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fohnsburg points as Vicki DuBeau Cermak (20) try to getreboundtog ' ^unl 4-1 A M position. SECTION 2 • PAGE 16 - PLAIN DEALER -HER ALD, FRIDAY, MARCH 1.1985 - 1 Sports On the Sideline Dick Rabbitt Tumbling down JHS girls bang on to stun first-place Wauconda Warrior girls win worth the wait The drought has finally ended. After losing 30 straight games, the Lady Warriors of Pat Wirtz finally got back into the win column. It was indeed-a great victory over Crystal Lake South, and made more so because it was the first time in history that the locals had defeated the Gator crew. As Coach Wirtz said, "We finally put it all together," and indeed the squad, in rolling to the 47-34 victory, was in high gear. It has been a long and difficult season, but the girls never gave up. Along with all Warrior fans, we extend our congratulations to Coach Wirtz and his team, and hope now that the monkey is indeed off their back, and more victories will follow. Coach Ken Ludwig and his "Fighting Warriors" ran into tough luck last weekend. Losing to Woodstock Friday in overtime, and then coming back Saturday night and dropping a double overtime game to Round Lake, had the veteran coach talking to himself. The Warriors have lost six games by one point. Four of those were Fox Valley Conference contests. Put those losses in the win column, and the Warriors would not only have fine season record, but would be fighting for the Fox Valley championship this Friday night. So when you look at the FVC standings and see the Warriors in sixth place, think what it could have been with four more victories. I guess it's correct to say the conference is really balanced this year, although it may not look like it in the standings. A big evening on tap Friday night at Buckner Gym, when the War­ riors host the Cary-Grove Trojans in the regular season's final game. First off, it's Parent's Night, when the parents of the players, cheerleaders and pom-pon squad will be honored before the varsity game. Then at halftime of the game, the MCHS Athletic Hall of Fame In­ ductions will take place. The Hall of Fame outside the gym was donated by the McHenry Rotary Club. Most of the work on this pro­ ject was handled by Ed Cepulis and Ken Bruce. The plaques were donated by the 'M' club, sponsored by Ken Swanson. Four individuals will be inducted at this time, along with two teams of recent years. . Sara Prust, who was sectional champion in tennis in 1983, along with being an all-conference Softball pick in 1984. She lettered in ten­ nis, basketball, track and softball, and was the softball MVP in 1984. Delia Suanders, an all-conference track performer for four years, also an all-FVC selection for four seasons in cross-country. She was the MVP in both sports for four years, and won district, conference and county individual championships. Marty Koleno won seven major letters in cross-country and track. He was all-state in cross-country in 1983. An all-conference selection, he holds school records fcr the 880 and mile relay, and was the 100 percent man in cross-country m 1933. Mike Podpora had four major letters in footbah and baseball. He was all-FVC in football in 1983, and baseball in 1984. He was an honorable mention on the all-area football team and captain of the baseball team in '84. Teams to be honored are the 1983 boys' cross-country squad, which had an undefeated dual meet record, and was champions of the FVC, McHenry County, Wauconda Invitational and St. Charles Invita­ tional. The harriers were state final qualifiers, and finished in Uth place in the state. Also, the 1983 golf squad, which won the Crown Invitational, finish­ ed second in the district and sectional, and qualified for state, finishing eighth. And don't forget Monday, which is the start of the Crystal Lake Central Class A A Regional at the Central Fieldhouse. The Warriors will meet Cary-Grove in round one. Chris has it previewed in today's edition. Let's help bring the Warriors a regional championship. Down memory lane this week, we present a real thriller. In the 1958-59 season, the Warriors of Cliff Fulton won the North Suburban championship. En route to that title, McHenry won an intense game over Crystal Lake. The two teams battled point for point until the final minute, when the Warriors went ahead and won, 69-67. The game was tied after each of the first three periods. Matt Eichinger led the Warriors with 29 points. * McHENRY (69) Cajthaml226; Creighton215; Bentz6012; Vycital317; Eichinger9 1129; Hester 4 210. Totals: 2617 - 69. CRYSTAL LAKE (67) Kruse3 5U; Suchy 14 6; Querhammer 10 2; Hess 115 27; Jurs6 416; Ven Harzz 215; Oberlin000. Totals: 24 19 - 67. Total fouls (fouled out): McHenry 20 (Cajthaml, Bentz); Crystal I Lake21 (Suchy, VenHarz). .McHenry: 16181817-69 Crystal Lake: 16181815-67 By Chris Juzwik PUMNhrHmM^ittitditor JOHNSBURG - And a child shall lead them. Playing her best game of the year on the night her team played its best game of the year, freshman Carolyn Shine scored 10 points and controlled the boards on both ends of the court, as the Johnsburg Skyhawks' girls' basketball team pulled off a major upset, topping Wauconda 49-45 Tuesday night. The Bulldogs came into the game with what seemed to be two purposes in mind: One was picking up a win to im­ prove on their sparkling 10-1 mark in the Northwest Suburban Con­ ference; the second was making sure forward Saundra Cermak, the state's leading girls' scorer at 35 points per game, got her average. Although coming close to achieving both, Wauconda was able to accomplish neither. "It's the biggest win for us in the three years I've been here," said an exultant Nancy Fahey, Johnsburg's coach, who saw her team improve to 9-4 in the league, 15-5 overall. "And for sure our big­ gest win of the year, no doubt about it. - Johnsburg had been crushed by Wauconda, 47-33 in the first meeting, b^t the Skyhawks sought retribution -- and got it. "Our two seniors out there (Cris May and Sheri Scavo) had as one of their goals before they were done, to beat Wauconda," said Fahey. "They had been em- bar assed by them (the Bulldogs) before, and they wanted to make up for it. Tonight, they did it." It was a team effort in every sense. When May wasn't making sharp passes inside to Shine and Vicki DuBeau for easy baskets, Scavo was making a big steal, or Laura Oeffling was hitting an im­ portant shot from the right baseline. An upset win. A team win. An important win. "This was a great time to win a game like this," Fahey said. "Right before the (regional) tour­ nament, I'm just real happy." * Johnsburg will host the Class AA Regional Tournament beginn­ ing March 11, with McHenry, Crystal Lake Central and Woodstock involved. Had those three teams seen Tuesday night's exhibit, their coaches may have been looking for a new tourna­ ment Wednesday morning. Cermak was coming off a 55- point performance in a game played last Saturday, and she picked right up where she left off, scoring all eight Wauconda points in the first quarter. GIRLS--Page 13 Plalndealer-Herald i Juzwik Johnsburg guard Sheri Scavo keeps the ball away from Waucon- da's Michelle Lelito during the JHS win. Hurricanes' slow-down tactics can't derail Harvard express • By Dick Petersen ! Plaladealer-Herald New* Service ? HARVARD - Whew. That nervous exhale by Bruce Fir- chau summed it all up. His • seventh-ranked Hornets nearly ; died a slow death Wednesday ; night. ' "That ranks right up there ' with the top five as the most ; frustrating games I've - coached," the Hornet coach said • after eking out a 20-19 win over ; Marian Central in the semifinal round of the Harvard Class A • Regional Wednesday. The win improved Harvard to ! 24-1 on the season and moved the ; Hornets into Friday's 7:30 p.m. championship game. It also was ! the Hornets 22nd win in a row, ; tying a 25-year old school record. i The Hurricanes - playing like ; the eerie, silent and unmoving ; eye of their namesake for three quarters - almost pulled off the • upset of the season behind three ! excruciating quarters of slow- ; down, slow-motion, lull-you-to- • sleep basketball. Just check out the line score. ! Harvard led 4-0 after one 4 oimrtpr 7-0 at halftimp and 11-0 after three. And Marian didn't score until Tom Will connected from the perimeter with 5:36 to play.. It was clutch free-throw shooting down the fourth- quarter stretch that preserved the _ lead for Harvard. The Hornets hit 7-of-9 in the period, including six straight. The Hurricanes didn't get closer than three until the games' final shot. Despite the incessant boos, borings and boooo-boooorings of the near-capacity Harvard crowd, Marian coach Hans Rokus stuck to his game plan. He remembered all to well the 48-point Harvard blowout of Jan. 15. "We just played them earlier in the year, and they just blew us away," he said. "We had to try something." A gimmick. Anything. No first-half score would have caused the 'Canes to adandon the slowdown, said Rokus, who was upbeat after the game, as were his players. "There was no way I was going to play with them in the third auarter." he added. "They're explosive. It cotliu ve been 20 to nothing or 30 to nothihg. "We felt if it got to the 12- or 15-point range, we would have had to abandon it." But the score stayed at 11. And the" 'Canes kept letting the air out of the ball, up to four minutes at a time. •And the Hornets became frustrated with it. The rebounds stopped coming. The offense, which is averaging 70 points a game, was taken out of its game. Passes and shots were rushed. "We were fortunate the clock ran out," Firchau said. "In the fourth quarter, it almost paid off," Rokus said. "Even though we were losing, I thought we were still controlling the tempo." The 'Canes controlled the third-quarter tip, but they lost the ball quickly when the timeline was stepped on. King responded with a 15-footer from the right base. After a Harvard field-goal miss, Marian sat on the ball for another 3:24, when Jones stole the ball and layed it up with 2:20 loft in tKio norinH for tho 11-0 lead. The 'Canes, who were 0-of- 6 from the field through three quarters, missed their final two shots of the period. Martin, who averages 22.7 a game, was the game's high scorer with seven points. Andy Hartlieb and Stevens each had six for Marian. MCC women win title GRAYSLAKE - When things get tight, you go to your strong suit. If your strength is outside shooting, you start setting picks for your shooters. If your strength is the inside game, you pound the ball inside. If your strength • is free throw shooting, you get the ball in the hands of your top shooters. The latter happened to be the strong suit of McHenry MCC--Page 12 Chris Juzwik Sports Editor JHS girls' success a welcome addition It has been an unbelievable sports year for high school teams here in the McHenry-Johnsburg area. If we didn't have a teacher's strike, we had a one-point loss on the basketball court. If there wasn't a gut-wrenching defeat on the gridiron, .there was a wrestler surrendering two points at the buzzer to lose a chance for a sectional berth. If it wasn't a volleyball going into tfye net once too often, the Guinness people were on the phone looking for a record being set for consecutive losses. Unbelievable is what it has been. Maybe it's me. Maybe I'm a jinx of some sort. But whatever the case, it's over now. We finally have a team we can be proud of. Pride. Perhaps that's a poor choice of words. Of course we're pro­ ud of all our teams, W, L, or D. But this particular team can be known for something other than close defeats or losing streaks. It has made a name for itself, in my book at least, by winning. Playing well. Doing things right. How's that for a novelty? That team is the Johnsburg High School girls' basketballers. To date, they've had the best season of any team in the JHS-MCHS fami­ ly. By along shot. • An upset of Wauconda Tuesday night brought the Skyhawks record _ to 15-5 on the year. And it's no fluke. These girls are for real. It makes one shudder and get out the calculator to think how good the Skyhawks would be had they not had to suffer the loss of a star­ ting guard, Bev Hiller, and a key reserve, Patti Butler, both to in­ juries. Coach Nartcy Fahey has done an absolutely remarkable job with a young team. Only three players on the roster are seniors, and one player, Carolyn Shfne, is a freshman. Personally, I've been fortunate enough to see Johnsburg's girls play on three separate occasions this year. One was a 48-45 loSs to Lake Zurich, then the first-place team in the Northwest Suburban, another was a 38-35 win over Round Lake, and the third was Tuesday night. The game against Wauconda (now 10-2 in the NWSC) has the most impact of any played by an area team this season. Fahey appears to have a better repoire with her team than most people do with their spouses. Fahey designed a nifty 'junk' defense designed to stop Wauconda's Saundra Cermak, who averages 35 points a game. Cermak scored 33 against JHS, but the Skyhawks made her work extremely hard to get her shots. By the fourth quarter, she was pooped. As one Wauconda fan was heard to say during the game, "Look at Saundra. She's dead!" Not literally, of course, but we got his point. Whereas so many teams appear to be pretenders, this team is the real McCoy. On two occasions the Skyhawks loSt games which could have sent them reeling. One was the barnburner with Lake Zurich, (the other a loss two weeks ago at home to Marengo. But come back they did, in fine fashion -- that's what makes a team good. That's also what makes the Skyhawks a breath of fresh air in an environment polluted with tough losses. The key to .Johnsburg's success is confidence. Fahey instills it, the girls carry it out. If you think you can, you can. Johnsburg's girls can -- and better yet, they do.