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52 | April 12, 2018 | The frankfort station sports<br />
frankfortstation.com<br />
A decade of writing sports stories for 22nd Century Media<br />
RANDY WHALEN<br />
Freelance Reporter<br />
It was Feb. 5, 2008. The<br />
new year had settled in and<br />
on this sixth Tuesday of it I<br />
was a bit more excited than<br />
usual to cover a boys basketball<br />
game in my hometown<br />
of Lockport.<br />
That's because in addition<br />
to a couple of other papers,<br />
I was covering it for a newer<br />
publication — The Homerian.<br />
Lockport Township defeated<br />
Bolingbrook 52-43<br />
that day and went onto place<br />
fourth in the state in Class 4A<br />
about six weeks later.<br />
Little did I know that day<br />
that I'd be continuing my<br />
journalism career a decade<br />
later, mostly writing for that<br />
same company that published<br />
The Homerian. That,<br />
of course, is 22nd Century<br />
Media, which includes one of<br />
the papers you're reading this<br />
column in now.<br />
A lot has changed in those<br />
10 years, including the name<br />
of The Homerian. Shortly<br />
after I started freelancing<br />
there it became The Homer<br />
Horizon. When I first started<br />
stringing for 22nd Century<br />
Media there were two Lincoln-Ways.<br />
That fall, there<br />
were three, the next year<br />
four, and sadly, now it's back<br />
to three again.<br />
In the decade that I've<br />
done this job I've covered<br />
everything from golf to the<br />
latest official sport, lacrosse.<br />
Working in the community<br />
newspaper environment has<br />
helped make me a better reporter,<br />
a better writer, and<br />
hopefully, a better person.<br />
In the time I've freelanced<br />
for 22nd Century Media, the<br />
company has grown into not<br />
only the North Shore suburbs<br />
but also Malibu, Calif. I've<br />
remained in my favorite coverage<br />
area, the area I'm from<br />
— the southwest suburbs.<br />
The schools that I've covered<br />
in the past 10 years have<br />
captured a combined 30 —<br />
that's right, 30 — state championships<br />
during that time<br />
period. t would have been<br />
32, but a pair of state titles by<br />
Lockport Township and Tinley<br />
Park in cheerleading took<br />
place on the weekend before<br />
I started covering events for<br />
the papers. But if there's one<br />
thing I have learned from<br />
covering the state cheer tournament<br />
the past few years,<br />
it's that cheer is most definitely<br />
a sport.<br />
But back to the 30 state<br />
titles ... Right here, in our<br />
little corner of the world,<br />
we are fortunate enough to<br />
have some of the best high<br />
school athletes and programs<br />
around. There are too many<br />
individuals who have won<br />
state titles for me to mention<br />
them all. But I'm going<br />
to touch on some highlights<br />
below from each school I've<br />
covered in that time period,<br />
starting with perhaps the<br />
most amazing accomplishment<br />
of them all.<br />
Providence baseball captured<br />
three straight large<br />
school state titles. Between<br />
2014-2016, the Celtic baseball<br />
team never lost in the<br />
Class 4A postseason tournament.<br />
How hard is it to win<br />
a single elimination baseball<br />
tournament for three straight<br />
seasons? It had never been<br />
done in the 75-year history of<br />
the tournament before Providence<br />
pulled it off. In fact,<br />
a repeat had only been done<br />
twice in any class.<br />
Many times in that stretch<br />
the Celtics were down to<br />
their final inning, final out<br />
and even final strike. Under<br />
the leadership of coach Mark<br />
Smith, they kept battling all<br />
the way through it, however,<br />
and that resolve paid off with<br />
a trio of first place trophies.<br />
Actually, the best Providence<br />
baseball team in the last decade<br />
was the 2011 team,<br />
which went 37-4. But it ran<br />
into another 37-4 team —<br />
Lyons Township, which just<br />
happened to be the better<br />
team that day in the state title<br />
game.<br />
The Celtics also captured<br />
state titles in cheerleading in<br />
2013 and football in the fall<br />
of 2014. Personally, two of<br />
my favorite Providence performances<br />
in this time were<br />
the 2012 softball team taking<br />
third in Class 3A, along<br />
with the recently completed<br />
wrestling season in which<br />
longtime coach Keith Healy<br />
departed with one more wizard-like<br />
lineup juggling performance<br />
as the Celtics also<br />
placed third in Class 3A. He<br />
went out with a final victory.<br />
While Lincoln-Way North<br />
never captured a team title in<br />
its too brief eight-year run as<br />
a school, there were certainly<br />
many highlights. Perhaps the<br />
main highlight was that when<br />
the school was open, athletes<br />
were given more opportunities<br />
to play and coaches had<br />
more opportunities to coach<br />
in a very talented area.<br />
The Phoenix football team<br />
went 0-9 in its first season,<br />
but the George Czart-coached<br />
team went 54-20 with six<br />
playoff berths in the next seven<br />
seasons. They started 11-0<br />
in their final season in the fall<br />
of 2015 before losing in the<br />
quarterfinals for the second<br />
time in three years. The boys<br />
volleyball team capped an<br />
amazing season with a second<br />
place finish in 2013.<br />
Although they weren't official,<br />
North had two state<br />
titles (2011, 2015) in the Phil<br />
Lawler Summer Classic,<br />
put on by the Illinois High<br />
School Baseball Coaches Association.<br />
I got to cover both,<br />
as the one in 2011 saw perhaps<br />
the greatest comeback I<br />
have ever witnessed. Down<br />
12-0 down in the regional<br />
title game, including 12-6 in<br />
the seventh, North rallied to<br />
defeat Joliet Catholic Academy<br />
13-12 in eight innings<br />
under the lights on a sweltering<br />
July night.<br />
North's baseball teams<br />
Randy Whalen. Photo<br />
submitted<br />
were excellent in the spring<br />
too, winning at least 22 games<br />
and a regional title for their<br />
final seven seasons between<br />
2010-2016. But the Phoenix<br />
had the unfortunate matchup<br />
of running into Providence in<br />
sectional title games in 2014<br />
and 2016.<br />
Now in its ninth year as a<br />
school, Lincoln-Way West<br />
also has yet to capture that<br />
team title. I, however, got to<br />
cover a pair of bowlers who<br />
won individual state championships:<br />
Morgan Flaherty<br />
— who is now an assistant<br />
girls bowling coach at West<br />
— in 2012 and Josh Glover<br />
in 2014.<br />
While the Warriors haven't<br />
won a team title, they certainly<br />
came close during the<br />
2015-2016 school year. The<br />
football team lost in the Class<br />
5A state title game that fall<br />
and the boys basketball team<br />
tumbled in the Class 3A state<br />
championship game the following<br />
March.<br />
Even though the boys basketball<br />
team lost the championship<br />
game, the fact that the<br />
Warriors got there was one of<br />
the best stories I've followed.<br />
It should give hope to how<br />
a program can turn around.<br />
The team went from 0-31 in<br />
its first season and a total record<br />
of 14-104 in its first four<br />
seasons to a state title appearance<br />
in its seventh season.<br />
The highlight of that season<br />
was defeating Morgan Park<br />
68-60 locally in the Joliet<br />
Central Supersectional. The<br />
Warriors weren't supposed to<br />
be within 20 points, let alone<br />
win that game.<br />
From the school's inception,<br />
the baseball, softball,<br />
and girls basketball teams<br />
have always been top-notch<br />
programs. I'm fortunate to<br />
deal with so many excellent<br />
coaches and administrators in<br />
my job. Two of the best are at<br />
West with Athletic Director<br />
Ted Robbins and Principal<br />
Monica Schmitt. With their<br />
leadership, there shouldn't<br />
be too long of a wait before<br />
a team tile comes to the West<br />
side of New Lenox.<br />
In my time as a local sports<br />
reporter I've encountered<br />
many, many good coaches.<br />
But perhaps the one I was<br />
most happy for when he won<br />
a state title was Dick Mandella.<br />
I first met coach Mandella<br />
when he was a fiery boys<br />
basketball coach in the mid<br />
80s at Providence. He later<br />
became the softball coach<br />
there and turned that program<br />
around.<br />
In 2001, Mandella took a<br />
job as softball coach at the<br />
one-and-only Lincoln-Way,<br />
which became Lincoln-Way<br />
Central when East opened<br />
in the fall of 2001. His teams<br />
from 2001-07 won at least<br />
26 games each season and<br />
went a total of 201-40. But<br />
the Knights never won a<br />
sectional, so they and coach<br />
Mandella were labeled as<br />
"couldn't win the big one."<br />
But everything that went<br />
wrong in the postseason those<br />
previous seasons went right<br />
in a glorious run in 2008. I<br />
got to cover the Knights' last<br />
five games that spring as it all<br />
came together and they found<br />
ways to win. From the home<br />
run hitting of right fielder<br />
Courtney Dunker in the sectional<br />
semifinal game. From<br />
center fielder Desi DeMarco<br />
hitting a late home run in the<br />
sectional final and throwing<br />
out a New Trier runner<br />
at home in extra innings in<br />
a scoreless state semifinal<br />
game.<br />
From shortstop Cassie<br />
Redman overcoming an earlier<br />
error and making a pair<br />
of good plays in the bottom<br />
of the seventh as the Knights<br />
overcame a bases loaded, no<br />
out situation to keep the supersectional<br />
game scoreless.<br />
To Rachel Larson lambasting<br />
a 2-run home run the next inning<br />
as Central defeated Moline<br />
2-0 to advance to state.<br />
To the clutch pitching of<br />
Jackie Dugan throughout the<br />
postseason, including a pair<br />
of shutouts and a final fantastic<br />
performance in a 4-1 win<br />
over Barrington in the the<br />
first ever Class 4A state title<br />
game. It was my first state<br />
title coverage for 22nd Century<br />
Media and is still one of<br />
my favorite memories.<br />
That was the only team<br />
title for Central in the past<br />
decade. The badminton team<br />
placed second in 2008 and<br />
2009, the girls water polo<br />
team came close with a runner-up<br />
state finish in 2013,<br />
and the Coley O'Connellcoached<br />
boys bowling team<br />
just placed third this season.<br />
I always enjoy going to the<br />
original Lincoln-Way high<br />
school and with many of its<br />
sports programs on the rise<br />
in the past couple of years,<br />
another state title should certainly<br />
happen soon.<br />
When I think Lincoln-<br />
Way East, I think athletic<br />
excellence. In the decade<br />
I've been working for 22nd<br />
Century Media, the Griffins<br />
have won 10 state titles in<br />
five different sports and have<br />
nine runner-up state finishes.<br />
I was on hand for only two<br />
titles, but two is more than a<br />
lot of other schools have ever<br />
won. The Griffins no longer<br />
compete in boys gymnas-
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