Record numbers surface at Plainfield North

The numbers at Oswego High School's Ken Pickerill Stadium last Friday were staggering.

Total yardage by two teams: 1,180. Total points: 92. Oswego quarterback Ryan West had 483 yards in total offense, including 409 through the air. Oswego receiver Jack Kwiatkowski caught 13 passes for 153 yards.

But the real buzz, catching national headlines, was the state-record 520 rushing yards piled up in 39 carries by  Kapri Bibbs of Plainfield North, a Colorado State University recruit. Bibbs, 5-foot-10 and 198 pounds, scored seven touchdowns in North's 49-43 win. No other running back in Illinois history had ever cracked 500 yards in one game. The single-game record had been held by Billy McClure of Maroa-Forsyth, who ran for 498 yards in a 1986 game.

His seven touchdowns were still five off the state record of 12, scored by Caleb Pratt of Westville in 2007. Pratt’s 8,477 career rushing yards still rank No. 1 in Illinois. Toss out Bibbs' performance, and Plainfield North had only 44 yards of total offense, which easily shows how dominant Bibbs was in this game.



Bibbs is certainly not a one-game wonder. He scored five touchdowns in a 47-6 win over Plainfield East, and had two more scores called back in that game due to penalties. He ran for 306 yards and four touchdowns on 40 carries in a 33-14 win over Plainfield Central. In five games, he has run for 1,689 yards and 26 touchdowns.

Despite the growing numbers and a renewed interest by college recruiters, Bibbs maintains he is headed for Colorado State. The Rams' coaches liked what they saw before the 2010 season began, made an offer and Bibbs verbally accepted in July. Illinois State and Toledo also offered, and Illinois and Iowa of the Big Ten showed interest.

"They (Colorado State’s coaches) treated me like a son, made me feel comfortable. A lot of schools contact me now, but they didn't trust me then. I have no intention of changing my mind," Bibbs told the Chicago Sun-Times.

So, what's next for the Bibbs express? The Tigers (5-1), whose only loss came in the first game of the season when Bibbs didn't play, are home to Minooka at 7 p.m. Friday. A win keeps Plainfield North on track for a Southwest Prairie showdown with unbeaten and rival Plainfield South in two weeks.

RECRUITING: Morgan Park's Brown verbals to UIC
Jerome Brown, a 6-foot-4 senior at Morgan Park (Chicago), verbally committed to the men’s basketball program at UIC. Brown is at least the second Division I recruit to come out of Morgan Park's Class of 2011; Wayne Blackshear, one of the top players in Chicago, previously verbaled to Louisville. "Jerome is a great fit for UIC because he fits their criteria as a knock-down three-point shooter that can do some things off the bounce," Morgan Park coach Nick Irvin told the Chicago Sun-Times.

5 BIG PERFORMANCES ...
* University of Illinois recruit Reilly O'Toole just keeps on piling up impressive numbers at Wheaton-Warrenville South (Wheaton). Missing on just one pass, O'Toole completed 14 of 15 passes for 291 yards and four touchdowns as the unbeaten Tigers blasted DuPage Valley Conference rival Wheaton North, 42-14. In his last two games, O'Toole has thrown for 513 yards and six touchdowns. WW South (6-0, 4-0 DVC), the defending Illinois Class 7A champ, has won 18 consecutive games.

* Matt Lacosse, a University of Minnesota recruit from Naperville North, rushed for 168 yards and four touchdowns in a 27-24 DuPage Valley Conference win over rival Naperville Central. His final touchdown, a 1-yard run with less than 3 minutes remaining, was the game-winner for the Huskies (4-2, 2-2). LaCosse, expected to be a tight end at Minnesota, also passed for 158 yards.



* Mickey Johnson returned a punt 78 yards for a touchdown and recovered a Mount Carmel fumble, helping St. Rita (Chicago) defeat Mount Carmel 35-14 in a Chicago Catholic League Blue showdown for first place. The Mustangs, who last won the league title in 2008, have won their first six games.

* Simeon (Chicago) quarterback Robert Gregory passed for three touchdowns and ran for two more, totaling 292 yards of total offense in a 63-32 win over Dunbar. Gregory, a junior, has led the Wolverines to a 6-0 start and first-place position in the Illini Red Bird.

* Matt Lemire of Barrington threw for four touchdowns in a wild 34-32 win over Schaumburg. LeMire averaged more than 33 yards per pass completion, totaling 300 yards on 9 of 16 passing. The victory was Barrington's sixth straight.

3 TO WATCH …
* Glenbard West (Glen Ellyn) (6-0) at York (Elmhurst) (6-0), 7:30 p.m. Friday: York, which is 6-0 for the first time in school history, takes on unbeaten Glenbard West a week after knocking LaGrange Lyons from the unbeaten ranks. This game will likely decide the West Suburban Silver champion.

* St. Rita (6-0) at Providence Catholic (New Lenox) (1-5), 7:30 p.m. Friday: Now that the unbeaten Mustangs have defeated rival Mt. Carmel, they take on the defending Chicago Catholic League Blue champs. Survive this game, and St. Rita, led by senior running Jahwon Akui, will need only to beat Loyola Academy in the final week to win its second league title in three years. St. Rita has already clinched a playoff spot in Class 7A.

* Carmel (Mundelein) (6-0) at Marian Catholic (Chicago Heights) (5-1), 7:30 p.m. Friday: Both teams are unbeaten in the East Suburban Catholic, and this could decide the league championship. Carmel's high-powered offense has scored more than 40 points three times, including in last week's 42-0 win over Benet Academy. Marian Catholic's offense includes running back Jeruel Taylor, a junior who rushed for 221 yards in a 31-27 win last week over Crete-Monee.

STORYLINES AROUND CHICAGOLAND:
* The nationally ranked girls volleyball team at Cary-Grove (Cary) knocked off 23rd-ranked Chicago Marist in the semifinals of the Asics Challenge tournament hosted by Mother McAuley High School, then defeated 9th-ranked Assumption High School of Louisville, Ky., 25-23, 25-18, in the championship match. Ohio recruit Kelly Lamberti had 13 kills in the title match. "We wanted to come out and prove a point in this tournament, that we can compete with the top teams in the country and we should be one of the top teams in the country," Lamberti told the Chicago Tribune. The win over Assumption was Cary-Grove's 24th straight, and moved the Trojans up to No. 5 in the MaxPreps Xcellent 25 rankings presented by the Army National Guard.



* The third annual Volley for Cure volleyball event, hosted by Wheaton Warrenville South in Chicago's western suburbs, raised $30,000 for the Susan B. Komen Foundation, which benefits breast cancer awareness and research. More than 2,000 pink T-shirts were sold as a part of the event. "It's a tribute to the girls with their hard work, and the parents were fabulous. We got great support from them. It was exciting to be a part of this," WW South coach Bill Schreier told the Chicago Tribune. As for the match, Naperville Central topped WW South, 25-17, 27-29, 25-23.

* The scoreless streak put up by the defense at Vernon Hills reached six with Saturday's 48-0 win over Wauconda. The Cougars have three regular-season games remaining, and the last Illinois team to shut out nine opponents in one season was Oak Park Fenwick in 1995. Among the Cougars' big plays against Wauconda were a blocked field goal returned for a touchdown by Notre Dame recruit Davaris Daniels and a 38-yard interception return for a score by Ohio State recruit Evan Spencer. Vernon Hills (6-0, 4-0 North Suburban Prairie) plays at Fox Lake Grant on Friday night.

* Gabrielle Moore, a senior at Whitney Young (Chicago), won her third consecutive Chicago Public League singles tennis championships, defeating Darnesha Moore of Morgan Park in the final.

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 may be reached at bowkerpaul1@aol.com.