SXU receiver Justin Pringle is brought down by Indianapolis defender Larry Burks as Pringle scores a touchdown Saturday. Photo by Jeff Vorva
College Football: Big second half lifts Indy over Saint Xavier
By Jeff Vorva
Correspondent
University of Indianapolis football players came to Saint Xavier with heavy hearts.
The Greyhounds suffered an emotional setback in when former teammate Koebe Clopton was shot and killed the morning of Thursday, Sept. 2. Clopton left the team in March, but stayed at the school as a student and had many friends on the team.
“Everybody loved him,” Indy coach Chris Keevers said. “He’s Koebe. He’s just a good person and a wonderful human being. It’s just a sad thing. It was a very tough Thursday.”
Keevers had the tough task of getting his Greyhounds, ranked 14th in the nation by NCAA Division II coaches, ready for a season opener against upset-minded St. Xavier, an NAIA team. The Cougars hosts took a 10-0 lead before Indy rallied for a 34-10 victory Saturday night at Deaton Field.
For SXU (0-1) the first 16 minutes of the game couldn’t have gone better.
Cougars quarterback Stuart Ross hit Justin Pringle with a 32-yard touchdown pass and a 37-yard Peyton Benes field goal gave the hosts a 10-0 lead with 14:15 left in the first half.
The offense was clicking. The defense was clicking. Players and fans were going nuts.
“Everything was working out,” said Ross, who threw for 306 yards and ran for 41 more. “With the weapons he have and the offensive line we have and the running backs we have, I thought we would be able to do it the entire game. But I messed up a few things, so I’ll blame myself.”
SXU’s Jaden Chandler (left) and Steven Meyer celebrate the defense stopping Indianapolis on a fourth-down play during Saturday’s season-opener. Photo by Jeff Vorva
The Greyhounds stormed back to tie it 10-10 at halftime. The Greyhounds got into their groove in the second half, piling up 27 points including a 96-yard drive on their first possession to set the tone.
“Here’s the deal — you play a team like that, you have to play four quarters,” SXU coach Mike Feminis said. “We fumbled the ball and gave them some gifts. You can get away with it against a subpar team. Not a top 15 Division II team.
“This is what we’re going to see if we’re going to make a run in the [NAIA] playoffs. This is a Morningside. This is a Marian. This is a St. Francis Indiana. But I’m encouraged by this. We played two great quarters, minus the turnovers, and we’re going to be just fine.”
Indianapolis averaged 45 points per game and 518 yards per game in an abbreviated spring season. The Greyhounds have won seven of nine Great Lakes Valley Conference titles since the league’s inaugural season in 2012.
SXU had a 389-353 offensive yards advantage. Mason Gray, a Chicago Ridge resident who prepped at Bremen and transferred from Tiffin, had six catches for 99 yards. Pringle added four for 72.
The Cougars have a week off before heading to Siena Heights for an 11 a.m. game Sept. 18. Siena Heights lost its opener, 2017, to Olivet Nazarene.
Mike Iturbe, a Shepard graduate, was one of the 2021 seniors who played his final season for SXU in the spring. He was among those honored before SXU’s game against the University of Indianapolis on Sept. 4. Photo by Jeff Vorva
Local News
Richards’ Principal walks 24 hours for a cause
By Kelly White Most people spend New Year’s Day relaxing. Richards High School Principal Dr. Mike Jacobson spent it on the treadmill. For the second year in a row, Jacobson inspired generous donations of more than $20,000 on New Year’s Day by walking 24 hours on a treadmill without stopping. All of the money raised goes directly to benefit…
Victress Women’s Wellness Center sets goals for 2022
By Kelly White Empowering women in the new year is Victress, a wellness center for women, in Palos Heights. The center opened in October at 7120 W. 127th St. and welcomed in the new year with a goal-setting seminar open to women in the local community called, Achieve 2022: This year set goals, not resolutions.…
Broadcast news — Palos Heights’ Channel 4 has big 2021
By Jeff Vorva The first Palos Heights city council meeting of 2022 featured a few minutes of bragging about Channel 4’s success in 2021. The local cable channel had a record-breaking year and Alderman Jerry McGovern was more than happy to run down the happy totals at Tuesday’s board meeting at City Hall. There were…
Obituaries for Jan. 20, 2022
THERESA M. BALDWIN Theresa M. Baldwin (nee Boxlietner), age 76, passed away December 12, 2021. Beloved wife of Richard Baldwin; loving mother of Michael Kresch, Kenneth Kresch, Crystal Nelson and Denise Baldwin; dear grandmother of Samantha Peters, Dennis Nelson, Devorie Nelson, Korin Leeth, Kayla Nelson, Kaylee Nelson, Travis Spagnola, Kyle Kresch, Sydney Kresch, Jonathan Kresch,…
Experienced bakers buy The Great American Bagel in Palos Heights
New owners nearly double the menu for breakfast, lunch By Cosmo Hadac When The Great American Bagel’s shop in Palos Heights changed hands late last year, the new owners who walked in the door weren’t exactly new. Manny Rios Sr. and his wife, Silvia, have nearly 50 years of combined experience in the bagel…
New owner will keep Palmer Place name and burgers Copy
By Steve Metsch Palmer Place Restaurant and Biergarten, a mainstay in downtown La Grange for nearly 40 years, will soon have new owners. But not much else will change. The name on 56 S. La Grange Road will still read Palmer Place. The employees now there will still have their jobs. And the hamburgers that…
Palos Park could be making its decision on gaming on Monday
By Jeff Vorva Will Palos Park make its decision on bringing in gaming machines to the village on Monday? The world will have to wait until Monday to find out. The village council will meet for the first time in 2022 on Monday after its Jan. 10 meeting was cancelled because of a lack of…
Pekau takes Rubin and Foxx to task over mandate punishments
By Jeff Vorva Orland Park has Cook’s County’s attention. The village’s decision to vote against enforcing Cook County COVID-19 mandates at a special meeting Dec. 28 has been a hot topic. The village’s position is that businesses need not require proof of vaccination for patrons to enter. Some businesses are taking the board up on…
‘These bruises won’t heal’
CPS kids back in school, but bitterness remains By Tim Hadac Teachers who walked off the job in the new year returned last week after the Chicago Teachers Union rank and file voted to accept Mayor Lori Lightfoot’s offer of increased safety measures at schools. But it was a divided vote, with just 55.5% in…
Neighbors
New law ends parental notification in Illinois
By BETH HUNDSDORFER Capitol News Illinois [email protected] Gov. JB Pritzker signed a law on Friday that ends parental notification, a requirement that doctors notify the parents of a minor seeking an abortion. “With reproductive rights under attack across the nation, Illinois is once again establishing itself as a leader in ensuring access to health care…
Illinois jobless rate falls to 5.7%
By PETER HANCOCK Capitol News Illinois [email protected] SPRINGFIELD – The unemployment rate in Illinois fell three-tenths of a point in November to 5.7 percent as employers added 19,500 payroll jobs to the economy. Preliminary data released by the Department of Employment Security and the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics showed the biggest job gains during…
Illinois jobless rate falls to 5.7%
By PETER HANCOCK Capitol News Illinois [email protected] SPRINGFIELD – The unemployment rate in Illinois fell three-tenths of a point in November to 5.7 percent as employers added 19,500 payroll jobs to the economy. Preliminary data released by the Department of Employment Security and the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics showed the biggest job gains during…
Potential buyer identified for James R. Thompson Center
By BETH HUNDSDORFER Capitol News Illinois [email protected] SPRINGFIELD – Plans are moving ahead for the sale of the James R. Thompson Center at 100 West Randolph Street in Chicago. Gov. JB Pritzker announced on Wednesday plans to enter into exclusive negotiations with JRTC Holdings, LLC, for the purposes of acquiring and redeveloping the Thompson Center…
CAPITOL RECAP: JRTC Holdings will enter negotiations with state for $70 million purchase of Thompson Center
By CAPITOL NEWS ILLINOIS CHICAGO – Plans are moving ahead for the sale of the James R. Thompson Center at 100 West Randolph Street in Chicago. Gov. JB Pritzker announced on Wednesday, Dec. 15, plans to enter into exclusive negotiations with JRTC Holdings, LLC, for the purposes of acquiring and redeveloping the Thompson Center that…
Lawmakers push for nursing home reforms this spring
By PETER HANCOCK Capitol News Illinois [email protected] SPRINGFIELD – Several Illinois lawmakers said this week they are determined to pass a bill in the spring that would overhaul the way nursing homes are paid through the state’s Medicaid program to address critical staffing shortages, but the state’s largest nursing home industry group is still pushing…
New law provides for licensure path of certified professional midwives in Illinois
By BETH HUNDSDORFER Capitol News Illinois [email protected] Colleen Marotta has delivered hundreds of babies. Marotta, 43, of Arlington Heights, became a nurse in 2001. Ten years later, she became a certified professional midwife, or CPM. When Marotta was a CPM the law barred her from delivering babies in Illinois, forcing her to drive to Wisconsin…
Edwardsville chief on Amazon warehouse: ‘It was definitely one of our worst days’
By BETH HUNDSDORFER Capitol News Illinois bhundsdor[email protected] In the wake of Friday night storms that left six dead at an Amazon warehouse in Edwardsville, a disaster proclamation was issued Monday for 28 counties in southern and central Illinois. The proclamation will bring personnel or equipment from the Illinois Emergency Management Agency to assist with storm…
Reimagine Public Safety Act to drive violence intervention funds to state’s most dangerous areas
By JERRY NOWICKI Capitol News Illinois [email protected] SPRINGFIELD – A state program aiming to take a “comprehensive approach to ending Illinois’ firearm violence epidemic” will be expanded under a law signed Friday by Gov. JB Pritzker. The Reimagine Public Safety Act became law in June, but the expansion signed Friday clarifies guidelines in the original…
CAPITOL RECAP: Oral arguments begin in state redistricting challenges
By CAPITOL NEWS ILLINOIS CHICAGO – Oral arguments began Tuesday, Dec. 7, in three lawsuits challenging the new legislative district maps that lawmakers passed earlier this year with three federal judges asking detailed questions of all the parties in the cases. Each case centers on the question of whether Democrats in the General Assembly violated…
