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52 | March 9, 2017 | The frankfort station Sports frankfortstation.com Athlete of the week 10 Questions with Sam Nair Nair is a senior guard on the Lincoln-Way East girls basketball team. How did the season go? We started of a little slow and had a little trouble meshing together. But as we went on and got our momentum going, I feel like we all started to play more like we knew we could from the beginning. Athlete of the Month Andrew grappler claims February victory Bill Jones, Managing Editor Luc Valdez is only a sophomore, but he already has made a big impression on the Andrew High School wrestling team, albeit in a lighter weight class. And the 106-pound grappler recently got some recognition for his mat work, when voters helped him become 22nd Century Media’s Southwest Chicago’s Athlete of the Month for February 2017. He earned the most votes in a pool of Athlete of the Week candidates from January. The Athlete of the Month competition pits featured Athlete of the Week selections from our south suburban newspapers against one another in an online voting contest. The next contest is to begin Friday, March 10. To vote, visit Frankfort- Station.com, hover over the “Sports” menu tab and click “Athlete of the Month.” Readers can vote once per session per valid email address. Voting ends at 5 p.m. March 25. All athletes featured in the February Athlete of the Week sports interviews are automatically entered into the contest. How was it merging with players from Lincoln-Way North High School? We all kind of knew each other beforehand, so it was good off the court. Coming together on the court was just, as we started going, we got better. What was your biggest personal accomplishment this season? My biggest accomplishment for myself was making it down to state for the 3-point content. At regional, I made 10 [3-pointers] and advanced to sectional. In that round, I made 7 — same with a couple of other people — so we went into a shoot-off, and I won the shoot-off, so I got to advance. [March 2], I went to state and I made 7 ... there were 32 girls, and I was 13th. How did you manage that pressure? I went into it with a laid-back attitude. I wasn’t too nervous for it. But I practiced a lot beforehand with my dad. What is it like having your dad as the sophomore girls basketball coach? I like it. He always expects a lot out of me, so he’s kind of hard on me at times. But he really wants to see me succeed, so he works really hard with me. What are your plans for after high school? I’m still deciding on where to go to college. I’m probably going to go into the nursing major. I’m thinking of playing on a club or intramural team in college because I can’t Julie McMann/22nd Century Media imagine myself not playing basketball. What made you want to pursue nursing? I just really would like to have the opportunity to help people. It just seems interesting to me, and I’m pretty good at science. Do you have any superstitions? I usually try to make my last shot during warm ups before I go into the huddle just so I end on a good note, and that’s going to carry over into the game. What other extracurriculars are you involved with? I’m a part of National Honor Society and Mu Alpha Theta, a math honor society. If you won the lottery, what would you buy? I would probably buy another dog — a golden retriever. Interview by Kirsten Onsgard, Editor Andrew wrestler Luc Valdez earned the most votes to be named 22nd Century Media Southwest Chicago’s February 2017 Athlete of the Month. 22nd Century Media File Photo high school highlights The rest of the week in high school sports Boys Track and Field Providence, first place at ICOPS Invitational Lucas Weaver, a Frankfort resident and pole vaulter, handily took home a first-place medal Feb. 26, clearing 14 feet, which was nearly a foot-and-a-half better than runner-up, teammate Gavin Jamie. He was also part of the first-place 4x400 relay team, along with Eduardo Favela, De Shon Gavin and Josh Zubik, that finished with a time of 3:38.18. High School Highlights are compiled by Editor Kirsten Onsgard, kirsten@frankfortstation.com. This week in ... Girls soccer ■March ■ 14 at Windy City Classic Girls track and field ■March ■ 11 at Whitney Young Dolphin Flyer Invite, noon Girls water polo ■March ■ 11 vs. Hinsdale Central at Red Devil Invite, 9 a.m.
frankfortstation.com Sports the frankfort station | March 9, 2017 | 53 Hockey Lincoln-Way suffers state loss to Prep, ending season Brittany Kapa, Assistant Editor Hearts, both on and off the ice, sank as the Lincoln-Way hockey team skated off the ice for the final time this season. Lincoln-Way has had a season to remember. The team has experienced victories both on and off the ice, and is ending the season more bonded and with more wins than the previous season. The team’s chemistry and good fortune came to an abrupt halt Sunday, March 5, after the team suffered a 4-0 shutout loss to Prep. In the second round of the Amateur Hockey Association Illinois Varsity Combined state series, Lincoln-Way was unable to get any offense going against Prep’s strong defensive core, and suffered a season ending loss. “We played this [team] earlier, on Thanksgiving, and lost six to nothing,” said Lincoln- Way head coach Kevin Galassini about Prep. “What they do is play a great defensive game. They pack it in in front of the net.” Prep’s ability to keep pucks to the outside and block multiple shots was the team’s biggest asset. Aggressive forechecking and some well-placed shots wrapped the game up nicely for Prep as they advanced to the third round of the state series playoffs. Prep scored late into the first period, with just 1 minute 30 seconds left to play, and Bradley Woodle buried the puck low in the corner off an assist from Ryan Cuddy. Prep’s second goal, again, came late but this time in the second period. Lincoln-Way’s Scott Schipiour was called on a cross check, and Prep’s goal came courtesy of the power play as Justin Cuddy, assisted by Woodle and Ryan, was able to sneak the puck past Lincoln-Way’s goalie Austin Sarsfield just 17 seconds into the power play. “They made a good play,” Galassini said about the goal. “There was nothing we could do. We shouldn’t have been in the box.” Going into the third period Lincoln-Way was down 2-0. Galassini tried to rally his team during the intermission but to no avail. Lincoln-Way suffered from inconsistent passing, bad passes through their own slot and an inability to clear the defensive zone fast enough. Frustration set in for Lincoln- Way during the third period after Prep’s third goal of the game came with 9:30 left to play. Prep’s Ryan Cuddy score the unassisted goal. Lincoln-Way found it impossible to penetrate Prep’s defensive formation. That mix with Prep’s ability to block shots did not leave many scoring opportunities for Lincoln-Way. “We had to get the puck low to cycle it back to our defense and get the puck through,” Galassini said. Despite all of Lincoln-Way’s best efforts the team was not having success cycling the puck and mixed with Prep’s aggressive forechecking skills didn’t spend much time in the offensive zone. Defenseman Kyle Dingle expressed his frustration after the game. “Today, we just had no offense,” Kyle said. “No one was chipping it deep. Everyone was turning it over; it was just a big problem with passing today.” Lincoln-Way ended the game with a total 18 shots on goal, two more than Prep had against Sarsfield. Despite the team’s performance, Galassini was proud of the way his team came together over the season. “We had a great season,” Galassini said. “We won two games total last year. We won 23 this year. We won a league championship, which we’ve never done in the history of Lincoln-Way, and we won a tournament down in St. Louis.” Basketball From Page 54 final time, senior guard Jose Grubbs made sure Central advanced to the sectional by scoring a team-high 17 points and grabbing seven rebounds. All but four of those points came in the second half, but it was a scorching Steelmen start that helped propel them to the win. Four different players scored and Central hit four 3-pointers in the first quarter to race out to a 17-4 lead after the period. The score was tied once, at 2-2 on a pair of Aluyi free throws a 1:40 into the game. Sam Shafer hit the Griffins only basket of the quarter, a 17-foot jumper with 4:48 left in the quarter, which made it 8-4. But the Steelmen scored nine straight points to end it. "We come out of the gates and shoot threes, everyone is fresh and they all think they can make them," said Central coach Lawrence Thompson, Jr., who coached against East many times as Lockport Township High School head coach from 1999-2015. "Then we settled down and played. But make no mistake about it, East is a well-coached team and they came to play." The Griffins — who rallied from deficits of 13-0 and 17-3 on Friday, Feb. 17, to hand Bolingbrook its only loss of the season by a score of 65-64 — began a comeback in the second quarter. Junior guard Zach Parduhn (10 points) and Sam Shafer, who capped off the spurt with a steal and a layup, each had four points in the stretch which closed East within 19-17 with 3:30 left in the half. At that point, the Griffins were 5-of-5 from the field and 2-of-2 from the line after going 1-of-8 from the field in the first quarter. They never got a shot off the rest of the half, however, turning the ball over five times in the final 2:56. Central took advantage of that, scoring the last eight points of the half for a 27-17 lead at intermission. Senior guard Jason Bingham, who scored all nine of his points in the first half on 3-pointers, hit one of those in that quarter ending run. "I was the most upset at the way we ended the second quarter," Kolims said. "We had closed within two and I thought we could have went into halftime tied, but we turned the ball over." Grubbs opened the third quarter with a layup, but East came back with a 10-0 run in just more than one minute. Included in that were three straight baskets where the Griffins were fouled. They converted the first two free throws, but missed the last and a chance to cut it to one. Still, they only trailed 29- 27 with 6:26 left in the third quarter. In fact East had a pair of opportunities after that to take the lead, misfiring on two 3-pointers. The Steelmen then put together another spurt, this one an 11-1 one, during which junior forward Ryan Saunders scored all five of his points, to go ahead 40- 28 with just over two minutes left in the quarter. Central led 42-32 after three. "We've always been a resilient group," said Sam Shafer, who had six points in both the third and fourth quarters after having six in the first half. "We came back, but they hit their shots." Trailing 44-33 two minutes into the fourth quarter, the Griffins had one more comeback attempt. Junior forward Brandon Petkoff (6 points) hit a 3-pointer to start it and they closed within 44-40 when Max Shafer (3 points) hit the first of two free throws with 3:53 remaining. Bingham fouled out on that play, adding to East's chances. Sam Shafer sank a 3-pointer with 3:12 to play in the game to close the Griffins within 46-43. Central then missed a pair of free throws, but East turned the ball over and the Steelmen scored the next five points. A pair of free throws by Aluyi (8 points) with 1:23 left gave the Griffins hope. But Grubbs quickly ended that 11 seconds later as he was banged to the ground, but powered the ball up and it went in. He completed the 3-point play and, following a free throw, senior guard Jo Jo McNair (10 points, 5 rebounds) had a capping Steelmen slam with 38 seconds to play for a 57-45 lead. That started the celebration for Central, which also got seven points from junior guard Cameron Blackmon. "They hit big shots," Sam Shafer said. "But we always came out for each other. It was an outstanding season for us." East shot 15-of-37 (40.5 percent) from the field, including a trio of 3-pointers, and 16-of-24 (66.7 percent) from the line while committing 16 turnovers. Junior guard Joey Buggemi added four points in the game for the Griffins. The Steelmen shot 21-of-44 (47.7 percent) from the field, hitting eight shots from downtown, and 9-of-15 (60 percent) from the line with 13 turnovers. "They shot the ball exceptionally well early and knocked down some threes that took the wind out of our sails," Kolimas said. "It took a lot to come back, and we got close, but couldn't tip the scales to our favor. They're a very quick team and when they shoot it well and spread the floor, it makes it difficult. Coach Thompson has done a tremendous job with his team. He's got them playing defense and their offense is very disciplined." Not only was this season a success for the Griffins, whose previous best record was a 19-8 campaign in its second season of 2002-03, it was a successful merging of the kids from the now closed Lincoln-Way North and East high schools. The two programs that had combined to go 17-37 last season. "It was a great experience," said Aluyi, who came over from North and is undecided on a college choice at the moment. "We combined and we're brothers. We'll always be brothers. It was a great bonding experience that we will never forget." East's seven seniors are Aluyi, Nick Marietti, Matt Moutvic, Dan Mulhollan, Austyn Sanders, Max Shafer and Zach Zivo. "They have been a joy to coach," Kolimas said. "The ride at sometime ends, but not the friendships these guys made. Those will last a lifetime."
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