St. Charles East: November 2008 Archives

I would like to personally apologize to St. Charles East freshman Meghan Niski (if she cares) for leaving her off the Honorable Mention list when the All-Area Volleyball team was published last week. That was purely a inadvertent omission -- probably one of a few -- on my part.

She definitely deserved recognition. In all honesty, she was among the final cuts for the 2nd Team and I just forgot to add her back to the Honorable Mention list.

For some reason that has really been bugging me and I felt I needed to say something.

Niski played a big part in the Saints' success this season, racking up 293 kills and 277 digs during the regular season. She continued to play a major role for the title-winning Saints all the way through the state tournament.

The Honorable Mention list should have read like this:

Check out the Courier's 2008-09 boys basketball preview, complete with previews of all of our area teams.

By Tim Masmar

Staff Writer

NORMAL -- Bring on Benet.

St. Charles East rolled to the title match of the Class 4A State Finals on Friday with a 26-24, 25-20 victory over Evanston at Redbird Arena.

With the victory, the Saints (37-4) will meet the vaunted Redwings (40-1) at 7:45 p.m. Saturday here for the title.

Saints ready to rumble -- St. Charles East is on the court warming up. The Saints are set to take on Evanston in the first of two Class 4A semifinal matches that will conclude a full -- and long -- day of volleyball.

The winner will advance to Saturday's title match to play either Benet or Mother McAuley.

Preview capsules for Burlington Central, St. Edward and St. Charles East.

St. Charles East senior Paul De Bord will sign a letter of intent to play lacrosse for notable Division I program Towson University in Maryland, East's athletics department announced Wednesday.

De Bord, who just completed a successful season at tight end for the Saints' football team, is an attackman for the St. Charles Lacrosse Club, which includes students from East and St. Charles North. He's played for the squad since his freshman year and played a leading role in guiding the club to back-to-back trips to the Illinois State Lacrosse Final Four.

Class 7A No. 7 St. Charles East (8-2) at No. 2 Cary-Grove (10-0)

When: 6 p.m. on Saturday
Winner gets: No. 3 Rockford Boylan or No. 6 Crystal Lake South
Playoff appearances: East (4th consecutive); Cary-Grove (5th consecutive)

Players to watch: East -- RB Wes Allen (287 att., 1,893 yards, 28 TDs); QB Tim Russell (78-593, 5 TDs); WR Tyler Nutting (24 rec., 332 yards, 0 TDs)
Cary-Grove -- FB Eric Chandler (169 att., 1,052 yards, 15 TDs); QB Tyler Krebs (100 att., 537 yards, 7 TDs); RB Alex Hembrey (71 att., 530 yards, 6 TDs)

St. Charles East senior Wes Allen and Bartlett senior Kyle Zelinsky have impressed throughout their three-year varsity careers, and on Monday the duo was honored by the Upstate Eight Conference's coaches for their outstanding play during the 2008 season.

Allen, who leads the area in rushing yards and scoring, was tabbed UEC offensive MVP. Zelinsky earned UEC defensive MVP honors for his efforts in leading the Hawks to a perfect regular season as Bartlett's inside linebacker.

The awards were announced in conjunction with the league's 2008 All-Conference team. Bartlett led the UEC with 10 All-Conference honorees. St. Charles East and Neuqua Valley both had six players named to the team.

Here is the 2008 All-Upstate Eight Conference football team, as voted by the league's coaches.

The game times are set for the four area teams still alive in the high school football state playoffs. The official announcement will come from ihsa.org on Monday, but barring any major oversight, the games will take place on the following times and dates...

FRIDAY
Class 8A: No. 8 Fremd (8-2) at No. 1 Bartlett (10-0), 7 p.m.
Class 6A: No. 5 Huntley (9-1) at No. 13 Grant (7-3), 7 p.m.

SATURDAY
Class 4A: No. 6 Genoa-Kingston (8-2) at No. 14 Richmond-Burton (6-4), 1 p.m.
Class 7A: No. 7 St. Charles East (8-2) at No. 2 Cary-Grove (10-0), 6 p.m.