Prep Sports Notebook | Basketball season coming to a close, SJO soccer starts

Rockets lose another close one

Blake Kimball delivered points in all four quarters of Unity's road loss to Bloomington Central Catholic on March 9. The junior star led the team with 20 points and was 6-for-7 from the free throw line.

Will Cowan and Nate Drennan chipped in seven points a piece in the last game of the Rockets' 2021 basketball season. The team finished 3-9 overall, 2-6 in conference play.

St. Joseph-Ogden falls to Olympia

More than 40 spectators were on hand on a super windy Wednesday to watch SJO's first game of the season. The outcome wasn't what the Spartans had hoped for falling 3-1 to visiting Olympia in the season opener.

A little under four minutes after the visitors scored the first goal of the game at 26.:56, SJO senior Logan Ingram answered with unassisted shot in the center slice to tie up the game 1-all in the first period.

Olympia added two more scores, one with 15 and half minutes left in the half and the other early in the second period to seal the conference win.

The Spartans are back in action for another Illini Prairie Conference dual next week on Tuesday at Unity.

Pence has another 30-plus game

Ty Pence scored 36 points in St. Joseph-Ogden's 59-51 win over St. Thomas More at home last night. Logging yet another double-double this season, the sophomore baller hauled in 13 of the team 29 rebounds against the Sabers.

Making 57% of his shots from the field, Jackson Rydell finished with 8 points. Meanwhile, Evan Ingram and Andrew Beyers contributed in the reschedule game from February with six points apiece.

SJO (8-3) plays their final game of the season on Friday against Bismarck-Henning tomorrow evening in non-conference competition. The Spartans completed their conference campaign with a 5-2 record.

St. Thomas More (4-3, 3-3) was paced by the 6-foot-3 Averi Hughes with 26 points and 12 boards.

New bill in committee would grant 'police powers' to General Assembly members

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by Patrick Andriesen, Communications Intern
Illinois Policy

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A bill in Springfield would grant “conservator of the peace” powers to all members of the Illinois General Assembly.

After Illinois state representatives and senators completed a law enforcement training course, House Bill 724 would allow them to:

Arrest or cause to be arrested, with or without process, all persons who break the peace or are found violating any municipal ordinance or any criminal law of the state

Commit arrested persons for examination

If necessary, to detain arrested persons in custody overnight or Sunday in any safe place or until they can be brought before the proper court, and

Exercise all other powers as conservators of the peace prescribed by state and corporate authorities.

State Rep. Dan Caulkins, R-Decatur, has raised concerns about the proposed bill.

"Who’s going to carry the liability insurance? Who’s going to wear body cameras and when is that going to be required?" Caulkins said to WAND-TV. "Do you want political people with the power to arrest someone that they may not agree with politically? I mean, I think there’s a lot to be thought about."

The concerns Caulkins expressed over mixing the lawmaking powers of representatives with law enforcement echo criticisms long aimed at Chicago aldermen.

Alderman have been considered “conservators of the peace” under Illinois law since 1872, granting them the power to make arrests and carry a concealed handgun in the case they or someone else is under immediate threat of bodily harm. They also have badges.

But because Chicago is a home-rule municipality, city alderman were able to pass legislation making themselves exempt from the state-mandated firearm training required of law officers to carry firearms, despite possessing similar policing powers.

The bill was assigned to the House Executive Committee on March 2.

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survey tool

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Patrick is a communications intern with the Illinois Policy Institute. In this role, he focuses on creating and analyzing content to support our published research and experts in the media. Illinois Policy Institute, a nonpartisan research organization that promotes responsible government and free market principles. This story was originally published on March 9, 2021.

Basketball Player of the Week

February 21 - 27, 2021

~ Boys ~ Blake Kimball Unity Kimball dropped an impressive 30 points on Paxton-Buckley-Loda in Unity's 54-57 back on February 20. While he only collected 10 points in the Rockets seven-point victory over Olympia, he was instrumental attracting attention to get teammates into open scoring positions. Honorable Mention: Austin Langendorf, Unity Evan Ingram, SJO Jackson Rydell, SJO

~ Girls ~ Taylor Henry Unity The Rockets leading rebounder recorded a double-double performance in her team's conference game against Prairie Central. Two days later against Olympia, Henry scored 11 points and added another eight rebounds and three steals to her season stats. Honorable Mention: Atleigh Hamilton, SJO Payton Vallee, SJO Katey Moore, Unity

Baby steps toward 'sports normal', good news for local athletes

The Illinois High School Association made two announcements that made high school athletes, coaches and fans giddy.

The first on Monday, the high school sports organization said number of spectators allowed at outdoor events could increase to 20 percent of the facilities capacity instead of the 50 people only limit previously set by the IDPH. Indoor sports such as wrestling, volleyball and badminton were not affected by spectator expansion.

St. Joseph-Ogden goalkeeper Hunter Ketchum makes a save during the Spartans home game against Monticello. SJO's soccer season starts today with a home opener against Olympia.

Photo: PhotoNews Media/Clark Brooks

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"We have been adamant in our discussions with IDPH that we believe we can safely and responsibly expand spectator guidelines without risking the general public to greater exposure to COVID-19," IHSA Executive Director Craig Anderson said in are released statement. "This felt like a commonsense change, especially as we evaluated collegiate and pro sport spectator guidelines in the state, and are happy for the student-athletes who will be participating in IHSA outdoor sports this spring and summer, as well as for their families and friends."

Later in the day, the IHSA Board of Directors announced that there will be state finals competition held for badminton, baseball, softball, bass fishing, boys gymnastics, boys tennis, boys volleyball, girls soccer, journalism, boys and girls lacrosse, boys and girls track and field and boys and girls water polo.

This was even better news for St. Joseph-Ogden senior Crayton Burnett.

"When I found out we were going to have a full season and a postseason I was extremely grateful," Burnett said. "We as a team knew nothing was guaranteed with the pandemic. It means a lot to be able to put on a Spartan uniform one more time and to be able to compete alongside my teammates."

Burnett, who has committed to Dan Hartleb's Fighting Illini baseball program, and the Spartans will start official team practice on April 5.

This month, competition for three sports are already or will get underway. Boys soccer started practice on March 1. Unity played their first match yesterday against Bloomington Central Catholic. St. Joseph-Ogden's season opens today with home match against Olympia.

In preparing for the game, the Spartans' twitter feed announced the protocol for spectators: "New phase 4 guidelines are available on the parent face book site. Summary is: 4 spectators per athlete, masks, minimum 10 ft off game field, maintain social distancing. Blue x's have been marked to help facilitate spacing."

SJO basketball game canceled, Unity soccer loses opener

Viking free throws sink Spartans

St. Joseph-Ogden dropped their home game to Danville, 59-53. Despite have three players in double figures, the Viking's Erin Haupt nearly single-handedly matched their effort with a game-high 30 points.

Ella Armstrong and Payton Jones scored 11 points apiece for SJO. Payton Jacob added another 10 points to the Spartans' side of the scoreboard.

Haupt, who converted 10 of her 11 free throw attempts, sank eight in the fourth quarter of the non-conference game.

The Spartans travel to Bloomington Central Catholic on Thursday for their final game of the season.

Unity opens soccer season

The Unity soccer team opened the 2021 season with a 9-0 loss to Illini Prairie Conference foe Bloomington Central Catholic.

The Saints' Jaylen Bischoff scored four times against the Rockets.

Unity travels to Monticello for their first road match of the season on Friday.

SJO soccer opens at home tomorrow

The first game of the season for DeJarnette Era and the Spartan soccer team will be played Wednesday at 4pm at the St. Joseph-Community Park. First-year head coach William DeJarnette will lead SJO against visiting Olympia in a conference match originally schedule for Thursday.

Under the state's modified Phase 4 protocol, each athlete can have four spectators attend games. Masks will be required and spectators must remain a minimum 10 feet away from the playing surface. Social distance between groups must be observed and the school will have blue x's marked in the spectator area to help maintain the required spacing.

Basketball game canceled

Four hours before it was to set to begin, St. Joseph-Ogden's road basketball game at Monticello was canceled as a precautionary measure for a possible COVID contact. According SJO Activities Director Justin Franzen, with the season ending on Saturday, the game will not be made up.

"We will base the games we have played in the conference off of percentages to determine end of the year standings," Franzen said. "We were able to practice tonight to prepare for St. Thomas More tomorrow."

St. Joseph-Ogden will host make-up JV game at 5:30pm tomorrow and follow up with a varsity contest around 7:00pm against St. Thomas More.

An unusual season: Coaches describe basketball challenges and success

St. Joseph-Ogden's Nolan Grindley tries to reel in a loose ball in the Spartans' home game against Teutopolis on March 5.

As teams head into the final week of prep basketball, The Sentinel contacted our four area coaches to get their thoughts on probably the shortest high school basketball season in the history of Illinois as it winds down to a close this weekend. Restricted fan access, wearing masks while playing and other health mandates is likely a season student-athletes and coaches won't forget.

Sentinel: This is the last week of the basketball season. What are your thoughts going into it?

Dave Ellars, Unity girls head coach: "Glad we got to play. The girls gave outstanding effort, win or lose. They are a great bunch of girls and glad I have the opportunity to coach them this year."

Kiel Duval, St. Joseph-Ogden boys head coach: "I hope our guys finish strong. It has been tough knowing there is not a post season. I've been proud of the guys daily approach. They have grown as a team. I just wish we could have had them for an entire year."

Kevin Taylor, St. Joseph-Ogden girls head coach: "It’s hard to believe the season is almost over. It has gone really fast. Overall I’m glad the girls got a chance to play But we would like to finish as strong as we can. Even with no postseason I feel it’s important to have a good finish."

Matt Reed, Unity boys head coach: "I'm just relieved that we got the entire season in. We didn't miss any games. We had a few kids get quarantined, but no one was tremendously sick, so that was a blessing."

Sentinel: How well did you and the team handle the COVID protocols? Of all the things required, what was the hardest to adapt?

Ellars: "I think we handled it very well, we were didn’t have any cases. The hardest thing is playing and coaching with a mask. Not having any fans at most away games was tough on the kids."

Taylor: "No question the girls have done an amazing job dealing with all the covid protocols. It is very difficult to play in a mask and try to maintain social distancing. But they have done the best they could."

Matt Reed: "The kids adapted very well. The biggest issue with all teams was the kids wearing the masks properly. Its hard to tell a kid to constantly pull up their mask when they are playing as hard as they can, but that was the mandate."

Sentinel: What did you learn personally coaching basketball this season and what has been the most memorable moment so far?

Matt Reed: "Our team has really improved from the beginning of the season. We have had a chance to win every game since our game with St. Joe. We competed well in that game, beat PBL and Olympia, then lost two straight games by 2 points."

Ellars: "Kids are willing to adjust so they can play. Senior night, In January I never thought we would have a season."

Taylor: "This year, seeing the emotional struggle of the pandemic and seeing how it has affected everyone. The thing I had the chance to realize is how important the team atmosphere is. Seeing everyone go through tough times but In the end how the girls have come together and develop that team bond and support each other has been a really good thing to see as a coach."