Fifteen area players commit on early signing day; Lausch chooses Northwestern
By Jeff Vorva Correspondent The last-minute offer from Northwestern had Brother Rice senior Jack Lausch weighing some options. He was already a preferred walk-on for baseball and football at Notre Dame and for a long time, that appeared to be his college destination. Wildcats coach Pat Fitzgerald came in and made an offer to the…
Argo wrestling off to a great start
By Carol McGowan The boys wrestling season at Argo High School is off and running. The team dominated on all levels recently, competing in opening week of SSC Conference competition in a quad winning all three meets vs. Shepard, TF North and Tinley Park. On Saturday, December 4, varsity wrestlers finished in second place as…
Boys Basketball: Chicago Christian is a work in progress
By Jason Maholy Sports Editor Most teams, in particular those coming off successful seasons, lose some of their best or most experienced players to graduation from one year to the next. Rare it is that a team loses all of its best and most experienced players. The top 11 guys on the roster, for example.…
Boys Basketball: Riverside-Brookfield rolling in the early going
By Jason Maholy Sports Editor After entering the season with high expectations, a talented and experienced Riverside-Brookfield team has not disappointed. The Bulldogs won eight of their first nine games and came into this week on a roll as winners of five straight. During that streak they have barely been challenged, averaging nearly 78 points…
Boys Basketball: Mt. Carmel, Brother Rice each win twice over weekend
By Steve Millar Correspondent The Ciaravino brothers are making a huge impact for Mount Carmel in their first varsity season. Anthony, a junior guard, and Angelo, a sophomore forward, are both in the starting lineup for the Caravan and producing at a high level. Anthony is not surprised. “We kind of had an idea of…
Girls Basketball: Harris, Chivers lead Marist over McAuley
By Jeff Vorva Correspondent Marist went up against the best and came away with a big loss. Bolingbrook, the Class 4A state runner-up in 2020 and the No. 1-ranked team this preseason by MaxPreps, defeated the RedHawks, 67-46, on Nov. 30. Since then, the RedHawks (7-1) have won four straight, including a 69-54 home victory…
College Sports Report: Trinity Christian soccer player Uhl earns 2nd conference POY of 2021
By Jeff Vorva Correspondent Trinity Christian College soccer player Brianna Uhl became a three-time player of the year in 2021, and because of the unique circumstances spawned by the COVID-19 pandemic won the same award twice in the same calendar year. The 2020 season — usually played in autumn — was because of the pandemic…
Worth seeks new direction for Water’s Edge golf course
By Joe Boyle Worth officials hope that the third time is the charm with a proposal for new management of the Water’s Edge golf course. Two representatives from Orion, which is based out of Kansas City, Mo., attended the Worth Village Board meeting on Tuesday night to respond to questions and provide a vision for running the…
Boys Basketball: Evergreen Park off and running in early going
By Steve Millar Correspondent After cruising through the Lisle Thanksgiving Tournament with three double-digit wins, Evergreen Park boys basketball team found itself in a close game down the stretch for the first time this season. The Mustangs passed the test Thursday night, scoring the final six points of the game to break open a…
Boys Basketball: Sandburg finding their footing under new coach John Daniels
By Steve Millar Correspondent Trailing by 19 points at halftime against a highly touted Lemont team, Sandburg did not back down. The Eagles rallied behind senior guards Ryan McPolin and Ty Binns but fell just short in a 58-55 loss on Nov. 30 in Orland Park. “I was happy we came back,” McPolin said. “We…
College Report: SXU feasting after Thanksgiving famine
By Jeff Vorva Correspondent A spoiled Thanksgiving for St. Xavier University’s women’s basketball team could mean trouble for the rest of the Chicagoland Collegiate Athletic Conference. The Cougars, who were ranked 16th in the nation by an NAIA committee after two losses to ranked non-conference foes, took their frustrations out on Trinity Christian College, scoring…
Sports Analysis: Red Stars in a state of flux after trades
By Jeff Vorva Correspondent The next coach of the Chicago Red Stars will have his or her work cut out for them. After two straight runner-up finishes in the NWSL playoffs, the team appeared to have been maybe a player or two away from getting over the hump and winning a championship. Then, shortly after…
Boys Basketball: St. Rita’s young stars too much for De La Salle
By Jeff Vorva Correspondent St. Rita’s team of heralded young superstars finally played a home game in front of a crowd with their peers. The Mustangs feature starting freshman Melvin Bell sophomores James Brown, Morez Johnson and Jaedin Reyna plus junior Kaiden Space and last season, the stands featured family members because of COVID concerns.…
Girls Basketball: Well-traveled Macs have happy homecoming
By Jeff Vorva Correspondent The kids were putting on a show for the kids. Mother McAuley’s girls basketball team has three sophomores starting on the varsity and the Mighty Macs won their first home game of the season with a 48-39 non-conference won over Sandburg last Thursday in front of a crowd that featured several…
Teams honored and trainer mourned at SD230 meeting
By Jeff Vorva There was both celebration and sorrow at the Consolidated High School District 230 meeting on Nov. 16. The board recognized a pair of state champions – the Stagg unified volleyball team and the Sandburg Class 3A cross country team. But there was some sadness to the meeting as longtime Sandburg trainer Dave…
Record number of runners come out for 33rd Turkey Trot
By Jeff Vorva Correspondent In 2019, Patrick Foster won the Orland Park Turkey Trot for his first top finish in a competitive race. This year, he was back in the winner’s circle. Foster, an Orland Park native who now lives and works in Madison, Wisconsin, finished the 2 1/2-mile race in 14 minutes, 19.9 seconds…
Girls Basketball: Shepard, Knights among four area teams to open season at Bobby Bolton Classic
By Jeff Vorva Correspondent Four area teams competed in the eight-team Bobby Bolton Classic at Richards, and each showed some bright spots and had some sloppy moments. That was to be expected. Richards, Oak Lawn, Chicago Christian and Shepard were all opening the season with young teams. According to their rosters, 15 of 54 players…
Pro soccer report: Red Stars lose Dames after losing in NWSL title game
By Jeff Vorva Correspondent After a bizarre season that saw many of their best players injured for much of the time, a 5-0 loss to open the season and the thrill of making it to the NWSL championship game, Chicago Red Stars coach Rory Dames announced late Sunday night he was resigning. “For 11 years,…
St. Rita tops Prospect, advances to second straight state title game
By Steve Millar Correspondent After entering the season with huge expectations, St. Rita lost two of its first three games and star senior running back/receiver Kaleb Brown to injury. While some may have written the Mustangs off, they still believed they had a team that could win a state championship. “We’ve been able to stick…
Crusaders playoff run ends with semifinal loss to Wheaton North
By Jeff Vorva Correspondent At age 47, Brian Badke has a lot of good coaching years left in him. But for now, he is stepping away and putting the whistle in storage. He has a lot of good spectating years ahead of him that he wants to take care of, first. The Brother Rice football…
Girls Volleyball Class 2A State Finals: Chicago Christian takes 3rd place with win over Mater Dei
By Jason Maholy Sports Editor Philosophers and believers in analytics can debate the reality of momentum in the context of having a tangible effect on player performance and the outcomes of athletics competitions. To many if not most sports fans, players and coaches, there is no question momentum is real. And it flows both ways.…
Pro Soccer Report: Red Stars stun Thorns, will face Spirit for NWSL title
By Jeff Vorva Correspondent Talk about coming full circle. The Chicago Red Stars opened the season in May with a full squad and dropped a 5-0 decision at Portland in one of the most lopsided defeats in franchise history. Then, on Nov. 14, with a team depleted by injuries and illness, they shocked the Thorns,…
Girls Volleyball Class 4A State Finals: Metea Valley tops Mother McAuley in three sets for state title
By Jason Maholy Sports Editor You can’t win them all. Coming into the state finals last weekend, Mother McAuley had won championships in 65 percent of its trips to state, including its last two in 2013 and 2016. After rallying past Edwardsville, 27-29, 25-21, 25-16, in the semifinals on Nov. 12, the Mighty Macs were…
Girls Volleyball Class 3A State Finals: Nazareth defeats Belvidere North for program’s first state title
By Jason Maholy Sports Editor Trailing 12-6 in the third set of the Class 3A state championship match last Saturday at Illinois State’s Redbird Arena, time was running out on Nazareth to right the ship. Belvidere North was riding a wave of momentum going back to the second set and had scored 28 of the…
College Football: Saint Xavier edges St. Francis in OT to clinch spot in playoffs
Jeff Vorva Correspondent With an automatic bid for the NAIA national playoffs on the line, Saint Xavier and St. Francis couldn’t decide anything after 60 minutes of play. So, the Cougars had to make it back into the playoffs in overtime thanks to a 25-yard-run from Amari Venerable on their first play from scrimmage after…
Palos Area Chamber dedicated to promoting area
By Kelly White Dedicated to helping local area businesses strive is the Palos Area Chamber of Commerce. The chamber was formed in 1949 when a small group of merchants joined together for the purpose of advancing economic, industrial, professional, cultural, and civic welfare of the Palos Heights area. For 68 years, the Palos Area Chamber…
Palos Park police to hold active shooter drill
From staff reports Palos Park Police will fine tune their strategies for dealing with an active shooter to ensure the safety of both officers and citizens later this month. The end goal of the January 30 drlll is to test the department’s active shooter response plans and fine tune them. “Palos Park effective preventive measures…
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…
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…
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…
Smooch from a pooch
Mutts of the Midway volunteer John Shaker smiles as he gets a smooch from Burt, a 5-year-old American Pit Bull/Boston Terrier mix. Shaker works as a transporter, driving dogs to and from veterinarian appointments. The 37-pound Burt was rescued by the non-profit Mutts of the Midway from a shelter in Texas. For several months, he…
Here’s a sure sign of spring
By Joan Hadac Your correspondent in Clearing and Garfield Ridge (708) 496-0265 • [email protected] Hi everyone. How have you been surviving January? This is one month I always hope flies by. If the sun is out, the temperatures are, or feel like they are in the subzero range. If it’s cloudy, which is most of the…
