Chicago Public League Sports Blog

September 1, 2010 - St. Patrick Invite

St. Patrick, Trinity, Guerin Prep, Northside, Chicago International Charter, Marian Catholic, St. Ignatius, Walter Payton Prep, Mather, Fenwick, Resurrection, Notre Dame, Ridgewood, Fenton, Whitney Young, Gordon Tech, Little Village, and Proviso West will be at the St. Patrick Invitational.

The St. Patrick Invitational is traditionally the first cross country meet of the season for many Chicago Public League and Catholic schools.

Lane Tech, Mather, Northside Prep, Whitney Young (just the girls?), LIttle Village and new this year Payton College Prep will be there from the CPS.

St. Patrick, Fenwick (jv boys?), and St. Ignatius highlight the main Catholic schools.

If they run the same course as last year, a big hill on the course will affect times.

Kulayfi Haji of Lane Tech and Cuit Pineda of Northside Prep ran fast 1528 and 1530 to go 1-2 last year.

The first CPS individuals this year will probably come down to Juan Mendez and Abe Haji of Mather, Lucas Beltran of Lane, and Mesimore and Laytham of NCP.

I'm predicting Mendez, Haji, and Beltran will go sub 16. Also, look out for Northside Prep's Erik Zuehlke, who finished tied for first in their recent time trial and is much improved over last year.

Results for those 5 will probably go something like this:

1. Mendez: 15:44
2. Beltran: 15:47
3. Haji: 15:53
4. Laytham: 16:08
5. Mesimore: 16:15

Then throw in some Iggy and Friars in the mix. Look for Jack Cross (sr) and Kamal Khan (sr) of St. Ignatius.


Marcelo Burbano (left) of Lane Tech and Victor Maldonado of Mather are two CPS sophomores to look out for.

Frosh-Soph
While most people will be looking at the varsity race, I'll be looking equally as much on the frosh-soph. Not necessarily the results, but how big and spirited the CPS teams will be. I hope all the CPS teams have a full 7 runners at the frosh-soph level. It is especially important for developing programs like Payton and Little Village to have full frosh-soph teams and a good number of JV programs. Numbers are usually an indication of the strength of a program.

There are two sophomores that I am really going to look at. The first is Victor Maldonado of Mather. Mather Coach Dale Devinney loves his talent and feels he has Ivan Coronel (former city champ for Mather) ability. With equal potential is Marcelo Burbano. Burbano is the 1 and 2 city freshman champion last spring in track. My feel is that he will run at the frosh-soph level. If he does, he is my favorite to win the race. Last year, Lane's Lucas Beltran and Danny Zimny-Schmitt took 1-2 to win the frosh-soph race.(article)

Northside's top frosh-soph finisher will probably be sprinter Nathaniel Agharese.

Schedule

The invitational starts at 4:30pm with the frosh-soph girls race (2.0 miles). Then there will be the frosh-soph boys (2.0 miles), varsity girls (3 miles), varsity boys (3 miles), and co-ed JV boys and girls race (2.0 miles).

The varsity girls climb the hill at last year's race.

Scouting Report - Prosser

Despite a 32-30 opening game loss to Kelvyn Park, Prosser played well. Pictured above are speedsters Trey Jordan (sr, #22-left - RB/DB) and Michael Brown (sr- #9- RB/DB).

When I evaluate a football team I look at primarily work ethic and enthusiasm. The result comes secondary. So despites Prosser's 32-30 opening game loss to Kelvyn Park, I still feel Prosser is a good team. The enthusiasm and spirit was definitely felt. I'll start with their fans, Prosser brought a good chunk of enthusiastic fans on the sidelines. Then the players were excited as well. This was a close game and throughout the Prosser players and coaches were animated.

As far as game play, two players stood out to me. They are seniors Trey Jordan and Michael Brown. Both are very similar players in that both play both ways. On the offensive side, both can play either running back or wide receiver. Defensively, both play defensive back. Another similarity is their speed and play making ability. Both were in display as they scored their teams 4 TD's. Brown accounted for three of them, while Jordan scored another TD.

Brown is an outsider runner who gains yards by using his speed to create space on the outside. He used his burst of speed several times for long gains.

Prosser also has some size. Pictured above is #79 of Prosser who plays on both offensive and defensive lines and even on kickoff returns.

Prosser plays in the Chicago Big-Shoulders conference. I feel Prosser can play with all of the teams in this conference. Although this conference is loaded at the top with some good teams. Taft is the pre-season favorite and showed it's muscle in a 54-0 win over Rowe-Clark. Then there is Senn, who looked equally impressive in a 46-0 win over Lincoln Park. Then the surprise team of the conference may be Clemente who shocked me with a 42-2 win over 2009 Chciago conference champion Dyett.

Prosser plays Orr this week in a game in which they will be a heavy underdog.

Prosser pre-season preview

Whitney Young and Lincoln Park Boys Cross Country Schedules Added to Schedules Page

Mike Schaible and Whitney Young hope to challenge for city this year!

Cross Country Results Page

CPSFan.com Boys Cross Country Schedules Page

Videos Now - Brian Carter of Kelvyn Park Punishes Prosser

In this video, Brian Carter (jr) of Kelvyn Park has two great runs in a row versus Prosser. This is how it was all day.

Neilski's CPS Football Rankings Week 1

The buzz is still there around the state football community - especially in Catholic League circles as Simeon and Morgan Park, known as basketball schools beat top 10 state ranked Mt. Carmel and Providence - football schools. Here are my CPS football rankings after Week 1.

1. Simeon (1-0)- (beat Mt Carmel 47-41, article) - Simeon may have the best offense in the state. People are already talking a deep Simeon run in the state playoffs -especially with Mt. Carmel and #1 Maine South losing in the opening weekend.

2. Morgan Park (1-0) - (beat Providence Catholic 16-14, article) - two two point conversions proved the difference. Despite graduating lot's of players from last year, the Mustangs reload. The demise of Morgan Park is clearly inaccurate!

3. Hubbard (1-0) - (beat South Bend Adams 7-6, article). Hubbard struggled botching 3 punts and fumbling. Only score came from a 56 yard run by quarterback Quincy Skanes that set up a touchdown run.

4. Robeson (1-0) - (beat Julian 34-20 article) - New name Devon Sanders lead Robeson in rival victory over Julian.

5. Lane Tech (1-0) - (beat Amundsen 24-0 article) defense looked good in win over upstart Amundsen.

6. King (1-0) (beat Whitney Young 34-26) The heroics of Devon Robinson prevented a Whitney Young upset.

7. Brooks (1-0) (beat Lindblom 40-14) Brooks crushes Lindblom

8. Curie (0-1) (lost to Proviso West 58-16) - Curie has too much talent to stay down

9. Mather (1-0) (beat Steinmetz 36-12) - Good start for Mather

10. Senn (1-0) (beat Lincoln Park 46-0 article) - Confidence sky high. Face off with Mather this Friday.

Others: Whitney Young, CVS, Bogan, Taft, Dunbar, Harlan

EVEN MORE STUNNING- Morgan Park 16 Providence 14

Let the celebration begin...Morgan Park beats the mighty PC!

This literally just came in...Morgan Park beat Providence Catholic 16-14!

I'll give some updates on the comments section so read the comments.

Simeon STUNS Mt. Carmel! 47-41

After this win, Simeon is undoubtedly a top 10 ranked state team.

This just came in....Simeon BEAT Mt Carmel 47-41!!!

Now does everyone believe me that this is a SPECIAL Simeon team.

Look at comments for recap and reaction.

Videos Now - Lane vs Amundsen - a few minutes of uniteruppted play

In this video, both the Amundsen and Lane defense looked good.

Videos Now - Senn vs Lincoln Park football game clips 8.27.10

video #1 a few minutes of uninterrupted play:

video #2 video of Senn head coach Jarve Lewis-Bey:

Pictures Now - Lane vs Amundsen August 27, 2010

Photo Album

New Lane Tech head coach Fred Prosel had a successful debut. I was impressed by the creativity and promise in his new offense. Used multiple running backs, mixed up running with passing. Line play also looked good in the 23-0 shutout of Amundsen. Lane needs to work on it's penalties, it had about 6-8 illegal motion penalties. Lane plays Glenbrook North this Friday, in a game which will really test the Indians. They will need a perfect game to stay close with GBN.

Lane cheerleaders