Oregon Republican Reporter, Mt. Morris Times, Thursday, October 10, 2013, Page B2
Sports
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Route 72 JH Volleyball tournament held Oct. 5 The Blackhawk Center in Oregon was the site of the 2013 Route 72 Conference Volleyball tournament held on Saturday, Oct. 5. Participating schools included: Ashton-Franklin Center, Byron, David L Rahn, Forreston, Meridian, Pecatonica, Polo and Winnebago. The DLR seventh grade team entered the tournament as the number two seed of the ‘big’ schools. The Eagle’s first round opponent was Forreston. DLR was firing on all cylinders as Senior Sawyer Reynolds rushes behind a line of blockers during the fourth quarter they swept game one, 25-6. Grace Mongan’s nine service against the Byron defense. Photo by Jaime Finch points led the team. Game two was more of the same as the Eagle’s serving and ball control was solid in From A1 efficiently led his team on of relief after this game. We kick, Sawyer Reynolds a 66-yard scoring drive, won’t face as much pressure assuaged the nerves of the connecting on 5-of-5 passing, (to make the playoffs).” With the criticallyhome crowd at Landers- including a 7-yard scoring toss to sophomore Zack important win, Oregon needs Loomis by calmly splitting Cogswell with two and half only to win two of its last the goal posts for a 17-7 lead. minutes left in the game. three games to advance to the “It was a chance to beat Hawk quarterback Tyler IHSA playoffs. Byron. You’ve got to make The seventh grade girls’ it,” said Reynolds, a fullback/ Blume helped seal the victory volleyball team from by recovering the ensuing “Those of us who are linebacker who also handles David L Rahn Junior High onside kick. seniors want a playoff game,” punts and kick offs. “I liked our poise tonight,” Reynolds said. “We had to concluded its regular season Not to be outdone, Byers with road matches at Byron Bothe said. “There is a bit win this.” and Pecatonica. On Oct. 1, the Eagles were at the Byron Middle School for a two match contest. In A meeting for all parents team policy manual and in the first practice. the afternoon’s first game, and students intending on participation forms. The boys’ first practice DLR had trouble with the coming out for the Oregon Bowlers will be able to is Monday, Oct. 28, and home court markings and High School boys or girls order shoes and bowling balls the girls’ first practice is struggled with their serving. bowling teams will be held at that time as well. Monday, Nov. 18. They dropped game one to on Sunday, Oct. 13 at 6 p.m. Anyone who was not out For more information the Tigers, 20-25. at Town & Country Lanes, for a fall sport is reminded contact Coach Nordman Their confidence returned Mt. Morris. that he or she must have an via e-mail anordmansr@ in game two as the Eagles Parent paperwork will IHSA sports physical before comcast.net or at 815-288stunned the home team, 25be distributed including being allowed to participate 7102. 15. Abigail Hopkins sparked the team with 12 straight service points. In the deciding game of the The Oregon Cross Country finished in ninth place with a listed below. team competed in the Pretzel total time of 1:43:51.01. McCahl Sanders, 23:18.6 Cross Country Invitational Individual times were: Kimmie Janke, 24:17.6 Meet at Freeport High School Austin Burkhart, 17:12.32. Kelci Foss, 25:55.3 on Oct. 5. Jacob Harshman, 20:19.99 Rosie Sarantakos, 27:33.4 Oregon girls who ran in the Ricky Greenwood, Madeline Sanders, 29:06.7 3-mile run, and their finishing 21:16.39 times are listed below. Jacob Ebens, 21:27.43 Oregon boys placed sixth McCahl Sanders, 21:56.35. Adam McFalls, 23:34.88 with an overall time of Kimmie Janke, 22:11.41 The girls cross country 1:49.49 Kelci Foss, 24:40.01 Team finished in fourth place Individual times are listed Angela Nordman, 25:08.21 overall at the Oregon Cross below. Rosie Sarantakos, 27:16.67 Country meet on Oct. 2 at Austin Burkhart 18:23.3 Madeline Sanders, Park West. Jacob Harshman, 21:28.5 27:42.29 The girls posted a total time Ricky Greenwood, 22:37.0 McKaylee Beeter, 27:57.51 of 2:10.09. Individual results Jacob Ebens, 22:38.7 The Oregon boys’ team for the girls’ varsity race are Adam McFalls, 24.42.10
Win was critical for Hawks
the 25-14 victory. McKenna Sadler had a team high seven points. In the semi-final round, the Eagles faced Pecatonica. The Eagles were hoping to avenge a regular season loss to the Indians only three days prior. The Eagles kept things rolling in game one, as their serving and attacking kept Pecatonica on their toes. The Eagles won, 25-20 behind Katlyn Reber’s 10 service points. The momentum the Eagles built carried them through the second game as well. They defeated the Indians, 2520, to earn their spot in the championship match. Olivia Mongan sparked the team with eight service
points. The Eagles faced conference champs and undefeated Meridian in the finals. Poor communication and untimely serving miscues by DLR enable Stillman to take game one, 16-25. Game two started slowly for the Eagles. They made a late comeback to keep it exciting but the Meridian serving proved too tough as DLR lost, 20-25, for a second place conference finish. The Eagles concluded their season with an impressive 15-7 overall record, 4-2 in ‘big’ school conference play. They were also consolation champions in their own DLR Invite and won the Dixon Reagan Middle School tourney.
Junior high volleyball finishes regular season
Bowling meeting is scheduled
Runners compete in Freeport
match, the Eagles and Tigers battled back and forth. Byron stayed in the game with timely net play but DLR pulled out the 25-21 victory. Hopkins was again high server with eight points. In the second match, the Eagles struggled with their serve reception as they fell to the Tigers, 16-25. Game two was exciting as the lead swung back and forth. Byron squeaked out the 23-25 win. The Tigers rallied to win the final game of the match, 8-15. Two nights later, the Eagles traveled to Pecatonica for their final match of the season. The host Indians were fired up for game
one as they had the Eagles reeling with their powerful serving. Pecatonica won game one, 20-25. Hopkins and Katlyn Reber led DLR with six and seven service points respectively. Game two found the Eagles settled down and ready to play. Some exciting rallies kept the home crowd ignited. The Eagles dropped game two, 21-25. Hopkins had seven Eagle service points. In the final game of the match, DLR struggled getting their passes to target in their 21-25 loss. Hannah Donaldson had four points to lead DLR.
Oregon’s Taylor Brubaker follows through on his approach shot on the first green Byron’s Joe Hanlin starts his round Tuesday morning at Elliot Golf Course in Rockford. Tuesday morning. Also pictured is Pecatonica’s Garrett Owens. Photo by Chris Johnson As a team Byron finished first at the Regional. Photo by Chris Johnson
Sports Column Teams looking at postseason opportunities By Andy Colbert Reporter With three weeks left in the football season, it is time again to review the road to the playoffs for our area teams. Let’s start with Polo, who according to coach Andrew Hofer, starts its playoff run this Friday against Orangeville. “I see a football team that’s battled a tough schedule. We are very close to getting over the hump,” Hofer said. Even with a 2-4 record, Polo has to be a favorite to run the table in its last three
games and slide into the playoffs with five wins. The win total of its opponents is one of the highest in 1A and assures them of playoff qualification with a 5-4 record. “We have a lot of positives going into the final three games,” said Hofer, looking to make the playoffs for the first time ever as a head coach. Let’s just say that the next three weeks will be quite interesting for Polo and its solid fan base. River Ridge and Warren have picked up the pace in football and are no longer pushovers. Forreston is a lock for the playoffs. The Cardinals have to be disappointed with the loss to Lena-Winslow, but that’s the nature of that side of the conference.
They could still rebound and knock off undefeated EPC in week nine, finish 8-1 and be conference cochamps. The biggest concern for Forreston has to be how the 1A playoffs shake out. Look for the same cast of characters, such as OttawaMarquette, Stockton, Aquin, Stark County, Le-Win, Galena, East Dubuque and maybe Polo. Since the IHSA went to a 16-team bracket last year, which worked out well for Forreston, it is hopeful that is the case this year. One major concern in 1A is Chicago Leo. Similar to Hales Franciscan, who Forreston beat two years ago, Leo has loads of talent and might be a considered a dark horse to win the state title.
Leo (6-0) has already beaten a couple schools with enrollments over 1,000 students and even has the No. 1 team in 8A, Mt. Carmel, on its schedule. At the 1A state track meet, Leo often has the fastest sprinters and hurdlers. If that type of speed translates onto the gridiron, look out 1A opponents. The reason they are in 1A instead of a higher class for football is that they aren’t subject to the private-school multiplier due to lack of post-season success. For example, Rockford Lutheran was 2A last year, but since they won a playoff game they are now bumped up to 4A due to the multiplier. Big, big win for Oregon over Byron. Coming from behind against Momence
and North Boone and then holding off Byron by three points, the Hawks are exhibiting a high degree of mental fortitude. “Without that mental character, we could be 0-6 right now,” Oregon coach John Bothe said. Should Oregon make the playoffs, and the odds are in its favor to do so, they could be a very dangerous team because of the ability to play teams close and find ways to win. One component that Oregon needs to get going is its passing game. They have the quarterback in Tyler Blume and an athletic receiver in Pierce Dhaese. “I think that’s one area of our game that can grow the most,” Bothe said. One obvious difference
Andy Colbert between this year’s team and the 2012 version is more cohesiveness and team unity. Maybe that will be the difference in surviving a rugged conference schedule and latching onto that coveted 3A playoff spot.