The CSL Varsity Newsletter: Hawks Take Titans Down; Evanston/Vernon Hills Take Soccer Crowns; Shawver POTW
Plus, a very cool note about Maine East goalkeeper Emin Zec.
The first Player of the Week from a Swim & Dive program is Niles North’s Eva Shawver. To see what brought her the honor, check out the swim & dive section within the newsletter.
Football
Maine South was able to hold off Glenbrook South in the biggest game of the week, 23-16. Sam Cooper had a big interception late to seal the deal for the Hawks.
It was a defensive battle, with Glenbrook South running 67 offensive plays to Maine South’s 40, but the Hawks outgunned the Titans 258-237 per Hudl stats. Michael Dellumo’s 12-yard touchdown run in the fourth quarter was the deciding score.
Deerfield’s defense held Highland Park in check, and running back Vincent Sciarrone rumbled his way to 3 rushing scores in the intra-district rivalry win over the Giants.
Maine West put the rest of the CSL North on notice with a 36-13 beating of Vernon Hills.
Niles North barely held on in a 20-19 road win over a much-improved Maine East squad. CJ Hood threw for 214 yards for the Vikings, which included passing TDs to Yusef Awad had 168 yards rushing, including a 65-yard touchdown romp for the Blue Demons.
New Trier won its third straight game, getting the job done 24-17 against Glenbrook North.
The New Trier folks love to vote for their own. For the second consecutive week, a Trevian wins the fan vote for Football Player of the Week. Junior defensive end Liam Fitzgerald had 10 tackles, 3 tackles for loss and 2 sacks according to The Record North Shore.
Evanston beat Niles West 31-0 on the back of 4 Dylan Groff TDs (3 passing, 1 rushing). Boaz Lieberman, Mac Mettee and Preston Brown hauled in the TD receptions, per ETHS sports guru Dennis Mahoney.
GOLF
CSL Golf Regional Winners From CSL
BOYS
Vernon Hills’ Kartik Vasudeva won the 2A Vernon Hills regional and the Cougars won a team regional title with a score of 323.
The Glenbrook North boys won their home 3A regional with a team score of 289, with Glenbrook South 2nd with 303. GBS’ Nick Ventura was the medalist and regional title winner with a score of 70.
Highland Park’s Alex Finger was the medalist at the 3A Zion-Benton regional with a 70.
New Trier’s team score of 295 brought them a 3A Loyola Academy regional title. Evanston’s Kieran Low, a freshman, won the individual title with a score of 71.
GIRLS
The Glenbrook North girls won the 3A New Trier regional with a team score of 313, 17 strokes better than runer-up Loyola Academy. Glenbrook South’s Effie Perakis was the medalist with a 71.
Soccer
Vernon Hills has new hardware to add to its trophy case. The Cougars claimed their first ever CSL North crown when they defeated Maine West 2-1 on Saturday.
Only once did Vernon Hills allow a goal in North play.
Maine East goalie Emin Zec has protected the nets for the Blue Demons this year, providing for a memorable conference slate for the Blue Demons.
Zec led the team in a stretch before this week in which Maine Eats did not yield a goal over three consecutive games.
The Blue Demons, who finished 4-1 in the CSL North, behind only Vernon Hills, received strong play from Zec, whose contributions went recognized by a casual observer of high school soccer. The person who took the time to point out Zec’s strong play had two sons that he’s taken to see multiple Blue Demons soccer games.
“Their goalkeeper plays lights out and essentially carries that team. That night, we counted at least 15 spectacular saves, he talks and guides his team the whole game and just has so much passion, and then also engages the crowd and gets them fired up. My boys had so much fun, we decided to go back to another game and he had a similar strong performance,” - Clancy Ryan
In the CSL South, Evanston took the title with a 4-1 record, edging New Trier’s 3-0-2 record in the process.
Cross Country
Glenbrook North’s Juliet Frum continues her strong stretch, winning an individual title at a CSL South Quad meet, and then defeating a much larger field in Peoria at the Peoria High School Invitational at Detweiller Park. Frum’s time of 17:04.19 paced the pack. Maine South’s Sofia Arcuri took 4th.
At the same race on the boys side, CSL runners took spots 3-5 with Oscar Dueno-Alda and Ben Crane taking 3rd and 5th respectively for New Trier. Maine South’s Luca Arcuri finished 4th.
Niles West’s Pat Savage Invite was Saturday. The top CSL boys were Dane Brown of Deerfield (11th) and Evan Parker of Niles North (12th).
In the girls race, Vernon Hills’ Anna Todd and Evanston’s Stella Davis took 7th and 8th, respectively.
GBN’s John Ihrke also took 1st in the GBN CSL South Quad on the 27th, setting a course record time of 15:43.
Swim & Dive
Niles North’s Eva Shawver broke a Viking diving record that dated back to 1985 when she scored a 243 last week.
Volleyball
Tennis
Did You See?
Libertyville graduate and current New Trier girls basketball coach Teri Rodgers was inducted into her alma mater’s Hall of Fame.
Maine South baseball pitcher Drew Koenen (2023) committed to Dartmouth baseball. I interviewed him and got some thoughts from coach Brian Lorenz about Koenen.
Maine South softball pitcher Samantha Bergeron committed to Wisconsin-Stout.
