High school sports in western Illinois has some great stories. Communities have loved their sports teams and supported them. A big part of HS sports over the years has been the tremendous coverage of local media. Sadly, many local papers no longer exist so some great stories today go untold.
I asked some of my favorite sports reporters to share one of the many great games they covered. They have shared some really wonderful stories. I hope you enjoy reading them as much as I did.
I got such a good response from reporters, I have divided it into three parts. Thanks for sharing!
Matt Schuckman- Quincy (Muddy River Sports)
Andy Douglas nearly missed Rocky week. A senior shooting guard on the Quincy High School boys basketball team during the 1999-2000 season, Douglas twisted his ankle in practice and was going to have to sit out the Western Big 6 Conference game scheduled for a Friday night in late January.
Not until Mother Nature intervened.
Winter weather forced the game to be postponed, but because of both teams’ loaded schedules, the game couldn’t be played until the final Saturday of the regular season. By then, the WB6 championship was on the line with two state-ranked teams squaring off at Blue Devil Gym.
Led by a career-high scoring effort from Douglas and a remarkable effort from the free-throw line, the 10th-ranked Blue Devils beat the No. 15 Rocks 76-66 on February 26, 2000, to win the WB6 title in front of a standing room-only crowd.
Douglas scored 30 points as he made 7 of 13 field goals, 4 of 6 3-pointers and 12 of 13 free throws. The Blue Devils hit 41 of 49 free throws overall and 25 of 29 in the fourth quarter. Douglas went 9 of 9 in the fourth quarter.
J.D. Summers scored 22 points, going 14 of 16 from the free-throw line, and grabbed eight rebounds. The Blue Devils forced 25 turnovers and limited the Rocks to 2-of-17 shooting from the 3-point stripe.
Nick Vlahos- Peoria
Over the 36 years I helped cover high school sports for the Peoria Journal Star, I was lucky to be on press row for a lot of big games. But one game was much more memorable than the others.
King of the hill, top of the list, A-No. 1 is the Peoria Manual-Harvey Thornton semifinal in the 1997 Class AA boys basketball state tournament. Nothing else comes close.
No other game I’ve covered meshed atmosphere, talent level and stakes the way that game did. Manual was attempting an unprecedented fourth consecutive state championship and had beaten Thornton in the two previous title games. This time, USA Today ranked Manual first in the nation, Thornton third.
Played at Carver Arena in the Peoria Civic Center, the game attracted an overflow crowd, well above 11,000. People were sitting in the aisles and standing five or six deep in the doorways. Reports suggested a thousand or more fans were left outside.
The game exceeded the hype.
Manual won 65-62 and went on to win its fourth title in a row. The Rams overcame an 18-4 semifinal deficit, scored 20 in a row, led by 16 with 3:13 remaining in the game and withstood the Wildcats’ last-minute charge. It had more twists and turns than the last 15 minutes of “Die Hard.”
Legendary Journal Star high school reporter Bob Leavitt described it thusly in his game story the following day: “That this match ended with a horn instead of a ringside bell was sacrilege.”
Wish I had written that.
Manual finished 31-1 that season. I also covered the Rams’ only loss – in overtime on a Saturday night at Chicago Carver, with one of their top players out with injury, with dubious timekeeping and with officiating so sketchy the Manual coach grabbed the public-address microphone and berated the refs. And he didn’t receive a technical foul.
That game not being my most memorable tells you how good Manual-Thornton III was.
Jay Redfern- Galesburg
One of the greatest of many great games I had the fortune of covering also was arguably one of the greatest upsets in not only Galesburg basketball history, but in the history of Illinois high school basketball.
March 6, 1990
Moline Class AA Sectional semifinal
Wharton Field House
11-14 Galesburg vs. 27-0, No. 2 ranked Rock Island
A matchup of IBCA Hall of Fame coaches — Barry Swanson for Galesburg, Duncan Reid for Rock Island
Final score: Galesburg 66, Rock Island 62 in overtime.
Needless to say, the atmosphere in what I consider one of the best places to watch high school basketball was electric. Wall—to-wall fans totaling around 5,000.
I distinctly remember my location for covering the game was neither in the tucked-away, floor level press box, nor the catbird radio press box in the rafters of Wharton. Instead, I was center court, first row of the second deck, next to Neil Myer. More on that later.
Rocky had obviously beaten Galesburg in the two previous meetings that season, but this game didn’t have the feel of a total mismatch. After all, Galesburg had some firepower of its own in juniors Elmer Dickerson and Jason Shay, along with senior Todd Kyser.
Dickerson led all scorers with 26 points and Shay added 16, including 4-of-5 shooting from 3. But it was a sophomore guard averaging just 3 points per game that hit one of the biggest shots for the Streaks. On the verge of seeing Rocky pull away, Sean Kane banked in a 30-foot, 3-pointer at the third quarter buzzer that brought the Streaks within 44-42 entering the fourth period.
Shay scored four crucial points in OT, including a jumper in the lane which put the Streaks ahead for good 64-62 with 11 seconds left in the extra period.
As the clock was winding down and it was apparent the Streaks would pull off the shocker, I briefly turned into fan and told Neil, “We’re going to win!” He’s never let me forget that!
Neil and I then watched as the Streaks bench and many of its fans celebrated on the court.
After the game, Duncan Reid told me, “Maybe it wasn’t destined to be. The gods of basketball sometimes have these things in mind.”
As joyful as the win was for the Streaks, the next game was a 180 turn of emotions, as Galesburg fell to Sterling in the sectional title game — denying the Streaks a trip to the Sweet 16.
Aaron Frey- Galesburg
In my (former) life as a sportswriter, I tried to focus on two things: interesting people and interesting storylines. Galesburg’s boys basketball game at Moline in the 2010-11 regular season finale had plenty of both.
The Silver Streaks weren’t particularly highly thought of entering the season, but they started five seniors — Brandon Thompson, Chad Thompson, Garrett Williams, Dalton Davis and Ryan McElmurry — who had remarkable chemistry. To this day, it remains one of my favorite teams to have watched. Galesburg came into the game ranked No. 8 in Class 3A. With a win, the Streaks would tie Moline for second place in the Western Big 6.
Moline had a younger but very talented squad led by Anthony Lindauer, who went on to play Division I ball at High Point. The Maroons were coached by Ryan Webber, a former Silver Streak.
The teams, to say the least, did not care for one another.
Galesburg had been trounced at top-ranked Peoria Notre Dame earlier that week. Streaks coach Mike Reynolds was ejected from the PND game and served a one-game suspension against Moline. Assistant coach Steve Cheesman stepped in as Galesburg’s interim coach against the Maroons.
Even before the opening tip, the contest had great plot lines and characters. A Friday night at Wharton Field House provided a grand stage.
The game was a halfcourt chess match, with each team carefully looking for a quality shot on every possession. Moline went on a run to lead midway through the fourth quarter. But the Streaks scored the final seven points to pull away down the stretch and win 51-46. The last field goal of the game — a streaking layup for McElmurry — was the only fast-break basket of the night.
Afterward, I could hear the celebration echoing from the visitors’ locker room. Cheesman joked about being 1-0 as head coach, but you could see and hear how much it meant to him — a Galesburg guy to the core and a longtime, humble servant for sports in his hometown — to have that moment.
The Streaks players spoke about how important it was for them to win for their absent coach: "Coach Reynolds has been with me for three years now," Chad Thompson said afterward. "He's had my back in every situation I've ever been in and our team had his back tonight."
Webber offered up one of my favorite quotes ever from a coach: "I don't know if a couple guys for Galesburg can dribble or not. We talked about it all week, and we just let them sit out there and play H-O-R-S-E."
I’ve covered games that featured bigger stars, had more at stake or had more thrilling finishes. The game itself was pretty darn good, but it’s stuck with me because it perfectly captured so many things we love about high school sports: The environments, the storylines, the people.
Jason Wessels- Galesburg
The second atmosphere that came to mind for me, was the first 2 games of the 2015 national league wild card round between the beloved Chicago Cubs and that team to the south! I went south for the first two games of that series, which saw the red team win game one and the Cubs win game two, and ultimately go on to win the series! It was electric for 2 days as the most hated team, by both teams, battled it out! The fans were at each others throats! Everywhere I went in Cubs gear for them 2 days there were plenty of comments and dirty looks! Cubs fans know that the team from the south had been better for years, but when it mattered most, actually playing in the playoffs with everything on the line, the Cubs prevailed! It's the only time the two heated rivals have ever met in the playoffs and Cubs fans will always have that in their back pocket when arguments break out about who is the better team! Oh, and we won the World Series most recently between the two! ;)! Go Cubs Go, sing it for me!!!!
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