Now that Naperville Central has won both the boys and girls Neuqua Valley Sectional titles, the question for Naperville area water polo folk and Land O' Lincoln's WP community at large is simple.
Can anyone beat Fenwick?
The Fenwick boys have won four consecutive state championships and five of six overall. On the girls side, Fenwick is actually not defending champ, but was the runner-up in 2007 and won the previous three big trophies. So, you know, the questions still stands.
Central's boys (26-4) will play tournament host Stevenson (18-14) in the the state quarterfinals on Thursday.
The other quarterfinals are: Lyons (15-8) vs. Glenbrook South (26-1), Sandburg (28-5) vs. York (17-12-1) and Fenwick (30-1) vs. Schamburg (24-7). The Redhawks, which won their fourth sectional in five years on Saturday, would play the winner of the Lyons and Glenbrook South match in the semfinals.
While Central's girls (22-11) had a smoother ride in the sectional final than their male counterparts, that doesn't mean they have an easier path to the school's first water polo state title.
The Redhawks start with Loyola (21-11) in the quarterfinals. A win thete gets Central unless a supernova dooms us all a date with defending state champ Mother McAuley (20-7) in the semis. Unless you forgot, the champs came to Central on April 29 and had no problem handling Central's best.
On the other side of a long way to go, is Fenwick (25-4) vs. Homewood-Flossmoor (21-10) and Stevenson (27-6) and Fremd (25-1). Both H-F and Stevenson made the state quarters last year, too.
It gets no rougher.
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