The Daily Egyptian 10/21/2010

Page 12

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FLYING TOWARD REGIONALS Josh Snead, left, and Steve Kern, right, of Team Snead, rip the flag belt and tag Jeff Green, middle, of Team Annexation of Puerto Rico, Tuesday during the men’s flag football intramural championship at Saluki Stadium. The latter won the championship and went 13-0 for the season according to Anthony Grzyb, cornerback and tight end on the team. The team will compete at the NCCS Regional Flag Football Tournament Nov. 12 to 14 hosted by SIU. Shane Bennett, assistant director of intramural sports, said the athletic department has agreed to let the championship game be played at the new stadium. “They were very gracious in allowing us to use the stadium and allow the students to play under the lights,â€? Bennett said. For a gallery of images from the championship game, please see www. dailyegyptian.com. EDYTA BĹ ASZCZYK DAILY EGYPTIAN

FOOTBALL

Dougherty kicks down school records NICK JOHNSON Daily Egyptian Since he was two years old, record-setting senior SIU kicker Kyle Dougherty has been a football’s worst nightmare. Whether it was the one he drove 60 yards through the uprights in his high school All-Star game, the one he blasted 40 yards between the posts in 2008 that gave the Salukis a last-second victory, or the spongy one he kicked across his living room as a toddler, footballs have seen no remorse from Dougherty’s right leg. Though he played multiple sports

throughout his childhood, kicking was something Dougherty seemed to enjoy from the first year of his life, his mother Andi Dougherty said. “We would sit there for hours and hours and hours and hold a Nerf football so he could kick it. That’s all he would ever do. If we had a ball, he kicked it,� she said. Kyle Dougherty grew up and went to high school in Merritt Island, Fla., not far from Cape Canaveral, he said. With his parents’ encouragement, Dougherty played soccer, baseball and football before high school, his father Dennis Dougherty said. But he always played quarterback

for his football teams until his sophomore year of high school, Kyle Dougherty said. The option-based offense for the Merritt Island High School team didn’t fit Dougherty’s skill set, and the team chose a more athletic starting quarterback, he said. “That’s when it was more ‘OK, I’m going to focus on kicking,’� Dougherty said. Dougherty proceeded to take the starting kickoff duty from two seniors as a sophomore and began attending kicking camps such as One On One Kicking in Daytona Beach, Fla., to hone his skills.

It was at One On One where Dougherty met Dan Lundy, his kicking coach for the past seven years who’s been instrumental in his success, he said. “He came to work the first day I met him,� Lundy said. “He was definitely talented. You could tell right away the kid had the ability to play at the next level, and he did.� Dougherty received several preferred walk-on offers from SEC schools such as Florida and LSU, but SIU was the only school that offered him what he wanted out of his school search: a scholarship and a chance to play.

“I’m going to go to the school that’s going to put an investment into me, because that means they’ve committed to me already,� Dougherty said. SIU and Dougherty proved to be a perfect match, as Dougherty has since set the record for most field goals in a season with 19 in 2009 and broke the record for most field goals in a Saluki career when he hit his 51st, a 23-yarder Oct. 2 against Illinois State. He’s added two more kicks since then, bringing his total to 53. Please see KICKER | 11

MEN’S BASKETBALL

SIU makes changes to return to winning ways

BRANDON LACHANCE Daily Egyptian The work ethic of the new players combined with returning workhorses makes the Saluki roster look different from the last few seasons, coach Chris Lowery said. “How we put this team together was in the image of some of our other teams, guys that defend, guys that come from tough coaches, guys that come from places where they won a lot and where

the coaches are teachers,� Lowery said. “We felt good about who we got from those places, but we also feel good about the spirits of the people who stayed.� The Salukis men’s basketball team finished second to last in the Missouri Valley Conference in the 2009-2010 season with a 6-12 conference record and a 15-15 overall record. Kevin Dillard and Anthony Booker, starters last season, transferred to other schools and left roster spots vacant. The program has five new faces, including

three junior college transfers, a redshirt freshman from Wisconsin and a true freshman. Lowery said with his team’s work ethic and commitment level to focus on the team instead of individuals, the team is turning into the Salukis of old. SIU won conference championships and went to the NCAA tournament for six consecutive years from 2002 to 2007. “Nobody is talking about what they want their average to be, or when they want to leave school,� Lowery

said. “Everybody is talking about a conference championship.� The new faces consist of junior college players Mykel Cleveland, Troy Long and Mamadou Seck, redshirt freshman Diamond Taylor, who will not be eligible until the beginning of the spring semester because of NCAA transfer rules, and true freshman Davante Drinkard. The new players have heard about the arguing and bickering and attempts to average a certain number of points by past Saluki players and are not trying to

follow the same path, they said. Drinkard said he and the rest of the new Salukis are ready and willing to work hard to help the program return to its winning ways. “That’s basically what we all came here for, to get this program back to the way it used to be,� Drinkard said. “It kind of fell off for a couple seasons but it’s not like we can’t make it back there.� Please see BASKETBALL | 11

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