North, Metea look to keep it rolling in postseason play

Metea Valley's Kenny Obendorf (32) leads the third-seeded Mustangs' quest for the title in their own regional this week. | Donnell Collins~For Sun-Times Media

Updated: March 27, 2012 8:26AM

As far back as last summer, third-year Naperville North coach Jeff Powers and his staff had a feeling they could be in for something special this year. Coming off a near-miss against top-ranked Benet last March, the excitement around the program and a competitive summer bolstered Powers’ opinion that the Huskies would be OK despite losing Matt LaCosse and Jovonn Griffin to graduation.

Nineteen victories later, Naperville North found itself alone atop the DuPage Valley Conference for the first time since 1997-98 behind an unassuming group that features nobody averaging double figures.

“We had a couple milestones and we keep telling the kids that they’re adding to their legacy,” Powers said. “Beating Benet (in December) was the first time that I had beaten them as the coach. And then going out beating Glenbard East, which we never beat and we got those guys twice. And then being in first place in the conference, getting to the final four at York — we have small goals and we keep them kind of close to us.”

The fifth-seeded Huskies (19-7) are looking to win their first regional title since 2005-06 as they play either Oswego or East Aurora on Wednesday, with a possible third meeting with No. 4 West Aurora looming two days later. “We gotta play an unbelievable regional at Oswego, who’s playing really, really well now and then if we win, probably West Aurora again,” said Powers. “So we’ll take them one game at a time and enjoy. The kids and I don’t want this journey to end. We’re having way too much fun.”

The area’s other conference winner — No. 3 Metea Valley — will have the benefit of playing at home this week during regional play. The third seed in the East Aurora Sectional — Benet in 2009-10 and Glenbard East in 2010-11 — has emerged as winner in each of the last two years. The Mustangs (22-4) will open on Tuesday opposite either Batavia or Geneva.

A victory moves Metea Valley, who closed out the regular season by dropping three of their last five games, into a meeting with either sixth-seeded Benet or 11th-seeded Bolingbrook Friday.

“Not any more concerned than I would be, just because of the time of year it is and how competitive our sectional is,” Metea Valley coach Bob Vozza said of his team’s slide to end the regular season. “Even when things were going well, you always got those worries about how competitive it is, especially with Geneva beating some good teams and even Bolingbrook, Benet and even Batavia. So our specific regional, each team can play well and beat anyone.”

Two years after winning a sectional title and a year after entering the postseason undefeated, sixth-seeded Benet (20-6) will begin the postseason in a different frame of mind. Winning 20 games in the regular season for a third consecutive year, the Redwings meet Bolingbrook Wednesday, sitting a win away from being thrust into an environment they know all too well — playing a home school on its own floor during the postseason.

“This is about us pretty much being underdogs. The last two years we were high seeds, but we obviously got a solid seed here,” Benet coach Gene Heidkamp said. “But we were in different roles last year. Last year we were undefeated at the time. Two years ago, we were playing really well in the second half of the year and obviously we were at a different point than where this team’s at.

“But this team’s hungry. We have seniors, and as much as, obviously, (sophomore center) Sean (O’Mara) and (junior forward) Pat (McInerney) are very significant players for us, for our seniors — this is it for them. They want to go as far as they can and they want to play as well as they can at state tournament time.”

While two area teams may match up in a regional final on Friday, a pair of local teams will meet right off the bat. Ninth-seeded Naperville Central (15-11) travels to meet eighth-seeded Neuqua Valley Wednesday in a Class 4A Neuqua Valley Regional semifinal, the two programs’ first meeting since Neuqua Valley won the 2009 Class 4A Oswego East Sectional with a 62-55 victory.

The Redhawks have dropped two of their last three games, all at home, and have gone just 6-8 in 2012 after their 9-3 start to the season. Naperville Central coach Pete Kramer has lamented on his team’s inconsistency, which hasn’t been helped recently by sophomore center Nick Czarnowski’s absence. Czarnowski, averaging 14.5 points, has missed the last three games because of a lingering ankle issue while dealing with some tendinitis. His status is up in the air for Wednesday night.

“Without him it’s gonna be tough, but I’d say this crew could go in and get beat by 20 or we could go in and win by 10,” Kramer said. “You never know with this group. I still don’t know. All year we’ve been like this. And we’ve beat teams we probably shouldn’t even be on the floor with and we’ve lost to teams that we should never lose to.

“There’s no pressure on us. We’re gonna go in and make something happen. If we get hot, then we’ll go from there. But we’d love to get a chance to play (No. 1 seed) Plainfield East again.”

In order to get that opportunity, the Redhawks will need to find a way to beat the Wildcats, who have won the last four meetings between the two teams. Led by senior Tyler Sutton and junior point guard Jabari Sandifer, Neuqua Valley (17-11) has won five of its last seven games despite dropping double-digit games in a season for the first time since 2003-04.

“Each person has had a good night here and there. Just if we can get two, three or even four people to play well the same night, it would add to our success,” Neuqua coach Todd Sutton said. “But people have had good nights along the way. We’ve just got to get a few more playing good at the same time.”

While the Wildcats meet the Redhawks on their home floor, seventh-seeded Waubonsie Valley (18-8) heads to Downers Grove South for its regional play, beginning Wednesday against No. 10 Hinsdale Central.

Looking to avenge their unexpected regional semifinal exit to Glenbard West a year ago, a victory Wednesday would probably send the Warriors, paced by junior guard Jared Brownridge’s 20.6 point-per-game average, into a meeting with the East Aurora Sectional’s No. 2 seed, Downers Grove South, on Friday. 

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