We don't write papers, we build scrapbooks
We don't write papers, we build scrapbooks
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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...
Exactly eleven years ago on Halloween night, Stockton head coach Maddie Pontius was on the Blackhawk team that won the Regional title under coach Colleen Fox. But it had been eleven years since the Blackhawks won the Regional crown. So, on this past Halloween, as they squared off against a very strong Durand squad ... yeah, they were motivated. It became obvious from early on that Durand was not the world killer's they had shown in their semi-final win against Lena-Winslow. Stockton charged out...
The typical advantage of going into the IHSA playoffs with a 9-0 record is that your first round opponent is often a tad on the weaker side. That was pretty evident before the game started when overhearing the Clifton Central head coach's "pep talk". "No matter what happens today, we play as hard as we can," he told his kids. The Comets came in with a 5-4 record, but had only beaten one team with a winning record (Salt Fork) and that was in a squeaker 28-27. So, yeah, the Panthers were a bit out...
It’s been an exciting volleyball season, with some special marks being set that most people don’t know about. Lena-Winslow’s Alyssa Daughenbaugh reached 2000 assists for her career early in the season, and was close to 2500 the last time we checked. Meanwhile, Jaiden Schneiderman of Forreston set a new school record for kills in a match with the 28 she recorded against Orangeville, and also broke the school record for career kills. The old record was 1313 set by Katie Erdmann in 2018, but Jaide...
I like cottage cheese – always have. As a kid, my brother, dad and I always fought over the last serving out of the container – a fight I typically lost – but I was the one to point out that adding pepper in addition to the salt we always added, made it even better. Now, as an adult, I get all of the cottage cheese servings. My wife doesn’t dislike it, but she’s not enamored the way I am. So, I was in no way, shape or form ready for the sudden “fight” that took place last weekend. Our daughters...
Normally, a questionable call in any sport might happen, but is not worthy of mention because one call typically does not decide the outcome of a game. I've also come to realize that while things might appear one way to me – sitting in my corner of the gym – a referee typically has a better angle, or viewpoint – so, again, I never mention it. But Tuesday night in Polo, the teams fighting in the Sectional were exceptional, while the officiating – specifically one line judge – had a really ba...
While Stockton, Galena, Lena-Winslow, Eastland and several other teams are getting pumped up and primed for next week's Volleyball Regionals, there are others who are not nearly as excited about them. The Warren Warriors got a very low seed, and are not expected to advance out of the opening day of competition. So, while they will show up, and do their best, a much more important game – for them – took place Tuesday night in Warren when they faced off against West Carroll. To begin with, it was...
Many years ago, back under coach Chris Thornton I believe, the Stockton Blackhawks adopted a special "alternate" home jersey – gold in color – and only worn for special games, no more than once a season. The impact of the jerseys is still remembered by those players who played for the Blackhawks. As many said that once the coaches brought them out, the entire team got pumped up. And even though they did not "always" result in a victory on the field, their importance to the tradition of the pro...
It was supposed to be a Pre-trial hearing – where everyone would simply confirm that they were ready to proceed to the trial scheduled to begin on Monday, October 28th. That’s what it was supposed to be. “We’re asking to move the trial back your honor,” said Assistant State’s Attorney Thomas Madigan to Judge Schorsch. “In conversations with the attorney for the defendant, we learned that there is some discovery that they have not received yet.” “This is a two year old case, and we’re still h...
It may not have been a record, but after a more than three-hour Freeport City Council meeting that included a ton of the usual nonsense and idiocy, the overwhelming feeling when it was over, was an honest sense of accomplishment. The main issue, that brought a lot of people in for public comment, was the Open Bible Water Main debate. The Reader’s Digest Version, is that the Daycare Center at Open Bible was being forced by the Fire Marshall to attach their sprinkler system to City Water, so t...
The conference champions have been crowned, and Regional action begins this week throughout the state, but which teams do we think will be hoisting the wooden plaque on Thursday night? Serena Regional This is the least interesting of all the regionals that will feed into the Polo sectional. Newark is the number one seed, and they are a traditional power, so ... we'll go ahead and say they win the title so we can move on to the ones that are more interesting. Indian Creek Regional This one...
This column is coming with a warning: “Unwanted mental images may be formed by the reading of this column, so anybody eating, or operating heavy machinery might want to wait until near a bathroom before continuing.” As many people are aware, I have been dealing – as many of us are – with the payment of my sins regarding diet as I have been added to the roles of people in America with type two diabetes. The number of pills needed each day makes me feel like I’m a walking pharmacy, and the need...
One week ago, the Eastland Cougars were sitting at 17-2 on the season, earned the #4 seed in the post season regional, and looked like a major contender. Since then, the Cougars were stunned by Amboy, lost to a strong Fulton team, then limped out of the Huntley Tournament after only going 1-4 on the day. In less than a week, 17-2 had turned into 18-8. "Everybody goes through slumps," said head coach Kelsey Thurman. "Unfortunately for us, we're picking the worst time of the year to do it." In...
Kaydra Wright, the sophomore setter for the Stockton Blackhawks has a problem most setters dream about ... she might have too many options of who to give the ball to. "A lot of times they call out to me and tell me they want it," Wright explained. "but coach has always said that whenever I can I should set the middles because when they get it, that usually leads to a kill. So, I try to set the middles when I can, but – yeah – there are times when someone is hot – like Madie and Taylor tonig...
Last week, we reported on the proposed Track and football field project that the School Board of Lena-Winslow approved, and how they discovered a Village Water main lying underneath the current field. The School Board was told that there was no easement or agreement on record – after all the main was put in over 40 years ago – so the responsibility, and cost, to move the main would reside with the Village of Lena. So, the decision, as far as the School Board knew, was that the Village nee...
