Lisle targeting Wilmington

See you in Week 4.

For fans of Lisle football, and the Interstate Eight Conference’s Small Division standings, the game of Sept. 16 may well decide the conference.

That’s when the Lions travel to Wilmington, the conference’s 800-pound gorilla. Coach Jeff Reents’ Wildcats have won the last three conference titles and haven’t lost a regular-season game since 2007, Small or Large divisions.

“Until somebody dethrones Wilmington, they’ve got to be the favorite,” said Lisle coach Dan Sanko, who at 4-1 in the Small Division in 2010 placed second to Wilmington’s 5-0. Wilmington remained unbeaten until Aurora Christian surprised them in a second-round Class 3A playoff game.

It’s possible a rebuilding team like Seneca could catch fire like last year’s Large Division Sandwich, unbeaten until it lost a Week 9 crossover to Wilmington by 20 points.

“There’s always a couple teams that could do it,” said Lisle graduate and Westmont coach Mark Orszula, “but you’ve got to go out there and play Friday night.

“One thing that you could perennially pick is Wilmington is going to be one of the top teams. That’s the way it is right now.”

Humble as always, Reents said his roster, shading more toward juniors than seniors, would require some time to perfect his precision Wing-T offense.

Still, returning two all-conference linemen and an all-conference fullback — Al Peterson, Max Lyday and Jayson Conlin, respectively — is a nice start.

“We’re going to struggle a little bit early just because we have a lot of young kids. We’re pretty green in spots, and hopefully we’re going to be playing better football in Week 4. That’s when we’ve got Lisle,” Reents said.

Westmont running back Melvin Jones and two-way linemen Jeff Dwyer and Matias Serritella, Seneca running back Ryan Cagle and Reed-Custer lineman Cody Nicholson will be among the top players this fall.

“When people ask me, I tell them the Lisle kids,” said Reents, who believes the always-gutty Lions will remain his top league competition.

He specifically pointed out the passing combination of quarterback Nick Saul to receiver Ty Howell, the latter an all-Interstate Eight returner. Players like lineman Dan Kisla, linebacker Nick Leonard and defensive back Robbie Dean will be vying for that honor this fall.

Lisle begins and ends the regular season with Sanko’s Large Division favorites, Plano and Herscher. He sees the Small Division as anyone’s race — for second, chasing Wilmington.

“After that,” Sanko said, “it’s pretty open.”