HO_070519

homerhorizon.com sports
the homer horizon | July 5, 2019 | 31
fastbreak
Jeff Vorva/22nd Century
Media
1st and 3
Porters girls
basketball sets
high expectations
with summer play
1. Shootout success
The Lockport girls
basketball team
took third overall at
the 32-team Morris
Shootout held
over two days last
month, leading to
plenty of optimism
to improve on last
year’s 9-22 record.
2. Making strides
In pool play at the
Morris Shootout,
Lockport defeated
Ottawa, Romeoville
and Tinley Park.
They also beat Joliet
West earlier in their
summer break, too.
3. Returners ready to
make impact
Lockport graduated
four seniors from
last year’s squad
but has eight returners
with varsity
experience, among
them being seniors
Jenna Cotter, Sawyer
Hollatz and Abby
Papageorge.
Football
Celtics to face new foes in 2019
with merger of two conferences
Providence in Green
Division with St. Rita,
Montini, Niles Notre Dame
Thomas Czaja, Editor
The Providence football schedule
for the 2019 season will look notably
different than in years past.
The Illinois High School Association
released football schedules on
June 26, including the full slate of
games for the Celtics. Beginning this
upcoming campaign, Providence will
see the result of the merger between
the Chicago Catholic League and
East Suburban Catholic Conference.
The Celtics hope the new alignments
will bring favorable results,
as the team looks to improve on last
year’s 5-5 mark that saw them end the
season with a 35-0 loss at Washington
in the opening round of the playoffs.
The new CCL/ESCC merger has
created six four-team divisions —
Blue, Green, Orange, Purple, Red
and White. Aptly, the Celtics will be
in the Green Division, which also
features St. Rita, Montini and Niles
Notre Dame. It will be anything but a
cakewalk for Provi, with that trio going
a combined 28-11 last year and
all being ranked in the state’s Top 30
to end the 2018 season, according to
MaxPreps.com.
Noticeably absent from the schedule
is longtime rival Mt. Carmel,
which has been put in the Blue Division
with no crossover game in Year
1 of the new alignments.
The Celtics will have five home
contests in 2019, including three in
a row in the middle of the season,
though they open on the road on
2019 Providence football schedule
Week 1 – at Willowbrook, 7:30
p.m. Aug. 30
Week 2 – host Morgan Park, 7:30
p.m. Sept. 6
Week 3 – at Brother Rice, 7:30
p.m. Sept. 13
Week 4 – host Niles Notre Dame,
7:30 p.m. Sept. 20
Week 5 – host Carmel, 7:30 p.m.
Sept. 27
Week 6 – host St. Rita, 7:30 p.m.
Oct. 4
Week 7 – vs. DePaul College
Prep (neutral site at Chicago (C.
Academy)), noon Oct. 12
Week 8 – host St. Laurence, 7:30
p.m. Oct. 18
Week 9 – at Montini, 7:30 p.m.
Oct. 25
Aug. 30 at Willowbrook. From there,
they once again take on Morgan Park
in Week 2 in the home opener, having
blanked them 31-0 in the second
week last year.
After that, highlights include a
Sept. 13 Week 3 mathchup with
Brother Rice before a couple new opponents
in Niles Notre Dame Week
4 and Carmel Week 5. A divisional
matchup with St. Rita — whom the
Celtics got by 12-7 last year — occurs
Oct. 4 in Week 6. A neutral site
game with DePaul College Prep is
Week 7, and the final home game
happens Week 8 when St. Laurence
travels Oct. 18 to New Lenox.
Finally, in what could be a big regular-season
finale in the Green Division,
the Celtics head to Lombard
to square off with Montini, a 27-3
victor against Provi in a late-season
matchup the year prior.
Football
Schedule unveiled
for Porters in 2019
Team to have more
home games, face
Sandburg after hiatus
this upcoming season
Christian Villanueva
Editorial Intern
2019 Lockport Township
football schedule
Week 1 – host Grandville
(MI), 7 p.m. Aug. 30
Week 2 – host Wheaton
Warrenville South, 7:15
p.m. Sept. 6
Week 3 – host Lincoln-Way
Central, 7:15 p.m. Sept. 13
Week 4 – host Homewood-
Flossmoor, 7:15 p.m. Sept. 20
Week 5 – at Sandburg, 7
p.m. Sept. 27
Week 6 – host Bolingbrook,
7:15 p.m. Oct. 4
Week 7 – at Lincoln-Way
East, 7 p.m. Oct. 11
Week 8 – at Andrew, 7 p.m.
Oct. 18
Week 9 – vs. Stagg, 7:15
p.m. Oct. 25
The Lockport Township
schedule for the 2019 football
season has arrived.
The Illinois High School
Association released football
schedules on June 26, including
the full slate of games for the
Porters.
After an 0-9 season last year,
LTHS is looking for a fresh start
under new coach George Czart,
who was hired earlier this year
to help turn around the program.
The Porters open with fourstraight
home games to start
the season, beginning Aug. 30
against the Grandville Bulldogs
from Michigan. Six of Lockport’s
nine games will be at
home, which will be double the
amount of contests they had on
their home turf a year ago.
A highlight of the 2019 schedule
will be the Porters facing off
against rival Sandburg for the
first time since 2015 in Week 5
when they travel to Orland Park.
A battle with Wheaton Warrenville
South will happen in Week
2 for the second-straight year
after the Porters played them on
the road in 2018.
Other big SouthWest Suburban
Conference games for the
Porters will include playing Lincoln-Way
Central at home Sept.
13, Bolingbrook at home Oct.
4 and a rematch with perennial
power Lincoln-Way East on Oct.
11 in Frankfort in the third to
last game of the season. Lincoln
Way East’s rising senior AJ Henning,
a receiver/running back, is
the top recruit in Illinois in the
Class of 2020 by 247 Sports and
announced his decision to commit
to Michigan the same day
schedules were released.
Lockport takes on Andrew
Oct. 18 in Tinley Park in Week
8, hoping to avenge a close 15-7
loss to the T-Bolts from last
year. The team then closes out
the schedule Oct. 25 at home
against Stagg Week 9.
LISTEN UP
“We’ve got girls that can play every position, and we’ve seen a lot of
improvement. We are just getting better, and the seniors have picked up the
mantle and brought it in this summer.”
Dan Kelly — Lockport girls basketball coach, on how the team is
shaping up for next season
Tune In
Junior high badminton
Learning the basics — 2-4 p.m. Monday, July
8-Thursday, July 11, at LTHS East Campus Gym
• Junior high students will get the chance to work
with coaches and former players to learn the
fundamental skills needed to play badminton.
Index
30 - Athlete of the Month
29 - Team 22 Baseball
FASTBREAK is compiled by Editor Thomas Czaja,
tom@homerhorizon.com.