College Football | Northwestern football may play at SeatGeek
By Jeff Vorva Correspondent It appears that Chicago’s Big Ten team will be Bridgeview’s Big Ten team for at least one day. Maybe more. Northwestern has released its 2024 football schedule, but where the Wildcats will play their seven home games is unknown. Their home stadium, Ryan Field in Evanston, is undergoing a major facelift…
Girls Basketball | Nazareth tops Homewood-Flossmoor, heads to Illinois Final Four for fifth time in past six seasons
By Xavier Sanchez Correspondent Nazareth head coach Ed Stritzel has built his Roadrunners into a powerhouse program with a defense-first philosophy that is carrying the reigning Class 3A state champions through another deep postseason run. Four nights after Nazareth held Kenwood to a season-low 37 points in the Class 4A Mother McAuley Sectional championship game,…
Postseason Roundup | Mount Carmel wrestling wins fifth state title
By Jeff Vorva Correspondent During the regular season, only one wrestling team from Illinois beat Mount Carmel in a dual meet. Joliet Catholic got the better of the Caravan with a 38-27 victory on Jan. 18. That came two days after Mount Carmel lost to Crown Point (Indiana). The Caravan will be unable to square…
Area Sports Roundup | St. Laurence girls hoops has benchmark season
By Jeff Vorva Correspondent The St. Laurence girls basketball team’s historic season came to a close with a 42-29 loss to Hinsdale South at the Class 3A St. Ignatius Sectional on Feb. 22, but the Vikings hit some milestone’s in former Marist and Saint Xavier star Claire Austin’s first year as coach. The Vikings: •…
Girls Basketball | Sandburg outlasts Romeoville for first regional crown since 2016
By Xavier Sanchez Correspondent It was the Eagles’ game to win and no one was going to change the outcome. On its home floor against a Romeoville team that had not lost this year, Sandburg used overtime to defeat the Spartans, 62-58, on Feb. 15 for the Class 4A Sandburg Regional title. It is the…
Girls Basketball | Evergreen Park’s Scaduto signs off after career spanning four decades
By Xavier Sanchez Correspondent The box score does not always give the full story of a game. Evergreen Park visited Hinsdale South on Feb. 16 with the hope of winning a regional championship. Unfortunately for the Mustangs, the game did not go their way. The Hornets jumped to an 18-3 lead in the first quarter…
Lyons awards outstanding Morton high school bowler
By Steve Metsch Desmond Zuro has loved bowling since the first time he sent a ball toward the pins at Bowlero Lyons on 47th Street. Six years later, the Lyons resident is one of the best high school bowlers in the state. A sophomore at Morton West High School, Zuro placed 19th of 180 bowlers…
Girls Basketball | LW Central scrapes by Stagg for Andrew Regional crown
By Randy Whalen Correspondent Stagg was hoping the third time was the charm. For three quarters, it was. But the Chargers couldn’t convert in crunch time and saw Lincoln-Way Central rally for a 36-33 victory in the Class 4A Andrew Regional title game Feb. 16. It was Stagg’s third loss — by a total of…
Girls Bowling State Finals | Stagg’s Arianna Araujo rolls to title
By Randy Whalen Correspondent Prior to the start of the IHSA girls bowling postseason, Stagg senior Arianna Araujo made a statement to her coach. “She told me that she was going to win state,” Chargers coach Rich Kowalczyk said. “I was like, ‘Let’s get through the regional first.’ But she had that much confidence in herself and…
Girls Hoops Wrap | Lyons holds off McAuley rally, wins third straight regional
By Jeff Vorva Correspondent The last time Lyons won three straight regionals was when it went on an 11-year run of titles from 1989 to 1999. After the Lions held off a furious Mother McAuley rally in a 57-55 win Feb. 15 in their own Class 4A regional, they celebrated their third title in three…
Area Sports Roundup | Call of Duty: Six Red Stars tabbed for national teams
By Jeff Vorva Correspondent Time will tell what kind of product the Chicago Red Stars will put on the field in 2024. The team is coming off a last-place finish in the NWSL, and there has been a revolving door of players and coaches this offseason. One positive for the team is that it has…
Postseason Roundup | Two Mt. Carmel wrestlers win state titles, five others medal
By Jeff Vorva Correspondent Two Mount Carmel wrestlers won Class 4A state championships, and both had to beat opponents from Marist to do it. Junior Seth Mendoza won his third straight state championship at 126 pounds, beating Marist’s Michael Esteban 13-5 in the title match on Feb. 17 at the State Farm Center in Champaign.…
Boys Basketball | Stagg tops Bradley to clinch program’s first conference title
By Xavier Sanchez Correspondent Stagg came into this season looking for their first winning campaign since 2016. The Chargers did better than that. In addition to being assured of finishing over .500 for the first time under coach Marty Strus, Stagg won the first conference championship in program history. The Chargers (19-11, 5-3 SouthWest Suburban…
Girls Bowling | Richards wins sectional title; Stagg also advances to state
By Randy Whalen Correspondent This season, there was no roll-off heartbreak for Richards. Instead, there was the Bulldogs’ first sectional championship in 32 seasons. A year after having their season end at the same stage of the state series, the Bulldogs rode a hot start to the Stagg Sectional title on Feb. 10 at Palos…
Pro Soccer Report | Red Stars choose Feuz as GM
By Jeff Vorva Correspondent The Chicago Red Stars have lit the Feuz. The team, which is under new ownership, hired head coach Lorne Donaldson in December, and on Feb. 5 hired his boss. The Red Stars named Richard Feuz the team’s general manager, after he served a stint as chief executive officer for Switzerland’s Servette…
Postseason Roundup | Area wrestlers and gymnasts are state-bound
By Jeff Vorva Correspondent Once again, the Southwest Regional area will send a ton of wrestlers to the IHSA boys state meet, including 17 sectional champions. The state matches are from Feb. 15-17 at the State Farm Center in Champaign. In Class 3A, Mount Carmel had four champs at the Hinsdale Central Sectional — Seth…
Area Sports Roundup | Shepard and Oak Lawn share SSC Red girls hoops crown
By Jeff Vorva Correspondent The Shepard girls basketball program has been around for close to a half century. The team has had a handful of 20-win seasons and four regional championships. But until this season, the Astros had never won a conference title. A wild celebration took place in the Shepard gym after the Astros…
Boys Hoops Wrap | Curie soars past Kenwood for Chicago city title
By Xavier Sanchez Correspondent Curie powered through Whitney Young, Simeon and Kenwood to earn the Chicago Public League championship. The Condors defeated the Broncos, 65-59, in the city title game played Feb. 10 at Credit Union 1 Arena on the University of Illinois-Chicago campus. The win secured Curie’s third city title, with the other coming…
Boys Basketball | Brother Rice tops Mount Carmel in CCL Blue battle
By Xavier Sanchez Correspondent No game seems too big for Brother Rice. Looking to make a statement against Mount Carmel, the Crusaders used a fourth-quarter surge to open up a close game en route to a 69-59 win in front of a capacity crowd in Mount Greenwood on Feb. 9. The loss was the Caravan’s…
OLCHS bowler earns athlete of the month honors
By Brian Frangella Charlie Dell was a picture of consistency for the month of December on the lanes for the Oak Lawn Community High School boys bowling team. He won Top 5 individual medals at three different invitationals, he rolled his career-best 289, and he was the South Suburban Conference Red Individual Champion. All this…
Postseason Roundup | Marist breaks through with first state cheerleading title
By Jeff Vorva Correspondent For years, Marist’s competitive cheerleading team was knocking on the door of a state championship. On Feb. 3, the RedHawks were like cops on television busting down the door. Marist won the IHSA state championship in the large-team division at Grossinger Motors Arena in Bloomington with a score of 96.32, ahead…
Boys Basketball | Darshan Thomas scores late to lift Marist over Benet
By Xavier Sanchez Correspondent A life lesson can be learned anywhere and at any time. “Sometimes it is hard and it does not work out, but you have to keep fighting and he did,” Marist coach Brian Hynes said after the RedHawks defeated Benet on Feb. 2. The “he” Hynes was referring to was Marist…
Area Sports Roundup | Larry Rothschild joins Windy City ThunderBolts
By Jeff Vorva Correspondent First Bobby Jenks. Now Larry Rothschild. The Windy City ThunderBolts are stacking their staff with some familiar names from the Chicago baseball scene. They hired Jenks, a former White Sox closer and member of the 2005 World Series-winning team, as manager earlier in the offseason and recently hired Rothschild to be…
Girls Hoops Wrap | Nazareth gets top seed at Class 4A Mother McAuley sectional
By Jeff Vorva Correspondent How about a dream Nazareth vs. Homewood-Flossmoor matchup, with the winner going to state and the loser staying home? If the girls basketball coaches’ seedings come true, that’s exactly what will happen in Class 4A. But there is a lot of basketball to be played — and a lot of upsets…
Boys Hoops Wrap | Riverside-Brookfield’s Stefan Cicic hits 1,000 career points
By Xavier Sanchez Correspondent Riverside-Brookfield senior Stefan Cicic had a memorable week, scoring 28 points — surpassing 1,000 career points in the process — while leading the Bulldogs to a 55-47 conference win over Westmont on Feb. 2. Cicic also grabbed 15 rebounds and had five blocks in the win, one of R-B’s (22-4, 5-0…
Bridgeview approves auto repair shop
Moves up time for May 1 village board meeting By Steve Metsch Bridgeview is getting a new automotive repair shop. The village board at its April 17 matinee meeting approved a special use permit that will allow a repair shop at 9010 S. Beloit Ave. There was no discussion among trustees. The board followed the…
Summit Fire Department blood drive draws a crowd
By Carol McGowan The Summit Fire Department, along with the Village of Summit, and the Argo Summit Lions Club held a blood drive this past Saturday, and it drew a crowd that even impressed the American Red Cross. It took place from 9 a.m. until 2 p.m. with non-stop donors walking through the door. Fire…
Hodgkins toasts village businesses
By Carol McGowan Hodgkins Mayor Ernest Millsap and the Board of Trustees celebrated the village’s businesses at its annual Business Appreciation Breakfast on April 10. Over 100 people gathered at the Hodgkins Administration Center for a hearty breakfast hosted by the village. Representatives from many businesses that are located in or that work within the…
First Secure Bank to host American Eagle gold coin sale
From staff reports First Secure Bank & Trust of Palos Hills announced its annual May sale of 1-ounce and ¼-ounce American Eagle Gold Coins, produced by the U.S. Mint, will take place from 10 a.m.to noon on Saturdays, May 4, May 11, May 18 and May 25. The sale will take place at First Secure…
Solarbration: Chicago Ridge celebrates fun in the sun
By Kelly White The sun is shining and after a long winter, Chicago Ridge residents ready for it. In honor of National Solar Appreciation Day, the Chicago Ridge Park District offered residents the opportunity to come out and celebrate with a Solarbration, the free event was held outside of Freedom Activity Center, 6252 Birmingham St.,…
Oak Lawn trustee says village needs state grocery tax
By Joe Boyle An Oak Lawn trustee said that Gov. J.B. Pritzker’s proposal to eliminate the state’s grocery tax will be costly for the village. Trustee William “Bud” Stalker (5th), accompanied by Mayor Terry Vorderer, recently returned from a fact-finding trip to Springfield where they learned more about the governor’s proposal to eliminate the grocery…
Palos Heights recognizes volunteers
By Nuha Abdessalam Palos Heights handed out awards last week recognizing the services provided by volunteers through the years. The proclamations, which were read aloud during the city council meeting April 16, were a testament to the city’s volunteers and were handed out as part of Volunteer Recognition Week. Volunteers were cited for their efforts…
SD218 puts on annual Arts Extravaganza
By Kelly White The arts have become a major portion of the curriculum Community High School District 218. Showcasing those many talents, the Friends of CHSD 218’s Education Foundation proudly hosted its 15th annual Arts Extravaganza on April 5 at Eisenhower High School in Blue Island. “The Arts Extravaganza is a great event which showcases…
Palos Park passes $16 million budget
By Jeff Vorva The Palos Park Village Council approved the 2024-25 budget, which totals a little more than $16.3 million at the April 22 village council meeting. According to village documents, it represented an increase of a shade over $603,000 from last year. The village is expecting $13.4 million in revenue and $1.86 million in…
Fire damages Al Bahaar Restaurant in Orland Park
From staff reports Orland Fire Protection District firefighters responded to a fire Monday evening at the Al Bahaar Restaurant, 39 Orland Square Dr. At first, restaurant owners suspected the fire alarm was triggered by a malfunction, but as firefighters inspected the restaurant to reset the fire alarm, they detected a burning smell. “What we found…
‘Brazen and cowardly’: Police, community outraged by officer’s slaying
. By Tim Hadac Police and others across the Southwest Side reacted with outrage this week over the slaying of a Chicago Police officer in the early morning hours on Sunday. Officer Luis M. Huesca was shot to death on the street in the 3100 block of West 56th Street at 2:53 a.m. April 21.…
Pols want 63rd St. armory for new police HQ
. Porfirio, Guerrero-Cuellar push plan in Springfield . By Tim Hadac Any plans the Chicago Department of Aviation may have had for the vacant Army National Guard Midway Armory, 5400 W. 63rd St., may be grounded, at least for now. Several elected officials are eyeing the parcel as the headquarters of a new police district,…