QUICK READ: North quartet moving to college ranks

E-mail this story

Print this story

Share

The “St. Charles Boys” honed their traveling lacrosse act this past summer at several points east and west, stopping in such places as Denver, Philadelphia and New York City for their Niles-based Team One club.

Ben Dvorak, Chad Ellis, Dom Imbordino and Pat Killeen – St. Charles North seniors all – earned their nickname from being together.

Soon enough, though, they’ll be all split up.

Dvorak, a defenseman, and Ellis, an attackman, recently committed to Bellarmine, joining defenders Imbordino (Ohio State) and Killeen (Siena) as NCAA Division I recruits. The quartet, which began playing together in the seventh grade, counts itself blessed to be moving on to the collegiate ranks.

“It’s pretty cool,” Dvorak said, “knowing that it’s gone from that to this.”

Navigating ups, downs and even transfers along the way – Imbordino left lacrosse-less St. Francis for North midway through his sophomore year – the group continues to grow as athletes and friends.

Dvorak, Imbordino and Killeen have played football throughout high school, as well, helping solidify the defense for a 5-1 North team ranked No. 10 in last week’s Associated Press Class 7A poll.

Battling a sore heel, Ellis gave up his career as a North Stars wide receiver after his freshman year to focus on lacrosse, but his buddies don’t hold it against him. Last spring, the Illinois High School Lacrosse Association named Ellis an All-American for the St. Charles club team, making him only the third junior to achieve the honor.

“You could almost tell from the beginning that the four of us were able to move up and (understand) lacrosse pretty fast,” Imbordino said. “It’s been fun playing forever like we have.”

Killeen, who isn’t peeved that his team’s college nickname, Saints, will match football rival St. Charles East’s – “The colors (green and gold) are pretty sweet and they’ve got nice jerseys,” he said – also said the group did not seriously conspire to attend the same school.

Each weighed his own interests in academics and geography with every new offer.

Dvorak said he heard about the possibility that Bellarmine would visit Ohio State for a game at the Buckeyes’ football stadium early in the players’ freshman season.

Three St. Charles Boys together are better than none.

En-Riched: “No cheering in the press box” slowly evolved from an unwritten rule to a Jerome Holtzman book title to one of the most reprehensible offenses in the sports journalism business.
In-house public address announcers warn against the infraction before games, but it still goes on thanks to tours, special guests and – on occasion – the scarcity of spare room for assistant coaches.

So it was that Rich Harvest Farms owner/operator Jerry Rich of Sugar Grove let fly with a jarringly unexpected, “HOO HAH! HEY!” late in the first half of Northern Illinois’ 38-3 football victory against Western Michigan on Saturday in DeKalb.

Huskies running back Chad Spann had just been twisted in the air before coming down with his second of three touchdowns in the rout. Rich, a 1961 NIU alum, was back at his old stomping grounds for homecoming.

No less than five seconds after Rich’s outburst, the Northern Illinois PA announcer hopped on the mic to issue a friendly reminder: “This is a working press box. There is no cheering, and violators are subject to ejection from this area.”

Rich nodded, smiled and kept his hands folded before moving on at halftime.

• Kevin Druley is a sportswriter for The Chronicle. He can be reached at 630-845-5347 or  kdruley@kcchronicle.com.