Chicago Public League Sports Blog

Harlan at Richards 7 on 7

Richards High School 28th Year of 7 on 7 football June 22, 2013 (12 great teams)

Here is the list of teams-( loaded with talent)
1. Oak Lawn Richards.
2. Lincolnway East.
3. Chicago Mt Carmel
4. Chicago DelaSalle
5. Chicago Marist
6. Hinsdale Central
7. Loyola
8. Chicago Brother Rice
9. Sandburg
10.T.F. South
11. Chicago Christian
12. Chicago Harlan

For some this is the only 7 on 7 they attend, This will be held at the Admin. fields at 107th and Kilpatrick, Oak Lawn, IL.starting at 9:00 AM Sat- June 22- 2014 -

2013 Richards Bulldog Passing Tournament

June 22, 2013

9:00 a.m.

 

Schedule	Round 1	Round 2	Round 3	Round 4
Field 1	Marist/ Loyola	Marist / Chi Chr	Marist / HC	Marist / Mt Carmel
Field 2	HC/ Chi Chr	HC/ Loyola	Chi Chr/ Loyola	HC/ Sandburg
Field 3	Br. Rice/Sandburg	Br Rice/ DLS	Br Rice/ Harlan	Br Rice/ LWE
Field 4	DLS/ Harlan	Sandburg/ Harlan	DLS/ Sandburg	DLS/ TF South
Field 5	LWE/ Mt Carmel	LWE/ TF South	Mt Carmel/ TF South	Chi Chr/ Harlan
Field 6	HLR / TF South	HLR/ Mt Carmel	HLR/ LWE	HLR/ Loyola

Taft vs Whitney Young

The pressure will be on the Whitney Young coaching staff to win this game and go back to the Illini Conference.

The IHSA is set to release the official football conference alignments and schedules at around July 3, 2013.

One game that is already being talked about will be the highly anticipated matchup between Taft and Whitney Young.

These two teams have seldom played each other since 2000 because for most of that time Taft and Whitney Young have been in different football conferences. The last time I remember these two school playing against each other was in 2006 when Whitney Young beat Taft 25-24 when they were both in the Illini Red Bird Conference. That defeat helped in sending Taft to a last place conference finish that year and get sent back to the Chicago conference.

This year, Taft and Whitney Young will both be in the Chicago Big Shoulders Conference. They are expected to be the pre-season conference favorites- with Steinmetz still in the picture.

This game will be especially big for Whitney Young more so than Taft. I say this because Whitney Young is a team that historically has been and definitely want to play in the Illini Conference. The Illini is the top conference in the Public League. Whitney Young was sent down to the lower Chicago conference because they finished last in the Illini- Red Bird last season.

Usually, the winner of a Chicago conference accepts the bid to go to an Illini conference. However, Taft has declined to do so when they won their Chicago Big Shoulders conference two of the past 3 years. So, Whitney Young must beat Taft if they want to win conference and then take care of the rest of their conference foes (which is not a 100% certainty). If Whitney Young does not beat Taft, they face the prospect of having to face Taft again next season in the same conference.

The bottom line is that this game is huge and will undoutably be one of the game to watch this upcoming football season.

28th Harold Washington All-Star Football game

The 28th Harold Washington All-Star Football game is this Sunday at 6:00pm at Gately Stadium. The Chicago Public League Football Coaches Association has 100 players facing off in a North-West vs South All-Star Game that should be a great time for all of those involved in the game and the stands. We also plan  to honor all of the CPS coaches who are members of the IHSA hall of fame.

CPS to Cut 660+ jobs...more coming

The CPS has announced they will lay off a first round of 663 jobs. The layoffs include teachers, teaching assistants, bus aides. The CPS is doing this because those positions are no longer needed after they decided to close 49 elementary schools and 1 high school to save money.

Football Previews Page Fall 2013

This page will be updated over time

Teams
Harlan....
Steinmetz....
Harper...

Conferences
Inter-City 1...

Harper...Forced Respect

Sandillo Wright(jr, 6-1, 170lbs, CB/P) played multiple roles for Harper last season including corner back, punter, and rushed the ball for 579 yards.

There are only two teams that can say they have made the final 4 in the CPS football playoffs for the last two years. One of them is Simeon. The other is Harper. Harper made it to the finals 2 years ago and to the semi-finals last year.

If they are to make another run in a CPS final 4, they will have to do it without 2 graduated standout players in Antonyio Barton and Lorenzo Herbert. The pair rushed for over 1,000 yards each and were defensive studs.

Harper does return a couple key players. Earl Taylor(5-11, 220lbs, DL/OL/LB)  and Sandillo Wright(jr, 6-1, 170lbs, CB/P. Taylor is an agressive defensive player for Harper. He is Harper's top returning tackler and had 10 pancake blocks, 10 tackles for loss, and 7 sacks last season. Wright is listed as a corner back but also punts and can rush the ball.

Taylor and Wright will keep the Harper defense strong. Harper gave up only 20 points to offensive powerhouse Simeon last year, held Lane Tech to 14 points in a 46-14 CPS playoff win, and gave up only 6 points to Dunbar in a 26-6 Harper win over Dunbar.

The biggest question mark will be on the offensive side of the ball. It will be hard to replace Barton and Herbert, who both averaged over 100 yards rushing last year. Harper will need to see continued development from returning starting quarterback David Harvey(6-0, 175lbs, jr, QB). Harvey did managed to throw for over 1,000 yards last season despite having 2 stud running backs.

Harper's defense led by Wright and Taylor should keep them in games. If they develop enough of an offense, you could see Harper as a strong contender to win conference along with Brooks and have another deep run in the CPS playoffs.

Harper opens with TEAM Englewood to start the season.

Life Without Dale

Jamison Dale graduates as one of the all time distance greats for Jones and the CPS.

For most of the past 4 years, Jamison Dale has largely been the face of Jones College Prep and for that matter the entire Public League conference in distance. (not to diminish accomplishments of anyone else)

Here are just some of his accomplishments just in cross country

• Became Jones 1st individual and repeat CPS cross country championship.
• Led Jones to 1st CPS varsity team cross country championship.
• Led Jones to first ever state cross country championship and first state championship for any sport.

Dale's graduation signifies a beginning and an end. An end to a great high school career. A beginning in that his performance has helped not only Jones elevate to un heard of previous levels but the whole CPS as a whole has benefited as well.

I feel that competition is a good thing. When you have a Dale compete at a high level, it forces everyone else to raise their game. Dale competed at an extremely high level.

 

 

 

UNO Soccer Academy Still Set To Open This Fall

The new UNO Soccer Academy (GB&D photo).

Despite some political controvery and wranglings regarding contracts and funding, the CPS is still scheduled to open the UNO Soccer Academy this fall. The new charter school when all is said and done will cost an estimated $98 million. That is one of the more expensive high schools ever built in Illinois - although comparable in costs to relatively new high schools Solario and Westinghouse.

The school will be located at 5050 S. Homan Avenue in Chicago's Gage Park neighborhood. This will be the 11th school in the United Neighborhood Organization (UNO) whose purpose will be to play a large role in the development of the expected largely hispanic population for the school.

This school will be different than the others in the UNO network in that it will use soccer as a way to attract kids to academics. I know that this type of model has worked in some other foreign countries like Spain and in South America.

I'll be curious to see how it pans out here in Chicago.

Kowalczyk,Steinmetz - Not To Be Overlooked

Anthony Kowalczyk(sr to be; 6-3, 230lbs, ILB/TE/P) will be a force on all phases of the game this year for Steinmetz.(BR photo).

With all the talk last year about Foreman and Taft last season, people almost forgot about Steinmetz as they had a great run to end the season to take 2nd in conference ahead of Taft and make the state playoffs. At state they drubbed Chicago Big Shoulders Conference champion Foreman 26-12 to win a rare state playoff game for Steinmetz

This year, most of the pre-season Big Shoulders talk seems to be revolving around Taft and new to the conference Whitney Young. People feel that those two teams will decide the conference champion. Much more on those two teams in future articles.

But what about Steinmetz? They were a bit overlooked last year during the pre-season and it seems to be heading that way again.

If Steinmetz is to make another run, they will have to do it with a bunch of new players at key positions as they graduated their their starting quarterback Michael Harris and their starting running back Dominic Masciopinto. Harris and Masciopinto was the offense for Steinmetz last year as they accounted for over 73% of their offensive yards.

Steinmetz does return  Anthony Kowalczyk(sr to be; 6-3, 230lbs, ILB/TE/P). Kowalczyk contributed heavily last season for Steinmetz. He is their top returning tackler, played tight end, and even punted the ball for Steinmetz. He will play a major role for Steinmetz again this year. At 6-3,230lbs and a good physical specimen, he is one of the top players in the conference.

Schedule

Steinmetz opens with Kelvyn Park in a game which they will be heavily favored. They also have a pre-conference game against Glenbrook North.

The key conference games for Steinmetz will be against Taft and Whitney Young.

 

 

Work Being Done at Hanson

A source shared me the following:

"I drove by today and saw that they had put down the new surface. It looks like they cut inside the football field and now has nine lanes. Not quite sure on that one. But figured you'd like to share this."

Here are some photos:(click for larger image)

Actual work being started on the track.

View #2

Track resurfacing company truck.