Football playoffs notebook
The Battle of Naperville II



Football playoffs notebook

November 6, 2000

BY STEVE TUCKER AND TAYLOR BELL STAFF REPORTERS

The state quarterfinals will include a team from the Public League for the first time since 1992, the Battle of Naperville II and a mind-boggling field in Class 4A.

Hubbard became the first Public League team to make the third round of the playoffs since Simeon did it eight years ago. And the two-time defending champions have no qualms about not defending their Prep Bowl titles. Hubbard will play at Bolingbrook in Class 5A Saturday at 1 p.m.

In Naperville, Central hosts North in a rematch of a game won by Central 31-14 for the DuPage Valley title on Oct. 13.

That game was played before a crowd of 10,000-plus at North Central College. Some reports called the crowd the largest to see a regular-season high school football game in the Chicago area. But before World War II and television, New Trier and Evanston played at Dyche Stadium on Thanksgiving morning and drew crowds as large as 30,000.

In Class 4A, the top seed, Riverside-Brookfield, is on the road for the second week in a row. The 11-0 Bulldogs travel to Kankakee to play Bishop McNamara.

What makes the Class 4A field look so tough is that seven of the eight teams are 11-0. And R-B is one of four unbeatens in 4A on the road this weekend. The other area contenders, defending champion and No. 3 Joliet Catholic and No. 10 Holy Cross are at home.

Another Boskey?

Naperville Central's Joe Alvarez has no clue as to who Chris Boskey is. That is understandable. Boskey was the Sun-Times' Player of the Year in 1977, several years before Alvarez was born. But coach Joe Bunge says Alvarez is "another Chris Boskey" and that carries a lot of weight.

"Joe can create havoc all over the field," Bunge said. "He is as fast as a linebacker and as agile as a defensive back. He can run like Boskey used to run and make plays all over the field."

Alvarez, a 6-3, 240-pound tackle, anchors Naperville Central's defense. He was credited with eight tackles in the Redhawks' 22-17 victory over New Trier on Saturday in Northfield. He was rated as the No. 1 defensive player in the DuPage Valley.

Boskey starred at St. Francis de Sales and later played at Iowa State. "At our all-conference meeting, when I compared Alvarez to Boskey, nobody except Bob Stone [West Chicago's coach and a former Catholic Leaguer] knew who I was talking about," Bunge said.