Thursday I spent the morning out at St Charles North for the North Stars annual Fox Valley 7on7 tournament. The STCN Fox Valley tournament is a competitive 7on7 (score is kept) that also uses real refs and overall is a well run event that featured the following teams...STCNorth, York, Wheaton South, Harlem, Plainfield South, Aurora Christian, Crystal Lake South, Burlington Central plus Yorkville. Here are 5 thoughts that I was able to take away from this annual event...and again thanks to SCN head coach Rob Pomazak for the terrific event and hospitality.
Also important to note....these are strictly observations on each team's 7on7 performance ONLY.....as we all know it means very little in some cases especially with several run first programs and 7on7 is concerned. many teams will fare Ok in 7on7 then will be a much different looking team in the fall.
York was really impressive on Thursday- York was the overall champion at this event and it was pretty obvious that the Dukes from every early on was hands down the top overall tam here. The offense is led by senior QB Matt Vezza, and Vezza is just locked in with his receivers and made impressive throw after impressive throw. The Dukes defense was also very solid, made some key plays and just seemed to play with a quiet confidence.....something that continues to grow at York under HC Mike Fitzgerald. My biggest take away is just how impressive QB Matt Vezza was here. Vezza at times gave me some former Wheaton North QB Marc Forcucci vibes.....meaning that Vezza (much like Marc Forcucci last summer) just looked and played like a kid who will take his team to another higher level this coming fall. The receiver corp for York is also a strength and includes several names who are very capable (Charlie Specht/Kelly Watson) and this group also has depth as well.
Wheaton South started slow but got better with each game- The Tigers and head coach Sean Norris had a slow Game 1 but then got things together and ended up losing in the final to York. Wheaton South as always has talent, lots of good depth and pretty strong numbers from the offensive skills side. The Tigers defense was pretty solid all day here and they remain well schooled and fundamentally sound. I'm still in the process of getting some names with the faces on the Tigers this summer...but overall the skill level on offense looked strong, including having a very solid and impressive dual threat quarterback (names to follow soon).
The Home Team has been better and will get better- No question I was looking forward to seeing standout 2025 QB Ethan Plumb throw and see just how much his game has progressed since the winter....and unfortunately Plumb just did not have a good showing here along with the rest of the North Stars on Thursday. St Charles North was up and down all day and that included Plumb, who just never looked comfortable and was again on and off from series to series. The bottom line is the kid (Ethan Plumb) had a bad day and will no question will see better days ahead. Senior QB Will Vaske did step in and overall looked pretty solid here in relief. Yet the North Star receivers and backs dropped way too many passes all day long despite having a pretty strong core of talented kids here. I'm guessing this showing will be a terrific learning moment for this team and I fully expect a bounce back from here on out....but overall I've seen the North Stars look way better than they did here on Thursday.
Plainfield South will be better in 2022- The Cougars and head coach Bill Bicker played a ton of underclassmen in 2021 and those kids are now a year older and I felt played pretty well here including posting a 4-1 overall record. Plainfield South always has speed and they also have a monster running back in senior Brian Stanton who is a two way starter and an impact player in the passing game along with the run game. Junior QB Connor Folliard was also impressive here and Folliard has good size and strength and was consistently accurate here all day. South on both sides of the ball has several athletes who are names to watch this coming season including junior Sebastian Thomas. I can see the4 Cougars being one of the favorites to win the Southwest Prairie East conference this fall.
Don't sleep on Yorkville despite how they looked here - Yorkville and head coach Dan McGuire had one of the biggest teams here on the hoof...including having a handful of kids who would end up playing on the offensive line at most other schools instead of playing on the offensive skills side for Yorkville. The Foxes overall did fine in the passing game, just ran it base offense and got work in. Yorkville has some serious muscle and D1 talent coming back this coming season (DL Andrew Laurich/OL/DL Andrew Zook/OT-TE Jake Davies/LB Ben Alvarez) and I'm more interested in seeing how well they match up up front against the rest of the Southwest Prairie West this summer. Yorkville has a chance to be a really strong tam to watch this coming season and I'm just not putting a ton into 7on7 for the Foxes this summer.
Random Remaining Thoughts- Harlem again has some impressive skills kids including junior QB Derek Anderson and look for the Huskies to be again a challenger for the NIC-10 and beyond this fall. Montini Catholic still has quite a bit of individual talent on hand despite some transfer losses, but was just overall inconsistent here at times and just never seemed to click here when they needed to click. Burlington Central has a new head coach in Brian Iossi and the Rockets looked good here early including upsetting host St Charles North in the opening game. The Rockets have good overall numbers and decent talent on both sides of the football....now can they find a way to hang and go toe to toe with the likes of say Cary Grove or say Prairie Ridge week in and week out? That's always BC biggest challenge. Crystal Lake South is another team that is looking to replace a big time QB in Justin Kowalak this summer, and the Gators did some good things here. Aurora Christian is a very young team this summer but they are also one of the better coached teams you'll find. Look for the Eagles to make4 big stries this summer and to again challenge for a state playoff spot this fall.
EDGYTIM's in order Top Teams at this event?
1. York
2. Wheaton South
3. Plainfield South
4. St. Charles North
5. Montini Catholic
5. Harlem
6. Burlington Central
7. Crystal Lake South
8. Yorkville
9. Aurora Christian
Also important to note....these are strictly observations on each team's 7on7 performance ONLY.....as we all know it means very little in some cases especially with several run first programs and 7on7 is concerned. many teams will fare Ok in 7on7 then will be a much different looking team in the fall.
York was really impressive on Thursday- York was the overall champion at this event and it was pretty obvious that the Dukes from every early on was hands down the top overall tam here. The offense is led by senior QB Matt Vezza, and Vezza is just locked in with his receivers and made impressive throw after impressive throw. The Dukes defense was also very solid, made some key plays and just seemed to play with a quiet confidence.....something that continues to grow at York under HC Mike Fitzgerald. My biggest take away is just how impressive QB Matt Vezza was here. Vezza at times gave me some former Wheaton North QB Marc Forcucci vibes.....meaning that Vezza (much like Marc Forcucci last summer) just looked and played like a kid who will take his team to another higher level this coming fall. The receiver corp for York is also a strength and includes several names who are very capable (Charlie Specht/Kelly Watson) and this group also has depth as well.
Wheaton South started slow but got better with each game- The Tigers and head coach Sean Norris had a slow Game 1 but then got things together and ended up losing in the final to York. Wheaton South as always has talent, lots of good depth and pretty strong numbers from the offensive skills side. The Tigers defense was pretty solid all day here and they remain well schooled and fundamentally sound. I'm still in the process of getting some names with the faces on the Tigers this summer...but overall the skill level on offense looked strong, including having a very solid and impressive dual threat quarterback (names to follow soon).
The Home Team has been better and will get better- No question I was looking forward to seeing standout 2025 QB Ethan Plumb throw and see just how much his game has progressed since the winter....and unfortunately Plumb just did not have a good showing here along with the rest of the North Stars on Thursday. St Charles North was up and down all day and that included Plumb, who just never looked comfortable and was again on and off from series to series. The bottom line is the kid (Ethan Plumb) had a bad day and will no question will see better days ahead. Senior QB Will Vaske did step in and overall looked pretty solid here in relief. Yet the North Star receivers and backs dropped way too many passes all day long despite having a pretty strong core of talented kids here. I'm guessing this showing will be a terrific learning moment for this team and I fully expect a bounce back from here on out....but overall I've seen the North Stars look way better than they did here on Thursday.
Plainfield South will be better in 2022- The Cougars and head coach Bill Bicker played a ton of underclassmen in 2021 and those kids are now a year older and I felt played pretty well here including posting a 4-1 overall record. Plainfield South always has speed and they also have a monster running back in senior Brian Stanton who is a two way starter and an impact player in the passing game along with the run game. Junior QB Connor Folliard was also impressive here and Folliard has good size and strength and was consistently accurate here all day. South on both sides of the ball has several athletes who are names to watch this coming season including junior Sebastian Thomas. I can see the4 Cougars being one of the favorites to win the Southwest Prairie East conference this fall.
Don't sleep on Yorkville despite how they looked here - Yorkville and head coach Dan McGuire had one of the biggest teams here on the hoof...including having a handful of kids who would end up playing on the offensive line at most other schools instead of playing on the offensive skills side for Yorkville. The Foxes overall did fine in the passing game, just ran it base offense and got work in. Yorkville has some serious muscle and D1 talent coming back this coming season (DL Andrew Laurich/OL/DL Andrew Zook/OT-TE Jake Davies/LB Ben Alvarez) and I'm more interested in seeing how well they match up up front against the rest of the Southwest Prairie West this summer. Yorkville has a chance to be a really strong tam to watch this coming season and I'm just not putting a ton into 7on7 for the Foxes this summer.
Random Remaining Thoughts- Harlem again has some impressive skills kids including junior QB Derek Anderson and look for the Huskies to be again a challenger for the NIC-10 and beyond this fall. Montini Catholic still has quite a bit of individual talent on hand despite some transfer losses, but was just overall inconsistent here at times and just never seemed to click here when they needed to click. Burlington Central has a new head coach in Brian Iossi and the Rockets looked good here early including upsetting host St Charles North in the opening game. The Rockets have good overall numbers and decent talent on both sides of the football....now can they find a way to hang and go toe to toe with the likes of say Cary Grove or say Prairie Ridge week in and week out? That's always BC biggest challenge. Crystal Lake South is another team that is looking to replace a big time QB in Justin Kowalak this summer, and the Gators did some good things here. Aurora Christian is a very young team this summer but they are also one of the better coached teams you'll find. Look for the Eagles to make4 big stries this summer and to again challenge for a state playoff spot this fall.
EDGYTIM's in order Top Teams at this event?
1. York
2. Wheaton South
3. Plainfield South
4. St. Charles North
5. Montini Catholic
5. Harlem
6. Burlington Central
7. Crystal Lake South
8. Yorkville
9. Aurora Christian
