Schuck’s Clipboard

Staying in the moment

So what do you do when you’re a defender and your team owns a 5-0 lead eight minutes into the game?

Well, you make sure you don’t get hurt.

That was how the Quincy Notre Dame defenders approached Tuesday’s Class 1A Warrensburg-Latham Sectional semifinal against Charleston. The Lady Raiders scored 2 minutes, 15 seconds into the game and by the time Shannon Foley scored with 31:26 to play in the half, their lead was 5-0. QND ultimately won 8-0 and will play either Staunton or Mount Zion at 4:30 p.m. Friday in the sectional championship.

While the offense was scoring on five of its first six shots and piling up gaudy numbers, the defense was trying to stay focused, yet remain loose and carefree.

“(QND coach Mark) Longo tries to tell us to relax and just have fun,” senior sweeper Hannah Witte said. “We want to keep playing hard, but it’s not worth it to go full out and hurt someone when we’re up 5-0.”

With that said, the defense never let down. Charleston managed just three shots — all in the second half — and starting keeper Mackenzie Little had to make one save and backup keeper Grace Horman nabbed two as QND posted its 18th shutout of the season. By the way, the school record for shutouts in a season is 19, set in 1999 and tied in 2010.

Handling the moment

Several of the soccer players were part of QND’s juggernaut girls basketball team that beat its postseason opponents by an average of 33 points on the way to winning the Class 2A state championship. So the Lady Raiders understood how to stay focused and worry about the task at hand as Tuesday’s game became lopsided.

“We still have to play hard like we do every other game,” junior forward Jordan Frericks said.

Yet, that can still be a challenge.

“It might be somewhat of a struggle to stay focused, but we all have the mindset that we can’t let up even when we’re winning by six,” Frericks said. “We have to keep the pressure on.”

Filling in nicely

Senior defender Macy Willer did not dress for Tuesday’s game after injuring her ankle in last Saturday’s 3-0 victory over Rochester in the regional championship. In her place, sophomore Shelby Ulrich earned the start and was part of a stingy defensive effort.

Willer said the injury was healing and she hopes to be available Friday night.

Early start time

The sectional championship will be played at 4:30 p.m. because Warrensburg-Latham’s soccer field does not have lights. The school district, located northwest of Decatur, is doing a considerable amount of construction to its campus, while creating a nice sports complex in the process. The grass surface on the soccer field is well manicured, but the width of the field is incredibly tight and the facility lacks lights, a scoreboard and permanent bleachers. Those are things likely to be corrected over time.

Quincy Notre Dame's Kate Genenbacher, right, begins to celebrate after the Lady Raiders defeated Rochester 2-0 in the Class 1A Pleasant Plains Regional championship Saturday. (Photo for the H-W/Justin L. Fowler, The State Journal-Register)

Limiting the opposition

When the season began, Quincy Notre Dame girls soccer coach Mark Longo had some poignant words for his defenders.

“He said, ‘People are doubting us and you need to come out with a chip on your shoulder,’” senior defender Maty Waterkotte said. “I think that’s what we’ve done.”

The Lady Raiders continued their stingy streak Saturday, shutting out Rochester in a 2-0 victory in the Class 1A Pleasant Plains Regional championship. It was QND’s fifth consecutive postseason shutout and marked the 17th shutout this season, which is two shy of the school record. The Lady Raiders have allowed just seven goals this season, which is tied for the ninth fewest in state history according to the Illinois High School Association.

“A lot of it is our mentality,” senior midfielder Kate Genenbacher said. “We go in with the mentality we’re not going to let them have any hope of an opportunity.”

Rochester had a few. A little less than 14 minutes into the first half, the Rockets’ Khloe Sandercock collected a ball at the top of the penalty area and ripped a shot that rebounded off a defender and right back to her. Sandercock’s follow-up went over the goal, but it was the first of eight shots the Rockets attempted.

“They came at us,” Genenbacher said.

Each time the Rockets did, the Lady Raiders were up to the task.

“They work well together,” Longo said. “They always have each other’s back.”

Graduation present

The QND seniors will receive their diplomas next Sunday, but Genenbacher may have gotten an early gift that may still be noticeable when she dons the cap and gown.

In the second half, Genenbacher challenged for a ball in the air and collided with a Rochester midfielder, whose head caught Genenbacher on the left cheek. As she left the field, she pulled the ice bag away from her cheek to reveal a bruise already forming and the area above her cheek bone swelling.

“Real pretty, isn’t it,” she said.

Size advantage

The Rockets finished their season at 15-6-2 and drew compliments for their effort and consistently hard play from the Lady Raiders and the QND coaching staff. Rochester coach Chad Kutscher echoed those sentiments as he left the field incredibly proud of the way his team competed.

There just happened one thing completely out of Rochester’s control. They couldn’t match QND’s size. Jordan Frericks, a 6-foot-1 junior, and Genenbacher, a 5-11 senior, scored both QND goals off headers and Genenbacher consistently won balls in the air in the middle of the field.

“It’s a tall order going up against them,” Kutscher said.

Pink flair

During warmups, some of the fans noticed a few of the Lady Raiders had died streaks of their hair pink, including Shannon and Cassidy Foley.

Asked about the new style after the game, Cassidy Foley, a sophomore who assisted on both goals, started to laugh.

“You have to ask my sister,” she said.

Her big sister had the answer. On the last day of school a year ago, several of the Lady Raiders celebrated by putting a blue streak in their hair. To keep the tradition going, they decided to do it again, only this time using pink. Several of the underclassmen joined the seniors in putting a pink streak in their hair with at least nine players taking part.

Devils on the rise

Just one week ago, the Quincy High School baseball team was mired in 10-game losing streak and seemed destined to be postseason fodder for a regional opponent with clear title aspirations.

Now, the Blue Devils don’t look like such a pushover anymore.

QHS ran its winning streak to four consecutive games with Wednesday’s 7-6 victory in 10 innings against Quincy Notre Dame. It’s the Blue Devils’ eighth one-run victory this season and their third victory in their final at-bat.

“It’s fun to coach a team that never feels it is out of it,” QHS coach Bruce Bonness said.

The Blue Devils certainly don’t count themselves out.

“Amazing character,” senior second baseman Nate Veihl said.

It showed after giving up two runs in the top of the seventh inning against QND. Senior right fielder Brandon Genenbacher got a rally started with a lead-off double and junior shortstop Bronson Melvin delivered a two-out single that plated the tying run. Three innings later, the Blue Devils won on Mason Fairley’s double that scored Veihl.

“We have grown a lot over this year,” Melvin said. “If we play as a team and make fundamental plays, we’re going to be successful.”

Take away the fifth inning and QHS was solid defensively.

In the second inning, Melvin threw out two speedy runners — QND’s Nick Dietrich and Jordan Chapel — on slow rollers that got just beyond the pitcher’s mound. In the third inning, Genenbacher threw out Dominic Miles trying to score from second base on Zach Vahle’s single through the right side of the infield. In the fourth, the Blue Devils turned a 4-6-3 double play to get out of the inning after Chris Dietrich reached base on a one-out single.

The fifth inning was a different story. The Blue Devils committed three errors which contributed to the Raiders scoring four runs without a single hit. QND had three walks and three sacrifices.

The mistakes were limited to just one inning, something that illustrates this time is starting to grasp how it needs to play.

Hitting the weight room

Melvin’s seventh-inning single didn’t go far, but it went far enough.

With runners on first and second and QHS trailing by a run, Melvin worked the count full before poking an Adam Stupavsky pitch into short left-center field that QND shortstop Jordan Chapel backpedaled on and tried to catch. As he dove to catch the ball over his shoulder, the ball caromed off Chapel’s glove, allowing Grant Sullivan to score the tying run.

“That would have been a phenomenal play if (Chapel) would have made it,” Fairley said.

Melvin took some good-natured ribbing for the bloop shot, but his teammates were glad he was able to muscle the ball to the outfield grass.

“I’m glad he went to the weight room,” Genenbacher said.

And as assistant coach Cody Anderson noted, “It’s a laser in the scorebook.”

Influenced by the crowd

Genenbacher thought his lead-off double in the seventh inning might have been headed out of park, and when he heard the QHS crowd ignite, he slowed his gait coming around first base. Upon further review, the ball bounced on the warning track and forced Genenbacher to hustle in to second base with a double.

He is still the only QHS player to hit a home run this season.

“I was looking for my pitch, which was one right down the middle, and he gave it to me,” Genenbacher said. “I swung as hard as I could and waited to see where it went.”

Manufacturing runs

QND knows how to be opportunistic, especially when an opponent makes a defensive mistake.

Trailing 4-0 in the fifth, a walk and booted grounder gave Raiders’ offense a jumpstart. Colin O’Donnell put down a sacrifice bunt, Miles walked and Vahle and Reichert had back-to-back RBI sacrifice flies and Miles scored the final run of the inning on a wild throw home.

“We know that we can come from behind,” said QND’s Zach Carstens, who drove in the go-ahead runs in the seventh inning. “That’s going to help out a lot in regional.”

Martin gets ejected

QND coach Chris Martin disputed a call in the seventh inning that could have possibly ended the game before Melvin came to the plate, and ultimately it ended up getting him ejected.

With two outs and a runner on first base, QHS’s Alex Million hit a grounder to the left side of the infield and beat Chapel’s throw from shortstop. Martin contended the field umpire ruled Million safe because Reichert pulled his foot off first base. Martin asked the home plate umpire to intervene, but he did not. After Melvin delivered his game-tying single, Martin came out of the dugout to argue some more and was ultimately tossed.

On its way to winning another Class 2A regional championship last winter, the Pittsfield boys basketball team averaged 48 points per game and scored fewer than 40 points eight times.

“We have to grind it out to win,” Saukees coach Brad Tomhave said.

Even in low-scoring games such as the barn-burner Pittsfield played against Monmouth-Roseville at the Macomb-Western Holiday Tournament — the state-ranked Titans won 35-32 — Tomhave doesn’t believe a shot clock would have helped pick up the scoring or the pace of play.

“I’m not so sure in any game how many actual possessions last 35 seconds,” he said. “Thirty-five seconds is a long time.”

Luckily, no one in a high school gym will have to sit there and count. The basketball rules committee for the National Federation of State High School Associations voted against a proposal to add a shot clock to the high school game for both boys and girls. The results of a questionnaire sent to coaches, officials and state association administrators across the country showed most were in favor of keeping the game the same.

“The integrity of the high school game should stay the way it is,” Tomhave said.

He isn’t alone. Most coaches believe there is no need for a shot clock, although some coaches remain intrigued by seeing how it would influence the high school game.

“I see both sides of it to be honest with you,” Hannibal boys basketball coach Matt Pugh said. “In the big scheme of things, it may turn into a little bit of a sloppier game. How many teams are there where they can just throw it to a guy and get him a shot when they need one with the clock winding down?”

Conversely, Pugh and other coaches pointed out part of the process for high school coaches is to help prepare their players for the next level where a shot clock is used.

“They get thrown into the college game and it’s a big adjustment,” Pugh said. “The speed of the game plays such a factor.”

Consider these numbers: A high school game last 32 minutes, which breaks down to roughly 55 possessions if a shot clock is used and each possession runs the gamut. In the regular-season finale against Rock Island, which Quincy High School needed to win to share the Western Big Six Conference championship, the Blue Devils had 59 possessions alone. Double that for the number of possessions the Rocks had and each possession averaged 16 seconds.

So is there really a need for a shot clock?

Coaches, for the most part, are in agreement that a shot clock wouldn’t change much about how the game is played strategically until you get to the end of a quarter or end of a half. It could change the way a team extends the game or decides to foul and send an opponent to the free-throw line. It also rewards the defense for buckling down and sticking with a gameplan for an extended period.

“You can only play good defense for so long,” Pugh said.

And the powers-that-be can only keep a shot clock out of the high school game for so long. Eventually, it’s going to be incorporated. So here’s a suggestion. Integrate the shot clock as an experiment. Use it for holiday tournaments and gauge the response of coaches and players. See how it impacts the number of possessions and the quality of shot selection. Will shooting percentages drop because players feel the pressure of the ticking clock or will it lead to better shots because they work the clock and get the best look possible without rushing?

I think the NFHS would find an overwhelming response that the shot clock isn’t needed and that it only gums up the game.

Maybe then, this debate is finally put to rest.

Undefeated run

For just the second time in school history, the Quincy Notre Dame girls soccer team finished the regular season with a perfect record.

Monday night’s 3-0 victory over Quincy High School ended the Lady Raiders’ season with a 21-0 record. The last time it happened — they went 21-0 in 2000 — the Lady Raiders ran off six straight postseason victories before getting beaten 2-1 by New Lenox Lincoln Way in the state semifinals. QND finished fourth in the one-class system, bringing home the first state trophy in program history.

So will history repeat itself with QND reaching the state tournament unbeaten? The Lady Raiders have to like their chances. They open play in the Class 1A Pleasant Plains Regional on Tuesday against Springfield Lutheran and should be favored to win the Warrensburg-Latham Sectional. Many soccer aficianados have pointed to a potential matchup with Alton Marquette in the Edwardsville Metro East Lutheran Super-sectional as QND’s biggest hurdle. The Explorers are the defending state champs and carry a 14-7 record into the postseason.

QND beat Marquette 7-0 in the sectional in 2010.

29 and counting

Mark Longo isn’t naive enough to think the Quincy Notre Dame girls soccer team’s 29-game unbeaten streak against Quincy High School can last considerably longer.

“Realistically, somewhere along the line it’s going to end,” the veteran QND coach said after the Lady Raiders improved to 26-0-3 in the city series since the start of the 2000 season.

After saying that, he sort of flashed a mischievous smile. Longo knows some ridiculously long streaks have yet to end. For example, since starting the program in 1990, QND has never lost to Jacksonville. So maybe these streaks can go on longer than anyone ever assumes, although Longo isn’t going to bank on it. He’s just going to enjoy it for what it is.

“It’s something that’s nice and something we’re proud of,” Longo said.

Just like the streak within the streak. QND has shut out QHS nine straight games, making the Class of 2012 the first to graduate without giving up a goal to the Blue Devils.

“That is very special, a special part of the streak,” Longo said.

Here is a look at how the streak has developed …

April 4, 2000 — QND 1, QHS 0
May 10, 2000 — QND 5, QHS 1
May 30, 2000 — QND 2, QHS 1
April 7, 2001 — QND 2, QHS 1
May 8, 2001 — QND 1, QHS 0
May 25, 2001 — QND 4, QHS 2
April 9, 2002 — QND 1, QHS 0
May 7, 2002 — QND 4, QHS 2
May 5, 2003 — QND 2, QHS 0
May 12, 2003 — QND 3, QHS 0
April 6, 2004 — QND 3, QHS 1
May 11, 2004 — QND 3, QHS 1
April 6, 2005 — QND 0, QHS 0
May 10, 2005 — QND 1, QHS 0
April 4, 2006 — QND 1, QHS 1
April 4, 2007 — QND 2, QHS 0
May 8, 2007 — QND 3, QHS 0
May 18, 2007 — QND 4, QHS 1
April 1, 2008 — QND 3, QHS 2
May 6, 2008 — QND 1, QHS 1
May 16, 2008 — QND 1, QHS 0
April 7, 2009 — QND 5, QHS 0
May 12, 2009 — QND 1, QHS 0
April 6, 2010 — QND 2, QHS 0
May 11, 2010 — QND 3, QHS 0
April 5, 2011 — QND 2, QHS 0
May 10, 2011 — QND 3, QHS 0
April 3, 2012 — QND 1, QHS 0
May 7, 2012 — QND 3, QHS 0

Pink night

It is a tradition for the Quincy Notre Dame soccer players to wear pink shorts and socks when they face Quincy High School on “Pink Night,” where all proceeds from raffles and giveaways goes to the Blessing Breast Center. It appears it will be a tradition for QHS to wear black jerseys on such occasions. A soccer booster donated the money to purchase the Blue Devils special jerseys for “Pink Night” in honor of cancer victims, and like the boys wore last fall, the girls came out for Monday night’s game in black jerseys with pink accents.

Combined, the two teams and their fans raised more than $1,700 for the Breast Center.

Last weekend, Quincy High School boys basketball coach Sean Taylor was formally inducted into the Illinois Basketball Coaches Association Hall of Fame, becoming the sixth Quincy coach so honored and the youngest coach to ever be inducted. The ceremony took place at the Bone Student Center on the Illinois State University campus in Normal.

Rantoul Press sports editor Matt Daniels, who played against a Taylor-coached Quincy team in the postseason as a senior at Edwardsville, put together a package chronicling the career of Taylor, who is a Rantoul native and who’s father, Dick, is a former Rantoul boys basketball coach. The package included recollections of other sports writers, including myself, and pictures from Taylor’s playing days at Rantoul.

To read Daniels’ story, click here.

To read the recollections package, click here.

Luke Guthrie, the Quincy native and University of Illinois senior golfer, received the Big Ten Medal of Honor.

Luke Guthrie continues to reap the rewards of his athletic and academic success.

Tuesday, hours after being named the Big Ten Golfer of the Year, the Quincy native and University of Illinois senior received the Big Ten Medal of Honor during the Fighting Illini Scholar-Athlete Awards Reception. The event recognizes graduating student-athletes and others who have excelled both athletically and academically.

Since 1915, the Big Ten Medal of Honor has been awarded annually at each conference school to a male and female senior student-athlete who demonstrates proficiency in scholarship and athletics. The award has become the top annual award the University of Illinois Division of Intercollegiate Athletics bestows.

Guthrie led Illinois to its fourth straight Big Ten championship, becoming the only golfer in school history to play on four title teams. In the process, he successfully defended the Big Ten individual championship, becoming only the third Illinois golfer to win back-to-back titles and the first since current PGA Tour pro Steve Stricker did so in 1988-89. Guthrie won the Les Bolstad Award for the lowest stroke average in the Big Ten and is on pace to set the school record for lowest career stroke average.

He is the fourth player in school history to be named Big Ten Golfer of the Year and earn the Les Bolstad Award.

Off the course, Guthrie is a two-time Academic All-Big Ten selection majoring in business management and has been involved in Robeson Elementary Reading Night, Big Brothers Big Sisters Holiday Party, and Jock Jams and he has served as a Salvation Army bell ringer.

“Luke came to the University of Illinois as a very highly recruited golfer with the intention of doing great things, and he has not disappointed himself,” Illinois coach Mike Small said. “He takes personal responsibility for the entire team and its actions, and because of that, Luke has grown into a true leader. He represents all of the qualities that every institution desires out of its graduating student-athletes.”

Each winter since 1999, Jim Roberts has brought the Batavia boys basketball team to Blue Devil Gym to face Quincy High School to give the Bulldogs the opportunity to experience one of the best basketball environments in the state.

Next December, the Bulldogs will make the trip without him.

The 54-year-old Roberts resigned last week after 27 years coaching at Batavia, where he became the school’s all-time winningest coach with 455 career victories. The Illinois Basketball Coaches Association Hall of Fame coach won nine regionals and two sectionals with the Bulldogs and led Batavia to the Class AA state quarterfinals in 1991.

Roberts played on the 1975 Batavia team that beat Quincy 59-53 in the opening game of the fifth QHS Thanksgiving Tournament. He later wanted his players to have the same experience he enjoyed. So each December since 1999, Batavia has made the five-hour trip to Quincy. His teams went 5-8 against Quincy.

“We tell our players it’s an honor and privilege to play here, but in reality, it’s been our honor and privilege to coach here,” Roberts told the Batavia Patch.

Saturday, Jack Cornell took center stage.

Sunday, Luke Guthrie followed suit.

So who’s next?

Cornell, the Quincy Notre Dame graduate and University of Illinois alum, signed a free-agent contract with the Baltimore Ravens, becoming the first Quincy native to get a pro contract in two decades. There have been other regional products to do so — Unity’s Ross Schulte, South Shelby’s Ron Janes and Pittsfield’s John Wise all went to camp with pro teams but never made a regular-season roster — but no one who played at either Quincy High School or Quincy Notre Dame has enjoyed this opportunity.

In two weeks, Cornell will report to rookie mini-camp in Baltimore and begin his pursuit of an NFL job. It will be interesting to track his progress and see if the 6-foot-5, 307-pound Cornell can live out a dream.

Meanwhile, Guthrie is on the verge of living out his dream.

The Quincy High School graduate and University of Illinois senior successfully defending his Big Ten Conference golf championship Sunday while leading the Illini to an unprecedented fourth straight team title. Guthrie has the chance to go down as one of the greatest golfers in U of I history with the NCAA Regionals and NCAA Championships still to play. Quincy hasn’t produced a PGA Tour player since D.A. Weibring, and Guthrie will be the next. He plans to turn professional when the season ends and hopes to find his way into some PGA events this year.

First, he’ll try to qualify for the U.S. Open. Then, he’ll seek sponsor’s exemptions into any field he can. How perfect would it be for Guthrie to receive an invitation to the John Deere Classic, which is being played July 9-15 at the TPC at Deere Run in Silvis, Ill. It’s the course designed by Weibring and would provide an easy avenue for a flock of Quincy fans to follow Guthrie.

There isn’t a more perfect scenario.

With two Quincy products on the verge of professional careers, we go back to this question: Who’s next?

Keep these two names in mind — Jimmy Holtschlag and Dominic Pagliara.

Holtschlag, a 6-foot-5, 300-pound offensive lineman, started 10 games last fall as a sophomore for the Western Illinois University football team. Meanwhile, Pagliara, a 6-foot-6, 296-pound offensive lineman, started all 11 games at left tackle for Eastern Illinois University last fall and has started 20 games in his career. Add in WIU kicker Pat Smith, who had 21 consecutive extra points last season and was named the Leathernecks special teams player of the year, and all three Quincy Notre Dame products could be on the NFL radar in the next two years.

Outside of Quincy, keep your eye on Hannibal’s Mat Sims, who is the starting placekicker at Northern Illinois University. Although kickers don’t typically get drafted, many get the chance to audition as free agents. Sims might get that opportunity.

Marlins manager Ozzie Guillen speaks at a press conference where he apologized for insensitive remarks regarding Fidel Castro. (AP Photo)

Ozzie Guillen’s supporters can be certain of this: He broke no laws.

That doesn’t entitle him to freedom from retribution from his employer.

Over the last few days, I’ve watched, listened and read about Guillen’s comments regarding Fidel Castro, the uproar it caused among the Cuban population in Miami and how the decision by the Marlins violated his freedom of speech. Well, it didn’t. Here’s why.

The First Amendment, which was adopted on Dec, 15, 1791, states: “Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof; or abridging the freedom of speech, or of the press; or the right of the people peaceably to assemble, and to petition the Government for a redress of grievances.” The Supreme Court, in 1925, ruled state legislatures could not prohibit the freedom of speech either.

Please understand this about the First Amendent — it protects individual rights from government interference. Guillen could have stood on a street corner and professed his love for Castro, the Cuban dictator, and never worried about anything. By law, he has the right to say whatever he wants without fear of imprisonment or government censorship. That’s a freedom we cherish.

It doesn’t entitle anyone to be foolish.

Guillen said something that riled up the Marlins fan base and put the baseball franchise in the crosshairs of a public relations nightmare. As a team leader and spokesman, Guillen is expected to represent the Marlins with dignity and class. Stepping out on a limb and saying he respects Castro was foolish. Plain and simple. He’s fortunate all the Marlins did was suspend him for five games. Civic leaders in Miami were calling for Guillen to be fired, and had the Marlins decided to do that, he’d have no recourse. The First Amendment doesn’t protect him from employer backlash. Guillen is lucky the lesson he learned from that isn’t harsher.

The First Amendment is a gift from our forefathers, one we need to cherish. It isn’t one we should take for granted.