MSL Football Playoffs: Wheeling Played Ultimate Spoiler in 1997
There were 66 Illinois high school football teams making a final push this week in the drive for five to join the 256-team playoff party in 2022.
Three Mid-Suburban League teams - Buffalo Grove, Rolling Meadows and Conant - enter Friday night at 4-4. There are also matchups between 4-4 teams when Maine West hosts Highland Park on Friday night and St. Viator meets St. Patrick at Triton College on Saturday afternoon.
And it’s possible Buffalo Grove and Barrington, if they finish 4-5, could get at-large spots in the postseason. Steve Soucie, the sports editor of the Joliet Herald News and renowned “bracketologist” of IHSA football, has both of them in the field entering Week 9.
This weekend is also an opportunity for teams to play the spoiler role. If we’re not going to the playoffs we’re making sure you aren’t, either.
One of the ultimate spoiler games - and one of the weirdest I ever witnessed - took place 25 years ago. Back then teams needed 6 wins because it was only a 192-team field with six classes. It was also the final year where the MSL had North and South divisions before realigning to the current East-West setup.
BG was primed and ready to join the postseason party when it hosted Wheeling on a chilly and gloomy Saturday afternoon. The 5-3 Bison were rolling with a 3-game MSL North winning streak against playoff-bound unbeatens Barrington and Fremd and 5-4 finisher Hersey.
Wheeling was also on a roll. It had just lost 40-0 to North champion Palatine in a 5-game losing streak where it was outscored 180-32.
If there was ever a stone-cold Vegas lock this was it.
“You look at the comparative scores and we had no business even being close in this game,” said Wheeling coach Tom Harold.
Wheeling took care of business as the ultimate spoiler with a shocking 19-15 victory. And yes, keeping one of your rivals from a happy ending was satisfying for the Wildcats.
“It was the perfect way to end a losing season,” Matt Streich, who was instrumental in the upset with his brother Bruno, said after the game. “We didn’t want Buffalo Grove to go to the playoffs. We wanted to spoil their chance.”
Dave Dunbar’s defense forced 6 turnovers as Tim Hauck and Andy Bustamante had 2 interceptions apiece. Wheeling also dug into its playbook for two memorable plays.
The first put Wheeling ahead just before halftime. Harold had inserted senior Pat Murphy at quarterback for the final two games of the season and moved junior John Roehrick to wide receiver. Harold ran a double-reverse and Roehrick, who had switched jersey numbers from 8 to 25, flipped a 58-yard TD pass to Ed Arntson.
The second came after Matt Streich’s 16-yard TD run broke a 13-13 tie with 2:10 to play and Bustamante picked off another pass a minute later.
BG still had all its timeouts to get one more desperation shot to win or at least force overtime. Wheeling faced a fourth down near midfield but Harold was concerned about what could go wrong with a punt in the damp and windy conditions. Harold had Murphy race the 42 yards the wrong way into his end zone to take a safety with 15 seconds left. Not quite the same as Minnesota Vikings’ great Jim Marshall’s accidental and memorable wrong-way fumble return in the 1960s but definitely nerve-racking.
“I was holding my breath on the safety we took,” Harold said of a play that didn’t do much to help the final team stats.
After the free kick, BG got to the Wheeling 38 for two desperation heaves into the end zone that fell incomplete. Wheeling celebrated on the field as if it was going to the playoffs. The sounds of silence in BG’s locker room, except for cleats and equipment being removed and lockers opening and closing, was deafening.
But one year later the feelings would be vastly different.
Rich Roberts’ Bison took no chances and rolled to the first MSL East title and a playoff berth by overwhelming their division foes by a 154-29 count. That included a 20-8 measure of revenge over Wheeling.
And one would suspect the Bison didn’t feel too bad for Wheeling after its playoff dreams were crushed 20-14 in overtime in a winner gets in, loser goes home matchup of 5-3 teams with Hersey.