Glenbrook South still trying to catch Maine South

GLENVIEW — Each Central Suburban South football team is chasing Maine South, and Glenbrook South is no different.

The Titans have considered the Hawks a benchmark of sorts during Maine South’s 66-game winning streak within the conference, Glenbrook South coach Mike Noll said after his team lost to Maine South 42-7 Friday. Beating the Hawks isn’t a rallying cry during the offseason, but Noll added that it’s always assumed that Maine South is what his teams are striving to become.

“They’ve always been the team to beat,” senior guard Mike Berg said. “We don’t really talk about it outright, but it’s always in the back of a lot of guys’ heads. It’s always there.”

Berg is a three-year starter on Glenbrook South’s offensive line. He’s been part of the Titans’ last three losses to the Hawks, which have been by a combined score of 119-42.

Berg and Noll both cited the weight room when talking about why there’s been such a gap between the two programs.

“A lot of this game has to do with work that we put in in the offseason,” Berg said. “A lot of their guys just physically outmatched a lot of our guys. I think that all has to do with what we do, and what they do, in the offseason. I just think we kind of have to fill that void.”

The Hawks (5-0, 1-0) won both lines of scrimmage against the Titans’ undersized lines. Maine South’s offensive line gave junior quarterback Brian Collis (20-for-24, 319 yards, one touchdown) ample time to throw. Maine South’s running backs ran for five touchdowns behind the left side of the line, which featured 260-pound left tackle Mike Erskine and 310-pound left guard Kevin Jarvis.

“For whatever reason, the last three to four years, we’re not getting better in the weight room,” Noll said. “My first five or six years here, that piece of the program got done right. It’s something that we have to fix if we want to compete at that level.”

However, Friday night’s loss to Maine South is nothing new. Losing by 35 points to a team ranked No. 5 by the Sun-Times doesn’t figure to serve as a shock to the Titans (4-1, 0-1), and veterans like Berg know what they need to do to bounce back at home against Evanston (2-3, 0-1) at 7:30 p.m. Thursday.

“Every team needs somebody who can, after something like this, pick up the morale and get everyone on the right track again,” Berg said. “I think that’s definitely a key role that me and some of the other seniors can take.”

Noll added: “There will be no panic. We’re 4-1. … We’ll adjust, evaluate and move forward.”