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On the Sideline Dick Rabbitt Warrior tankers make a splendid showing a ' * • 1 * . n *. - . ' " .. • .1 v The "Water Warriors" of Coach Mike Shanahan put on an excep­ tional display last Saturday afternoon, capturing second place in the Fox Valley meet held at West Campus. The Warriors were picked to finish, at best, fourth in the meet, but their performance surprised the entire FVC. •Adding to the glory of their finish, the Warriors' sensational sophomore, Brian Hoffman, was selected along with Greg Frick of Dundee-Crown as the meet's most valuable swimmer. . individual winners for the Warriors were Hoffman in the 200 in­ dividual medley, Craig Karczynski'in the 100 butterfly, and Hoffman again in the 100 breaststroke. Hoffman set a new McHenry varsity record in the process, the first Warrior boys' record set since 1978. Congratulations are in order to Coach Shanahan and his Warriors •tor a job well done. We have said many times, if the coach gets the todies, he will produce. Year in and year out, Shanahan does a fine job with the material he has for either girls' or boys' swimming, or water polo. To say the least, he was a mighty happy person when I talked to him Monday morning. • The "Rassling Warriors" of Jerry Rankin didn't fare too well in the regional meet held at West Campus over the weekend. The Warriors as a team finished sixth, and only 98-pounder Chris Mann qualified •lor the sectional this weekend at Barrington. Chris lost to Jesse .Turner of Dundee-Crown, whom he beat last week for the Fox Valley championship. We are hoping the Warrior junior can redeem himself this weekend land qualify for the state finals. All Warriors fans wish him the best of luck in Barrington. Ken Ludwig's "Fighting Warrior" basketball team, although still somewhat slowed by the recent strike, notched two wins over the weekend. For you fans who wonder about the strike's long-lasting ef­ fects, remember the veteran coach always has him team in tip-top shape, and they will run and press the entire game. But during the strike, the coach wasn't able to oversee his troops. Boys will be boys, and one doesn't have to be an expert to know that with no coach around, the players didn't do much running after their informal practices. It's amazing to all who observe them, that The Warriors have played as well as they have in recent outings. The defense they displayed last Friday night against Jacobs and Mark Slimko was downright remarkable. Holding the Jacobs star to a mere 16 points has to be a credit to the defense inside, led by Pat Dunne, Craig Hill, J.R. Wright and Mark Etheridge. Saturday night, the Warriors had a make-up game against Cary- Grove, which is winless in the FVC. Again the Warriors rose to the occasion, winning 60-48. The Trojans dumped Lake Zurich in their opening game of the season, and are still searching for that elusive second win. The Blue Streaks of Woodstock and the Dundee-Crown Chargers are tied for the lead in the Fox Valley. The eyes of the conference are looking toward the final game of the regular season, when the two teams will meet. But in the FVC, one can never predict. Each team could lose the rest of their games. The Chargers have to face the Warriors here Friday night in a key game. The Warriors won the first encounter 65-57. D-C then plays Jacobs Feb. 22, and finish at home against the Streaks a week later. Woodstock plays at SouthFri- day night and will host the Warriors on the 22nd before the big one. Although the Warriors are not in contention for the title, they may have a say \n who is going to win the title^Saturday night, the War­ riors travel to Waukegan East for a non-conference game. The West team is battling for the lead in the Mid-Suburban league, but I'm sure Coach Ludwig is looking toward the conference wind-up and the regionals. Going down memory lans this week, we take you fans back to the 1978 season, when the Warriors, led by Jeff Partenheimer's 20 points, dumped the Wildcats of Libertyville, 62-52. It was the second North Suburban win for McHenry, which finished 2-12 in the conference. MCHENRY (82) Partenheimer 5 10 20; Reinboldt 0 11; Dixon 5 4 14; Oeffling 2 4 8; Knox4513; Bentz 102; Byers04 4. Totals; 1728 - 62. LIBERTYVILLE (52) Lischewski 7 1 15; Romeo 5 2 12; Peterson 10 2; Cummins 2 0 4; Young 215; Batesky 4210; Czosek 022; Harvey 102. Totals: 228 - 52. Total fouls (fouled out): McHenry 21 (Dixon); Libertyville 28 (Romeo, Peterson, Cummins). McHenry: 13141322 - 62 Libertyville: 1415914-52 JHS mission: Stop Slimko By Chris Juzwik - rulBinlir IlT-r" Iporta editor JOHNSBURG -- There has to be easier ways to go out. For the seniors on Johnsburg High School's boys' basketball • team, there will be no going home I again. Unfortunately, their • memories of home will probably • be the spectre of Mark Slimko ! looming over their heads. The Skyhawks have the unen­ viable task of facing 6-6 scoring 1 machine Slimko and his Jacobs ; mates in a non-conference duel i Saturday night, the last JHS home ! contest of the season. Friday ; night, Johnsburg will entertain Northwest Suburban Conference ; foe Lake Zurich, a fact which • Skyhawk coach Ben Beck is much ! inore concerned with than the ; Slimko adventure. "We're putting the emphasis on ; the conference game," Beck, • whose Skyhawks have lost six 1 straight and 11 of their last 12, Plaindealer-Herald photo by Chris Juzwik third in the heavyweight category, which was won by One step closer... Johnsburg, McHenry matmen eye trip to state meet By Chris Juzwik nalnrt--Ur B&MH ywti odHor Everybody has a friend who's the wise guy of the crowd, the tough one who will crack "Hey! Move it or park it, pal," in the heat of argument. For five area wrestlers, this weekend is move it or park it time. They will either win and continue on to the state meet (move It) or lose and spend the off-season thinking how close they came (park it). Four Johnsburg High School wrestlers -- David Thoren, Brian Hauck, Mark Dumelle and Bob Bentz -- along with McHenry's Chris Mann, were fortunate enough to move it out of the McHenry Regional last Saturday, while many of their teammates were forced to park it. . Tfeis Friday and Saturday, the fivesome will compete in the Barr­ ington Sectional, where the top tlvee individuals in eachr weight class will advance to the always- strived for, but not easily-attained state meet, to be held Feb. 21-23 in Assembly Hall on the University of Illinois, the place where all prep athletes hope to wind up their MANN AND Dumelle were second-place finishers at the regional, while Thoren, Hauck and Bentz all took third-place honors. Johnsburg coach Mike Roberts has seen his team battle through a solid season, and he's happy the Skyhawks have four represen­ tatives in the sectional. Warriors to face D-C ; The McHenry boys' cagers will ; host Dundee-Crown in an impor­ tant Fox Valley Conference match-up Friday night at West ; Campus. The Warriors are coming off ; two straight wins, having won three of their four contests since the end of the teacher's strike, (he only loss a three-point defeat at the hands of CL South. The last two McHenry victories have come on the road. tied with Woodstock for me FVC lead. The Chargers were dumped by McHenry in the first meeting between the two on Dec. 21 in Carpentersville, 66-59. D-C is led by 6-7 center Paul Schultz, and guards Mike Buhrow and Mike Harris. The Warriors are 4-5 in the Fox Valley, 8-13 overall. McHenry will travel to Waukegan West for a non-league duel Saturday night. Friday night's game will begin 'We're really pleased with how things have turned out. I'm more happy with our wrestling program now than I ever have been," he said. Is the rest just icing on the already exceptionally sweet cake baked by Johnsburg? "You hit it right on the head," Roberts said. "From a coach's standpoint, that's the way I'm looking at it. What we're saying is that we don't necessarily expect our wrestlers to qualify for state, but we're going to do all we can to >are them to give it a shot." (cHENRY COACH Jerry Rankin said his lone sectional qualifier is entered in a tough and pinned him.' "Ninety-eight is a tough class. There are a lot of good wrestlers. Anybody could win it," Rankin ad­ ded. AT JOHNSBURG, Roberts' quartet eagerly awaits the op­ portunity. "I'm very excited about it," the JHS coach said. "Our kids are peaking now, no doubt about it. Dave Thoren, for one, is really peaking. He had a super weekend at the regional. If he wrestles the way he did, he could qualify. Who knows? One-thirty-two is tough as heck, but it was at the regional, too. "Predicting is near-impossible. But the bottom line is if the kids wrestle the weekend of their l i v e s , t h e y c a n g o t o s t a t e . I f n o t , t h e y w o n f t . I t f s as simple as that " • Vr?:-iV * 1 • - * Johnsburg coach Mike Roberts weight clasp, where anything could happen. Mann, a 98- pounder, will open against Waukegan East's Gallego, who pinned Mann in an earlier meeting between the two. Also entered at 98 is Dundee- Crown's Jesse Turner, a freshman who defeated Mann 8-0 in the regional title bout last Saturday. "Chris has had a real good week of practice," Rankin said. "He's capable of beating Gallego, there's no question about it. When they wrestled last time, he caught Chris early, got him in a cradle "Brian Hauck (145 lbs.) has been coming around of late, too," Roberts continued. '-'Since January began, he has been outstanding. His .500 record (14- 14-2) is going to surprise some people. I had a feeling about him making it out of the regional, I really did." Thoren, at 132, is 20- 12-2 in his junior year. Roberts other two wrestlers, senior Dumelle, whose record Is a nifty 29-8-1, and junior Bentz, who has a sparkling 30-4-1 season mark, had the displeasure of meeting up with two of northern Illinois' -- and the state's -- top wrestlers. v Dumelle faced the state's number-one ranked wrestler at 167, Dundee-Crown's Larry Kaifesh, while Bentz battled the number-two heavyweight in Il­ linois, Woodstock's Carnell Washington. Dumelle was pinned : with :31 left in the match, while Bentz lost a tough 6-3 decision. ! BUT ROBERTS thinks their ex­ periences will be to their ad­ vantage. "Both Dumelle and Bentz were intimidated by the reputations (of Kaifesh and Washington)," Roberts explained. "They wrestl­ ed tenatively. After it was over, they said, 'wait, here I - am, holding my own with this guy, I'm not that bad after all.' ' "We may not have wrestled the toughest schedule in the state this year, but ftobody can argue with the quality of the Individuals we've faced. Our kids came off the mat saying, 'I got beat, but I Wouldn't mind facing him again,"' Roberts said. Rankin said he feels Bentz has a fairly good chance of reaching the state tournament. "CARNELL'S THERE, add (Jacobs' Mark) Piskule is good, but Bentz has wrestled both of them. He only lost to Piskule by one. I don't see a whole lot of good heavyweights besides those three. WRESTLERS--Page 18 said. "We want to break this streak. We really haven't discuss­ ed Jacobs yet. BUT BECK knows well of the merits of Slimfeo and Co., whom Beck has seen perform in the Nor­ thern Illinois Classic. Jacobs will be the only Fox Valley team Johnsburg has faced this year. The Skyhawks will be involved in the Crystal Lake Central Regional, however, which will in­ clude five FVC teams, in addition to the Skyhawks. "It's a good indicator for us," Beck said of the Jacobs game. "Jacobs has done pretty well in the conference, they're in the mid­ dle of the pack, and they play all the teams tough." Slimko is averaging 23.5 points per FVC contest, and is coming off a sub-par scoring night against McHenry, which held him to 16. "Hevs quite a ballplayer," Beck said. "Nobody's really stopped him this vear. and I'm sure we JOHNSBURG--Page 18 •V-' Businessmen win title Joe Huemann of the Johnsburg Businessmen tries to drive around Pat Wirtz of Christopher's Men's Wear during a key battle in the men's rec day. Johnsburg won 08-67 in triple overtime, clinching the league championship. Christopher's was second. D-C matmen rip Wheeling BARRINGTON - One thing you have to give the Dundee- Crown wresUing team credit for in the first round of sec­ tional action -- it sure knows how to put on a good show. What appeared on paper to be a closely-fought battle turn­ ed out to be another routine slaughter as the Chargers took apart Wheeling Tuesday night at the IHSA Barrington Sec­ tional, 48-5. The routine was set from the first match on, as the crowd was pulled to its feet for the near-shutout performance. The Fox Valley Conference cham­ pions won every weight class but one, and that was by a one- point decision. Jesse Turner, D-C's 22-6, 98- lb. freshman, typified the meet with his traditional fast-paced sytle and claimed an 8-4 win. Bob Carrigan at 105 lbs., sporting a 32-5 mark, recorded a pin in .36. FVC and regional champ Mark Ortiz (32-3 at 112) con­ tinued the D-C dominance with an 11-2 win, and D-C's Tom Keaty (23-9-1) pulled off an upset at 119, tying state-ranked senior Ken Zabresky (28-2-2), 8- 8. Dan Schneider recorded a :47, pin at 126, while 132-lb. Rodney Cornwell won 12-8. The only loss for the Chargers came from a shoulder-wounded senior, 138- pounder Marc Niketas, who ioast8-7. The Bushy brothers, 145- pound Steve and 155-pound Brian scored decision wins, 8-0, and 8-3, respectively. The Chargers, now one of the final 16 teams in the state, wUl advance to take on Fox Lake Grant Saturday night in Barr­ ington. The winning team will advance to the state meetin Champaign. Grant has beaten D-C twice this vear. IPpge 20 - PLA1NDEALER-HERALD, FRIDAY. FEBRUARY 15,19S5