Waubonsie Valley: January 2009 Archives

Waubonsie Valley quarterback Tyler Castro, who was looking at Cornell, probably will not join Nick Mlady in the Ivy League. Castro has visits scheduled for next week at Drake and Eastern Illinois, the two front-runners in his recruitment.

"I know the signing date's coming up and all that but I'm not exactly sure when I'm planning (to decide). Hopefully as soon as possible," Castro said. "I'd like to get it out of the way (but) I don't want to rush it. I don't want to make a mistake."

Paul Johnson has a nice feature up on Ted Monken, Metea Valley's new coach. In five seasons at St. Charles East, Monken has gone 36-17 (.679) with four consecutive playoff appearances. Coaching runs in the Monken family, as Johnson explains:

His father, Bob, is a member of the Illinois High School Coaches Hall of Fame, thanks in large part to his legendary coaching run at Lake Park. He has also been on Ted Monken's staff at St. Charles East all five years.

If that's not enough, Ted's brother, Todd, is the wide receivers coach for the Jacksonville Jaguars. And his brother, Tony, also has experience starting a program from scratch. He guided Vernon Hills' ascent to varsity football in 1999 and has coached that program ever since.

This nugget is also found near the end of the piece and at the center of what should become a good rivalry:

Monken arrives at Metea familiar with the Upstate Eight Conference, and quite familiar with Neuqua Valley and Waubonsie Valley, the pool from which Metea's talent will be drawn.

Monken went only 1-4 against Neuqua in his five years, two of those losses giving Neuqua an outright conference title and rendering St. Charles East to second place. He did go 3-0 against Waubonsie, however, including wins the past two seasons.

We checked in with Waubonsie Valley senior kicker Mitch Ewald last week for the Sunday column, and after a busy offseason he thinks he'll have a good chance to win the job at Indiana.

"I'll be the kicker on scholarship," Ewald said. "It comes down to whoever performs in camp."

The Hoosiers will need to replace redshirt senior Austin Starr, who last season kicked all 17 of their field goals and handled 53 of 54 kickoffs. Indiana finished 3-9, with its only Big Ten victory coming against Northwestern.

"I definitely know that my coaches have high expectations (for) me and I have even higher expectations for myself," Ewald said. "But there's no doubt in my mind (that I'll) go down there and win the job. That's what my plan is."

Two of Waubonsie Valley's most valuable players remain uncommitted, according to Warriors coach Paul Murphy. Three-year starting quarterback Tyler Castro - who threw for more than 2,000 yards as a senior - is being looked at by Cornell, Drake and Butler. Sherrod Stancil - a defensive lineman who drew constant double-teams and is considered by Murphy to be a Division I talent - is being recruited by Grand Valley State, among others.