East vs. West as football begins - The Beacon News - Aurora (IL)

AURORA -- The first football will be separated from its tee tonight when 12 area high school teams kick off the 2001 season.The 109th game of the storied East Aurora-West Aurora rivalry will begin at 7:30 p.m. at East's Roy E. Davis Field, headlining a slate of 10 games involving area teams.

Besides East and West, Aurora Christian and Mooseheart will play the only other game that includes two teams from the Beacon News coverage area.

Marmion Academy will host Evergreen Park at 1 p.m. Saturday at Fichtel Field.

Through 108 games during a rivalry that began in 1892, the East-West series is, amazingly, deadlocked at 48-48 with 12 ties.

The Tomcats won the 100th game in 1992, before the Blackhawks won seven in a row until last year's contest -- a thriller, which East won 26-23 at West's Ken Zimmerman Field.

'When you go back and look at those rivalries that have lasted so long, they do tend to balance out,' said East's second-year coach, Al Tamberelli.

Last year, Tamberelli guided the Tomcats to their first winning season (5-4) since 1983. Meanwhile, spirits are beginning to heighten on the West Side of town, as well.

In his first year coaching the Blackhawks in 2000, Mike Runge dealt with limited luxuries.

West's varsity roster consisted of just 45 players in 2001, but the number has ballooned to 72 this season.

Runge credits the increase in personnel to this year's large junior class, which includes the first group of eighth-graders at the new Jewel Middle School in 1998.

'This is not a coaching tactic,' said Runge of his team's considerable roster, 'but our retention percentage is higher, and that's extremely important.

We're struggling with being able to coach all the kids.

It's a good problem, and we're learning how to deal with it.'

This season will be the first under the new, eight-class system which the Illinois High School Association adopted, expanding the old six-class system with the intention of allowing more schools a better opportunity to reach the postseason.

In years past, conference champions and teams finishing with 7-2 regular-season records automatically qualified for the playoffs in their respective classes, while most 6-3 teams received at-large berths.

This year, under the new system, it is likely that several 5-4 teams will qualify for postseason play.

With the exception of last year's big Class 6A schools, which will make the jump to 8A in 2001, nearly all of the teams in The Beacon News coverage area jumped at least one class from previous years.

Most coaches are taking the wait-and-see attitude before commenting on the effects the new system will have on their sport.

Opening Week

A list of the weekend's prep football games involving teams in the Beacon News coverage area:

Tonight

West Aurora at East Aurora

Spring Valley Hall at Yorkville

Aurora Central Catholic at Mendota

Benet Academy at Batavia

Kaneland at Marengo

Aurora Christian at Mooseheart

Plano at Genoa-Kingston

Sandwich at Rockridge, 7:30 p.m.

Waubonsie Valley at Conant

Oswego at Neuqua Valley

(all games begin at 7:30 p.m.)

Saturday's game

Evergreen Park at Marmion Academy, 1 p.m.