FEATURE ARTICLE

Showdown Saturday!

By Aaron Brown

This Saturday is shaping up to be one of the biggest of the 2010 season, as several of the top teams in the state go head-to-head in matchups that could be a preview of next month’s state tournament.

BOYS

The spotlight is on the Fenwick Tournament, as #1 Oak Park, #2 Naperville Central, #5 Fenwick, and #7 Mundelein will all meet in a four-team event that begins at 9:00am. In the first game, the host Friars battle Oak Park in a game that could be a preview of the sectional final game at York next month, where a trip to state will be on the line. In the second game, Mundelein will get another chance to play Naperville Central, as they stumbled to the Redhawks last weekend 18-6 at the Naperville Tournament. Fenwick faces Mundelein at noon before Oak Park and Naperville Central meet for the second time this season, a game that resulted in a 13-12 win for the top-ranked Huskies. The Redhawks face Fenwick at 2:30pm; the tournament wraps up with a game between Oak Park and Mundelein at 3:45pm.

Less than 10 miles away, #4 Lyons hosts #8 St Ignatius in a boys’ matchup at noon. The teams finished off last week's LT Tournament with a narrow 9-8 contest that the hosts won to claim the tournament championship. In that same tournament, the Wolfpack also knocked off top-ranked Oak Park 11-10.

Meanwhile, the annual Brother Rice tournament hits full-stride on Saturday when the final round of action could pit ranked teams like #11 Loyola, #18 Naperville North, #19 Sandburg, and #22 St Patrick against each other.

In Chicago, #6 Latin’s matchup with #9 McHenry highlights a six-game tournament that also includes Buffalo Grove and DeLaSalle.

In fact, only #10 Homewood-Flossmoor is idle on Saturday, as the Vikings take a brief respite after facing Lincoln-Way East, Homewood-Flossmoor, and Lincoln-Way Central earlier in the week.

GIRLS

Not to be outdone, the girls’ side features several intriguing matchups between many of the top teams in the state (and outside of it). The biggest matchup is a rematch between #1 Lyons and #3 St Ignatius in LaGrange at 11:00am. The Lions are coming off a 16-4 victory over the Wolfpack last weekend at UIC, so St Ignatius, who is coming off a 6-5 win over #2 Naperville Central, will be looking for a much better performance this time around in an away game.

Elsewhere, #13 Stevenson welcomes Okemos, Michigan’s top-ranked team, while also playing host to two other teams from Michigan, #5 Rockford and #7 East Grand Rapids. #4 Fenwick, #8 Mother McAuley, and #9 Mundelein will also be in attendance, as the Illinois teams mainly play the Michigan teams until the end of the tournament. Late in the day on Saturday, Mundelein and McAuley play at 1:50pm, followed by a matchup between Fenwick and Stevenson.

#2 Naperville Central follows up a tough week that featured losses against #3 St Ignatius and #4 Fenwick with a Friday/Saturday tournament that includes #18 Sandburg, #20 Evanston, and Jenison (Michigan’s eighth-ranked team).

Also, #21 Naperville North takes on #11 Young at the NN Tournament on Saturday, while #14 Latin plays host to #22 Prospect as part of the Romans’ second straight weekend tournament.

It may be too early to predict what will happen in next month's state playoffs, but Saturday should give us a much better indication of where several teams currently stand.

Follow illpolo.com for the latest scores and recaps over the weekend, plus as much live coverage of the games as possible with 10 tournaments taking place on the biggest day of the season thus far.