Benet Preps

After a disappointing loss to Oswego in Thursday’s pool play, the Benet volleyball team beat Metea Valley and St. Charles North on Saturday to win the Silver Division title at Wheaton Warrenville South's Tiger Classic.

Benet soccer has begun its ESCC title defense in fine fashion. One season removed from claiming its fifth straight conference championship, the Redwings have won their first two games in league play after earning a 3-0 win Wednesday afternoon over visiting Carmel in Lisle.

Here are previews of boys track and field teams from around the Suburban Life coverage area.

The track and field season is heading outdoors and here are previews of girls teams from around the Suburban Life coverage area.

Lemont junior Gabe Sularski, who led his team to a sectional final in his first year at the school, was named Class 3A First Team All-State by Illinois Media in voting released this week.

Bryson Norwood slugged a grand slam, and Jacob Fehrmann squeezed in the tying run and scored the winning as Oswego three times came from behind against Benet, the last with two in the sixth for a 12-11 win.

Here is the Suburban Life All-Area boys basketball team.

The 2025 high school soccer season starts this week. Here are previews of teams from around the Suburban Life coverage area.

The 2025 high school softball season starts this week. Here are previews of teams from around the Suburban Life coverage area.

Benet built a double-digit lead and then held off Warren in the closing seconds 55-54 in a thriller of a Class 4A final to win the school's first boys basketball state championship on Saturday in Champaign.

Benet boys basketball faced Evanston in a Class 4A state semifinal on Friday, March 14, 2025 at the State Farm Center in Champaign.

Some of Benet's key team characteristics were missing during the first three quarters of its Class 4A State Tournament semifinal against Evanston, but its defensive effort never wavered in a 56-47 win on Friday.

Here is the 2024-2025 Suburban Life All-Area girls basketball team.

Benent took an early lead and held on late to beat Quincy 58-50 in the Class 4A Illinois State University Supersectional on Monday, punching its fourth trip to state under coach Gene Heidkamp.

A game after not playing at all, sophomore Edvardas Stasys came off the bench to help anchor Benet's sterling defensive effort as the Redwings beat Downers Grove North 44-32 in Friday's sectional final.

Benet boys basketball faced Downers Grove North in the Class 4A Benet Sectional final on Friday, March 7, 2025 in Lisle.

Benet and Oswego East combined for just three field goals in the fourth quarter as the Redwings claimed a 49-40 win to collect a regional title on the Wolves' home court.

Two nights after a scoreless game, Waubonsie Valley sophomore Maya Pereda scored a career-high 12 points with the game's two biggest shots, and the Warriors – after leading by 17 – held off a furious Benet rally for a 66-61 win in the Class 4A Bolingbrook Sectional final.

Benet used a fourth quarter surge to finish off Downers Grove North in the semifinal round of the Class 4A Bolingbrook Sectional on Tuesday.

Benet's Ava Mersinger and Ava Thomas limited Naperville North star guard Natalie Frempong to six points, and the top-seeded Redwings overwhelmed the Huskies 64-13 for Benet's 11th straight regional title.

Benet faced Naperville North girls basketball in the Class 4A Benet Regional final on Thursday, Feb. 20, 2025 in Lisle.

Does the road to a state title go through La Grange? What about big-time sectional rematches? Can Glenbard South make a return to state? Here are five storylines to watch for Suburban Life area teams as the girls basketball postseason tips off next week.

Here is a list of CCL/ESCC football players who have committed to colleges at various levels and can sign their financial aid agreement or letters of intent starting on Wednesday.

Benet took control early and barely gave it up in a 57-37 win over St. Viator to stay tied for first in the conference with Marist, which beat Notre Dame.

Sophia Towne tallied 12 points, five assists, two steals and two rebounds to spark visiting Nazareth to a 55-49 victory that snapped Benet’s 22-game winning streak.

Benet hosted Nazareth in girls varsity basketball on Wednesday, Jan. 29, 2025 in Lisle.

Blake Fagbemi scored 11 of his 22 points in the first quarter and came up a few assists shy of a triple-double, and Benet shot 67% and blew open a four-point game at halftime to beat Rich 73-56 in the finale of the When Sides Collide Shootout.

Benet boys basketball faced Rich Township in the When Sides Collide Shootout at Benet Academy on Saturday, Jan. 25, 2025 in Lisle.

Hayden Schroeder could dunk in the seventh grade. The Wheaton Academy sophomore is 6-foot-8 with shoes on, and he isn’t done growing. And he’s rated by some as a top four sophomore in Illinois.

Aria Mazza hit seven 3-pointers and scored all 25 of her points in the first half, leading Benet to a stunningly lopsided 74-48 victory over Libertyville on Monday at the Coach Kipp Hoopsfest.

Benet senior center Emma Briggs played a key role defensively while adding 11 points to go with six rebounds and three assists as the Redwings started cold but ended hot for a 58-40 win over Prospect at Coach Kipp’s Hoopsfest.

Blake Fagbemi electrified the Benet crowd with a soaring tip dunk a minute in Friday, and did his best work serving up others with 12 assists, but the cold-shooting Redwings lost to visiting St. Patrick 53-49.

Benet Academy hosted St. Patrick in boys varsity basketball on Friday, Jan. 17, 2025 in Lisle.

Benet hosted Marist in girls varsity basketball on Wednesday, Jan 8, 2025 in Lisle.

Aria Mazza sank a 3-pointer from the top of the key for her 1,000th career point, and Benet rolled past Marist 71-35 to extend its winning streak to 16 straight games.

Benet defeated Fremd in the Montini Girls Basketball Christmas Tournament on Saturday, Dec. 28, 2024 in Lombard.

Aria Mazza and Bridget Rifenburg led four players in double figures with 18 points apiece as Benet captured the prestigious Montini Christmas Tournament title with a thrilling 67-64 victory over Fremd.

The two-game schedule required for winning the Pontiac Holiday Tournament is a grind, but after winning an overtime matchup over powerful Simeon in the semifinals there wasn't enough fuel left for Benet to rebound to top DePaul Prep in the final.

Despite playing the entire fourth quarter with four fouls, Benet junior Bridget Rifenburg scored seven of her 12 points in the final four minutes to help lift Benet to a 71-58 win over previously unbeaten Lyons at the Montini Christmas Tournament semifinals.

Benet occasionally has a breakout individual effort but ultimately the team tends to play better when working as a sum of its parts. Both of those options showed up in a 58-44 win over Bloom at the Pontiac Holiday Tournament on Friday.

It took Benet a quarter to find the path of least resistance in its opening round game at the Pontiac Holiday Tournament, but once it did things were a breeze in a 70-36 win over Danville.

Only seven rotational players on the Redwings’ roster of 22 played in the majority of their 64-39 victory, but almost everyone listed on that roster had minutes by game’s end.

Benet junior Jayden Wright, who scored 19 points in Benet’s overtime win over Marist, is the Suburban Life Athlete of the Week in an online vote. Here is his Q&A with Sports Editor Joshua Welge.

Here is the 2024 Suburban Life All-Area football team.

Nazareth hosted Benet in girls basketball on Saturday, Dec. 14, 2024 in La Grange Park.

Brown recruit Lindsay Harzich scored 12 points and had four steals, and Benet started fast and went on to a 66-49 win at Nazareth.

Jayden Wright hit two long three-pointers and took a key charge in the fourth quarter, and Benet rode that momentum to a scintillating 74-66 win over Marist.

Benet hosted Marist boys basketball on Friday, Dec. 13, 2024 in Lisle.

Meet Friday Night Drive’s 2024 All-CCL/ESCC team, which was selected by the Friday Night Drive staff with input from coaches across the 24-team league.

Montini senior guard Nikki Kerstein puts on a show-stopping performance, and scores a career-high, in game at the iconic "Hoosiers" gym," Benet's Aria Mazza doesn't let sickness stop her hot shooting and Lyons among area teams ranked in latest poll in girls basketball notes.