The Fenwick High School football team is in the IHSA football playoffs for the fourth time in the last five seasons. The Friars are in Class 6A and have the 11th seed in the North Bracket.
A two-game losing streak to end the regular season, including a 38-24 defeat at Carmel in Mundelein Oct. 24, impacted Fenwick’s seeding. But the Friars have the talent to be a major factor in 6A, and they’re ready for the challenge.
“Definitely a lot of positives,” said Fenwick senior co-captain Tommy Thies of the regular season. “There were a lot of good games and a lot of good wins, but there were also some tough losses that we know were winnable games. We look at those as things we can learn from. Overall, it was a good season, but we’re 0-0 now and we’re ready to go on to the next season [playoffs].”
“Honestly, we didn’t finish how we wanted,” Fenwick quarterback Jamen Williams said. “But now we move on and focus on our goal, which is getting better every day.”
Williams is one reason Fenwick fans should be optimistic about the playoffs. A senior, he has completed nearly 70 percent of his passes and thrown for over 1,500 yards this season. Against Carmel, he was 9-of-17 passing for 144 yards and a touchdown, and added 53 yards rushing and a touchdown on 12 carries
Williams has a strong receiving group led by seniors Cameron Garrett, Raphiel Stewart, who had a 92-yard touchdown reception at Carmel, and Will Tomczak, and senior tight end/defensive end Mike Murphy has emerged as another asset in the Friars’ attack.
The Thies brothers, Tommy and junior Jake, are valuable on both sides of the ball. Tommy, a Miami of Ohio commit, had a 16-yard touchdown run Friday, and Jake had 72 yards rushing on 14 carries. For the season, Jake has 860 yards of total offense and nine touchdowns, while defensively as a safety he has four interceptions, three forced fumbles, and 13 tackles for loss.
If that wasn’t enough, Fenwick senior kicker/punter Noah Sur could be the ultimate X-factor in any playoff game. A Northwestern University commit and one of the state’s top kickers, he has made five field goals in the last four games, his kickoffs are usually unreturned as they go into the end zone for touchbacks, and his punts are capable of pinning opposing offenses deep within their own territory.
The Friars have the capability of making a deep playoff run. But the players believe that they have yet to play their best football.
“Our goal is just to be the best we can be every day, and the result will happen,” Tommy Thies said. “We haven’t put together a four-quarter game yet, and it starts with getting healthy and ready.”
“The key is playing our game and not doing anything out of the ordinary,” Williams said. “We cannot get too high or get too low. I’m confident we’ll put together our best football starting this week.”
Fenwick plays Kennedy at Winnemac Stadium in Chicago, Nov. 1, at 1 p.m.
OPRF
Oak Park and River Forest lost its season finale at Hinsdale Central 35-15, Oct. 24. Darren Law (5 yards) and Liam Smith (10 yards) each had a rushing touchdown for the Huskies (2-7, 1-5 in West Suburban Silver), who ended on a five-game losing streak.
While the record doesn’t look good, Smith felt that, for the most part, OPRF was more competitive than the record indicates.
“I feel like there was a lot of growth and character this season,” he said. “We were basically in every game against some really good teams. At the end of the day, we weren’t able to score enough points, but our defense basically hung in every game.”
While OPRF has won just four games in the last three seasons, OPRF head coach John Hoerster feels with the quality young talent in the lower levels of the program (the freshmen were 8-1 this year), things will start trending up.
“I know the record doesn’t look good on the outside,” he said. “But if you look on the inside and see how hard our players compete and if you were to ask our opponents how we competed, I think there’s a lot of good things to look forward to.”