By Jeff Vorva
Since Christmas, life around the Beecher boys basketball team has been anything but normal.
When the freezing weather helped cause a pipe to burst and flooded the high school’s main gym, the floor was ruined and unusable, and the Bobcats had to adapt with practices and home games off campus.
That set off a rollercoaster chain of events in the coming weeks – some good, some bad.
For a few weeks, the homeless Bobcats kept winning and on January 18 were rewarded for their efforts as they were ranked seventh in the state in Class 2A by the Associated Press. It was the first time they were ever ranked in the Top 10.
Yep – there they were on the list with the big boys, such as Princeton, DePaul College Prep, and Rockford Christian.
But those good feelings were wiped away the next day, January 19, as the Bobcats were upset by the Bearcats. Milford came into the Beecher Junior High School gym and beat the hosts, 72-64, to snap Beecher’s 17-game winning streak.
After the game, senior center Rio Llamas tried to put that stunning loss into perspective.
“We got a wake-up call,” he said. “I was confident we were going to beat this team, but it was a wake-up call, and we need to go back in the gym and know what we have to do.”
Roughly 24 hours later, the team took a trip to Kankakee and made things right again with a 70-31 victory over Grace Christian, to give the Bobcats the River Valley Conference title and their 20th win of the season. It’s just the seventh time in program history the Bobcats hit the 20-win mark, and Beecher started playing basketball in 1949.
It’s also the second year in a row the team won 20 games in back-to-back seasons, and that hasn’t happened since 1968-69 and 1969-70.
For the rest of the regular season, the Bobcats will play non-conference games to prepare for the Herscher Sectional, which starts on February 18.
The Bobcats are in Sub-Sectional B, with familiar area foes such as Manteno, Momence, and Peotone.
The Bobcats hope for a high seed when seeding takes place February 9.
Meanwhile, the gym floor is being replaced and won’t be ready by the end of the season, so the team will continue to adapt.
“It’s unfortunate we can’t use our main gym right now, but at least we have another gym close that we can practice in,” Llamas said of the junior high digs. “I never imagined I would be back here playing, but we’re here, and we’re focusing on our goals.”
Coach Tyler Shireman, who has built a winning culture with the program, admires the team’s attitude through all of this.
“Our guys have done a really nice job in dealing with all of these changes,” he said. “Our practices haven’t been the same since our gym has gone down, and that has cut into our routine a little bit.
“But I don’t think of it as an excuse or a crutch. Our guys don’t look at it as ‘oh, oh, why aren’t things the same way like before Christmas?’ I think they more so have taken it as another challenge to show just how tough they are. It’s a competitive group who loves challenges.”
Minutes before the loss to Milford, the Bobcats hosted a senior night celebration, and Llamas, Jacob Graniczny, Kevin Girard and Ethan Turney were honored.
A powerful junior class should ensure another big season next year, as Trevor Stout, Josh Harden, Ethan Rydberg, Jack Hayhurst, Nathan Diachenko, Zackary Johnson, and leading scorer Adyn McGinley all have contributed. Sophomore Orlin Nesbitt also has been getting valuable varsity minutes.
The Bobcats opened the season beating Manteno and Peotone in the Coal City/Manteno Thanksgiving tournament before falling to Immaculate Conception, 78-70, on November 25.
After that, they went on a roll of 17 straight victories, in which only one opponent – Erie Prophetstown – was able to come within 10 points of them.
Last year, they put together a 26-win season before being taken down by Herscher, 44-34, in the regional final.
This year, they are seeking the second regional title in school history.
