In its purest form in college football, the Division-III teams, the least money-oriented of the three divisions, have reached the semifinals, the final four, from the original 32 teams. North Central College (NCC) of Naperville moved into the semifinals and Wheaton College, both members of the CCIW (College Conference of Illinois and Wisconsin) suffered its first defeat of the season Saturday in the elite eight, or, quarterfinals, at the hands of St. John’s, Minn., 34-33. Both DuPage County teams played at home Saturday and Wheaton had chances late to win against the perennial power St. John’s and join North Central in the semifinals on ESPN 3 television, which is computor-based. Wheaton was the CCIW champion with its narrow victory over North Central in the regular season. The Division III championship game will be played as a part of the Stagg Bowl, named after venerable, longtime, football coach A.A. Stagg of the 19th Century/20th Century. He was a champion of amateur, pure, sports.
• Congratulations to Aurora’s Neal Ormond, III on his award by the Illinois High School Association (IHSA).
• Boys high school basketball teams in the early part of the season are creating a little form. Oswego High School, which started with a 7-0 record, played crosstown rival Oswego East Tuesday.
“We are playing great team defense and our transition (game),” Oswego head coach Chad Pohlmann said prior to the game. We have great help off our bench: Xavier Howard, AJ Freund, and Brady Peterlin have really helped.”
Oswego had a special weekend with a 52-49 victory at West Aurora Friday and a 60-49 victory at tradition-rich Quincy. “Mental toughness and making plays down the stretch” was essential at West Aurora, Pohlmann said. “Senior Kevin House had a big steal.
“The story of the game against Quincy was the fourth quarter. We won it, 27-7, and went on a 22-2 run to finish the game. Quincy is one of the best environments in all of high school basketball.”
• Youthful West Aurora rescued its weekend following defeat to Oswego in the West Suburban Prairie Conference West with a 66-64 victory in non-conference against Proviso West.
“The boys are starting to see what they need to do within their roles and what we need to do as a team to be successful,” said West Aurora head coach Brian Johnson. “It is definitely a process that all players on the team understand and know that, in the long run, we need to go through.”
• Waubonsie Valley started 5-0 prior to its rivalry game Tuesday against visiting Neuqua Valley. “Our start is primarily due to good teamwork, ball movement, and shot selection,” said head coach Jason Mead. “We’re playing solid and unselfish basketball. Ben Schwieger, Adri Malushi, Justin Starks, and Isaiah Smith have been key new contributors. We have to improve our consistency and we have to take care of the ball more.”
• Yorkville started with a 4-3 record, including Saturday’s 56-43 victory over host Plano.
“We are improving every time we have the opportunity to play,” Yorkville head coach Mike Dunn said. (Football quarterback) Josh Beetham, a 6-5 senior has played well for us. He had 11 point and 11 rebounds against Plano. He did not play basketball the last two years.”