Benet faces uphill climb to postseason

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When St. Joseph leaves the East Suburban Catholic Conference at the end of the academic year, it will take a certain amount of prestige from its basketball league. It's the school of Isiah Thomas, "Hoop Dreams" and two of the better players you'll see in the Big Ten this winter -- Evan Turner (Ohio State) and Demetri McCamey (Illinois).

ESCC football will be complicated, but not necessarily diminished, without the Chargers, who last season snapped a 45-game losing streak. This year they're 1-6 and have been outscored 181-52 in five conference losses.

Their departure forced Benet to readjust its 2010 schedule and search for opponents in weeks 2 and 5, said Gary Goforth, the school's athletic director and football coach. Next season his team's schedule will feature three nonconference dates and six within the ESCC.

"They're gone," Goforth said of St. Joseph late last week. "It'll be interesting because we voted just to play the schedule as is. So you'll have some teams playing seven conference games next year, and some teams playing six conference games next year. (And) after that we'll find out what happens."

Benet will open 2010 with Oswego East, ending a two-year contract. It also reached agreements to play Marian Central Catholic and Glenbard South next season. Montini is dropped from the schedule.

At this time of year, schedule strength comes under the microscope as teams compete for playoff berths. Benet (3-4) won't get much help from Oswego East (0-7) or St. Joseph during the next two weeks in terms of playoff points.

Benet, which hasn't qualified for the postseason since 2006, closes with a trip to Marist (5-2) on Oct. 16 and a home game against St. Patrick (4-3) on Oct. 23 at Benedictine. Even with two wins -- a possibility that seems less likely after last week's 43-6 defeat at Joliet Catholic -- the Redwings should still be squarely on the bubble.

The IHSA playoff outlook updated Oct. 12 placed them at No. 44, or 12 spots away from the final playoff berth in Class 7A. Their 31 playoff points represented the seventh-highest total out of the eight 3-4 teams within that group.

"I always thought this team had a chance to be good. How good? We don't know," Goforth said before Oct. 9's 37-point loss. "People look at us being an academic school. (I) think we get a lot out of our kids.

"We just aren't dealt the same hand. It'll be interesting next year, (when) we're down there again (in the preseason predictions), and probably deservedly so with what we've got coming back on varsity and what our lower levels are doing.

"(There) our talent level's way down. Our numbers are down a little bit. ... People aren't coming to Benet to play football. They're coming to Benet for the education, and I can't say that about some of the schools we play, (to) be honest with you."

Those, by extension, are some of the issues that faced St. Joseph, which hasn't won more than two games in a season since 2000. According to IHSA records, the program went 21-114 in the previous 15 years.

Looking ahead, the defection will make it a nine-school league. Would the ESCC pick up another school?

"Well, if we could find one out there. If you know of anyone," Goforth said, jokingly. "There are schools that we've looked at, but either they're too far away or too small. It would be interesting to see (what would work) with this economy and transportation costs."

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