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D10 The Register-Mail, Galesburg, Ill. Thursday, Nov. 20, 2008 LINCOLN TRAIL BOYS BASKETBALL Galva hoping last season’s late push continues Wildcats overcame 1-10 start in ’07-08 BY AARON FREY The Register-Mail There’s only one way for Clay Haurberg to describe his team’s 1-10 start to last season. “It was abysmal,” the Galva boys basketball coach said. Haurberg, now in his fourth season as coach of the Wildcats, attributed part of the slow start to his switch to a new offense at the start of the year. Galva went from using a motion offense to employing a shuffle, which features more backdoor cuts. “We had a lot of kids butting heads about it,” Haurberg said. “With the motion offense, a few kids were starting to put themselves above the team and worry about scoring too much.” And once the Wildcats got used to the new offensive philosophy, their season started to turn in the other direction. Galva went 8-7 to close the regular season before losing to Brimfield in opening round of a Class 1A regional. “After we came back from Christmas, we were able to compete a little bit better,” Haurberg said. “It took a while for the kids to buy into that, but once they did they really took off nicely.” See LTC, Page D11 Aledo — Former West Central girls coach and 2008 R-M Coach of the Year Brad Jackson takes over as the head man at his alma mater. The Green Dragons should be one of the frontrunners for the LTC title. AlWood — The Aces went through a long 4-21 campaign last season under first-year coach Chance Jones and may be in for another tough winter. Seniors Luke Brandt and Cameron Teel will be key players for AlWood. Annawan — Alex Coppejans is the only returning starter from last year’s squad that won a share of the league crown. He’ll be one of the candidates to replace three-time all-stater Tanner Carlson, who finished his high school career with 2,045 points. The Braves’ fresh/soph team has gone 40-6 the last two seasons, including an ubeaten mark in the LTC. Cambridge — The Vikings return a pair of all-conference honorable mention picks in senior guard Daniel Walsh and senior forward Steven Lenertz, but are inexperienced outside of them. Senior center Marcus Goodwin will miss the first month of the season with a broken bone in his hand. Galva — The Wildcats played well against other conference foes last season, but went just 2-14 outside the league. Coach Clay Haurberg’s team will have to focus on defense and fundamentals to change that. “Until we change our effort on defense, we’ll never be more than an average club at best,” he says. Lincoln Trail Conference at a Glance Princeville — The Princes should have a pretty good basketball team to go along with one of the top football teams in the state. Senior Carter Oltman does just as much damage on the court as he does running the football and should be one of the LTC’s top players this year. ROWVA — The Tigers went just 9-20 BILL GAITHER/The Register-Mail ROWVA High School’s Andrew Kovacik drives against Abingdon in a game last season. a year ago but return one of the more promising young players in the area in junior Andrew Kovacik. After a 3-14 start, ROWVA won six of eight in the middle of the season before losing its final four games. Stark County — The Rebels don’t just have big boys on the football field. Stark County should have one of the biggest front lines in the LTC, headlined by 6-6 junior center Dillon Kelly, 6-5 senior Devon Gentry and 6-5 sophomore Calvin Lewis. They should be in the hunt for the conference title. United — The Red Storm went 7- 18 in their first season since taking on Yorkwood. Six-foot-6 senior center Brennen Jensen should give United a big advantage on the glass, but do the Red Storm have enough guys who can put the ball in the basket? West Central — Former Galesburg boys assistant Kelly Hinkle begins his head coaching career with the Heat. West Central made some noise last season by flirting around the .500 mark for much of the year. Will they be able to repeat it this year without all-area honorable mentions Dalton Chandler and Kyle Gugeler? Westmer — The last season of Westmer basketball likely won’t be any more successful than in recent seasons. The Warriors have won only 10 games this decade and haven’t had a winning season since 1992-93. Westmer lost to Wethersfield 61-17 in last year’s regionals. Wethersfield — The Flying Geese should be flying high this season and contend for the conference crown. They return three of their top four scorers from a year ago, including senior guard Nathan Kohler, who averaged 20.6 points and 6.1 assists last season. Wethersfield upset Abingdon in last year’s regional championship for its first postseason plaque since 2000.
LTC BOYS Galva From Page D10 He hopes that late-season push can translate into a strong 2008-09 campaign. It seemed to have paid dividends this summer as Galva competed in a summer league tournament in Rock Island that included playing against larger schools from Galesburg, Quad Cities and Des Moines, and the Wildcats came away with a pair of wins. “I always tell my kids not to worry about knocking off teams like that because we go there to compete against bigger and faster teams to try and get better,” Haurberg said. “The biggest thing is trying, but any time you can beat teams from schools that size is pretty big.” Galva lost Seth Kelly to graduation after the Register-Mail all-area selection averaged 16.5 points and 8.6 rebounds a year ago. But the Wildcats do bring back 6-foot-2 senior guard Zach Anderson, who has started since the middle of his sophomore season and averaged about seven points last season. “I definitely think he has a chance to be a big player this season,” Haurberg said. “He’s a big, physical kid that can crash the boards and make plays.” A possible surprise for the Wildcats this season could be senior Spencer Clark, who averaged close to 20 points a game on the sophomore team two seasons ago but decided not to play last year. “He’s a very strong guy and has really good leaping ability,” Haurberg said. “He can really go to the basket. I’m glad he came back because he can be a big help for us this year.” GALESBURG GIRLS BASKETBALL Fresh start: Streaks’ tradition rolls on Expectations still high despite just four players back BY AARON FREY The Register-Mail GALESBURG — Bon voyage, Taylor Young. So long, Kelli Jo Hinkle. See you later, Stef Baker, Rachel Pendry and Kelly Ricketts. After losing five seniors — four of whom were starters — from last year’s squad, the Galesburg girls basketball team features a lot of young, fresh faces. The Silver Streaks return just four players who saw varsity action last year, bring in five new faces to the varsity squad and have only one senior in guard Whitney Dehler. But that doesn’t mean fans should anticipate a down season for a program that has been a model of consistency under coach Evan Massey, who enters his 31st season as coach. “With this group of freshman and sophomores and juniors, I love their approach to varsity basketball,” Massey said. “They want to be coached and are enthusiastic about each other. “I don’t think you can underestimate the value of these kids having success at other levels. That kind of success hopefully produces a winning attitude and winning expectation.” 1516 N. Henderson St. (Corner of Dayton and Henderson) The Streaks’ youth movement begins at the point guard position, where freshman Baylie Boyer and sophomore Katarina Mangieri will share a majority of the ballhandling duties. The Register-Mail, Galesburg, Ill. Thursday, Nov. 20, 2008 KEN EXUM/The Register-Mail Galesburg High School coach Evan Massey, starting his 31st season with the Silver Streaks, talks to his players during a practice earlier this month. The other guard spots are where Galesburg actually boasts a bit of experience. Dehler started there the first two months of last season before tearing her ACL in her left knee. Jessica Howard, now a sophomore, stepped into that role for the second half of the season, and junior Maddy Boyer was Galesburg’s second guard off the bench a year ago. Massey said Howard, who possesses a strong outside shot, could be poised for a breakout season. “She’s a lot like Brenna Saline was for us as a freshman,” Massey said. “Jessica was a good shooter, but she didn’t really have many games where she got on fire. You’d see that in practice, and I think as a freshman it’s tough to get to that level of comfort where it’s easy for you. “I think it’s a lot easier for her now because she’s more relaxed with what she’s doing and doesn’t have to worry about playing on the floor with four seniors.” A pair of juniors, 5-foot-8 Sara Baker and 5-9 Shelby Pacheco, should see a lot of action at the wing positions. “We’ll label them as posts and defensively they’ll have to do some things as posts,” Massey said. “But most of the time offensively they’re going to be on the perimeter most of the time.” See STREAKS, Page D15 D11
Page 1 and 2: Winter Sports The Register-Mail Thu
Page 3 and 4: GALESBURG BOYS BASKETBALL Streaks e
Page 5 and 6: PRAIELAND CONFERENCE BOYS BASKETBAL
Page 7 and 8: Abingdon Nov. 24-29 — at AlWood B
Page 9: OLYMPIC CONFERENCE BOYS BASKETBALL
Page 13 and 14: Aledo Nov. 17-19 — at Cranberry C
Page 15 and 16: Streaks From Page D11 Galesburg’s
Page 17 and 18: LINCOLN TRAIL CONFERENCE GIRLS Blen
Page 19 and 20: PRAIRIELAND AT A GLANCE Abingdon Ro
Page 21 and 22: GALESBURG HIGH SCHOOL BOYS SWIMMING
Page 23 and 24: Knox Men’s Basketball Dec. 5 —
Page 25 and 26: After years in cellar, Knox goes ne
Page 27 and 28: CARL SANDBURG BASKETBALL CSC men re

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