The Raiders held for a final shot, with Snyder keeping the ball for the final 15 seconds of the possession before driving to the left of the lane and hitting the winning shot.
Diamond Taylor led the Raiders (3-0) with 20 points. Synder finished with 19 points, eight rebounds and four assists.
Despite Snyder's heroics on offense, Southeast had a chance to tie the game at the end.
Southeast's Lawrence Thomas had a chance to tie the game after he got fouled with 0.5 seconds left, but he missed the front end of a one-and-bonus and time expired. Thomas finished with 25 points.
Troy Snyder led the Raiders with 17 points. Diamond Taylor had 16 points and Antoine Cox had 10 points.
Trailing 53-49 at the start of the final quarter, Cox -- who began the game on the bench -- had three points, three blocks, a steal and a rebound in the final eight minutes.
The Brook (2-0) will face Springfield Southeast in the championship game today at 7:30 p.m. Southeast advanced to the title game with wins over Harvey Thornton on Wednesday and Mt. Zion on Friday.
Kelley Donovan of the Panther Sports Club submitted this item.
The challenges during this year's economic downturn are making things even tougher for some families in our Bolingbrook community. Fortunately, the young ladies of Panther Sports Club In House Volleyball program decided to help.
This past weekend during the programs first round of playoff games - teams supplied enough food and gift cards for 23 families to have a complete Thanksgiving meal. The teams brought supplies which were assembled and delivered by members of the Panther Board - Christine Buerger (In House Volleyball Commissioner) and Ron Dodd (SlowPitch Softball Commissioner). Nicole Donovan, 9, currently a team member on the Flash, said "It makes me feel warm in my heart to know that we are helping someone else".
Coach Speak details all the Bolingbrook Raiders results that coaches see fit to e-mail to The Brook Blog. If they add comments, we run them verbatim.
Bolingbrook 78 Peoria Central 68
Diamond Taylor 27 pts, Troy Snyder 22pts. Russell Burns shut down their leading scorer Bobo Drummond and played tenacious defense the entire game.
Play Eisenhower at 6pm on Friday night.
The Bolingbrook Raiders boys basketball team won its first game of the season on Tuesday night, beating Peoria Central 78-68 in the Decatur Turkey Tournament.
Diamond Taylor scored 29 points in his first game as a Raider. Fellow senior Troy Snyder wasn't far behind with 25 points.
The Raiders (1-0) will play Decatur Eisenhower in the tournament semifinals on Friday at 6 p.m. The championship game is on Saturday at 7:30 p.m.
The coaching staff was very excited to see many more positives than negatives after the first night of wrestling. Many of our kids who needed to come out strong this season did very well. With having only 2 seniors and 2 juniors in the varsity lineup we wrestled pretty well. Senior 189lber Andrew Flynn went perfect on the night winning all 3 of his matches. Freshman Robby Bain wrestled 2 matches and won both at 215lbs. Another great accomplishment was that our JV team finished the night 3-0 with 3 dominating performances over the 3 teams.
Chicago Sun-Times reporter Tina Akouris wrote in her Straight To The Hoop blog this afternoon that Bolingbrook Raiders girls basketball coach Tony Smith said freshman Morgan Tuck will not miss the rest of the season due to her right knee injury.
But coach Tony Smith wants to set the record straight about one thing in particular: she is suffering a setback, but she's not done for the season.
Two points of contention: one, Smith has no way of knowing that Tuck is or isn't out for the season until the results of the MRI are known later this week; two, our post on Monday didn't say that Tuck would miss the rest of the season. I reported that she could and may miss the rest of the season.
Hopefully, Morgan is only out of action for a few days. The point is, who knows?
Make it three points of contention and the one the readers probably won't care about. Where did Straight To The Hoop learn of this injury? Did a little birdie fly into the Sun-Times newsroom and chirp chirp chirp about Tuck's right knee?
It seems as if Tuesday's post (19 hours later) was written to contradict what The Brook Blog reported on Monday. There wasn't any other report on the internet that said Tuck was injured. But we aren't shown the common courtesy of a link. Shady.
Bolingbrook Raiders star freshman Morgan Tuck injured her right knee on Saturday and may miss the rest of the season The Brook Blog has learned.
The 6-foot-2 forward said that she doesn't know when she hurt her knee during Bolingbrook's 42-28 loss to Ben Davis, but she woke up on Sunday unable to straighten her right leg or walk on it.. Tuck visited the emergency room on Sunday and an orthopedic specialist on Monday.
"It was hurting after the game, but I just brushed it off," Tuck said.
Tuck, who was walking with crutches, said she was going to get an MRI after practice on Monday night to determine if she has a torn meniscus, which is the preliminary diagnosis.
"I hope it's not, like, a tear," Tuck said. "Because that would be like the whole season."
Bolingbrook Raiders wrestling coach Rob Kichka told The Brook Blog that his lineup for Tuesday's opening meet of the season is set.
The Raiders will send out these 14 wrestlers, including two freshmen. Frankie Campos, who became the first freshman in school history to win a conference title last season, has moved up to 112 pounds from 103.
103-Kris Peterson (F)
112-Frankie Campos (So)
119-Gene Evans (So)
125-Justin Lewis (Jr)
130-Alfredo Najera (So)
135-Arturo Vasquez (So)
140-Manny Mendoza (So)
145-Chase McClellan (Jr)
152- Charlie Chew (Sr.)
160-Kyle Clark (So)
171-Joe Seimetz (Jr)
189-Andrew Flynn (Sr)
215-Robby Bain (Fr)
285- Chris James (So)
What's the difference between Morgan Park and Ben Davis? About 70 points it seems.
The Bolingbrook Raiders girls basketball team -- ranked second in the ESPN RISE preseason national rankings -- lost 42-28 to Ben Davis on Saturday at Parkland College.
In the loss to the Giants, 19th in the ESPN RISE rankings, freshman Morgan Tuck scored 20 points. Star sophomore Ariel Massengale was second on the team with three points.
Losing to a good team isn't a big deal, especially this early in the season. Not being able to score against a good team is cause for concern.
Since we didn't take the trip down to Champaign, it's hard to explain exactly what went wrong. I would deduct that the warnings that his team wasn't ready, which coach Tony Smith vocalized on Tuesday, are closer to reality than he would have liked to believe.
Bolingbrook Bandits 12U manager Thomas Page returns for the 10th week of his journal for The Brook Blog. Page is attempting to lost 50 pounds before Jan. 22, 2009 to improve his health and raise money for his youth baseball team.
Well we are feeling better and now back from the Great White North, the UP of Michigan. Unsuccessful hunt but wonderful trip to say the least.
I have been very successful in my weigh loss goal so far, 25 pounds, and it is definitely getting easier to work out. It was easier to keep up this year with my friends while walking in deep snow and forest.
I am now going to increase my work outs with Angel about 3 times per week. I have 2 months left on my trek and its going to go by very quickly.
The Brook Blog asked Bolingbrook Raiders girls basketball coach Tony Smith to give us a quick breakdown of his roster, telling us what he expects from each player.
Smith's take on the five players who started the season opener -- Ariel Massengale, Morgan Tuck, Satavia Taylor, Candace Nevels and Nicosia Henry -- will be published in Friday's Bolingbrook Sun.
Here's what Smith had to say about the bulk of his roster.
Junior guard Ashley Oliver: "I think she has a chance to be a good point guard for us. She's probably going to play a backup role for us. I think think she's got a chance to be a good backup."
Junior guard Mercedes Griffin: "Mercedes has a chance to be a great wing player. She has the athleticism. Now we have to add the intensity to it, and she's going to be one heck of a player."
Sophomore guard/forward Taylor Tuck: "We're looking for her to break out this year. She played as a freshman for us and we're looking for her to break out this season and show everybody that she's a player."
Sophomore guard Falon Edwards: "She's another kid that played as a true freshman for us. We're looking for her to come out that shell this upcoming season and have some positive time for us."
Sophomore guard Ciera Howard: "Now Ciera is coming back from an ACL (injury). She was one of our toughest kids last season. She's just going to be sophomore too. We're looking for her to bring some of that toughness to us there."
Junior center Marissa Taylor: "We're looking for her to be that enforcer for us. We want her to be tough inside, outside and be that presence in the paint there for us."
This is for all girls in grades 6-8. Each session runs from 6-8:30 p.m. The cost is $15. All checks should be made out to Bolingbrook Girls Volleyball. Please arrive at 5:15 on Nov. 24 for registration. For more information, email coach Andrea Bercot at bercota@vvsd.org.
Second-year Bolingbrook Raiders boys basketball coach Rob Brost offers up his first post for The Brook Blog. His Raiders will open the season on Nov. 25.
When Sean asked me to write a blog about our team and the upcoming season, of course I said I would. I anticipated that I would simply summarize our collection of talent, give a brief description of their individual strengths and write about where I think our team fits into the conference, etc: a preview similar to the ones that every other paper wants.
Then Sean said, "There are a lot of high expectations for this team from the media, parents, fans and other coaches, could you write about what your expectations are for this team." This was no longer a fact finding article were I simply could list our strengths and weakness, player profiles, etc.
Simply said, I would hope that "my" expectations of this team would become "our" expectations. In other words, I hope that my expectations would become those of the players, assistant coaches and even our managers and OUR expectations would be one in the same.
The 98-49 rout of Morgan Park in Bolingbrook served its purpose, which Smith said was giving him some teaching points this week as the Raiders prepare to play Ben Davis in the Blue Star Basketball Country Classic.
"I knew that first games are always rough games," Smith said. "Having just two weeks to prepare for a game is tough. Now I have proof to bring it back to practice and show them this is what we really need to do instead of saying this is what we need to do. Now I have proof to show them these are the things we need to work hard on and do."
The pressure defense was there. The quick offense off the at least two dozen forced turnovers (I didn't keep an accurate tally) was there. The hustle and the effort was there.
What's missing is a bit of refinement. Bolingbrook had its share of turnovers and didn't run many offensive sets, according to Smith.
"We are a long ways away," Smith said. "We have three days to get back to work and we're going to see how bad we want to be a great team coming up on Saturday because there are a lot of things we need to do. Unfortunately I didn't do a good enough job the first two weeks. Hopefully I can do a better job these next three days to get us going."
Sophomore guard Ariel Massengale led five Raiders in double figures with 22 points. Massengale, who converted five steals directly into fastbreak baskets, scored all 22 of those points in the first half.
Senior Satavia Taylor scored 18 points. Freshman Morgan Tuck made her varsity debut with 16 points, getting 10 of them in the first half. Junior Nicosia Henry also had 16 points and sophomore center Marissa Taylor added 10 second-half points to go with three blocked shots.
Bolingbrook Raiders senior Alex McNulty had to watch the end of his prep football career from the sideline as the top-ranked Raiders were knocked out of the Class 8A playoffs on Nov. 7 due to a shoulder injury that was feared to be a fracture.
On Tuesday night, McNulty told The Brook Blog that his injury is a probable pectoral tendon tear, and that his X-rays were negative for fractures. McNulty said he would be getting an MRI on Thursday to learn more about the injury.
"It feels a whole lot better than it did," McNulty said.
On the recruiting front, the safety said he would probably not be attending Colorado State, which was the first school to offer him a scholarship, and that Akron is now the front runner. McNulty, who said that Notre Dame has contacted him, but not offered a scholarship, said he would be visiting Akron soon.
It doesn't hurt Akron's chances that former Raiders Dale Martin and Ryan Bain are on the roster for the Zips.
If you are a fan of both the Chicago Bulls and the Bolingbrook Raiders boys basketball team, then the second annual Raider Madness is where you should be on Saturday night.
The showcase event, which features sophomore and varsity scrimmages along with 3-point and dunk contests, begins at 7 p.m. The $5 admission fee benefits the boys basketball team.
Coach Rob Brost tells The Brook Blog that there will be a silent auction and these Bulls items are up for grabs.
1) Autographed Ben Gordon Jersey
2) Autographed Derrick Rose Mini-basketball
3) Two skybox tickets to a Bulls game
4) Autographed picture of Chris Duhon
5) Autographed picture of Ben Gordon
6) Scholarship to Kimrossi Taylor's Basketball Camp
7) Scholarship to a Chicago Bulls Basketball School Camp
Also, tickets for Bolingbrook's Jan. 6 game vs. Bradley at the United Center will be on sale on Saturday. The $25 ticket gets you in for the 2:30 p.m. Brook game and the Bulls game against the Kings later that night.
If you need to get out of the house for a few hours on Thanksgiving while the bird cooks, the Bolingbrook Buccaneers have the event for you: Turkey Bowl I.
The Buccaneers will hold an offense vs. defense scrimmage on Thanksgiving day. It is billed as "last chance to dominate the Year who's better." Could be that there are two sentences hiding there without the guardianship of punctuation, but we're not sure.
The Turkey Bowl will be held at 10 a.m. at Pershing Elementary School in Joliet.
Bolingbrook Raiders varsity girls volleyball coach Andrea Bercot will be the Master Coach and coach the 14U Spring Team for the Panthers Sports Club, according to the club's Web site.
I'm not sure what a Master Coach is exactly, but one would assume it's an important position for the PSC travel program. What is for certain is that Bercot, who began playing volleyball in the PSC in-house program, will get a chance to see some of the young talent in the Brook with the 14U team.
Getting her varsity players onto club teams at an early age was what Bercot stressed as her biggest goal for the Raiders program when The Brook Blog spoke to her during the varsity season. This is a positive development for both the Panthers and the Raiders.
In other PSC volleyball news, tryouts for the 12U club team will be held on Dec. 6 at Brooks Middle School following the in-house championships.
If you want to check out this year's Bolingbrook Raiders boys basketball team before the Raiders officially start the season, then Raider Madness is the perfect opportunity.
The second annual event -- Bolingbrook's version of Midnight Madness -- begins at 7 p.m. on Nov. 22 at Bolingbrook High. There will be a DJ, emcee, raffle items, silent auction, a dunk contest, a 3-point contest and the Red vs. White intrasquad scrimmage.
"It is going to be a great night of fun and basketball," Bolingbrook coach Rob Brost wrote in an e-mail to The Brook Blog.
Bolingbrook opens its season on Nov. 25 against Peoria Central in the Team Soy Capital Decatur Turkey Tournament. The Raiders will play three games in the tourney, which runs through Nov. 29.
The Bolingbrook Raiders girls basketball team -- ranked No. 2 in the ESPN RISE Fab 50 -- has added a new game to the front end of its schedule.
The Raiders will now open their season on Nov. 18 at home against Morgan Park. Bolingbrook athletic director Alec Anderson told The Brook Blog that the agreement to play the game was formalized in the past 10 days.
Originally, Bolingbrook was to open the season on Nov. 22 at Blue Star Basketball's Country Classic. At the one-game showcase event, the Raiders will play Indianapolis power Ben Davis.
The Giants -- ranked 19th in the Fab 50 -- feature Big Ten recruits Alex Bentley and DeeDee Williams.
So instead of starting a new season against one of the best programs from Indiana in some strange gym in Champaign, the Raiders will get it going against someone willing to play the state runners-up on short notice at home. Those seem like friendly changes.
Bolingbrook Raiders boys basketball coach Rob Brost confirmed on Wednesday that seniors Troy Snyder and Diamond Taylor would be signing their national letters of intent this afternoon in a ceremony at Bolingbrook High School.
Taylor, who has committed to play for Wisconsin, and Snyder, who has committed to Wisconsin-Green Bay, will sign their letters of intent at 1:15 p.m. Brost said in an e-mail to The Brook Blog.
Bolingbrook wrestling coach Rob Kichka gives us a preview of his team with his first guest blog appearance at The Brook Blog.
The 2008-2009 wrestling season actually started last spring with many new changes. First, there was a coaching change. The new coaching staff right away set goals and began to develop an off-season wrestling program that many other local schools do.
We began weight lifting and conditioning. This was a great start for our program and the turnout was great.
During this time Assistant Coach Dan Bullivant and I traveled with many kids over the spring weekends to various tournaments around the area so that the wrestlers could get matches in at open tournaments. Second, we set up and planned a summer wrestling schedule.
As the cold drizzle fell on the Bolingbrook Raiders outside their lockeroom on the way to the bus on Friday night, a group of Hinsdale Central students walked by talking about what they were going to do on Saturday.
"Do you know how far away Belleville is?" was the response of one when the other proposed going to scout the matchup of Brother Rice and Belleville East, which will play for the right to face Hinsdale Central in the quarterfinals now that the Red Devils have knocked top-seeded Bolingbrook out of the IHSA Class 8A playoffs.
While it is 285 miles each way between Hinsdale and Belleville, the Bolingbrook team that showed up on Friday night in Hinsdale seemed leagues apart from the one that brought an undefeated record and state title aspirations into the second-round game.
HINSDALE -- Here we are in round two of the IHSA Class 8A playoffs where the undefeated and top-seeded Bolingbrook Raiders will try to advance to the quarterfinals with a win over the Hinsdale Central Red Devils.
If you read today's Bolingbrook Sun, and I hope that you did, you may think that the game is at Bolingbrook and that Hinsdale Central's mascot is Trojans. Not so much. I can't offer a mea culpa exactly, but I will give you a wea culpa, because there's no I in team and so forth.
Hinsdale Central athletic director Paul Moretta has told The Brook Blog on Wednesday via e-mail that he looked into moving Friday night's IHSA Class 8A second-round game with the Bolingbrook Raiders to Toyota Park.
As of this post, we are still waiting for his response to our question:
Was this inquiry into the Bridgeview home of the MLS Chicago Fire due to concerns for the playing surface at Hinsdale Central?
On Monday, The Brook Blog reported that Bolingbrook coach John Ivlow said Hinsdale's field was in bad shape, and that was the reason for contacting Toyota Park. Bolingbrook athletic director Alec Anderson would not comment on why Hinsdale Central would want to move its home game, but confirmed Toyota Park was discussed.
In his initial e-mail response on Wednesday, Moretta said he was interested in Toyota Park because of its seating capacity, ample parking and the opportunity to play in a professional stadium.
This is the eighth week of the journal Thomas Page is writing for The Brook Blog about his attempt to lose 50 pounds before Jan. 22, 2009. Page is losing weight to improve his health and raise money for his Bolingbrook Bandits 12U team.
Well, we have been sick this week. I was able to work out once with Angel but only twice for cardio. We have the flu. I am trying to encourage my oldest son to work with me and continue his work out that he was doing for cross country. I find it has been a challenge all in its own. He too seems to have hit a rut.
I will be leaving next week for my annual trek up north to the UP of Michigan. I was enjoying fitting into my hunting clothes. I will even have to go shopping when I come home. My pants are just too loose which is a problem I actually enjoy having I must say.
Bolingbrook assistant football coach Todd Howard is the fourth member of the Raiders coaching staff to write for The Brook Blog. Here is what is on his mind as Bolingbrook gets ready for the second round of the IHSA Class 8A playoffs.
As we finish up this week of preparation and begin to wind down before the big game Friday night, I find myself in a familiar place. This is my third year of being a part of the coaching staff at Bolingbrook High School, and all three years we have qualified for the playoffs.
The first two years we lost to the eventual state champs (Lincoln-Way East and Naperville North). It's a feeling that you never quite get over. Remembering the looks on the seniors' faces, some flooded with tears, and others whose eyes are glazed over in disbelief. Hoping that the underclassmen remember this scene so that they'll work that much harder to not suffer the same fate the next year.
Looming in the back of your head are thoughts of what could've been or what we, as coaches, could've done differently to have prevented Bolingbrook from another premature playoff exit and another championship-less season. Highly anticipating the next season, so that you can try to make your weaknesses your strengths, and turn your strengths to habits.
However, this season is different, which ironically makes it all too familiar.
He may have been a junior high state champion last year, but until he proves himself this year, Bolingbrook freshman Robby Bain will be known as the brother of the last person to win a wrestling state title for the Raiders. Except to the people who know him, who will most certainly think of him as Robby Bain.
Ryan Bainwon the Class AA 275-pound championship in 2005. Younger brother Robby will be competing at 215 for Bolingbrook this year Raiders coach Robert Kichka told The Brook Blog.
Some names to look for this season, according to coach Kichka, are seniors Charlie Chew (152 pounds) and Andrew Flynn (189) along with sophomores Kyle Clark (160) and Frankie Campos (103/112).
Flynn, a two-year starter, was and a sectional qualifier last season. Campos won the Southwest Suburban Conference title at 103 last year. He is the only freshman in program to win a varsity conference conference championship.
The Raiders will not be on Carlyle Lake come May. Bolingbrook is not one of the 214 schools that will compete for the first IHSA Bass Fishing State Series.
Now I know good and well that The Brook can fish. Let's get a boat next year.
The Raiders may have to face bass fishing schools in each of the next four rounds as potential quarterfinal opponent Brother Rice, potential semifinal pairings Naperville North and Lincoln-Way East and potential state finalists Bartlett, Loyola Academy and Warren have all signed up to wet some hooks.
Bolingbrook Raiders boys cross country coach Art Pahl had this to say about his team's performance at the Class 3A Reavis Sectional on Saturday after his Raiders finished 20th in a 21-team field.
"Team ran all right," Pahl wrote in an email. "Matt Gutierrez has been sick and is only now recovering from his illness. With everyone but Jesse Stanford returning next year, we hope we can use this as a stepping stone for improvement next year."
On the girls side, Bolingbrook advanced to the sectional for the first time in more than 20 years, according to coach Brian Zeglin. The Raiders placed 14th out of 20 teams.
Other notes that Zeglin passed on about the race: Mariana Hernandez, Zuri Carbajal and Shelby Manning dropped more than a minute from their usual three-mile time; Briana Certa ran her best race of the year; freshman Jahnell Horton was not at 100 percent.
The Bolingbrook Raiders football team was treated to a taco dinner on Monday night after practice thanks to the Shamrock Company, which is the largest frachisee of Taco Bell and KFC stores in the Chicago area.
Last week the Raiders had KFC for free. Mir Ali, who is the area manager for Shamrock, said the food will be provided every week the Raiders are still in the Class 8A playoffs.
"It's our team," Ali said. "We support them. Most of these kids are our customers."
In a twist of fate, Shamrock has its corporate headquarters in Hinsdale, home to Bolingbrook's second-round opponent Hinsdale Central.
The Bolingbrook Raiders football team will play at Hinsdale Central on Friday at 7 p.m. in the second round of the Class 8A playoffs, but the game was nearly scheduled for Toyota Park in Bridgeview, according to Bolingbrook coach John Ivlow.
According to Ivlow, the field at Hinsdale Central is in bad shape and that's the reason why the teams were looking elsewhere.
If top-ranked Bolingbrook (10-0) advances to the quarterfinals with a win on Friday, the Raiders can scout their opponent on Saturday when Brother Rice plays Bellville East on Saturday night. The game will be played at Bellville West at 7 p.m.
Bolingbrook student Nick Ficarrotta is keeping an eye on the IHSA football playoffs for us. This is his second post for The Brook Blog.
How to start the playoffs? Thatʼs the question that could have been on everyoneʼs mind heading into this weekend. Little did we all know that it would end up being this wild. With Bolingbrook eliminating Chicago Curie on Friday night 62-13, the Raiders hit the ground running for that first state title.
The game could have ended halftime when the Raiders lit up the scoreboard with a 34-7 lead. The Raider Defense only allowed 90 total yards from Curie in the first half which only had 122 total yards by the end of the game. The Offense of Bolingbrook had 309 rushing yards for the entire game. Talk about a mismatch.
Next up is Hinsdale Central which was one of the shockers this weekend. Central made its game look far too easy against a Downers Grove South team that came back from starting the year 0-2. Bolingbrook fans as well as players where shocked to hear the announcement that Hinsdale Central was leading DGS 46-0 with three minutes left in the fourth quarter. That final score was 46-12.
So what else happened in other parts of the bracket? Well why donʼt we talk about the all the upsets. And that doesnʼt just mean 8A either.
Soon enough, we will speak about hoops, rasltlin and picking up the spare. But for now, it's all bout foosball.
The top-seeded Raiders will play at Hinsdale Central next week in the second round of the IHSA Class 8A playoffs. Maybe it will be on Friday. Maybe on Saturday. We don't know, we have to wait, just like the winter sports.
Boys bowling starts first on Nov. 11 at Plainfield North. Then comes the big shooter of the group -- girls basketball -- with its debut on Nov. 22 at Parkland College. The boys basketball teams tips it off on Nov. 25 in Decatur on the same night that the wrestling team gets going at Bradley. The last squad to get in motion is girls bowling, which will begin its roll on Dec. 4 versus Lincoln-Way North.
Freshmen Mariana Hernandez and Jahnell Hortonfinished a half second apart to pace the Raiders in 77th and 78th place, repectively. Hernandez crossed in 19 minutes, 58.1 seconds. Horton clocked in at 19:58.6.
Because senior Alfonzo Sylvester attended Curie as a freshman, Bolingbrook Raiders football coach John Ivlow left it up to Sylvester to decide which jerseys the Raiders would wear on Friday night.
Sylvester picked red jerseys to go with black pants and black socks, and the Raiders swamped Curie 62-13 in the first round of the IHSA Class 8A playoffs.
"Red's my favorite color so I just like playing in red," Sylvester said. "I picked all black from the pants to the socks becuase we've never done that before. We've never worn that in any game, any home game, any away game."
His childhood friends Sam Altman, Rashad Faulk and Anthony McKinley were key to Curie's success this season as evidenced on Friday night when Altman returned a kickoff for an 89-yard touchdown in the second half. They also had plenty to say to Sylvester leading up to the game.
"It was a tough loss (for them), but they was talking stuff the whole week," Sylvester said. "I told them it was going to happen, but it's a tough loss for them."
Up Next
The top-seeded Raiders (10-0) will travel to Hinsdale Central (8-2) next week for the second round. The IHSA will announce the time and date of that game on Monday afternoon.
Hinsdale Central absolutely ripped Downers Grove South on Friday night, winning 46-12 in a game where Downers South scored twice in the final two minutes.
Bolingbrook will need to key an eye on Red Devils quarterback John Whitelaw, who accounted for four touchdowns. Whitelaw rushed for 98 yards and two touchdowns and was 11 of 13 passing for 197 yards and another two TDs.
During the regular season, the Red Devils lost their first game of the season 28-27 in overtime to Wheaton Warrenville South and the season finale 9-0 to Glenbard West. Both were No. 1 seeds in Class 7A.
In between their losses to teams with a combined regular-season record of 17-1, the Red Devils posted a seven-game winning streak, including wins over playoff teams Downers Grove North and York.
