Iroquois County High School Sports Recap 2019
June 2019 Page 1
Iroquois County Sports Recap A special supplement to the Times-Republic June, 2019
A look back at the 2018-19 season
Page 2 June 2019
Iroquois County High School Sports Recap 2019
Editor’s note: There were many sports highlights throughout the 2018-19 high school sports season. This is a look back a few of them.
Photo by WENDY DAVIS The Milford Bearcats are received by the Milford community during a special celebration in the teams honor earlier this year.
Community celebrates MCP Bearcats’ eight-man championship win By WENDY DAVIS wdavis@intranix.com Sunday evening the village of Milford celebrated more than just the holidays, but it also recognized the Milford/Cissna Park football team. After the Christmas parade downtown, the community was invited to the high school gym to see the eight-man state championship trophy, as well as the winning squad, up close and personal. Coach Clint Schwartz introduced each player to the crowd. The four seniors brought up the rear — Jared Schunke and Kennedy Kunsch holding the jersey of former teammate Brendan Rose, who passed away in January, and Cam Garrison and Zane Trumann holding the championship trophy. Sunday saw rain, but as Schwartz said, it was better weather than they played the evening of the championship game.
“If you would have asked anyone in December if we would have football,” he said, the future was unknown. But the school board agreed to be part of the inaugural eight-man football league. “If someone would have said ‘yes, there will be football but will you win a state championship…,” he said. This is the first state championship win in Milford’s history. Schwartz said his team played really hard, in both games and practices. They deserve the win. He said in football, it’s about the effort put into playing. “If you don’t want to be there then it’ll be miserable.” There were several on the team who earned various all-state or allcounty recognition, even as part of Below: Penn Stoller heads down the field during a home game an eight-man squad. He said and looks to score earlier this season. this was someRight: Quarterback Jared Schunke looks to make a pass. thing worth noting. Eight-man football is football, Schwartz said. “There’s no denying we made the right move.” The community,
Photos by ZACK WATERS having come in from the rainy parade, was treated with cocoa and treats. The cheerleaders, whose names were also read as part of the winning team, lead the Bearcats supporters in a few cheers. The Bearcats fans watched a video of the team’s road to victory.
Above: The MCP Bearcats head onto the field to warm up before a game.
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Iroquois County High School Sports Recap 2019
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Local teams compete in playoff action By ZACK WATERS sports@intranix.com The Central Comets football season came to a close on Saturday afternoon after they lost their playoff match up against the Rockridge Rockets. The score was 30-28 in the Rockets’ favor. The Rockets got the jump early on in the first quarter and the Comets were unable gain enough momentum through out the game to get the upper hand. “We have to give Rockridge a lot of credit. They’re a heck of a team. They’re physical up front which we knew coming in to the game. Their offensive and defensive lines are both very strong. Unfortunately the first half we just made way too many mistakes,” said Comets head coach Brian Spooner. The Comets were able to come back stronger in the second half however. “At the end we made it a little exciting being down 14-30 and coming back to get 28-30.” As far as the season in its entirety goes, Spooner remembers a hard working team. “The thing about it is this…I am so proud of my kids and my team. I really can’t say enough about the effort that we Photos by ZACK WATERS got out of these kids this year. We had a senior class that Above: Central quarterback Jay Lemenager makes a pass. was inexperienced, a junior class with very small numbers Below: Jacob Shoven makes a catch against several Rockets defenders. and then a very talented but very young sophomore class. So, to get 7 wins and get to the playoffs was a big deal. It kind of felt like maybe we had a shot to win this game but it just didn’t fall our way.” Progress is what seems to be on the teams mind for next season. “We’ll regroup and put in the work in the off-season. They’ll remember this loss and next year will make sure these kind of things don’t happen.” The final record for the Comets regular season season is 7-2. Things did not go Watseka’s way either. The Warriors’ football season ended during their playoff game against the GCMS Falcons. The score was 76-6. “GCMS is a heck of a team. They have great players in every position. They’re well coached, they’re disciplined, and they just hit us right in the mouth and we never recovered the whole game. It’s disappointing.,” said coach Aaron Hilgendorf. All the credit in the world to
Above: Watseka’s quarterback Anthony Quinn throws down field. Bottom right: Jameson Cluver heads down field to score.
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them.” Though the night did not go as planned, Hilgendorf did have positive things to say about the way his team played. “We got to play a game 10 for the third year in a row and we are proud of that. But we just want to go out and compete every play whether we are up 70 or down 70. We want to be where Gibson is in a few years and getting your butt kicked by 70…you learn a lot about yourself.” Looking back on the season Hilgendorf says he’s looking to build on what they already have. “We want to improve and take strides next year. I think this year was just another step in building our program.” Friday’s game also meant saying goodbye to several senior players as well. “We have a great group of seniors and we are going to miss those guys a ton. They’ve been with me for three years and been the back bone of what we’ve been doing. They worked their tail off and I’m just proud of that group as a whole.” Watseka quarterback Anthony Quinn threw for 16 yards during Friday’s game. Jameson Cluver ran for 130 yards and also scored the Warriors’ only touchdown of the night with a 91 yard kickoff return. Justin McTaggart had 8 rushing yards. The Watseka Warriors finished their regular season with a record of 5-4.
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Iroquois County High School Sports Recap 2019
Photos by ZACK WATERS Above: The Cissna Park Lady Timberwolves celebrate with their trophy after defeating the Bearcats in regional play this past season. Below right: Milford’s Kaylee Warren sets the ball up for a teammate.
Cissna Park and Milford volleyball teams face off in regionals
By ZACK WATERS sports@intranix.com The Cissna Park Lady Timberwolves defeated the Milford Lady Bearcats for the IHSA State Regional Championship earlier this year. The final score was 25-17, 25-21. “The way that we at the end of the second set is how we should of played the whole time we faced this team. If we did, maybe it would of been different, maybe it wouldn’t.” said Milford head coach Christy Duis. Looking back on the season, Duis remained positive on her teams outlook. “We had a really up and down season. We’re just a couple of games over 500. But, we weren’t blown out of any games,” she said. “We just struggled to get over the hump of winning a lot of those.” Duis said she wished her team saw their potential
Above: Cissna Park’s Sloan Boyce looks to deliver a spike against Milford.
sooner. “I feel like our record doesn’t really reflect how good we were this year. What we showed tonight at the end of the second set really showed what we are made of. Cissna Park coach Josh Landon expressed his pride in his own team as well. “These girls have come a long way. We had experience in girls that came back, but we also had a lot of inexperience in terms of people playing different positions,” he said. “Three sophomores happened to step up and jump right into to Varsity level action. I’m very proud of these girls.” “They all did a fantastic job.” Leading Cissna Park in Kills was Sloan Boyce with 11, Erica Walder with 5 and Carly Pence with 4 Anna Jennings had 23 assists on the evening. Carly Pence ended the night with 6 blocks. Sloan Boyce had 12 digs and Audrey Kaeb had 5. From there, the Lady Timberwolves improved their record to 26-8-2 on the season.
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Iroquois County High School Sports Recap 2019
Watseka, Clifton square off in playoff matchup By ZACK WATERS sports@intranix.com The Watseka Lady Warriors were able to defeat the Central Lady Comets in the IHSA Regional Playoffs on October 22. The final score was 25-9, 25-19. This game marked the end of the Lady Comets season and allowed the Lady Warriors to advance to the next round. Comet coach Jill Luckenbill said, “It was a roller coaster season. Ultimately we played together as a team tonight but unfortunately we did not play together as a team the entire season. If we did, we would have had more of a winning record.” Watseka coach Krista Pufahl shared her thoughts saying, “In set one we had a lot of intensity and came out on the attack. In game two we just made too many errors and we weren’t as intense and I think that is what made all the difference.” Mallory Drake and Kennedy Bauer both led the team in kills with 7 a piece, while Kennedy McTaggart had 3. Hailey Lazarov had 4 aces. Leading the team in digs was Kennedy Bauer with 11 and Taylor Schippert and Mallory Drake with 5. Pufahl remained hopeful about her teams performance. “I feel like this season we have been peaking at the right time at the end. I hope we can bring all our intensity and we can get a lot of touches at the net against Tri-Valley and their big hitters,” she said. Unfortunately, Tri-Valley bested the Lady Warriors in the next round of the playoffs and effectively ended the their season. The score was 2514, 25-14. When asked for a comment, Pufahl said “Tri-Valley is a really good team. They were on the attack and I just think we had to scramble too much and couldn’t get our offense going.” Kennedy Bauer led the team in kills with 7 while Mallory Drake had 2. Leading the team in digs was Taylor Schippert with 11 followed by Kennedy Bauer with 7 and Cassie Peters with 5. Kennedy Bauer and Hailey Lazarov both had one block on the evening. The Lady Warriors completed their season with a record of 22-13. Coach Pufahl said she was proud of her team. “I think we’ve come a long way from the first game of the season to the end. We changed a lot of things this year and they all adapted ally well and they should just be proud of what they’ve done. They came a long way.”
Above: Lady Warrior Hailey Lazarov gets set to serve.
Below: Clifton’s Kyia Lemenager bumps the ball. Right: Lady Comet Jenna Raines goes up for a spike.
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Iroquois County High School Sports Recap 2019
Photos by CARLA WATERS The Lady Warriors, front row, left to right: Baylor Cluver, Natalie Schroeder, Magan Harris, Courtney Thompson, Sydney McTaggart, Allie Hoy; back row: Kadyn Stevens, Raegann Kochel, Cassie Peters, Kennedy Bauer, Kinzie Parsons, Mallory Drake, Teagan Cawthon and Kennedy McTaggart show off their regional trophy.
Watseka Lady Warriors crowned 2A Regional Champions By CARLA WATERS, MANAGING EDITOR cwaters@intranix.com The Watseka Lady Warriors are the Class 2A Regional champions. The team defeated the Lady Panthers at Herscher High School Thursday night 41-29. Watseka led the game, with the score in their favor at the end of every quarter: 11-4, 24-12, 31-24 and 41-29. The Lady Panthers didn’t give up, though, and brought a more physical game to the court in the second half. The Lady Warriors withstood the challenges. Watseka’s Magan Harris had 16 points for the team, with Mallory Drake scoring 9. Cassie Peters contributed 6 and Natalie Schroeder and Kennedy Bauer each had 5 points. Kennedy Bauer had 24 rebounds, breaking two school rebounding records. One of those was the most rebounds in a game, which at 24 rebounds breaks the old record set by Trisha Martin in 2013 with 21 rebounds. Bauer also breaks the old career rebounds record, for which she now has 818. That breaks Rachel Raymond’s old record of 802, which was set in 2004. The Panthers’ Baylee Cosgrove had 19 points, with Mackenzie Bruns contributing 4 and Hannah Schwarz and Kirra Lanz each contributing 3 points.
Panthers head coach Nathan Lawler was proud of his team and respect for their opponent. “We respect Watseka and a big rivalry game, but at the end of the day they have a great group of seniors that battled throughout and they have a few young players who stepped up and made some plays. We definitely wish them the best of luck and I’m looking forward to what they can do over the next few weeks,” he said. Lawler said he has “a lot of people coming back” next year, and he see a bright future for the Lady Panthers in the coming years. “I think these two programs are going to be in some title situations over the next few years,” he said. The Panthers ended their season 18-13 on the year. Watseka Coach Barry Bauer is also proud of his team. “We can tell we’ve got a lot of girls that have played three, four years of varsity basketball,” he said. “There was a couple of stretches where they really came after us and I thought we held our composure. That’s probably the proudest thing I am about the girls is there wasn’t too many times we had to call a time out; they were all on the same page. This group works so well together and communicate with each other. As a coach that’s a very proud moment.” When asked about beating PBl three times this year, Bauer said he’s never bought into that notion. “That’ old saying is from people who lose the third game,” he said. “I told that to the girls at practice. That’s like a crutch, that you can’t beat a team three times. Sure you can. “We got a lead and I thought we kept our foot on the pedal a little bit. I think that was due to experience.” Key to the game, he said, as that they switched up defenses. In doing so, he said, the team “never lost a beat.” He noted that Magan Harris is a player that leads the team. “We’re a little different when she’s on the court. It’s not like she’s going to score 20 every night or get 20 steals every night. There’s nights she will, but there’s nights she won’t. We are just different when she’s on the floor. She’s the motor. She’s the difference.” The Lady Warriors now move on to the Gibson City Sectional, where they fell to Bismarck-Henning.
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Iroquois County High School Sports Recap 2019
Photos BY TANYA TOVEY The Lady Cats pose with their regional trophy. The team includes, back row left to right: Asst. Coach Darrin Warren, Abby Tovey, Sarah Teig, Maya McEwen, Hannah Boyer, Olivia Henning, Brittney Bailey, Lyndsey Leitz, Head Coach Tom Marshino. Front row left to right: Team Manager Kendall McCalla, Emma Morts, Kaylee Warren, Jakki Mowrey, Anna Hagan, Brooke Sobkoviak, Jordin Lucht, Team Videographer Caitlyn Stimson.
Milford Lady Bearcats claim regional victory BY ZACK WATERS sports@intranix.com The Milford Lady Cats basketball team were escorted into town by the Milford Fire Department after the girls basketball team won the Grant Park regional Thursday night. The Lady Cats defeated Judah Christian 44-35. Leading the Bearcats in scoring was Kaylee Warren who took home 13 total points for the night. Senior Emma Morts followed with 10, while Brooke Sobkoviak took home 5. The Lady Cats then headed to Decatur St. Teresa on Feb. 11 to take on Colfax Ridgeview. The Lady Cats unfortunately were bested in a heartbreaking loss by two points. The final score was 41-39. The Lady Bearcats final record on the seaHannah Boyer shoots over the defense son was 16-12. for the Bearcats.
Milford’s Jakki Mowrey shoots a free throw shot.
Long inducted into Hall of Fame during final season BY ZACK WATERS sports@intranix.com Cissna Park basketball head coach Kevin Long was inducted into the Illinois Basketball Coaches Association Hall of Fame this May. Long, who recently completed his final season as a coach before retirement, was honored to accept the award. “To be in such a position, you have to have the good fortune of coaching some great players, and you have to have some longevity. During my tenure at Cissna Park, we have had so many great players, not just skilled players, but ultimately, team players. As a result, we have had some great teams, and have been able to build a program rich in Photo contributed pride and tradition. To receive such an honor, Coach Kevin Long recieves his plaque for would not be possible without a strong commitment to excellence by all associated with the IBCA Hall of Fame.
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our program,” he said. Long said watching his father coach helped inspired him to do the same. “My inspiration to become a coach came from my father who was a head basketball and football coach for over 30 years. He was inducted into the Illinois High School Football Coaches Association Hall of Fame in 1996,” said Long. Long has been coached for 35 years total, 29 of which as a head coach. He has spent 24 of those years coaching at Cissna Park. One of of the more satisfying aspects of the job for Long are the bonds he has been able to make as head coach. “There are many rewarding aspects of coaching but first and foremost would have to be all of the relationships that have been built over the years.”
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Iroquois County High School Sports Recap 2019
Above: Cissna Park’s Conner Lober drives to the hoop during semi-finals. Right: Christian Stadeli puts the ball up to score on Central A&M.
Cissna Park Timberwolves win semi-finals, take second place at state championship BY ZACK WATERS sports@intranix.com At their state semifinal match up, the Cissna Park Timberwolves defeated the Central A&M Raiders 56-44 and are headed to the IHSA State Championship game. After tip-off, Cissna Park was able to get themselves on the board to start the game. The Raiders soon returned the favor, but a successful 3-point attempt from Cissna Park’s Bailey Sluis put the Timberwolves out in front. Another 3-point from the Timberwolve’s Brian Fehr saw Cissna Park up 8-4 with about three minutes left in the first quarter. Three more successful 3-point shots in a row put Cissna Park in the lead 17-8 at the end of the first quarter. In the second, the two teams were both scoreless until about the 5 minute mark when the Raiders were able to drive to the hoop for a layup. The Timberwolves were able to get themselves another 8 points and closed out the half with a score of 25-12. The two teams battled neck and neck for the duration of the third quarter, with each team scoring 11 points a piece. From there, Cissna Photos BY ZACK WATERS Park was able to outlast the Raiders and take home the victory giving sports@intranix.com us the final score of the game 56-44. Cissna Park’s Brian Fehr takes on Providence St. Mel’s offense. The Cissna Park Timberwolves then moved on to play in the state championship game on Saturday, March 9 at Carver Arena in Peoria. Though the Cissna Park Timberwolve’s were unable to beat Chicago’s Providence-St. Mel Knights, the team received second place in the state. Tip-off saw Cissna Park with the ball to start the game off where the Timberwolves were able to get themselves on the board immediately. The team was again able to put another two points on the board after a foul against Christian Stadeli sent him to the free throw line. But some strong offense allowed for the Knights to come back and take the lead closing out the first quarter of play with a score of 16-8. St. Mel extended their lead in the second quarter and managed to hold the Timberwolves to a scoreless five minutes, until Bailey Sluis was able to land a much needed 3-point shot. The Timberwolve’s found themselves too far behind to catch up to the Knights before going into half-time 29-13. Cissna Park’s Brian Fehr was able to get a successful 3-point attempt to kick off a hard fought third quarter from the Timberwolves. Cissna Park was able to hold the Knights to a 13 point lead to end the quarter and headed into the final eight minutes of play time down 36-23. In the final quarter, the Knights doubled down and held Cissna Park to just six points total while still being able to put up 16 of their own to end the game with a final score of 52-29 and take home the championship trophy. At what was an understandably emotional press conference, Cissna Park head coach Kevin Long had nothing but positive things to say about his team’s abilities this season and what it was like to be so successful for his final season of coaching before retirement. “What a ride. What a journey,” he said. “Anyone that’s not inside our program has no idea how much commitment and sacrifice these guys have made over the years. We are a team in the truest sense of the word.” High expectations is what was put on the team from the beginning and Long says his team was able to exceed those this season. “The bar was set three years ago and we talked to these guys about setting big goals, and thinking big. And they bought into it. And that’s how I want them to live their lives. Have high expectations and set the bar high. And we did.” Senior Timberwolve Conner Lober was also proud of the way his team has played and has enjoyed being a part of the team. “We got closer and closer every year and slowly got better and we ended up The Cissna Park Timberwolve’s hoist their IHSA second place here. It’s been a really fun time.” State Championship trophy.
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Iroquois County High School Sports Recap 2019
Photos by ZACK WATERS Senior Michael Hartke looks to put the ball up for Iroquois West against Milford.
June 2019 Page 9
The Bearcat’s Kennedy Kunsch drives to the hoop.
Raiders and Bearcats face off at Watseka Holiday Tounament
By ZACK WATERS sports@intranix.com The Iroquois West Raiders were slow out of the gate on Dec. 15 during their tournament game against the Milford Bearcats. The Bearcats ended up taking the win against the Raiders with a score of 60-35. Milford was able to get the upper hand early on in the game with a first quarter ending score of 20-11. The Raiders were able to manage some momentum in the second however and closed out the half only trailing by 6 with a score of 28-22. Although the team did get within one point of each other at one
point in the third quarter, the Bearcats were able to maintain their lead and headed into the fourth with a score of 47-33. The Raiders were only able to get two points in the last quarter of the game while the Bearcats extended their lead, giving us the final score of 60-35. “When you hit a few easy baskets, things start flowing. We hit a couple 3’s and started getting some fouls. But that was just us getting a little more aggressive,” said head coach Dave Caldwell. The Bearcats then went on to face the Momence Redskins in the next round of the tournament, but lost by just eight points with a final score of 69-61. From there, the Bearcats took on Donovan and earned the fifth place spot in the tournament.
Warriors crowned Holiday Tournament Champions At the end of what turned out to be a nail biting game, the Watseka Warriors were crowned champions of the 17th Annual Watseka Holiday Tournament on Wednesday night. The Warriors defeated the La Salette Lions with a score of 45-44. The Warriors were able to take the lead early on in the first quarter, but La Salette battled back to get the upper hand on Watseka, making the score 10-9 going into the second. The Warriors were able to make several key 3-pointers throughout the second quarter and take back the lead closing out the half with a score of 31-25. In the third quarter, the Lions fought hard and ended up decreasing the Warriors lead to just 3 points making the score 40-37 going into the final quarter of the game. With just two minutes left on the clock in the fourth quarter, La Salette’s Michael Wernowsky was able to sink a much needed 3-pointer to take the lead over the Warriors with a score of 44-43. But, a pass to Watseka senior Justin McTaggart allowed him to score the final two points of the game with just 3 seconds left on the clock, giving the Warriors the win with a score of 45-44. “Whenever you play La Salette, it’s going to be a grind. We want to Watseka’s Blake Castonguay delivers a layup against La Salette. run but they’re not going to necessarily let you do that,” said Watseka head coach Chad Cluver. Leading the Warriors in points for the evening was Watseka Senior Ben Lyznicki with a total of 13. Anthony Quinn went home with 11 for the night, while Blake Castonguay finished off with 10. Lyznicki and Castonguay were both also named to the All-Tournament team.
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Page 10 June 2019
Iroquois County High School Sports Recap 2019
Milford baseball, softball teams get home win BY ZACK WATERS sports@intranix.com The Milford Bearcats baseball team went head to head with the Cissna Park Timberwolves on Wednesday evening in Milford. The Bearcats were able to bounce back from an early Cissna Park lead to take home the win. On the mound for the Bearcats was junior Tanner Sobkoviak who received the win, striking out three batters. Alex Barney replaced Sobkoviak in the first and managed four strike outs while walking two and allowing five hits for the night. At bat for the Bearcats, Barney was 2-4 with one RBI while fellow junior Klaytin Hunsinger was 3-4 with one RBI. Caleb Atwood was 2-3 with six RBI’s. For Cissna Park, Brendan Trumann suffered the loss on the mound for the Timberwolves. Trumann threw five strike outs and allowed for eight hits and two walks in his three innings before being replaced by Bailey Sluis. Offensively, Keegan Boyle and Zane Pierce each went 2-4 with one RBI while Mario Renteria was 1-2 with two RBI’s. Photos by TANYA TOVEY Above: Tanner Sobkoviak pitches for the Milford Bearcats. Left: Brittney Bailey takes a swing against Chrisman. The Bearcats will host Schlarman Academy at 4:30 p.m. on April 12. Cissna Park will next face Watseka on April 15 at home. The Lady Bearcats softball team also managed a home field win during their match up against Chrisman. The final score was 10-0. On the mound was senior Brittney Bailey. Bailey threw for five strike outs and allowed for one hit in her six innings of pitch time. At bat, junior Jackie Mowrey was 3-4 with two RBI’s while Jordin Lucht was 2-4 with one RBI. Kendall McCalla was 1-3.
Donovan baseball team takes down St. Anne By ZACK WATERS sports@intranix.com The Donovan Wildcats baseball team received their first win of the season on April 1 after their five inning game victory against the St. Anne Cardinals. The final score was 10-0. On the mound for the Wildcats was sophomore pitcher Brodi Winge who took home the win for the night. Winge struck out 10 total batters while allowing 4 hits and just one walk. At bat for the Wildcats, Winge was also 4-4 with one RBI while fellow sophomore Andy Onnen was 2-3 with three RBI’s for the night. Senior CJ Swisher was also 2-3. Donovan was once again able to take the victory two days later when the team once again found themselves face to face with the Cardinals, this time on the road. The team was almost able to once again defeat the Cardinals by ten runs, this time with a final score of 13-4. Andy Onnen received the win for the Wildcats on the mound. The wins improved the Wildcat’s record to 2-5 for the season.
Above: The Wildcats’ CJ Swisher gets a hit. Below: Tate Caposeino extends his lead at first base.
BEST OF LUCK TO ALL TEAMS! Photos by ZACK WATERS Donovan’s Brodi Winge delivers a pitch to St. Anne.
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Iroquois County High School Sports Recap 2019
Central Comets take regionals, move on to sectionals By ZACK WATERS sports@intranix.com The Clifton Central Comets baseball team had a successful two days in Watseka during the regional tournament. The Comets managed to take victory over the PBL Panthers on Friday night and move on to the regional championship game against Hoopeston on Saturday. On Friday, PBL was first on the board, sending a runner across home plate in the first inning. But a through ball from Clifton in the third inning allowed for the Comets to score one runner and tie the game up with a score of 1-1. Clifton managed one run again in the fifth inning, which was quickly answered by two from the Panthers in the bottom of the inning. Three more runs in the sixth from Clifton and some strong defensive work allowed them to hold off the Panthers and take the victory. The Comets saw PBL’s Mason Ecker on the mound. Ecker threw nine strike outs while allowing three hits and five walks before being replaced by Ben Jarboe in the fifth inning. Jay Lemenger took home the win for the Comets. Lemenager struck out five batters while allowing for five hits and four walks in his five innings. Lemanger was then replaced by Nick Krueger who
allowed one hit and two strike outs. At the plate, Central’s Garret Graham was 1-2 with one double and scored one run. Jay Lemenager and Canyon Burrow were each 1-1 with one RBI a piece, while Don Raines was 1-2. On Saturday, the Comets managed a 12-0 five inning victory over the Hoopeston Cornjerkers to clench the regional championship and move on to sectional play. This time, Nick Krueger received the victory for the Comets on the mound. Krueger managed three strike outs and two hits in his five total innings of play. Offensively, the Comets dominated at the plate but none more so than junior Seth Raines who went 4-4 with a game ending walk-off grand slam to trigger the 10 run rule and win the game. “I feel really good. Our whole team put in the time to win this one,” said Raines. “At sectionals, I’m hoping we come out with a lot of energy like we did today and get the bats rolling.” Clifton head coach Brian Kohn was also happy with how his team faired during the game and is excited to move on to the next stage. “There’s not a whole lot of words to explain that one,” said Kohn.
Photos BY ZACK WATERS Above: Luke Balthazor takes his at bat during regionals. Right: The Central Comets hoist their IHSA Regional Championship trophy.
Cissna Park takes on Mt. Pulaski in sectional finals By ZACK WATERS of the first, Mt. Pulaski was able to come back with two runs of their sports@intranix.com own to tie up the score. With runners on base, a through ball from After a hard fought battle in a game that went back and forth, the the Toppers sent one runner home to score, making the score 3-2 to Cissna Park Timberwolves 2019 baseball season came to an end on end the first inning. Wednesday night after their loss to An uneventful second inning sent the Mt. Pulaski Hill Toppers. The final the Timberwolves up to bat in the top score was 7-6. of the third. Ian Rogers then manThings looked promising for the aged to score two runners on a hard Timberwolves in the first inning when hit ground ball, once again giving lead off batter and junior Keegan Cissna Park the lead with a score of Boyle started off the game with a 4-3 at the end of the third inning. Mt. first pitch triple. A sacrifice ground Pulaski was unable to score any runs ball by senior Bailey Sluis sent Boyle during their half of the inning. home to score and put the TimberWith one man on in the top of the wolves up 1-0. Sophomore Ian Rogfourth, Keegan Boyle delivered a ers managed to lay down a successthrough ball to the short stop sending ful bunt, getting to second base on the runner across and extending the an error from the Toppers. Clean up Timberwolves’ lead to 5-3. Mt. Pulaski hitter Mario Renteria then managed was then able to make up two runs to hit a long fly ball that turned into and tie up the game during their at a double and sent Rogers home, bat. Photo by ZACK WATERS After a scoreless fifth inning, Cissna making the score 2-0. In the bottom Keegan Boyle celebrates after hitting a triple.
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Park managed one more run in the sixth but, the Toppers were able to get two of their own giving us the final score of 7-6 and ending Cissna Park’s season. On the mound for the Timberwolves was Mario Renteria. Renteria managed four strike outs and five hits, while walking 4 before being replaced by Gavin Speirs. Offensively, Keegan Boyle was 2-3 with a one triple and one RBI. Ian Rogers was 1-4 with two RBI’s. Cissna Park head coach Darryl Focken was positive on his outlook of his teams season. “We had a great year and hope to build on what we did this year and be right back in the thick of things next year.”
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Page 12 June 2019
Iroquois County High School Sports Recap 2019
Area athletes compete at state track meet Members of the Watseka boys track and field team competed in the IHSA State Track and Field Finals at Eastern Illinois University on Saturday. The team scored 14 points which was good enough for a tie for 17th place in the state. Rusty Kuhlmann earned all state honors by placing 5th in the shot put with a toss of 52 feet 6 and 1/4 inches. Jameson Cluver also earned all state honors with a 5th place finish in the 400 meter dash in a time of 50.48 seconds. The 4x400 meter relay team of Keegan Zack, Blake Castonguay, Justin McTaggart, and Jameson Cluver earned all state honors by taking 6th place in a new school record time of 3:27.36. The Clifton Central Comets 4x800 meter relay team made up of Jeremy Snejberg, Jeremiah Norris, Isaiah Ditta and Trevor Swanson received 12 place in their event with a time of 8:31:14.
Photos contributed Watseka’s Jameson Cluver, Keegan Zack, Justin McTaggart and Blake Castonguay pose with their medals at the IHSA State Track meet.
The Central track team takes a picture with their sectional trophy earlier this year.
Watseka shot put thrower Rusty Kuhlman stands on the podium.