Wheaton North
Head coach: Joe Wardynski (20-13 career record)
2010 record: 8-3 overall, 5-2 in the DuPage Valley
Top offensive players: , Sr. OL; Sr. WR; , Sr. K; , Sr., OL; , Sr. OL; John Peltz, Jr. QB; , Sr. WR; P, Jr. RB
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Top defensive players: , Sr. DB; Jaylen Howze, Jr. DB; , Sr. DL; , Sr. LB; Mark Torppey, Sr. DB
2011 schedule
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(Home games in CAPS; * denotes DVC game)
Friday, Aug. 26—BARTLETT
Friday, Sept. 2—at Geneva
Friday, Sept. 9—NAPERVILLE NORTH*
Friday, Sept. 16—at West Chicago*
Friday, Sept. 23—GLENBARD EAST*
Friday, Sept. 30—at West Aurora*
Friday, Oct. 7—NAPERVILLE CENTRAL*
Friday, Oct. 14—GLENBARD NORTH*
Friday, Oct. 21—at Wheaton Warrenville South*
OVERVIEW:
The Falcons are coming off consecutive appearances in the Class 7A playoffs, and Wardynski, now in his fourth season, would like to see his squad return to the postseason once again this year.
“We’d love to be back into the playoffs,” he said. “We set our goal at making the playoffs. We want to play more than nine weeks. I think that should be our goal.”
Wheaton North will have a handful of returning starters on offensive, but the Falcons are young overall—particularly on defense. Quarterback (Wheaton College), wideout Richard Finley, offensive linemen Rafe Kiely (Wyoming) and Mike Biegalski and defensive lineman Montrell Williams (Western Illinois) are among last year’s graduated starters the Falcons need to replace.
As far as competing for the DVC crown, Wardynski said the Falcons need to get off to a fast start and find a way to defeat old nemesis Wheaton Warrenville South and Glenbard North—something they haven’t done during his tenure. The Class 7A champion Tigers beat Wheaton North twice during 2010, including in of the playoffs.
“But I think making it to the playoffs and having the chance to play extra ballgames is what our goal is right now,” he said.
FALCONS ON OFFENSE:
Peltz takes over at quarterback, and has been looking good in practice, according to Wardynski.
“He’s doing a great job so far,” he said.
Bruni, Kile and Hollinger, all returning starters, will give Peltz dependable protection. The quarterback also has two reliable targets at wideout in Penn and Daniels. Both are returning starters, as well.
“We’re trying to give him (Peltz) time to throw the ball and making sure that we’re running good routes,” Wardynski said. “Getting open for him is going to be important. Hopefully with some seniors in those spots, we’ll be able to do that.”
The coach said Wheaton North plans to utilize Sharp, who saw action as a sophomore, out of the backfield as often as possible.
“He has some experience on the varsity level,” Wardynski said. “I think we need to get the ball into his hands quite a bit and make sure we don’t become one-dimensional.”
FALCONS ON DEFENSE:
Swider, the team’s only returning defensive starter, is a force at linebacker. The Falcons brought Howze up to the varsity toward the end of last season, but that’s the extent of their experience.
“We don’t really have anybody that was on the field on Fridays last year (other than Swider),” Wardynski said. “We have a bunch of positions where it’s going to be open competition.”
Wardynski noted that the Falcons could very well shuttle a number of players in and out of the lineup early during the season.
“We may play as many as seven defensive linemen and five linebackers and five or six DBs,” he said. “We just might get a bunch of kids in a rotation and see if anybody steps up and deserves to stay out there; otherwise we’ll have kids with fresh legs out there.”
