Multi-Sport Football players

[PanthersWildcats86]

I bet they won’t meet up. Those dual matches are a chess match

Prairie Central has a big task in Auburn in the quarters...and you're right, the chess match is key...a couple years ago the Coalers pounded the Wildcats in the conference championship dual meet, but the Wildcats won the regional so they moved on as a team.

Coalers 74-0 in the sectional...when was the last time a shutout was pitched in a sectional?

 

[PanthersWildcats86]

Congrats to Coal City for the hoops regional final to go with the wrestling finals this weekend...Coalers took out Wilmington last night (who won 13 games this year and their first hoops regional game since 2007 on Monday); Coalers are led by Austin Pullera averaging 19+ a game (TE/LB) & Payton Hutchings (QB) among other football players. They play Pontiac in CC for the title, the 3 seed Indians having squeaked past 11 seed McNamara by 1 tonight; Mac led by Tyler Hiller (QB) and Owen Jackson (RB/LB).

Manteno squares off with Joliet Catholic Friday for another regional title in Manteno. Panthers held off a pesky Peotone squad for the 4th time last night, and pulled away late from Herscher tonight for the 3rd win over the Tigers - second in a week. Game highlight (lowlight?) was Panther WR/S Tyson Creek squaring off with Tiger stud soph RB Cody Lunsford at halfcourt in the 4th Q after a hard foul as the Panthers were pulling away...

Coalers & Panthers three way tied with Lisle for the ICE hoops title...

 

[missingwalter]

Payton plays basketball too? That's pretty impressive.

 

[USD24]

Congrats to Coal City for the hoops regional final to go with the wrestling finals this weekend...Coalers took out Wilmington last night (who won 13 games this year and their first hoops regional game since 2007 on Monday); Coalers are led by Austin Pullera averaging 19+ a game (TE/LB) & Payton Hutchings (QB) among other football players. They play Pontiac in CC for the title, the 3 seed Indians having squeaked past 11 seed McNamara by 1 tonight; Mac led by Tyler Hiller (QB) and Owen Jackson (RB/LB).

Manteno squares off with Joliet Catholic Friday for another regional title in Manteno. Panthers held off a pesky Peotone squad for the 4th time last night, and pulled away late from Herscher tonight for the 3rd win over the Tigers - second in a week. Game highlight (lowlight?) was Panther WR/S Tyson Creek squaring off with Tiger stud soph RB Cody Lunsford at halfcourt in the 4th Q after a hard foul as the Panthers were pulling away...

Coalers & Panthers three way tied with Lisle for the ICE hoops title...

The Hilltoppers were led by Johnny Ehrsam (WR), who had 15 pts. Ja'aire Mack (RB) also contributed in the win. Nice to see JCA have a little postseason success on the hardwood. Maybe the hoops program can turn things around in the next few years. Sophs finished 21-9 and the frosh were 21-5.

 

[Coalertown44]

Congrats to Coal City for the hoops regional final to go with the wrestling finals this weekend...Coalers took out Wilmington last night (who won 13 games this year and their first hoops regional game since 2007 on Monday); Coalers are led by Austin Pullera averaging 19+ a game (TE/LB) & Payton Hutchings (QB) among other football players. They play Pontiac in CC for the title, the 3 seed Indians having squeaked past 11 seed McNamara by 1 tonight; Mac led by Tyler Hiller (QB) and Owen Jackson (RB/LB).

Manteno squares off with Joliet Catholic Friday for another regional title in Manteno. Panthers held off a pesky Peotone squad for the 4th time last night, and pulled away late from Herscher tonight for the 3rd win over the Tigers - second in a week. Game highlight (lowlight?) was Panther WR/S Tyson Creek squaring off with Tiger stud soph RB Cody Lunsford at halfcourt in the 4th Q after a hard foul as the Panthers were pulling away...

Coalers & Panthers three way tied with Lisle for the ICE hoops title...

JCA is no joke, CC went there and got it handed to them. JCA couldn't miss and you never know what CC team will take the court. CC beat Pontiac by 3 in overtime earlier year. Game could really go either way. Not sure when the last time CC won a Regional but its been at least 5 or 6 years

 

[Coalertown44]

Payton plays basketball too? That's pretty impressive.

Almost all of CCs best football players are three sport athletes

 

[missingwalter]

I'm sure they are, but I look at Payton more as a baseball player and a high level one at that. It ain't easy playing those 3 sports due to the off-season demands.

 

[PanthersWildcats86]

JCA is no joke, CC went there and got it handed to them. JCA couldn't miss and you never know what CC team will take the court. CC beat Pontiac by 3 in overtime earlier year. Game could really go either way. Not sure when the last time CC won a Regional but its been at least 5 or 6 years

JCA beat the Panthers by 3 in Manteno on January 3...Wheaton St. Francis hammered Lisle the other night (Lions aren't having a very good week)...yea, the ICE would probably rather wrestle against the private powers than play hoops...

Manteno's 20 win season is driven by the large senior class that plays 99% of the minutes...Wilmington, on the other hand, plays mostly juniors and sophs - led in part by Trey Shaw, next season's likely all-state LB/wing, who had several 20+ point games. Peotone, having an unusually poor hoops season with only 2 wins, plays mostly juniors & sophs as well including Ben Ballmer, their RB who got injured late in the season....

 

[Coalertown44]

JCA beat the Panthers by 3 in Manteno on January 3...Wheaton St. Francis hammered Lisle the other night (Lions aren't having a very good week)...yea, the ICE would probably rather wrestle against the private powers than play hoops...

Manteno's 20 win season is driven by the large senior class that plays 99% of the minutes...Wilmington, on the other hand, plays mostly juniors and sophs - led in part by Trey Shaw, next season's likely all-state LB/wing, who had several 20+ point games. Peotone, having an unusually poor hoops season with only 2 wins, plays mostly juniors & sophs as well including Ben Ballmer, their RB who got injured late in the season....

Wilmington will be a much improved hoops team next year. They have a lot of underclassmen. Coal City will lose 7 out of their 8 man rotation. It would be nice if they could get some players around the Burch kid. He has some good skills around the basket. RC will be very good the next few years in all sports. This is the group they have been waiting for.
It would be nice for Manteno and CC to win tonight. It's not too often that CC wins a Regional. The CC wrestlers should come home with hardware this weekend. I don't think it will be a championship but they will medal

 

[USD24]

Wilmington will be a much improved hoops team next year. They have a lot of underclassmen. Coal City will lose 7 out of their 8 man rotation. It would be nice if they could get some players around the Burch kid. He has some good skills around the basket. RC will be very good the next few years in all sports. This is the group they have been waiting for.
It would be nice for Manteno and CC to win tonight. It's not too often that CC wins a Regional. The CC wrestlers should come home with hardware this weekend. I don't think it will be a championship but they will medal

It would be even nicer if JCA won the regional. They have won a total of one hoops regional in the last 30 years.

 

[Coalertown44]

It would be even nicer if JCA won the regional. They have won a total of one hoops regional in the last 30 years.

They are playing really well. They gave CC a beatdown a few weeks ago

 

[PanthersWildcats86]

It would be even nicer if JCA won the regional. They have won a total of one hoops regional in the last 30 years.

Manteno has won only one boys hoops regional in school history...ironically, it was 2005-06, the senior class that was freshmen the first year the Panthers played football...the girls only have 2, 89-90 and 90-91...

Its not hard to figure the Panthers hoops out...either the two scorers are gunning away successfully from 3, or the Panthers are self-inflicting damage...

 

[PanthersWildcats86]

The CC wrestlers should come home with hardware this weekend. I don't think it will be a championship but they will medal

Sandbagging anyone... Coalers throw a shutout in the sectional, and you "don't think it will be a championship..." Good luck Coalers...

 

[redmen85]

Sandbagging anyone... Coalers throw a shutout in the sectional, and you "don't think it will be a championship..." Good luck Coalers...

Dakota beat them by 24 earlier this season.

 

[johnndoe]

Hillcrest junior super RB Mar'Keise Irving is a major all-around contributor on a talented Hawk basketball team. You might even catch him on TV in March should Hillcrest advance in Class 3A out of the tough Thornridge Sectional down in the Southland.

 

[PanthersWildcats86]

It would be even nicer if JCA won the regional. They have won a total of one hoops regional in the last 30 years.

Congrats on the OT win.

 

[MunyonMustGo]

I remember a time when it was common for the entire football team to tryout for basketball and the ones that got cut then joined wrestling. Then all those athletes would tryout for baseball and the ones who got cut would join track and field. Unless as a freshman or sophomore you hold multiple power 5 offers in a particular sport it makes zero sense to not approach high school sports in this manner. Then in the summer play 7v7, shoe company basketball or travel baseball. If you're good enough those teams will be happy to have you and if you're not they won't and that should tell you something.

 

[USD24]

I remember a time when it was common for the entire football team to tryout for basketball and the ones that got cut then joined wrestling. Then all those athletes would tryout for baseball and the ones who got cut would join track and field. Unless as a freshman or sophomore you hold multiple power 5 offers in a particular sport it makes zero sense to not approach high school sports in this manner. Then in the summer play 7v7, shoe company basketball or travel baseball. If you're good enough those teams will be happy to have you and if you're not they won't and that should tell you something.

When and where was this? The 1970’s in rural towns?

 

[PanthersWildcats86]

When and where was this? The 1970’s in rural towns?

No, in rural towns there were two types...the schools that only played football, basketball & track and had no cuts...or the type that let kids play multiple sports at the same time. Manteno in my day could not support baseball & track without kids playing both - when the Panthers went under 250 kids in the mid-80's. Legendary stories of kids playing both in the same day...plenty of kids who played one and then the other...At 650 kids, not doing that anymore...The average week was a Monday baseball game, Tuesday track meet, Wed baseball game, Thursday track meet, and Friday track invite or baseball, Sat track invite or doubleheader...nobody ever practiced if they played both, did batting practice in PE...

I've heard of kids who wrestled & played basketball in the same season, but real rare...And the try out for basketball & get cut, then wrestle was also common.

Look at your small schools' histories...many ride a group of kids to success in multiple sports. Manteno had a group of girls who went to 3 Elite 8's (87-88-89) in Volleyball, won the first hoops regional in school history (90), and brought home a 3rd place state track trophy (89). Oh yeah, two of the 3 girls that got D1 volleyball rides (ISU, SIU, SLU) also were basketball cheerleaders…

 

[mates1]

One thing that may help multi-sport athlete participation is multi-sport COACH participation. The football/wrestling and football/track&field pipelines seem to be the most common, although other combos exist.

 

[crusader_of_90]

I’m always impressed with the QB/Point Guard/Pitcher-Shortstop athlete that comes along once in a while.

 

[PanthersWildcats86]

When and where was this? The 1970’s in rural towns?

My Manteno '86 class has a classic small town multi-sport success story...Junior year 84-85, the Volleyball team went Elite 8. The only senior starter (Shawna) on the squad got a VB ride to Memphis State...Softball team that year went 20-1, lost in the sectional to the state champ behind a stud soph pitcher, (Shawna' sister Sara, who got a D1 softball ride). Basketball team, with 5 of the 6 VB starters, was pretty salty as well.

My class? Paula, 3 sport starter multiple years (also lettered track as frosh), got a VB ride to SIU. Judy (also frosh track letter), Jenny, & Andrea were three sport starters (VB, GB, SB) at KCC ... Annette was a two sport starter (VB & SB) at KCC, didn't play hoops. Jenny transferred to Cal St. Bakersfield for hoops...They played on multiple sport NJCAA finals teams at KCC...

Oh, a football connection??? Annette is the mother of Gavin Zimbelman, the Aurora U record setting QB who was a Gagliardi finalist...Andrea's nephew is the QB right now at Clifton Central, who should be a 2A favorite in the fall.

The coaching connection? The head VB coach was also the SB coach - still teaching art in Manteno...Girls hoops coach was the drivers ed teacher...

 

[PanthersWildcats86]

Payton plays basketball too? That's pretty impressive.

Remember, his Dad started as a teacher & coach at Wilmington...Hutchings was Wildcats Hoops head coach for a year!

 

[missingwalter]

Remember, his Dad started as a teacher & coach at Wilmington...Hutchings was Wildcats Hoops head coach for a year!

I understand all of that. I've seen Payton train for baseball (he and my son were in the same program) and I know what his summer schedule is like with that program. As tryouts start today for baseball, it will be the fist time since he was 6 that my son won't be playing and most of it is due to football training. While playing baseball, he isn't in the weight room, he isn't able to go to JR days and summer camps or see coaches when they stop by to talk to players. He's also at a school with 2800 students and competition for positions on teams is pretty steep. He was also a travel basketball player for a bit, but once travel baseball kicks in (which is usually November/December), you are now balancing basketball practices and games with baseball practices and lessons.

 

[Fioras]

This didn’t age well...

No. No it didn't. Excellent work from CC wrestler .