Sandburg and Lincoln-Way Central are among the nine SouthWest Suburban Conference football teams that will merge with DuPage Valley Conference schools to form a new league. Photo by Jason Maholy
Area Sports Roundup | SouthWest Suburban and DuPage Valley merging for football
By Jeff Vorva
Staff Writer
Taking a page out of the Chicago Catholic League-East Suburban Catholic Conference playbook, the SouthWest Suburban Conference and DuPage Valley Conference are forming a football alliance that will begin play next season.
Lockport Township High School Superintendent Robert McBride confirmed the merger in a statement.
Nine of the 10 current members of the SWSC and all six members of the DVC will form a 15-team league — which has yet to be named — that will be split into three divisions. According to McBride, the divisions were determined based on “student enrollment and previous success.”
From the SWSC will be Sandburg, Stagg, Lincoln-Way East, Lincoln-Way West, Lincoln-Way Central, Homewood-Flossmoor, Lockport, Andrew and Bradley-Bourbonnais. Current conference member Bolingbrook had previously announced it was leaving after this season for the Suburban Prairie Conference.
Divisions
Red: Sandburg, Andrew, Lincoln-Way West, Metea Valley, Naperville Central
Green: Stagg, Lincoln-Way Central, DeKalb, Bradley-Bourbonnais, Waubonsie Valley
Blue: Lincoln-Way East, Homewood-Flossmoor, Lockport, Naperville North, Neuqua Valley
There is a possibility that the two leagues could looking into merging for other sports in the future, but for now, it’s a football-only plan.
The conference opened play in 2006 with charter members Sandburg, Stagg, Lincoln-Way Central, Homewood-Flossmoor, Andrew, Bradley-Bourbonnais, Lincoln-Way East, Bolingbrook and Lockport. Other schools that have competed in the league include Thornridge, Thornton, Thornwood, Joliet Central, Joliet West (as Joliet Township) and since-closed Lincoln-Way North.
Interim coach at Trinity
The area has two colleges in the Chicagoland Collegiate Athletic Conference that will have interim women’s basketball coached for the 2023-2024 season.
Saint Xavier recently announced it was promoting former player Sidney Lovitsch from assistant to interim coach. Now, Trinity Christian College is following suit as Dominique Nelson will replace Theo Owens as the women’s coach at the Palos Heights private school, replacing Theo Owens.
Nelson, who has 18 years of coaching experience, is serving on an interim basis. She has been an assistant with the Trolls’ men’s program since last year.
For six seasons, Nelson led the boys basketball program at Calumet High School (Gary, Ind.), where he guided the Warriors to an IHSAA sectional title and four consecutive sectional championship games. In 2018, Nelson was named the Northwest Indiana Times Coach of the Year, as well as the Post-Tribune Coach of the Year.
In 2008, Nelson worked with the Chicago Sky of the WNBA as a basketball operations intern.
Joining Nelson on the bench for 2023-24 will be Keith Lyons and Casey Davis, who will serve as assistant coaches.
Lyons joins the Trolls after serving as the head varsity girls’ basketball coach at George Washington High School in Denver for the past seven years. He was named the 2021 Denver Public Schools Girls Coach of the Year. Prior to his time in Colorado, Lyons was a club basketball coach for various groups since 2001.
Davis comes to Trinity as a former player under Nelson. She played at Roosevelt from 2010-14, during which she was a three-time CCAC First Team selection and a two-time NAIA All-American.
The Trolls open the season on Nov. 3 at home against Dordt (Iowa), followed by Northwestern (Iowa) the next day.
Sports bits
• Brother Rice soccer coach Matt Prunckle won the 2023 Tony Lawless Award for the Chicago Catholic League Coach of the Year. That comes 20 years after he won the Lawless Award as a player for the Crusaders.
• Former Saint Xavier men’s basketball standout Jaeden King had 46 points and 12 rebounds in his professional debut for Snaefell, which plays in a league in Iceland.
• Former Queen of Peace and St. Laurence girls basketball coach George Shimko is now coaching the girls program at Joliet Catholic. He was named coach at Oak Park last summer, but left that school and has landed in Joliet.
Local News
Richards’ Principal walks 24 hours for a cause
Spread the loveBy 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…
Victress Women’s Wellness Center sets goals for 2022
Spread the loveBy 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,…
Broadcast news — Palos Heights’ Channel 4 has big 2021
Spread the loveBy 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.…
Obituaries for Jan. 20, 2022
Spread the loveTHERESA 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,…
Experienced bakers buy The Great American Bagel in Palos Heights
Spread the loveNew 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…
New owner will keep Palmer Place name and burgers Copy
Spread the loveBy 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…
Palos Park could be making its decision on gaming on Monday
Spread the loveBy 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…
Pekau takes Rubin and Foxx to task over mandate punishments
Spread the loveBy 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…
‘These bruises won’t heal’
Spread the loveCPS 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…
Neighbors
Just weeks before Republican National Convention, Illinois GOP chair announces resignation
By HANNAH MEISEL Capitol News Illinois hmeisel@capitolnewsillinois.com Halfway through the 2024 election cycle and just a few weeks away from the Republican National Convention in Milwaukee, Illinois GOP Chair Don Tracy on Wednesday announced his resignation as head of the state Republican Party. Tracy, who’d held the job since February 2021, explained his resignation in…
As Illinois session ends, lawmakers’ attempt to reinstate wetland protections fails
by JENNIFER BAMBERG Investigate Midwest jennifer.bamberg@investigatemidwest.org In 2006, 19-year-old Jessica Whinston inherited 20 acres of land that her grandparents once farmed in Quincy, Illinois. The land had sat dormant since the 1980s and was overgrown, but Whinston and her husband Bradley worked to turn it into a productive farm. The couple were eventually able to…
Elections board dismisses illegal campaign coordination complaint, declines to clarify law
By HANNAH MEISEL Capitol News Illinois hmeisel@capitolnewsillinois.com CHICAGO – State elections officials on Tuesday indicated they were unlikely to step in to clarify what constitutes illegal campaign coordination after voting to dismiss a complaint alleging such coordination in the 2022 campaign for governor. At their monthly meeting in Chicago, Illinois State Board of Elections members…
Illinois’ ban on ‘bump stocks’ remains in place despite U.S. Supreme Court decision
By PETER HANCOCK Capitol News Illinois phancock@capitolnewsillinois.com SPRINGFIELD – An Illinois law banning the sale and use of “bump stocks” and other devices that increase the firing power of semiautomatic weapons remains in place, at least for now, despite a U.S. Supreme Court decision Friday striking down a federal ban on such items. “Illinois law…
Lawmakers pass on oversight vote for Pritzker’s prison closure, rebuild plan
By HANNAH MEISEL & DILPREET RAJU Capitol News Illinois news@capitolnewsillinois.com SPRINGFIELD – For the last two decades, each time a governor has moved to close a large state-run facility like a prison or mental health center, a legislative oversight panel has voted on the plan. That changed on Friday – at least for now –…
‘We don’t really know what we’re voting on,’ top Dem says of Pritzker’s prison plan
By HANNAH MEISEL Capitol News Illinois hmeisel@capitolnewsillinois.com LINCOLN – On the eve of a scheduled vote to advise Gov. JB Pritzker’s administration on plans to close and rebuild a pair of dilapidated state prisons, hundreds filed into a junior high school gymnasium Thursday evening clad in matching green T-shirts. Printed on the shirts was a…
Illinois child tax credit: who gets it, how much is it?
By ANDREW ADAMS Capitol News Illinois aadams@capitolnewsillinois.com In the final hours of their spring legislative session, Illinois lawmakers approved a tax credit of up to about $300 for families with young children. The credit is available to Illinoisans with children under age 12 who qualify for the federal Earned Income Tax Credit, or EITC. Although…
Members of House speaker’s staff sue over ongoing unionization conflict
By HANNAH MEISEL Capitol News Illinois hmeisel@capitolnewsillinois.com SPRINGFIELD – Members of a would-be union representing staffers in House Speaker Emanuel “Chris” Welch’s office filed suit against their boss on Friday, asking a Cook County judge to force recognition of the union. The Illinois Legislative Staff Association, which formed in the fall of 2022, claims Welch’s…
Elections board urged to dismiss complaint that Bailey illegally coordinated in 2022 campaign
By HANNAH MEISEL Capitol News Illinois hmeisel@capitolnewsillinois.com A hearing officer is recommending the Illinois State Board of Elections dismiss a complaint that alleged conservative radio host and political operative Dan Proft illegally coordinated with former Republican state Sen. Darren Bailey during his 2022 campaign for governor. Proft, a one-time gubernatorial candidate himself, is behind an…
Communities, commission push Pritzker admin for more prison plan details
By DILPREET RAJU Capitol News Illinois news@capitolnewsillinois.com Jimmy Soto spent more than 42 years wrongfully imprisoned in Illinois Department of Corrections facilities. In 2020, he was moved to the “F-House” at Stateville Correctional Center in Joliet, a condemned unit, not because he was being punished, but because it was where the facility was housing individuals…