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Hinsdale South’s Klutta, Contreras answer call to football
Names in the Game
JEREMY LEGANSKI
Noteworthy efforts: The senior midfielder scored Hinsdale South’s only goal in a 3-1 loss to Pepsi Showdown champion Lyons Sept. 27 in Darien.
Sarah Leganski Noteworthy efforts:
The sophomore finished second individually at the Pat Savage Invitational Saturday at Niles West High School in Skokie.
Her time of 19:24.85 was behind just Willowbrook junior Molly Krawczykowski, who won in 19:13.15. Hinsdale South finished fifth out of 20 teams in the White Division for Class 3A schools.
Article Extras
Updated: December 3, 2012 1:34AM
HINSDALE — John Klytta and Luis Contreras may never get to play in a varsity game, but their ultimate goal is being part of the team.
The defensive linemen from Hinsdale South watched from the sidelines as District 86 rival Hinsdale Central rallied to win its 11th consecutive Doings Cup Saturday with a 34-27 victory at Central.
Klytta is 5-foot-6, 165 pounds and Contreras is 5-9, 210 pounds. Both players rank down the depth chart for the Hornets. The duo gets playing time during JV games, which are usually on Mondays after school.
Klytta and Contreras blend in with their teammates with one exception. Since they belong to the school’s Deaf and Hard of Hearing program, a sign-language interpreter is only a few steps away from them while watching the game.
“(Football) is not really hard,” Klytta said through interpreter Michelle Dixon. “It’s pretty easy. The only thing I can’t do is hear.”
Hinsdale South has been the home for the DuPage/West Cook County Regional Special Education Association’s DHH program since the school opened in the late 1960s.
According to former athletic director Tim Feigh, the football team averages two to three DHH players per season. Klytta and Contreras are two of three DHH students in this year’s program. Contreras’ brother, Ulysses, is a member of the sophomore team. Klytta is in his fourth season playing football while Luis, a junior, joined the team for the first time this season.
“I love the game of football,” Luis Contreras said. “I’m glad to be able to play it. Next year I will join again as a senior.”
Many fans don’t even notice there’s an interpreter on the sideline.
Feigh recalls one game when the Hornets played at Rockford Boylan in 2000 in the Class 5A quarterfinals. After a timeout, former coach Jim Kirwan walked onto the field with an interpreter to give instructions to his team. Feigh said a reporter turned to him and asked, “Why is the coach’s wife walking out there?”
Dixon has been an interpreter at Hinsdale South for 11 years and returned Monday to sign to Contreras at the JV game. Klytta was unable to play because he didn’t have a ride home after the game. The DHH program draws from far beyond Darien. Klytta lives in North Riverside and the Contreras brothers are from Berwyn.
Hinsdale South varsity wrestling coach Mike Mattozzi started teaching in the DHH program and is fluent in American sign language.
“I had to learn the lingo of football,” said Dixon, who rides the bus with the team to road games. “The coaches from the team help. They are very polite.”
Second-year coach Mike Barry had to get used to having an interpreter around whenever he speaks, both on the field and in his classroom as a social studies teacher. It was not an issue in his former teaching and coaching stint at Evergreen Park.
“The kids respond as well,” Barry said. “They don’t look at DHH kids as any different.”
The irony is that Barry brought a no-huddle spread offense with him to Hinsdale South. Plays are called in using a series of hand signals from the sidelines usually delivered by two coaches at the same time. But so far, all of Barry’s DHH players have been on defense.
“You have to go through the interpreters, but they mostly pick (names of plays) up on the run,” Barry said. “They interpret exactly what you say.”
There are around 80 DHH students at Hinsdale South. Last year, nine competed in athletics: Two participated in three sports and another two were involved in two sports.
“It’s really another example of what makes our school so good,” South principal Brian Waterman said. “We’re diverse in so many ways, ethnically and economically.”
Names in the Game
JEREMY LEGANSKI
Noteworthy efforts: The senior midfielder scored Hinsdale South’s only goal in a 3-1 loss to Pepsi Showdown champion Lyons Sept. 27 in Darien.
Sarah Leganski Noteworthy efforts:
The sophomore finished second individually at the Pat Savage Invitational Saturday at Niles West High School in Skokie.
Her time of 19:24.85 was behind just Willowbrook junior Molly Krawczykowski, who won in 19:13.15. Hinsdale South finished fifth out of 20 teams in the White Division for Class 3A schools.
Quick Hits
Big Numbers
77 | Danny Ormiston’s medalist score in the West Suburban Gold boys golf meet Sept. 25 at Willow Crest in Oak Brook.
Sound Bites
“This was one of my best times and I felt really good. Coming into today, I just wanted to get a good time. I was more worried about time than place because my times haven’t been up to par compared to last year. I was expecting a good time.”
— Sarah Leganski, after placing runner-up in her bracket at Saturday’s Pat Savage meet at Niles West.
Don’t Miss
Saturday Girls volleyball: Mizuno Cup, 8:30 a.m.
Saturday Boys soccer: Waubonsie Invite, 4:30 p.m.
