Local Sports News
Boys Basketball | Marist routs Carmel and St. Rita
By Xavier Sanchez Correspondent After closing out 2023 with a loss and runner-up finish at the 80th Annual Centralia Holiday Tournament, Marist got back to its winning ways with routs of Carmel and St. Rita. The RedHawks topped the East Suburban Catholic rival Corsairs, 73-42, on Jan. 5 and best the Mustangs of the Chicago…
Area College Report | SXU, Trinity men’s volleyball getting ready to roll
By Jeff Vorva Correspondent While basketball has dominated the area college scene this winter, men’s volleyball is just around the corner. Practice is in full swing and matches start later this month. Saint Xavier wants to keep its best stretch of winning in program history going. Excluding the shortened 2020 pandemic season, the Cougars have…
Girls Hoops Wrap | Young and older have fun in Oak Lawn
By Jeff Vorva Correspondent It was a little of the old and new mixing together at Oak Lawn. The current Spartans beat Crete-Monee, 54-42, in a nonconference game on Jan. 7. In the crowd were players from the 2013-14 Oak Lawn squad that finished 28-2. After the game, alumni players engaged in a game of…
Area Sports Report | Kendall Coyne Schofield part of history as PWHL game sets attendance record
By Jeff Vorva Correspondent Add a new chapter to the Kendall Coyne Schofield story. The Palos Heights native and Sandburg graduate, who has won gold and silver Olympic medals in women’s hockey, helped launch the new Professional Women’s Hockey League and is a team captain for the Minnesota franchise. Minnesota and the league’s five other…
Area Sports Roundup | Messi and Miami to visit Fire in August
By Jeff Vorva Correspondent Let the guessing games begin. The Chicago Fire released its MLS schedule for 2024, and there is a chance the team will have to move some of its games from Soldier Field to SeatGeek Stadium in Bridgeview. The Fire called SeatGeek its home stadium from 2006 to 2019. From August through…
Girls Hoops Wrap | Stagg stuns Bloom to take Hillcrest Holiday Classic
By Jeff Vorva Correspondent Stagg’s girls basketball team heads into the 2024 portion of the season with a good-but-not-great 10-7 record. But the way the Chargers closed out the 2023 portion of the campaign was spectacular. The Chargers won the 16-team Hillcrest Holiday Classic, held Dec. 27-29 in Country Club Hills. They earned a 45-44…
College Sports Reports | Hoops programs seek net gains in 2024
By Jeff Vorva Correspondent A good chunk of the college basketball season has been completed. What have we learned about the men and women’s programs at Saint Xavier University, Trinity Christian College, Moraine Valley Community College and Morton College? Plenty. But there is more to be learned in the next few months. A look at…
Boys Hoops Wrap | Mt. Carmel wins Pekin Holiday Tourney; Brother Rice’s 15-game win streak ends at Hinsdale
By Xavier Sanchez Correspondent Mount Carmel extended its win streak to five games after defeating Normal West, East St. Louis and Lake Park at the Pekin Insurance Holiday Tournament. The Caravan’s 60-41 win over Lake Park earned them their third straight Pekin title. In the title game, Angelo Ciaravino finished with nine points, eight rebounds,…
Tosh Classic maintains spot among top holiday hoops tourneys in Illinois
By Xavier Sanchez Correspondent The 49th annual Jack Tosh Holiday Classic took place at York High School from December 26-30. The holiday season mainstay that would have been in its 50th year, but for the Covid-abridged 2020-2021 season, consisted of 32-teams, including some that are highly rated or expected to be contenders for deep postseason…
College Sports Report | Scorers light it up for SXU, Trinity, Morton
By Jeff Vorva Staff Writer Boom, boom, boom. Three area men’s college basketball players’ offensive games exploded on Dec. 16. At Saint Xavier, Cedric Johnson had 27 points as the Cougars topped Indiana University Northwest, 77-68, in a Chicagoland Collegiate Athletic Conference matchup. Johnson shot 11-of-14 from the floor and scored the game’s first two…
Area Sports Report | Evergreen Park Wiffle Ball players aid Toys for Tots
By Jeff Vorva Staff Writer Toys for Tots was the big winner, but the players also had some fun. The Mustang Baseball Academy (MBA) joined the Evergreen Park High School baseball team for the third annual Wiffle Ball Tournament, held Dec. 13 at high school’s sports complex. Each player who participated got a spot in the…
Girls Hoops Wrap | Mother McAuley Class 4A Sectional will have local flavor
By Jeff Vorva Staff Writer The IHSA has announced its postseason assignments for girls basketball, and Mother McAuley will be the place to be in Class 4A. The 18-team McAuley Sectional features the hosts and Class 3A defending state champion Nazareth along with fellow area programs Morton, Reavis, Curie, Kelly, Lyons, Oak Lawn, Richards, Riverside-Brookfield…
Boys Hoops Wrap | Brother Rice, Sandburg win at Shootout
By Xavier Sanchez Correspondent Sandburg hosted 11 other schools in their inaugural Shot Clock Charity Shootout. Twelve teams participated in the event, which Sandburg coach John Daniels dedicated to his friend and former Stagg assistant coach Ray Milnes, who died in 2019. Milnes, an Orland Park native, was a volunteer varsity basketball coach for the…
Boys Hoops | Chicago Christian gives Bulls the horns
By Xavier Sanchez Correspondent Chicago Christian has three seniors on its roster this season and, among them, only one starter. This has opened the door for the Knights’ younger players to fill holes and step up. Junior guard Malachi Kreider did that by scoring a season-high 21 points to carry the Knights to a 58-34…
Boys Hoops | Chargers hand Spartans first loss
By Xavier Sanchez Correspondent Through six years as head coach at Stagg, Marty Strus and the Chargers had never beaten Oak Lawn. That changed in lucky year number seven, as the Chargers topped the Spartans, 49-42, on Dec. 14 in Palos Hills. The victory knocked Oak Lawn from the ranks of the unbeaten, after the…
Boys Net Roundup | Oak Lawn, Brother Rice among Illinois unbeatens
By Xavier Sanchez Correspondent A wrap of area boys basketball teams from games played between December 4 and 10. Argo (1-7, 0-3 South Suburban Red) The Argonauts are 1-7, with their only win coming against U-High in the John McBride Classic over Thanksgiving weekend. They dropped South Suburban Conference crossovers to T. F. South…
Area Sports Report | Stagg flag football coach invited to Super Bowl
By Jeff Vorva Staff Writer Saja Alnajjar said she became a football fan growing up, and one of the first games she watched was Super Bowl XLI between the Chicago Bears and Indianapolis Colts in February 2007. Little did she know then that she would someday be a football coach. And little did she know…
College Report | SXU beats Trinity in battle of interim coaches
By Jeff Vorva Staff writer It was a battle featuring two interim coaches on the sidelines. Both Saint Xavier and Trinity Christian College had to find women’s basketball coaches roughly a month before the start of practice this season, and the athletic departments went to work. SXU hired assistant coach Sidney Lovitsch as an interim…
Girls Hoops Wrap | Oak Lawn sees a lot in first 10 games
By Jeff Vorva Staff Writer Oak Lawn’s girls basketball team beat Lindblom 64-14 on Dec. 9. The Spartans also lost a game 52-18 against Wheaton North on Nov. 24. They have just about seen it all while compiling a 6-4 record to open the season. Close games. Blowouts. But they entered this week with a…
Boys Basketball | Unbeaten Oak Lawn edges Evergreen Park on late free throws
By Xavier Sanchez Correspondent Oak Lawn forward Henry Martinez has long thought about playing for the Spartans. Martinez is not only playing for them, but he is also becoming a key contributor for an Oak Lawn team that entered this week unbeaten. His 20-point performance and some clutch free-throws were instrumental in maintaining that prefect…
Boys Basketball | Marist unbeaten heading into clash with Marian Catholic
By Xavier Sanchez Correspondent Four quarters were not enough time to determine a winner between Marist and St. Laurence in a Chicago Elite Classic matchup. The RedHawks prevailed, doubling up the Vikings in overtime to take home a 49-44 win and improve to 6-0. The game was played December 1 at Credit Union 1 Arena…
Boys Basketball | Stagg off to a strong start, dr
By Xavier Sanchez Correspondent Stagg has started the season strong, opening by winning the title at their own John McBride over Thanksgiving weekend. The Chargers won the championship game, 49-45, over Plainfield South. Senior guard Connor Williams was named MVP of the tournament, and teammates David Ortiz and Domas Narcevicius were named to the All-Tournament…
College Report | SXU football falls in quarterfinals
By Jeff Vorva Staff Writer For three quarters, Saint Xavier went nearly toe-to-toe with the No. 1-ranked football team in the nation. Justin Pringle had returned a kickoff 70 yards for a touchdown to bring the Cougars to within three points of Northwestern (Iowa), the top-seeded team in the NAIA playoffs and the defending national…
Area Sports Roundup | Richards grad Sean Lewis ready to air it out in San Diego
By Jeff Vorva Staff Writer The rollercoaster ride continues for Sean Lewis. The Richards alum went from being the head coach at Kent State to the offensive coordinator at Colorado, one of the most talked about college football programs in the country this season because of Buffaloes head coach Deion Sanders. He was then demoted…
Girls Hoops | Sandburg and Oak Lawn to host holiday tournaments
By Jeff Vorva Staff Writer The field has been finalized for the third Sandburg Holiday Classic, which is the only girls basketball holiday tournament in the area to feature 16 teams. The host Eagles will be joined in the event, to be held Dec. 27-29, by area teams Oak Lawn, Richards, Argo and Riverside-Brookfield. Also…
Local News
‘A man of honor, a beacon of kindness’
. Chicago weeps for Officer Luis Huesca . By Tim Hadac People across the Southwest Side shed tears earlier this week, as throngs of police officers and other filled the St. Rita of Cascia Shrine Chapel at 77th and Western for a funeral Mass for CPD Officer Luis M. Huesca. Officer Huesca was “a man…
Archer Manor Little League starts its 2024 season
. Sunny skies and mild temperatures greeted the boys and girls, moms and dads, umpires and coaches, and everyone else participating in Archer Manor Little League’s Opening Day parade and ceremonies at Archer Park. Since 1952, AMLL has provided athletic opportunities for thousands of boys and girls in Archer Heights, West Elsdon, Central Stickney, Vittum…
Dread over car drifters on streets
. Reckless drivers take over SW Side intersections . By Tim Hadac At the April meeting of the Garfield Ridge Neighborhood Watch, a police officer admitted that the drag racing/drifting phenomenon seen and heard in the Midway area in recent years “probably will increase, but we hope not.” The admission was triggered by a brief…
Don’t raise pilots’ retirement age, García says
. From staff reports U.S. Rep. Jesús “Chuy” García (D-4th), senior member of the Transportation and Infrastructure Committee, recently led a letter joined by 121 Members of Congress urging House Democratic leadership to reject any changes to the pilot retirement age in a final version of the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) reauthorization bill. As it…
CTA launches ‘chat’ feature on website
. From staff reports Artificial Intelligence has made another step forward at the Chicago Transit Authority. CTA officials recently launched the “Chat with CTA” chatbot, a new virtual automated service featured on transitchicago.com. The communication tool allows riders to report issues, provide feedback and receive answers in real-time. Additionally, it provides the CTA with customer feedback where…
New effort to aid kids with disabilities
. From staff reports A new grant program aimed at providing financial assistance to families of children with disabilities was launched recently by Mayor Brandon Johnson, in partnership with the Mayor’s Office for People with Disabilities and Ada S. McKinley Community Services. Children with disabilities is a population disproportionately affected by the pandemic, officials said.…
Dart warns of Sheriff’s Office imposters
. From staff reports Cook County Sheriff Thomas J. Dart recently alerted the public of an uptick in telephone and email phishing scams in which scammers identify themselves as a Sheriff’s Office employee in an attempt to defraud victims. Scammers are using the actual names and respective titles of Sheriff’s Office employees to appear legitimate.…
Nazareth Academy celebrates ‘special talent’ J.J. McCarthy in NFL Draft
By Steve Metsch Dennis Moran has no doubts that J.J. McCarthy – the former Nazareth Academy quarterback who is now with the Minnesota Vikings – will succeed in the National Football League. Moran was among about 60 or so Nazareth Academy fans, friends and coaches who gathered Thursday night at The Stadium Club in McCook…
Police Council rallies to save ShotSpotter
. By Alexis Bocanegra Your correspondent in Clearing and Garfield Ridge (773) 949-1509 • grcl.alex23@gmail.com . Chicago Lawn (8th) District Police Council members Mark Hamberlin, Al Cacciottolo and Jason Huff have created an online petition to save ShotSpotter. As you may have read in the Clear-Ridge Reporter & NewsHound back in March, Mayor Brandon Johnson…
Capacity crowd speaks out against Evergreen Park dispensary
By Joe Boyle Additional chairs had to be brought out to seat an overflow crowd of Evergreen Park residents who attended a meeting April 15 regarding a proposed cannabis dispensary for the village. And many who were in attendance voiced their opposition to having a dispensary in Evergreen Park. Most of the people cited safety, traffic…