Wheeling, BG thrilled to join title hunt

All Wheeling and Buffalo Grove thought about was winning to claim a place in high school football's postseason show.

Now the Wildcats and Bison have a shot to be part of an unlikely trifecta that would have come with long odds when the season started.

Home wins tonight by Wheeling, BG and preseason favorite Rolling Meadows would result in a three-way tie for the Mid-Suburban East championship.

BG's 12-10 upset win at Meadows last week set up the potential triple play that last occurred in the West in 2003 with Barrington, Conant and Fremd.

BG hosts rival and two-time defending East champion Prospect in a battle of 4-4 teams. The winner likely will have enough playoff points to play a 10th game.

"It's always a goal you have," BG senior defensive tackle Joey Deligio said of trying to get at least a share of the school's first East title since 2002.

"But our main goal was the playoffs -- to make the playoffs," said Indiana-bound offensive tackle Marc Damisch of something BG hasn't accomplished since 2003.

After Wheeling won its third straight game last week to improve to 5-3, the increased stakes didn't immediately register with some of the players after they learned of BG's upset.

"Coach (Dave Dunbar) had to tell us after the postgame talk," said Wheeling offensive tackle Peter Rothbart. "We were surprised and happy an opportunity like this could come along."

One the Wildcats will need to seize because of their low number of playoff points.

Meadows, which can clinch at least a share of its first East title since 2000 against winless Hersey, would get the IHSA's automatic conference representative berth in a three-way tie because it holds the point-differential tiebreaker.

A 6-3 finish guarantees Wheeling its first playoff berth since 1996 and a share of its first division title since it won the MSL North with Palatine in 1994.

"We've just really focused on what we have to do," said Wheeling senior cornerback Tim Powell. "But it's nice to know you're actually playing for a championship. That hasn't happened here in a long time."

BG was coming off a playoff trip and was a year removed from the Tom Zbikowski era when the current senior class went 1-8 as freshmen.

"We've been pretty much underdogs," Deligio said.

This year is no exception as the Bison faced elimination after a 2-4 start.

But everything clicked last week -- the offensive line led by Damisch, the running of Josh Hampton, the gritty play of quarterback John Bakun, the defensive work up front from Deligio and Alan Baxter and crew and key interceptions by Fred Cornely and Sean McCourt.

"If we play as hard as we did at Meadows," Damisch said, "we'll have a good chance of winning."

It would also be a nice retirement gift for coach Rich Roberts -- who will be honored in a pregame ceremony at 6:45 p.m. -- after teams with high expectations and playoff aspirations fell short the last two years.

"Our chemistry is better and that's what has helped us," Cornely said after the win at Meadows.

"We've hung tight," McCourt said.

So has Wheeling after a variety of injury obstacles in a 2-3 start where winning 3 of its last 4 probably wasn't going to be good enough to reach the postseason.

A dramatic 19-point fourth quarter and 25-21 comeback win over Prospect two weeks ago put Wheeling in playoff position.

But Elk Grove and coach Tom Whalen will be trying to spoil any celebrations for his alma mater. Dunbar hasn't forgotten 10 years ago when he was an assistant on a Wheeling team that finished 3-6 as it bounced BG from the playoffs with a 19-15 upset on the final Saturday of the regular season.

"We don't have anything yet," Powell said. "We have to come out and take care of our business."

If the Wildcats do that, it would complete the turnaround from a program that broke a 35-game losing streak when the current seniors were freshmen.

"We've always had a pretty talented group of kids … and we wanted to change history here," Powell said.

"Ever since middle school (MacArthur Junior High) we'd hear all the Hersey kids make fun of us about our program," Rothbart said. "We wanted to change this and represent the community and make it a winning program.

"Now we're almost there."

Palatine chat: "This year we wrote something new." -- senior linebacker Ryan Hourigan on rewriting a 10-year script devoid of playoff appearances.

"This one feels a lot better." -- senior Dan Sutton with sa smile on his second varsity kickoff return touchdown to cap Saturday's win at Schaumburg. The other was on last season's opening kickoff at Lake Forest.