| Another Confusing Cody Column |
Monthly Musings of
January
January
Get out the soapbox, NISB Publisher Cody Cutter offers his
prep sports thoughts ...
prep sports thoughts ...
First and foremost, welcome to another new feature on NISB. Through this monthly
piece, you should have a good idea about the general idea of what high school sports
is all about. Some will call it a culture shock.
The goal here is to stimulate the minds of those who love high school sports. Hopefully
this kind of piece will do just that, and perhaps make some people realize that there are
other schools and circumstances that do exist in the northern third of Illinois.
I'll try to do so by giving you ten things to think about:
1. My biggest high school sports-related pet peeve is – a fan who likes to give
attention to himself during a game. Usually in point-and-yell fashion.
I have seen this so many times during basketball games, and for some reason it's
picking up in recent years. Here's the reason: this world is not going well for many
people at the moment, and they want to find as many people as possible to proclaim
themselves better than. Their usual target when they attend prep sporting events are
the officiating crew and the opposing team's coaching staff.
Part of the game? It shouldn't be. Remember that the event is not about you, the fan.
This isn't a showcase of your sports knowledge. Officials, while striving to be perfect,
are not always that. Just remember that one thought, and there will be no need to boast
your “superior” knowledge of the game in front of the whole gym.
Have you ever noticed that blown calls always come when your team or athlete is
trailing the other? Have you ever noticed that your team's athlete never makes
mistakes, but the other team's athletes seem to get away with things? Have you ever
noticed the feeling that, when there is a lopsided disciplinary tally (be it fouls in
basketball, penalties in football, penalty minutes in hockey) it is always some sort of
referee conspiracy? If you answered “yeah, yeah, and yeah, so what,” then please re-
read the paragraph above.
Wrestling cautions are the only form of disciplinary action that rarely gets a negative
reaction from a crowd. Instead, they yell “That's TWO!” Over and over again.
2. Quote of the Month – (actually from last month): “Overcome adversity!”
Eastland boys basketball coach Tony Dunlap at the Erie Tournament Final against
Orion last month. When Eastland was at the wrong end of a questionable call that led to
a turnover, he yelled that to his players in the next possession.
I have nothing to tisk-tisk about on this one.
3. Plano's version of “24” - The 49th Annual Plano Christmas Classic will have
something unheard of. Plano will grow from 16 to 24 teams for the 2011 tournament.
The tournament will remain bracketed and eight-seeded, but each of the top eight
seeds will receive a first-round bye.
Hall is the lone departure from this year's field, meaning there are nine new teams
joining the Plano field: Aurora Christian, Belvidere, Burlington Central, Dixon, Indian
Creek, Lisle, Ottawa, Streator and Wilmington.
The additions mean that the Marseilles Tournament and the Chuck Dayton Tournament
in DeKalb will need to fill three spots each.
This year's championship game pitted two unbeaten teams going against each other:
as Rockford Christian beat Newark for the championship. This is, to date, Newark's only
loss of the season; while Rockford Christian is still undefeated.
Five years ago, the entire Plano Tournament field consisted of Class A schools. Since
then, there has been a major population boom in the Plano area. Anticipating an
enrollment spike, the tournament brought in more larger (Class 3A) schools such as
Kaneland, Morris, and Yorkville, along with tournament mainstay Sandwich which grew
into a 3A school.
The smaller schools that were removed from the mix became a part of the new
Marseilles Tournament.
In total, there are five Class 1A schools, 10 Class 2A schools and nine Class 3A
schools. Of the 3A schools in the 2010 field, Yorkville finished in third place, Sandwich
in fifth, Kaneland in sixth and Morris in ninth (as consolation champion).
Plano should be the place where we'll see how the area's 2A schools stack up against
the 3A schools. Most boys basketball tournaments do not feature an overall field of big
versus small, although there are a couple of girls basketball tournaments (Dixon and
Harlem) like this.
Forty-eight Plano Tournaments have been held. The 49th may be the one that makes it
the best boys basketball Christmas tournament in the area. Will it be enough to pry me
from the Warkins Tournament in Erie? We'll just have to see come this December.
4. East versus West – The Northern Illinois Big 12 Conference is already a half-year
old. Looks like there are no shakeups and schools itching to leave just yet.
The West Division is the entire former NCIC Reagan Division minus Morris, who along
with five former Western Sun Conference schools, make up the East Division.
The economy in the NIB 12 East cities is more stable than that of the western cities,
because of their location in regard to the Chicago suburbs. This fact is what caused the
Western Sun to break up, what caused Morris to look west instead of east, and what
caused Hampshire, Huntley and Johnsburg to leave the Big Northern.
Actually, a stalled economy led to the breakup of the Western Sun. However, when the
economy gets going once more, will it lead to an uneven balance in competition
between the two NIB 12 divisions? The same uneven balance that caused the NCIC to
die a slow death in the past few years?
Northern Illinois Big 12 administrators are confident that their conference is going to last
for many years to come. But has the competition balance teetered toward the more
resourceful East Division? Give it a few years, and we'll compare the conference
crossover games. A unique feature of the NIB 12 is just that – the requirement of
conference crossover games.
So far this year ...
In football, each team plays two crossover games. The East Division was 10-4 in such
games (winless Streator's four non-division opponents were all East division schools).
In boys basketball (at the end of January), the East Division holds a 13-5 lead on the
West. In girls basketball (at the end of January), the West Division holds a 13-8 lead on
the East.
The inaugural NIB 12 Conference wrestling meet, which took place two Saturdays ago,
saw Sterling win by a half-point over Sycamore. Five of the six East Division schools
took places two-through-six.
The rest of the NIB 12 tournaments this school year have seen a mix in in the top half of
the leaderboard. Boys soccer crossover contests were scarce, with the East division
winning four of five matches against West schools. Crossover game results for
volleyball were not made available to NISB.
If there was a shakeup in the NIB 12, my predictions are either Streator moving to the
Corn Belt, Dixon to the Big Northern, or Geneseo to a Quad Cities-Peoria mega-
conference. Further thoughts in this to come later in this piece.
5. Conference or Division – It's a matter of being technical. When someone refers to
“conference games,” they are referring to a team they are required to play.
The technical error is in reference to a team's win-loss record against other teams in
their respective division in a conference with two or more divisions. Currently, the Big
Northern, NIB 12 and Northwest Upstate Illini conferences are divided into divisions.
One will say, in regards to the current girls basketball season, that DeKalb is “21-
3overall and 8-0 in conference.” Technically this is an incorrect statement. DeKalb is 8-
0 in divisional play. But Hononegah is “23-3 overall and 12-0 in conference.” That's
because the conference Hononegah is in, the NIC-10, doesn't have divisions.
Many fans, coaches and players prefer the word “conference” when the correct term of
“division” is supposed to be used. Any mention of a “conference win-loss record”
should also include the conference crossover results. Sterling and Sycamore are in the
same conference, as well as Byron and Hampshire, and Eastland and Forreston.
And as far as the NUIC sub-divisions, no one really cares who wins it or not.
6. The final hurrah of the NCIC – is almost four months away. Next month the 82nd
and final NCIC boys basketball champion will be crowned. Boys basketball, as well as
boys track and field and boys cross country, are the oldest championship sports in the
conference.
Mendota, the remaining charter school of the NCIC, won the conference's final football
championship. Rock Falls, who along with Mendota was dominant in the early NCIC
volleyball scene, won that sport's final championship, as well as the final boys cross
country championship. Princeton claimed the final NCIC wrestling crown just a couple of
weeks ago.
The three aforementioned senior-citizen schools had the final say in the big sports. But
when it comes to other sports, the conference's newer schools are looking to leave
their mark on the conference record books before its too late.
Chillicothe IVC and St. Bede won the boys and girls conference golf meets. The current
girls basketball race should see St. Bede winning it all, while the boys race is still up for
grabs between four of the five schools.
We may end up seeing the last trace of the conference deep in the baseball
postseason, with conference powers IVC and Rock Falls gunning for a Class 2A
championship.
7. Princeton's predicament – as far as finding a conference right now is the waiting
game. Efforts to find a conference to settle in next year turned up dry.
For at least two school years, Princeton will be an independent in all sports except
football, a source close to the school had told me. After that, hopefully conferences will
begin to quake once more.
An independent schedule seems like it can cause woes on travel and finances.
However, the Princeton varsity programs have proven that they can take on anyone
regardless of size. They have already retained several former NCIC foes on the
volleyball schedule.
So the next question is ... which conference will budge first?
The Big Northern has been a likely choice for Princeton. Joining (in their West Division)
would mean a departure would have to take place. That departure could be either
Burlington Central, Marengo or Richmond-Burton (to the Fox Valley, or a smaller spinoff
of it). That would push Rockford Lutheran to the East Division of that conference.
Another option is the Three Rivers. Princeton would be the largest school in it, and
would rejoin with arch-rival Kewanee in conference play. However, there are two
negative sides: would the rest of the conference want a much-larger school with them;
and it would create either an 18-game conference schedule, or a nine-game schedule
with several non-conference opportunities (like the Little 10).
The biggest longshot is the Northern Illinois Big 12's West Division. Sound strange, but
despite the school's enrollment Princeton can compete with the rest of the conference's
schools (east and west). The arrangement can either be like the one Mendota will have
with the BNC (no football, and a seven-team division); or contrary to point No. 4 above,
a school leaves the NIB 12.
8. Few shootouts match Rock Falls's – from the second Saturday of this month.
A quick dissection of the crowd at the finale of the Rock Falls Shootout resulted in
seven groups of fans.
Rock Falls had relatives, usual fans, and the Rocket Rowdies. Byron had relatives,
usual fans, and a small student section.
The seventh group is the general die-hard fans that are not affiliated with any school
playing at the event. They are people that travel far and wide for the purpose of seeing
just a great basketball game. These games are either top conference games, or non-
conference games between two teams that know each other very little. When this is the
case, the fan joins the players along in the ride.
Shootouts are events that combine several non-conference games into one venue.
They are also important money makers for athletic programs, with several sponsors.
In order for the school to have a Shootout-type of event that is successful, the
scheduled games have to draw people to them. If they can tap into the the general die-
hards of high school basketball, then it's almost automatically a success. To do that
requires a great deal of searching for teams and creating match-ups that will excite
these types of people.
That's why I have been covering the Rock Falls Shootout nearly every year since 2003
(I was unable to see the 2009 edition).
This year was the tenth edition of the Shootout, dating back to the glory days of Rocket
hoops at the turn of this century. Many great teams have participated, and many great
players have played on the Tabor Gym floor.
Forrest L. Tabor Gym itself is what makes Rock Falls a hard place to play at. Area
referees consider the gym one of the hardest to officiate in, due to both visual
challenges and the Rock Falls atmosphere. The Rock Falls boys once had a 40-plus-
game winning streak on their home floor, which was stopped in their 2007 Shootout
game against Aurora East.
Rock Island's Chasson Randle and Aurora East's Ryan Boatright both lay claim to
being the best players to compete in the Shootout. Randle, a current senior who will
play for the Stanford Cardinal next year, competed at the shootout from 2008 to 2010.
Boatright was just a freshman when his team stopped Rock Falls's home-court streak in
2007, and a sophomore in the rematch win the following year, but was in the national
spotlight at that time for verbally committing to the University of Southern California as
an eighth grader. We know how that went later on.
The best Rock Falls Shootout game so far has to be Erie's 80-78 double-overtime win
against West Carroll in 2006. The Thunder had one of the deepest benches in area
history (24 guys), and most were rotated in throughout this tight game. That wasn't
enough to stop Erie's inside-out game, as the Cardinals came back from down two
points at the end of three quarters to force overtime.
Rock Falls also inducts new members and teams to the school's Hall of Fame on this
date, so many former Rockets get to take on all the exciting games. Two Rocket alumni,
Peter Goff and Thom Sigel, have coached games at the Shootout: Goff for Sterling and
Bloomington, and Sigel for Rock Falls and Rock Island.
9. History hasn't been written about Somonauk football and Hinckley-Big Rock
softball – as we talk about a lot of history here.
That's right, Somonauk football and Hinckley-Big Rock softball. These two programs do
not exist ... yet.
In times of recent economic downfall, we have seen a rise in the number of area high
school sports teams in the past three years. Hall added both boys and girls bowling,
and boys soccer, and LaSalle-Peru added soccer as well. Marquette and Putnam
County have both added wrestling teams to their athletic programs in the past couple of
years. River Ridge fielded its first football team this year.
Two more could be on their way soon. Both involve Little 10 schools.
What's great about the Little 10 Conference is not only the fact that it is 92 years old,
but also being able to maintain a steady lineup of schools throughout the recent poor
state of Illinois education. Unlike the NCIC, the Little 10 is still going strong.
Only one Little 10 school has a football team. Hiawatha currently competes in the
Northeastern Athletic Conference, and that could be where a new Somonauk program
could reside in. Somonauk has had a successful junior tackle program for a few years,
and the move for a high school program took a step forward a couple of months ago.
Right now it is still a hot topic in the Somonauk sports circle, according to our own Bill
Lidinsky. There is talk that the program would start on the freshman level, and work its
way up to being a varsity program in the next few years. Another conference option for
the program is the Interstate 8, for football only. Discussions between the organizers of
Somonauk high school football and the Interstate 8 are underway to determine if the
conference's freshman-level slate is a good fit for the program.
Once these plans are solidified, the final step is to make football an official sport at
Somonauk. That will be up to the school board.
Hinckley-Big Rock Softball is currently in the fundraising stages. There are cans around
local businesses for people to donate. According to one of the cans, there needs to be
at least $7,500 raised in order to move forward.
The only two sports at H-BR for girls in the spring, as of now, are soccer and track.
Things just get better for the conference.
10. Last, but not least – congratulations to the Guilford Boys Bowling team on winning
the IHSA Boys Bowling State Championship on Jan. 29!
The Vikings are the third NIC-10 program to win the event, the first came with Jefferson
winning the inaugural meet in 2003 with Freeport following five years later. Freeport
finished runner-up to Jefferson in that first year.
If Illinois high school basketball considers Peoria its hot spot, then Rockford, right here
in northern Illinois, should be considered the hot spot for Illinois high school bowling.
The accomplishments listed are just that of boys bowling. Girls bowling, which has been
a sport since the mid-1970s, is so successful in northern Illinois that the IHSA State
Meet takes place at the Cherry Bowl in Rockford.
That's right: Rockford = Bowling, just as Peoria = Basketball.
Northern Illinois programs also took forth (Sycamore) and fifth (Harlem) in the Boys
Meet this year. Nic Aures of Guilford was the highest scoring bowler in the area, with his
2,609 combined series being good for tenth overall.
This was Guilford's fifth top-ten finish at the State Meet. Freeport has five already, while
Harlem has four top-ten finishes. In fact, a northern Illinois team has placed in the top
six every year since the meet began.
Unlike the girls, the boys do not have the luxury of bowling at the home of their State
Meet – it is at the St. Clair Bowl in O'Fallon.
The girls begin sectional action this coming week. LaSalle-Peru (Illinois Valley Super
Bowl) and Winnebago (Don Carter Lanes) host the area's sectionals.
Since the Girls Bowling State Meet moved to the Cherry Bowl in 1993, northern Illinois
teams have won the State Title eight times, all within the last 14 years. Jefferson and
Guilford came close to making it No. 9, finishing in second and third last year,
respectively. Only two times since 1996 an area team didn't finish in the top two.
I'd go as far as to say that bowling, yes bowling, is one of northern Illinois's top high
school SPORTS.
Cody Cutter is Publisher of Northern Illinois Sports Beat. He is also looking to expand
this piece into a weekly (or perhaps twice-weekly) column, if there is enough
cooperation between sources. Cody can be reached at
northernillinoissportsbeat@yahoo.com
piece, you should have a good idea about the general idea of what high school sports
is all about. Some will call it a culture shock.
The goal here is to stimulate the minds of those who love high school sports. Hopefully
this kind of piece will do just that, and perhaps make some people realize that there are
other schools and circumstances that do exist in the northern third of Illinois.
I'll try to do so by giving you ten things to think about:
1. My biggest high school sports-related pet peeve is – a fan who likes to give
attention to himself during a game. Usually in point-and-yell fashion.
I have seen this so many times during basketball games, and for some reason it's
picking up in recent years. Here's the reason: this world is not going well for many
people at the moment, and they want to find as many people as possible to proclaim
themselves better than. Their usual target when they attend prep sporting events are
the officiating crew and the opposing team's coaching staff.
Part of the game? It shouldn't be. Remember that the event is not about you, the fan.
This isn't a showcase of your sports knowledge. Officials, while striving to be perfect,
are not always that. Just remember that one thought, and there will be no need to boast
your “superior” knowledge of the game in front of the whole gym.
Have you ever noticed that blown calls always come when your team or athlete is
trailing the other? Have you ever noticed that your team's athlete never makes
mistakes, but the other team's athletes seem to get away with things? Have you ever
noticed the feeling that, when there is a lopsided disciplinary tally (be it fouls in
basketball, penalties in football, penalty minutes in hockey) it is always some sort of
referee conspiracy? If you answered “yeah, yeah, and yeah, so what,” then please re-
read the paragraph above.
Wrestling cautions are the only form of disciplinary action that rarely gets a negative
reaction from a crowd. Instead, they yell “That's TWO!” Over and over again.
2. Quote of the Month – (actually from last month): “Overcome adversity!”
Eastland boys basketball coach Tony Dunlap at the Erie Tournament Final against
Orion last month. When Eastland was at the wrong end of a questionable call that led to
a turnover, he yelled that to his players in the next possession.
I have nothing to tisk-tisk about on this one.
3. Plano's version of “24” - The 49th Annual Plano Christmas Classic will have
something unheard of. Plano will grow from 16 to 24 teams for the 2011 tournament.
The tournament will remain bracketed and eight-seeded, but each of the top eight
seeds will receive a first-round bye.
Hall is the lone departure from this year's field, meaning there are nine new teams
joining the Plano field: Aurora Christian, Belvidere, Burlington Central, Dixon, Indian
Creek, Lisle, Ottawa, Streator and Wilmington.
The additions mean that the Marseilles Tournament and the Chuck Dayton Tournament
in DeKalb will need to fill three spots each.
This year's championship game pitted two unbeaten teams going against each other:
as Rockford Christian beat Newark for the championship. This is, to date, Newark's only
loss of the season; while Rockford Christian is still undefeated.
Five years ago, the entire Plano Tournament field consisted of Class A schools. Since
then, there has been a major population boom in the Plano area. Anticipating an
enrollment spike, the tournament brought in more larger (Class 3A) schools such as
Kaneland, Morris, and Yorkville, along with tournament mainstay Sandwich which grew
into a 3A school.
The smaller schools that were removed from the mix became a part of the new
Marseilles Tournament.
In total, there are five Class 1A schools, 10 Class 2A schools and nine Class 3A
schools. Of the 3A schools in the 2010 field, Yorkville finished in third place, Sandwich
in fifth, Kaneland in sixth and Morris in ninth (as consolation champion).
Plano should be the place where we'll see how the area's 2A schools stack up against
the 3A schools. Most boys basketball tournaments do not feature an overall field of big
versus small, although there are a couple of girls basketball tournaments (Dixon and
Harlem) like this.
Forty-eight Plano Tournaments have been held. The 49th may be the one that makes it
the best boys basketball Christmas tournament in the area. Will it be enough to pry me
from the Warkins Tournament in Erie? We'll just have to see come this December.
4. East versus West – The Northern Illinois Big 12 Conference is already a half-year
old. Looks like there are no shakeups and schools itching to leave just yet.
The West Division is the entire former NCIC Reagan Division minus Morris, who along
with five former Western Sun Conference schools, make up the East Division.
The economy in the NIB 12 East cities is more stable than that of the western cities,
because of their location in regard to the Chicago suburbs. This fact is what caused the
Western Sun to break up, what caused Morris to look west instead of east, and what
caused Hampshire, Huntley and Johnsburg to leave the Big Northern.
Actually, a stalled economy led to the breakup of the Western Sun. However, when the
economy gets going once more, will it lead to an uneven balance in competition
between the two NIB 12 divisions? The same uneven balance that caused the NCIC to
die a slow death in the past few years?
Northern Illinois Big 12 administrators are confident that their conference is going to last
for many years to come. But has the competition balance teetered toward the more
resourceful East Division? Give it a few years, and we'll compare the conference
crossover games. A unique feature of the NIB 12 is just that – the requirement of
conference crossover games.
So far this year ...
In football, each team plays two crossover games. The East Division was 10-4 in such
games (winless Streator's four non-division opponents were all East division schools).
In boys basketball (at the end of January), the East Division holds a 13-5 lead on the
West. In girls basketball (at the end of January), the West Division holds a 13-8 lead on
the East.
The inaugural NIB 12 Conference wrestling meet, which took place two Saturdays ago,
saw Sterling win by a half-point over Sycamore. Five of the six East Division schools
took places two-through-six.
The rest of the NIB 12 tournaments this school year have seen a mix in in the top half of
the leaderboard. Boys soccer crossover contests were scarce, with the East division
winning four of five matches against West schools. Crossover game results for
volleyball were not made available to NISB.
If there was a shakeup in the NIB 12, my predictions are either Streator moving to the
Corn Belt, Dixon to the Big Northern, or Geneseo to a Quad Cities-Peoria mega-
conference. Further thoughts in this to come later in this piece.
5. Conference or Division – It's a matter of being technical. When someone refers to
“conference games,” they are referring to a team they are required to play.
The technical error is in reference to a team's win-loss record against other teams in
their respective division in a conference with two or more divisions. Currently, the Big
Northern, NIB 12 and Northwest Upstate Illini conferences are divided into divisions.
One will say, in regards to the current girls basketball season, that DeKalb is “21-
3overall and 8-0 in conference.” Technically this is an incorrect statement. DeKalb is 8-
0 in divisional play. But Hononegah is “23-3 overall and 12-0 in conference.” That's
because the conference Hononegah is in, the NIC-10, doesn't have divisions.
Many fans, coaches and players prefer the word “conference” when the correct term of
“division” is supposed to be used. Any mention of a “conference win-loss record”
should also include the conference crossover results. Sterling and Sycamore are in the
same conference, as well as Byron and Hampshire, and Eastland and Forreston.
And as far as the NUIC sub-divisions, no one really cares who wins it or not.
6. The final hurrah of the NCIC – is almost four months away. Next month the 82nd
and final NCIC boys basketball champion will be crowned. Boys basketball, as well as
boys track and field and boys cross country, are the oldest championship sports in the
conference.
Mendota, the remaining charter school of the NCIC, won the conference's final football
championship. Rock Falls, who along with Mendota was dominant in the early NCIC
volleyball scene, won that sport's final championship, as well as the final boys cross
country championship. Princeton claimed the final NCIC wrestling crown just a couple of
weeks ago.
The three aforementioned senior-citizen schools had the final say in the big sports. But
when it comes to other sports, the conference's newer schools are looking to leave
their mark on the conference record books before its too late.
Chillicothe IVC and St. Bede won the boys and girls conference golf meets. The current
girls basketball race should see St. Bede winning it all, while the boys race is still up for
grabs between four of the five schools.
We may end up seeing the last trace of the conference deep in the baseball
postseason, with conference powers IVC and Rock Falls gunning for a Class 2A
championship.
7. Princeton's predicament – as far as finding a conference right now is the waiting
game. Efforts to find a conference to settle in next year turned up dry.
For at least two school years, Princeton will be an independent in all sports except
football, a source close to the school had told me. After that, hopefully conferences will
begin to quake once more.
An independent schedule seems like it can cause woes on travel and finances.
However, the Princeton varsity programs have proven that they can take on anyone
regardless of size. They have already retained several former NCIC foes on the
volleyball schedule.
So the next question is ... which conference will budge first?
The Big Northern has been a likely choice for Princeton. Joining (in their West Division)
would mean a departure would have to take place. That departure could be either
Burlington Central, Marengo or Richmond-Burton (to the Fox Valley, or a smaller spinoff
of it). That would push Rockford Lutheran to the East Division of that conference.
Another option is the Three Rivers. Princeton would be the largest school in it, and
would rejoin with arch-rival Kewanee in conference play. However, there are two
negative sides: would the rest of the conference want a much-larger school with them;
and it would create either an 18-game conference schedule, or a nine-game schedule
with several non-conference opportunities (like the Little 10).
The biggest longshot is the Northern Illinois Big 12's West Division. Sound strange, but
despite the school's enrollment Princeton can compete with the rest of the conference's
schools (east and west). The arrangement can either be like the one Mendota will have
with the BNC (no football, and a seven-team division); or contrary to point No. 4 above,
a school leaves the NIB 12.
8. Few shootouts match Rock Falls's – from the second Saturday of this month.
A quick dissection of the crowd at the finale of the Rock Falls Shootout resulted in
seven groups of fans.
Rock Falls had relatives, usual fans, and the Rocket Rowdies. Byron had relatives,
usual fans, and a small student section.
The seventh group is the general die-hard fans that are not affiliated with any school
playing at the event. They are people that travel far and wide for the purpose of seeing
just a great basketball game. These games are either top conference games, or non-
conference games between two teams that know each other very little. When this is the
case, the fan joins the players along in the ride.
Shootouts are events that combine several non-conference games into one venue.
They are also important money makers for athletic programs, with several sponsors.
In order for the school to have a Shootout-type of event that is successful, the
scheduled games have to draw people to them. If they can tap into the the general die-
hards of high school basketball, then it's almost automatically a success. To do that
requires a great deal of searching for teams and creating match-ups that will excite
these types of people.
That's why I have been covering the Rock Falls Shootout nearly every year since 2003
(I was unable to see the 2009 edition).
This year was the tenth edition of the Shootout, dating back to the glory days of Rocket
hoops at the turn of this century. Many great teams have participated, and many great
players have played on the Tabor Gym floor.
Forrest L. Tabor Gym itself is what makes Rock Falls a hard place to play at. Area
referees consider the gym one of the hardest to officiate in, due to both visual
challenges and the Rock Falls atmosphere. The Rock Falls boys once had a 40-plus-
game winning streak on their home floor, which was stopped in their 2007 Shootout
game against Aurora East.
Rock Island's Chasson Randle and Aurora East's Ryan Boatright both lay claim to
being the best players to compete in the Shootout. Randle, a current senior who will
play for the Stanford Cardinal next year, competed at the shootout from 2008 to 2010.
Boatright was just a freshman when his team stopped Rock Falls's home-court streak in
2007, and a sophomore in the rematch win the following year, but was in the national
spotlight at that time for verbally committing to the University of Southern California as
an eighth grader. We know how that went later on.
The best Rock Falls Shootout game so far has to be Erie's 80-78 double-overtime win
against West Carroll in 2006. The Thunder had one of the deepest benches in area
history (24 guys), and most were rotated in throughout this tight game. That wasn't
enough to stop Erie's inside-out game, as the Cardinals came back from down two
points at the end of three quarters to force overtime.
Rock Falls also inducts new members and teams to the school's Hall of Fame on this
date, so many former Rockets get to take on all the exciting games. Two Rocket alumni,
Peter Goff and Thom Sigel, have coached games at the Shootout: Goff for Sterling and
Bloomington, and Sigel for Rock Falls and Rock Island.
9. History hasn't been written about Somonauk football and Hinckley-Big Rock
softball – as we talk about a lot of history here.
That's right, Somonauk football and Hinckley-Big Rock softball. These two programs do
not exist ... yet.
In times of recent economic downfall, we have seen a rise in the number of area high
school sports teams in the past three years. Hall added both boys and girls bowling,
and boys soccer, and LaSalle-Peru added soccer as well. Marquette and Putnam
County have both added wrestling teams to their athletic programs in the past couple of
years. River Ridge fielded its first football team this year.
Two more could be on their way soon. Both involve Little 10 schools.
What's great about the Little 10 Conference is not only the fact that it is 92 years old,
but also being able to maintain a steady lineup of schools throughout the recent poor
state of Illinois education. Unlike the NCIC, the Little 10 is still going strong.
Only one Little 10 school has a football team. Hiawatha currently competes in the
Northeastern Athletic Conference, and that could be where a new Somonauk program
could reside in. Somonauk has had a successful junior tackle program for a few years,
and the move for a high school program took a step forward a couple of months ago.
Right now it is still a hot topic in the Somonauk sports circle, according to our own Bill
Lidinsky. There is talk that the program would start on the freshman level, and work its
way up to being a varsity program in the next few years. Another conference option for
the program is the Interstate 8, for football only. Discussions between the organizers of
Somonauk high school football and the Interstate 8 are underway to determine if the
conference's freshman-level slate is a good fit for the program.
Once these plans are solidified, the final step is to make football an official sport at
Somonauk. That will be up to the school board.
Hinckley-Big Rock Softball is currently in the fundraising stages. There are cans around
local businesses for people to donate. According to one of the cans, there needs to be
at least $7,500 raised in order to move forward.
The only two sports at H-BR for girls in the spring, as of now, are soccer and track.
Things just get better for the conference.
10. Last, but not least – congratulations to the Guilford Boys Bowling team on winning
the IHSA Boys Bowling State Championship on Jan. 29!
The Vikings are the third NIC-10 program to win the event, the first came with Jefferson
winning the inaugural meet in 2003 with Freeport following five years later. Freeport
finished runner-up to Jefferson in that first year.
If Illinois high school basketball considers Peoria its hot spot, then Rockford, right here
in northern Illinois, should be considered the hot spot for Illinois high school bowling.
The accomplishments listed are just that of boys bowling. Girls bowling, which has been
a sport since the mid-1970s, is so successful in northern Illinois that the IHSA State
Meet takes place at the Cherry Bowl in Rockford.
That's right: Rockford = Bowling, just as Peoria = Basketball.
Northern Illinois programs also took forth (Sycamore) and fifth (Harlem) in the Boys
Meet this year. Nic Aures of Guilford was the highest scoring bowler in the area, with his
2,609 combined series being good for tenth overall.
This was Guilford's fifth top-ten finish at the State Meet. Freeport has five already, while
Harlem has four top-ten finishes. In fact, a northern Illinois team has placed in the top
six every year since the meet began.
Unlike the girls, the boys do not have the luxury of bowling at the home of their State
Meet – it is at the St. Clair Bowl in O'Fallon.
The girls begin sectional action this coming week. LaSalle-Peru (Illinois Valley Super
Bowl) and Winnebago (Don Carter Lanes) host the area's sectionals.
Since the Girls Bowling State Meet moved to the Cherry Bowl in 1993, northern Illinois
teams have won the State Title eight times, all within the last 14 years. Jefferson and
Guilford came close to making it No. 9, finishing in second and third last year,
respectively. Only two times since 1996 an area team didn't finish in the top two.
I'd go as far as to say that bowling, yes bowling, is one of northern Illinois's top high
school SPORTS.
Cody Cutter is Publisher of Northern Illinois Sports Beat. He is also looking to expand
this piece into a weekly (or perhaps twice-weekly) column, if there is enough
cooperation between sources. Cody can be reached at
northernillinoissportsbeat@yahoo.com
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