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36 | September 6, 2018 | The New Lenox Patriot SPORTS newlenoxpatriot.com Boys Golf Gusty winds prevent Knights from scoring low in loss Girls swimming and diving LW Central off to quick start in pool Central, Lockport talk rivalry after close matches last two years RANDY WHALEN, Freelance Reporter The Lincoln-Way Central and Lockport boys golf teams have quite a little rivalry going. The two teams took the same postseason route last season. Lockport won the title of the Class 3A Lincoln-Way Central Regional while the host Knights advanced out of the regional and then won the Homwood-Flossmoor Sectional. With the postseason parings not announced yet, the two don’t know if they will be taking the same postseason path yet this season. But what they do know is they faced off against each other in a triangular meet on Aug. 27 at the Joliet Country Club, and that was already their third meeting of many this season. This round went to the Porters as they won with a 156 score. Neuqua Valley, which placed third in the state in Class 3A in 2015, was second with a 164, and Central placed a close third after carding a 167 score. Although Neuqua is not in the conference, the score between Lockport (6-0, 5-0) and the Knights (6-2, 4-1) counted in the SouthWest Suburban Conference standings. “Yes, it’s been a good matchup with Lincoln-Way Central the last couple of years,” Lockport coach Matt Eber said. “We see them quite a bit. Having a triangular like this, we’re just trying to see how we stack up against good competition.” The answer was obviously pretty well. “You could say we have a little rivalry with them,” Lockport’s Ben Sluzas said. “[Fellow sophomore] Sean [Curran] has been my competition, so it’s nice to be equal with him. We have fun when we play [Central]. “We had a lot of ups and downs [in scoring] last year. But this year a lot of our guys scoring average is a lot lower. We just have to stay consistent.” Sluzas was the medalist in the triangular with an even par 36. His senior teammate, Nolan Weis, carded a 39 for second place. The rest of the top scorers for the Porters were senior Brandon Burdick (40), freshman Brody McCarthy (41), and senior Eric Gasienica (43) was just out of the top four for the Porters. “I think they’re our biggest rivals right now,” Weis said of the Knights. “Anytime we beat them it feels good. They started to get good about the same time we did and they recently beat us. A key is that we’re not trying to do too much. We’re just trying to improve on what we have.” Both the Porters and Central opened the season at the Oswego Panther Stableford Tournament, which was held on Aug. 9, at Blackberry Oaks Golf Course in Bristol. There Lockport won while the Knights were second. Then on Aug. 25, Central was second by a stroke over the Porters at the H-F Better Ball Invite, which was held at Balmoral Woods in Crete. Fellow SWSC squad Sandburg won it. At the triangular, the scores for the Knights were Curran (40), senior Jon Soldan (41), sophomore Nick Tingley (42), and freshman Juney Bai along with junior TJ Edmier, tied for the last spot, both of them carding a 44. “We didn’t do as well as we’d like to do,” said Curran, who had a pair of birdies, but was stymied by a triple and a double bogey. “But we’re just trying to improve and learn from our mistakes. I’ve been hitting my irons well, I just have to keep that up.” Central coach Ryan Pohlmann believes that this loss will only help his team down the stretch. “The great equalizer was the wind,” he said of the gusty conditions. “But that’s what we will probably have if we play against [Lockport] in the postseason in October. It’s just going to be a fun year to compete against them. Knights No. 1 golfer Sean Curran eyes a shot Aug. 27 during a triangular against Lockport and Neuqua Valley at Joliet Country Club. Curran had the low score for the Knights with a 40. Bob Klein/22nd Century Media “It’s a good matchup and the young talent out there is phenomenal. Our goal is to get three [of the area] teams to state.” The two teams were slated to see each other again last Saturday, Sept. 1 in the H-F Co-Ed Classic at Lincoln Oaks in Crete. Then on Saturday, Sept. 8, starting at 7:30 a.m. at the Providence Invite at the Sanctuary Golf Course in New Lenox. On Saturday, Sept. 15, Central hosts the Green-Wedge Conference Challenge, starting at 7 a.m. at Green Garden, and yes, Lockport is there. Naturally both teams are also at the Will County Invite, which is hosted by Joliet Central, on Friday, Sept. 21 at Inwood Golf Course in Joliet. They are on opposite sides of the SWSC with Lockport in the Blue Division and the Knights in the Red. So they won’t be in the same conference tourney. But, of course, could see each other in the postseason. “It’s always a fun match and it’s competitive against them,” Curran said of facing the Porters. “It’s not fun losing to them and next time our scores should be better. But they have great players on their team, so it’s nice to play them.” RANDY WHALEN, Freelance Reporter The Lockport Township girls swimming team has captured three straight sectional titles and four in the past five years. What about the Lincoln-Way Central girls swimming team? “Central has never won a sectional,” Knight coach Patrick Shaughnessy said. “Ever.” One wouldn’t know it when the two teams squared off in a SouthWest Suburban Conference crossover meet Aug. 28. There the Knights captured nine events in toppling Lockport 118-68. The win improved Central to 2-0, while the Porters fell to 0-2. “We are off to a great start,” Shaughnessy said “We have a good mix of talent this year and are very deep in the lineup. We feel that we fell a little short last season of our goals [including a sectional title] so the girls are focused and are working hard to make sure that doesn’t happen again.” The Knights captured all three relays. That started out with the 200-yard medley relay where the foursome of junior Sierra Maze, seniors Cetta Senese and Belle Dutka, and freshman Autumn Hufnagl finished with a time of 1:56.38. In the 200-yard freestyle relay, it was Dutka, sophomore Anna Bethke, junior Madi Jager and sophomore Keara McGowan (1:41.71) winning by three seconds. Then, in the 400-yard freestyle relay, the Knights group of Mc- Gowan, Senese, Hufnagl and Jager (3:48.30) won by nearly six seconds. McGowan captured first in two events: the 50-yard freestyle (24.46 seconds), edging her teammate Dutka (:25.06), and 100-yard backstroke (1:02.35). Central had the top two spots in two other events: 100-yard breaststroke, where Mallory Brownrigg, (1:13.20) beat out fellow sophomore Sam Triner (1:15.88); and the 500-yard freestyle with Dutka (5:30.27) besting Jager (5:43.30). In the diving, it was sophomore Lincoln-Way Central sophomore Sarah Rosinski wins the diving portion of the meet with a score of 197.15 against Lockport Aug. 28. Julie McMann/22nd Century Media Sarah Rosinski (197.15) winning and junior Rachel Kachinsky (178.78) taking second for Central. Also winning for the Knights was Senese (2:13.74) in the 200-yard individual medley. The Knights defeated Joliet West 157-18 on Aug. 23 in its first meet. Lockport lost to the Plainfield coop swim team 159-75 on Aug. 21 to start the season. “We swam around a little the first two meets and we have seen a lot of the best times even with it being early in the season,” Shaughnessy said. “Keara McGowan, Belle Dutka, Cetta Senese, Madi Jager are continuing to lead our team along with junior Sierra Maze who is breaking out into a bigger role in our lineup.” Shaughnessy was a happy man again two days later, on Thursday, Aug. 30. That’s because the Knights traveled to Orland Park and defeated host Sandburg 110-74 in another SWSC crossover dual meet against a good opponent. “We had great swims by Madi Jager, who won the 50 freestyle and Keara McGowan, won the 200 and 500 freestyle,” Shaughnessy said. “We won all three relays, and Kori Loza and Josephine Moline also had great swims for us.” Central is scheduled to host its own invite at 8:30 a.m. on Saturday, Sept. 8, with diving starting and the swimming following. At 5 p.m. on Tuesday, Sept. 11, the Knights will take a trip down Route 30 to face District 210 rival Lincoln-Way East in a key dual meet.
newlenoxpatriot.com SPORTS the New Lenox Patriot | September 6, 2018 | 37 Knights narrowly escape in win over West Randy Whalen Freelance Reporter When Lincoln-Way Central football coach Jeremy Cordell talks about his team going 1-0 each week, it would be easy to dismiss that as cliche. But it was never more true than last week. Facing the prospect of opening the season 0-2 for the first time since 2010, the Knights dug deep and won the week. That was a huge 22-14 victory over crosstown rival Lincoln-Way West in the opening South- West Suburban Conference clash for both teams on Saturday, Sept. 1 at Central. The game was rescheduled due to lightning in the area the previous day. “It was a grind-it-out type of game, and I’m proud of the way our guys responded,” Cordell said of the bounce back from a 17-7 opening week loss at Richards. Bryce Hayes scored twice from a yard out, Danny Reyna ran in another touchdown and the Knight defense put the caps on a nice game by forcing an intentional grounding in the end zone late in the game to account for the final margin. “We worked hard all week in practice,” Hayes said, “and this was personal for a lot of us... And there were a lot of big plays.” Especially by the Central defense, which forced a pair of turnovers inside its 25 in the third quarter and wouldn’t let the Warriors cross midfield down the stretch. The Warriors narrowed the gap to 20-14 when Barber, a senior running back, banged in from a yard out on a fourthand-goal play with 6:52 to play in the game. That capped a 12-play 72 yard drive, but it SCOREBOARD was the only sustained march of the game for West. Exactly one minute later senior defensive back Andrew Sherry intercepted Hayes at his own 23. A 17-yard pass on second down from quarterback Greyson Grimm to fellow senior Nicholas Gula moved the ball to the Warrior 41, but four straight incompletions followed and West turned the ball over on downs with 4:38 to play. Central was forced to punt, but the ball was downed at the Warrior four. On the first play from there, Grimm went back to pass, but under a heavy rush led by junior defensive lineman Nick Farrell, he was forced to try to get rid of the ball and threw it into the ground. That resulted in intentional grounding and two more points for the Knights. With just 7.5 seconds left in the game, the Warriors got the ball back at their own 24. Grimm completed a 36-yard pass over the middle to Billy Dozier, but the junior was tackled immediately as time ran out and Central celebrated the big win. That’s exactly what the Knights did. Starting at the West 47, senior Connor Mc- Williams darted 36-yards on first down. Two plays later Hayes took it in from a yard out and senior Chris Power added the extra point for a 7-0 1 2 3 4 TOT LINCOLN- 0 7 0 7 14 WAY WEST LINCOLN- 7 7 0 8 22 WAY CENTRAL Top Performers: 1. Bryce Hayes - 11-of-16 passing, 156 yards, Two rushing TD’s 2. Greyson Grimm - 9-of-17 passing, 183 yards, TD, INT 3. Connor McWilliams - 6 receptions - 76 yards, 112 total yards in offense Wests Donte Barber attempts to get around Lincoln-Way Centrals defense. The Knights beat the Warriors 22-14 in their Sept. 1 matchup. Bob Klein/22nd Century Media Lincoln-Way Central retires Ninkovich’s jersey Sean Hastings Freelance Reporter Former Lincoln-Way Central football standout has not had a chance to make it back to New Lenox since he graduated in 2002. It is understandable, though. He was busy playing in the NFL and winning Super Bowls with the New England Patriots for 11 seasons. But in his first trip back to New Lenox, he was welcomed with a roaring crowd of Central and Lincoln-Way West students in Central’s Field House to see his No. 90 high school jersey retired Friday, Aug. 31. Friday’s game was washed away, but there was lead just 2:24 into the game. Hayes was 3-for-3 for 50 yards on the opening drive of the second quarter which Reyna, a junior running back, capped on an 8-yard TD burst and a 14-0 lead with 7:09 left in the opening half. But on the ensuing play from scrimmage, Grimm answered right back on a 68-yard TD pass to senior Nicholas Gula. Junior Damian Chowaniec added the extra point and it was 14-7 with 6:49 left in the half. That stood up as the halftime score. On its first possession of the third quarter, West drove to the Knight 22. But Grimm lost a fumble and senior linebacker Aaron Marcotte recovered for the Knights. A short punt, however, led to the Warriors getting the ball back at the Central 31. Facing a fourth-and-3 from the 24, Grimm was intercepted by senior Joel Veihl at the one yard line with 4:09 to play in the third quarter. Boosted by a 49-yard run from senior running back Justin Ellis (5 carries-76 yards), the Knights went 99-yards and scored when Hayes plunged in on fourthand-goal from a yard out on the first play of the fourth quarter. A run on fake kick on the extra point try came up short, leaving the score at 20-14. “We made too many mistakes on our side, but I don’t want to take anything away from them,” West coach Dave Ernst said of Central. “They beat us in every phase of the game... Their defense did a great job. No. 9 [Jackson Hosman] did a great job plenty of excitement for the fans and for Ninkovich, who was able to recollect on his time playing as a Knight. And while two massive Super Bowl rings from 2015 and 2017 sit on his middle fingers, high school football at Central has its own special place in his heart. “In high school it’s all about having fun with your teammates and your friends,” he said. “When you move on to the pros, that’s a business and that’s your livelihood, that’s your job and that’s how you put food on the table.” Even throughout the successful career, he said he still thought about the fun he had as a Knight. of taking away our outside run, and our outside receivers couldn’t handle him. “It’s week two. Our goal wasn’t to go undefeated. It’s to get better and make the playoffs.” West will host Bradley- Former Lincoln-Way Central student and NFL player Rob Ninkovich addresses the crowd at Lincoln-Way Central Friday, Aug. 31, during a ceremony to retire his jersey. Bob Klein/22nd Century Media “I told the [players], ‘You’re going to miss this moment,’” Ninkovich said. “I wish I could jump in right now and go back in time, but you cant, so make the best of it.” Bourbonnais at 7:30 p.m. this Friday night in another SWSC matchup. The Knights will look to keep the winning streak going when Thornwood comes to town for a 7:30 p.m. SWSC game on Friday.
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