36 | April 25, 2019 | the homer horizon sports homerhorizon.com Six Porters make college commitments official Randy Whalen Freelance Reporter Innumerable talented athletes from Lockport Township have continued to do great things in their respective sports in college. Last week, six more of those Porter athletes signed on the dotted line to continue their athletic careers in college. That took place on April 17 before their coaches, family and friends in the Porter Room at the Lockport East Campus. “Lockport Township High School was proud to celebrate our spring signing day,” LTHS athletic director Mike Dwyer said. “We had six studentathletes join us for the day. High school athletics is about providing experiences and opportunities for our students to grow, learn and continue to be selfless community members. “The work ethic, character and commitment from our young adults is amazing. Thank you to these student-athletes, their families and our school community for the great memories and moments. There are great things ahead for these Porters.” The six senior athletes were from five different sports and will be attending five different colleges. One of them is Jack Vrba, a pitcher for the Lockport baseball team which was 18-3 and ranked No. 8 in the state last week by Max- Preps. He is to attend Concordia University in Ann Arbor, Michigan, to continue his baseball career. Six Porters made their college commitments official April 17 during a signing day event held at the Lockport Township High School East Campus Porter Room. Photo submitted “I decided to commit to Concordia because the baseball coaches there are great, and it is a very good school to further my baseball and educational career,” Vrba said. “The school was a perfect fit for me. Another big reason is the coach [Zach Johnston] said that I would get my opportunity right away, and I wanted to go to a school where I could impact the team right away. “ This past winter, the Lockport basketball team finished with a winning record for the first time in seven years. A big reason why was the play of point guard Jake Karli, a three-year varsity player. Karli began each of those three seasons at the WJOL Thanksgiving Classic at the University of St. Francis in Joliet. He will also begin this season at the University of St. Francis, because he will continue his basketball career there. “What made me sign there is that it felt like I was playing at home, and that it was really close to home, as well,” Karli said. “They have a really good finance program, which I’m majoring in, and am super excited to play with the team this summer and play at the collegiate level. “I expect to meet a lot of people who work as hard or harder than I do. Adding to that, I would love to go to the [NAIA] tournament again like [the Saints] did last year and go even farther. Someone who went further every year at Lockport was Wrigley Fields. This winter, Fields was a member of the Porters statequalifying cheer team but had even more success in the diving competition at the state swimming meet, where he placed seventh. After getting 28th as a sophomore and 14th as a junior, he once again halved his placement by taking seventh as a senior. That was the highest finish by a male diver in Lock- Please see signing, 35 Boys Water Polo Lockport still 10-5 overall following loss to rival Sandburg Randy Whalen Freelance Reporter Over the years, there have been many close, competitive clashes between the Lockport Township and Sandburg boys water polo teams. Unfortunately for the Porters, last week’s was not one of them. Sandburg scored early and often and went on to a 16-7 victory in a South- West Conference clash on Thursday, April 18, at Lockport. The win kept the Eagles (13-8, 3-0) undefeated in the conference, while Lockport (10-5, 2-2) lost its second league match. Last season, Lincoln-Way East, Lockport and Sandburg had a three-way tie for the conference championship. That was the third time the Porters won or shared the conference title — with 2013 and 2014 being the others — while Sandburg has won or shared it seven times since 2008 and is in position to do so again. “We came out flat and then started playing our game in the second quarter,” Lockport coach Joe Lewandowski said. “But then we were flat again to start the third quarter. But [Sandburg coach] Matt [Niemeier] coaches a great team.” A year ago, the two teams split their meetings. The Eagles won 7-6 on April 14 in the title game of their own tournament. But Lockport turned the tables in the SWSC matchup and won in a blowout fashion five days later on April 19 by the score of 16-4. But Sandburg came out blazing last week, scoring the game’s first six goals, all in the first quarter. Michael Bates got the Porters on the board with 43 seconds left in the quarter. The senior scored again 39 seconds into the second quarter to cut the lead to 6-2. The teams then alternated goals for the rest of the half, which ended with the Eagles up 8-4. Declan Ruane fired in a shot 45 seconds into the third quarter to bring the Porters within 8-5. At that point, it appeared that a comeback was possible. Sandburg, however, scored a trio of goals past junior keeper Tony Gerritsen in a two-minute span to go up 11-5 midway through the third. It was 12-6 after three, and the Eagles coasted to the win. “We got it within 8-5,” Lewandowski said. “Then we turned the ball over in front of our goal, and they scored.” Bates, along with fellow seniors Simon Harmata and Tyler Thompson, all had two goals for the Porters. Seniors Peter Bukiri (3 goals), Jack Donnell (2 goals) and Marko Jevtovic (1 goal), along with junior Jimmy Jenkot (1 goal), all added scores for Sandburg. Ayoub Yassin, a junior who did not even know how to swim before his sophomore year, was excellent in goal for the Eagles with 17 saves. “He was outstanding,” Lewandowski said of Yassin. “He’s one of the better goalies we’ve seen. He tracks the ball very well.” While Thursday’s match was a down one for Lockport, there have been positive things going on for the Porters. Earlier in the week, on April 16, they traveled to New Lenox and defeated Lincoln- Way West 19-4. Also, on April 17, Lockport hosted Fenwick in a junior varsity game and won by the score of 6-5. While it was a JV game, the Fenwick program has been one of the tops in the state for decades, and the Fenwick varsity team is currently ranked No. 1 in the state. With only this week and next week left in the regular season, there should be more wins for the Porters. They have had underclass players like juniors Casper Harmata, Sean Lyons, Nick Martin and Matt Oertel, along with sophomore Tommy Abramite, step up when called upon. “As much as we’d like to win all the time, you learn from a loss,” said Lewandowski, whose team was a school-best 27-5 last year. “Our games from here on out will all be like organized practices to get ready for the sectional.”
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