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mokenamessenger.com sports
the Mokena Messenger | October 11, 2018 | 55
fastbreak
HS football powerhouses LW East, Stevenson agree to games
22nd Century Media File
Photo
1st-and-3
Right on Rimkunas
sisters
1. Emma Rimkunas
(above)
The Knights junior
has reached state
the last two seasons
as a singles player,
but made the decision
to move over to
doubles to play with
her sister Kara this
season.
2. Kara Rimkunas
The freshman finally
got to play for the
Knights after having
watched her sister
from afar. She’s
already made an impact
with Emma at
doubles with a 21-6
record as of Oct. 5.
3. Playoff push
Emma will attempt
to make her third
straight trip to state
at the Lincoln-Way
East Sectional on
Saturday, Oct. 13.
Jon DePaolis, Freelance Reporter
When the going gets tough, the
tough get going.
In a landscape where top teams
are finding it difficult to schedule
nonconference games, Lincoln-Way
East and Stevenson are bucking the
trend. The programs have agreed to
play one another in Week 1 of the
2019 and 2020 seasons, with East
hosting next year and Stevenson
hosting the following year.
“I’ve known [Stevenson athletic
director] Trish Betthauser for
a while, and I’ve got great respect
for her and the athletic program up
there,” East athletic director Mark
Vander Kooi said.
Finding a team willing to play
East has been a challenge the last
few years.
“I probably sent out an email to
450 athletic directors and made
about 25 phone calls, and I got a lot
of ‘Nos,’” Vander Kooi said. “But
Trish actually called me, which was
awesome, and said they were considering
it.”
Vander Kooi said the schools
needed to go over the details, because
of legitimate travel concerns.
“Getting from Lincolnshire to
Frankfort and Frankfort to Lincolnshire
on a Friday is not always that
easy, so we talked about the logistical
details,” Vander Kooi said.
They also needed to talk to their
respective coaches. But Vander Kooi
said a few days later Betthauser
called him to let him know that Stevenson
was in.
From a big-picture perspective,
it’s getting tougher and tougher for
successful high school football programs
to find teams willing to play
them in nonconference games. Under
the current format in Illinois, if
a team wins six of its nine games, it
gets an automatic bid to the IHSA
Perennial powerhouses Lincoln-Way East and Stevenson High Schools agree to play each other in Week 1 of the
2019 and 2020 seasons. The Griffins will host Stevenson in 2019 and then make the trip to Lincolnshire in 2020.
22nd Century Media file photo
playoffs. For teams in tough conferences
the nonconference schedule
becomes more valuable.
An unintentional consequence of
that format is that teams like East
can be left scrambling to find squads
willing to risk one of those precious
nonconference wins.
In spite of those challenges — alternatively,
possibly as a result of
those challenges — East has been
able to schedule top-tier programs
for its nonconference schedule,
including Montini, Maine South,
Crete-Monee and Naperville Central.
“Every year, it’s a struggle to find
teams to play us,” Vander Kooi said.
“That’s why we have great respect
for Crete-Monee and Naperville
Central, and now for Stevenson to be
committed and willing.”
Vander Kooi admitted the six-win
automatic bid to the playoffs has
made it tough for East, but said he
knows the IHSA is looking at potential
solutions to problems such as
these.
“Do we have regions instead of
conferences?” he said. “Or do they
just set the schedule for you? Or do
more teams get into the playoffs, so
they don’t need to worry about that
nonconference game as much? I’m
open to anything at this point, because
it’s a struggle to get people to
play Lincoln-Way East.”
Ultimately, Vander Kooi thinks
scheduling teams as tough as Stevenson
gives the players something
to look forward to over the summer.
“I think it’s great for the offseason,
because it gives those kids a little bit
of motivation knowing we’re coming
out of the block playing some
tough teams,” he said. “Secondly,
I think it develops the mentality of
a playoff atmosphere — big-time
games, big-time crowds. You’ve got
to work hard to beat them, which
is always a big deal. I think those
games are really important to develop
that playoff mentality.”
It also says something about both
programs to schedule such a tough
opening week matchup.
“I think they are going to be pretty
good,” Vander Kooi said of Stevenson.
“I usually have to do some armtwisting
to get people to play us, but
they were pretty eager. We know
we’re going to be in for a battle.
They are going to be really good.
Hats off to them. They didn’t bat an
eye. They were ready to play, too, so
we’re really excited about it.”
Listen Up
“They’ve got a tight bond that’s become
unbreakable.”
Sue Schneider – Lincoln-Way Central girls tennis coach, on Emma
and Kara Rimkunas as doubles partners.
TUNE IN
Girls and boys cross country
10 a.m. Saturday, Oct. 13
• Lincoln-Way West and Lincoln-Way Central will
compete in the SWSC meet at Dellwood Park
in Lockport.
Index
49 – This Week In
48 – Athlete of the Week
FASTBREAK is compiled by Editor T.J. Kremer III, tj@
mokenamessenger.com.