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Monday, Nov. 4

Lady Railers repeat
as regional champions

By Rick Hobler

[NOV. 4, 2002]  It certainly wasn’t a tornado. More like a small gust of wind that comes and then quickly goes. That’s a fair description of Saturday night’s regional championship game between the Lincoln Lady Railers and the Taylorville Tornadoes.

The gust came quickly in the form of a 3-0 Taylorville run to begin Game 1. But that was it. The entire rest of the match was dominated by Lincoln, as they went on to defeat Taylorville 15-5, 15-4 and repeat as regional champions. Lincoln moves on to play Champaign Central in the sectional semifinal match on Tuesday at Rantoul.

In Game 1, the Railers initially appeared to have a hard time adjusting to the loss of senior Missy Aper, due to an ankle injury. The adjustment period was short and took the form of three Taylorville points and five side-outs. Then Lincoln began to take over. Maria Benitez got the Railers back to even with three quick service points, with the help of a blast from the net by Julie Fults. Maria would add three more successful serves before this first game was all over to lead all servers in Game 1 with a total of six. At the net, Michelle McFadden had an excellent first game, garnering numerous kills for points and side-outs that helped the Railers bring home the victory. Senior Mindy Crawford had one of her best matches of the season, as she made several nice kills to squelch Taylorville’s attempts to score.

[Photos provided by Rick Hobler]

With the warm-up over, the Railers dominated Game 2. And no one dominated more than Kari McFadden. Kari’s spectacular jump serve was untouchable throughout the match, but never more than at the end of Game 2. Four straight aces that were bullets just over the top of the net had the Tornadoes diving but never returning the ball. After a brief two-point Taylorville spurt, Kari got the final hit of the night to run the score to 15-4 and end the Tornadoes’ season. Christina Xamis added three excellent serves as well as some great hustle along the back line. Maria Benitez also made some excellent, all-important first passes that kept several difficult balls from touching the floor on the Railer side of the court.

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All in all it was another excellent team effort by the Lady Railers, who adjusted well to the loss of their emotional "spark plug" Missy Aper. Mindy Crawford, Katie Green and Julie Fults did a nice job of stepping in where Missy usually would be. Michelle McFadden is showing more and more of her expected potential, and she, along with Samantha Conrady, dominated the net. Brooklyn Robins did her usual steady job of setting, without which none of the beautiful kills would have occurred.

Congratulations on being the champions we knew you would be!

In order for the Railers to keep moving toward the goal, they are going to need to generate some more emotion on the floor — the same kind of emotion we have seen before in some comeback wins and tight games. Saturday night’s match went so easy that a calm response by the Railers was probably appropriate. I doubt that will be the case from here on out. If Missy Aper is able to return, (and I know she will, if there is any way possible) she will provide a big part of that. If not, the rest of team, especially the seniors, will have to step up emotionally and do it. I have no doubt they will.

One at a time. Play with emotion. Sectional trophy. GO, RAILERS!

[Rick Hobler]

High school cross country

[NOV. 4, 2002] 

Class A sectionals - boys

At Paxton

4. Olympia 164 (top five advance to state)

Distance - 3 miles:  20. Caleb Dietrick; 24. Vince McClain; 41. John Neisler; 46. Cody Lingle; 52. Rob Dudgeon; 68. Jason Springer; 97. Andy Behrens.

At Elmwood

16. Illini Central 413 (top five advance to state)

Distance - 3 miles:  82. Phil Simms; 87. Derek Hunter; 89. Jared McDaniel; 105. Adam Barton; 114. Scott Bergman; 118. Clint Wells; 142. Scott Van Etten.

Class AA sectionals - boys

At Centralia

Lincoln:  no team result

Distance - 3 miles:  112. Alejandro Valdes.

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Class A sectionals - girls

At Paxton

1. Olympia 74 (top five advance to state)

Distance - 3 miles:  9. Tiffany Prager; 10. Kate Freshour; 13. Christa Juell; 15. Jill Floyd; 43. Kristin Seggerman; 90. Britt Fredricks; 91. Karen Coppenbarger.

At Elmwood

Illini Central:  no team result

Distance - 3 miles:  126. Katie Nelson; 136. Gillian Waggoner.

Class AA sectionals - girls

At Centralia

Lincoln:  no team result

Distance - 3 miles:  121. Desirae Winter.

LC women win first game of the basketball season

[NOV. 4, 2002]  ST. LOUIS — Lincoln College defeated Florissant Valley 84-80 in the opening of the women’s basketball season here Saturday afternoon. The Lady Lynx will host Carl Sandburg at 5:30 p.m. Monday in their first home game.

Ariel Lamb scored seven points, Erica Ernst had seven and Victoria Scott added six points in the final 10 minutes to help Lincoln College defeat Florissant Valley. The host took a 40-37 halftime lead; however, the Lynx outscored Florissant Valley 47-40 in the second half.

Coach Carol Wilson had five of her Lincoln College players in double figures, led by the 17-point output from Ernst. Nicole Dearing contributed 15 points, while Scott scored 14, Lamb 13, and Kim Calhoun finished with 10. Ten Lincoln College players cracked the scoring column.  

Flo Valley was led by the 32-point outburst from Karen Stepps, with Moore and Moss also scoring in double figures.

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Lincoln College (84) — Ariel Lamb 5-3-13, Lakeisha Graham 1-0-2, Victoria Scott 3-8-14, Amber Bell 2-0-4, Becky Spears 1-0-2, Kim Calhoun 5-0-10, Nicole Dearing 6-2-15, Ashley Sims 1-0-2, Zabrina Harper 1-2-4, Erica Ernst 7-3-17.  Totals: 32-18-84. Three-point goals: Graham, Dearing.

Florissant Valley (80) — Troupe 4-0-8, Johnson 2-0-6, Moore 5-3-16, Moss 5-3-13, Stepps 10-8-32, Thompson 1-3-5.  Totals: 27-17-80. Three-point goals: Johnson 2, Moore 3, Stepps 4.

[Bill Martinie, Lincoln College
sports information director]

A weekend of tough losses for LC men’s basketball

[NOV. 4, 2002]  Lincoln College suffered a pair of tough-luck losses while playing in the Three Rivers Classic men’s basketball tournament this past weekend. The toughest loss, however, was the loss of assistant coach Ed Butkovich, who died of cardiac arrest while traveling with head coach B.J. McCullum to the games at Poplar Bluff, Mo.

Butkovich, a longtime coach at Mount Pulaski High School, has assisted at Lincoln College the past two years.  

Coach McCullum said that Butkovich suffered the heart attack 25 miles away from their destination. "CPR was first administered by me, and within 10 minutes the first ambulance unit arrived and continued the CPR," said McCullum

"The team continued on, and a game-time decision was made by the coaching staff and the knowledge of his family that the game should be played, with assistant coaches Kirk Whiteman and Jim Vershaw handling the coaching duties." 

Three Rivers jumped in front 10-0 and maintained an 11-point lead at halftime. Lincoln College came back to tie the score with 14 minutes left before Three Rivers extended the lead to 19 points. The Lynx again battled back and got within three but could get no closer.

Terrance Chapman led the Lynx with 25 points, while Michael Fowler, Amir Major, James Roberson and Derik Hollyfield all added double figures. Kevin Thomas led Three Rivers with 19 points. The Lynx were out-rebounded 42-31.

In the game Saturday night, Mineral Area defeated the Lynx 83-80. Lincoln College held a 38-35 lead at halftime but could not hold the lead in the second half.

The Lynx shot 45 percent from the field against Mineral Area but suffered a 57-36 difference in the rebounding battle. Lincoln College stayed in the game with 3-point shooting, as they connected on 10 of 20 shots from 3-point range. Mineral Area was 0-7 from 3-point land.

Leading the Lincoln College attack with 21 points was James Roberson, while Terrance Chapman added 16 and Amir Major 14.

The Lynx are scheduled to play their home opener at 7:30 p.m. Monday against Carl Sandburg.

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Lincoln College (83) — Clark 2-5-0-0-5, Carlson 0-0-0-0-0, Fowler 4-6-2-2-13, Trotter 0-1-2-2-2, Bowen 0-2-0-0-0, Major 2-5-7-8-11, Roberson 5-12-2-2-15, Chapman 8-14-8-15-25, Hollyfield 4-11-0-1-10, Lazzerini 1-1-0-0-2. Totals: 26-57-21-30-83. Three-point goals: Clark, Fowler 3, Roberson 3, Chapman, Hollyfield 2.

Three Rivers (90) — Dereke Tipler 4-9-6-8-14, Chris Carr 1-2-0-02, Lasun Fakeye 1-1-0-0-2, Fred Oguns 0-2-0-0-0, William Durden 5-13-1-3-12, Darrell Minner 1-3-1-2-3, Kevin Thomas 6-11-2-2-19, Travis Johnson 6-9-2-3-16, Travis Profit 1-3-0-0-2, Milton Phinnessee 3-3-1-2-7, Hector Zayas 1-2-0-0-2, Ceso Sprewell 5-7-1-3-11. Totals: 34-65- 14-23-90. Three-point goals: Durden, Thomas 5, Johnson 2.

Lincoln College (80) — Josh Clark 2-4-0-0-6, Jeff Carlson 0-0-0-0-0, Michael Fowler 3-5-1-3-9, Rueben Trotter 0-0-0-0-0, Loyd Bowen 0-0-2-2-2, Amir Major 4-10-5-7-14, James Roberson 6-9-5-5-21, Terrance Chapman 6-17-4-6-16, Derik Hollyfield 4-10-0-1-9, Rian Lazzerini 1-3-1-3-3.  Totals: 26-58-18-27-80.  Three-point goals: Clark 2, Fowler 2, Major, Roberson 4, Hollyfield.

Mineral Area (83) — David Bryant 4-9-1-2-9, Joel Shelton 3-10-1-2-7, Torry Saxton 4-8-0-0-8, Kgomotso Sefolosha 1-3-0-0-2, Armend Kahrimanovic 2-11-1-2-5, Erick Hubbard 6-9-4-5-16, Norman Prather 7-14-1-4-15, Lorenzo Gordon 6-10-7-11-19, Nedzad Biberovic 1-5-0-3-2.  Totals: 34-79-15-32-83.

[Bill Martinie, Lincoln College
sports information director]

Articles from the past week

[NOV. 4, 2002]  Is it November already? Where did the year go? Someone PLEASE tell me that the years of my boy’s life are not going to continue to march on at this pace! Work and school are already deep into their routines. At least there are a lot of sports activities. Notice I didn’t say that there was a lot to cheer about. Central Illinois seems to be in a big slump… Maybe something will snap us out of it soon. Until then, let’s take the voyage together and sort through the local sports scene…

My coach of the week could very easily be my coach of the year, and that is none other than LCHS head football coach John Oaks! Coach Oaks told me and a LIVE TV audience on "FANdamonium" BEFORE the season began that he had high hopes and high expectations for his gridders. They reached several of those lofty dreams and goals. It took some of the hardest work and patience that you can ever imagine, but this man and his team got the job done and turned in what I believe is the best record in some 11 years. And that’s not the half of it! The freshmen may have had their best season ever, or at least one for the ages, as well. And the sophomores had their moments too! I’m compelled to give John and his staff the award as just a grateful fan.

Thanks, you guys, for beginning to restore some of the pride back into the program. Perhaps this season will serve as a launching pad to greatness! The LDN salutes you!

Staying with this same theme, I’m picking the Lincoln High School football team (on all levels) as my team of the week. Seldom will you see me reward a team on this side of the ledger, but you have to start somewhere. And this is a special team. First of all, I commend EVERY kid who just stuck it out! Especially those of you who went through it all for four years! And then to all of you who talked your friends into going out for the team. And then to you guys who went out amidst pressure NOT to do so from friends, family or whoever. You guys showed what hard work, determination and teamwork can do when no one cares who gets the glory! Hopefully our city and county officials are getting a glimpse of this picture.

At any rate, we here at the LDN salute your performance, and we’re proud of your accomplishments. May those of you who return next year, pick up the baton and head straight for the playoffs!

The LDN wants to take this opportunity to extend condolences to the family of coach Ed Butkovich. Coach had some exciting days and I believe has at least one Class A state title in his rich legacy.

He was especially good to me in my early days as the coach out at LCC. He allowed his players to come to our summer camp.

(You might be surprised that SOME coaches don’t let their kids come to our camp or any camp other than their own for that matter. I can STILL remember the scathing letter I received from one of the coaches from Jacksonville, questioning the methods I employed. History shows that some of the kids from THAT area needed more than just ONE week of our camp experience… BUT I won’t go into that now. Let me just say that our graduates went on to win many A and AA regional, sectional and a few state titles. I THINK that speaks for itself).

Anyway, coaches Butkovich and Rucks and Gasaway and others in Mount Pulaski always supported me and my program, and I’ll never forget that. I will always be loyal and grateful for that kind of friendship, especially when it comes from an unexpected source like that.

Other area teams had and have just as much at stake and have every opportunity to be supportive of LCC and other area colleges but choose to focus solely on themselves. That is their option.

I’m glad coach Butkovich wasn’t like that. He came as a favor to watch my teams practice every year and then offered me tremendous insights and suggestions. If you don’t know much about basketball, let me just say that few things could be worth more to you than having someone with his expertise helping someone like me who was REALLY struggling at the time.

And more than that, Ed was just a good guy. Whenever I saw him in public, he always had a kind or gracious word for me.

I was sad and stunned to hear the news of his passing. He was an icon in and for this area.

Thank you, Coach, for what you meant to me and for countless others. Godspeed!

Yes. The Bears had another chance to win a game in the waning moments. And unlike last year, when no matter who threw the ball it would always end up in a Bear’s hands, that’s NOT the case this year!

The thing that this reporter is amazed by is that whenever a Bears coach states that he’s content to always have at least a chance, I have to ask, "What???" I don’t want just a CHANCE. If I can kick the tar out of you and win by two or three touchdowns, that’s what I’m going to do (my apologies to those of you who thought I was a nice guy).

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[Photos by Tom Seggelke]

Take for instance the score tied in the fourth quarter with the Bears possessing the ball just inside their 20-yard line. They run a pitch or a toss play that they’ve run six to eight times already during the game (which begs the question, is their playbook really THAT small?). On top of that, they try to run it this time to a wide-out. Is it just my imagination or are wide-outs suppose to run down the field and catch passes? When you run something like that you deserve to fumble and lose the game. I will never be able to figure out that kind of stuff!

Even just before half they ran some vertical passing offense and were able to jet down the field in less than a minute in time to get a last-second 53-yard FG from Paul Ettinger! I realize that the zone was a little softer in that situation, but do we KNOW that for sure? There was no attempt to go back to that except in third and long situations and in desperation mode.

On the other hand, I did feel that the Bears defense played well. With the exception of two or three runs by Donovan McNabb (and folks, this guy’s going to break away every once in a while; he’s just that good), the Bears held them in check. Great pursuit by Urlacher and others gave the Bears at least a CHANCE to win (I STILL don’t like that phrase!).

But when the offense didn’t put up even positive yardage in the second half until the last desperation drive, that’s what happens. I know the schedule is tougher this season, but I’m just not sure this group can get it done.

Click here for more Bears photos.

Our own Greg Taylor tried to help Illini coach Ron Turner. Greg suggested that coach Turner stick with QB Jon Buetjer, but Turner didn’t, and by the time Jon was inserted into the game he didn’t have enough time to incite a comeback, as the Illini dropped an 18-7 ugly one to Penn State!

And what’s up with the tackling? Or lack thereof? I haven’t seen such sloppy technique since guys used to run over me!!!

My mom used to say not to say anything if you can’t say something nice… THEREFORE, this subject matter is closed!!!

The Lady Railer volleyball girls just keep winning. Now they will travel to Rantoul for a Tuesday night showdown with who we believe will be the Champaign Central Chargers at 6:30. Good luck, ladies!

That’s the only other sports news that’s been turned over to me. If you’ve got something else, get it to us as quick as you can. You can reach us at ldneditor@lincolndailynews.com.

Tonight our guests include the LCHS swimmers of George and Ruth Sloot, fresh off a fourth-place finish at the CS8 meet.

Illini assistant coach Billy Gillespie has accepted the head coaching position at UTEP. I hate to see him go!

Why didn’t Illinois give Donovan McNabb a better recruiting pitch when he was in high school?

Lincoln’s Brian Cook and Jerrance Howard will have to miss the first two games of the season because of playing in a non-sanctioned summer tourney. Don’t get me started with the NCAA and the IHSA again… Let’s just leave it alone!!!

Cook is featured in the new issue of Slam magazine. (Click here for details.)

Lincoln’s Greg Alexander and his ISU Redbirds get things started tonight versus SIU-E at 7:05 in Normal. Plenty of good seats STILL available!!!

LCC opens their season this weekend with a tourney in Cincinnati. LC dropped two tough ones on the road in their openers.

Have a great week, everybody!

[Jeff Mayfield]

[Click here for past columns]

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