Sports

Wilmington girls improve fundamentally during shootout

Published by admin on Tue, 06/19/2018 - 2:44pm

by shawn Long
staff writer    
    The Wilmington girls basketball team got some  court time in last Tuesday, competing in the Braidwood Shootout, the first year girls have ever been invited.
    The Lady Wildcats started neck-and-neck with Coal City in the first game.    They could not however, come all the way back losing 35-26.
    That pushed them to the consolation bracket to play Clifton Central, who was dominated by Reed-Custer in the first round 30-13.

Young Wildcats to build upon Braidwood shootout

Published by admin on Tue, 06/19/2018 - 2:42pm

BY shawn long
staff writer
    The Wilmington boys basketball team competed in the Braidwood Shootout last week, not having the success they had hoped for but gaining insight on what it takes to win.
    Their day started with a 67-36 loss to Bishop McNamara, sending them to the loser’s bracket.
    A quick and sound Grant Park team ran the ball on Wilmington in the second game, beating the ‘Cats  63-48.

Lady Coalers take fourth place in shootout

Published by admin on Tue, 06/19/2018 - 2:41pm

by shawn long
staff writer    
    The Coal City girls basketball team finished in the middle of the pack of last week’s Braidwood shootout.
    The shootout consisted of eight teams with Sandwich claiming the championship trophy by going 3-0, beating Seneca (42-21), Peotone (28-14), and finally Reed-Custer for the title.
    In Coal City’s first game they dominated Wilmington in the first half and were up on the Lady ‘Cats but the Lady ‘Cats slowly came back, making it a close.
    The Lady Coalers held off the Lady ‘Cats for a 35-26 victory.

Coaler boys win a pair during Braidwood Shootout

Published by admin on Tue, 06/19/2018 - 2:39pm

by Shawn Long
staff writer    
    The Coal City boys basketball team competed in the Braidwood Shootout, Wednesday and Thursday, winning two of six games played.
    Coal City had a rough go of things in their first game as they could not keep up with Eureka’s offense, taking a 51-31 loss to send them to the loser’s bracket.
    The first game in the loser’s bracket was against Beecher, a team who lost to GCMS by 21 points.
    The Coalers came out scoring early and often, keeping up with Beecher and won it in the end with a 60-51 victory.

Reed-Custer boys savor shootout wins

Published by admin on Tue, 06/19/2018 - 2:37pm

By Shawn long
staff writer    
    The Comets boys basketball team put up their best shot during last week’s Braidwood Shootout, but came away empty handed.
    In the opener on Wednesday, the Comets battled Iroquois West to win 52-37, advancing to the winner’s bracket to face Roanoke Benson.
    In their second game, they battled into overtime with Roanoke Benson and came up shy 48-42.
    That bumped them into the consolation bracket to take on Somonauk. They took another game down to the wire, losing by single digits again, 52-48 to Somonauk.

Godley venue just as entertaining as big-time wrestling

Published by admin on Tue, 06/19/2018 - 2:35pm

by shawn long
staff writer    
    Bringing professional wrestling to the village of Godley, population 695, seemed like a far-fetched idea three years ago.
    But organizers with Northern Lights Wrestling liked the small venue of the Godley Park District gym, and its ability to draw fans from the Chicago southland. The strongest influence was  they had a wrestler who was local who wanted to bring something new to the region.

Lady Comets settle for second in shootout

Published by admin on Tue, 06/19/2018 - 2:33pm

by shawn long
staff writer    
    The Reed-Custer girls basketball team competed in the Braidwood shootout, making it to the championship game before suffering a loss.
    In game one, the Lady Comets were on the offensive  and keeping everything away from Clifton, grabbing a 30-13 win to move forward in the winner’s bracket.
    “The first game, I thought we played great defense and played outstanding the whole game,” said R-C coach Nick Klein.
    With Coal City beating Wilmington, they moved on to the winner’s bracket to play the Lady Comets.

RCHS coach likes talent seen during youth camp

Published by admin on Tue, 06/12/2018 - 3:25pm

by shawn long
staff writer    
    Reed-Custer concluded the last day of its summerbasketball camp for youngsters on Thursday with something for each of them to improve their game.
    They focused dribbling drills and a lot of flexibility training because the one thing varsity coach Mark Porter believes is most important is, you have to be able to stay on your feet.

I-8 Conference names best in baseball, softball

Published by admin on Tue, 06/12/2018 - 3:21pm

by shawn long
staff writer    
    The Interstate Eight conference has named seven softball players to the All Conference team.
    Coal City has three players honored including Payton Smith, Leslie Youskevtch and Madison Emerson.
    Smith was a pitcher for the Lady Coalers compiling 130 innings over a long season while maintaining a 2.04 ERA and striking out 130 batters.

Coal City camp welcomes wrestling great Rob Porter

Published by admin on Tue, 06/12/2018 - 3:19pm

by shawn long
staff writer
    Coal City High School hosted  a youth camp with an impressive line up of technicians coming back to teach the sport of wrestling to aspiring Coalers.
    Varisty coach Mark Masters was impressed with the group of guest instructors who agreed to help out, including Rob Porter, a world champion at freestyle, Class 1A state champion and collegiate All American.
    The big thing Porter stressed to camp participants on Thursday was to have fun.