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Addison Trail must move on without injured Rybarczyk

Addison Trail senior quarterback Mike Rybarczyk saw his three years playing varsity football end in a tough way on Saturday when he went down with a first-half ankle injury in the Blazers' 33-15 loss to Glenbard West.

Rybarczyk was taken off the field on a stretcher and driven by ambulance to Central DuPage Hospital. X-rays discovered two broken bones, and surgery on Monday required the placement of pins in the ankle. Addison Trail coach Paul Parpet Jr. said the ankle won't be put in a hard cast for a couple of weeks so the swelling has time to ease.

In many ways Rybarczyk's injury is a huge loss for the Blazers, who fell to 7-1 with Saturday's loss. They still can wrap up the outright West Suburban Gold title with a Friday win over District 88 rival Willowbrook.

"It's a shame," Parpet said. "Yeah, he's a great player, but he's also a great kid. An awesome kid. We're going to miss his leadership."

Rybarczyk made a huge impact in only four offensive series against the Hilltoppers. He had a 62-yard touchdown run as part of his 4 carries for 92 yards and completed 4 of 5 passes for 33 yards.

He ends his final high school season with 420 rushing yards and 9 touchdowns in addition to 822 passing yards with 11 touchdowns against only 3 interceptions. He completed 61 percent of his passes.

The offensive reins now go to junior Ryan Zygowicz, although the Blazers likely will focus more on the run with junior running back Malik Pierre-Louis set to return from an injury that kept him out the last two games.

"I hate to say it but injuries are part of the game and we've got to move forward," Parpet said. "I think Ryan's going to step in and do a good job, but there's no doubt we'll miss Mike."

Two to forget:

It's been a rough handful of weeks for Naperville North. The last two games have been especially difficult as the Huskies lost to Wheaton Warrenville South and Wheaton North by a combined margin of 85-3.

The loss to WW South ended Naperville North's hopes for extending its streak of 17 straight playoff appearances while last week's loss to the Falcons put its losing streak at six straight games.

"Adversity's part of life, and we've had our share," said Naperville North coach Sean Drendel. "You can learn a lot more about yourselves when things aren't going right than when things are going right."

Naperville North (2-6), despite losing returning running back Leon Hardy to a preseason knee injury, started strong with wins over Neuqua Valley and Thornton. Then came a stunning 40-7 loss to Phillips that began the losing streak.

The Huskies bounced back and played well but suffered a heartbreaking 20-19 loss to Glenbard North in Week 4.

"We played with heart, we played physical," Drendel said. "It was a great football game. And since then it's been a struggle."

Injuries haven't helped. The Huskies came into the season hoping to dominate with the run, but losing Hardy and then Mikey Caldarrazo altered the plans.

With Morgan Osborne also banged up, at times the Huskies have turned to Chris Gajcak - who started the season at quarterback - to play running back.

As the Huskies close in on their season finale, a rematch with Glenbard North, Drendel knows it won't be easy.

"We've practiced harder than we've ever prepped, so we've put in the work," he said. "We just want to go out there and have some fun this last game."

Five or six:

Win or lose in Friday's game against Marian Catholic (1-7, 0-6), Benet (5-3, 3-3) is all but guaranteed an at-large playoff bid with 39 playoff points heading into the weekend.

A sixth win earns the Redwings a better seed, but is that necessarily a good thing? It's reasonable for Benet coach Pat New to wonder.

"It sure didn't help us last year," he said.

Last year the Redwings started with six straight wins before ending the regular season with three straight losses. At 6-3 they wound up as the seventh seed in an eight-team Class 7A quadrant.

The opening-round reward? Defending Class 8A champion Mt. Carmel, which as the quadrant's No. 2 seed beat Benet 49-6 en route to another state title.

Had the Redwings been the eighth seed they would have played No. 1 Whitney Young, which lost 28-0 to No. 8 Downers Grove North in the first round.

Despite last year's odd twist of fate, though, New knows his team is likely much better off with a win over Marian Catholic and an improved playoff seed.

"That was just a strange situation," New said. "With the exception of last year, you're probably going to get a better matchup when you're 6-3 as opposed to 5-4."

Finish strong:

Willowbrook sealed its playoff fate much earlier than expected when an 0-5 start eliminated the Warriors from qualification. It hurt even more that the fifth loss came on a last-second field goal by Morton.

Since that loss, however, Willowbrook (2-6, 2-3) bounced back with two wins in three games. The Warriors beat Proviso East and Leyden while dropping a 50-38 decision to Downers Grove South.

"They continue to buy into what we're trying to do," said Willowbrook coach Nick Hildreth.

After last season's record-breaking effort, Willowbrook was hoping for another big year from the offense. But with quarterback Billy Degnan out four weeks with an injury, running back David Harris out three weeks and two offensive linemen missing significant time, the Warriors struggled to get their unit rolling.

Now that Degnan and Harris are back in the fold, Willowbrook's averaged 38 points the last three games. Receiver Kyle Rushing has caught 6 touchdown passes the last two weeks.

"We had so many moving parts, it was tough finding that consistency," Hildreth said. "Offensively we're just starting to get there."

It's paying off with victories, but it's also paying off in other ways.

"The culture we want to maintain isn't about wins and losses," Hildreth said. "It's the approach and all the things around the game. The kids are doing a great job with that."

All cylinders:

At first St. Francis surprised with its ability to execute a spread passing attack so quickly in the first year under coach Mike Fitzgerald.

The Spartans have also clamped down on defense behind returning coordinator Joe Horeni. In St. Francis' six wins it's given up a total of 28 points, the basic scheme moving to a 3-4 from a 3-5 over recent seasons past. The defense has pitched three shutouts.

"A lot of people were surprised at the success we've had, but I've seen what kind of time the kids put in and how hard they've worked," Fitzgerald said. "It's kind of what I expected."

Last week against De La Salle defensive back Matt Hanson returned two interceptions for touchdowns and linebacker John Vargyas added a third pick. The prior week against Montini defensive backs Hanson, Chris Smith, Jack Ahern and linebacker Nate Zito all recorded interceptions in the Spartans' first win over Montini since their 2008 Class 5A championship season.

"It starts on the defensive side, I think," Fitzgerald said.

St. Francis (6-2, 2-1) finds itself now in a history-making position. Should the Spartans defeat Fenwick on Saturday they would tie the winner of Friday's Marmion-Montini game for the title of the Chicago Catholic League Green Division. St. Francis was a Suburban Christian Conference tri-champ with Montini and Driscoll in 2000 and also won the league in 1968.

"The thing about this conference, it prepares you week in and week out, and I think all the teams benefit from that going on to the postseason," Fitzgerald said.

It's a start:

At the outset of the season, this week's game between West Chicago and St. Charles East looked to be one that could determine a playoff bid for one or the other.

As it turns out neither coach Ted Monken's West Chicago Wildcats nor the St. Charles East team he coached from 2004-08 will reach the postseason, each 3-5.

"I think we all go into a job wanting things to happen faster than they do," said Monken, who noted he has no strong feelings either way facing his former team. "Looking back on the season I sure feel like we had a lot of success. It's frustrating to know we had a chance to do even better."

Still, the Wildcats' three victories are the most they've had since 2005.

Friday West Chicago will send off a boatload of two- and three-year starters, including Michael Otzwirk, Frank Ficarra, Danny Lazzerini, Parrish Benton, Peyton Seidler plus their most accomplished scorer this season, receiver Alex Mitchell.

Monken hopes their legacy will draw others into the program and cement the commitment by those already there.

"Now maybe those handful of kids who weren't sure they wanted to play football will see that there's going to be some winning involved," Monken said. "And it'll inspire the guys who are out to get in the weight room and do the things they need to, to get better."

Guardedly optimistic:

Bringing in 37 playoff points with a guarantee of 39, the Westmont Sentinels (4-4) appear ready to claim their first playoff spot since 2006 if they beat 0-7 Sandwich in an Interstate Eight Conference crossover.

Sentinels coach Otto Zeman is not banking on anything.

"The most important thing is we've got to take care of business, we've got to win," he said.

Westmont has allowed a whopping 43 points a game, though 169 of those points came against unbeaten Wilmington, Manteno and another IEC heavy, Plano.

Westmont's best recipe remains a shootout featuring quarterback Kyle Domin and star running back Quintin Brown, a 1,200-yard rusher who is a touchdown threat anytime he handles the football.

"We've got to be more aggressive on defense and we've got to be able to score," Zeman said. "When we score we've been able to win."

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