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Fall sports going full force now

sporter — Thu, 04 Sep 2008 20:38:03 +0000

Thursday, Sept. 4, 2008

By STEVE PORTER
High school football got going last week and the nine-week regular season should be an intriguing one.
There’s also plenty of interest in prep soccer, volleyball, tennis, golf, cross country and field hockey.
Cross country is different since both boys and girls run together in the fall. Soccer, tennis, golf and volleyball have separate seasons. Yes, there’s boys volleyball. It’s a spring sport.
Cross country showcases its first big meet of the season Saturday at Granite City. Edwardsville is playing host to a major of major meets this month on the Southern Illinois University Edwardsville campus.
Alton is holding not one, but two volleyball tournaments within the next two weeks. There’s one this weekend and another on Sept. 12-13.
Edwardsville, led by Telegraph Player of the Year Kayla Fitterer and Megan Sharpe, should be a load. Fitterer is bound for the University of Alabama.
The Tigers’ boys golf team is already flexing its muscles. It should be tops in the area.
In soccer, look for Collinsville, Edwardsville and Granite City to vie for the Southwestern Conference title.
Tennis will feature a number of quality individuals, including Alton’s Allison Callahan and Roxana’s Brooke Tweedy. Expect Belleville West and Edwardsville to battle for SWC honors.
Now, you don’t need to listen to me to discover the best of the best.
Go see them yourself. You will be glad you did.
And as they say in the dining world:
Enjoy!

Are you ready for some prep football?

sporter — Thu, 28 Aug 2008 21:01:08 +0000

By STEVE PORTER
It’ll start tonight, so you better be ready for it. Prep football gets going throughout the state and River Bend teams are primed to make their debuts.
Alton, East Alton-Wood River, Roxana and Jersey are among the teams playing at home tonight. Marquette Catholic welcomes Metro East Lutheran on Saturday, so Public School Stadium will be busy both nights.
East St. Louis (7A), Breese Mater Dei (4A), Columbia (3A), Greenville (3A) and Greenfield (1A) are among the Southwestern Illinois rated in this week’s AP state poll. East St. Louis and Columbia were ranked No. 1. Greenfield checked it at No. 3.
Yet it’s not all about having a state number. It’s more about just playing the game and doing the little things correctly.
Remember, it’s a game first, so the fun factor should be at the top of the list. And I’m sure those tackling their tasks tonight are going to enjoy it.
I hope you do, too. See you around the end zone some time this season.

There’s no doubt golf drives the start of fall sports

sporter — Thu, 21 Aug 2008 21:00:57 +0000

By STEVE PORTER
Fall prep sports are here and that may surprise you since we just passed mid-August. But that’s the way the IHSA calendar works these days. High school athletics are here before you know it.
And there’s boys and girls golf driving the bandwagon this week. Golf got going Tuesday with the Alton Redbirds’ Boys Tee-Off Classic at the Spencer T. Olin Community Course.
Madison County is holding its first golf tournament. The girls played Tuesday at the Belk Park Course in Wood River and the boys followed up on Thursday, also at Belk. Then there’s the multi-school Marquette Catholic Girls Blast-Off on Saturday at the Rolling Hills Course in Godfrey.
So the season is starting with a sweet swing, in a manner of speaking.
Edwardsvlle’s boys, led by senior Tommy Ponce, are going to be a team to reckon with along the trail. The Tigers won the season-opening Tee-Off Classic.
And the Edwardsville High, normally a perennial powerhouse, might not be as strong, but the Tigers will be solid. Caitlin Osborn could emerge as their leader.
Southwestern Illinois has seen its share of IHSA golf success in recent years. Marquette’s Mary Ellen Jacobs and Belleville East’s Ashley Freeman eachwon individual titles. Edwardsville owns a state championshuip and deep south sister Marion may grab one this year.
We’ll see.
Soccer, tennis, football, cross country, volleyball and field hockey will start soon. This week, however, the focus is on prep golf.
So keep your eye on the ball and watch out for that 19th hole.

State Legion tournament features classic North-South battle

sporter — Wed, 06 Aug 2008 16:17:06 +0000

By STEVE PORTER
It’s a little bit of Chicagoland against a shade of Southwestern Illinois this week in the Illinois American Senior Legion baseball tournament at Whitey Herzog Field in Belleville.
Edwardsville (30-9) and host Belleville (34-7) are representing the South. Post 199 of Edwardsville won the District 22 North title and then defeated South champ Belleville in the Fifth Division Tournament at Marion.
Arlington Heights and St. Charles are the heavy hitters from Chicagoland. In fact, Arlington Heights (36-9) is seeking its third consecutive state championship. St. Charles (26-8) is another quality player in this six-team, double-elimination field.
Moline from the Quad Cities and Decatur out of Central Illinois round out the competition.
It’s the first time the state finals have been played at Herzog Field, though Belleville has a strong tradition with Illinois Legion play.
Alton, which has played host to major Legion events in recent years, will be back in the picture next summer. Post 126 will serve as the site for Fifth Division play, meaning Alton is guaranteed a spot in the competition.
As for this week, it’s shaping up as a classic North-South confrontation. By Saturday night, we’ll know if the South will rise again. Or if everything runs through Chicago.

American Legion baseball reaches deep into second season

sporter — Thu, 24 Jul 2008 20:48:25 +0000

By STEVE PORTER
Everybody is playing for keeps now in the American Senior Legion baseball season. It’s either advance or pack the bags and call it a season.
You can call it the elimination round.
The District 22 league playoffs are wrapping up this weekend, with the North finals playing out in Bethalto and the South putting the finishing touches on its tournament in Fairview Heights.
The next stop is the Fifth Division Tournament, then it’s back to Southwestern Illinois for the state finals at Whitey Herzog Field in Belleville.
The local teams that come out of the District 22 fracas should fare well at Marion and perhaps even make a run for the state championship. Belleville and Edwardsville are among the local favorites, but Bethalto is enjoying its finest season in a long, long time. In short, anything can happen.
The playoff games are nine innings, instead of seven, so it’s more taxing on pitching staffs. And when you are playing just about every day, it takes depth to suceed.
By next week, the successful teams will be more obvious. For now, let’s see who can get there sustaining the least amount of damage.
As with anything else in baseball, it’s location, location, location.

Football season will be here before you know it

sporter — Thu, 17 Jul 2008 00:30:58 +0000

Wednesday, July 16, 2008

By STEVE PORTER
You know it and I know it. The 2008 prep football season is right around the corner.
The last time I peeked at the calendar it was mid-July, meaning IHSA grid practices begin in less than a month. The season gets going for most on Friday, Aug. 29. Others start Saturday, Aug. 30.
I’m guessing that the larger schools in The Telegraph area will take big strides of improvement. Edwardsville (4-5), Alton (3-6), Civic Memorial (2-7) and Jersey (1-8) figure they can be better and there’s no reason to doubt them.
The Tigers and Redbirds intend to join the frantic fight for second place in the Southwestern Conference. East St. Louis is in a class all by itself.
AHS will find out a lot about iitself the first two weeks of the season. The Redbirds play host to Quincy and then go to Cahokia for the first time since 1993.
CM’s Eagles and Jersey’s Panthers aim to scrap with Mississippi Valley Conference co-champs Mascoutah and Triad for a slice of the Valley pie.
Carlinville, which features speed — remember the Cavaliers took second in the Class A state track finals — might have a step on everybody else in the South Central Conference West. Mount Olive should be in the thick of things in the Prairie State.
It’s the final season for two divisions in the SCC. Gillespie and Staunton are heading to the revised Prairie State in 2009. It’ll be interesting to see if new coach Don Borgini can revitalize the Miners. Most assume he will have a big impact on the program.
Well, I’m getting ahead of myself, though it’s fun to look forward. Believe me, nobody wants to look backward.
If you do, you’ll discover somebody is gaining on you.

Coaching searches at Alton coming to a close

gshashack — Thu, 10 Jul 2008 17:07:54 +0000

The openings for varsity coaches in baseball and girls basketball at Alton High are expected to be filled at the district’s board meeting on July 15, according to athletics director Scott Harper.
The baseball vacancy was created when Harper moved into the AD opening created with Mike Brey’s move to an assistant principal at AHS. Girls basketball came open when Tammy Talbert resigned as coach at the end of the school year.
Harper was reluctant to give up coaching after spending 10 years as an assistant with the Redbirds before he got his shot to lead the program in 2007. Then as now, the opening came because of a coach moving into administration with Michael Bellm moving to an assistant principal’s role.
Harper, a Roxana High graduate, posted a two-year record of 38-27, including a 21-10 season in 2008. He guided the Redbirds to a regional championship in 2007. The leading in-house candidate is Todd Haug, though at least one top Southwestern Conference assistance coach has applied for the job, assuming a teaching position is available.
Alton had hoped to have the girls basketball job filled by the end of June, but was unable to meet that soft deadline. Talbert’s resignation came after six seasons that saw the program unable to lift itself out of the cellar in the SWC.
Talbert, who took Marquette Catholic to the Class A State Finals in 2000 and had a 160-51 record in eight seasons with the Explorers, could never translate that success to Alton. Talbert spent two seasons coaching in Missouri before taking the Redbirds job.
Her hiring came at the same time Edwardsville made a splash by luring Lori Blade away from Carrollton after phenomenal success at the small-school level. And while the Tigers have gone 146-40 with four Elite Eight berths in six seasons under Blade, the Redbirds have labored through six straight losing seasons and a 43-116 record.
To be fair, Blade took over a program that was in much better shape than Alton’s. But still, the results for the Redbirds have been disappointing. Alton has gone 2-12 in SWC play in each of the past three seasons. And going back two seasons before Talbert arrived, Alton girls basketball has a 12-100 record in SWC play since 2001.
The SWC graduated its marquee players from 2008, including Division I recruits TeAndrea Smith (Illinois) of East St. Louis, Morgan Harrington (Missouri State) and Suzanne Grossnickle (Ball State) of Belleville East, and Anya Covington (Wisconsin), Eryn Stepherson (Southern Illinois Carbondale) and Moneisha Davis (Morgan State) of Edwardsville.
So a step up the SWC ladder is a reasonable expectation for an Alton program would be satisfied with baby steps at this point.
– GREG SHASHACK

Granite City revamping its image in SWC

sporter — Tue, 24 Jun 2008 21:27:12 +0000

Tuesday, June 24

By STEVE PORTER
There are some noteworthy sports changes in the eight-team Southwestern Conference, heading into the 2008-09 school year.
But none loom larger in athletics than the two at Granite City High. The Warriors have a new football coach in J.D. Lorton and a new boys basketball coach in Steve Roustio.
First, Lorton.
The one-time Calhoun High standout, who played for Ric Johns when the Warriors were the darlings of Class 1A football — state champions in 1992-93 — most recently was at Riverton. So the step up to the SWC will be a big one for him.
Yet Lorton should prove qualified to make the advancement. He’s inheriting a program that former coach Matt Martin revitalized last season.
The Warriors went 6-4, qualified for the playoffs for the first time since they went 8-2 in 1991 and won four of five games through the heart of the season. Five of their six wins were by seven points or fewer.
Thus, Lorton intends to extend the winning trend. Martin, meanwhile, returned to Edwardsville, where he will serve as an assistant to new coach Mark Bliss. Martin was an assistant for Tim Dougherty the first time he coached at EHS.
Next, it’s Roustio and he has a big chore in front of him. The Warriors have sunk to the bottom of SWC basketball and need a booster shot to re-energize themselves.
They could get it from Roustio, whose dad, Mel, coached at Edwardsville and Jacksonville. Steve, a Collinsville assistant for Bob Bone, went to Highland, then posted two successful seasons at Petersburg PORTA, near Springfield.
Nevertheless, the SWC is a different cat and Roustio’s going to new some patience in developing a competitive program — and then a winning one. The good news is that it can be done.
Just look at Alton. After several years of uneven performances, the Redbirds have compiled a 124-34 record the past five years.
And that’s the best half-decade run in school history.
Now, nobody is expecting that from Granite City, but a smidgen of improvement is possible. Time will tell whether the Warriors can find the light leading out of the SWC cellar.

Harper gets a chance to put imprint on AHS athletics

sporter — Thu, 12 Jun 2008 04:12:48 +0000

By STEVE PORTER
Now it’s Scott Harper’s opportunity to make his mark as the director of athletics at Alton High. Harper, formerly the Redbirds head baseball coach, resigned that position earlier in the week to become the school’s new AD.
AHS officials wanted the new director of athletics to be free from coaching so that he could concentrate on evaluating coaches, working closely with them and providing student-athletes with as much support as possible.
It can be a 24/7 job, as former director of athletics Mike Brey knows. Brey earned a promotion to assistant principal when Michael Bellm and Barb Gillian both were promoted. Gillian takes over for Phil Trapani as the school’s principal and Bellm steps into Gillian’s shoes as an assistant principal.
Harper comes into the position with solid credentials, having worked both inside and outside the school system. He toiled in the Alton Recreation Department, sharpening his organization skills.
As director of athletics, Harper inherits a program attempting to better itself in the rugged Southwestern Conference. It’s no task for the faint of heart since the eight-school SWC is as competitive as any conference in the state.
He’s looking for across the board improvement because there’s always room to improve. I’ve been told it’s the biggest room in the world.
Here’s hoping Harper can work the room with the best of them and make the Redbirds a power player in the conference. He deserves a chance to show what he can do in following in the footsteps of AD’s such as Elliott Pearson, Stan McAfoos, Ron Smith, Bob Shannon and Brey, among others.
Community support will play an integral part in it, too. So if you are willing to lend Harp a helping hand, I’m sure he will gladly grasp it.

Calhoun head coach mafia inducts newest member

gshashack — Thu, 05 Jun 2008 16:11:26 +0000

His experience as a coach is limited to last season’s work under Rick Reinhart at Marquette Catholic, but it was enough to convince those doing the hiring of the Explorers’ next head coach that Tim Nelson was their guy.
And at age 32, Nelson took the job without hesitation.
“I’m definitely up for the challenge,” he said. “And I think the transition is going to be smooth. I know the kids. We’re going to run the same defense that we ran at all levels last season.”
While the Explorers defense will retain the same schemes, the offense Reinhart ran will be scrapped for a look familiar to the growing list of coaches coming out of Calhoun County.
“I’m a system guy,” said Nelson, who played on Calhoun’s first state championship team in 1992.
That translates into a Ric Johns guy and the triple option. “I hate to give that away,” Nelson said, with a laugh. “But most of my playbook is from Ric Johns and Scott Hamilton. But it’s what I know best.”
Johns was head coach at Calhoun when the Warriors won Class 1A state championships in 1992 and 1993. Hamilton was an assistant at Calhoun before putting together his own head coaching legacy at Tolono Unity.
They are the godfathers of the Calhoun football mafia that four schools have tapped into for head coaches in 2008. Aaron Elmore (Beardstown), Nate Lorton (Sullivan) and J.D. Lorton (Granite City) also took new jobs. And all started their love affair with football as Warriors at Calhoun.
“In Calhoun, that gave us our identity,” Nelson said. “That’s what we were know for. And we wanted that identity and we wanted pride in our community. And Marquette’s tradition speaks for itself. … I just hope to bring that same kind of excitement, that same kind of atmosphere. It’s team, that’s what I’m about.”
– by GREG SHASHACK