Excused absence: Mark Huske, the Glenbard West quarterback, was excused from practice Monday. The Hilltopper senior competed in the Illinois Junior Golf Association Tournament of Champions at Winnetka Golf Club with the blessings of football coach Jim Covert. The next day he returned to football practice.
– Waiting for Raymond: Near North coach Lowell Bouck is still waiting to see if quarterback Raymond Day, a Public League all-Northwest Section selection last season, is going to play this fall. Day hasn`t shown up at practice yet, and if he doesn`t, his coach has a lot of work to do. ”We would have to change our offense around,” said Bouck, who doesn`t know where Day is. ”We don`t really have another thrower. We`ll just have to take the best athlete we have and make a quarterback out of him.”
– Monsters of Medinah: Lake Park, just across the street from Medinah Country Club, figures to be a factor in the Upstate Eight title chase this season and a huge offensive line just may pave the way. The Lancers` tackles are senior Jason Vercillo (6-foot-4-inches, 245 pounds), Eric Steinberg (6-3, 275) and junior Troy Foster (6-8, 275). Junior Gary Figurski (6-3, 230) lines up at guard. Foster is already receiving attention from college recruiters. Vercillo also is considered a major college prospect.
The Lancers open their season Sept. 1 at Glenbard North. ”The joke around here is this game is for bragging rights at Stratford (Square) mall,” says coach Bob Monken, who is entering his 26th season at Lake Park.
– Wrestling with football: An Upstate Eight lineman gaining a lot of preseason notoriety is Larkin`s Brian Rose. The 6-3, 275-pound senior will play noseguard and perhaps offensive tackle for the Royals.
Thus far, however, Rose has made his athletic mark as a wrestler. He captured gold medals in the scholastic freestyle and Greco-Roman division at the Prairie State Games last month, and he reached the quarterfinals of the state high school tournament last winter while compiling a 32-3 record. Yes, he was a heavyweight.
”At this point, he`s a better wrestler than football player,” said Larkin coach Ray Haley. ”He`s got to prove himself as a football player.”
– Back for more in 1988: Last season, the Naperville Central soccer team surprised many by gaining a berth in the state finals` title match. The Redskins lost to Buffalo Grove, but made a sound impression.
”We have a solid core back,” said Redskin coach John Paskvalich.
”We`re looking to be a very good team. It depends on how good the returning players do.”
Naperville Central returns five starters and two other players who had experience off the bench. Back are defenders Mark Farley, Tim McDonald and John Schnarr, forwards Todd Delahanty and Brad Keown, and midfielders Peter Duitsman and Scott Fitzgerald.
In goal, Paskvalich will look to either Troy Hacker, on the junior varsity last season, or John Meiser, a backup to Scott Tomoda during the state tournament.
”What happened to us last year was the best thing that ever happened to our program,” said Paskvalich. ”We got the regional monkey off our back and proved we have a good program. We should be very competitive again this year. – In the swim: Don`t look now, but Monday is the first day to report for practice in all fall sports. Oak Park girls` swimming coach Sam Manola can`t wait for the Huskies to start defending their 1988 state championship. Oak Park, which dethroned seven-time champion New Trier last year to win its first state title, returns a virtually intact team and welcomes a promising group of freshmen.
”I think we`re going to have a team with much more depth,” said Manola. ”We should be just as strong, but deeper.”
Graduated is breaststroker Amy Dukstein, who placed in two individual events, but Manola says he has several candidates to replace her leg on the state record-setting 200-yard medley relay team. Sara Goggin, Rachel Coats and Donetta Ramert return from the relay that swam a record 1:48.33 at state.
”Four years ago we sat down with this group of current seniors and told them our game plan was that within two years we wanted to be in the top three at state (Oak Park finished second in 1987) and in three years we wanted to be state champions, which we were,” Manola said. ”Now we feel like we can repeat.”
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– Continued improvement: Dan Jorgensen has kept getting better and better since he last swam for Palatine High School six years ago. Jorgensen, who finished fourth in both the 200-yard individual medley and 500 freestyle at the state high school meet as a Pirate freshman in 1983, won the 400-meter freestyle (3:50.88) at last week`s long course nationals in Los Angeles. Jorgensen moved to California after his freshman season when his father, former Palatine Park District coach Nels Jorgensen, took a coaching job there. – Juarez fundraiser: Juarez High School will hold a pair of fundraisers in September to help renovate the school`s baseball field. The first is a reception Sept. 28 in th Bard`s Room at Comiskey Park that will feature past and present White Sox players. The second is Juarez-Pilsen night on Sept. 29 at Comiskey Park, where the Sox play the Cleveland Indians. For information, call John Fitzgibbons at 942-8860.
– Back home: Former Richards state champion Bill Kelly has been hired as an assistant coach at Marist. Kelly, who won an NCAA championship at Iowa State, and former Lemont wrestler Phil Urbansky have been added to the staff of Redskin coach Mark Gervais. ”I`m really pumped,” said Gervais, whose team was third in the Class AA dual championship. ”Billy will help with the medium sized guys and Phil with the bigger guys. Billy helped me at a summer camp and things just fell into place. Now I have five guys on staff, four in the building. I`m getting excited.”