F. Y. I. - The NISB Sports Blog

Legislation Introduced To Counter IHSA Football By-Law

2012-01-25T20:07:00.004-06:00

Illinois State Senator Shane Cultra (R-Onarga) has introduced legislation in the General Assembly which would affect football playing time of students that have returned from military training.

Cultra filed Senate Bill 2550 on Jan. 11, and was then read and referred to be assigned to a committee.

The Bill would give school boards the authority to override an Illinois High School Association by-law that requires students to attend 12 practices before playing in an IHSA regular season football contest.

The Bill's synopsis is as follows:

“Amends the School Code. Provides that if a student athlete has not met practice requirements for a high school sport due to the student's involvement in military training, then a waiver to participate in play in the regular season for that sport may be granted by the school board. Sets forth the waiver process. Provides for immunity from any liability for a coach, athletic director, school, school board, and school district with respect to the granting of a waiver.”

Also outlined is the process of how students that have undergone recent military training can apply for such a waiver. Ideally, the student must have had military training effect practice attendance at some point during the high school football season, which begins in early August.

Students can apply for the waiver through the school's head football coach or athletics director; one or both can review the waiver and present it to the school board for full approval.

According to a statement on Cultra's official Senate website, the legislator called the IHSA's decision “absurd.”

Edward Nuss, a senior at Paxton-Buckley-Loda High School in Paxton, was penalized two games of participation by the IHSA for not meeting the minimum requirement for practices participated in before playing in a contest against its member schools.

Nuss - who resides in the Senate district that Cultra represents - appealed the IHSA ruling during the season, and the IHSA's Board of Directors upheld its ruling.

“Last fall, we had a case of an overactive bureaucracy at the IHSA. Essentially they penalized a three-letter sport athlete for enlisting in the military,” Cultra stated. “Quite frankly this is absurd; this individual successfully completed basic training, is fit enough to defend our nation, but somehow is unfit for football?”

The Bill has met opposition from the IHSA, citing its trust in medical professionals in creating the 12-day waiting period before contest participation.

The Association has also stated that the opposition to the Bill is a matter of athlete safety, and not athlete patriotism.

“This is very dangerous and counterproductive legislation,” stated IHSA Executive Director Marty Hickman in a press release. “First and foremost, this is an issue of student health and safety, not an issue of patriotism. We all applaud and support young people who choose to serve our country. However, deferring this decision to a school board, which, generally speaking, has no medical training, is irresponsible at best.”

According to the IHSA, since the ruling on Nuss several similar appeals have been taken to the Association's Board of Directors – all having been denied with the recommendation of its Sports Medicine Advisory Committee.

“Our committee (primarily physicians and certified athletic trainers) has the training and background to make that judgment,” stated Hickman. “Their decision is supported by research and not fueled by emotion. More importantly, research tells us that heat illnesses are preventable. When you take into account all the positive steps forward that sports organizations around the world have made for athlete safety over the past decade, this bill would be a significant step backward for high school students in Illinois.”

The Bill was assigned to the Senate's Education Committee, where it will be looked at for future consideration.

“The IHSA took an approach that, in my opinion, discriminated against a young man who decided to serve his nation,” stated Cultra. “One would hope that the IHSA takes a serious look at this policy, before they taint yet another football season or volleyball season for a young person who chose to enlist.”

However, football is the only IHSA-sponsored sport that has a required practice participation threshold to meet before contest participation.

The IHSA's statement also includes the backing of the Illinois Athletic Trainers Association (IATC), the Illinois Athletic Directors Association (IADA) and the IHSA's own Sports Medicine Advisory Committee.

-Cody

IHSA Board Modifies Basketball Uniform Rules

2011-12-12T18:58:00.002-06:00

Basketball uniforms were the main subject of December's Illinois High School Association meeting of its Board of Directors.

The Board voted to modify three NFHS basketball uniform rules for this season. The IHSA follows all NFHS rules, but has the power to modify them if needed.

Action was taken after many school's basketball teams were still in violation of the NFHS uniform rule. Uniforms became a “point-of-emphasis” for this season, and more officials have cracked down on the compliance of uniforms.

Reports of non-compliant unforms have come up in the area already this season. Before each game, uniforms are supposed to be inspected by IHSA game officials to ensure they are compliant by NFHS standards. If a team is not compliant, they are issued a technical foul before the game starts.

“Over the past few years, we have come to the realization that a large percentage of our member school basketball teams are in violation of the NFHS uniform rules,” IHSA Associate Executive Director Kurt Gibson stated in a press release. “We have unsuccessfully tried to make some changes to the uniform rules at the national level, which led to the decision by our Board to provide a remedy for the majority of our schools with illegal uniforms.”

NFHS Rule “3-4-1e” was modified so that the side inserts (trim, piping, accent color) cannot extend into either the front or back torso of the jersey to a point closer than one inch of any number. Previously, the side inserts had to be a maximum of four inches, two inches on each side of the seam.

Rule “3-4-4b” was modified to make the first and last letters of arched lettering on jerseys extend to the mid-point of the number. Previously, arched lettering above the number could not surpass the horizontal plane of the top of the number. Likewise, arched lettering below the number could not surpass the horizontal plane of the bottom of the number.

Rule “3-4-4d” regarding the one-inch spacing of lettering and numbers was modified to include the decorative accent in identifying names or decorative accents not part of an identifying names.

“Traditionally, we follow the NFHS Rulebook without exception, so this is certainly rare that we ask the Board of Directors to grant a rule modification,” IHSA Executive Director Marty Hickman stated in the press release. “However, we believe that this change makes sense and will make the lives of our coaches, student-athletes and officials easier, while also maintaining the integrity of the uniform.”

When a team is found non-compliant with the NFHS uniform rule, it can apply for a waiver from the IHSA. With this rule change, teams that have been granted waivers already are no longer required to present it to game officials before a game.

The IHSA Board only made the changes to the rule for this season. If the alterations to the rule are not renewed after this season, the previous uniform rules will apply.

Rules regarding the torso of a jersey being a single solid color, as well as the requirement that home teams must wear white jerseys are not altered with today's changes. Technical fouls can still be issued if teams are non-compliant with the revised uniform rules.

“It’s important to note that today’s changes do not uniformly eliminate illegal uniforms,” added Gibson. “Rather, they allow exceptions to common, but illegal, uniform styles that we believe do not hinder the ability of the game officials and game administration to recognize the uniform number.”

The NFHS recommends that schools ensure that legal uniforms are being ordered and purchased from manufacturers and distributors.

Other IHSA Actions

*The Board sustained the ruling on the eligibility of Auburn boys basketball player Marcus Posley, who was declared ineligible for non-compliance with the IHSA's student transfer by-law on Oct. 12 after his move from Winnebago over the summer.

*State Final Softball starting times have been moved to a 9:30 a.m., 12 p.m., 2:30 p.m., 5 p.m. structure. Recent state final tournaments have been marred with weather delays. The altered times push games earlier and gives more room for delayed games to be played in time.

*Fully-automated timing (FAT) machines are now required at every Track and Field sectional, and no manual times will be considered. If, for any reason, a sectional site without a fully-automated timing machine is chosen, then only the top two finishers from each running event will advance. The seeding of these particular runners at the State Final Meet in such a scenario has yet to be determined. The IHSA will make every effort to find sectional sites with fully-automated timing machines.

*The yearly alteration of several State Final Meet qualifying standards in Track and Field were also made.

*Language in Bass Fishing Meet rules was clarified to explain the role of captains and coaches (drivers) of each boat. They cannot fish, tie lures, net fish, handle fish, or handle fishing gear. However, if a boat only has one fisher, then the captain or coach can net fish only if asked by the fisher.

*Hole sitting (saving fishing spots on the lake) by non-competing Bass Fishing boats at the state and sectional levels is now prohibited. Likewise, schools are limited to putting in the water only the number of boats entered or qualified. No additional boats from schools will be allowed into the water.

-Cody

IHSA Football State Final Broadcasting TV Stations

2011-11-16T15:12:00.002-06:00

The Illinois High School Association has announced the television stations that will be carrying the IHSA Football State Finals on Friday and Saturday, November 25-26.

To verify the list, all prospective viewers are encouraged to consult a channel guide to verify the channel broadcasting in their area.

Channels in the provided area markets are as follows:

CHICAGO (WMAQ-NBC) - Over-The-Air (5.2), Comcast (341), RCN (50), WOW (130), Dish (429), DirecTV (665)

PEORIA (WAOE-My Network TV) - Over-The-Air (59), Comcast (11), Dish (7755/429), DirecTV (59/665)

ROCKFORD (WTVO-My Network TV [not ABC]) - Over-The-Air (17.2), Comcast (16), Dish Network (429), DirecTV (665)

QUAD CITIES (Quad Cities CW) - Over-The-Air (26), Mediacom (11/13/14), Dish (26/429), DirecTV (26/665)

-Cody

Auburn Transfer Ruled Ineligible

2011-10-12T14:41:00.002-05:00

The Illinois High School Association announced today (Oct. 12) that Auburn senior Marcus Posley is ineligible to play sports at his high school.

Posely was found ineligible based on IHSA by-laws regarding the transfer of studen athletes.

"After concluding my review into Mr. Posley’s transfer from Winnebago to Auburn I reached the decision that the transfer failed to comply with IHSA By-law 3.045, as the reason for the change in guardianship, and ultimately the transfer, were not circumstances completely beyond the student’s control," stated IHSA Executive Director Martin Hickman, who investigates such situations.

Posley attended Winnebago High School until this summer, when he transferred to Auburn. He was a three-sport star at Winnebago, participating in football, basketball and track.

Posley made his transfer official via a report from the Rockford Register Star on Sept. 4. Afterward, Auburn sent an eligibility request to the IHSA to clear Posley to play.

Posley's brother, Jacoby, currently plays football for Winnebago. The fact of two brothers going to two different schools starting this year has made the situation a high-profile one in the Rockford high school sports scene.

IHSA by-law 3.045 states: "In the case of a student who transfers attendance from one high school to another in conjunction with the adoption of the student after the student has entered high school for the first time, or a change in guardianship of the student by order of a court of proper jurisdiction, the student shall be ineligible pending a ruling by the Executive Director. In such cases, the Executive Director may grant eligibility only if it is determined, after investigation, that the circumstances giving rise to the change of guardianship or adoption and the transfer were completely beyond the control of all of the following:

(1) the student
(2) the student’s parent(s)/guardian(s)
(3) the schools to and from which the student transferred.

Any action, inaction, or voluntary or self-initiated decision of the student, parent/guardian or the school to or from which the student transfers, or any one or more of them, which results in, affects, causes or pertains to the transfer shall not be considered to be “circumstances completely beyond the control.” The student may practice, but shall not participate in an interscholastic athletic contest until a ruling on the student’s eligibility has been made by the Executive Director."

Boylan, Pair of 77s Highlight Girls Golf Regionals

2011-10-07T10:07:00.001-05:00

Girls Golf Regional tournaments took place for area teams and individuals on Wednesday, Oct. 5. In each regional the top three teams, and top ten golfers not on the top three teams, advance to the sectional round.

Four area teams took top honors at regional tournaments. Byron won its home Class A Regional, Sterling won the Class A Aquin Regional, Prophetstown tied with Rockridge in winning the Class A Geneseo Regional, and Boylan won the Class AA Belvidere North Regional.

Boylan, who collectively shot a 346 to lead area teams on the afternoon, were led by Melissa Vansistine's 80. Also qualifying for the sectional round from the Regional were Hononegah, whose 370 was led by Lindsay Muenchow's second-place 77 (co-leading all area golfers on the day), and Freeport, whose 411 was led by Korine Dodson's 92.

Somonauk's Jessica Schultz also led all area golfers in regional play with a winning 77 at the Class A Wheaton Academy Regional. Somonauk as a team had the best score of the area teams involved in the Regional with a 405, but failed to make the sectional cut by one team stroke.

At the Byron Regional, the host Tigresses collectively shot a 385 to win. Christian Life's Abbey Sullivan was the leading golfer with a 82. Also qualifying for the sectional round were Lutheran, whose 394 was led by Bailey Peck's 84, and Marengo, whose 400 was led by Danielle Tucker's 85.

Sterling, facing smaller postseason competition this year than in years past due to recent classification changes, won the Aquin Regional with a team score of 417. Aquin's Kayla Harn topped all golfers with an 80. Sterling's effort was led by Karlie Mellott's second-place 84. Rock Falls finished second as a team with a 464, led by Kara Nehrkorn's 107. Lena-Winslow finished third with a 481, with Callie Raders leading the Panthers with a 104. Polo's Alina Llanas was third individually with an 86.

Prophetstown and Rockridge wound up in a tie for top honors at Geneseo with scores of 372, and both will claim regional titles. The Prophets were led by identical scores of 89 from Annie Sandrock and Lindsey Inskeep. Geneseo, also facing smaller postseason competition this year, also qualified as a team with a team score of 378 with Allison Farrell's 78 topping all golfers in the field. Erie's Taylor Stewart was second among area golfers at the Regional with an 85.

Moline and Rock Island will send teams to the sectional level in Class AA competition. At the Rock Island Regional, the Maroons finished in second place with a 350, while the Rocks came in third with a 372. Moline was led by Emily Thomas's 81, while Rock Island was led by Lauren Enstrom's 82.

St. Bede will also be sending its team to the sectional level. At the Bishop McNamara Regional in Kankakee, the Bruins placed third as a team with a 412 with Barbie Prokup's 93 leading the way.

During competition at the Class AA Burlington Central Regional, Sycamore's Carly Hudon was the best area golfer, shooting a 78.

During competition at the Class AA Naperville Neuqua Valley Regional, Yorkville's Kaity Anderson was the best area golfer, shooting a 91.

Sectionals will take place on Monday, with the exception of golfers from Kaneland, Sycamore and Yorkville teeing off on Tuesday. Elgin Westminster and Macomb will host area Class A Sectionals on Monday. Buffalo Grove and Mattoon will host area Class AA Sectionals on Monday, with Chicago St. Ignatius hosting Tuesday's sectional at Lemont's Cog Hill.

-Cody

Aquin, Sterling's Blackburn Shine at Boys Golf Regionals

2011-10-05T08:42:00.001-05:00

Boys Golf Regional tournaments took place for area teams and individuals on Tuesday, Oct. 4. In each regional the top three teams, and top ten golfers not on the top three teams, advance to the sectional round.

Six area teams won Regional championships. Fulton won the Class 1A Galena Regional, Aquin won the Class 1A Oregon Regional, Boylan won the Class 2A Rockford East Regional, Sterling won the Class 2A Sycamore Regional, Morris won the Class 2A Kankakee McNamara Regional and Hononegah won the Class 3A Harlem Regional.

In four of the regional wins, the winning team was led by the top golfer of the meet.

Fulton senior Kyle Workman shot a 76 to take the individual title at Galena over Morrison's Reid Hoffman (77). Morrison took second place as a team, 20 strokes behind the champion Steamers' 333. West Carroll took third in the regional, and will advance its team to the sectional round. The Thunder was led by Garret Badke's 85.

Aquin sophomore Cullen Barkau shot a 72 to take the individual title at Oregon over the 77s' of junior teammate Michael Jacobs and Dakota's Tayler Burns. Aquin totaled 311 strokes as a team, ahead of Rockford Christian's 337. The Royal Lions were led by Casey Christianson's 82. Dakota took third in the regional.

Belvidere senior Robert Dofflemeyer shot a 73 to take the individual title at East over the 76 of Freeport's Adam Werntz. Boylan, who won the team title 306-328 over Freeport, was led by Dan Gorman's 78. Byron took third as a team, and was led by Brady Szuminski's 79.

Sterling junior Andrew Blackburn shot a 66 to take the individual title at Sycamore, three strokes from Sandwich's Lucas Burkett, who took second place. Sycamore, who fell five strokes shy of the team title won by Sterling 307-312, was led by Jon Nugent's 71. Sandwich took third in the regional.

Morris won the McNamara Regional shooting a 339, taking the title over the host's 350. Mike McPherson led the Redskins with an 82.

Hononegah senior Connor Nelson shot a 73 to take the individual title at Harlem, two strokes from Huntley's Ryan Craig. Huntley took second in the regional, while Auburn took third as a team led by Camden Rock's 76.

Burlington Central sophomore Matt Weber shot a 72 to win his home regional, which won won by Aurora Marmion.

Seneca's Jake Ferguson led area golfers individually at the Class 1A Aurora Central Catholic Regional, shooting an 87. St. Bede had the best team score in the regional of the area teams with a 379, just three strokes from making it to the sectional round.

Ottawa's Lane Barbier led area golfers individually at the Class 2A Geneseo Regional, shooting a 68. Geneseo had the best team score in the regional of the area teams with a 301, good enough for third place honors and a team trip to the sectional round.

Moline's Mitchell Mendinger led area golfers individually at the Class 3A Pekin Regional, shooting a 75. The Marooons had the best team score in the regional of the area teams with a 324, but fell one stroke from making it to the sectional round.

Sectionals will take place on Monday, with the exception of Morris's sectional taking place on Saturday at Lemont. Aquin will host the Class 1A sectional festivities, LaSalle-Peru and Wheaton Academy will host Class 2A sectionals and Palatine Fremd and Joliet Central will host Class 3A sectionals.

-Cody

Little 10 Soccer Standings (9/21)

2011-09-21T05:00:00.002-05:00

Area "Volley For the Cure" Dates for 2011

2011-09-15T18:35:00.002-05:00

9/16 - For the fourth year in a row, IHSA Volleyball teams will help raise funds for the The Susan G. Komen Breast Cancer Foundation in a promotion called Volley for the Cure. The foundation supports breast cancer research.

Certain high school volleyball events will feature special promotions and sell t-shirt as means of raising money.

The first such events for our area's volleyball teams take place next Wednesday. Erie will take on rival Prophetstown in a Three Rivers Conference match, with freshmen kicking things off at 5:15 p.m. Event T-shirts will be available for a $10 purchase, and there will also be games, silent auctions and raffles.

Amboy will host Newman next Thursday in a Three Rivers match, with freshmen kicking off at 5:15 p.m. Advance T-shirt sales are $10, or can be purchased at the event for $12-15. Also featured during the evening are basket raffles, 50/50, various contests, survivor recognition, t-shirts, blanket raffles and much more.

Below is a calendar of future Volley for the Cure matches involving area teams:

Tuesday, Oct. 4 - Burlington Central vs. Richmond-Burton (BNC East Division match)
---Student T-shirts will be on sale for $12, with adult T-shirts on sale for $15.

Thursday, Oct. 6 - Belvidere North vs. Guilford (NIC-10 match)
---T-shirts will be on sale for $6. North's pep band will perform, and the school wil have a guest speaker. The gym will be decorated in pink, with hopes for a sea of pink filling the stands.

Thursday, Oct. 6 - Marengo vs. North Boone (BNC East match)
---T-shirts will be on sale for $10-12. There will be recognition of all survivors, and a raffle held after game with contributions from both schools.

-Cody

New Individual Wrestling State Final Format

2011-09-15T18:25:00.002-05:00

The Illinois High School Association announced a change to its Individual State Wrestling Tournament structure during its monthly meeting.

More individuals will now qualify for the Class 1A and Class 2A Tournaments. Since 2009, each weight class saw 12 individuals qualify for either tournament. This number will increase to 16, which is currently how many individuals qualify for each weight class in Class 3A.

Fourteen weight classes are contested annually in the State Tournament, meaning an increase of 56 wrestlers will now qualify for this year's tournament.

"Essentially, what we have done is taken the Class 3A tournament format and copied it for Class 1A and Class 2A," stated IHSA Executive Director Marty Hickman in a press release. "All of the coaches and individuals were currently arriving at Assembly Hall on Thursday afternoon for skin checks, coaches meetings and mat time for the wrestlers. Being able to expand the number of state final qualifiers, keep the format Class 3A was accustomed to intact and avoid a schedule that would require more missed class time or hotel expenses makes this a win-win format in my mind."

Due to the increase of bouts in the tournament, the festivities will start one day earlier than in the past: Thursday, Friday and Saturday, February 16-18.

Class 3A made up 40 percent of the competing schools in the past three years, with 30 percent in Class 2A and the remaining 30 percent in Class 1A. Due to the change in classification cutoffs implimented over the summer, balancing the tournament brackets were necessary to create a balanced playing field.

-Cody

Prep Sports Season Begins August 15

2011-07-05T09:08:00.004-05:00

The 2011-12 high school sports season officially kicks off on Monday, August 15. That is the date in which the first high school sports contests can take place. Boys and Girls Golf begin their seasons on that date.

In the area, the Boylan Invitational kicks things off with all NIC-10 boys golf teams, including Rockford Lutheran, DeKalb and Arlington Heights St. Viator, teeing off at Ledges Golf Course in Roscoe. St. Viator is the defending team champion, winning in a tiebreaker over Harlem. Robert Dofflemyer of Belvidere, who will be a senior this coming year, is the defending individual champion. Patipan Pipatpinyopong of Harlem, who will also be a senior this coming year, was the individual champion two years ago.

Boylan is the defending JV champion, and the Titans' Ryan Barelli is the defending individual champion.

A few more golf meets are taking place on that Monday, but are outside of the area.

-Cody

Avery Goes From Classroom To Office

2011-06-18T00:35:00.002-05:00

After a personal debate that lasted for many days, in the end, Sandwich head football and baseball coach Derek Avery knew what he had to do.

With a heavy heart, Avery recently announced to players, coaches, and administrators that he would be resigning after a combined 21 years as head man on the Indians gridiron and diamond.

The veteran leader and 1991 Sandwich graduate will now take on an even bigger role off the playing fields.

In late May, Avery was offered the rather lofty position as Assistant Superintendent of the DeKalb County Regional Office of Education located in DeKalb, IL.

Throughout the tough decision making process, ultimately Avery realized what was best for he, his wife, and two children and that was to step away from his coaching passion and into the new professional life of a key school administrator in the county.

He leaves behind a great coaching legacy that saw 14 solid years as Sandwich baseball boss and seven strong seasons as the Indians head football guru.

“This was definitely a tough decision for me and it wasn’t easy to step away from coaching. But it really was a career change basically,” Avery said. “I wasn’t looking to coach somewhere else. I was very happy with teaching and coaching in Sandwich. At the same time, this was a great career opportunity that may not have presented itself to me again. It was a chance to utilize the degree I earned a few years ago and head in a different direction, one that will definitely benefit my family.”

After graduating from Aurora University in 1996 with a teaching degree, Avery followed it up in 2005 gaining a Masters Degree in Educational Leadership from the College of St. Francis in Joliet.

He’ll now put that sheepskin to use moving forward as he leaves behind a treasure trove of coaching memories.

Avery’s finest hour appropriately came during his last campaign leading Sandwich to a 2010 Class 4A football final four appearance and a sparkling 11-2 record which also set an all-time school mark for wins in a season.

“I’ve been reflecting on a lot of memories most recently because this new situation came on so fast. But when I think back to all my years of coaching, I’ll just remember all the relationships I’ve built with my players and my assistant coaches,” Avery said. “I always thought my kids and I got along well. I respected them and they respected me. We just plain and simple went to battle together whether it was on a Friday night for football or on a Tuesday afternoon for baseball. But this year in football was the highlight for me in coaching. What we did was so special and I’m proud that I’m leaving the program in good shape with a healthy winning tradition during the past three seasons.”

Avery now hands the football coaching reigns over to long-time offensive line coach Dusty Behringer whom has served on the Sandwich football staff for the past 12 seasons.

-Bill Lidinsky

IHSA Bass Fishing Meet Rescheduled

2011-06-07T23:16:00.002-05:00

Due to the constant stretch in recent weather conditions, the Illinois High School Association postponed the State Bass Fishing Meet at Carlyle Lake. It would have taken place on May 6-7.

The rescheduled dates for the Meet have now been set for June 17-18 at Carlyle Lake.

"We are appreciative of the efforts of the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers and City of Carlyle officials who have worked tirelessly over the past month to allow our bass fishing state finals to be conducted on Carlyle Lake," stated IHSA Associate Executive Director Kurt Gibson in a press release. "While it was unfortunate that the weather has impacted this event, we are thankful that the southern Illinois area has rebounded from this record-setting flooding situation, and being able to hold our state finals at Carlyle Lake is a testament to that recovery."

Sectional Meets were held on April 19 and 20. There will be 55 boats, representing 50 schools, at the State Meet.

Moline won the Argyle Lake Sectional in Colchester, and qualified another boat for the State Meet. Senior Zach Latting, junior Devon Gamboe and senior Logan Street were on the winning boat (7.54 total pounds), while senior Austin Paytash, and sophomores Logan VanBlaricome and Jon Berhenke were on the third-place boat (3.79). VanBlaricome had the Meet's largest bass, weighing 2.855 pounds.

Streator won the LaSalle Lake Sectional in Marseilles, and also qualified another boar for the State Meet. Juniors Derek Kruger and Sean Sroka were on the winning board (11.43), while sophomore Blake Angelico and junior Drew Martin were on the third-place boat (11.06). Angelico had the Meet's largest bass, weighing 5.12 pounds.

Rockford Lutheran won the Pierce Lake Sectional in Roscoe with a total of 6.36 pounds, with Rochelle (5.16) second and Boylan (3.24) third. Lutheran sophomore Adam Carlson caught the meet's largest bass (3.46).

Indian Creek was the highest finisher at the Shabbona Lake Sectional, qualifying by placing second with 4.15 pounds. This was on just one bass, which was the meet's largest, caught by sophomore Tim Tausch. Sandwich also qualified with a third-place finish (3.40).

Steve Goers Retires

2011-05-05T18:22:00.000-05:00

Veteran Rockford Boylan boys basketball coach Steve Goers announced his retirement from coaching today.

Goers, 69, is Illinois's all-time leader in boys basketball coaching wins with 881. He started his head coaching career in Bardolph in 1967 and became head coach at Oswego in 1971. Since then, Goers has had stops at LaSalle-Peru and Harvard before taking over for Dolph Stanley at Boylan in 1980.

In addition to coaching Oswego to the Class AA State Tournament in 1972, Goers has coached seven state teams at Boylan (1984-85 to 1986-87, 1991-92, 1993-94, 1996-97 and 2006-07) and his teams have won 16 sectional championships.

Boylan's legacy doesn't end there, as the Titan program has strung together 30 consecutive winning seasons (tied for third all-time), and ten of those years were a string of seasons with 20-plus wins.

Boylan finished the 2010-11 season with a record of 23-6, a season which Goers surpassed Westchester St. Joseph's Gene Pingatore for the all-time wins record. Goers currently sits ten wins ahead of Pingatore's 871.

NISB Game article of Boylan's final game this season

IHSA Bass Fishing State Meet Put on Hold

2011-04-29T03:44:00.004-05:00

(Update attached on 5/13, on bottom)

Due to the constant stretch in recent weather conditions, the Illinois High School Association has postponed the State Bass Fishing Meet at Carlyle Lake.

The event was scheduled to take place on Friday, May 6 and Saturday, May 7. However, the Lake will not be ready for competition on these dates. Rain waters have increased the water levels at the Lake, and it is expected to crest at 13 feet higher than the normal stage.

Rescheduling the event is in the works; and while the IHSA is committed to holding a Meet at Carlyle Lake, a new date has yet to be determined.

"The IHSA will crown a Bass Fishing State Champion in 2011, but in good conscience, we could not hold the tournament as scheduled on May 6th and 7th due to safety concerns," IHSA Associate Director and Bass Fishing administrator Kurt Gibson stated in a press release. "We want to make a decision on the new state final date as soon as possible so that Carlyle and the qualifying schools can plan accordingly. Yet, we also need to exercise a certain level of patience, as our colleagues in Carlyle predict and monitor how the lake will drain over the coming weeks. If that means pushing the tournament into June, we are prepared to do that."

Sectional Meets were held on April 19 and 20. There will be 55 boats, representing 50 schools, at the State Meet.

Moline won the Argyle Lake Sectional in Colchester, and qualified another boat for the State Meet. Senior Zach Latting, junior Devon Gamboe and senior Logan Street were on the winning boat (7.54 total pounds), while senior Austin Paytash, and sophomores Logan VanBlaricome and Jon Berhenke were on the third-place boat (3.79). VanBlaricome had the Meet's largest bass, weighing 2.855 pounds.

Streator won the LaSalle Lake Sectional in Marseilles, and also qualified another boar for the State Meet. Juniors Derek Kruger and Sean Sroka were on the winning board (11.43), while sophomore Blake Angelico and junior Drew Martin were on the third-place boat (11.06). Angelico had the Meet's largest bass, weighing 5.12 pounds.

Rockford Lutheran won the Pierce Lake Sectional in Roscoe with a total of 6.36 pounds, with Rochelle (5.16) second and Boylan (3.24) third. Lutheran sophomore Adam Carlson caught the meet's largest bass (3.46).

Indian Creek was the highest finisher at the Shabbona Lake Sectional, qualifying by placing second with 4.15 pounds. This was on just one bass, which was the meet's largest, caught by sophomore Tim Tausch. Sandwich also qualified with a third-place finish (3.40).

UPDATE:

Plans to reschedule the Bass Fishing State Meet are underway. The IHSA plans to announce a date by June 3.

“The IHSA is continuing to monitor water levels at Carlyle Lake and discussing the situation with the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers in Carlyle as well as city of Carlyle officials in attempts to find a date for rescheduling the event," IHSA Associate Executive Director Kurt Gibson stated in a press release. "At this point, it is still too early to know with certainty at what point the lake will recede enough to allow for a safe competition. However, the weekends of June 17-18 and June 24-25 are currently being targeted as potential state final dates."

Wrestling Weight Classes to Change

2011-04-27T02:53:00.001-05:00

BLOOMINGTON - The Illinois High School Association has announced a change to the way high school wrestlers will be classified by weight.

Changes to the weight classification were made by the National Federation of High Schools' Wrestling Rules Committee, a department under the national governing body of high school sports. The IHSA then made it official for Illinois high school competition.

There will still be 14 weight classes, but 10 of them will change.

The 14 weight classes, starting with the 2011-12 school year, are as follows: 106, 113, 120, 126, 132, 138, 145, 152, 160, 170, 182, 195, 220 and 285. Three middle weight classes – 145, 152 and 160 – were retained, as well as the largest weight class of 285 pounds.

Ordering of the classes was changed by way of merging the 135- and 140-pound classes into 138, and creating an additional class above the former 171-pound (now 170) class.

In 2006, wrestling saw its more recent classification change when the largest weight class was increased from 275 pounds to 285. Prior to that, the former 215-pound class was made mandatory in 2002 (although Illinois has had state competition in that since 1998), and a restriction of 275 pounds was made to the former "heavyweight" class in 1993. The last shift in weight classfication prior to 2006 was the increase of the smallest weight class from 98 pounds to 103 in 1988.

Change in weight classification has happned at various times in the history of Illinois high school wrestling. Other significant changes occurred in 1940, 1949, 1960, 1970, and 1971.

Other wrestling rule changes were made along with the classification changes. The Figure-four lock is now illegal around the opponent's head in addition to the around the body and both legs. The circular boundary line itself is now considered inbounds, and a wrestler is ruled out-of-bounds when the body is past the entire line instead of the start of the line. A choice-of-starting-position rule change was made when an injury time-out ("blood time") is taken at the conclusion of the second period, and the opponent already has the choice at the beginning of the third period, the opponent would then have the added choice at the first restart after the beginning of the third period.

The Committee also recognized the increased number of dual-formatted tournaments throughout the nation, such as DeKalb's Flavin Duals.

Area Football Players To Take Part in Shrine Game

2011-03-22T18:47:00.003-05:00

Fourteen area football players have been selected to compete in the 37th Annual Illinois High School Football All-Star Game on Saturday, July 16. Game time will be 6:00 p.m. and located at Peoria Stadium in Peoria.

The event is sponsored by the Mohammed Shriners, with the cooperation of the Illinois Coaches Association.

Forty players were selected for the West team, and another forty were selected for the East team. Players were nominated by their coaches, with the final selections made by the District Chairmen of the Illinois Coaches Association.

Area players on the West team are: Frank Alfano (Hall), Will Bird (Morrison), Kyle Bumphrey (Annawan/Wethersfield), Sam Caldwell (Sandwich), Adam Cox (Stillman Valley), Trey Griffin (Lena-Winslow), Dorian Heyniewick (Sycamore), Lucas Nease (Newman), Jon Pena (Ottawa), C.J. Robbins (LaSalle-Peru), Dan Semtner (IVC), Andrew Walters (Geneseo), and Niko Watson (Rock Island).

Streator's Chris Wahl was is the lone area player on the East team.

Lena-Winslow head coach Ric Arand will be one of the assistants on the West team, under head coach Jim Unruh of Illini West. Current Dixon head coach and former Mt. Zion head coach Dave Smith will be an assistant on the East team, under head coach Scott Hamilton of Tolono Unity.

Players and coaches will dorm and practice in the three days leading up to the event. There will be an awards banquet on Friday at 6:30 p.m. at Eureka College. Reservations are required for the banquet, and they are $25.00. Tickets to the Game are $8.00 in advance (or $10.00 at the gate). Mail ticket inquiries (with a self-addressed stamped envelope) to Mohammed Shrine, Shrine All Star Football, 4201 S. Industry Rd., Bartonville IL 61607.

All proceeds of the game will go to the Shrine Hospitals for children. Shriners Hospitals have helped approximately 835,000 children to date in their 22 hospitals in North America.

IHSA Football Finals To Alternate Sites

2011-02-24T14:37:00.002-06:00

With the Big Ten Conference's expansion from 11 collegiate instutions to 12 (adding Nebraska), it created a schedule conflict regarding the weekend after the Thanksgiving holiday.

Currently, the Illinois High School Association State Football Finals take place on the Friday and Saturdays after Thanksgiving at the University of Illinois's Memoria Stadium. Starting in 2013, the IHSA Football Finals will need to be held elsewhere during odd-numbered years. The Universitty of Illinois will be hosting a home football game in odd-numbered years.

The IHSA Football Finals have been held at Memorial Stadium since 2000.

"We are certainly disappointed, but very understanding," said IHSA Executive Director Marty Hickman in a press release. "The University of Illinois has given us a world-class facility in Memorial Stadium to contest our state finals and the entire Champaign-Urbana community has offered a first-class atmosphere for the competing schools and fans. We look forward to returning the IHSA Football State Finals to Memorial Stadium every other year and will begin to investigate other potential sites to host the finals in the years that the University of Illinois is unable to host."

Illinois State University's Hancock Stadium hosted the Footbal Finals from 1974 to 1999, with Northwestern's Dyche Stadium hosting Class 5A-6A from 1981 to 1984.

State Wrestling Qualifiers

2011-02-13T03:35:00.005-06:00

The top three sectional placers advance to the Individual State Meet at Champaign on Friday, Feb. 18 and Saturday, Feb. 19. Fourth place finishers are considered "alternates" and will compete at State only if there are voids leading up to Friday.

IHSA Links to Individual State Qualifiers:

Class 1A Oregon Sectional
Class 1A Plano Sectional (Link to NISB Story)
Class 2A Lincoln-Way West Sectional
Class 2A Rochelle Sectional
Class 3A Granite City Sectional
Class 3A Barrington Sectional
Class 3A Downers Grove North Sectional

-Cody/Bill

City-Suburban Shootout Coming Up Feb. 19

2011-02-07T06:54:00.003-06:00

One of Illinois's most premier boys basketball shootouts will feature one of the area's powers.

Rock Island will take on Chicago Morgan Park in the second game of the 16th Annual McDonalds City-Suburban Showdown, put forth by The Integrity Group. The event will take place on February 19 at the University of Illinois-Chicago Pavillion.

The event, which has averaged nearly 7,000 fans, is a triple-header featuring teams from Chicago and its suburbs, although Rock Island is over 100 miles from the suburbs.

Rock Island and Morgan Park, the defending Chicago Public League champion, will tip off at 6:30 p.m. The game follows the opening game between LaGrange Lyons (16-2 as of Friday 2/4) and Proviso East (16-3). The final game will pit Chicago Simeon (17-0) and Lisle Benet (24-0).

The Rocks lost only one starter to graduation this past year, and is led by 1st Team All-Stater Chasson Randle, a 6'2" shooting guard. Randle is also a member of the USA U17 national team. Morgan Park is led by 6'5" shooting guard Wayne Blackshear. Both are rated in the top 50 in the nation. Randle has committed to play for the Stanford Cardinal after this season. Blackshear has committed to play for the University of Louisville after this season.

The Integrity Group puts on this event as well as the "High School Hoops Showdown" event each season. That event has featured area teams in years past, most recently a double-header at NIU in 2006 pitting Winnebago and Rock Falls, as well as Boylan's game with Westchester St. Joseph.

Tickets are available through Ticketmaster, and will be available through the competing schools' athletic offices in the future. Tickets can also be purchased through the UIC Pavillion Ticket Office (312-413-5700).

EDIT (2/9) -- A Rocks Basketball bus trip to Chicago is being planned for Feb. 19. Seats are first come, first serve, please contact Mr. Charles Butler (309-269-3663) if you would like to reserve a spot.

A bus will be leaving from RIHS on Saturday at Noon and returning at approximately 3 a.m. on Sunday. The price is $50 which includes a North Riverside Mall trip (shopping/lunch on your own from 2:30pm - 4:30pm) and admission (for all three games) to the UIC Pavilion and bus seating.

There are only 47 seats (as of noon, 2/9) so reserve your seat by depositing $25 (non-refundable). The final $25 payment is due by February 17th.

Big Changes Set For Plano Classic

2011-01-18T16:52:00.003-06:00

The 2011 Plano Christmas Classic will be an expanded one when the tournament tips off its’ 49th season in December of this year.

Plano athletic director Jim Schmidt will be expanding the varsity high school hoop extravaganza from 16 to 24 teams, making it the largest prep Christmas tourney in Illinois. Nineteen teams are from the NISB-area.

Add to that the continuation of the 16-team sophomore tournament contested at the same time in Plano’s auxiliary gym, there are now 40 squads that will compete in a grand total of 83 games over a five-day period in 2011. That’s up from the 32-team, 64-game, four-day grind that was played during the 2010 proceedings.

All teams will be guaranteed at least four games with some playing five during the five day mega tourney.

Nine schools decided to accept Schmidt’s offer to come to the Classic after only one withdrew. Hall opted out after many years at Plano and was replaced by Aurora Christian. After that, Schmidt received acceptance from Belvidere, Burlington Central, Dixon, Indian Creek, Lisle, Ottawa, Streator and Wilmington.

Dixon, Indian Creek and Streator are coming over from the Marseilles Tournament. Aurora Christian, Belvidere and Burlington Central are coming over from the Chuck Dayton Tournament in DeKalb.

“You can’t beat tradition and it’s never going to go away here. We’ve been through the ropes over the many years of running a very popular tournament,” Schmidt said. “I believe that many of the new schools entering will see the value in that. Hopefully they believe they’ll be able to establish their own tradition here while making great memories as they move on in what I hope will continue to be a tremendous high school basketball event.”

Class 1A schools (5): Forreston, Hinckley-Big Rock, Indian Creek, Newark and Somonauk

Class 2A schools (10): Aurora Christian, Coal City, Genoa-Kingston, Lisle, Mendota, Plano, Princeton, Rockford Christian, Seneca, Wilmington

Class 3A schools (9): Belvidere, Burlington Central, Dixon, Kaneland, Morris, Ottawa, Sandwich, Streator and Yorkville.

-Bill Lidinsky

Member Schools Approve IHSA By-Law Proposals

2011-01-08T08:41:00.002-06:00

Illinois High School Association member schools approved all 13 of the Association's By-Law proposals for the 2010-11 school year.

The results were tallied and made official on Thursday, Jan. 6. A list of the proposals can be seen in F.Y.I.'s earlier report on these proposals (Here).

Most proposals passed with an average majority of 86%. There were two proposals that passed with three-quarters or less of the total vote: Proposal 1 (passed 312-103) requiring a school renewing a coop to provide more reasons for a cooperative, and updates the coop requirements to reflect class expansion; and Proposal 23 (passed 285-123) restricting the fall softball season to only those schools that do not offer volleyball in the fall.

This is the second straight year in which all propsals making it through the IHSA Legislative Commission were unaminously approved.

Total representation in the voting process fell to 52.9% of member schools voting, the lowest such total since records were kept track of in 1996-97.

Cody

Boys Basketball Coaching Record Race

2011-01-07T04:02:00.003-06:00

As the the new calendar year of 2011, Rockford Boylan head coach Steve Goers has six more wins than Westchester St. Joseph coach Gene Pingatore.

Goers has 869 wins in his career (1967, 1972-present), while Pingatore has 863 (1969-present). Boylan, who won the Pekin Holiday Tournament last week, is now 11-2 on the year. St. Joseph, in its first year in the East Suburban Central Conference, is 2-8 so far.

An updated tally can be viewed on the NISB Milestones Page.

Cody

R.I. Bowling Home Destroyed by Fire

2010-12-21T05:46:00.002-06:00

An early morning fire on Tuesday caused severe damage to Town and Country Lanes in Rock Island, according to published reports.

Town and Country Lanes is the home of the Rock Island Girls Bowling team. Their last meet there was on December 8, against Biggsville West Central. Last year's IHSA Sectional Meet was held there as well.

A home meet with Dixon was scheduled for this afternoon at 4:00 p.m. Two more home dates were also on the schedule to round out the year.

-Cody

Fall 2010 Milestones & G/P Update

2010-12-02T06:38:00.004-06:00

Eight area high school football coaches, one area soccer coach and one football program achieved milestone wins this fall.

In addition to winning the Class 6A State Football Championship, the Boylan football team also notched win No. 350 in program history. The program dates back to 1962 when Boylan opened to replace St. Thomas High School.

A pair of area football coaches won their 250th career game: the retiring Jerry Lano of Dakota and Newman coach Mike Papoccia, who coached his team to the Class 2A State Championship last weekend.

Rock Island coach Vic Boblett won his 200th career game this year, and Harvard's Tim Haak won his 150th career game.

Four area football coaches entered the 100-win club this year: Lena-Winslow's Ric Arand, Galena's Ed Freed, Amboy's Gary Jones and Mendota's John McKinzie. Arand coached his team to the Class 1A State Championship this season.

United Township soccer coach Phil Weaver won his 200th career game this season as well.

Milestones have already been made in the young winter sports season. Winnebago boys basketball coach Joe Murphy won his 600th career game, a combined boys and girls basketball win total, on Saturday win a win over Forrreston.

Finally, with basketball season and milestones comes the annual "Goers-Pingatore" update on the NISB Milestones Page. However, we're keeping it hush-hush as the two boys basketall coaches very seldom talk about their personal milestones. When the two were catching up to former recold-holder Dick Van Sycoc, we made it a running feature story. However, since both have passed Van Scyoc, we aren't making a big deal about it.

So anyway, here's an introduction and small update: Both Boylan coach Steve Goers and Westchester St. Joseph coach Gene Pingatore have been neck-to-neck in the race for the all-time wins mark for Illinois boys basketball coaches. Before the season started, Pingatore led Goers by three wins. St. Joseph went 1-3 at the St. Charles North Tournament on Thanksgiving Week, while Boylan went 3-1 at its own Tournament.

Currently, as of this post (12/2), Pingatore leads Goers by just one win at 862-861. Boylan has two games this weekend: Friday at Auburn and Saturday at Jefferson. St. Joseph has just one game this week: on Friday against Chicago Hales Franciscan. A Boylan win and St. Joes loss on Friday would put the two coaches equal in the win column. A Boylan weekend sweep and St. Joes loss would put Goers ahead of Pingatore for the first time since both surpassed Van Scyoc.

-Cody

2010-11 IHSA By-Law Proposals

2010-11-24T02:47:00.002-06:00

Every year, changes to the IHSA By-Laws can be recommended by the principal or IHSA Official Representative of each member school.

These proposals are submitted to the IHSA in time for the Principal's Town Hall Meetings, which were held earlier this month. After recieving feedback from the principals, the IHSA Legislative Commission voted on the proposals.

Twenty-seven total proposals were submitted, in which 13 were approved by the Commission. These 13 proposals will be sent for a full member school vote, which takes place from November 23 to December 23.

The final results will be announced on January 6.

APPROVED Proposals by the Legislative Commission:

Proposal 1 requires a school renewing a coop to provide more reasons for a cooperative, and updates the coop requirements to reflect class expansion.

Proposal 7 extends the deadline for ceasing non-school practice and competition in a particular sport from five days to seven days after the school team’s first practice or tryout.

Proposal 8 clarifies the Independent Team Participation rule to state that in determining the number of school athletes that are on a non-school squad, only those that have eligibility to play in the next season of that sport shall be counted.

Proposal 10 rewords the Coaching School Participation rule to prohibit coaches, rather than students, from being involved, during the school term, in any coaching school, camp, or clinic attended by more than two student-athletes from his or her school.

Proposal 12 defines a school offering a discounted tuition less than the full tuition rate authorized by the Illinois School Code as non-boundaried.

Proposal 14 moves the number-of-games-in-a-tournament restriction from the individual Team Limitations into a new IHSA by-law.

Proposal 17 eliminates the boys spring golf season.

Proposal 19 clarifies the rule to allow a school to participate in 14 swimming contests and 14 diving contests.

Proposal 20 eliminates the boys fall tennis season.

Proposal 21 eliminates the girls spring golf season.

Proposal 23 restricts the fall softball season to only those schools that do not offer volleyball in the fall.

Proposal 24 eliminates the girls spring tennis season.

Proposal 27 restricts practice, but not the organization, of Competitive Cheerleading squads to the period from Monday of Week 18 to Saturday of Week 37.

REJECTED Proposals by the Legislative Commission:

Proposal 2 grants athletic participation during a strike at the permission of the school's Board.

Proposal 3 honors state-required freshman physicals for 18 months instead of 12.

Proposal 4 grants athletic eligibility to students affected by homelessness, regardless of current by-law practices.

Proposal 5 grants athletic eligibility to students who transfer from a public school in a multi-high school district to a charter school without having to sit out 365 days.

Proposal 6 changes the Independent Team Participation rule to make it so that programs simply sponsored and not directly conducted by a National Governing Body can be granted Executive Director approval for a waiver in that rule.

Proposal 9 prohibits coaches at a school from coaching athletes on a non-school team outside of the school season.

Proposal 11 expands football summer organization to include more than just 7-on-7 passing camps; schools would organize events under a certain set of rules made by the IHSA.

Proposal 13 allows high school chess teams to compete in non-IHSA events that include K-8 participants along with high school students from the same school.

Proposal 15 restricts the fall baseball season to only those schools that do not offer football in the fall.

Proposal 16 shortens the football regular season to eight games from nine, and in its replacement creates an expanded round of football playoffs.

Proposal 18 would start the boys swimming season one week later than it currently does, to avoid organizing over Thanksgiving week.

Proposal 22 pushes the overall girls gymnastics season a week back.

Proposal 25 increases the maximum number of matches a school can play in a volleyball tournament from five to ten.

Proposal 26 briefly extends the competitive cheerleading season four days.

-Cody

Final NIB-12 East and Little 10 Soccer Stats

2010-11-16T15:18:00.004-06:00

Publisher's Note: Big thanks to our own Steve Nemeth for compiling the reports for the Little 10 and NIB 12 East soccer scene. We encourage such roundups like such as these for contribution to the FYI Blog. If you want to contribute roundups, standings and items of note within a conference, let us know by contacting us at northernillinoissportsbeat at yahoo dot com.)

Linked are the final NIB 12 East and Little 10 soccer statistics and composite schedules:

Northern Illinois Big 12 East
Little 10

-Steve Nemeth

IHSA Tennis Advisory Committee Meets

2010-11-14T02:30:00.001-06:00

The Boys and Girls Tennis Advisory Committee of the Illinois High School Association met on Wednesday, November 3 for its yearly meeting.

Among several discussion items, a Terms and Conditions recommendation regarding individual substitutions at the State Meet was acted on.

According to the new recommendation:

"Substitutions will be allowed for singles players who qualify for the State tournament. The player who lost to the injured player in the quarterfinals at the sectional will be the player who advances. A substitution may be made if (a) the Principal of the player’s school certifies in writing to her/his injury, illness, ineligibility or circumstances considered to be beyond the control of the student-athlete which shall include but are not limited to incapacitating physical or mental circumstances, natural disasters or clearly erroneous advice provided to the student-athlete from a school authority and (b) the substitute is eligible for State tournament play based on the IHSA By-Law requirements."

The recommendation was favored by the advisory committee 6-0.

Little 10 All-Conference Soccer and Volleyball

2010-11-09T02:09:00.002-06:00

The Little Ten Conference Soccer Coaches met on Wednesday, October 20, to select the 2010 Little Ten All-Conference Soccer Team. Also, the Little Ten Conference Volleyball Coaches met on Monday, November 1, to select the 2010 all-conference volleyball team.

This was the first time in Little Ten soccer history that there was a 3-way tie for the regular season title. Hinckley-Big Rock won the Little Ten Tournament for the ninth time in program history, and the first time since 2003. Earlville-Leland won an IHSA Class 1A Regional for the third straight year. The Red Raiders appeared in an IHSA Sectional game for the fifth straight year (no regional awards given in 2006 and 2007 when E-L advanced to the state tournament).

Listed below are the 16 soccer players recognized, in order of conference finish:
** denotes a unanimous selection

Hinckley-Big Rock (5-1)— Conference Tri-Champs, Conference Tournament Champs

**Tim Engel (Senior, midfielder) - 17 goals, 9 assists; 48 goals, 38 assists for career; Twice a unanimous all-conference selection

**Lee Klein (Senior, midfielder) - key distributor and defender from MF position; Repeat all-conference selection

**Justin Salazar (Senior, keeper) - 11 shutouts, 1.00 GAA; 28 shutouts, 1.07 GAA for career; Repeat all-conference selection

**Billy Weissinger (Sophomore, defender) - Top defender as sweeper; Royals allowed only 8 goals on season with him on field

Somonauk (5-1)— Conference Tri-Champs, 3rd Place Conference Tournament

**Dan Heerhold (Junior, forward/midfielder) - 9 goals, 9 assists; involved in almost 30% of Bobcats scoring on the season

**Colin Stahl (Junior, midfielder) - 1 goal, 5 assists; key in possession and ball control as holding MF

**Ethan Lauritzen (Sophomore, forward/midfielder) - 22 goals, 7 assists; involved in almost 50% of Bobcats scoring on the season

Kyle Hatton (Sophomore, defender) - Top defender as left outside back

Earlville-Leland (5-1)— Conference Tri-Champs, IHSA Class 1A Regional Champs

**Cory Buhler (Senior, keeper) - Allowed only 3 goals in Little Ten regular season play

Chris Collins (Senior, forward) - 9 goals, 9 assists overall; 6 goals, 9 assists in Little Ten play

Javier Hernandez (Junior, midfielder) - 17 goals, 7 assists overall; 9 goals, 6 assists in Little Ten play

Newark (3-3)

**Juan Elizalde (Senior, midfielder) - 11 goals, 7 assists; scored two game-winning goals

Indian Creek (2-4)— Runner-up Conference Tournament

**Matt Kyler (Senior, defender) - 9 goals, 11 assists despite playing most of season on defense; 4-year starter; Repeat unanimous all-conference selection

Tom Kallas (Senior, defender) - 3 goals, 3 assists; 4-year starter; Voted as Timberwolves MVP and Best Defender

Shaquille Crayton (Junior, forward/midfielder) - 14 goals, 4 assists; also played GK for 6 games

Paw Paw (1-5)

**Brandon Safranek (Senior, forward) - 26 goals, 3 assists; Repeat unanimous all-conference selection

Serena (0-6) had no players selected

Listed below are the 12 volleyball players recognized, in order of conference finish:
** denotes a unanimous selection

Newark (8-0)— Conference Champs, Conference Tournament Champs

**Sammi Eddy (Senior, libero) - 83% serving with 43 aces, 94% passing with 418 digs; Three-time unanimous all-conference selection

**Katie Larson (Senior, outside hitter) - 82% serving with 39 aces, .233 hitting efficiency with 237 kills; Repeat unanimous all-conference selection

Miranda Schmidt (Senior, setter/right side) - 83% serving with 59 aces, 372 assists, 98 kills, 30 blocks; Repeat all-conference selection

Ashley Edwards (Junior, outside hitter/middle blocker) - 83% serving with 61 aces, .156 hitting efficiency with 129 kills, 205 digs

Hinckley-Big Rock (7-1)— Runner-Up Conference, Runner-Up Conference Tournament

Sarah Paver (Senior, libero) - 93% serving on 232 attempts, team leader with 292 digs

Kaitlin Phillips (Junior, middle hitter/blocker) - 85% serving on 309 attempts with 66 aces and 180 points, 146 blocks, 167 kills

Indian Creek (6-2)— 3rd Place Conference, 3rd Place Conference Tournament; IHSA Class 1A Regional Champs

**Anna Stiker (Senior, libero) - 92.6% serving on 203 attempts, school record 577 digs

**Cameron Wallace (Senior, outside hitter) - 99.2% serving with 27 aces, 275 digs, 155 kills; Repeat all-conference selection

Serena (4-4)

**Katie Huss (Senior) - All around player: 100 kills, 230 digs, 100 points with 21 aces

Leland-Earlville (4-4)

Morgan Musich (Senior, right side/setter) - 97.7% serving with 36 aces, 147 kills, 251 assists, 167 digs; Repeat all-conference selection

Kaitlyn Rabel (Junior, middle hitter) - 86.9% serving with 48 aces, 219 kills, 81 digs

Somonauk (4-4)

Aleesha Zeko (Junior, outside hitter) - 132 kills, 26 aces, 136 digs

LaMoille (2-6), Hiawatha (1-7), Paw Paw (0-8) had no players selected.

(Publisher's Note: We encourage such submissions of all-conference teams like this one for the Little 10 Conference for contribution to the FYI Blog. If you want to contribute roundups, standings and items of note within a conference, let us know by contacting us at northernillinoissportsbeat at yahoo dot com.)

Source: Little 10 Conference

-Cody

Cross Country State Preview

2010-11-05T23:00:00.000-05:00

BOYS

BLOOMINGTON - The 2010 IHSA Boys Cross Country State Finals mark the 65th annual season of the boy’s state final meet and the 41st year it will unfold at Detweiller Park in Peoria. The 2010 state meet also marks the fourth under the three-class format. All three boy’s races on Saturday, November 6 will cover the three-mile course, with the Class 1A race starting at 10 a.m., the Class 2A race at noon and the Class 3A race at 2 p.m.

CLASS 1A

Newman edged Canton by a single point for its first state title in school history a year ago, but neither team is back in the team field in 2010. Elmwood, the 2007 1A runner-up and 2008 state champ, won its Sectional despite not having a Top 5 runner, but returns senior Ryan Bybee (16:09 Sectional time), who placed 11th individually in the state in 2008. Sophomore Grant Nykaza (15:30) and senior Griffin Nykaza (15:20) led Beecher to the top Sectional team score in the state, as the brothers finished first and second individually in the race, respectively, and make the Bobcats a top title contender. Westmont and senior Henry Arndt (14:51) will try for their third consecutive Top 5 finish in the state.

Rockford Christian senior Justin Rehfeldt (14:46) won the Class 1A individual crown a year with a time of 15:06 and will look to become the first repeat champion of the three-class era after recording the state’s top Sectional time in Class 1A. Hall senior Scott Janusick (14:50) was edged by Rehfelft at Sectionals and will join Marquette senior Evan Darm (14:55) in trying to run him down at the state meet.

CLASS 2A

Defending Class 2A champion Belvidere North enters as the favorite, as many believe the nationally ranked squad may be the best in the state regardless of class.

A pair of sophomores (Tyler Yunk-15:31, Paxson Menard-15:47) placed first and second, respectively, at Sectionals for the Blue Thunder, while defending Class 2A individual champion Paul Zeman (15:55) is still Belvidere North’s runner to beat in his senior season. Normal University and Springfield both won Sectional team titles in 2010 and return to the state meet after placing second and third, respectively, a year ago. Normal University is paced by seniors Ryan Rutherford (15:10) and Alex Parlette (15:21), while junior Michael Clevenger (15:04) paces Springfield.

Zeman is the defending champ in the class and Clevenger posted 2A’s top Sectional time in the state, but there will be a number of challengers to the individual throne, including Mattoon senior Joe Calio (15:11) and Monticello junior Steve Schroeder (15:26). Mt. Zion also boasts a pair of contenders in juniors Caleb Abfall (15:16) and Joe Fritzsche (15:28).

CLASS 3A

The Class 3A state title has resided in Naperville the past three years, as Neuqua Valley won the state meet in 2007 and 2009, while Naperville North grabbed the 2008 trophy. Both teams return to the 2010 field, along with 26-time state champ York, who placed second in 2007 and 2008. Taylor Soltys (15:59) leads Neuqua Valley, while sophomore Jimmy Qiao (15:33) and senior Jack Driggs (14:53) led Naperville North and York, respectively, at Sectionals. Oak Park-River Forest and New Trier both finished in the Top 10 in the state a year ago and are receiving national acclaim in 2010, while O’Fallon is also expected to contend behind senior Michael Scolorici (14:48).

Sandburg junior Lukas Verzbicas (15:09) is the defending state champion and will be running in his final IHSA state championship, as he will graduate early this spring. Verzbicas is one of the most hyped high school runners in the country and could challenge for the state meet record. Edwardsville junior Garrett Sweatt (14:46) is one of three (Verzbicas, Driggs) Top 10 individual returnees from a year ago and like United Township senior Cody Webster (14:45), will try to end Verzbicas’ repeat bid.

GIRLS

BLOOMINGTON - The 32nd annual and 2010 edition of the IHSA Girls Cross Country State Finals will take place at Detweiller Park in Peoria on Saturday, November 6. Detweiller Park has hosted the girl’s state race every season since its inception in 1979, including 2007 when the sport shifted to a three-class system. All three girl’s races will cover the three-mile course, with the Class 1A race starting at 9 a.m., the Class 2A race at 11 a.m. and the Class 3A race at 1 p.m.

CLASS 1A

Winnebago has owned the small school race over the past six years, having won six straight team titles since 2005, including all three 1A races since the move to three classes in 2007. The Indians did not qualify for the field in 2010, leaving the door open for programs like 2009 runner-up Decatur St. Teresa and Elmwood, who has finished second or third the past four seasons. St. Teresa returns junior Ellen Devereux (18:17 Sectional time) and adds her freshmen sister Rachel (18:32), while Elmwood is led by junior Rachel Brune (18:52). Freeburg will also challenge for the title behind the one-two junior sister tandem of Kristen (19:01) and Caitlin Busch (19:30), who individually placed second and fourth, respectfully, in the state a year ago.

The graduation of two-time champ Kelly Curran means a new individual champ will be crowned for the first time since 2007 (Olivia Klaus of Eureka). Another Eureka runner, junior Kalla Gold (18:44), could be poised for a title run after placing eighth a year ago, while sophomore Alex Van Hoof (18:05) is following Curran as the next Bloomington Central Catholic star. Bishop McNamara senior Aimee Sims (18:27) is another Top 5 finisher from 2009 who is back in the state final field.

CLASS 2A

Yorkville and junior Ali Hester (18:02), fifth individually a year ago, could be the favorite to unseat defending state champ Springfield after finishing second to the Senators a year ago. Springfield will again be in the mix with junior Kirby Hale (17:34) back to try improve on last year’s fourth-place individual finish, but the Senators will have to top Madz Negro (17:30) and Springfield Sacred Heart-Griffin, who edged the Senators by nine points in Sectional action. Woodstock could also be a factor behind the return of defending individual state champ Kayla Beattie (17:03), who will vie to become the sixth repeat champ in state history, and her freshman sister Maura (17:54).

Although the defending state champ will again be in the pack, only three Top 10 finishers from a year ago return in Class 2A in 2010. Peoria Notre Dame senior Megan Dahlquist (17:36) could be a runner moving up in the individual standings this year, as could Wheaton St. Francis senior Kelly McShea (17:59), River Grove Guerin senior Eryn Fallon (18:20) and Crystal Lake Central junior Kelly McNeely (18:23).

CLASS 3A

Palatine won its seventh overall state title and first since 1996 a year ago and the Pirates will be in the hunt again behind the return of senior Courtney Brown (17:31). Palatine bested Schaumburg and senior Karen Lesiewicz (17:45) by ten points at Sectionals, but many believe that the Saxons could be the top team in 3A. New Trier sophomore Courtney Ackermann (17:26), sixth individually a year ago, and the Trevians will have something to say about who takes the top spot in the team standings, while Wheaton Warrenville South will look to build on last year’s third-place finish behind sophomore McKenna Kiple (17:48). Downers Grove North could be a title darkhorse, as the Trojans weren't ranked during the regular-season, but posted the top Sectional score in Class 3A behind Top 5 finishes from senior Samantha Fry (19:04) and sophomore Gabrielle Hesslau (19:10).

Four of the top seven individual finishers from the state meet a year ago return in 2010, including runner-up Christina Gastfield (17:52) from Rolling Meadows. Neither Gastfield, Lockport junior Megan O’Brien (19:03, 5th in 2009) or Naperville Central junior Amanda Fox (18:06, 7th in 2009) won their Sectional race in 2010, so expect them to be pushed in the individual standings by Normal Community West sophomore Emily Brelsfoard (17:19), Geneva senior Kelly Whitley (17:20) and Prospect sophomore Brooke Wolfe (17:20).

- Source: Illinois High School Association

Cody

Class 3A Boys Soccer Preview

2010-11-05T04:43:00.003-05:00

BLOOMINGTON - The 2010 IHSA Class 3A Boys Soccer State Finals will unfold at Benedetti-Wehrli Stadium on the campus of North Central College in Naperville on Friday and Saturday, November 5-6.

The 2010 tourney marks the 39th annual season of the Boys Soccer State Finals, the third of the three-class system and the 10th year that North Central has served as the host.

The first Class 3A semifinal pits a pair of perennial powers, as Rockford Boylan and Edwardsville are making their 18th combined state final appearance, but those 18 trips have resulted in just one championship (Edwardsville in 2000) thus far, a number one of the schools will have the opportunity to boost on Saturday.

The second semifinal features a Libertyville squad that is making its third state final appearance and a Naperville North program that won a state title in 1998 and hopes its seventh state trip will produce championship number two.

Rockford Boylan and Edwardsville will meet at 5 p.m. on Friday, with Libertyville vs. Naperville North slated to follow at 7 p.m. All eight Class 2A and 3A state final tournament matches on Friday and Saturday will be webcast live with full video and audio free of charge on IHSA.tv, as Rusty Silber and Mike Karberg will bring viewers the play-by-play from Naperville.

ROCKFORD BOYLAN TITANS (23-1-3)
Coach: Chris Mera (3rd, 67-10-7)

Boylan has become a boys soccer state final mainstay, as the school prepares to make its ninth state final trip since 1997 and second under head coach Chris Mera. Despite the success, the Titans are still in search of their first state title and hope to ride a stellar defense to the top in 2010.

Junior goalkeeper Tim Dobrowski (12 goals, .50 GAA, 51 saves) and company have recorded 16 shutouts this season and have allowed one goal or less in 25 of 27 matches in 2010. Junior midfielder Ryan Howe has recorded 27 assists this season, many of which have come off of goals from junior forward Victor Zamora (24 goals, 7 assists) and junior midfielder Tyler Robinson (19 goals, 11 assists). Boylan has outscored its five State Series foes 20-1 thus far this postseason.

EDWARDSVILLE TIGERS (19-4-1)
Coach: Mark Heiderscheid (11th, 174-57-26)

Edwardsville makes its third consecutive state final trip and is in search of its first state championship since 2000, when head coach Mark Heiderscheid led the Tigers on the first of his six state tourney appearances.

The Tigers have not allowed more than two goals in a match in 2010, including 14 shutouts, and the team’s lone loss to an Illinois high school this season came against fellow state finalist Naperville North (2-1).

Edwardsville Junior goalkeeper Daniel Brennan has recorded 53 saves in 2010, while posting a .57 goals against average. Offensively, senior forward Sam Fink and his team-high 21 goals pace the Tigers, while junior forward Chris Pearson (7 goals, 8 assists) and sophomore midfielder Tyler Swanner (8 goals, 9 assists) are also scoring threats.

LIBERTYVILLE WILDCATS (19-3-2)
Coach: Andy Bitta (25th, 336-110-53)

Two of Libertyville head coach Andy Bitta’s 336 career victories have come in the state finals, both of which came when the Wildcats placed second in 1986. Bitta and Libertyville returned to state in 1996 and will now vie for a state title in 2010 after a grueling postseason that included a penalty kick victory over Stevenson, a four-overtime thriller against Highland Park and a 1-0 triumph against defending state champ St. Viator.

Libertyville’s senior forward combination of Miles McNeir (18 goals) and Joey Ruppert (15 goals) has accounted for more than half of the team’s goals scored this season, while sophomore forward Austin Bitta (4 goals) has accounted for helpers on 13 goals in 2010. While Coach Bitta’s younger son is an offensive threat, his older son Andrew (.80 GAA) handles the Wildcats goalkeeper duties, where he has helped produce 10 shutouts this season.

NAPERVILLE NORTH HUSKIES (21-2-2)
Coach: Jim Konrad (7th, 118-32-19)

Naperville North and head coach Jim Konrad have quietly put together a solid, if not spectacular season and now find themselves among the state and nation’s elite after knocking off several highly rated foes.

The Huskies won three straight 2-1 decisions in the postseason, before a 3-2 double-overtime thriller over a Lyons team ranked among the Top 13 in the country in the Super-Sectional round.

Junior forward Evan Trychta (18 goals, 9 assists) is the squad’s only double-digit goal scorer, as the balanced offensive attack features seven players with three goals or more. The defense, anchored by junior goalkeeper Kevin Anderson (.58 GAA), has posted 13 shutouts this season, including a six-match streak in which they didn't allow a goal. Don’t expect the Huskies to wilt under pressure of a close contest, as the team went 9-1 in one-goal matches this season.

- Source: Illinois High School Association

Cody

East St. Louis to Forfeit Wins, Drops Out of Football Playoffs

2010-10-26T13:00:00.003-05:00

(Note: As of Thursday 10/28, East St. Louis is back in the playoffs after the high school appealed to St. Clair County’s 20th Judicial Court later. A temporary restraining order was granted.)

The Illinois High School Association ruled on Tuesday, October 26 that the East St. Louis Flyers football team was found to be in violation of IHSA residency By-Laws. Two Flyer players were ruled inelgible.

The punishment for violation of the residency By-Laws is the forfeit of victories in which the ineligible students participated in. With this case, the Flyers are forced to forfeit all 10 of its wins from the 2009 season, as well as five of their nine wins during this season. This drops the Flyers' season record to 4-5, and therefore not being eligible for the playoffs.

Information was obtained by the IHSA from the St. Clair County State’s Attorney's Office to aid in the investigation. According to the IHSA, evidence from one of the players' "pre-trial electronic monitoring bracelet" traced the residency of this particular player to Belleville, which is outside of the East St. Louis School District.

With East St. Louis out of the playoff picture, the IHSA ruled that a change of games be made in the Class 7A South bracket. Belleville West, which was scheduled to play the Flyers in the first round, will now play crosstown rival Belleville East. East's opponent, O'Fallon, will receive a first-round bye by virtue of playoff points.

“Certainly, the timing of this matter is less than ideal, but as much as some would have liked for us to move faster with this investigation, to do so would have been unfair to both the student-athletes and East St. Louis High School," IHSA Executive Director Marty Hickman stated in a press release. "It was imperative for everyone involved that we gave due diligence to the process and uncovered all applicable information before reaching a decision."

There has been interest in the investigation throughout Illinois. East St. Louis, considered one of the elite football programs in Illinois, had marquee out-of-state regular season games with Indianapolis Cathedral, Ind. and Fort Lauderdale Dillard, Fla. Both of these games were won by East St. Louis, and are thus forfeited. Catherdal moves to 7-3 on its football season with one more week left in their regular season. Dillard moves to 5-3 on its football season with two more weeks left in its regular season.

Cody

Class 1A/2A State Baseball Games Moved, Boyd Promoted

2010-10-12T22:35:00.002-05:00

O'Brien Field in Peoria will be the next host for the Class 1A and Class 2A Illinois High School Association State Baseball tournaments.

The IHSA Announced the location of the tournaments during Monday's monthly meeting of its Board of Directors. O'Brien Field will take over hosting duties from Silver Cross Field in Joliet, which was host of the small school state tournaments from 2006-2010.

Located in downtown Peoria, O'Brien Field is home of the Chicago Cubs' Class A affiliate Peoria Chiefs.

"We are very proud and excited to be hosting the IHSA Class 1A & 2A Baseball State Finals at O’Brien Field for the next five years," Peoria Chiefs and O’Brien Field President Rocky Vonachen stated in a press relase. "It is an event we have wanted here since day one. O’Brien Field is one of the best ballparks in all of minor league baseball and will provide both the players and fans with a great experience. It has showcased some of the top talent in Minor League baseball and now will showcase some of the best baseball talent in the state of Illinois."

The reason for the relocation of the tournament had to do with the locations of past schools that qualified for the tournaments in the past few years. Of the eight teams that qualified for the small school baseball tournaments six were from outside of the Chicago Metropolitan Area.

Silver Cross Field will contrinue to host the Class 3A and Class 4A Baseball State tournaments. The move will also make it easier for IHSA Staff to administrate the small school baseball tournaments. The Class 1A and Class 2A State Softball tournaments are located across the Illinois River in East Peoria.

“We were glad to be able to reward Joliet and Silver Cross Field for their tremendous work hosting the baseball state finals," IHSA Executive Director Marty Hickman stated in a press release. "The movement of the Class 1A/2A tournament reflects our Board’s philosophy to try and make our state final events more centrally located based on the location of the participants. With many of the 3A/4A qualifiers coming from Chicagoland, it made sense to leave this tournament in Joliet where it can continue to thrive."

In other IHSA Board news:

*Riverdale principal James Boyd was promoted to Vice President of the IHSA Board of Directors. He replaces Ron Connor of Clinton. Boyd represents IHSA Division 4, which includes the southern portion of the NISB coverage area.

*The issue over football playoff pairings was looked at. The Board made changes to the travel stipulation of games involving a team traveling more than 150 miles for a playoff game.

If any bracket of 16 teams has more than one game with a travel distance of 150 miles or more, the bracket is placed into quadrants. However, if the split into quadrants creates more travel, the teams will now remain in a bracket of 16.

- Cody Cutter

Little 10 & NIB-12 East Scoring Leaders

2010-10-07T04:24:00.002-05:00

(Publisher's Note: You'll find Steve's reports on the homepage)

Little Ten Conference Scoring Leaders - *

* -- Statistics not available from Serena / Matches played through Oct. 4

Player (School) Goals Assists Points

1 – Brandon Safranek (Paw Paw) 24 3 51

2 – Ethan Lauritzen (Somonauk) 22 6 50

3 -- Bernie Conley (Hinckley-Big Rock) 15 9 39

4 -- Tim Engel (Hinckley-Big Rock) 15 6 36

5 -- Javier Hernandez (Earlville-Leland) 14 7 35

6 -- Shaquille Crayton (Indian Creek) 14 3 31

7 -- Joel Caldron (Somonauk) 12 5 29

Bret Ostrom (Indian Creek) 8 13 29

Kevin Bond ( Newark ) 12 5 29

10 – Kyle Tuggle ( Newark ) 9 8 26

11 -- C Collins (Earlville-Leland) 8 7 23

Nick Bond ( Newark ) 10 3 23

13 -- Danny Heerhold (Somonauk) 7 8 22

14 – Matt Kyler (Indian Creek) 6 9 21

15 -- Daniel Soto (Paw Paw) 8 3 19

Nick Siemers (Paw Paw) 6 7 19

17 – Greg Hughes ( Newark ) 6 6 18

18 -- Jared Madden (Hinckley-Big Rock) 6 5 17

Tyler Becker (Earlville-Leland) 5 7 17

20 – Hunter Hardekopf (Somonauk) 5 4 14

Northern Illinois Big 12 East Division Scoring Leaders

Player (School) Goals Assists Points

1 – Joe Ferguson (DeKalb) 10 4 24

2 – Sammy Lake (DeKalb) 5 7 17

3 -- Alex Gil (Kaneland) 4 7 16

4 -- Ramon Lopez (Rochelle) 5 2 12

Diego Luna (Morris) 5 2 12

6 -- Justin Kammes (Rochelle) 4 3 11

Cristian Garcia (Rochelle) 5 1 11

8 – Sam Drumbacher (DeKalb) 5 0 10

Trevor Cervenka (Sycamore) 3 4 10

Javier Cervantes (Yorkville) 5 0 10

11 -- Tyler Wallace (Sycamore) 4 1 9

Chava Villanueva (Morris) 4 1 9

Artan Emini (Yorkville) 3 3 9

14 -- Andy Krause (Rochelle) 4 0 8

Anders Winquist-Bailey (Kaneland) 3 2 8

Derek White (Kaneland) 3 2 8

Chad Swiecz (Kaneland) 3 2 8

Adam Westerby (Sycamore) 4 0 8

18 – David Rodriguez (Yorkville) 3 1 7

Jordan Escobedo (Kaneland) 3 1 7

Anthony Parillo (Kaneland) 3 1 7

-Steve Nemeth

Little 10 Conference Report - 9/27

2010-09-28T17:00:00.003-05:00

Earlville-Leland scores big road win at Newark

NEWARK --- With seven different players contributing Earlville-Leland kept its hopes alive for a share of the Little Ten Conference regular-season crown with a 5-1 road victory over Newark.

Felix Hernandez’s started the Red Raiders’ offensive fireworks with an unassisted goal and then Max Boltz set up Dalton Heath before Tyler Becker converted a penalty kick for a 3-0 halftime lead after Heath was taken down in the box.

Chris Collins also converted a PK opportunity in the second half and Danny Pfaff earned an assist on Brady Saylor’s strike which capped the scoring for coach Mike Corvo’s ballclub. Cory Buhler added another shutout half to his resume before Tanner Jacobs took over in net for the final 15 minutes. Both keepers had a pair of saves, but Jacobs wasn’t able to stop a late Norsemen penalty kick.

Earlville Leland (9-3-1 / 4-1-0) has its final home game on Friday in Leland when the Red Raiders host Paw Paw, now under the direction of former E-L coach Roger Essman.

Lauritzen hat trick paces Somonauk win at Paw Paw

Ethan Lauritzen’s hat trick propelled Somonauk (11-2-1 / 4-1-0) to an LTC victory over Paw Paw (6-8-1 / 1-4-0) on Monday (see Brian Hoxsey’s story).

Gullstrands’ return sparks T-wolves shutout of Serena

SERENA --- "Welcome back Ryan Gullstrand!" was just one of coach Eric Shrader’s thoughts after Indian Creek cruised to a 6-0 shutout at Serena on Monday.

The senior quad-captain was injured in the Timberwolves’ season opener and was making just his second appearance since returning to action and obviously made an impact with his first and second goals of the season. In fact, Gullstrand used a Shaquille Crayton assist to put ICHS ahead 1-0 at halftime.

Gullstrand used Bret Ostrom’s team-best 11th set-up of the season to make it 2-0 in the second half and then Marr Kyler assisted on Bret Ostrom’s seventh goal of the year. Dillon Martensen made use of Kyler’s seventh assist of the year for a 4-0 lead. After an unassisted strike by Tom Kallas, Caleb Gaston fed Carlos Sanchez for the final goal of the match.

“Ryan is officially back and actually just missed getting a hat trick. Our mids and forwards looked really good today,” Schrader said. “We passed the ball well and really kept possession for most of the game. We only allowed Serena a few chances and Jake Bjorneby (three saves) did a nice job in goal to get his second shutout in a row.”

In addition to improving to 2-3-0 in the LTC, Indian Creek now takes a 9-6-0 mark into Thursday’s home finale against DePue.

Passing not up to par but H-BR’s Royals still triumph

HINCKLEY --- Even if the passing game wasn’t up to par, Hinckley-Big Rock still managed a 3-0 non-conference victory over Mendota Monday.

In another example of what coach Paul Taeuber termed “winning ugly,” the Royals boosted their season ledger to 13-2-1 heading into a Wednesday visit to Princeton with a five-match win streak. Bernie Conley and Tim Engel both tallied unassisted goals in the opening half with Engel’s being his 11th goal of the year to go with five assists for 27 points.

Conley recorded his 13th goal with a second-half tally to go with six assists to bump his team-best point tally to 32. Justin Salazar made 13 saves for his fifth solo shutout effort to go along with three additional shutout halves.

Little Ten Conference Scoring Leaders - *
* -- Statistics not available from Newark and Serena

Player (School) Goals-Assists-Points
1 – Brandon Safranek (Paw Paw) 18 2 38
2 – Ethan Lauritzen (Somonauk) 16 4 36
3 -- Bernie Conley (Hinckley-Big Rock) 13 6 32
4 -- Javier Hernandez (Earlville-Leland) 12 4 28
5 -- Tim Engel (Hinckley-Big Rock) 11 5 27
6 – Bret Ostrom (Indian Creek) 7 10 24
7 -- Joel Calderon (Somonauk) 10 3 23
8 -- Shaquille Crayton (Indian Creek) 9 3 21
9 – Danny Heerhold (Somonuak) 7 5 19
10 -- Daniel Soto (Paw Paw) 7 3 17
Matt Kyler (Indian Creek) 5 7 17
12 -- Nick Siemers (Paw Paw) 5 6 16
Jared Madden (Hinckley-Big Rock) 5 5 15
14 -- Crayton Peterson (Indian Creek) 6 1 13
15 – Hunter Hardekopf (Somonauk) 4 4 12

Little Ten Conference 2010 Boys Soccer Schedule/Results
# --- Indicates Conference Matches

Monday / Aug. 23
Newark 2, at Plano 2
Hinckley-Big Rock 5, at Rochelle 0
Serena 2, at Aurora Central Catholic 4

Tuesday / Aug. 24
Serena 3, at Newark 4

Wednesday / Aug. 25
Byron 0, at Hinckley-Big Rock 2

Thursday / Aug. 26
Paw Paw 0, Indian Creek 6

Friday / Aug. 27
Hinckley-Big Rock 2, vs. Rockford Lutheran 0 in Stillman Valley Tournament
Indian Creek 1, vs. Stillman Valley in Stillman Valley Tournament

Saturday / Aug. 28
Hinckley-Big Rock 2, Rockford Keith, 0 in Stillman Valley Tournament
Indian Creek 1, vs. Genoa-Kingston 3 in Stillman Valley Tournament
Hinckley-Big Rock 1, Stillman Valley 0 in Stillman Valley Tournament
Indian Creek 3, vs. Rockford Lutheran 0 in Stillman Valley Tournament
Paw Paw 2, vs. Coal City 2 / in Streator Tourney
Paw Paw 1, vs. Danville Schlarman 5 / in Streator Tourney
Paw Paw 0, vs. Streator 4 / in Streator Tourney
Earlville-Leland 0, vs. DePue 1 in Earlville-Leland Tourney
Newark 0, vs. Serena 0 in Earlville-Leland Tourney
Earlville-Leland 4, vs. Serena 0 in Earlville-Leland Tourney
Newark 3, vs. DePue 4 in Earlville-Leland Tourney
Earlville-Leland 4, vs. Newark 9 in Earlville-Leland Tourney
Serena 0, vs. DePue 1 in Earlville-Leland Tourney
Somonauk 4, vs. Plano 1 in Bobcat Breakout Tourney
Somonauk 6, vs. Reed-Custer 0 in Bobcat Breakout Tourney
Somonauk 2, vs. Aurora Central Catholic in Bobcat Breakout Tourney

Monday / Aug. 30
Aurora Central Catholic 4, at Paw Paw 4
Somonauk 4, at Ottawa 2
Serena 2, at Coal City 0

Tuesday / Aug. 31
Elgin St. Edward 0, at Indian Creek 6

Wednesday / Sept. 1
Hinckley-Big Rock 7, at Serena 1 - #
Paw Paw 1, at Newark 3 - #
Somonauk 1, at Earlville-Leland 3 - #

Thursday / Sept. 2
Indian Creek 4, at Aurora Central Catholic 2
Streator 5, at Newark 2

Friday / Sept. 3
Somonauk 2, at Lisle 2

Saturday / Sept. 4
Earlville-Leland 3, at Princeton 1
Westminster Christian 2, at Indian Creek 4
Stillman Valley 2, at Somonauk 0
Serena 2, at Plano 4

Tuesday / Sept. 5
Newark 4, at Alleman 4

Wednesday / Sept. 8
Kaneland 0, at Hinckley-Big Rock 1
Indian Creek 2, at Paw Paw 1 (OT) - #

Thursday / Sept. 9
Newark 3 at Hiawatha 2
Serena 1 at DePue 1

Friday / Sept. 10
Paw Paw 3 at Dixon Faith Christian 2
Earlville-Leland 0 at Hinckley-Big Rock 1 - #
Indian Creek 5 at Elgin Academy 1

Saturday / Sept. 11
Timothy Christian 4 at Earlville-Leland 0
Oregon 2 at Somonauk 3

Monday / Sept. 13
DeKalb 1 at Hinckley-Big Rock 0
Rockford Christian Life 3 at Paw Paw 5

Tuesday / Sept. 14
Mendota 0 at Earlville-Leland 2
Newark 4 at DePue 1

Wednesday / Sept. 15
Newark 4 at Indian Creek 2
Somonauk 2at Hinckley-Big Rock 0
Serena 1 at Earlville-Leland 2

Thursday / Sept. 16
Hinckley-Big Rock 1 at Westminster Christian 1
Indian Creek 1 at Princeton 5
Paw Paw 4 at DePue 2
Newark 0 at Mendota 1

Saturday / Sept. 18
Elgin Academy 2 at Paw Paw 5
Indian Creek 0 at Earlville-Leland 3 - #
Newark 1 at Serena 0

Monday / Sept. 20
Indian Creek 0 at Hinckley-Big Rock 2
Somonauk 5 at Newark 1
Paw Paw 2 at Serena 0

Tuesday / Sept. 21
Hinckley-Big Rock 4 at Paw Paw 1 – #

Thursday / Sept. 23
IMSA 0 at Hinckley-Big Rock 6
Earlville-Leland 2 at DePue 2
Plano 0 at Somonauk 1

Friday / Sept. 24
Hinckley-Big Rock 1 at Newark 0 - #
Serena 0 at Somonauk 5 - #

Saturday / Sept. 25
Plano 0 at Indian Creek 3
Sandwich 3 at Paw Paw 4
Earlville-Leland 3 at Rockford Keith 2
Somonauk 4 at Westminster Christian 2
Serena 0 at LaSalle-Peru 0

Monday / Sept. 27
Mendota 0 at Hinckley-Big Rock 3
Earlville-Leland 5 at Newark 1 - #
Serena 1 at Indian Creek 6 - #
Somonauk 6 at Paw Paw 1 - #

Tuesday / Sept. 28
Hinckley-Big Rock at Princeton, 5 pm

Wednesday / Sept. 29
Mendota at Somonauk, 4:30 pm

Thursday / Sept. 30
DePue at Indian Creek, 4:30 pm
Paw Paw at Rockford Christian Life, 4:30 pm
Elgin Academy at Newark, 4:30 pm

Friday / Oct. 1
Indian Creek at Somonauk, 6 pm - #
Paw Paw at Earlville-Leland, 6:30 pm – #
Hiawatha at Newark, 4:30 pm

Saturday / Oct. 2
Aurora Central Catholic at Hinckley-Big Rock, 1 pm
Indian Creek at Mendota, 10 am
DePue at Paw Paw, 1 pm
Earlvile-Leland at Rochelle, 10 am
Genoa-Kingston at Somonauk, 11 am
Serena at Ottawa, Time TBA

Monday / Oct. 4
Little Ten Conference Tournament

Tuesday / Oct. 5
Little Ten Conference Tournament

Thursday / Oct. 7
Little Ten Conference Tournament

Friday / Oct. 8
Little Ten Conference Tournament

-Steve Nemeth

Little 10 Volleyball Standings (Standings updated 9/28)

2010-09-28T11:59:00.002-05:00

Little Ten Conference Volleyball Standings
Through games Sept. 28th

Hinckley-Big Rock 5-0
Newark 4-0
Indian Creek 4-1
Leland-Earlville 4-1
Serena 3-2
LaMoille-Ohio 1-3
Somonauk 1-4
Hiawatha 0-5
Paw Paw 0-6

Remaining Conference Schedule

Tuesday Sept. 28

LaMoille-Ohio at Leland-Earlville
Newark at Somonauk
Serena at Paw Paw
Hiawatha at Indian Creek

Thursday Sept. 30

Indian Creek at Leland-Earlville
Newark at Serena
Somonauk at LaMoille-Ohio

October 4-8

Little Ten Conference Tournament at Hinckley-Big Rock

Tuesday Oct. 12

Leland-Earlville at Newark
Paw Paw at Somonauk
Indian Creek at Hinckley-Big Rock
Hiawatha at LaMoille-Ohio

Thursday Oct. 14

Leland-Earlville at Serena
Paw Paw at Hiawatha
Newark at Hinckley-Big Rock
LaMoille-Ohio at Indian Creek

Tuesday Oct. 19

Hinckley-Big Rock at LaMoille-Ohio
Serena at Somonauk

Wednesday Oct. 20

Hiawatha at Newark

NIB-12 East Soccer: DeKalb-Sycamore rivalry kicks off another series of league games

2010-09-27T07:42:00.002-05:00

DeKalb and Sycamore continue their neighborly rivalry on Monday (Sept. 27) and that starts another series of Northern Illinois Big 12 Conference East Division soccer showdowns on Tuesday (Sept. 28) and Wednesday (Sept. 28).

Last week laid the foundation for the a league race that promises to be full of interesting showdowns that lead into the second half of the home-and-home series. Here’s a team-by-team look at what’s ahead after last week’s action.

Hubs become front runners

While a Tuesday visit to Kaneland was cut short by lightning, the 0-0 tie enabled Rochelle to remain red-hot and a follow-up 2-1 victory at DeKalb boosted the Hubs’ unbeaten streak to eight straight and put RHS atop the loop at 3-0-1.

Now boasting four of the league’s top 19-rated point producers, Rochelle - now 7-3-2 after starting the year 0-3-1 - hosts Yorkville on Tuesday before visiting Morris on Thursday and ending the week with a home date against Earlville-Leland.

Assistant coach Hector Garcia continues to direct the Hubs in head coach Kevin Lamb’s absence and looks to No. 4 and 5 point producers Ramon Lopez (12 pts. – 5g/2a) and Justin Kammes (9 pts. – 3g/3a) to lead the way.

Barbs continue string of league matches

DeKalb continues its all-NIB12 East all-the-time run of contests with three more of a string of eight straight conference battles.

After a 2-1 setback at home against Rochelle, DHS (7-2-4 / 2-1-0) and Sycamore meet on Monday and the Barbs then trek to Morris on Tuesday (Sept. 28) before hosting Kaneland on Thursday (Sept. 30).

“Rochelle played with a lot of enthusiasm and unfortunately, we didn’t,” McIntosh noted. League scoring leader Joe Ferguson hopes to boost his tally of 21 points (9g/3a) as does No. 2 scorer Sammy Lake at 16 points (5g/6a).

Knights face marathon slate

After the lightning-shortened scoreless draw with Rochelle, Kaneland (5-4-1 / 2-1-1) cruised to a 5-0 victory at Yorkville.

Coach Scott Parillo hopes his Knights are ready for seven matches over an eight day span. After hosting Sycamore on Tuesday (Sept. 30) and starting the second half of the league schedule with a Thursday (Sept. 30) visit to DeKalb, KHS has three games over the weekend in the Algonquin Jacobs Invitational followed n Oct. 4 with a visit to Belvidere and an Oct. 5 visit from Morris.

Alex Gill remained the loop’s No. 3 point producer with 15 and the top set-up man with seven assists. He and his teammates will be out to avenge a 1-0 loss to DeKalb from their conference inaugural.

Spartans hope to get healthy quickly

Sycamore’s focus this week aside from getting healthy is getting back into the league race.

The Spartans (4-7-2 / 1-2-0) begin with the rivalry match Monday (Sept. 27) with DeKalb and then visit Kaneland Tuesday (Sept. 28) before hosting Yorkville on Thursday (Sept. 30). Tyler Wallace paces Sycamore with eight points (4g) which makes him one of six players sharing the No. 6 rung on the scoring ladder.

Foxes’ schedule has them on the run

Yorkville hits the road this week playing at Rochelle on Tuesday (Sept. 30) and then at Sycamore on Thursday (Sept. 30) to start the second tour of NIB12 East contests.

The Foxes (4-8-0 / 1-3-0) were coming off back-to-back victories before coming up way short in a 5-0 loss to Kaneland. Artan Emini and Javier Cervantes are both members of that “sixth-place club” for scoring with eight points with Cervantes having four goals while Emini adds four assists to a pair of goals.

Morris wants more league success

After losing its first three NIB12 East contests, Morris posted a 1-0 shutout of Sycamore before ending the week with a 4-0 non-conference loss to Minooka.

The Redskins (3-8-0 / 1-3-0) have nothing but league matches ahead starting with Tuesday’s (Sept. 28) home date with DeKalb and Thursday’s (Sept. 30) visit from Rochelle. Against the Hubs, MHS will be seeking to avenge a 2-1 loss that started served as their conference opener. Diego Luna (3g/2a) and Chava Villanueva (4g) are also members of that “sixth-place club” with eight points.

Northern Illinois Big 12 East Standings
(Heading into Sept. 27)

Schools Conference Overall

Rochelle 3-0-1 / 7-3-2

DeKalb 2-1-0 / 7-2-4

Kaneland 2-1-1 / 5-4-1

Sycamore 1-2-0 / 4-7-2

Yorkville 1-3-0 / 4-8-0

Morris 1-3-0 / 3-8-0

Current Northern Illinois Big 12 Conference East Scores
# - denotes divisional game

Monday / Aug. 23
Plainfield Central 2, at Yorkville 0

Tuesday / Aug. 24
Kaneland 4, at Marengo 0
Hononegah 1 at DeKalb, 1
Morris 0, at Coal City 0
Hinckley-Big Rock 6, at Rochelle 0
Freeport 1, at Sycamore 1

Thursday / Aug. 26
Yorkville 1, at Plainfield South 7
Morris 2, at Joliet Catholic 2

Friday / Aug. 27
Rochelle 2, vs. Woodstock 2 / in Auburn Knights Invitational
Rochelle 0, vs. Rock Island 3 / in Auburn Knights Invitational
Sycamore 0, vs. Rockford Guilford 1 in Auburn Knights Invitational
Sycamore 3, vs. Sterling 1 in Auburn Knights Invitational

Saturday / Aug. 28
Yorkville 1, vs. Burlington Central 4 / in Burlington Central Tourney
DeKalb 3, Wheaton St. Francis 0 / in Burlington Central Tourney
Rochelle 0, vs. Harlem 4 / in Auburn Knights Invitational
Sycamore 1, vs. Rockford Christian 1 in Auburn Knights Invitational

Monday / Aug. 30
Morris 2, at Tinley Park 1
Dixon 1, at Rochelle 2

Tuesday / Aug. 31
Kaneland 5, vs. Yorkville 1 / in Burlington Central Tourney
Sycamore 2, at Dixon 0

Thursday / Sept. 2
Kaneland 0, vs. Burlington Central 3 in Burlington Central Tourney
DeKalb 1, vs. South Elgin 4 / in Burlington Central Tourney
Rochelle 3, at Sterling 2

Saturday / Sept. 4
DeKalb 3, vs. Kaneland 1 in Burlington Central Tourney
Yorkville 1, vs. Wheaton St. Francis 6 in Burlington Central Tourney

Tuesday / Sept. 7
Yorkville 3, at IMSA 1
Boylan 0, at DeKalb 0
Princeton 3, at Morris 1
Belvidere 2, at Rochelle 3
Harlem 3, at Sycamore 1

Wednesday / Sept. 8
Kaneland 0, at Hinckley-Big Rock 1
Belvidere North 1 at Rochelle 2

Thursday / Sept. 9
IMSA 2 at Kaneland 3
Sycamore 2 at Aurora Marmion 4

Saturday / Sept. 11
DeKalb 2 at Freeport 0
Plainfield South 4 at Morris 0

Monday / Sept. 13
DeKalb 1 at Hinckley-Big Rock 0
Wilmington 1 at Morris 5

Tuesday / Sept. 14
DeKalb 1, at Kaneland 0 - #
Sycamore 1, at Yorkville 0 - #
Morris 1, at Rochelle 2 - #

Wednesday / Sept. 15
Plano 1, at Yorkville 3

Thursday / Sept. 16
Kaneland 3, at Morris 0 - #
Yorkville 0, at DeKalb 2 - #
Rochelle 2, at Sycamore 1 - #

Friday / Sept. 17
DeKalb 2, vs. Mundelein 2 / in Prairie Ridge Invitational
Sycamore 0, vs. Crystal Lake South 3 / in Rockton-Hononegah Tournament

Saturday / Sept. 18
DeKalb 0, vs. McHenry 0 / in Crystal Lake Prairie Ridge Invitational
DeKalb 2, vs. Prairie Ridge 0 / in Crystal Lake Prairie Ridge Invitational
Sycamore 0, vs. Rockford Christian 1 (1-3 PK Shootuout) / in Hononegah Tournament
Sycamore 3, vs. Elgin St. Edward 0 / in Hononegah Tournament

Tuesday / Sept. 21
Rochelle 0 at Kaneland 0 - #
Morris 0 at Yorkville 1 - #

Wednesday / Sept. 22
Yorkville 3 at Coal City 1
Rochelle 2 at DeKalb 1 - #

Thursday / Sept. 23
Kaneland 5 at Yorkville 0 - #
Sycamore 0 at Morris 1 - #

Saturday / Sept. 25
Minooka 4 at Morris 0

Monday / Sept. 27
DeKalb at Sycamore, 4:30 pm - #

Tuesday / Sept. 28
Sycamore at Kaneland, 4:30 pm - #
Yorkville at Rochelle, 4:30 pm - #
DeKalb at Morris, 4:30 pm - #

Thursday / Sept. 30
Kaneland at DeKalb, 4:30 pm - #
Yorkville at Sycamore, 4:30 pm - #
Rochelle at Morris, 4:30 pm - #

Friday / Oct. 1
Kaneland in Algonquin Jacobs Invitational, 4:30 pm

Saturday / Oct. 2
Kaneland in Algonquin Jacobs Invitational, 9 / 11 am
Earlville-Leland at Rochelle, 10 am

Monday / Oct. 4
Kaneland at Belvidere, 6 pm
Sandwich at Yorkville, 6:15 pm

-Steve Nemeth

Area "Volley for the Cure" Matches

2010-09-22T10:10:00.000-05:00

For the third year in a row, IHSA Volleyball teams will help raise funds for the The Susan G. Komen Breast Cancer Foundation in a promotion called Volley for the Cure. The foundation supports breast cancer research.

Certain high school volleyball events will feature special promotions and sell t-shirt as means of raising money.

The first such events for our area's volleyball teams take place on Thursday. Ottawa hosts LaSalle-Peru in a NIB-12 West division match, where t-shirts will be on sale for $10 along with pink paper ribbons. There will also be a bake sale.

Prophetstown will host Erie in the Three Rivers Conference match on Thursday. T-shirts will be on sale for $10 and there will be a variety of silent auction items, bake sale items, free admission and recognition to survivors, and a serving game.

Seneca will host Dwight in an Interstate 8 Conference match on Thursday. T-shirts will be on sale for $10, and there will be a basket raffle, 50/50 raffle, area business gift certificates raffle, and a bake sale.

Stillman Valley hosts Byron in a Big Northern West division match. T-shirts will be on sale for $10-12.

Below is a calendar of future Volley for the Cure matches involving area teams:

Tuesday, September 28 - Marengo vs. Hampshire (BNC East contest)
Wednesday, September 29 - Genoa-Kingston vs. Stillman Valley (BNC West contest)
Wednesday, September 29 - Winnebago vs. Byron (BNC West contest)
Tuesday, October 5 - Harlem vs. Rockford East (NIC-10 contest)
Tuesday, October 5 - Richmond-Burton vs. Harvard (BNC East contest)
Thursday, October 7 - Hampshire vs. North Boone (BNC East contest)
Tuesday, October 12 - Belvidere North vs. Harlem (NIC-10 contest)
Tuesday, October 12 - Rock Falls vs. Mendota (NCIC contest)

-Cody Cutter

Busy Week at the IHSA

2010-09-22T10:09:00.000-05:00

Around the NIB-12 East in Soccer

2010-09-21T00:01:00.000-05:00

Barbs survive exhausting week

When the season began, this may have looked like a really easy week for DeKalb. A chance to catch their breath certainly made sense for the Barbs considering the conclusion of seven matches over an eight-day period.

And it’s certainly understandable that coach Brent McIntosh was relieved to se his squad come through it with a 5-0-2 record plus the knowledge the defense gave up a mere two goals in that stretch.

The run began on 9-11 with a 2-0 win at Freeport followed by shutout victories over Hinckley-Big Rock (1-0 / 9-13), Kaneland (4-0 / 9-14) and Yorkville (4-0 / 9-16) prior to taking part in the Prairie Ridge Invitational where DHS battled Mundelein (2-2 / 9-17) and McHenry (0-0 / 9-18) to draws before beating the hosts (2-0 / 9-18). In that last contest, league scoring leader Joe Ferguson (21pts.) picked up his ninth goal of the year while NIB12E No. 2 scorer Sammy Lake (16 pts.) had his fifth and sixth assists of the season.

“I’m very pleased with our weekend. We allowed only two goals to a very good Mundelein team and came away with no losses and two shutouts,” McIntosh noted. “In addition to having gone 5-0-2 over that stretch, only one of those was a home contest.”

However, life doesn’t necessarily get easier since the Barbs now start a string of eight consecutive Northern Illinois Big 12 East Division matches hosting what maybe the league’s most surprising and hottest team in Rochelle. The Hubs bring a six-match win streak into Wednesday’s 4:30 pm match at DeKalb.

Kaneland hoping to stay on an upswing

So far the 2010 campaign has been a roller-coaster ride for Kaneland with ups and downs en route to a 4-4-0 overall record and 1-1-0 NIB12E tally.

After opening the year with a pair of wins, the Knights suffered three straight setbacks before a non-conference triumph preceded a home loss and road win to start league play. KHS bounced back from a narrow 1-0 defeat courtesy of DeKalb to record a 3-0 road win at Morris.

In the latter contest, Alex Gil set up Anders Winquist-Bailey for a first-half goal and then capped the scoring with an unassisted free kick. The sophomore quint-captain is third in conference points with 12 (4g/4a) while teammates Winquist-Bailey (2g/2a) and Derek White (3g) are among the many league players with six points.

This week’s slate starts with a Tuesday home date against Rochelle followed by a Thursday visit to Yorkville. Kaneland boasts a 5-1 win over YHS from earlier in the season as part of the Burlington Central Tournament.

Morris aiming for health and momentum

Coach Nathan Cotes has been forced to adjust his line-up due to injuries and with the hope of finding the key to some better finishing.

Following a 2-1 loss at Rochelle, the Redskins outshot Kaneland in terms of shots on frame, but still came up on the empty end of a 3-0 contest to sport a 2-6-0 overall mark and 0-2-0 loop standard.

“We had a couple breakdowns and we’re trying different line-ups because of all the injuries,” Cotes said. “I’m confident we can still get better and have a good run and carry it into the playoffs.”

Morris has NIB12E matches at Yorkville on Tuesday and at home versus Sycamore on Thursday before a Saturday morning non-conference home match with Minooka. Diego Luna stands sixth in loop scoring with 8 points (3g/2a) while teammate Chava Villanueva (3g) is another member of the six-point pack.

Hubba-hubba Hubs

The purple-clad Rochelle boys soccer squad is suddenly red hot. Last week’s first-ever victory over Sycamore is the latest in a school record six-match win streak.

In addition to scoring two or three goals in each of those contests, the Hubs’ defense has managed to do its part with every single victory being a one-goal nail-biter. As head coach Kevin Lamb continues to regain his strength and win his medical battle, assistants Hector Garcia and Carol Winterton have overseen the turnaround from an 0-3-1 start to the season.

Rochelle travels to Kaneland on Tuesday and DeKalb on Wednesday hoping to add to the first column in the 6-3-1 season ledger and 2-0-0 NIB12E record.

The Hubs have four of the league’s top 14 points producers led by No. 4 Ramon Lopez (10 pts. - 4g/2a). Justin Kammes (9 pts. – 3g/3a) is tied for fifth while Emmanuel (2g/2a) and Cristian Garcia (3g) are among a pack of players boasting 6 points.

Spartans need to regain magic touch

Considering its recent run of post-season success, Sycamore continues to struggle to find its rhythm and the result is a less than satisfying 4-6-2 overall record and 1-1-0 NIB12E mark.

Coach Dave Lichamer’s club is coming off a fairly hectic week which began with a 1-0 conference road win at Yorkville before a 2-1 home loss to league foe Rochelle. The weekend was spent at the Rockton-Hononegah Tourney where Crystal Lake South posted a 3-0 triumph over the Spartans before Rockford Christian claimed a 1-0 win based on a 3-1 edge in a penalty kick shootout.

But that’s when Sycamore got back on track with a 3-0 shutout of Elgin St. Edward and it’s that success that Lichamer hopes provides the momentum for the week ahead which starts Tuesday with a home date against long-time neighbor and rival DeKalb. Then comes a Thursday trip to Kaneland.

Tyler Wallace is tied for sixth on the league point list with his team best four goals for 8 points while Adam Westerby has a trio of strikes to put him in the six-point pack.

Yorkville aiming for consistency, stronger finishing

Coach Michael Jacobs hopes his Foxes are getting closer to playing at a consistently high level for 80 minutes after seeing his squad go 1-2 over three consecutive days of action last week.

After a narrow 1-0 loss to Sycamore in the NIB12E opener, Yorkville enjoyed a 3-1 non-conference triumph over Plano before coming up shot in a 2-0 visit to DeKalb. In beating the Reapers, Artan Emini stepped up big with a goal 23:22 into the contest thanks to a David Rodriguez assist and then added what proved to be the matchwinner just 5:34 into the second half via Salvador Villagrana’s assist. Yorkville picked up an insurance goal with 26:12 left to be played when Chandler Cathey netted the ball after a scramble that ensued off a YHS corner kick.
Although the Foxes yielded two first-half goals to DeKalb, Jacobs believed his squad held its own for the final 40 minutes.

This week finds Yorkville hosting Morris on Tuesday and then sandwiching a non-conference trek to Coal City on Wednesday between another league home contest with Kaneland on Thursday. Junior quad-captain Javier Cervantes is part of the pack boasting six points on the NIB12E scoring chart.

Northern Illinois Big 12 East Division Standings (prior to 9-21 matches)

DeKalb 2-0-0 6-1-2
Rochelle 2-0-0 6-3-1
Kaneland 1-1-0 4-4-0
Sycamore 1-1-0 4-6-2
Morris 0-2-0 2-6-0
Yorkville 0-2-0 2-7-0

Northern Illinois Big 12 East Division Scoring Leaders

Player (School) - Goals - Assists - Points
1 – Joe Ferguson (DeKalb) 9 3 21
2 – Sammy Lake (DeKalb) 5 6 16
3 – Alex Gil (Kaneland) 4 4 12
4 – Ramon Lopez (Rochelle) 4 2 10
5 - Justin Kammes (Rochelle) 3 3 9
6 – Tyler Wallace (Sycamore) 4 0 8
Diego Luna (Morris) 3 2 8
8 – Anthony Varga (DeKalb) 1 4 6
Derek White (Kaneland) 3 0 6
Anders Winquist-Bailey (Kaneland) 2 2 6
Chava Villanueva (Morris) 3 0 6
Cristian Garcia (Rochelle) 3 0 6
Emmanuel Garcia (Rochelle) 2 2 6
Adam Westerby (Sycamore) 3 0 6
Javier Cervantes (Yorkville) 3 0 6

Current Northern Illinois Big 12 Conference East Scores
# - denotes divisional game

Monday / Aug. 23
Plainfield Central 2, at Yorkville 0

Tuesday / Aug. 24
Kaneland 4, at Marengo 0
Hononegah 1 at DeKalb, 1
Morris 0, at Coal City 0
Hinckley-Big Rock 6, at Rochelle 0
Freeport 1, at Sycamore 1

Thursday / Aug. 26
Yorkville 1, at Plainfield South 7
Morris 2, at Joliet Catholic 2

Friday / Aug. 27
Rochelle 2, vs. Woodstock 2 / in Auburn Knights Invitational
Rochelle 0, vs. Rock Island 3 / in Auburn Knights Invitational
Sycamore 0, vs. Rockford Guilford 1 in Auburn Knights Invitational
Sycamore 3, vs. Sterling 1 in Auburn Knights Invitational

Saturday / Aug. 28
Yorkville 1, vs. Burlington Central 4 / in Burlington Central Tourney
DeKalb 3, Wheaton St. Francis 0 / in Burlington Central Tourney
Rochelle 0, vs. Harlem 4 / in Auburn Knights Invitational
Sycamore 1, vs. Rockford Christian 1 in Auburn Knights Invitational

Monday / Aug. 30
Morris 2, at Tinley Park 1
Dixon 1, at Rochelle 2

Tuesday / Aug. 31
Kaneland 5, vs. Yorkville 1 / in Burlington Central Tourney
Sycamore 2, at Dixon 0

Thursday / Sept. 2
Kaneland 0, vs. Burlington Central 3 in Burlington Central Tourney
DeKalb 1, vs. South Elgin 4 / in Burlington Central Tourney
Rochelle 3, at Sterling 2

Saturday / Sept. 4
DeKalb 3, vs. Kaneland 1 in Burlington Central Tourney
Yorkville 1, vs. Wheaton St. Francis 6 in Burlington Central Tourney

Tuesday / Sept. 7
Yorkville 3, at IMSA 1
Boylan 0, at DeKalb 0
Princeton 3, at Morris 1
Belvidere 2, at Rochelle 3
Harlem 3, at Sycamore 1

Wednesday / Sept. 8
Kaneland 0, at Hinckley-Big Rock 1
Belvidere North 1 at Rochelle 2

Thursday / Sept. 9
IMSA 2 at Kaneland 3
Sycamore 2 at Aurora Marmion 4

Saturday / Sept. 11
DeKalb 2 at Freeport 0
Plainfield South 4 at Morris 0

Monday / Sept. 13
DeKalb 1 at Hinckley-Big Rock 0
Wilmington 1 at Morris 5

Tuesday / Sept. 14
DeKalb 1, at Kaneland 0 - #
Sycamore 1, at Yorkville 0 - #
Morris 1, at Rochelle 2 - #

Wednesday / Sept. 15
Plano 1, at Yorkville 3

Thursday / Sept. 16
Kaneland 3, at Morris 0 - #
Yorkville 0, at DeKalb 2 - #
Rochelle 2, at Sycamore 1 - #

Friday / Sept. 17
DeKalb 2, vs. Mundelein 2 / in Prairie Ridge Invitational
Sycamore 0, vs. Crystal Lake South 3 / in Rockton-Hononegah Tournament

Saturday / Sept. 18
DeKalb 0, vs. McHenry 0 / in Crystal Lake Prairie Ridge Invitational
DeKalb 2, vs. Prairie Ridge 0 / in Crystal Lake Prairie Ridge Invitational
Sycamore 0, vs. Rockford Christian 1 (1-3 PK Shootuout) / in Hononegah Tournament
Sycamore 3, vs. Elgin St. Edward 0 / in Hononegah Tournament

Tuesday / Sept. 21
Rochelle at Kaneland, 4:30 pm - #
Morris at Yorkville, 4:30 pm - #
DeKalb at Sycamore, 4:30 pm - #

Wednesday / Sept. 22
Yorkville at Coal City, 4:30 pm
Rochelle at DeKalb, 4:30 pm - #
Sycamore at Morris, 4:30 pm - #

Thursday / Sept. 23
Kaneland at Yorkville, 4:30 pm - #

Saturday / Sept. 25
Minooka at Morris, 10 am

Monday / Sept. 27
DeKalb at Sycamore, 4:30 pm - #

-Steve Nemeth

Little 10 Conference Report (Standings, Games Updated 9/27)

2010-09-19T03:18:00.005-05:00

Updated Little 10 Standings After Sept. 27

Standings Conference Overall

W-L-T W-L-T
Hinckley-Big Rock 5-1-0 12-2-1
Earlville-Leland 3-1-0 9-3-1
Somonauk 3-1-0 10-2-1
Newark 3-2-0 6-6-3
Indian Creek 1-3-0 8-6-0
Paw Paw 1-3-0 6-7-1
Serena 0-5-0 1-11-3

Newark remains perfect halfway through LTC play

NEWARK --- Just one goal was enough for Newark to remain undefeated in Little Ten Conference play as the Norsemen chalked up a 1-0 road victory over Serena on Saturday.

Nick Bond scored in the second half to provide the matchwinner while Wyatt Williamson worked all 80 minutes in net to register his second shutout of the season. With the win, NHS boasts a 3-0-0 league record and improved the overall season standard to 6-4-3.

While the Norsemen still have to face all three of their main LTC contenders, the trio of contests are all home dates with the first crucial test on Monday when Somonauk (1-1-0) visits for a 4:30 pm match. After a non-conference visit to Aurora Central Catholic on Tuesday, Newark hosts Hinckley-Big Rock (2-1-0) on Friday and then welcomes Earlville-Leland (3-1-0) on Sept. 27.

Earlville-Leland blanks Indian Creek for Homecoming

EARLVILLE --- With a 3-0 shutout on the field, the Earlville-Leland Red Raiders assured themselves of a happier Homecoming weekend for 2010.

E-L gained a 1-0 halftime lead thanks to Javier Hernandez registering his team-best eighth goal of the year thanks to an assist from Tyler Becker. In the second half, Becker’s team-high fourth assist lead to Max Boltz’s first strike of the year. Javier Hernandez now boasts 19 points for the year as his third assist was the set-up for Dalton Heath’s first goal.

Cory Buhler notched 10 saves over the first 75 minutes before Tanner Jacobs made a couple of stops to preserve the shutout as the Red Raiders improved to 7-4-0 overall and 3-1-0 for league play. Earlville-Leland has a pair of non-conference contests as part of a three-match road swing which ends at Newark.

For the injury-plagued Timberwolves, it was their third straight setback which dipped the season ledger to 7-5-0 and 1-2-0 for LTC play. The physical battle almost produced as many yellow cards as shots on goal.

“I was proud of the way we played, we passed the ball well and our defense was pretty solid, we just couldn’t get off too many good shots,” Indian Creek coach Eric Schrader noted. “Every time we would try to attack, there’d be a whistle but we didn’t use our free kicks very efficiently. There’s no question this is the toughest part of our schedule.”

The Timberwolves visit Hinckley-Big Rock on Monday before enjoying a three-match homestand.

Paw Paw continues impressive turnaround

PAW PAW --- With four Little Ten contests still to play, a rejuvenated Paw Paw squad may have something to say about the LTC race.

After starting off 0-6-1 including two league losses, the Bulldogs are suddenly on a four-match win streak after Saturday’s 5-2 triumph over Elgin Academy . An offensive upsurge is behind the reversal of fortunes as PPHS - which was outscored 27-11 through the first seven contests - has chalked up 17 goals in the last four matches while yielding nine.

Against Elgin Academy, Brandon Safranek got things started with an unassisted goal and after Austin Safranek set up Nick Siemers, it was Siemers feeding Brandon Safranek hitting his 14th goal of the year to give the Bulldogs a 3-2 halftime lead.

In the second half, it was the Siemers and Daniel Soto Show. The duo assisted on each other’s goals as Soto tallied his fifth of the year and Siemers notched his fourth. Siemers also has a team-best five assists.

Paw Paw journeys to Serena on Monday before hosting Hinckley-Big Rock on Tuesday to start a three-match homestand.

Royals hoping to get back on track

HINCKLEY --- There’s no doubt Hinckley-Big Rock is looking forward to the start of a new week considering the past seven-day stretch.

After suffering their first loss of the year (1-0) at the hands of DeKalb, the Royals fell to 2-1-0 in league play with a 2-0 loss at Somonauk followed on Thursday by a 1-1 draw at Westminster Christian. The three straight matches without a win left H-BR with an 8-2-1 overall record.

Of course another busy stretch begins with Monday’s home date against Indian Creek. After a Tuesday LTC visit to Paw Paw, the Royals host Illinois Math and Science Academy on Thursday followed by a Friday league match at Newark.

Little Ten Conference 2010 Boys Soccer Schedule/Results
# --- Indicates Conference Matches

Monday / Aug. 23
Newark 2, at Plano 2
Hinckley-Big Rock 5, at Rochelle 0
Serena 2, at Aurora Central Catholic 4

Tuesday / Aug. 24
Serena 3, at Newark 4

Wednesday / Aug. 25
Byron 0, at Hinckley-Big Rock 2

Thursday / Aug. 26
Paw Paw 0, Indian Creek 6

Friday / Aug. 27
Hinckley-Big Rock 2, vs. Rockford Lutheran 0 in Stillman Valley Tournament
Indian Creek 1, vs. Stillman Valley in Stillman Valley Tournament

Saturday / Aug. 28
Hinckley-Big Rock 2, Rockford Keith, 0 in Stillman Valley Tournament
Indian Creek 1, vs. Genoa-Kingston 3 in Stillman Valley Tournament
Hinckley-Big Rock 1, Stillman Valley 0 in Stillman Valley Tournament
Indian Creek 3, vs. Rockford Lutheran 0 in Stillman Valley Tournament
Paw Paw 2, vs. Coal City 2 / in Streator Tourney
Paw Paw 1, vs. Danville Schlarman 5 / in Streator Tourney
Paw Paw 0, vs. Streator 4 / in Streator Tourney
Earlville-Leland 0, vs. DePue 1 in Earlville-Leland Tourney
Newark 0, vs. Serena 0 in Earlville-Leland Tourney
Earlville-Leland 4, vs. Serena 0 in Earlville-Leland Tourney
Newark 3, vs. DePue 4 in Earlville-Leland Tourney
Earlville-Leland 4, vs. Newark 9 in Earlville-Leland Tourney
Serena 0, vs. DePue 1 in Earlville-Leland Tourney
Somonauk 4, vs. Plano 1 in Bobcat Breakout Tourney
Somonauk 6, vs. Reed-Custer 0 in Bobcat Breakout Tourney
Somonauk 2, vs. Aurora Central Catholic in Bobcat Breakout Tourney

Monday / Aug. 30
Aurora Central Catholic 4, at Paw Paw 4
Somonauk 4, at Ottawa 2
Serena 2, at Coal City 0

Tuesday / Aug. 31
Elgin St. Edward 0, at Indian Creek 6

Wednesday / Sept. 1
Hinckley-Big Rock 7, at Serena 1 - #
Paw Paw 1, at Newark 3 - #
Somonauk 1, at Earlville-Leland 3 - #

Thursday / Sept. 2
Indian Creek 4, at Aurora Central Catholic 2
Streator 5, at Newark 2

Friday / Sept. 3
Somonauk 2, at Lisle 2

Saturday / Sept. 4
Earlville-Leland 3, at Princeton 1
Westminster Christian 2, at Indian Creek 4
Stillman Valley 2, at Somonauk 0
Serena 2, at Plano 4

Tuesday / Sept. 5
Newark 4, at Alleman 4

Wednesday / Sept. 8
Kaneland 0, at Hinckley-Big Rock 1
Indian Creek 2, at Paw Paw 1 (OT) - #

Thursday / Sept. 9
Newark 3 at Hiawatha 2
Serena 1 at DePue 1

Friday / Sept. 10
Paw Paw 3 at Dixon Faith Christian 2
Earlville-Leland 0 at Hinckley-Big Rock 1 - #
Indian Creek 5 at Elgin Academy 1

Saturday / Sept. 11
Timothy Christian 4 at Earlville-Leland 0
Oregon 2 at Somonauk 3

Monday / Sept. 13
DeKalb 1 at Hinckley-Big Rock 0
Rockford Christian Life 3 at Paw Paw 5

Tuesday / Sept. 14
Mendota 0 at Earlville-Leland 2
Newark 4 at DePue 1

Wednesday / Sept. 15
Newark 4 at Indian Creek 2
Somonauk 2at Hinckley-Big Rock 0
Serena 1 at Earlville-Leland 2

Thursday / Sept. 16
Hinckley-Big Rock 1 at Westminster Christian 1
Indian Creek 1 at Princeton 5
Paw Paw 4 at DePue 2
Newark 0 at Mendota 1

Saturday / Sept. 18
Elgin Academy 2 at Paw Paw 5
Indian Creek 0 at Earlville-Leland 3 - #
Newark 1 at Serena 0

Monday / Sept. 20
Indian Creek 0 at Hinckley-Big Rock 2
Somonauk 5 at Newark 1
Paw Paw 2 at Serena 0

Tuesday / Sept. 21
Hinckley-Big Rock 4 at Paw Paw 1 – #

Thursday / Sept. 23
IMSA 0 at Hinckley-Big Rock 6
Earlville-Leland 2 at DePue 2
Plano 0 at Somonauk 1

Friday / Sept. 24
Hinckley-Big Rock 1 at Newark 0 - #
Serena 0 at Somonauk 5 - #

Saturday / Sept. 25
Plano 0 at Indian Creek 3
Sandwich 3 at Paw Paw 4
Earlville-Leland 3 at Rockford Keith 2
Somonauk 4 at Westminster Christian 2
Serena 0 at LaSalle-Peru 0

Monday / Sept. 27
Mendota at Hinckley-Big Rock, 4:30 pm
Earlville-Leland at Newark, 4:30 pm - #
Serena at Indian Creek, 4:30 pm - #
Somonauk at Paw Paw, 4:30 pm - #

Tuesday / Sept. 28
Hinckley-Big Rock at Princeton, 5 pm

Wednesday / Sept. 29
Mendota at Somonauk, 4:30 pm

Thursday / Sept. 30
DePue at Indian Creek, 4:30 pm
Paw Paw at Rockford Christian Life, 4:30 pm
Elgin Academy at Newark, 4:30 pm

Friday / Oct. 1
Indian Creek at Somonauk, 6 pm - #
Paw Paw at Earlville-Leland, 6:30 pm – #
Hiawatha at Newark, 4:30 pm

Saturday / Oct. 2
Aurora Central Catholic at Hinckley-Big Rock, 1 pm
Indian Creek at Mendota, 10 am
DePue at Paw Paw, 1 pm
Earlvile-Leland at Rochelle, 10 am
Genoa-Kingston at Somonauk, 11 am
Serena at Ottawa, Time TBA

Monday / Oct. 4
Little Ten Conference Tournament

Tuesday / Oct. 5
Little Ten Conference Tournament

Thursday / Oct. 7
Little Ten Conference Tournament

Friday / Oct. 8
Little Ten Conference Tournament

-Steve Nemeth (w/ updates by Brian Hoxsey)

IHSA Board Meets for September

2010-09-17T23:47:00.000-05:00

The Illinois High School Association had it's monthly board meeting on Monday, September 13 in Bloomington.

Three state final venue contracts were extended. The IHSA Bass Fishing State Tournament will continue to be held at Carlyle Lake. This school year will be the third year for the Bass Fishing tournament.

Also in its third year is the contract between U.S. Celluar Coliseum in Bloomington and the IHSA Dual Team Wrestling State Tournament. The third extension was given to Eastern Illinois University for the state Badminton tournament.

All extentions are through the 2015-16 school year.

Proposals for the Class 1A and Class 2A State Baseball Tournament have an October 1 submission deadline. The site will be finalized at the October IHSA Board meeting.

The IHSA Athletic Officials Advisory Committee met on September 9. Increased pay for state tournament wrestling officials was a recommendations, and there was discussion about ejected coaches being required to take an online clinic before returning to coach.

9/14 Little 10 & NIB-12 East Reports (Updated 9/16)

2010-09-14T15:56:00.003-05:00

Little Ten Conference Standings going into 9-18

Newark 4-3-3 2-0-0
Hinckley-Big Rock 8-2-0 2-1-0
Earlville/Leland 8-3-0 2-1-0
Inidan Creek 7-3-0 1-1-0
Somonauk 6-2-1 1-1-0
Paw Paw 2-6-1 0-2-0
Serena 1-8-2 0-2-0

Little Ten Conference 2010 Boys Soccer Schedule/Results# --- Indicates Conference Matches

Monday / Aug. 23
Newark 2, at Plano 2
Hinckley-Big Rock 5, at Rochelle 0
Serena 2, at Aurora Central Catholic 4

Tuesday / Aug. 24
Serena 3, at Newark 4

Wednesday / Aug. 25
Byron 0, at Hinckley-Big Rock 2

Thursday / Aug. 26
Paw Paw 0, Indian Creek 6

Friday / Aug. 27
Hinckley-Big Rock 2, vs. Rockford Lutheran 0 in Stillman Valley Tournament
Indian Creek 1, vs. Stillman Valley in Stillman Valley Tournament

Saturday / Aug. 28
Hinckley-Big Rock 2, Rockford Keith, 0 in Stillman Valley Tournament
Indian Creek 1, vs. Genoa-Kingston 3 in Stillman Valley Tournament
Hinckley-Big Rock 1, Stillman Valley 0 in Stillman Valley Tournament
Indian Creek 3, vs. Rockford Lutheran 0 in Stillman Valley Tournament
Paw Paw 2, vs. Coal City 2 / in Streator Tourney
Paw Paw 1, vs. Danville Schlarman 5 / in Streator Tourney
Paw Paw 0, vs. Streator 4 / in Streator Tourney
Earlville-Leland 0, vs. DePue 1 in Earlville-Leland Tourney
Newark 0, vs. Serena 0 in Earlville-Leland Tourney
Earlville-Leland 4, vs. Serena 0 in Earlville-Leland Tourney
Newark 3, vs. DePue 4 in Earlville-Leland Tourney
Earlville-Leland 4, vs. Newark 9 in Earlville-Leland Tourney
Serena 0, vs. DePue 1 in Earlville-Leland Tourney
Somonauk 4, vs. Plano 1 in Bobcat Breakout Tourney
Somonauk 6, vs. Reed-Custer 0 in Bobcat Breakout Tourney
Somonauk 2, vs. Aurora Central Catholic in Bobcat Breakout Tourney

Monday / Aug. 30
Aurora Central Catholic 4, at Paw Paw 4
Somonauk 4, at Ottawa 2
Serena 2, at Coal City 0

Tuesday / Aug. 31
Elgin St. Edward 0, at Indian Creek 6

Wednesday / Sept. 1
Hinckley-Big Rock 7, at Serena 1 - #
Paw Paw 1, at Newark 3 - #
Somonauk 1, at Earlville-Leland 3 - #

Thursday / Sept. 2
Indian Creek 4, at Aurora Central Catholic 2
Streator 5, at Newark 2

Friday / Sept. 3
Somonauk 2, at Lisle 2

Saturday / Sept. 4
Earlville-Leland 3, at Princeton 1
Westminster Christian 2, at Indian Creek 4
Stillman Valley 2, at Somonauk 0
Serena 2, at Plano 4

Wednesday / Sept. 8
Kaneland 0, at Hinckley-Big Rock 1
Indian Creek 2, at Paw Paw 1 (OT) - #

Thursday / Sept. 9
Newark 3 at Hiawatha 2
Serena 1 at DePue 1

Friday / Sept. 10
Paw Paw 3 at Dixon Faith Christian 2
Earlville-Leland 0 at Hinckley-Big Rock 1 - #
Indian Creek 5 at Elgin Academy 1

Saturday / Sept. 11
Timothy Christian 4 at Earlville-Leland 0
Oregon 2 at Somonauk 3

Monday / Sept. 13
DeKalb 1 at Hinckley-Big Rock 0
Rockford Christian Life 3 at Paw Paw 5

Tuesday / Sept. 14
Mendota 0 at Earlville-Leland 2
Newark 4 at DePue 1

Wednesday / Sept. 15
Newark 4 at Indian Creek 2
Somonauk 2at Hinckley-Big Rock 0
Serena 1 at Earlville-Leland 2

Thursday / Sept. 16
Hinckley-Big Rock 1 at Westminster Christian 1
Indian Creek 1 at Princeton 5
Paw Paw 4 at DePue 2
Newark 0 at Mendota 1

Saturday / Sept. 18
Elgin Academy at Paw Paw, 1 pm
Indian Creek at Earlville-Leland, 2 pm - #
Newark at Serena, 12:30 pm - #

Monday / Sept. 20
Indian Creek at Hinckley-Big Rock, 6:30 pm
Somonauk at Newark, 4:30 pm - #
Paw Paw at Serena, 4:30 pm – #

Tuesday / Sept. 21
Hinckley-Big Rock at Paw Paw, 4:30 pm – #
Newark at Aurora Central Catholic, 4:30 pm

Northern Illinois Big 12 East Division Standings going into 9-15

DeKalb 0-0-0 / 4-1-2
Rochelle 0-0-0 / 4-3-1
Kaneland 0-0-0 / 3-3-0
Sycamore 0-0-0 / 2-3-2
Morris 0-0-0 / 2-4-0
Yorkville 0-0-0 / 1-5-0

Current Northern Illinois Big 12 Conference East Scores
# - denotes divisional game

Monday / Aug. 23
Plainfield Central 2, at Yorkville 0

Tuesday / Aug. 24
Kaneland 4, at Marengo 0
Hononegah 1 at DeKalb, 1
Morris 0, at Coal City 0
Hinckley-Big Rock 6, at Rochelle 0
Freeport 1, at Sycamore 1

Thursday / Aug. 26
Yorkville 1, at Plainfield South 7
Morris 2, at Joliet Catholic 2

Friday / Aug. 27
Rochelle 2, vs. Woodstock 2 / in Auburn Knights Invitational
Rochelle 0, vs. Rock Island 3 / in Auburn Knights Invitational
Sycamore 0, vs. Rockford Guilford 1 in Auburn Knights Invitational
Sycamore 3, vs. Sterling 1 in Auburn Knights Invitational

Saturday / Aug. 28
Yorkville 1, vs. Burlington Central 4 / in Burlington Central Tourney
DeKalb 3, Wheaton St. Francis 0 / in Burlington Central Tourney
Rochelle 0, vs. Harlem 4 / in Auburn Knights Invitational
Sycamore 1, vs. Rockford Christian 1 in Auburn Knights Invitational

Monday / Aug. 30
Morris 2, at Tinley Park 1
Dixon 1, at Rochelle 2

Tuesday / Aug. 31
Kaneland 5, vs. Yorkville 1 / in Burlington Central Tourney
Sycamore 2, at Dixon 0

Thursday / Sept. 2
Kaneland 0, vs. Burlington Central 3 in Burlington Central Tourney
DeKalb 1, vs. South Elgin 4 / in Burlington Central Tourney
Rochelle 3, at Sterling 2

Saturday / Sept. 4
DeKalb 3, vs. Kaneland 1 in Burlington Central Tourney
Yorkville 1, vs. Wheaton St. Francis 6 in Burlington Central Tourney

Tuesday / Sept. 7
Yorkville 3, at IMSA 1
Boylan 0, at DeKalb 0
Princeton 3, at Morris 1
Belvidere 2, at Rochelle 3
Harlem 3, at Sycamore 1

Wednesday / Sept. 8
Kaneland 0, at Hinckley-Big Rock 1
Belvidere North 1 at Rochelle 2

Thursday / Sept. 9
IMSA 2 at Kaneland 3
Sycamore 2 at Aurora Marmion 4

Saturday / Sept. 11
DeKalb 2 at Freeport 0
Plainfield South 4 at Morris 0

Monday / Sept. 13
DeKalb 1 at Hinckley-Big Rock 0
Wilmington 1 at Morris 5

Tuesday / Sept. 14
DeKalb at Kaneland, 4:30 pm - #
Sycamore at Yorkville, 4:30 pm - #
Morris at Rochelle, 4:30 pm - #

Wednesday / Sept. 15
Plano at Yorkville, 6:15 pm

Thursday / Sept. 16
Kaneland at Morris 4:30 pm - #
Yorkville at DeKalb, 4:30 pm - #
Rochelle at Sycamore, 4:30 pm - #

Friday / Sept. 17
DeKalb vs. Mundelein in Crystal Lake Prairie Ridge Invitational, 4:30 pm
Sycamore vs. Crystal Lake South in Hononegah Tournament, 6:30 pm

Saturday / Sept. 18
DeKalb vs. McHenry in Prairie Ridge Invitational, 10 am
DeKalb vs. Prairie Ridge in Prairie Ridge Invitational, 1 pm
Sycamore vs. Rockford Christian in Hononegah Tournament, 8:30 am
Sycamore vs. Elgin St. Edward in Hononegah Tournament, 11 am

Tuesday / Sept. 21
Rochelle at Kaneland, 4:30 pm - #
Morris at Yorkville, 4:30 pm - #
DeKalb at Sycamore, 4:30 pm - #

Wednesday / Sept. 22
Yorkville at Coal City, 4:30 pm
Rochelle at DeKalb, 4:30 pm - #
Sycamore at Morris, 4:30 pm - #

-Steve Nemeth/Brian Hoxsey

Golf Regional and Sectional Assignments

2010-09-13T23:59:00.000-05:00

The Illinois High School Association has released the postseason assignments for the state's boys and girls golf teams.

Boys regionals take place on Tuesday, October 5 with Sectionals taking place on Monday, October 11. Girls regionals take place on Wednesday, October 6 with Sectionals taking place on October 11.

For Class 1A area boys, most teams will be competing at the Elgin Westminster Sectional at the Golf Club of Illinois in suburban Algonquin. Regionals at Riverdale, Byron, Putnam County and Elgin St. Edward feed into it.

Competing at Riverdale (at the Maple Bluff Golf Club in Geneseo) are: East Dubuque, Erie, Fulton, Galena, River Ridge/Scales Mound, Eastland/Milledgeville, Lena-Winslow, Morrison, Pearl City, Riverdale, Prophetstown, Rock Falls, West Carroll, Newman, Stockton and Warren.

Competing at Putnam County (at Edgewood Park Golf Club in McNabb) are: Amboy/LaMoille, Aurora Christian, Earlville/Leland, Putnam County, Hinckley-Big Rock, Bureau Valley, Mendota, Oregon, St. Bede, Plano, Polo, Princeton, Serena, Indian Creek, Somonauk and Hall.

Competing at Byron (at PrairieView Golf Course) are: Byron, Dakota, Durand, Forreston, Aquin, Genoa-Kingston, Harvard, Orangeville, Pecatonica, North Boone, Rockford Christian Life, Rockford Keith, Rockford Lutheran, Rockford Christian, Stillman Valley and Winnebago.

Alleman and Kewanee will compete in the Mercer County Regional (at Hawthorne Ridge in Aledo), and IVC will compete in the Glasford Illini Bluffs Regional (at Pekin Golf Club in Pekin). Both regionals feed into the Havana Sectional (at Wee-Ma-Tuk Hill Country Club in Cuba) along with the Quincy Notre Dame and Mason City Illini Central regionals.

For Class 2A area boys, Sectionals in which area teams will participate in will be held in Dunlap (at Kellog Golf Course in Peoria) and Freeport (Park Hills Golf Course).

Competing at the Belvidere North Regional (at Timber Point) are: Belvidere, Belvidere North, Burlington Central, Freeport, Hampshire, Marengo and Rockford East. Competing at the Dixon Regional (at Timber Creek) are: Aurora Central Catholic, Illinois Math and Science Academy, Dixon, Kaneland, Rochelle, Sterling and Sycamore. Both regionals feed into the Freeport Sectional along with the Lake Villa Lakes and Vernon Hills regionals.

Competing at the Rock Island Regional (at Highland Springs Golf Course) are: Dunlap, Galesburg, Geneseo, LaSalle-Peru, Ottawa, Rock Island and Streator. Competing at a Regional to be announced are: Joliet Catholic, Kankakee, Morris, Lincoln-Way East, Pontiac, Sandwich and Yorkville. Both regionals feed into the Dunlap Sectional along with the Bloomington and Lincoln regionals.

For Class 3A area boys, Harlem, Auburn, Boylan, Guilford, Jefferson and Hononegah will compete in the Woodstock Regional (at Plum Tree National Golf Course) along with Crystal Lake Prairie Ridge, Crystal Lake South, Huntley and the Woodstock cooperative. That Regional feeds into the Arlington Heights St. Viator Sectional (at Old Orchard Country Club in Mount Prospect) with regionals from Buffalo Grove, Gurnee Warren and Highland Park.

Moline and United Township will compete in the Joliet Central Regional (at Inwood Golf Course), which feeds into the Edwardsville Sectional (at Stonewolf in Fairview Heights).

For Class A area girls, all golfers will compete at regionals in Westminster Christian (Golf Club of Illinois), Mercer County (Hawthorn Ridge), Stillman Valley (Prairie View Golf Club) and Rock Falls (Rock River Country Club). All regionals feed into the Lena-Winslow Sectional (at Wolf Hollow).

Competing at Westminster are Lena-Winslow, Hinckley-Big Rock, Plano and Somonauk. Kewanee will be competing at Mercer County. Competing at Stillman Valley are teams from Byron, Genoa-Kingston, Harvard, Rockford Lutheran, Indian Creek and Stillman Valley, along with individuals from: East Dubuque, Forreston, Aquin, Galena, Eastland/Milledgeville, Oregon, Pearl City, Pecatonica, Polo, North Boone, Rockford Christian Life, Rockford Christian, West Carroll and Stockton.

Competing at Rock Falls are teams from Erie, Bureau Valley, St. Bede, Princeton, Prophetstown, Rock Falls and Alleman, and individuals from Earlville/Leland, Putnam County, Fulton, Marquette, Riverdale, Seneca and Hall.

For Class AA area girls, all Sectionals will have at least one area team in them.

The Kaneland girls are in the St. Charles East Regional (at St. Andrews in West Chicago, which feeds into the LaGrange Park Nazareth Sectional (at the Links of Carillon in Plainfield).

The LaSalle-Peru, Morris, Ottawa, Sandwich, Streator and Yorkville girls will compete at the Minooka Regional (at Heritage Bluff in Channahon), which feeds into the Homewood-Flossmoor Sectional (at Coyote Run in Flossmoor).

The Geneseo, Moline, Rock Island and United Township girls will compete at the Galesburg Regional (at Lake Bracken Country Club), which feeds into the Pekin Sectional (at Lick Creek Golf Course).

The Freeport Regional (at Park Hills) feeds into the Guilford Sectional (at Ingersoll Golf Course in Rockford). Teams in the regional are: Belvidere, Belvidere North, Burlington Central, Freeport, Harlem, Marengo, Boylan, Guilford, Hononegah, Sterling and Sycamore. Individuals from Rochelle, Auburn, East and Jefferson will also compete.

High School Sports Participation Reaches Record High

2010-09-12T19:43:00.000-05:00

The National Federation of State High School Associations released its Participation Survey for the 2009-10 school year.

Participation in high school sports reached a record number of 7,628,377 studen athletes. The number is based on figures from the 50 state high school athletic and activity associations, plus the District of Columbia, that are members of the NFHS.

More than half (55.1%) of the nation's high school students participate in high school athletics.

"It is a significant achievement for our member state associations that in these difficult economic times, student participation increased for the 21stt consecutive year," NFHS Executive Director Bob Gardner stated in a press release. "This reinforces the values that high school sports provide as part of the education of our students. The NFHS actively promotes participation in, and support for, the programs throughout the nation."

Illinois had 344,257 high school student-athletes last school year, which is fourth-highest in the nation following Texas (780,721), California (771,465) and New York (379,677).

Over one million athletes participated in 11-man football (1,109,278), the leading sport for male participation. Track and field was the girls' most participated sport (469,177).

Basketball remains the sport with the most number of schools offering. There are 17,969 boys basketball teams in the nation, and 17,711 girls basketball teams in the nation.

-Cody

9/10 Little 10 Soccer Report (Updated 9/13)

2010-09-10T19:05:00.003-05:00

Little Ten Conference 2010 Boys Soccer Conference Standings

School Conference Record / Overall Record

Hinckley-Big Rock 1-0-0 / 7-1-0
Earlville-Leland 1-0-0 / 4-1-0
Indian Creek 1-0-0 / 6-2-0
Newark 1-0-0 / 2-2-2
Somonauk 0-1-0 / 4-2-1
Serena 0-1-0 / 1-5-1
Paw Paw 0-2-0 / 2-6-1

Little Ten Conference 2010 Boys Soccer Schedule/Results# --- Indicates Conference Matches

Monday / Aug. 23
Newark 2, at Plano 2
Hinckley-Big Rock 5, at Rochelle 0
Serena 2, at Aurora Central Catholic 4

Tuesday / Aug. 24
Serena 3, at Newark 4

Wednesday / Aug. 25
Byron 0, at Hinckley-Big Rock 2

Thursday / Aug. 26
Paw Paw 0, Indian Creek 6

Friday / Aug. 27
Hinckley-Big Rock 2, vs. Rockford Lutheran 0 in Stillman Valley Tournament
Indian Creek 1, vs. Stillman Valley in Stillman Valley Tournament

Saturday / Aug. 28
Hinckley-Big Rock 2, Rockford Keith, 0 in Stillman Valley Tournament
Indian Creek 1, vs. Genoa-Kingston 3 in Stillman Valley Tournament
Hinckley-Big Rock 1, Stillman Valley 0 in Stillman Valley Tournament
Indian Creek 3, vs. Rockford Lutheran 0 in Stillman Valley Tournament
Paw Paw 2, vs. Coal City 2 / in Streator Tourney
Paw Paw 1, vs. Danville Schlarman 5 / in Streator Tourney
Paw Paw 0, vs. Streator 4 / in Streator Tourney
Earlville-Leland 0, vs. DePue 1 in Earlville-Leland Tourney
Newark 0, vs. Serena 0 in Earlville-Leland Tourney
Earlville-Leland 4, vs. Serena 0 in Earlville-Leland Tourney
Newark 3, vs. DePue 4 in Earlville-Leland Tourney
Earlville-Leland 4, vs. Newark 9 in Earlville-Leland Tourney
Serena 0, vs. DePue 1 in Earlville-Leland Tourney
Somonauk 4, vs. Plano 1 in Bobcat Breakout Tourney
Somonauk 6, vs. Reed-Custer 0 in Bobcat Breakout Tourney
Somonauk 2, vs. Aurora Central Catholic in Bobcat Breakout Tourney

Monday / Aug. 30
Aurora Central Catholic 4, at Paw Paw 4
Somonauk 4, at Ottawa 2
Serena 2, at Coal City 0

Tuesday / Aug. 31
Elgin St. Edward 0, at Indian Creek 6

Wednesday / Sept. 1
Hinckley-Big Rock 7, at Serena 1 - #
Paw Paw 1, at Newark 3 - #
Somonauk 1, at Earlville-Leland 3 - #

Thursday / Sept. 2
Indian Creek 4, at Aurora Central Catholic 2
Streator 5, at Newark 2

Friday / Sept. 3
Somonauk 2, at Lisle 2

Saturday / Sept. 4
Earlville-Leland 3, at Princeton 1
Westminster Christian 2, at Indian Creek 4
Stillman Valley 2, at Somonauk 0
Serena 2, at Plano 4

Wednesday / Sept. 8
Kaneland 0, at Hinckley-Big Rock 1
Indian Creek 2, at Paw Paw 1 (OT) - #

Thursday / Sept. 9
Newark 3 at Hiawatha 2
Serena at DePue, 4:15 pm

Friday / Sept. 10
Paw Paw 3 at Dixon Faith Christian 2
Earlville-Leland 0 at Hinckley-Big Rock 1 - #
Indian Creek 5 at Elgin Academy 1

Saturday / Sept. 11
Timothy Christian 4 at Earlville-Leland 0
Oregon 2 at Somonauk 3

Monday / Sept. 13
DeKalb 1 at Hinckley-Big Rock 0
Rockford Christian Life 3 at Paw Paw 5

Tuesday / Sept. 14
Mendota at Earlville-Leland, 4:30 pm
Newark at DePue, 4:30 pm

Wednesday / Sept. 15
Newark at Indian Creek, 4:30 pm - #
Somonauk at Hinckley-Big Rock, 4:30 pm - #
Serena at Earlville-Leland, 4:30 pm - #

Thursday / Sept. 16
Hinckley-Big Rock at Westminster Christian, 4:30 pm
Indian Creek at Princeton, 6:30 pm
Paw Paw at DePue, 4:30 pm
Newark at Mendota, 4:30 pm

-Steve Nemeth/Brian Hoxsey

NIB-12 East Division Soccer Report

2010-09-09T03:51:00.003-05:00

Current Northern Illinois Big 12 Conference East Standings

School Overall W-L-T / Conf. W-L-T

DeKalb 2-1-2 / 0-0-0
Rochelle 3-3-1 / 0-0-0
Sycamore 2-2-2 / 0-0-0
Kaneland 2-3-0 / 0-0-0
Morris 1-3-0 / 0-0-0
Yorkville 1-5-0 / 0-0-0

Current Northern Illinois Big 12 Conference East Scores
# - denotes divisional game

Monday / Aug. 23
Plainfield Central 2, at Yorkville 0

Tuesday / Aug. 24
Kaneland 4, at Marengo 0
Hononegah 1 at DeKalb, 1
Morris 0, at Coal City 0
Hinckley-Big Rock 6, at Rochelle 0
Freeport 1, at Sycamore 1

Thursday / Aug. 26
Yorkville 1, at Plainfield South 7
Morris 2, at Joliet Catholic 2

Friday / Aug. 27
Rochelle 2, vs. Woodstock 2 / in Auburn Knights Invitational
Rochelle 0, vs. Rock Island 3 / in Auburn Knights Invitational
Sycamore 0, vs. Rockford Guilford 1 in Auburn Knights Invitational
Sycamore 3, vs. Sterling 1 in Auburn Knights Invitational

Saturday / Aug. 28
Yorkville 1, vs. Burlington Central 4 / in Burlington Central Tourney
DeKalb 3, Wheaton St. Francis 0 / in Burlington Central Tourney
Rochelle 0, vs. Harlem 4 / in Auburn Knights Invitational
Sycamore 1, vs. Rockford Christian 1 in Auburn Knights Invitational

Monday / Aug. 30
Morris 2, at Tinley Park 1
Dixon 1, at Rochelle 2

Tuesday / Aug. 31
Kaneland 5, vs. Yorkville 1 / in Burlington Central Tourney
Sycamore 2, at Dixon 0

Thursday / Sept. 2
Kaneland 0, vs. Burlington Central 3 in Burlington Central Tourney
DeKalb 1, vs. South Elgin 4 / in Burlington Central Tourney
Rochelle 3, at Sterling 2

Saturday / Sept. 4
DeKalb 3, vs. Kaneland 1 in Burlington Central Tourney
Yorkville 1, vs. Wheaton St. Francis 6 in Burlington Central Tourney

Tuesday / Sept. 7
Yorkville 3, at IMSA 1
Boylan 0, at DeKalb 0
Princeton 3, at Morris 1
Belvidere 2, at Rochelle 3
Harlem 3, at Sycamore 1

Wednesday / Sept. 8
Kaneland 0, at Hinckley-Big Rock 1
Belvidere North at Rochelle

Thursday / Sept. 9
IMSA at Kaneland, 4:30 pm
Sycamore at Aurora Marmion, 4:30 pm

Saturday / Sept. 11
DeKalb at Freeport, 11 am
Plainfield South at Morris, 10 am

Monday / Sept. 13
DeKalb at Hinckley-Big Rock, 6:30 pm
Wilmington at Morris, 4:30 pm

Tuesday / Sept. 14
DeKalb at Kaneland, 4:30 pm - #
Sycamore at Yorkville, 4:30 pm - #
Morris at Rochelle, 4:30 pm - #

Wednesday / Sept. 15
Plano at Yorkville, 6:15 pm

Thursday / Sept. 16
Kaneland at Morris 4:30 pm - #
Yorkville at DeKalb, 4:30 pm - #
Rochelle at Sycamore, 4:30 pm - #

Friday / Sept. 17
DeKalb in Crystal Lake Prairie Ridge Invitational, 4:30 pm
Sycamore in Hononegah Tournament

Saturday / Sept. 18
DeKalb in Crystal Lake Prairie Ridge Invitational, 10 am / 1 pm
Sycamore in Hononegah Tournament

-Steve Nemeth

9/4 Little 10 Soccer Report

2010-09-05T14:57:00.004-05:00

(Publisher's Note: We encourage such roundups like this one below for Little 10 Soccer for contribution to the FYI Blog. If you want to contribute roundups, standings and items of note within a conference, let us know by contacting us at northernillinoissportsbeat at yahoo dot com.)

Indian Creek runs win streak to four

In the process of surviving a physical battle Saturday, Indian Creek chalked up its fourth straight win with a 4-2 decision over visiting Westminster Christian.

For the second straight match, the Timberwolves opened the scoring early as Clayton Peterson used a Carlos Sanchez set-up for his fourth goal of the season after just 1:32. Unfortunately for IC, Peterson was forced to exit midway through the half and was sent to a hospital due to a possible concussion. Matt Kyler’s second goal of the season enabled the hosts to go ahead 2-0.

Eight minutes into the second half, Westminster Christian converted a penalty kick opportunity to cut the deficit in half. T-wolves goalie Aaron Bolton got the worst of a collision at the 50-minute time-point and had to be replaced in net by Shaquille Clayton.

The physical battle led to an Indian Creek penalty kick chance and although the WCHS goalie made an initial stop, Bret Ostrom followed his initial blast with a second boot that gave the Timberwolves a 3-1 lead. It was also Ostrom’s fifth goal for 2010.

Not long after Bolton re-entered as goalie, Indian Creek was awarded another penalty kick opportunity and coach Eric Schrader opted to allow Bolton to go forward and the sophomore was successful in putting ICHS ahead 4-1 with 8:30 remaining.

Westminster Christian managed to make it a 4-2 contest by converting another penalty kick with four minutes left in regulation.

"This was the second straight game we came out and scored early which allowed us to control the tempo of the game. We had a lot of guys banged up today," Schrader noted, adding that Dillon Masterson also got sidelined by an elbow to the mouth. "They’re a very aggressive team and play hard, so I was proud of the way we played, keeping our heads and getting a hard-fought win."

After a 1-2-0 start, Indian Creek now sports a 5-2-0 ledger heading into a Tuesday 4:30 p.m. visit to Paw Paw, which will serve as the Timberwolves’ Little Ten Conference opener.

Earlville-Leland rallies for 3-1 win over Princeton

Despite falling behind 1-0, Earlville-Leland rallied to capture a 3-1 road win over Princeton Saturday on the road.

The Red Raiders’ Jake Baker had the assist pass on Chris Collins’ first-half goal which led to a 1-1 intermission draw. In the 60th minute of the contest, Javier Hernandez rocketed an unassisted 30-yard strike to give E-L the lead. With seven minutes left, Colton Hall’s unassisted tally gave Earlville-Leland a two-goal edge and accounted for the final score. Defensively, Cory Buhler notched 15 saves in net.

The Red Raiders now set their sights on a Friday 6:30 p.m. visit to Hinckley-Big Rock in a crucial LTC regular-season showdown. Earlville-Leland boasts a 5-1-0 overall record and is off to a 1-0-0 start for league play.

Somonauk stumbles at home

After opening the season with four victories, Somonauk is suddenly struggling with the latest stumble being a 2-0 home loss to Stillman Valley on Saturday.

After a 3-1 loss in their LTC opener at Leland, the Bobcats posted a 2-2 tie at Lisle on Friday prior to Saturday’s setback against the Cardinals. Somonauk has a week to regroup before hosting Oregon at 2 p.m. on Sept. 11.

-Steve Nemeth

Baseball Advisory Committee Meets

2010-09-04T14:24:00.002-05:00

The Illinois High School Association Baseball Advisory Committee met at the IHSA Office in Bloomington on Wednesday.

There were no terms and conditions recommendations, but there were a couple of minor administrative recommendations and other discussion.

One of the administrative recommendations was to give more game balls to Regional and Sectional sites in order to make up for weather-damaged balls.

Other discussion items included: regional sites hosted by the top four seeded teams, an earlier season start date, sectional sites being held at small college facilities, postseason sites with lights, stricter enforcing of the IHSA by-laws at supersectional events, and moving the seed meetings later in the season.

Stillman finally has new volleyball coach

2010-09-03T22:22:00.000-05:00

Brittany Lownsberry has been named as Stillman Valley's varsity volleyball coach. Lownsberry takes over for last year's coach Karen Hall.

Stillman Valley had been practicing since August 11 without a head coach. Lownsberry was named before the Cardinals' season-opening match with Durand on Monday.

The school has also named a new varsity wrestling coach. Jaime McCarty will take over the program from Ben Morris. Stillman Valley finished third place in last year's Class 1A team State Tourmanent.

State Farm Field Announced

2010-08-30T20:01:00.002-05:00

Oragnizers of the State Farm Holiday Classic basketball tournament announced the tournament field for the 2010 tournament today.

The tournament will run from December 27-30 and features 64 high school basketball teams. Sixteen girls teams will compete in the Class 1A-2A field, with sixteen more in the Class 3A-4A field. Sixteen boys teams will compete in the Class 1A-2A field, with sixteen more in the Class 3A-4A field.

Alleman, Annawan and Newman are the area teams that will compete in the Class 1A-2A girls tournament. IVC and Rock Falls will compete in the 1A-2A boys tournament. Belvidere North, Rock Island and Sterling are the area teams that will compete in the 3A-4A girls tournament, while Hononegah, Rock Island and Sterling will compete in the 3A-4A boys tournament.

New teams to the tournament include the Champaign Centennial girls, Chicago North Lawndale Boys and the Glenbard East boys.

Bloomington Central Catholic will return to defend its 1A-2A girls championship, while Fieldcrest will defend its 1A-2A boys championship. The Centennial boys and Springfield girls will also defend their championships.

A facility change will be made this year in the the girls tournament. U.S. Celluar Coliseum will host the Class 1A-2A girls opening round games and championship round games. Redbird Arena, home of the IHSA Girls Basketball State Tournament, was the previous host of these girls games.

"In addition to four very competitive games, the one thing we are proud to offer our participating teams each year is the chance to play those games in top-notch facilities with exciting atmospheres," tournament Vice-President Dave Oloffson stated in a press release. "With the addition of the Coliseum, we continue to provide all 64 teams with the best basketball facilities our community has to offer."

Boys opening round games and championship bracket games will take place at the Shirk Center on the campus of Illinois Wesleyan University in Bloomington. Other tournament games will take place at Normal and Normal West high schools.

Official Start of Prep Competition Today

2010-08-16T03:51:00.002-05:00

Monday is the first day of the 2010-11 high school sports season, starting a few days before most area students begin their official school years.

The area's first prep sports event, as it has been each year, is the Boylan Golf Invitational. The event is held at Ledges Golf Course in Roscoe and starts at 8:00 a.m.

Harlem junior Patipan Pipatpinyopong is the defending champion of the event, having shot an even-par 72. Hononegah is the defending team champion.

There are also other golf duals, triangulars and invitationals being held today.

August IHSA News and Notes

2010-08-09T16:01:00.002-05:00

The Illinois High School Association held it's monthly meeting of its Board of Directors on Monday. The Board acted on several items during the meeting.

Cherry Bowl Lanes in Rockford recieved a contract extention from the IHSA for the holding of the IHSA Girls Bowling State Meet. The venue has been host of the event since 1993.

"We are excited to continue our relationship with Cherry Bowl Lanes as the IHSA Girls Bowling State Final host," IHSA Assistant Executive Director Stacey Lambert stated in a press release. "So many wonderful people have dedicated countless hours and resources into hosting this event for nearly two decades, so we respect their decision to extend the contract for one year and then assess the future of the tournament as the host."

Also acted on was a change to the IHSA State Volleyball Tournament time schedule. Friday's first Class 1A semifinal will begin at 9:00 a.m. with the other semifinal at 10:30 a.m. Class 2A's semifinal action will start at 12:00 p.m. and 1:30 p.m., followed by 3A (4:30 p.m. and 6:00 p.m.) and 4A (7:30 p.m. and 9:00 p.m.). The time format will remain the same for Saturday's consolation and championship matches.

The Board also approved the formation of advisory committees for boys and girls lacrosse. The Belvidere Alpines is the only area high school lacrosse team, and is a cooperative between Belvidere and Belvidere North.

Big 6 Football Banquet Ticket Information

2010-07-23T12:27:00.003-05:00

Fans of Western Big 6 football can get a closer look at the season by coming to the Western Big 6 Pre-season Football Banquet. Tickets for the event will be available for sale next week at each of the six high schools' athletic offices.

The Rock Island Booster Club will once again be hosting the event at the Quad City Botanical Center in Rock Island.

After the dinner, each of the six head coaches (Alleman's Dave DeJaegher, Galesburg's Wes Olsen, Moline's Crick Sant Amour, Rock Island's Vic Boblett and UT's Ron Litchfield) will be speaking about their summer progresses and their upcoming expectations.

Rock Island To Compete at City-Suburban Showdown

2010-07-18T02:03:00.002-05:00

Area Football Schedules

2010-07-04T04:35:00.003-05:00

A master list of the area's football schedule is available HERE.

The list is sorted out by week, and is in no particular order. Week one of the football season begins on August 27.

Attention Officials

2010-06-29T15:52:00.003-05:00

The Illinois High School Association reminds all officials in all sports that the deadline to renew their officiating licenses is at midnight on Wednesday.

Renewing the licenses before Wednesday prevents a late fee from being applied. After Wednesday, officials can still renew, but will have to pay the late fee of $30.

Licenses can be renewed on the IHSA website.

Amboy, DeKalb to possibly change classes

2010-06-22T01:09:00.002-05:00

The Illinois High School Association has announced the tenative 2010-11 classification enrollment cutoffs. It is important to note that the cutoff is not official until the IHSA Board of Directors meets in August and approves them.

Under the new cutoff, the divsion between large schools and small schools is at 775.50. The midway point between the largest schools is at 1669, while the midway point between the smallest schools is 341.

Under these changes, Amboy will move up from Class 1A in four-class sports to Class 2A. DeKalb will move up from Class 3A in four-class sports to Class 4A, and from Class 2A in three-class sports to Class 3A. DeKalb was an original Class 4A school when class expansion came to fruitition in 2007.

Once the new enrollment numbers have been determined, NISB will post an article reflecting the changes.

View the IHSA release HERE:
http://www.ihsa.org/school/change11.htm

Morris Boys Shootout

2010-06-19T02:45:00.003-05:00

The 25th Annual Morris Shootout is set for Wednesday June 30 and Thursday July 1.

Among the thirty-two competing teams are seven 2010 Regional Champions, two Sectional Champions, and one Class 4A Final Four team (O’Fallon).

Day 1 will consist of pool play with a play-sit-play-sit-play format of 3 games. Day 2 will consist of two sixteen-team tournaments with each team guaranteed 2 games, but up to 4 games possible.

The No. 1 and No. 2 finishers from each pool on Day 1 will compete in the Gold tournament on Day 2. The No. 3 and No. 4 seeds from Day 1 will compete in the Maroon tournament. Each team is guaranteed five games over two days (three on Thursday and at least two on Friday), with those competing in championships playing a total of seven games (three on Thursday and four on Friday).

The format produces an overall tournament champion and also provides the opportunity for quite a few competitive ballgames throughout both days.

Games on Wednesday begin at 9:00 a.m. with four games each hour. The final four games on Day One begin at 8:00 p.m. Tournament games on Thursday begin at 8:00 a.m.; the Maroon Championship is scheduled for 3:00 p.m later that day, while the Gold Championship (overall Shootout Championship) is scheduled to begin at 7:00 p.m.

Competing in the Shootout are area teams LaSalle-Peru, Morris, Ottawa and Yorkville. Other participants are: Belleville West, Bolingbrook, Burlington Central, Deerfield, East Aurora, Galesburg, Granite City, Hyde Park, Joliet West, Kankakee, Lockport, Wilmette Loyola, Minooka, Naperville Neuqua Valley, Normal, O’Fallon, Oak Forest, Oswego, Pekin, Plainfield North, Plainfield South, Quincy Notre Dame, Romeoville, Schaumburg, Springfield, Aurora Waubonsie Valley, Wheaton North, and Elmhurst York.

Belleville West, Granite City and Loyola are new teams into the fold.

A Pool Play schedule can be obtained by contacting us at northernillinoissportsbeat (at) yahoo (dot) com.

Cody

Alton Marquette's Sil(K)wood

2010-06-16T20:28:00.005-05:00

In the small school hardball State Tournament sidebar that Bill and I worked on a couple of weeks ago, we stated that Alexis Silkwood of Alton Marquette was the best pitcher of the tournament.

Well, not just the tournament. Perhaps Silkwood may end up being one of the best pitchers to ever grace the softball circle in Illinois by the time she graduates in 2014.

Her 463 strikeouts this season is the fourth-highest total according to the IHSA Record books (while her name is not yet on there, it will be soon). Bear in mind she is a freshman. According to Bill, the 463 strikeouts is a record for any freshman, breaking the previous freshman record of 443 by Gillespie's Kelcie Matesa.

Also bear in mind that the pitching circle was moved back from 40 to 43 feet, likely a plus for the hitters.

Among those names in the top five of the season strikeout list are Eastland's Sarah Martz, who struck out 492 batters (No. 2 all-time) in their Class A second place run in 1999. The only one I ever saw in person was Warrensburg-Latham's Holly Walden, who is fifth all-time with 444 K's. The name may sound familar to Rock Falls softball fans, as it was her and the Rockets' Korby Paul that battled it out for 20 innings at the Class A State semifinal in 2004.

Lindsey Veselsky of Glenbard North is the single-season record holder with 499 in 2002.

Cody/Bill

Welcome to the F. Y. I.

2010-06-10T05:13:00.002-05:00

I would like to welcome all of you to NISB's F. Y. I. Blog. You can read more about how it was created in the State of the Site Address.

To summerize, this blog will be updated constantly with news items surrounding high school sports in the area, or sometimes outside the area. This will be the place to view them.

The intention of this blog is not to create something stand-alone. This is just one part of Northern Illinois Sports Beat.

All comments on the stories should be directed to the NISB Message Board, and comment links for each post have been turned off.

Again, I hope this concept works out. Once I get something, it will be posted here -- so check back often!

Cody