This is kind of cool - Tanner Roark

[Kevin JCHS 81]

Wilmington's Tanner Roark (A's) out-dueled Verlander (Astros) for 5 innings yesterday (evenly dueled him for 6 inning). Roark left the game after 6 innings with the game tied 2-2 and the A's were able to win eventually 3-2 in 13 innings.

Roark was starting QB for 2 of Wilmington's best teams (football related ) and was a starting pitcher for at least 3 years at Wilmington, 2 of which ended in State Championships.

After 6 years with the Nats, Tanner was traded this past off season to the Reds for half a season and then just recently traded to the A's just before the trade deadline.

Tanner is 1-1 officially with the A's (not counting yesterday's no-decision against Verlander).

I lived in Wilmington for 26 years and know Tanner's family pretty well, so I have been following his pro career fairly closely. I was a Nats fan for 6 years, a Reds fan for half a year and now an A's fan.

I typically look ahead to see who Tanner's next opponent is. When I looked ahead 4-5 days ago and saw Verlander / the Astros I looked a lot like this ---->

When you can evenly duel one of the best pitchers / teams in baseball, and allow your team to win the game, I'm going to go right ahead and call that a Huge Win even though it will never show in the stats.

Disclaimer: not much football related to see here, carry on.

 

[doctor_d]

Tanner has been durable and solid. He will likely be well rewarded this offseason as he enters free agency.

 

[PanthersWildcats86]

My first memories of Tanner Roark comes from the second football game of the 2002 season. The highly ranked Wildcats traveled to Manteno for a Saturday afternoon game...the first home game ever for the Panthers, and the bleachers were less than a month old for that game (I was Manteno Athletic Boosters and Ed Foundation President that year, leading the fundraising for the bleachers & lights - which showed up for week 9 against Plano). Obviously, the Panthers were sky high for their first ever home game, and the place was rocking.

The Wildcats came out cocky...they clearly expected to maul the Panther kittens. They also were flatter than a pancake... Saturday afternoons have never been overly good for the Cats. They turned the ball over on their first possession (Tanner threw an interception I recall), and the Panthers poked the ball into the end zone to take the first lead in a football game in school history (they lost at Seneca week 1). The new Panther football fans were going crazy..."We're beating top 5 ranked Wilmo!"

Unfortunately for the Panther fans, the nasty punch to the face woke up the semi-final bound Wildcats. Tanner did a fine job of handing the ball to Vercelli, who kept running through semi-truck size holes on the cutback over and over and over...I believe it was 45-6 at half...final was 58-12.

The other big memory from that game came from Shane Longest, the Wildcat kicker. At some point the Panthers forced a 4th down for the Cats at about the 35 yard line. Since the slaughter was on, Reents chose to kick...a field goal. I was like, what, is he gonna fake this in a blowout or what? No, they line up for the 52 yard field goal...the first field goal attempt in stadium history...and he absolutely crushes it through the uprights. It remains tied as the 20th longest field goal in state history, and probably a stadium record that will never be broken.

 

[Wilmatucky]

My first memories of Tanner Roark comes from the second football game of the 2002 season. The highly ranked Wildcats traveled to Manteno for a Saturday afternoon game...the first home game ever for the Panthers, and the bleachers were less than a month old for that game (I was Manteno Athletic Boosters and Ed Foundation President that year, leading the fundraising for the bleachers & lights - which showed up for week 9 against Plano). Obviously, the Panthers were sky high for their first ever home game, and the place was rocking.

The Wildcats came out cocky...they clearly expected to maul the Panther kittens. They also were flatter than a pancake... Saturday afternoons have never been overly good for the Cats. They turned the ball over on their first possession (Tanner threw an interception I recall), and the Panthers poked the ball into the end zone to take the first lead in a football game in school history (they lost at Seneca week 1). The new Panther football fans were going crazy..."We're beating top 5 ranked Wilmo!"

Unfortunately for the Panther fans, the nasty punch to the face woke up the semi-final bound Wildcats. Tanner did a fine job of handing the ball to Vercelli, who kept running through semi-truck size holes on the cutback over and over and over...I believe it was 45-6 at half...final was 58-12.

The other big memory from that game came from Shane Longest, the Wildcat kicker. At some point the Panthers forced a 4th down for the Cats at about the 35 yard line. Since the slaughter was on, Reents chose to kick...a field goal. I was like, what, is he gonna fake this in a blowout or what? No, they line up for the 52 yard field goal...the first field goal attempt in stadium history...and he absolutely crushes it through the uprights. It remains tied as the 20th longest field goal in state history, and probably a stadium record that will never be broken.

I feel like like there needs to be a mention of Jason Banning, The feature back for that team. Banning and Vercelli were a great 1-2 punch. My ranking on Wilmo backs goes as such:

1) Damien Anderson
2) Brady Wilkins
3) Owen Weaver
4) Jason Banning
5) Tony Vercelli

 

[forlouann]

Thanks for that info Wilmatucky, I'll have to admit unfortunately I dont remember Jason very much. To place him among the best backs Wilmington has produced he must be outstanding. It's been discussed on this board several times how good that Wilmington team was and where they ranking with the greatest 3A teams of all times. I'll put then up there with the best

 

[Wilmatucky]

Thanks for that info Wilmatucky, I'll have to admit unfortunately I dont remember Jason very much. To place him among the best backs Wilmington has produced he must be outstanding. It's been discussed on this board several times how good that Wilmington team was and where they ranking with the greatest 3A teams of all times. I'll put then up there with the best

Well Jason was on the 2002 team. You may be thinking of the 2004 team. I would say that even despite a runner-up and championship season years later, the 2004 is probably one of the best from Wilmington or even class 3A.

Jason is an interesting story. I knew him quite well. He moved to Wilmington before sophmore year and never played football before. Did the year of JV, started about half of his junior year, and then really busted it open his SR year. He did get some load relief since Vercelli was a sophmore on that team (You probably remember Vercelli more because he was a 3 year starter and seemed to be around forever.) I would be willing to bet he had about 1,800 rushing yards or so. He was a walk-on or preferred walk-on at NIU. Was behind a man name Garrett Wolfe among others so he left for St. Xavier where he was fairly successful in a pass orientated offense.

 

[Wilmatucky]

Since this is more Wilmo themed and I don’t want to start a thread that 90% of posters won’t care about I will provide a long history of Wilmington later on this thread tonight.

 

[DHS2018]

I remember years ago being at the Bradley Target and Tanner was arguing with his mom, he wanted to buy something and she said no, he could when he gets a job... this was right about the time he was kicked out of U of I... I think his 2019 contract is around $9M, he can probably afford that $20 DVD now..

 

[CaravanMan]

I remember years ago being at the Bradley Target and Tanner was arguing with his mom, he wanted to buy something and she said no, he could when he gets a job... this was right about the time he was kicked out of U of I... I think his 2019 contract is around $9M, he can probably afford that $20 DVD now..

This has to be HHS/BBCHS reincarnated.

Love the passive/aggressive nature of the inappropriate comment.

 

[Wilmatucky]

This has to be HHS/BBCHS reincarnated.

Love the passive/aggressive nature of the inappropriate comment.

He seems to be pretty knowledgeable about Herscher and the area........also defended them several times.

I don’t see why he had to mention the leaving of Illinois. Could have just said after his first year of college.

 

[CaravanMan]

He seems to be pretty knowledgeable about Herscher and the area........also defended them several times.

I don’t see why he had to mention the leaving of Illinois. Could have just said after his first year of college.

Simple. His pride.

But it is the same old story. He's plays nice for a little while then some thread will spark his hatred which eventually causes him to get flushed only to back again as [insert HS name followed by numbers here]. meh...yawn.

The "Ignore" button wins the day!

 

[DHS2018]

He seems to be pretty knowledgeable about Herscher and the area........also defended them several times.

I don’t see why he had to mention the leaving of Illinois. Could have just said after his first year of college.

I guess I was talking to Hartleb a few weeks ago at an EI game and that's what he referred to it as.. I thought it was a good story, obviously worked out well for the guy..

Crazy group in high school, maybe 7-8 of the best WHS baseball kids in the last 30 years all the same age..

 

[Bwm57]

This has to be HHS/BBCHS reincarnated.

Love the passive/aggressive nature of the inappropriate comment.

No doubt.

 

[eagles2k3]

I feel like like there needs to be a mention of Jason Banning, The feature back for that team. Banning and Vercelli were a great 1-2 punch. My ranking on Wilmo backs goes as such:

1) Damien Anderson
2) Brady Wilkins
3) Owen Weaver
4) Jason Banning
5) Tony Vercelli

That 2002 team was great. IC beat them in the semis to go to the finals and win their first state title. Banning got hurt. If he doesn’t get hurt IC maybe never wins it or gets 5 state titles like they have now.

 

[Kevin JCHS 81]

Roark pitched again tonight 8/22, he just got pulled after 6.1 innings with the A's leading the Yankees 5-2. Tanner just gave up a home run to center, yep it was time to turn it over to the bullpen.

 

[Wilmatucky]

I guess I was talking to Hartleb a few weeks ago at an EI game and that's what he referred to it as.. I thought it was a good story, obviously worked out well for the guy..

Crazy group in high school, maybe 7-8 of the best WHS baseball kids in the last 30 years all the same age..

Great story about that baseball team.........Won it all as Sophmores (1 SR who wasn't very good, 1 JR who was good, then the rest of the roster was all SO), Third as Juniors, Champs again as Seniors. I wanna say that 5 or 6 of those guys went on to play college baseball of some type. A few more of them had offers too.

 

[Wilmatucky]

That 2002 team was great. IC beat them in the semis to go to the finals and win their first state title. Banning got hurt. If he doesn’t get hurt IC maybe never wins it or gets 5 state titles like they have now.

The 02,03,04 teams were some great teams. It would be so hard to rank them. However I honestly think all three may have been better than the championship team that we had...........

 

[CaravanMan]

The 02,03,04 teams were some great teams. It would be so hard to rank them. However I honestly think all three may have been better than the championship team that we had...........

That game against Driscoll...if only Vercelli didn't get injured and a couple of bad bounces of the ball. This team gets my vote as Wilmo's best, even without winning the title that year.

 

[DHS2018]

Great story about that baseball team.........Won it all as Sophmores (1 SR who wasn't very good, 1 JR who was good, then the rest of the roster was all SO), Third as Juniors, Champs again as Seniors. I wanna say that 5 or 6 of those guys went on to play college baseball of some type. A few more of them had offers too.

Their soph year they beat Herscher in baseball, at the time a non-conference game, and I remember the Herscher coaches thinking how in the heck did we lose to Wilmington?? Prior to that they had been a very poor program...

Since then, its been a good program, seems like always mid tier in the conference, and I doubt that happens if that Roark, Vercelli group never happened..

 

[Kevin JCHS 81]

The 02,03,04 teams were some great teams. It would be so hard to rank them. However I honestly think all three may have been better than the championship team that we had...........

I am probably wrong on the exact details (getting old) but:

I think that same group in Little League came within one game of actually making the Little League World Series championship. They may have been one heartbreaking loss from winning the America's Championship (West Championship) or maybe it was the semifinals. I won't even guess the exact year or try to do the math.

Maybe one of the Wilmington guys can provide better detail.

 

[Wilmatucky]

That game against Driscoll...if only Vercelli didn't get injured and a couple of bad bounces of the ball. This team gets my vote as Wilmo's best, even without winning the title that year.

Probably gets my vote too.......they also beat the 4A runner up in Coal City pretty handily.....Also probably the best environment I have been to....Week 9 In Wilmo two rival undefeated teams with high hopes of a deep playoff run......Can't beat that!

 

[Wilmatucky]

Their soph year they beat Herscher in baseball, at the time a non-conference game, and I remember the Herscher coaches thinking how in the heck did we lose to Wilmington?? Prior to that they had been a very poor program...

Since then, its been a good program, seems like always mid tier in the conference, and I doubt that happens if that Roark, Vercelli group never happened..

I think Herscher was pretty solid then too right?

Wilmo was pathetic before that point....I was on some of those teams......one or two wins a year for multiple years.

Wilmo kind of got a break when those boys were sophmores. I believe it goes as such......Coal City (very good team) had beaten them both times in conference play. Coal City threw their number two against Sandwich and ended up getting beat. Sandwich was a better matchup for Wilmo and Wilmo ended up advancing to the next round. I could be wrong in some of this as it was so long ago.

 

[Wilmatucky]

I am probably wrong on the exact details (getting old) but:

I think that same group in Little League came within one game of actually making the Little League World Series championship. They may have been one heartbreaking loss from winning the America's Championship (West Championship) or maybe it was the semifinals. I won't even guess the exact year or try to do the math.

Maybe one of the Wilmington guys can provide better detail.

I am not entirely sure..... I do remember those parents (mainly Vercelli) hauled that group of boys all over to tournaments. Before that group, there was no travel team Wilmington. Aside from getting a group of the local "all-stars" made up from in house players to go to Joliet or maybe Channahon, we never left the Island park to play lol......I do remember hearing that team went to California I think to play in some type of crazy tournament. I also know they went to Cooperstown, but that's not as prestigious in my opinion. They were also the first group to have an IESA team at the JR High. I heard rumors of that being funded by Vercelli.

I liked the high school coach of those teams, but I will be perfectly honest, he was gifted a great group of kids. Maybe as sophmores he had some say in how they played, but I 110% mean this when I say that those kids could have coached themselves as Seniors when they won state.

 

[CaravanMan]

Probably gets my vote too.......they also beat the 4A runner up in Coal City pretty handily.....Also probably the best environment I have been to....Week 9 In Wilmo two rival undefeated teams with high hopes of a deep playoff run......Can't beat that!

The year before I was at the semi against DuQuoin and had to stand on their side. Pregame on that side was epic as their fans were very rowdy and talking quite a bit of trash. They mocked the entire atmosphere through fireworks, motorcycles, etc. and were more than confident they were moving on to the title game. Once that game started, I'll always remember the look on their faces and quietness that came over them after Wilmo got going. Was a satisfying pleasure to be there and watch.

 

[Wilmatucky]

The year before I was at the semi against DuQuoin and had to stand on their side. Pregame on that side was epic as their fans were very rowdy and talking quite a bit of trash. They mocked the entire atmosphere through fireworks, motorcycles, etc. and were more than confident they were moving on to the title game. Once that game started, I'll always remember the look on their faces and quietness that came over them after Wilmo got going. Was a satisfying pleasure to be there and watch.

The Semi with Byron was epic as well......Wilmo rolled and shut them up pretty quick....The next year when Byron visited again in the First or Second round the tigers got the best of Wilmo. My favorite was the guy who started screaming at Wilmo "Start your Harleys now hillbillies!"

I always go stand on the opposite sidelines. I'm not a cheering type of guy, just there to observe the game quietly. Plus there are always a select few Wilmo fans that annoy me and don't know how to keep it classy. Being on the visitors sideline is always a fun way to get their perspective of things and meet some new people as well.

 

[DHS2018]

The year before I was at the semi against DuQuoin and had to stand on their side. Pregame on that side was epic as their fans were very rowdy and talking quite a bit of trash. They mocked the entire atmosphere through fireworks, motorcycles, etc. and were more than confident they were moving on to the title game. Once that game started, I'll always remember the look on their faces and quietness that came over them after Wilmo got going. Was a satisfying pleasure to be there and watch.

I remember a similar experience a few years ago for the SJO game, was pretty funny when I left at the half knowing a running clock would start second half..

 

[Kevin JCHS 81]

Tanner is 1-1 officially with the A's (not counting yesterday's no-decision against Verlander).
....

When you can evenly duel one of the best pitchers / teams in baseball, and allow your team to win the game, I'm going to go right ahead and call that a Huge Win even though it will never show in the stats.

After yesterday's football game between the A's and Astros 21-7, Tanner is now 4-1 since joining the A's for the 2nd half of this season (10-8 over all). Also with 2-3 decent no decision starts during that same time period with the A's.

Yesterday Roark beat another good pitcher for the Astros Wade Miley who was 13-4 before the game.

Tanner did give up 3 home runs over 5.1 innings, but having not watched the game, I assume you can pitch a little more freely when your team scores 17 runs in the 1st 4 innings.

 

[Kevin JCHS 81]

Roark's last outing 9/22 Sunday against the Rangers was not so stellar. Tanner gave up 3 home runs (4 total runs) in the 1st inning and 4 HR's over 3 innings worked (Ouch!). Tanner's previous start was a decent no-decision performance.

Tanner is now 4-2 since joining the A's, but Sunday's game was basically the beginning of the home stretch for the A's who are the front runners for the AL Wild Card spots.