Wauconda Loss Exemplifies Hard-Hitting End to High School Football Postseason
MSL's Rare Second-Round Football Playoff Exit; Historical Look at Barrington Girls Cross Country and Hersey Boys Soccer State Titles
The end of a high school football season, particularly in the playoffs, seems to mirror the nature of the sport itself. It seems to hit everyone involved a lot harder.
The reasons include a tremendous amount of time invested for a minimal number of games. Not everyone makes the football playoffs in Illinois so there is a sense of accomplishment in participating in the 256-team field.
Playing tackle football isn’t a “lifetime sport,” so for the majority of players their last high school game is the last time they’re putting on a helmet and shoulder pads. It’s not a year-round sport like basketball, volleyball and others where kids can play in organized games and compete almost every weekend for offseason club and travel teams.
So when the end hits in the football postseason it’s often a powerful combination of emotion and reflection.
That was a big part of a windy and gray early November Saturday afternoon at Belvidere North after Wauconda lost its Class 6A second-round game 28-10. The Bulldogs had another excellent season as they advanced to the playoffs for the fourth consecutive year for the first time in program history. They also shared the Northern Lake County Conference title with Antioch.
They hoped this would be the year to finally break through and join the 1992 team coached by Bob Kasper and led by standout quarterback Byron Johnson that reached the quarterfinals. It looked promising two plays after bruising fullback Jackson Rudolph was stuffed inside for a 1-yard gain early in the second half. Wauconda offensive coordinator Bill Mitz, who knows a little about the running game from his decades as a head coach at Stevenson and Jacobs, shouted “Get outside! Get outside!”
Rudolph did exactly that on his next carry and stormed 64 yards to the end zone for a 10-7 lead. It had the big Wauconda fan contingent that made the trip rocking and hoping they could reverse a 28-21 second-round loss last year to the same Belvidere North team.
“We were feeling pretty good,” said Wauconda coach Chris Prostka.
“We felt great,” said Wauconda senior linebacker Connor Coty. “We executed exactly what we talked about at halftime. Get a stop (three-and-out on Belvidere North to start the second half) and score and we were ready to go.”
Unfortunately for the Bulldogs, 5 turnovers stopped some promising scoring opportunities. Two of the four interceptions included an amazing deflection by a Belvidere North defender to a teammate - unlike the Bears disaster at Washington a few weeks ago - and another on a dropped pass.
“We were kind of talking on the headsets,” Prostka said, “that I think we lead the state in deflected interceptions. Maybe bizarre interceptions.”
Combine that with injuries that kept senior Jacob Hawley out for the second half and Rudolph for the last 9:22 and it was too much to overcome. That led to some tears, final on-field embraces and words of encouragement between seniors and coaches and photos of the final time they’d be together in uniform on a football field.
And Coty, who said he plans to go to college to study accounting or finance and doesn’t expect to continue playing, talked about the memories of what the Bulldogs accomplished in these last three years under Prostka.
“How much we’ve done together, every year we’re together from June to November,” Coty said. “The seniors, we’ve all played together every year of football. This team is special.”
Prostka wound up taking over the program after Dave Mills retired following the Bulldogs’ 10-1 season in 2021. They’ve gone 25-8 the last three seasons and included seniors like quarterback Logan Olsen and center-defensive lineman Liam Carney who Prostka inserted into the starting lineup as sophomores.
“That’s a decision I’ll always be glad I made and he’s a tremendous young man,” Prostka said of Olsen. “He’s done everything a kid has to do to lead the team. He’s been a good player and good teammate.
“Liam Carney is another one. They played 33 (varsity) games. It’s tough and I’m going to miss those guys.”
Prostka said there were numerous others who have helped make Wauconda one of the top programs in the NLCC with Antioch. One where having playoff success is part of the plan after the program went from 1992 to 2021 without a postseason victory.
“Going into every season, that’s the expectation,” Coty said, “and you feel if you didn’t do that you didn’t meet expectations.”
And the goal is to raise those expectations even higher.
“We continue to do things that haven’t been done here,” Prostka said. “We want to do things that haven’t been done and go even further.”
Mid-Suburban League’s Rare Early Playoff Exit
The end of the 2024 Mid-Suburban League football season also came earlier than usual when Barrington, Fremd, Hoffman Estates and Prospect lost their second-round games Friday night. It was only the fifth time a team from the MSL didn’t advance to the quarterfinals since the state playoffs were expanded to 192 teams in 1985 and the second time since they grew to 256 teams and eight classes in 2001.
The other seasons were 1988, 1995, 2000 and 2018. In 2000, no MSL teams won a first-round game.
Prospect’s 52-49 at Normal Community in the 7A second round was the sixth playoff game for a MSL team with 100 or more combined points. The highest is 115 in Barrington’s 59-56 loss to Marist in 2015 in the 8A second round.
The MSL playoff history is updated with all of this year’s results and the top 10 combined highest scoring games has been added.
Barrington, Sirois Run to Glory
Barrington and coach Deb Revolta became the fourth MSL program to win multiple girls cross country state championships with their crazy-close 3A victory in Peoria where the top three teams were separated by just 2 points. And Fillies’ sophomore Mia Sirois became the fourth MSL runner to win an individual championship.
Barrington also won the 2003 AA title under Revolta and the school now has 10 team championship trophies. Sirois joined Wheeling four-time champion Dana Miroballi (1984-87) as the only MSL runners to win individual and team titles in the same meet.
MSL Girls Cross Country Team Champions
(Years and head coaches in parentheses)
7 - Palatine (1989-90 - Pat Gleason; 1991-92, 1995-96 - Steve Currins; 2009 - Joe Parks)
4 - Wheeling (1979, 1983-84, 1986 - Jim Nagel)
3 - Schaumburg (1982, 1999, 2010 - Jon Macnider)
2 - Barrington (2003, 2024 - Deb Revolta)
1 - Hoffman Estates (1987 - Gary Barker)
1 - Conant (1988 - Al Goodman)
1 - Prospect (2022 - Pete Wintermute)
Barrington Team State Champions
(Name of head coach in parentheses)
1986 - Baseball (Kirby Smith)
1992 - Boys Golf (Jeff Blessman)
2000 - Girls Gymnastics (Gayle Carzoli)
2003 - Girls Cross Country (Deb Revolta)
2007 - Girls Track and Field (Jodi Gitelis)
2007 - Boys Soccer (Scott Steib)
2016 - Girls Soccer (Ryan Stengren)
2017 - Girls Soccer (Ryan Stengren)
2021 - Girls Golf (Tim Martin)
2024 - Girls Cross Country (Deb Revolta)
MSL Girls Cross Country Individual Champions
1984-87 - Dana Miroballi (Wheeling)
2004 - Amber Stack (Wheeling)
2023 - Scout Storms (Barrington)
2024 - Mia Sirois (Barrington)
The third-place finish by Prospect’s Veronica Znajda matches the best in program history of Brooke Wilson in 2015. The boys had three second-place finishers - Lou Petricca (1994), Ryan Craven (2005) and Quentin Shaffer (2012).
Barrington’s Joe Bregenzer took third for the highest finish in boys program history. Sam Hooker (1979) and Erik Peterson (2010) finished sixth.
Hersey Adds to School, MSL Boys Soccer Championship History
Hersey’s boys soccer team coached by Mike Rusniak made sure the wait between state title celebrations was significantly shorter than the last one. The Huskies’ soccer crown was the school’s ninth and followed up the girls gymnastics title in February.
The last title before the girls gym crown was the football team’s 1987 Class 6A championship.
Hersey Team State Championships
(Head coach in parentheses)
1971 - Wrestling (Tom Porter)
1972 - Wrestling (Tom Porter)
1974 - Boys Gymnastics (Don Von Ebers)
1978/79 - Girls Archery
1984 - Girls Gymnastics (Linda Feiza)
1984 - Boys Gymnastics (Bob Esposito)
1987 - Football (Bruce Glover)
2024 - Girls Gymnastics (Shannon Barrett)
2024 - Boys Soccer (Mike Rusniak)
Hersey also ended a 17-year drought between MSL boys soccer state titles.