Harper looking to reverse fortunes with COD

Winning the last two regular-season games accomplished the first goal for Harper College football.

Now the Hawks (5-4) hope to fulfill their second one at 1 p.m. Saturday when they travel to Glen Ellyn to play College of DuPage (6-3) in a Midwest Football Conference East division playoff game.

"We'll see if that's the case -- and I think it will be," Harper coach Dragan Teonic said of wanting to be a team no one wants to face in the postseason. "Our kids will be ready."

Teonic hopes one in particular -- freshman quarterback Garrett Barnas -- is ready to go for the third-seeded Hawks. He was just 12-for-36 for 190 yards and a touchdown in a 43-27 loss to No. 2 COD on Sept. 16.

"Our quarterback was in a panic the last time," Teonic said. "They zone blitzed, did a couple of freaky things and challenged our receivers by playing man coverage.

"Me and the quarterback didn't do a good job of getting on the same page and attacking their coverage. If our quarterback comes ready we should be able to score a couple of points."

COD has dangerous weapons in running back Nick Booth (12 TDs), receiver-kick returner Xavier Glenn (8 TDs) and quarterback Thomas Specia (1,854 yards, 14 TDs, 12 interceptions).

Defensive end Dan Bermea has been a force with 16½ sacks and 20 tackles for loss.

But the Hawks defense has been much tougher the last two weeks. Jake Powell has filled in nicely in the secondary for the injured Dillon Capello and the return of linebackers Aaron Miller and Aaron Diggs has made a big difference.

"Our boys have got to show up ready to go," Teonic said.

Kicking on: The Harper men's soccer team has a shot at its third Region IV title in four years when it travels to Joliet at noon Saturday.

The Hawks (5-7-1), who finished second in Region IV last year, advanced with a 1-0 win over Triton on Tuesday. They split with the top-seeded Wolves -- losing 1-0 in August and winning 3-0 in September.

"We feel pretty good about this game," said Harper coach Jason Diebold. "We have to do the stuff we've preached all season … play our game, control the pace of the game and stay positive in the field."

Harper has done the latter despite injuries to key midfielders Todor Stefanov (knee) and Jesus Tejeda (concussion). Stefanov is day to day, but Tejeda won't be cleared to play until next week.

Miljan Vukovic scored the only goal off a Victor Talavera assist 15 minutes before halftime. Triton missed a penalty kick with 1:10 to play.

"We had to shift players around and make some alterations and they did well with it," Diebold said. "Guys stepped up. For us this game was definitely a group effort."

If Harper wins, it will host the district finals next weekend.

Racing to the finish: First-year Harper coach Dan Delahunt believes his men's and women's cross country teams are ready for Saturday's Region IV meet at Moraine Valley. COD will be its main Division III competition.

"Everyone's healthy and everyone's ready to run," Delahunt said. "It will be a good test for us for nationals (Nov. 10 in New York).

"It will be a good indicator for how we're going to do at nationals."

Delahunt expects Jesus Escareno and Tim Hoskinson to challenge for the Region IV individual title in the 8K race. Matt Damhauser gives the Hawks a trio Delahunt said "can run with any top three in the nation."

Tabitha Thomas and Heather Cebulko give the Hawks a solid 1-2 punch in the 5K women's race.

Gearing up: Harper's last home volleyball match of the year saw its three-year home streak in five-game matches snapped Tuesday with a 22-30, 20-30, 19-30 loss to Division II power McHenry.

"I'm not sure if we were that bad or McHenry exhausted every attempt we made to get out of the doldrums," said Harper coach Bob Vilsoet. "As bad as we were, they caused a lot of it."

Vilsoet said McHenry was the best team the Hawks (27-22) faced all year. They played the Concordia JV on Thursday and open the Region IV tournament next Friday against Joliet at College of Lake County.

"It was good and not good," Vilsoet said of playing a McHenry team he predicts will reach the Division II national tourney. "It was a wakeup call. It shows maybe we were a little complacent and exposed our weaknesses."

Harper honored graduating sophomores Lisa LaMasse and Karlee Didier. LaMasse holds school career records in blocks (346) and kills (696) and Didier is third in assists (1,298).

Tough ending: The Harper women's soccer team finished 5-7-1 in a 1-0 shootout loss to Joliet in the Region IV semifinals. Joliet had a 4-3 edge in penalty kicks.

Nicole Eide, Sam Witczak and Jenna Schneider made the all-Region IV team and the all-N4C team with Corinne Hooper.