SPORTS THURSDAY
Crunch time Pau Gasol wants to be on the court at the end of games this season / B3
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CONTACT: Jon Styf • jstyf@shawmedia.com
October 22, 2015 Northwest Herald
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BEARS INSIDER Hub Arkush
BOYS SOCCER: CLASS 3A JACOBS REGIONAL
Hosts win, want more Eagles beat Streamwood on penalties, reach final By JOHN WILKINSON jwilkinson@shawmedia.com ALGONQUIN – Noah Melick had a smile on his face, determination in his voice and a wad of cotton jammed in his left nostril after Jacobs’ Class 3A Regional semifinal Wednesday night at home. Melick took an elbow late in regulation and had to come out as he bled on his jersey and shorts. The sophomore returned in overtime wearing a teammate’s No. 23 jersey and ended up scoring the tying goal with four minutes left to force penalty kicks. Colin Walsh, Konrad Wasilewski and Chris Rigby made their penalties, and Eduardo Guimaray came up with a save as the Golden Eagles beat Streamwood, 3-2 (3-0 penalties), to advance to the regional final. The Golden Eagles will face Elgin in the final at 7 p.m. Saturday. “We’re not done. No way we’re done. We have way more in us. We know what we can do, we want to go as far as we can,” Melick said. “Let’s do it for the seniors, the student section was amazing today, the environment was awesome.”
See JACOBS REGIONAL, page B2
Scoreboard Wednesday’s semifinals Jacobs 3, Streamwood 2 (PKs) Elgin 2, Dundee-Crown 0 Saturday’s championship (2) Jacobs vs. (5) Elgin, 7 p.m.
Matthew Apgar – mapgar@shawmedia.com
Jacobs goalkeeper Eduardo Guimaray makes a save against Streamwood’s Armando Sanchez (left) on Wednesday in Algonquin. Jacobs won the Class 3A Jacobs Regional semifinal, 3-2, on penalty kicks.
BOYS SOCCER: CLASS 2A LAKES REGIONAL
OUTSIDE THE BOX SCORE
Johnsburg’s rally falls short
UNSUNG HERO
Michael Rackow Johnsburg, sr., F
Grayslake Central survives late close calls to reach final By JON STYF jstyf@shawmedia.com LAKE VILLA – After falling behind by two goals at the half Wednesday, the Johnsburg boys soccer team needed inspiration. Captain Michael Rackow said coach Rob Eastland gave it to them, inspiring them to play more as a team after intermission. They did it, got within a goal, and the fifth-seeded Skyhawks had several close calls in the final 12 minutes before falling, 2-1, to fourth-seeded Grayslake Central in the semifinals of the Class 2A
Scoreboard
“I thought there was like three or four times where, if that ball drops a little different. That’s playoffs, you either Wednesday’s semifinal get that little bit of luck or you don’t. Grayslake Central 2, Johnsburg 1 Tonight was more about skill and, they Friday’s championship move on.” (6) Lakes vs. (4) Grayslake Central, 4 p.m. To Rackow, the second-half turnaround was a testament to better teamLakes Regional. work, plain and simple. One particular close call came with “We just started communicating betjust less than three minutes on the clock ter and communicating from the back, when a crossing pass rolled in front because it all starts there,” he said. of senior captain Nick Whiting, who “They all come together and they couldn’t connect for an equalizer. play so hard for each other, they’re such “I think everyone in the crowd was See LAKES REGIONAL, page B2 trying to tap that ball in,” Eastland said.
Rackow wasn’t Johnsburg’s first choice to take penalty kicks all season. He moved into that role late in the year and found success, scoring the Skyhawks’ only goal on a PK in the second half Wednesday. THE NUMBER
10
Shots on goal for Johnsburg. Only one found the back of the net.
B
Perhaps Fox got it right The main topic since the Bears’ overtime loss to the Lions on Sunday is whether coach John Fox’s play-calling and clock management in crunch time were overly conservative and incompetent enough, respectively, to In today’s cost the Bears paper the game. A signifiChicago cant majority Football Weekly of Bears fans seem to feel looks at the the answer Bears during to both those their bye week. questions is yes, and now they’re getting testy with me and broadcasting my incompetence simply because I’m not prepared to agree with them. Issue No. 1 in Bears Nation is why with a four-point lead, 2:42 to play and a first down at their own 19-yard line Fox/ Adam Gase elected to run three consecutive running plays, knowing the Lions had all three of their timeouts, which they used, resulting in the Bears running only 19 seconds off the clock and giving Detroit the ball back at its own 34 and 2:23 still to play. The second controversy stems from the fact Detroit quickly moved to the Bears’ 2-yard line on a 34-yard pass to Theo Riddick after which Fox let an additional 10 to 12 seconds run off the clock to the two-minute warning, and then a 26-yard pass to Lance Moore, after which Fox let another 30 seconds or so run off the clock with three timeouts still in his pocket. The Bears are averaging 3.9 yards a carry on the season. It is reasonable to suggest those three runs could/should have resulted in a first down, leaving Detroit with no timeouts and the game all but over. Some will argue: “But Detroit knew the Bears were going to run, thus making it harder to succeed.” Really? If you thought the Bears should have thrown the ball, how could the Lions be sure they wouldn’t? A team has two goals in that situation: Convert first downs and force the other team to exhaust its timeouts. The Bears got half the job done. Honestly, I was screaming for a nice, safe, easy-to-complete play-action pass on second down at the time, but
See ARKUSH, page B2
AND ANOTHER THING ...
The Grayslake Central vs. Lakes matchup in the regional final at 4 p.m. Friday is a rematch from the regular season. In that game, the Rams led, 2-0, before falling behind, 3-2, and eventually beating Lakes, 4-3.
More online Visit ChicagoFootball.com for the latest Bears and NFL news.
BOYS SOCCER: CLASS 3A DeKALB REGIONAL
CL South, C-G in title match By JAMES HIGH sports@daily-chronicle.com DeKALB – The DeKalb boys soccer team had a two-goal lead early in the game, but Crystal Lake South battled back to force overtime and eventually won, 3-2, in a shootout in a Class 3A DeKalb Regional semifinal Wednesday. Gators goalkeeper Brandon Gorka blocked a shot from DeKalb’s Peyton Billips to clinch the win and send top-seeded Crystal Lake South (11-8-4) to the regional final game against Cary-Grove at 3 p.m. Saturday at DeKalb. Mary Beth Nolan – mnolan@shawmedia.com C-G beat South Elgin, 4-1, in the Crystal Lake South goalkeeper Brandon Gorka (right) celebrates with teammates Zach Schmidt other semifinal. The ninth-seeded Barbs con(from left), Nick Langdon and Nicholas Getzinger after defeating DeKalb on penalty kicks in a trolled most of the first half. Mike Class 3A DeKalb Regional semifinal Wednesday in DeKalb.
Scoreboard
bound with 10 minutes remaining. After a scoreless overtime, the match went to a shootout. Wednesday’s semifinals The Barbs’ first shooter, Angel Crystal Lake South 3, DeKalb 2 (PKs) Martinez, missed his shot. Leo Cary-Grove 4, South Elgin 1 Marquez, Leopardo, and Benny Saturday’s championship Redzepi scored for the Barbs, and (1) Crystal Lake South vs. (4) CaryNikolas Getzinger, Jake Canfield, Grove, 3 p.m. Zach Schmidt and Jeff Kirshenbaum scored for the Gators. “You gotta start by giving credLeopardo scored in the first five it to DeKalb,” Gators coach Brian minutes, and Tristan Bujarski Allen said. “They made the most added another goal to give the of their chances. I thought we Barbs a 2-0 lead. Ben Kassel scored were able to settle in well against the Gators’ first goal shortly be- them. They’re very organized, but fore halftime. we were able to find some seems. I T h e s c o r e r e m a i n e d 2 - 1 knew it was going to be something throughout most of the second silly that would go in our favor for half, until South’s Brad Grabow- us to win.” ski scored when Barbs goalkeepSee DeKALB REGIONAL, page B2 er Jack Fellabaum gave up a re-