We don't write papers, we build scrapbooks
We don't write papers, we build scrapbooks
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There are only a few things you could always count on: death, taxes, and in volleyball - Eastland always beat Milledgeville. The two schools who co-op in girls track together, could never call their volleyball battles a rivalry because Milledgeville seemed incapable of ever beating the Cougars. Every time the two teams locked up on the volleyball court, something would happen that would make Milledgeville collapse. "You don't have to tell me, I've been living it for the last seven years," said...
The Scales Mound Hornets have had a hard time starting matches this season. in fact, head coach Keri Werner even complained about how they had gone to three games in every single match all year. Meanwhile, the Stockton Blackhawks have had fantastic starts to matches, only to then lay an egg and come up flat in game two. True to form, when the teams met up on Thursday in Scales Mound they continued along their respective paths as the Hornets made ten errors in game one alone while Stockton...
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...
Ever since the days of Rose Black and Kristy Pierce, the volleyball showdown in the region was almost always between the Lena-Winslow Panthers and Eastland Cougars. Last Tuesday night in Lena, that classic rivalry seems to have returned, although the two teams have switched their traditional positions. Today, Lena-Winslow is the major power – with a senior dominated lineup, the Panthers opened up the match in impressive style as Eastland got rattled – not realizing what they had run into. Gra...
An unforced error in volleyball is sometimes unavoidable. A pass is shanked, a ball comes right at your head without enough time to adjust your hands, or your jersey brushes the net just enough to get the call. So, while the very best teams limit their errors, they all make them. But service errors are a whole different ballgame. Typically, the more aggressive the server, the more errors – but they usually balance out with some aces. So, on average, a bad serving night might see a team make f...
It was supposed to be a big reunion match, where former Aquin assistant coach Maddie Pontius brought her Stockton team to Freeport to challenge her former mentor, Robyn Stovall of Aquin. But instead, it turned into a display of two teams working to smooth out the wrinkles. Stockton came out in game one playing exceptional volleyball. They did not have the big hitters to smash the ball down, but were playing excellent defense – digging up everything Aquin threw at them – and simply not mak...
Officially, Lena-Winslow fullback, Gage Dunker, is listed at 6'0" tall and weighing 211 pounds. But anybody who watched him run roughshod against the Fulton Steamers Friday night, would swear those numbers must be wrong. There were several big things to talk about in the Panther's 32-8 conference victory, but the story has to begin with Dunker. The kid ran over, through, around and past Fulton defenders all night. When he couldn't avoid being hit by one, he would lower his shoulder and make...
While it is the advantage of hosting a tournament that you get to put together the pools in which teams compete, the very best tournaments – like the Forreston Basketball Tourney – does not play favorites, and has the coaches help seed the teams to ensure that the best ones meet in the finals – as they are supposed to. Well, the same cannot be said for the Oregon Volleyball tournament where the host Hawks wanted to be sure to make it into the final four – so they placed themselves in a pool th...
1. Lena-Winslow 7 – 1 Panthers fell to 2A Kingston, but so did everybody else, so with no head to head comparison ... 2. Fulton 3 - 0 Fulton just keeps on rolling. Have some big matches coming with Eastland in the near future. 3. Galena 6 - 1 Pirates look back on track by winning their own tourney and then beating a strong Byron squad. 4. Durand 12 - 2 Bulldogs wanted to play Aquin or Lena-Winslow at Oregon, but ... it never happened, so they stay put. 5. River Ridge 6 - 2 Wildcats got a huge w...
In last week's story regarding the potential sales tax increase in Freeport, I tried to make the point that instead of constantly looking to raise taxes, maybe the City Council should look at ways in which they might be able to cut – and threw out the Freeport Fire Department as an example. The last time I had ever confirmed numbers regarding the Freeport Fire Department, there were 55 full time employees, and my first mistake was in assuming that number was still accurate ... it's not. C...
I’ve told you about my dog, Bucky. He’s incredibly smart, but is definitely my wife’s dog. I can be gone for ten days, but when I finally come home, he will lift his head off of his bed, see who it is, then with a look that says, “Oh, it’s just you,” he promptly returns to his ever-important slumber. But my wife can be gone for ten minutes, and when she comes back in the door, you’d think it was the second coming of Christ as he bounces and dances all excited and happy that “Mommy’s Home!” Now,...
1. Lena-Winslow 2 – 0 Blowing out West carroll is one thing, but dominating Fulton on their home field? Panthers are legit. 2. Forreston 2 – 0 Dakota gave them a game, so props to the INdians, but Cardinals still hold on to the #2 spot. 3. Du/Pec 2 – 0 Rivermen flexed some muscle after Stockton scare by pounding EPC in Lanark. 4. Galena 2 – 0 Praites stand at 2-0 on the season, but there are still some serious questions - who have they beaten? 5. Stockton 1 – 1 Blackhawks totally destroyed...
Pearl City and Warren officially opened the IHSA Volleyball season with a non-conference battle in Pearl City between two rebuilding programs. And while it was obvious that this was the first game for both squads – that didn't mean it wasn't exciting as it went down to the wire – with both teams having plenty of reasons to walk off the court with their heads high. The overall theme of the night was errors. Both teams made them, both teams stated afterwards that they need to cut down on the...
The Oregon Hawks are a traditional 2A Volleyball power, while the Eastland Cougars were coming off of a rebuilding year. But if you watched them play each other Tuesday night, and there were no names on the uniforms, you would have sworn their roles were reversed. Simply put, Eastland made Oregon look out-classed in a 25-20, 25-15 non-conference victory that was nothing short of impressive. Game one was competitive. Oregon used a balanced attack – recording eleven kills in game one, with four di...
The River Ridge Wildcats came in with a 1-0 early record after taking down the Milledgeville Missiles in spite of a slow start in their opener. While the Lena-Winslow Panthers – although expected to be a major power this season – came in a little dinged up as Grace Groezinger basically had to play left handed as she is recovering from shoulder surgery, and Eden Dietz is also not at full strength. But the show the two teams put on was entertaining theater for a large crowd in Elizabeth after the...
This was supposed to be the year when EPC returned to prominence. When they became a contender once again in the ever-powerful NUIC North. They have the speed. They have the grit and determination in their running backs. But ... the Galena Pirates methodically took the air out of the sails of all the EPC hype with a very vanilla 28-6 ground pounding. In all fairness, the jury was out for three quarters of football as EPC looked every bit the team we expected to see, but just seemed to sputter...
It's a whole new ballgame in Orangeville. In what could only be described as a "dominant" performance, the Broncos got impressive play in almost every facet of the game as they rolled past the AFC Raiders in a 46-12 running clock affair last Saturday. At the beginning, AFC looked good as they methodically moved the ball down the field with a decent ground attack that never broke a big one, but was grinding out first downs. The drive ended in a two yard touchdown run by senior Daniel Bevan, and...
“We be po,” I cried to my wife. “Would you stop it, we are not poor. We’re just cash strapped a little until Friday.” In the grand scheme of things, a perfect storm of financial needs came up all within the last few weeks. Of course, we had property taxes coming in the near future which we always set extra money aside for in August because they are so much fun to pay. But then, added on top of that, was the final payment for our Greek Island cruise – which was worth it, but not inexpensive. Then...
Voters in Freeport stepped up in the last election, and literally might have saved the city by approving Home Rule to continue. If it hadn't passed, they would have been forced to close one or more of the fire stations – and who knows how badly it might have impacted the Freeport Police Department. However, there is also a consequence to having home rule – your City Council can increase your taxes without having to go to the voters for a referendum. When Lena needed to increase taxes in ord...
“Alloh, dees ees Melbin of Internal Webenue Serbis. Da reason for dees woicemail message is we have received a complaint against you for tax ebasion, and are issuing a warrant for your arrest. We not do it right now. Eef you hab question or need information to stop dees action please call me ...” Now, I ask you – if that broken English message was waiting for you on your voicemail … how many people would believe it? I had heard about tax scams before, and have gotten other calls and emails...
Covering the Stephenson County Board has gotten to the point of watching live comedy. On some occasions, you simply have to laugh ... in order to avoid crying. The meeting held Thursday, August 17th, was one such meeting. Initially, the meeting was cruising along to the point that you got the impression you might make it home at a reasonable hour, but then the topic of renewing the Health Insurance policies for the County came up – and everything came to a screeching halt. Finance Chairman, T...
Okay, we've spent a lot of time taking a close look at every team in our coverage area, but how will they all stack up - not only against themselves, but other schools outside of our region? Glad you asked. NUIC SOUTH Forreston ran the table last season, but lost a ton of senior talent. Fulton seems poised to claim the crown, but don't look past Eastland or Forreston as major challengers. The dark horse team will be Polo - with a new coach, the Lady Marcos were a major surprise over the summer,...
Last Season We could fill you up with all kinds of platitudes about how the 2022 Warren Warriors may not have seen a lot of success on the court, but did see it in areas that are more important - but the bottom line is that nobody (including the Warriors) would buy it. You simply can’t go through a winless season and try to sugarcoat it. The 2022 Warriors never won a match - something that weighed upon them as one player told me while feeling downtrodden, “I just want to win one, is that so muc...
Last Season Things went from bad to worse for the Blackhawks in 2022. To begin with, it was a rebuilding year as they had lost the Haas cousins - which was more than 80% of their offense. But then, early in the season, their best weapon - Madalyn Mammoser - went down and was lost (again) as knee issues have tormented her career. The Blackhawks tried to recover, and early in the season things were working pretty well, but at some point it began to erode. A team that was hoping to compete with...
Last Season The 2022 season for the Scales Mound Hornets was a see-saw affair of strong wins and tough losses as a majority of the season was spent trying to find the right pieces to put into each of the many places on the court. An early season smack-down of Milledgeville was followed by some tough losses at the Galena Tournament, and playing in the West proved to be a major challenge as the Pirates ran the table, and West Carroll emerged as a power behind some major stars on the roster who wer...
