
* Naperville North (3-1) at Wheaton-Warrenville South (4-0), 7:30 p.m. Friday: North can make a three-way title race out of the DuPage Valley Conference with an upset win over the defending Class 7A state champs. This will be a battle of two of the Chicago area's best quarterbacks: WW South's Reilly O'Toole, a University of Illinois recruit, and Naperville North's Matt Lacosse, a Minnesota recruit.

* De La Salle (Chicago) (2-2) vs. Mt. Carmel (3-1) at Gately Stadium, 7 p.m. Friday: The Caravan has won three straight since a season-opening loss to Simeon at Soldier Field. Another win this week sets up a huge Catholic Blue game next week with rival St. Rita.

* Minooka (4-0) at Plainfield South (4-0), 7 p.m. Friday: This showdown of unbeatens will play a big part in deciding the Southwest Prairie Conference title. Minooka, the defending league champion, features a backfield of Kalvin Hill and Kyle Banks, who combined for more than 300 rushing yards and six touchdowns last week in a 41-10 win over Plainfield East.

STORYLINES AROUND CHICAGOLAND:
* Dominic Cannon, assistant boys basketball coach at York (Elmhurst) the last two years, was promoted to head coach, replacing Al Biancalana, now an assistant coach at the University of Illinois-Chicago. Cannon also coached Prospect and Palatine. "It's awesome. Al (Biancalana) showed me unbelievable generosity while he was here and I'm very fortunate to be in this position," Cannon told the Chicago Sun-Times.

* Illinois will keep the "Gone Fishing" sign up in Carlyle Lake. When the Illinois High School Association installed Carlyle Lake as host of the nation's first high school bass fishing state tournament in 2009, the original contract called for three years. The IHSA extended its agreement last week with Carlyle Lake through 2016. The tournament has drawn hundreds of entries from schools statewide, even from urban areas such as Chicago, and has included help from the Army Corp of Engineers and the Illinois Department of Natural Resources.

* Ryan Koziol, a junior at Brother Rice (Chicago), earned an invitation to the USA Baseball 18U Trials after impressing national team coaches and scouts in the National Team Identification Series camp, which drew more than 600 players in three age divisions to USA Baseball's national training center in Cary, N.C. Koziol, a brother of LSU freshman Kevin Koziol, plays shortstop and pitches for Brother Rice. He had five hits and five RBIs in 12 at-bats at the national camp.

* The Lyons (LaGrange) girls volleyball team, which is ranked No. 21 in the MaxPreps Xcellent 25 presented by the Army National Guard, won its 14th straight match in a 20-25, 25-22, 26-24 victory over York in a West Suburban Silver showdown. Jocelyn Birks of Lyons had 16 kills and 19 digs. No. 10-ranked Cary-Grove (Cary), the defending Class 4A champion, is 15-0 and will play in the Mother McAuley Invitational next week.

* Until Tuesday, neither the Sandburg (Orland Park) nor Stagg (Palos Hills) boys soccer team had played a game at home this season. A construction strike has set back the opening of the new home field at Stagg. After playing its first eight games on the road due to the opening of a new turf field in Orland Park, Sandburg finally opened its new home digs with a 1-0 win over Stagg on Tuesday. "There is nothing bad about this field. New turf, new goals, new corner flags and you can see the lines. It's alive for soccer. It's perfect," Sandburg coach Jack Ferraro told the Southtown Star. Oh, and winning doesn't hurt, either.

Paul Bowker, an online and newspaper sports journalist for 25 years and the author of two Major League Baseball books, covers the Chicago area for MaxPreps. He can be reached at bowkerpaul1@aol.com.