Bad time for tough breaks

The school year's longest sport can be grueling.

It may not be as punishing as football or wrestling, but basketball's pretty tough on the mind and body.

As we enter the fourth month of the season, Eyes on Five hopes everyone is saving some strength for the madness on the horizon.

1. Tough break:

Matt Rafferty endured his bumps and bruises as Hinsdale Central's starting quarterback in the fall, but the senior survived a return to football with his health pretty much intact for the sport he'll play at college: basketball.

Cruelly, that's where he suffered a freakish injury last Friday.

During the third quarter of a victory over York, the 6-foot-7 post man jammed his hand while reaching for the ball against an opposing player. Even though he played the rest of the game and led the Red Devils to a 50-48 victory, something clearly was wrong.

According to Hinsdale Central coach Nick Latorre, Rafferty suffered a broken bone in his hand that'll keep him sidelined for an undetermined amount of time. While the exact timeline is unclear, it's possible he'll be out for the season.

It's an absolute shame. Rafferty was averaging 20.8 points and 9.6 rebounds a game and was a flat-out leader on and off the court for the Red Devils who, at 17-2, are prime contenders to reach Peoria.

"I feel bad for him because he's such a great kid," Latorre said. "It was just a fluke situation. We've watched it on tape and it's hard to tell how it happened. His hand was just in an awkward position."

An extra-motivated Red Devils team upset St. Joesph on Saturday despite missing Rafferty and fellow starter Thomas Ives. Navy-bound forward George Kiernan stepped up with 30 points.

With that inspired victory the Red Devils showed they still have the stuff to reach Peoria. It's just going to be tougher without their leader.

As for Rafferty's future at the next level, he'll be fine. In addition to a handful of existing offers, he recently garnered offers from Furman and James Madison. He also holds Ivy League offers from Brown and Dartmouth.

Let's just hope we don't have to wait until his college debut to see Rafferty play again.

"We'll have to wait and see," Latorre said. "It's a pretty big loss, but all we can do is hope for the best."

2. Moeaki Nation:

We'd be remiss if we let the week go by without celebrating Tony Moeaki's appearance in Sunday's Super Bowl.

The 2005 Wheaton Warrenville South graduate, an all-Big Ten honoree at Iowa, is a tight end for the Seattle Seahawks, who are vying for their second straight NFL championship.

It's been a long road to the big game for Moeaki. After a strong rookie year for the Kansas City Chiefs, who picked him in the third round of the 2010 draft, Moeaki suffered a string of injuries that saw him released by the Buffalo Bills at the end of the preseason in August.

Seattle signed Moeaki in November, and the rest could be history if the Seahawks become the first team to win back-to-back titles since the New England Patriots - Sunday's opponent - did it in 2004 and 2005.

According to WW South coach Ron Muhitch, Moeaki will have plenty of support in the stands on Sunday. More than 20 family members will be in attendance, headed by proud parents Sione and Lose.

Now, Eyes on Five never would show favoritism to one team over another in the world's biggest game. But we have no problem rooting for one of the best football players ever to take the field in DuPage County.

Best of luck on Sunday, Tony.

3. Looking ahead...:

It's time not just to talk playoffs, but for some it's time to act. For instance, for Class 1A and Class 2A girls teams, the seeding process took place earlier this week, with pairings to be announced Friday at ihsa.org.

The same happens next week for Class 3A and Class 4A. The boys follow the two weeks after that in the same order.

"To tell you the truth, we talked about (the seeding meetings)," Naperville North coach Jason Dycus said after his team's DuPage Valley Conference victory at Wheaton North on Tuesday. "It's important. Every game matters. I told them I'm going to be seeding them next week and tonight was a game that we needed to get. And we did."

The small schools begin regionals the week of Feb. 9. The big schools begin the week of Feb. 16.

4. Senior night times two:

Senior night is a rather routine event, at least for everyone but the seniors and their families. Naperville North added a little something extra to it Thursday night before its girls basketball game with cross-town rival Naperville Central.

The Huskies seniors presented the Redhawks seniors with flowers. Then the Huskies girls and their parents were honored.

"That's something that our athletic secretary, Kathy Kavanaugh, and Bob Quinn, our athletic director, like to do," Huskies coach Jason Dycus said. "They run a great athletic department, and I think that's a really classy way of doing things. They did it the right way. We all wanted to do that."

5. Stat time:

Naperville North senior Kayla Sharples might be going to Northwestern University to play soccer next year, but she's shown she's pretty good at basketball too.

A four-year starter, Sharples is second in school history in scoring behind T.J. Williams. Her 33 points Thursday night gives her 1,651 total.