Battle of state champs in Illinois: Wheaton-Warrenville South takes on Maine South

Vernon Hills receiver Davaris Daniels says he is '98 percent' sure about which college offer he will accept.

Thumbnail image of this articles writer: Paul Bowker
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Sep 3, 2010, 10:41am
Since 2008, defending Illinois Class 7A champion Wheaton-Warrenville South (Wheaton) has lost just once. Week 2 last year. Maine South.

Imagine what the Tigers are thinking now.

Friday afternoon at 4, WW South will play host to Maine South (Park Ridge)Maine South, the two-time unbeaten defending champs in Class 8A. The game will be televised by ESPNU and broadcast on radio by Chicago ESPN. The stands will be packed.

Two-time Class 8A champ vs. Class 7A champ? It should be a battle of heavyweights.

But Maine South will enter this battle significantly different than it did last year, when running back Matt Perez, now a freshman at Indiana University, was pounding through the line to rack up record yardage and Tyler Benz, a freshman at Eastern Michigan, was quarterbacking the Hawks.

Instead, Maine South will enter the game on the heels of a loss to Schaumburg that halted the school's record win streak at 28. The Hawks' young squad will certainly improve as the season goes on, but for now, the offense depends on two untested quarterbacks who are being platooned by head coach David Inserra, sophomore Matt Alviti and junior Jimmy Frankos. "We didn't get it done," Alviti said following the 29-17 loss to Schaumburg.

Illinois recruit Reilly O'Toole led WW South, ranked No. 1 in the state, to a 28-7 win over Hinsdale Central. He completed 15 of 21 passes for 275 yards and three touchdowns. Included in those stats was a 44-yard scoring pass from O'Toole to Titus Davis on the team's first offensive play.

"The best team in the state …," Hinsdale Central coach Mike DiMatteo told the Chicago Sun-Times.

RECRUITING: Daniels almost certain of college choice
Vernon Hills' Davaris Daniels.
Vernon Hills' Davaris Daniels.
File photo by John Rowland
Davaris Daniels of Vernon Hills, one of the most highly recruited receivers in the nation, says he is "98 percent" certain which college offer he'll accept. But he isn't quite ready to make it public. "I just have to get it to where it's the right feeling, 100 percent sure. Right now I'm at about 98 percent. I want to wait for sure that there's no place I'd rather be," Daniels, son of Washington Redskins defensive end Phillip Daniels, told the Pioneer Press newspaper of suburban Chicago. Daniels scored two touchdowns in Vernon Hills' season-opening 45-0 win over Niles West (Skokie), including on a 53-yard reception. His offers include Miami, Notre Dame and Oklahoma.

* James Adeyanju, a 6-foot-2, 250-pound defensive lineman from Curie (Chicago), has more than 20 scholarship offers, but has not yet made a choice. According to multiple reports, he has scheduled visits to Boston College, Wisconsin and Nebraska. According to the Chicago Tribune, he also plans to visit Illinois and Northwestern. Among his other offers are Michigan, Michigan State and Arizona.

5 BIG PERFORMANCES
* Naperville North quarterback Matt LaCosse, a Minnesota recruit, ran for a school-record 263 yards and three touchdowns in the Huskies' 29-28 win over rival Neuqua Valley (Naperville). "No, I don't want 29-28. I dream of 42-7," first-year head coach Sean Drendel told the Naperville Sun after winning his first game as head coach.

* Schaumburg senior running back Shepard Little rushed for 239 yards and a touchdown in the Saxons' stunning 29-17 win over two-time defending Class 8A champion Maine South. The loss halted South's win streak at 28.

* Missouri recruit Anthony Pierson, a running back at Class 7A power East St. Louis, rushed for 204 yards and two touchdowns in the Flyers' season-opening 31-22 win over Indianapolis Cathedral. East St. Louis plays host to Dillard (Fort Lauderdale, Fla.) on Sunday.

* Simeon (Chicago) quarterback Robert Gregory rushed for 227 yards and three touchdowns, and threw for 296 yards and three touchdowns, leading the Wolverines to a 47-41 win over Mount Carmel (Chicago) in the Chicago Kickoff at Soldier Field. Simeon lost to Mount Carmel twice last year, in the opening weekend at Soldier Field and in the Class 8A playoffs.

* Yorkville kicker Maxwell Brusveen kicked a school-record 51-yard field goal in a 41-6 win over Streator. He also kicked a 45-yarder, which at the time had tied the school record.

3 TO WATCH
* Glenbard West (Glen Ellyn) (1-0) at Downers Grove South (0-1), 7:30 p.m. Friday: The Hilltoppers have lost just two games in two years, one of them coming in the Class 7A title game last year to Wheaton Warrenville South. Their offense features receiver Nick Burrello, whose college offers include Eastern Illinois.

* Providence Catholic (New Lenox) (0-1) at Catholic Academy (Joliet) (1-0), 7:30 p.m., Joliet Memorial Stadium: The defending Chicago Catholic Blue Celtics were upended by Morgan Park (Chicago) in the Chicago Kickoff Classic on Sunday at Soldier Field. This game will be no easy task, either; Joliet Catholic was a finalist in Class 5A last year and features Illinois recruit Josh Ferguson.

* East (Belleville) (1-0) at Bolingbrook (1-0), 7:30 p.m. Friday: Bolingbrook sophomore quarterback Aaron Bailey threw for a touchdown and rushed for 171 yards and a touchdown in the Raiders' 28-21 win over Downers Grove South. Here's another test: East rocked Hazelwood West (Hazelwood, Mo.) 33-7 in Week 1.

STORYLINES AROUND CHICAGOLAND:
* McDonald's officials announced this week that the 2011 McDonald's All American High School Basketball Games, which benefit Ronald McDonald House Charities, will be held at Chicago's United Center. The games will be played March 30, and will be in Chicago for the first time since 1982, when future NBA stars Kenny Walker, Wayman Tisdale and Dell Curry played the game at the Rosemont Horizon. Strong Chicago-area candidates for this year's rosters include Perspective Charter’s Anthony Davis, a Kentucky recruit; Wayne Blackshear, a Louisville verbal, and Bolingbrook girls' star Ariel Massengale, a Tennessee recruit and starter for the USA Basketball U17 team this summer which won a world championship.

* Al Biancalana, the boys’ basketball coach at York (Elmhurst), was named an assistant coach on Howard Moore's men's basketball staff at the University of Illinois-Chicago. "It's a situation that is never easy. Not only did I see myself as a basketball coach, but as a mentor for these young men," Biancalana told pioneerlocal.com. Among his achievements in five seasons at York were regional and league championships. Biancalana is the second Chicago-area coach to join Moore; former Hyde Park (Chicago) coach Donnie Kirksey had already joined the UIC staff.

* Mychael Henry, a star basketball player at Orr High School on Chicago's West side and an Illinois recruit, lost his brother, 15-year-old Darrell, in a shooting Aug. 28 in the Humboldt Park neighborhood of Chicago. Police believe Darrell Henry was not the intended target. He was pronounced dead less than an hour after being shot in the chest.

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.

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