By Carter Crane –
High school football teams will play opening games Friday and Saturday, with only two in our communities starting Saturday. Marmion Academy will be at DuPaul Prep at Chicago Academy at noon and West Chicago will be at South Elgin at 1:30 p.m..
Friday widespread Fall festivals were held at high schools with team introductions, corn boils, food trucks, and extravaganzas.
The Aurora City Meet in boys and girls cross country will be held at Waubonsie Valley High School with the under-class runs starting at 9 a.m..
Football coaches will use barometers against opponents, live action, to gauge progress of their teams since the first day of practice:
• West Aurora High School head coach Nate Eimer will be tested by Larkin’s speed in Elgin Friday. On his team, Eimer said, “I haven’t found a glaring weakness and our depth,” are most encouraging.
• Larkin will use one of the Upstate Eight Conference’s best wide receivers in Jahari Stubbs. His quarterback will be Jaxon Aubry, a senior, who started his first three seasons at quarterback for Joliet West. Aubry’s father was head coach at Joliet West, however, took the job as offensive coordinator at Larkin under first-year head coach Jesus Gonzalez.
• Marmion Academy head coach Dan Thorpe will have six returning defensive starters and five offensive returning starters at DePaul. John Roche, a three-year starter will lead the defense at middle linebacker. The Cadets will seek to find a way to fill the void by the loss of conference offensive back of the year, quarterback Brandon McPherson. Senior Declan McDonald is a good candidate to run the offense.
• It will be first-year head coaches for each team in the game Bartlett at East Aurora. Bartlett head coach Matt Erlenbaugh left two consecutive years of playoffs at Solorio High School in the Chicago Public League to take the job at Bartlett. “Our strength is that we are starting to build a new culture, one that focuses on family and brotherhood,” Erlenbaugh said. “(Bartlett) is truly a football town and the support has been unreal from our administration, parents, and community members.” Bartlett will initiate its own football field next week after sharing with Streamwood in the Elgin U-46 School District. East Aurora head coach Nick Kukuc was an assistant last season at East Aurora.
• Glenbard West, a preseason favorite, has 15 returning starters who will play at Maine South and seek to recover last year’s stunning defeat to Maine South, 62-34, in Glen Ellyn.
• Plano will play at Aurora Central and each team will use many untested players.