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Pat Dunne hesitate to substitute if the op­ portunity presents itself against Central. "I've got confidence in Chris Anderson, Bob Nolan, Rich White, Mark Etheridge," Ludwig ex­ plained. "This would be an op­ portune time for them, especially the bigger guys, to play if Pat and J R. aren't playing well." The sophomore game will begin at6p.m. FOX VALLEY CONFERENCE Conf All WL WL Woodstock 104 2 Dundee-Crown 1033 CL Central ..1023 MCHENRY .....0024 Jacobs 0124 Cary-Grove ..0115 CL South ..0115 t V «#• Page 20. PLAINPEALER HERALD, FH 1I)AV, DECEMBER 7,1984 Sports McHenry High 'Davids'on the road in 'land of the giants' . ,p PrwrliwT- ^ (f % sc*° JHSgirls boast youth, experience Three starters return from 13-10 squad By Chris Juzwik PtalndMlcr-Herald «porU adltor JOHNSBURG - Young veterans. The two words aren't usually thrown together, but In the case of Johnsburg's girls' basketball team, the hybrid seems ap­ propriate. Three starters return from a 13-10 campaign in 1983-84, but two of those were just sophomores in starting varsity roles last season. . "We have seven new varsity people," said JHS coach Nancy Fahey. "In essence, we're inex­ perienced, even though we have three starters back. We. have less players with varsity experience than we did last year." The three returnees are senior point guard Cris May, and juniors Laura Oeffling and Vicki DuBeau. Fahey can also take heart with the fact that of her 11 players, she feels she can use every one of them -- and has. run, you've got to have the ball." In the Woodstock loss, Fahey said her team's youth showed. "We turned the bal^syer a lot," she said. "But that wiM get better. Throughout Ahe yepr, I'm sure we'll gain more perience, and won ball over as much." Swingperson Oefl ling led the Skyhawk attack winh 14 points May, Scavo and Hiller chipped in eight apiece. In the rebounding depart­ ment, DuBeau had 10, while Shine and Oeffling claimed nine caroms each. May had six assists to lead the 'Hawks in that category. "We have a tendency to com­ mit too many fouls," Fahey said. "We've only played one game, but that game was won and lost at the free throw line. Woodstock shot 28, and we only shot 14." The 0-1 Skyhawks traveled to Richmond-Burton Thursday night, and will head to Lake Zurich fof the conference opener next Tuesday. The home opener is Dec. 19 against McHenry. "Everyone played in the Woodstock game (a 49-42 SkyhawklossMonday).. "We're a very deep team. It doesn't hurt us to play any one of theih." In addition to the aforemen­ tioned three, rounding out the starting five will be Sheri Scavo at small forward and Bev Hiller at guard. Fahey also brought up freshman Caroline Shine to play for the varsity Skyhawks. The Skyhawks' Northwest Suburban Conference mark last year was not what you would expect from a 13-10 squad. Jonnsburg finished 5-7 in the league in 83-84. "It's a tough conference," Fahey said. "We'd like to end up in the upper half. That's our goal." Fahey said the class of the conference should be Lake Zurich, along with Wauconda and Marengo. On the non-conference slate, Fox Valley Conference op­ ponents will be McHenry and Jacobs, in addition to the loss at Woodstock. Fahey, in her third year as varsity head coach, said her team has to work on reboun­ ding. ' ' W e o u t r e b o u n d e d Woodstock, but we've got to work on it more," Fahey ex­ plained. We're a running team, we have more success when we run. We've got more quickness than we did last year. But to - • i f : •• •* - • Platndealer-Herald News Service photo by Sam Natrop tie keys for the returns three starters from the 13-10 team of a basketball team year ago. i Nancy Fahey Rebounding will be one of Johnsburg High School girh this season. Skyhawk crfa On the . Sideline Dick Rabbitt i Warriors face battle at 'jinxed' fieldhouse Alter four losses at the Rockford Boylan Classic over the Thanksgiving holiday, the Warriors of Ken Ludwig rallied for two straight wins over Northwest Suburban Conference foes last week. The Warriors defeated Grayslake 52-47 last Tuesday, and avenged an earlier defeat at Rockford in downing Grant 45-41 Saturday night at Buckner Gym. Both games left something to be desired as far as the caliber of basketball being played. It was football at its best, without helmets and pads. Nevertheless, the Warriors survived in both games and put two more in the 'win' column. Friday night, McHenry will hit the road for its Fox Valley Con­ ference opener. The Warriors will travel to what I call 'the jinx,' otherwise known as the fieldhouse at Crystal Lake Central. IN OVER 20 years of watching Warrior basketball, I have never seen a McHenry team play what I would call 'good basketball' in the fieldhouse. ft However, since the founding of the Foj^valley, the Warriors have managed to hold their own while playing there. In the past six outings at that huge structure, the Warriors have broke even, winning three and losing three. In the initial FVC season back in 1978-79, the Warriors won 72-54, and followed with a 76-61 victory the following year. In the 1980-81 campaign, disaster struck, as the Tigers won 60-41 and followed with another win during the 1981-82 season, 58-40. THE WARRIORS won the following year 61-57, and last season dropped a 61-53 contestThe Tigers are on a roll, having defeated their cross-town rivals CL South 54-44 last week after almost blow­ ing an 18-point lead late in the game. While the Fox Valley, in the early stages of this 84-85 season could be called a 'dog-eat-dog' conference -- in which anyone can beat anyone -- this should again be a good game between two old rivals, the Tigers and the Warriors. * Seniors Scott Freund and Craig Hill lead the Wanriors in scoring thus far. After six games, Freund is averaging 15.7 points a game, while Hill checks in at 14.0 ppg. These two lads are badly in need of help by their teammates to take up some of the scoring slack. It's a long way to March, but look for the Ludwig-coached crew to im­ prove as the season progresses. PAT WIRTZ' McHenry High girls' basketball sqaud took it on the chin at Round Lake Monday night, 73-39. The genial coach, like his counterpart on the boys' side, has no size, and that's a big han­ dicap in this day and age of high school basketball. Mike Shanahan's swimming team finished sixth in the Hoffman Estates Invitational last Saturday. Once again, a lack of numbers hurt the Warriors' chances of a better showing in this event. Some Warrior finishes in the top six at the invitational were: sophomore - Brian Hoffman, who was fifth in the 200 individual medley, a new school record for the frosh-soph. Hoffman came back and finished fifth in the 100-yd. backstroke. Senior Craig Karcgynski was sixth in the 100-yd. butterfly. Tuesday, the Water Warriors are at home against Cary-Grove for a 4:30 meet. SOMETHING NEW has been added to the home boys' basket­ ball games. Athletic Director Joe Schlender has informed me that at all home games, an Alumni Area will be provided in the upper hall outside the gym. Coffee, cookies and cake will be available between games and at the half of the varsity game for all alumni and friends. So all of you alumni, come up and join the crowd. I, along with Coach Joe, will be there (I never turn down a free cup of coffee and goodies), and it will be a fun time for all. Hope to see a lot of you alums there at the next home game. By special request in going down memory lane this week, we take you back to the 1960-61 season for the thrilling 64-62 Warrior victory over the Tigers of Crystal Lake. It was the only Tiger loss in the conference that season, as they finished 13-1 in the North Suburban, while the Warriors ended up 9-5. ' McHENRY: Creigton 0 3 3; Varpell 5111; Reed 5313; Morenz 6 113; Miller 419; Samen3 2 8; Reese317. Totals: 2612 -- 64. CRYSTAL LAKE: Fackenberg 3 17; Edwards 7 5 19; Weightman2 1 5; Smith 3 3 9; Rosulek7 0 14; Konrad 3 2 8. Totals: 2512-62. -i Total Fouls (fouled out): McHenry 18 (Reed); Crystal Lake 12 (none). McHENRY * ' 51910 20 - 64 CRYSTAL LAKE M81615 - 62 Warriors to open FVC season at CL Central By Chris Juzwik pUtaxtMleT-Hcrald (ports editor The trite, cllched 'David vs. Goliath' concept is much overus- ». ed, but in the case of McHenry High School's boys' basketball game against Crystal Lake Cen­ tral Friday night, it's all too fit­ ting The two teams will lock up at > Central in McHenry's first Fox Valley Conference game of the season. Central defeated cross- town rival Crystal Lake South 54- 44 last Friday in the FVC debut for both teams. The Tigers, 2-3 overall, boast a huge front line, by area standards. Senior center Mike Williams (6-7) and sophomore sensation Bill Heppner (6-6) anchor the Central frontcourt. LOOKING AHEAD... . McHENRY HIGH SCHOOL Friday; BASKETBALL- at CL Central, 6 p.m. WRESTLING CL Central, 6 p.m. * ^ Saturday: WRESTLING: at Lake Forest Invit., 9 a.m. Tuesday: SWIMMING: Cary-Grove,4:30p.m. JOHNSBURG HIGH SCHOOL Friday: BASKETBALL: Marian Central, 6 p.m. WRESTLING: at St. Francis Tourn. Saturday: WRESTLING at St. Francis Tourn. Tuesday: GIRLS' BASKETBALL: at Lake Zurich, 6 p.m. McHenry's biggest starter is 6-3 junior J.R. Wright, who teams with seniors Pat Dunne (6-2) and Craig Hill (6-1) to form the War­ riors frontcourt trio. "THEIR biggest asset is their size, no question about it," admit­ ted McHenry coach Ken Ludwig. "And our biggest problem is to contend with it. To handle one would be bad enough, but they've got two of them," lamented Lud­ wig. "Williams plays around the basket mostly," Ludwig explain­ ed. "But that Happner is really tough. He can turn around and shoot from 12, 13 feet on in. He's tough." Ludwig said the key to McHenry's stopping the duo will be for the Warriors to h§lp each other out defensively. \ "They've have a lot of inside power. We have to help out on defense," he said. THE veteran coach said his 2-4 team has played two solid floor games in a row, the first a win over Grayslake last Tuesday, the latter a four-point triumph over Grant Saturday. "We're averaging seven tur­ novers a game, and that's pretty good," Ludwig noted. "We're not making many mistakes on the court." Warrior opponents are making just over 14 miscues a game, and Ludwig said his squad must take better a^antage of its foes' er­ rors. "Our offense is kind of dead," Ludwig said. "We haven't been fast breaking at all, and that's hurt us quite a Wt." McHenryX bread-and-butter, its full-codrt pressure, doing itsjob, Ludwig said. " T H E Y ' V E ( M c H e n r y opponents) turned the ball over,' but we're not scoring off of those turnovers. We've got to start do­ ing that. If we can, we're going to be competitive. If we don't, and we get caught up in a half-court game, we'll be in trouble." The Warriors will try to push the ball inside against the height of Central, according to Ludwig." "You've got to have a little of that (the inside game)," he said. "We need Pat and J.R. to score for us. And J.R.'s going to break loose one of these nights. He's just a junior, only 6-3, going against guys 6-6, 6-7 every night. He'll come around." WRIGHT injured his ankle in the second quarter of^ the McHenry win over Grant, and Ludwig admitted his center is not 100 percent recovered. "He's been practicing all week, but after practice the ankle swells up pretty bad." Wright will start, however. Ludwig said the Warriors haven't had much intensity in practice this week, and admits h e ' s b a f f l e d b y i t . . "They're really not practicing as hard as I would like. There's no p a r t i c u l a r r e a s o n f o r i t . Sometimes it's hard to convince kids that they practice the way they play," he said. Ludwig employed nine players in the Grant win, and said he won't /