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Stallions attract fair share of gridders

In late August, the Daily Herald put out its preview section for the 2011 high school football season.

Sports writer Marty Maciaszek listed the probable starters for all area teams.

Anyone familiar with the Arlington Stallions Rugby Club surely would have recognized many of the names in those football lineups.

Why?

Because almost a dozen of the varsity football players are former or current players for the Stallions.

The list includes Buffalo Grove’s Joey Conley (LT), Buffalo Grove’s Andrew Collins (RB) Hersey’s David Hogan (defensive back), Rolling Meadows’ John Maevski ( LB), Conant’s Gino Prestia ( LB), Conant’s Andrew Engel (OL), Elk Grove’s Dan Egan (OL/DL), Christian Liberty’s Aaron Cunningham (OL/DL), Christian Liberty’s Gabe Grob (QB) and Alex Glynn (DB).

Also on the list would be Zack Niro (OL/LB) who plays for the St. Viator sophomore team.

Paul Bergman, director of the Stallions, said rugby has remarkable similarities to American football.

“With its competitive season occurring in the spring, it provides great preparation for football athletes in what may be an otherwise slow period,” he said. “ The game is characterized by continuous play, ball-handling for all players, evasive running, numerous opportunities to make open-field tackles and frequent situations where opponents need to be driven backward.”

Bergman said many of his club’s multi-sport players believe the conditioning and toughness required to play a contact sport without pads or huddles is an ideal way to get ready for the ensuing football season.

Women’s golf

DePauw sophomore Abby Dickey (St. Viator) has an average of 79 through the first five tournaments this year. She has the second lowest average on her team which is ranked No. 2 in Division III.

Ÿ Illinois Wesleyan junior Megan Geraghty (Prospect) was named the College Conference of Illinois and Wisconsin Women’s Golfer of the Week.

She won the individual title during a dual match win against Millikin at Emeis Golf Course in Davenport, Iowa, site of the 2011 CCIW women’s golf championship.

It was Geraghty’s first individual title as she shot a career-low 78 and carries an 84.1 scoring average this season.

Men’s soccer

Beloit senior midfielder Tom Slusher (Prospect) earned Midwest Conference “Offensive Player of the Week” honors. Slusher helped lead the Bucs into a first-place tie in the conference with a pair of game-winning goals.

He scored the only goal in a 1-0 win over Lake Forest, which was the Forresters’ first loss of the season. Slusher also put Beloit up for good with a goal six minutes into its 4-1 win over St. Norbert.

Ÿ North Central sophomore Jake Muszczynski (Rolling Meadows) was named a College Conference of Illinois and Wisconsin men’s soccer Player of the Week.

Muszczynski scored a first-half hat trick in a 6-0 win over Millikin. It was the Cardinals’ biggest margin of victory in a CCIW game since an 8-1 win over Millikin in 1995. For the week, Muszczynski finished with 4 goals as North Central went 3-0-0.

Women’s soccer

Christina Tooren (Hoffman Estates) was named the Wisconsin-Whitewater “Offensive Player of the Week” for women’s soccer. Tooren scored 2 first-half goals and recorded 8 shots in the Warhawks’ 3-1 win over Augustana.

Men’s cross country

Augustana senior Mike Tisza (Hersey) finished third in 25:06 and Lewis senior Ross Goers (Hoffman Estates) finished 35th with a time of 26:03 in the 33-team Brissman/Lundeen Invitational in Rock Island.

Ÿ North Central junior Matt Perez (Hoffman Estates) finished first with a time of 24:43 at the Illinois Intercollegiate Championships in Bloomington.

Other area runners were Harper College sophomore Pablo Ramirez (Conant) who finished 19th (25:04), Illinois-Chicago sophomore Angelos Karkalis (Rolling Meadows), who was 23rd (25:06), Illinois-Chicago senior Tyler Hinckley (Conant), who was 26th (25:11), and Tisza (Hersey), who was 28th (25:12).

Men’s golf

Ÿ Northern Illinois freshman Nick Schiavi (Barrington) finished in a tie for 15th in the Cardinal Intercollegiate. He shot a 1-over-par 76 as the Huskies finished second with a score of 581.

Football

Illinois State senior left guard Nick Bledsoe (Wheeling) was named the Missouri Valley Football Conference Offensive Lineman of the Week.

The honor is the second for Bledsoe in his career at Illinois State.

Bledsoe graded out at over 90 percent and helped the Redbirds dominate the rushing game against Missouri State. He was credited with 7 knockdowns and led the way for Ashton Leggett, who rushed for a career-high 178 yards and 2 rushing touchdowns.

The team’s 316 rushing yards were the most for the Redbirds since 2008.

Bledsoe is also part of the Redbird offensive line that ranks fourth in the country and leads the MVC in fewest sacks allowed.

Ÿ North Dakota State senior Scott Stoczynski (Hoffman Estates) had 1 tackle and 1 assist in a 9-3 victory over Southern Illinois.

Ÿ MIT freshman Justin Wallace (Fremd) had another workmanlike day with 25 carries for 106 yards, and 1 reception for 8 yards in a 30-27 loss to Plymouth State.

Ÿ Ryan Cortez (Palatine) was named Wisconsin-Whitewater’s “Defensive Player of the Week.”

Cortez had 5 solo tackles, and 2 tackles for a loss of 4 yards as the Warhawks’ defense limited hosts Wisconsin-River Falls to 6 yards rushing in a 42-10 win.

Ÿ St. Cloud State senior tight end Nick Angellotti enjoyed the most productive game of his career when the Huskys defeated Northern State 27-14. The former Wauconda High School all-conference selection had a career-best 5 catches for 85 yards in the game.

He also caught 1 pass for 25 yards when the Division II No. 16-ranked Huskys topped Minnesota State 31-13 to improve to 5-1.

Angellotti started at tight end in nine games of the 2010 season and was named honorable mention All-Northern Sun Intercollegiate Conference. He caught 13 passes for 172 yards and 2 touchdowns last season.

Club volleyball

Tryouts for F.O.C.U.S. VOLLLEYBALL SPORTS will be held at the Elk Grove Park District (1000 Wellington Ave) in Elk Grove on Sunday, Oct. 9 for girls 12 under-to-14-under from 1 p.m. to 3 p.m. The second date is Sunday, Oct 30, for girls 15-under to 18-under from 1 p.m. to 5 p.m. The third date is Sunday, Nov. 6. (make-up for all levels) from 1 p.m. to 5 p.m. For questions, call director Dominic C. Di Silvio at (847) 956-0612 or email dcdfocussports@comcast.net. The website is www.focussports.org.

Rolling Meadows feeder basketball

Tryouts for the Rolling Meadows Feeder Basketball program will be conducting tryouts for the 5th-8th grade girls and boys teams on Sunday, Nov. 6 at Rolling Meadows High School. The fifth-to-sixth grade girls and eighth grade boys will try out from 10 a.m. to 11:30 a.m. The seventh-grade girls and boys will try out from 11:30 a.m. to 1 p.m.

Eighth-grade girls and fifth-to-sixth grade boys will try out from 1 p.m. to 2:30 p.m. For more details about the girls program, contact Greg King at (847) 590-9285. For the boys program, contact Mike Grady at 630-971-2294.

Ÿ Please e-mail Sports Notes items to jleusch@dailyherald.com or FAX to (847) 427-1173.

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