FS_092117

frankfortstation.com sports
the frankfort station | September 21, 2017 | 49
Athlete of the Week
10 Questions
with Brandon Petkoff
Brandon Petkoff is a senior
on the Lincoln-Way East
baseball and basketball
teams and has committed to
playing baseball at Texas
A&M Corpus Christi in
2018
How long have you
been playing each sport
and how did you get
started?
I've been playing baseball
since I was 2 years old and
basketball probably since
I was 3 or 4. My dad introduced
me to both sports,
but I owe a lot to my mom.
She's done a lot for me...she
helped me get to where I'm
at, and she really looked out
for me.
How do the two sports
compare?
Basketball's more centralized,
where it's five people
and five people. You rely on
each one out there to do their
job equally — that helps
you do your job well. And
with baseball, it's something
that's more one on one. It's
all about your skill against
their skill and who is the best
or smarter athlete and who
can contribute better to their
team and help their team in a
better fashion.
What is your position
on each team?
I play a power forward in
basketball and I play outfield
in baseball.
What stands out about
you as an athlete?
I would say it's probably
my speed. My speed
is something that's always
stood out. I'm always the
one that gets on base and is
always stealing or is looking
to steal.
You're a member of
the National Honor
Society and have a 3.9
GPA. What's the key
to balancing sports and
school?
It's tough with multiple
AP classes to get all of that
workload in, but I've been
managing it since freshman
year, and I'm kind of used to
it by now, where I just push
myself in position to challenge
myself, both on the
field and on the court, and in
the classroom as well.
What is it like playing
with your teammates?
It's a fun experience, playing
with my teammates. My
teammates are really special
for me, and I consider them
part of my family. We're
a very close-knit group,
whether it comes to baseball
or basketball, and they just
make it easier when we're
all together as one and we're
doing something together as
a family.
photo submitted
What are you most
excited about for this
season for each sport?
There's a lot I'm looking
forward to. For basketball,
we just came off a great season.
We surprised a lot of
people and took down the
No. 1 team in the state last
year, so we're excited for
that. And with baseball, we
just got a new head coach,
and he's changing things
very quickly ... we've already
been preparing, and
we're getting ready to go to
battle this spring, and it's going
to be really fun.
What are you most
looking forward to
about playing at the
collegiate level?
Playing at the collegiate
level is something that I
have always dreamed about.
And it's always been my
goal, for me, to make it to
play Division I baseball, and
I just love the competition
there and being able to play
against everybody else, as
good as they are, Division I
athletes, and playing the best
that I can play.
What other activities
are you involved with
at school?
I'm also part of Mu Alpha
Theta. It's an honors math
society.
If you could play for any
MLB team, which one
would you pick?
It'd probably be the Detroit
Tigers because my family's
from Detroit, and I've grown
up watching Tiger games... it
would just be great to represent
them as well.
Interview by Editor Nuria
Mathog
This Week In
Griffins Varsity
Athletics
Football
■Sept. ■ 22 – at Lincoln-Way
Central, 7:30 p.m.
Girls volleyball
■Sept. ■ 21 – hosts Thornridge,
5:30 p.m.
■Sept. ■ 26 – at Lincoln-Way
West, 5:30 p.m.
■Sept. ■ 28 – hosts Stagg, 5:
30 p.m.
Boys golf
■Sept. ■ 22 – at Joliet Central
Invite, 1 p.m.
■Sept. ■ 26 – at SWSC Blue
Conference Meet, 8 a.m.
■Sept. ■ 28 – at Lincoln-Way
Schuman Cup, 3:45 p.m.
Girls golf
■Sept. ■ 21 – hosts Oak
Forest, 4:15 p.m.
■Sept. ■ 27 – hosts SWSC Blue
Conference Meet, 8 a.m.
Girls tennis
■Sept. ■ 21 – hosts
Homewood-Flossmoor,
4:30 p.m.
■Sept. ■ 22 – hosts Downers
Grove South, 4:30 p.m.
■Sept. ■ 23 – at Warrior Tennis
Invite, 8:30 a.m.
■Sept. ■ 26 – at Sandburg,
4:30 p.m.
■Sept. ■ 28 – hosts
Thornwood, 4:30 p.m.
Girls swimming
■Sept. ■ 21 – at Sandburg,
5 p.m.
■Sept. ■ 26 – hosts Benet
Academy, 5 p.m.
high school highlights
The rest of the week in high school sports
Girls volleyball
Game 1: LWE 25, Wilmington 14
Game 2: LWE: 25, Wilmington 6
Molly Hackett totaled 11 kills, 6 aces and
11 digs during the Sept. 11 match, while Megan
Walsh tallied 4 kills and Kaleigh Ritter
had 13 assists and 5 digs
Girls golf
LWE 182, Homewood-Flossmoor 219
Hannah Hill was the medalist of the Sept.
football
From Page 53
they see one play, they liked
to keep following it.”
Much of the fourth quarter
was devoted to a more
than 8-minute drive by
the Eagles that eventually
made it to the East 2-yard
line. But a fourth-and-goal
run play from the 2 was
snuffed out by the Griffins
defense to turn the ball
over on downs with 2:41
remaining. The Griffins
offense ran out the clock
from there to end it.
For the Eagles, the loss
wasn’t without its merits,
and Peters said the goal that
he tells the team every week
is to get better every day.
“I think there are some
positives that we can take
from this game,” Peters
said. “I don’t really believe
in moral victories, but there
are definitely some positives
we can take. Our biggest
thing moving forward
is, let’s learn from this and
focus on our next opponent.
Try to win one [game] at a
time and get ourselves into
the playoffs. We’re going to
probably end up with about
65 playoff points. So, if we
■Sept. ■ 28 – at Homewood-
Flossmoor, 5 p.m.
Boys cross country
■Sept. ■ 23 – at Tinley Park
Invite, 8 a.m.
Girls cross country
■Sept. ■ 23 – at Tinley Park
Invite, 8 a.m.
Boys soccer
■Sept. ■ 21 – at Lincoln-Way
West, 6:30 p.m.
■Sept. ■ 23 – hosts Thornton,
10 a.m.
■Sept. ■ 24 – at Bloom
Township PepsiCo Showdown,
TBA
■Sept. ■ 26 – at Sandburg,
6:30 p.m.
■Sept. ■ 28 – at Homewood-
Flossmoor, 4:30 p.m.
11 match with a score of 42. Other Griffins
scoreres were Grace Wilk, Jessica Loera and
Sam Bollman.
Boys golf
LWE 164, Bolingbrook 211
Kevin Bullington was the Sept. 12
match medalist, shooting a 39 to lead the
Griffins.
High School Highlights is compiled by Editor
Nuria Mathog, nuria@frankfortstation.com
get in, we might have a decent
seed.”
Meanwhile, the Griffins
continued their early season
domination. And for Appiah
and Corbett, the performance
once again showed that the
state ranking the team has
earned through four weeks of
play isn’t by accident.
“It means that No. 1 isn’t
a joke,” Corbett said of the
team’s performance so far
this season. “We’re here to
play.”
“It’s not easy being No.
1, but we’ve just got to live
up to it and keep going forward,”
Appiah added.