Trivia question: Which college football team from Chicago will win its conference championship Saturday if it beats its traditional rival at home?
Hint: This team, led by its All-American linebacker, features a defense so tough that it has limited opponents to 35.3 rushing yards per game and to 1.2 yards per rush while winning five of six games this season.
Answer: University of Chicago. The coach is Dick Maloney. Dan Philips from McHenry High is the All-American middle linebacker. Chicago (5-1, 3-0) plays host to Washington of St. Louis (5-3, 3-0) for the title in the University Athletic Association.
For people who still think football ceased on the Midway when Amos Alonzo Stagg or Jay Berwanger left campus, the Maroons have been alive and well for the last several years in Division III.
Chicago won the UAA championship in 1998, the school’s first football title since Stagg’s team won the Big Ten in 1924. Maloney’s seven-year record at Chicago is 39-23 (.629) overall and 24-7 (.774) at Stagg Field.
Washington has been the class of the UAA, winning four titles since 1994 and five of its last six games against Chicago. But Philips plays on a defense that has allowed just one touchdown in the last 11 quarters and only three points all season in the fourth quarter. They came on a last-second North Central field goal that beat the Maroons 30-27.
Linebacker Jason Slous from Hoisington, Kan., was named UAA defensive player of the week for making 10 tackles, including three sacks for 24 yards, in Chicago’s 20-6 victory over Carnegie-Mellon. Quarterback Josh Dunn from Loyola Academy was named offensive player of the week for completing 18-of-29 passes for 165 yards.
Chicago-area players form the core of the Maroons team. The defensive line contains 267-pound Arlen Wiley from Bogan; Eric Berndt, 254, from Stevenson; Mike Wisner, 244, from Libertyville; and Sean Dillon, 225, from Mt. Carmel. Wisner, Wiley and Dillon share 13 sacks.
Chicago has utilized five defensive backs: Nick Freeman from Caldonia, Mich.; Blake Ward from Missoula, Mont.; Ryan Muldoon from Brother Rice; George Dunn from Loyola Academy, and Nick Hannigan from Benet.
Soccer: Game-winning goals by Steve Collins and Jay DeMerit enabled Illinois-Chicago to edge Loyola and Wright State, respectively, and repeat as Midwestern Collegiate Conference men’s champs.
Collins, from Glenbard North, scored to beat Loyola 4-2. DeMerit, from Green Bay, scored to beat Wright 2-1. In women’s play, former Wheaton North player Elody Francik scored three goals in College of DuPage’s 5-1 victory over Elgin Community in the opening round of the Region IV tournament. Francik scored scored four goals against Indiana Tech in her previous game.
And Wheaton College sophomore Rebecca Mouw, from Wheaton Academy, scored her 22nd goal of the season and her school-record 44th of her career as Wheaton (13-1-1) beat North Central 9-0. Wheaton clinched the College Conference of Illinois-Wisconsin title and earned a bid to the Division III playoffs.
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Cross country: Lewis University junior Arturo Cabral from Fenton finished first, running the 10,000 meters in 31 minutes 54 seconds, in the Great Lakes Valley Conference meet. Lewis, conference champ the last eight years, finished second to Indianapolis.
Cabral was named GLVC runner of the year. Joining him on the all-conference team were teammates Mike Cropper from Schaumburg, Tom Hammes from Sparta, Wis., and Thomasz Baginski from Poland.
Brothers Ahmed and Asaad Alghazali, Foreman High grads running for Harper College, finished third and seventh, respectively, to key Harper’s second-place finish in the 20-team Forester Invitational at Lake Forest.
Good news for North Central, which seeks its 27th straight CCIW title and fourth straight NCAA men’s cross-country title. All-American Tim McCoskey from Washington, Ill., who has been slowed by injury, is rounding into form.
Volleyball: North Central co-captain Mia Viola from Naperville Central made an Division III-record 42 digs in a three-game victory over Benedictine. The previous record was 40.
Illinois-Chicago’s Vicki Lublow from Elgin Larkin set a school record with 33 digs and added 20 kills in a four-game victory over Cleveland State. And Lublow didn’t play the first game.