We don't write papers, we build scrapbooks
We don't write papers, we build scrapbooks
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The Dakota Indians are a very strong basketball team – long, big, athletic, and strong shooting from the perimeter – they made the competition look foolish at the Scales Mound Turkey Tournament during Thanksgiving week, and stood at 4-0 on the season. But they had never gone up against Spiderman, Venom and the rest of the Eastland Cougars. "You can't simulate that kind of speed in practice," said head coach Mike Bartell. "I mean, there are some teams that might have two quick guards, but their e...
Every coach knows that you don't stand a chance against them unless you stop Laney Cahoon and Nadalee Doyle. Lena-Winslow, for all practical purposes, did that – holding the pair down to a combined point total of only 21 in the game. They still got blown out. Alyse Cahoon and Kaylynn O'Haver went off – each of them hitting three long range three point bombs – as the senior roll players tied with eleven points each. "They kept sitting in that zone defense," Bronco head coach Jay Doyle said. "When...
While Nadalee Doyle is a force in her own right, area coaches all agree that the biggest threat on the Orangeville Broncos is senior guard, Laney Cahoon. Similarly, the RR/SM Wildcats have a lot of talented young players who are destined for the All-Conference teams, but right now – the conversation begins and ends with senior Laiken Haas. So, when you get a chance to see those two stars play against each other ... it makes for must see girl's basketball. And Tuesday night in Orangeville – nei...
The curse of having so much football success is that you tend to be late to the game in basketball. The Lena-Winslow Panthers finally opened their season Friday night at River Ridge, and it also marked the debut of new Varsity head coach, Mark Blakely. "People asked me, but I really wasn't nervous before the game," Blakely said. "To me, it was just another basketball game, and I trust my kids." That confidence was reinforced as the Panthers scored off of the opening tip of the game, and never lo...
Maybe it was the holidays and the packed schedule I have been dealing with. Or maybe the grind of doing hard news was getting to me – I mean, I truly hate sitting in and listening to the idiocy at the Freeport City Council meetings. Or maybe, well, who knows – whatever the reason, I had lost a bit of pep in my step as of late. Now, one of the major benefits of doing my job is getting to know the really impressive young adults in our region. Yeah, I know they are technically still students, but...
It kind of goes without saying, but a comparison of the Stephenson County Board and the Freeport City Council is an example of just how extremely different our local government can be. Both held a meeting last Monday night, but the differences between the two are in a word ... staggering. The County Board needed to elect a new County Board Chairman, Vice Chairman, and assign members to their respective committees – all of them a standard process that takes place after each election. Drama was e...
Practice is great, every coach will tell you that, but sometimes the lessons that sink in the quickest are the ones that take place during a game. The Warren Lady Warriors passed their test with flying colors Tuesday night with an impressive 44-37 non-conference win over Milledgeville in which they led from start to finish. At the opening tip, both teams were full court pressing each other, but Warren used their press to jump out to the early lead thanks in large part to a transition basket...
The Pearl City Lady Wolves had a slow start to their season. There were some early injuries that limited the roster, and according to coach Brock Musser – they just finally got to full strength last Saturday. But Wednesday night in Pearl City, the Wolves showed what they are capable of doing as they completely dismantled the AFC Raiders 46-29. The game really wasn't that close. In the first quarter, AFC only took five shots in the entire period, while they committed 14 turnovers. The Wolves w...
The Stockton Blackhawks and Polo Marcos were locked into a very competitive one point affair at halftime of their non-conference match up. But ... in spite of three time outs and every attempt to inspire his players, Stockton fell flat in the second half as Polo ran away with the 57-34 victory. In the first quarter, Stockton was playing a 3-2 zone defense, but Polo effectively shot them out of it as Mercer and Gus Mumford both drained three point bombs in jumping the Marcos to a 17-10 lead....
The Lena-Winslow Panthers and Dakota Indians got their basketball rivalry off to a strong start Friday night in Dakota as the only NUIC game on the schedule due to the opening of tournament play the next day. And it is a safe bet that there will be more than one meeting between these two area powers this season – another conference battle in Lena, and then the chance of meeting in the Forreston Tournament or even post-season play. But Friday night belonged to the Indians. Dakota caught the P...
It’s True, I confess, I am a Sneaky Pete. Now, I realize that most – if not all of you – have no idea what it is I’m talking about, so let me explain. You see, while growing up in Northwest Indiana, my brother, sister and I were all prone to seeing treats prepared by my mother left unguarded. Whether it was the tin of fudge “hidden” above the bread box, or the cookie jar left full without a padlock in place, these screamed to a growing boy, “Come and get me!” So, naturally, we did. In my house g...
I've always loved our area athletes. I really enjoy watching the maturation as they will go from timid freshman who are scared to be interviewed by me, up to the self-confident juniors who sometimes say more than they should so I have to cover for them, and finally culminate in the impressive young adult seniors who have a bright future lying ahead of them. It's impossible not to respect kids who work their butts off trying to be the best at something they love – whether it's sports, or t...
They were badly overmatched, and on the third play of scrimmage they got to see first-hand the talent of Oregon recruit, Dierre Hill Jr, as he broke off a long touchdown run behind his massive 300 pound plus line. But in spite of the final outcome, there were several things worthy of merit that Lena-Winslow pulled off in the IHSA Class 1A State Championship game. On their very first drive, Lena-Winslow proved that they could move the ball against the much bigger, stronger and faster Crusaders....
There are a lot of area Boy's Basketball teams that won't even tip off their season until later this week, so trying to do a pre-season ranking or preview is a tad on the difficult side. Still, after sitting in on the Scales Mound Tournament, there are a couple of early observations that can be made. Everyone knows that Pecatonica and Eastland are expected to be the top two teams in the region. Most give a slight edge to the Indians, but ... we like Adam Awender a lot, and with Parker Krogman,...
The Eastland Cougars and Lena-Winslow Panthers opened up the Girls' Basketball season Monday night with a non-conference battle that was ... well ... typical of an opening game. For the Cougars, they are sporting a lineup of six varsity players, supported by some strong JV talent for depth. And while they were strong in the paint when senior Olivia Klinefelter was on the floor, when she wasn't ... it was a bit of a free-for-all on the boards. "Don't pick on me Dan, I'm not in basketball shape ye...
The Warren Warriors originally told people they were only planning on playing a JV girls basketball schedule. And while that changed as more freshmen came out than anticipated, the Warriors still send out a varsity squad with zero seniors, two juniors, five sophomores and six freshmen making up the roster. So, when the Warriors had to take on the powerful Galena Pirates Wednesday night at the Warren Turkey Tournament ... a blow-out was expected. But nobody told Warren's Lizzy Hartzell that. The...
The LeRoy Panthers offense was averaging over 400 yards rushing a game. Averaging! So confident in their offense were they that when they won the coin toss, they did the unorthodox – they wanted the ball right away. (Normally teams defer in order to get the second half kickoff and have a chance at back-to-back scores – but more on that later) "Yeah, it surprised me when they wanted the ball," said Lena-Winslow head coach Ric Arand. "That made the first possession really important." Three times t...
The Slurp & Burp in Loran had to appear before the Stephenson County Liquor Commission last week for a hearing regarding possible violations. From the outset, it was apparent that the establishment was in trouble as their attorney, Anthony Coon, opened up his argument by saying, "The licensee comes before you today with open arms. We know there will be consequences, but we're looking to cooperate and prevent any future violations." The hearing was in the form of a court trial. With the three...
OK, I am not – or have not – considered myself to be an idiot when it comes to technology. I know all of the ins and outs of several programs I use all the time like Photoshop, InDesign, and even Quickbooks. But, as I recently discovered, when it comes to iphones and the inner workings of several online platforms … I’m officially a moron. My first clue came the other day when my wife handed me a sign that said “Free”. “Here, hold this up, I want to take a picture for Facebook Marketplace,...
Over a year ago, Madie Mammoser lay writhing in pain on the floor of the Milledgeville gymnasium – not kn owing for sure if she'd ever play volleyball again. Eleven years ago, Maddie Pontius was still trying to get over the pain of having her volleyball dreams dashed by the recruiting machine known as Rockford Keith. And ten years ago, Kacy and Kaydra Wright were sitting in the bleachers, watching their older sisters playing volleyball – waiting for the day it would be their turn. Little did...
The State finals did not start out too well for the Stockton Blackhawks. Going up against Hartsburg-Emden, last year's second place team, the Blackhawks were stepping out onto the Red Bird Arena floor for the very first time ... and it showed. "We thought we might have an advantage because they had never been here before," said the coach of the Staggs. "And we were right." Coach Pontius blew through her two time outs, but nothing was working, so she brought in Ireland Mensendike to try and...
It was supposed to be close. Gibson City had size, a wide-open offense, and had won state twice in 2A. So, when the Falcons recovered a Panther fumble on the second play from scrimmage at the Panther 19, an earie silence was coming from the Panther fans. But Lena-Winslow was well prepared. Head Coach, Ric Arand, had said the goal was to make the Falcons one dimensional, and said they had a tendency to throw on anything longer than third and five. So, after stuffing the first two run attempts,...
Residents of the Gladewood subdivision along the Yellow Creek were seeing their main road continue to deteriorate, but when they went to the City of Freeport to see when the road was going to be redone as part of the expansive Freeport Road projects schedule that is expected to last for several years, the answer they got was one that nobody expected. “It’s not a Freeport City Street,” said City Manager Rob Boyer. “It’s a private street, so any and all repairs and maintenance are the responsib...
They’re trying. The Freeport City Council is making an honest attempt to make their meetings more productive, even though that attempt is being twisted by the mental minority as an attempt to “shut up” the voices they don’t want to hear, and stop members from, “asking questions”. The situation had gotten well beyond being out of control. The last two finance meetings were never held because Council members simply decided not to show up – even though the meetings are mandatory – leaving no quor...
So, be honest, what does National Newspaper Week mean to you? If you are like most people, the answer is simple, “Not a damn thing.” And I won’t lie, when I got all of the emails and downloadable columns, cartoons and ads from the Illinois Press Association, I ignored them for more than a few days. Part of the reason was that it’s a lot easier telling other people’s stories than your own. And along that same line of thinking – you, the person reading this column right now – are a subscriber to...
