We don't write papers, we build scrapbooks
We don't write papers, we build scrapbooks
Sorted by date Results 26 - 50 of 1315
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...
All season long, Stockton volleyball coach, Maddie Pontius, had been preaching to her players the importance of being mentally tough – not letting any outside influence affect your game. But Tuesday night in Polo, that was seriously tested by a strong Newark squad, and incredibly weak line judge. "They've never played in front of this many people before," Pontius said before the match. "I've just been telling them to just go play, it's just another game." But it wasn't just another game, and t...
The scene was something you would expect from a Hollywood movie script. All season long, Galena and Stockton battled it out for volleyball supremacy. The Pirates beat Stockton in an early season tournament, but in their first conference battle in Galena – the Blackhawks swept them in two. But the victory was short-lived as Galena knocked off Stockton on their home floor in the rematch – leaving them tied for the NUIC West crown. Area coaches ranked them 1 and 2 respectively – which sent them to...
Stockton knew coming into their second round 1A playoff game against Lena-Winslow that they could not allow the Panther running game to dominate the game, so ... they gambled. "We were sending inside pressure to take away their inside power game," said head coach Sean Downey. "They were putting so much pressure up front, It was really a feast or famine kind of thing," said Panther head coach Ric Arand. On the second play from scrimmage, the Panthers faked the ball up the middle and pitched it...
It would be hard to find anyone in the region who didn't know how big the Queen of Hearts raffle has gotten at the Little John's Tap in Pearl City. With jackpots over $200,000 it has often seen very large crowds just trying to get in to buy a ticket, let alone the massive size of the crowd when it comes time to do the drawing on Thursdays. But over the past week or so, the popular raffle has sparked a ton of anger and questions that led to a flood of phone calls for us to "look into" it, and at...
When I first heard about the proposal to put field turf on the Lena-Winslow football field, I thought it was a bit over-the-top. Then when I heard the 1.2 million dollar price tag – I was honestly getting ready to write all kinds of things blasting the idea. I mean, yes, Lena has the premier football program in all of 1A football, but does that merit a huge amount of tax dollars to put field turf on the field? I mean, should Lena-Winslow have a turf field when the Bears don't? But then I did m...
If you are at all like me, the fact that you will no longer have to see political ads on television is a little more than just refreshing. On the national scene, like I’ve said, I’m not a Trump fan, but in comparison … yeah, I voted for him. And, I’m sorry, but does anybody else find it totally amazing that a man who is so crass, has used the “c” word about women, openly cheated on his wife, and is on tape talking about grabbing women by the crotch, was just elected President of the United Stat...
To the credit of Mayor Jodi Miller and the legal counsel for the City of Freeport, they tried to reign in the idiots. Attorney Roxanne Sosnowski opened the meeting by pointing out that according to their own ordinances, council members could only speak twice on a subject, and could only speak the second time after everyone who wanted to, had the opportunity to speak the first time. It was a rule that was already on the books, but had been overlooked … until now. And while the effort to reign i...
Pearl City was coming into their Regional opener as an underdog to begin with, but then players started dropping. Sophomore sensation, Danica Sager, came down on a player's foot in practice on Friday – severely twisting it. And Serving, and outside hitting stud, Maya Boyer, was home in bed with a fever over a hundred. "We had to make a lot of changes on the fly," said head coach Tammy Stephan. "We never even had a chance to practice the new rotation." That alone would make playing well d...
There are two ways to score in volleyball. You either earn a point on an ace serve, a kill, or a mean stuff block ... or, your opponent hands you a point on an unforced error like a call for being in the net, or hitting the ball out of bounds, etc. In their opening round match against Forreston in the Class 1A Regional, the Lena-Winslow Panthers were below their normal kill statistics ... but it didn't matter because Forreston was handing them points in droves. "They did that the last time we...
Pecatonica brought their 'A' game to the Regional semi-finals against Stockton, and pushed the top seeded Blackhawks with strong offensive numbers. But, in the end, Stockton never flinched, remained calm, and let the game speak for itself as they pulled out the 25-18, 25-20 victory to advance on to the Regional Championship. The Blackhawks were actually the first team to call a time out in game one after a lengthy rally cut their lead to only one at 15-14. But the time out was not for reasons...
About a month ago, following a Lena-Winslow victory over Durand on their home floor, Durand head coach, Molly Kelsey, pointed out how many players were still missing from her lineup. "I really wish I could play them when I had my whole team," she said at the time. Wednesday night, after stunning the Panthers with a 27-25, 25-17 victory in the Regional semi-finals, coach Kelsey was quick to remind us of that comment. "I told you I wanted to play them with my whole team, Dan. Well tonight, we had...
