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Pag? 22 - PLAI!NDEALER-HER ALD. ^ EDNESDAt. FEBRUARY 20. 1985 Sports Chris Juxwik Sports Editor Rivalry intrigues this interested old bystander Rivalries. What a great, great Idea those are, the old man thought to himself. < • . , ; , He had seen many in his day, oh. there were some dandies. But not like this one. Nothing like this. He was very impressed with what he had seen. Neat rivalries are the ones between the Packers and Bears, the Lakers and the 76ers (or the Celtics), the Cubs and Cardinals, the Black Hawks and the North Stars, the Red Sox and the Yankees, and just about anybody and Notre Dame, he laughed. Teams that co-exist in the same city, same sport also have a cer­ tain type of rivalry between them. The Cubs and White Sox, for in­ stance, have a great battle between them for fans. Their faithful, in turn, do battle with each other in neighborhood watering holes, discussing the merits of their team and the faults of the other's. He could recall those. Anyway, he pondered, there really isn't a thing wrong with rivalries. Pitting one team against another for the championship of a division, or a league, or the world, is an exciting concept. Sure, sometimes things get out of hand, but more often than not, those 'bragging rights' are the only things claimed in the fight, pride the only real loss. Intra-city battles in college basketball can provide great anticipa­ tion. Evidence? The Loyola-De Paul duel last week. A fun game, no? Yep, he thought, rivalries. A great thing. EVEN IF YOUR team Is lousy, rivalries can rev you up. One of the greatest college football rivalries of all time is between two teams which treat winning records as the second coming, Army and Navy. In high schools, often the pride of the city is at stake as two teams take each other on. The winners can shove all 33 flavors in the loser's face at the local ice cream hangout for an entire year. This is big business, the old man mused. Crystal Lake has a good one with Central and South, Woodstock High and Marian Central met on the hoop court Tuesday night, as they do each year. * ANYWAY, THE POINT of all this is that your serious sports fan awaits these confrontations with uncontrollable anxiety. The old man knew that Tiesure did. These are the basis of sports in our world, or so the old man believ­ ed. A team can lose every game it plays, but there's always that one chance to redeem, a team's saving grace -- the rivalry. Why not one in McHenry, he wondered. The only one we possibly could have is on the high school level, and for all those dumb reasons, we don't have one. The Johnsburg-McHenry high school rivalry is non-existent, on the boys' major sport level, ie., basketball and foot­ ball. Too bad, he thought. So what's left for us to cheer about? If our boys' basketballers have bad seasons, they have bad seasons. Maybe they could meet in the regionals, but this year, that will be just to say 'hi.' Both schools had moderately successful football seasons, neither of which won a game which really, honestly meant anything. So what's left? What can we go crazy about, scream and yell about, create some bragging rights about? What? WELL, THE OLD man went to watch a game he'd heard might be fun. Seemed there were these guys playing in the Men's Recreational Basketball League. That night, players from two teams -- one from Johnsburg, one from McHenry -- decided to create a little excite­ ment of their own. They pushed and shoved, called each other names, and found time to play two halves of basketball, plus three overtime peri6ds, in bet­ ween all that. The old man saw it all, and he was puzzled. But he deduced and did some figuring, and he made his conclusion. Here in McHenry-Johnsburg, there is no outlet for the illness, whose medical term is iackofrivalrysyndromeophobia.' Because of that, these men decided to take a stand, to show the folks in charge of our high schools that they were indeed mad as hell, and not going to take it anymore. EITHER GIVE THEM a match-up between Johnsburg and McHenry, or they were going to create one of their own. And they put on a great show that night, acting up a storm, pretending they really didn't like one another. Of the few that were there, the old man was the only one who seemed impressed. Odd, he thought. But what great performances, Putting on such a great show for the benefit of the entire community. But then a sudden thought came to mind. What if they were serious? What if this was all real? Nah, he said, dismissing the silly thought. They had to be joking. All that pushing 'irsing and throw­ ing of balls at each other, he used to do that sort ot Mng when he was a kid. ^Certainly they couldn't have been serious, the old man said to himself. Could they? 0 Roberts: We'll be better By Chris Juzwlk PUindetler-Herald •ports editor JOHNSBURG - After tying a school record with four sec­ tional qualifiers, and after finishing third in a competitive wrestling conference, the Nor­ thwest Suburban, vyou would think Mike Roberts would be satisfied with his Johnsburg Skyhawk wrestling team. But, if you thought that, you'd be dead wrong. A subdued, disappointed Roberts reminisced about the 1984-85 campaign Monday, and admitted he was down about the performance of four of his wrestlers at Saturday's Barr- ington Sectional. Senior Mark Dumelle was the only JHS participant to win a match. One other Skyhawk was pinned, and the other two beaten by superior decision. "Myself and (assistant) coach (Jim) Briscoe have been analyzing what went wrong, and we just don't know," Roberts said. "We had a great team season, but needless to say, I'm very disappointed right now. "IT'S SO difficult, even now, two and three days later, to understand. Everyone reminds me what a great season we had, but I still think about what went wrong. It's definitely the most enjoyable wrestling season I've ever been associated with, no doubt about it. But I still wonder," Roberts explained. Johnsburg finished behind Grant and Round Lake in the NWSC, winding up third in the regular season and third in the conference meet. Heavyweight Bob Bentz won an individual championship at conference. ' ROBERTS--Page 20 It's all over Area wrestlers make hasty exit at sectional BARRINGTON -- The 1984-85 wrestling season came to an abrubt halt Friday and Saturday at the Barrington Sectional for five area high school wrestlers and their coaches. Johnsburg's Mike Roberts sent four of his team members -- David Thoren, Brian Hauck, Mark Dumelle and Bob Bentz -- while McHenry and coach Jerry Rankin were represented by Chris Mann. Dumelle was the only one to win a match, as the remaining four were dismissed in their respective first round matches. The quintet advanced to the sec­ tional after finishes in the top three at the McHenry Regional Feb. 9. Dundee-Crown won the team title, whipping Grant 2$-17. The Chargers advance to the final eight in Illinois, and will compete in the state tournament this weekend. BOTH RANKIN and Roberts ex­ pressed disappointment after the early-round losses (see accompa­ nying stories). McHenry's Mann, a 98-pound junior, was pinned by Waukegan East's Tom Gallego. The two had met in a double dual meet earlier in the year, also won by Gallego. The pin came at 4:51. "Chris was disappointed," Rankin said, "but the kid just overpowered him. He was stronger than Chris was. He learn­ ed that lesson." Gallego was then pinned in the second round by Dave Decipher of Buffalo Grove, the eventual champion. "There were obviously a lot of good wrestlers at the sectional. It's really competitive at this level," Rankin said. Roberts, on the other hand, had quadruple the hopes Rankin did, but they were dashed almost as quickly. DUMELLE started his sectional off with a pin of his Barrington op­ ponent in the second round. The 167-lb. senior then advanced to the quarterfinals, where he was in turn pinned by Grant's Dave Rowden, the state's number two- ranked wrestler at 167, who finish­ ed second in the sectional. Thoren, a junior at 132 pounds, was superiored in the first round by John Sehnart of Barrington, who took third place in the class. vAt 145, Hauck, another junior, was also superiored, by Deer- field's Paul Chen, who eventually lost in the third-place match. Heavyweight Bob Bentz, a junior, was surprised and pinned in the first round by Mark Nevel of Buffalo Grove. Nevel was also a state qualifier, finishing third. "BOB KNEW Nevel was good, but I still contend, as I have all year, that Bob Bentz is one of the best heavyweights in the state," Roberts said, "regardless of what happened over the weekend. I've said that all along, and I will con­ tinue to say it." "The size of the gym there, and the number of people that were there may have affected our guys," Roberts said. "To be on center stage like they were, it was a factor. We didn't wrestle to our capabilities." Those county wrestlers who qualified for the state meet in­ clude: Woodstock heavyweight Carnell Washington and 132-pounder Bob Birdsell; Jacobs' Dave Singer at 145; and Dundee-Crown's Bob Carrigan (105), Mark Ortiz (112), Steve Bushy (145), Brian Bushy (155), Larry Kaifesh (167) and Tim Seymour (185). D-C will wrestle as a team as well at the state tournament. For the Chargers, it was in the cards. For four Skyhawks and one Warriors, the deck was stacked. Rankin: We've got to work harder By Chris Juzwik Plain dealer-Herald sports editor The wrestling program at McHenry High School took a turn for the better in 1984-85, and nobody knows that better than the Warriors' coach, Jerry Rankin. In his first year at the helm of the McHenry varsity, Rankin watched his team take a second at the Lake Forest Invitational, and a fourth at the Harvard In-! vitational, the best finishes ever for a McHenry team at those two events. He watched a young team im-; prove as the season wore on, before the teacher's strike snapped what momentum the Warriors did have. By the time the strike was settled, the con­ ference meet was two days away, and the regional just eight. Hardly adequate time for a wrestler to get back into play­ ing shape. But all that adversity aside, the Warriors were an improved team over a year ago. Just one member of the McHenry team advanced to the sectional tour­ nament, but four Warriors came within one victory of do­ ing so. It was that kind of a season "OVERALL, I'm really quite pleased with how things turned out," Rankin said Monday. "It was like two different season for us, with the strike, and it didn't turn out the way we had planned, but I'm pretty pleased with everything in my first year." Rankin said that Mann's loss in the first round of the sec­ tional had an impact on the whole team, not just the 98- RANKIN--Page 20 Mike Roberts Jerry Rankin DISCOUNT BEDDING ^fI9K E'RE JAMMED! STANDARD SIZE Both Pc'a. Custom Bund Mismitchw) $137 ChiroPtdic Mismttched Extra fum Koil. 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