Competitive, composed Bucs resume season

Bob Kopp

BDR Sports Correspondent

BELVIDERE – Writing to people with an inflated estimate of themselves, Paul observed, “All have sinned and fall short of the glory of God.”

That’s all not ya’ll.

As an advocate as well as apologist for athletics as foundational to character development without sacrificing competitive instincts and exigencies, Paul’s observation has often informed me when fans, players, coaches, and officials devolve into miscreance.

Simply, everybody makes innocent and intentional mistakes; and an essential mark of true Christianity is extending grace, mercy, and forgiveness to those who make mistakes while praying and laboring to model someone better.

Those thoughts came to mind as I watched Belvidere resume conference play at Hononegah after a long layoff.

As the season progresses, it’s clear that Belvidere and Hononegah can beat anybody in the conference when at their best as well as lose to lesser opponents when playing like their minds are in the ozone layer of reality.

While Hononegah brings size, precision, and a sense of entitlement to the court, the Bucs bring superior coaching, hustle, and toughness.  Despite markedly different strengths, they are among the most evenly matched teams in the NIC-10.

The Indians beat the Bucs 53-45 in a game much closer than the final score that was highlighted by the composure of head coach Aaron Pearson, top assistant Nate Lister, and junior Austin Revolinski who has already established himself as one of Illinois’ finest three-sport athletes.

Darrin Sisk, inaugural coach at North with a knack for taking thin rosters to major upsets in a tenure that ended abruptly after last season with his resignation, mused yet warned before the game, “Always fun to win up there; but you’ll need some good luck.  They are always tough at home.”

Incredibly, Revolinski was called for three of the most ticky-tack-touch fouls in recent memory while four blatant crowd-hushing hard fouls against him, including a clothesline in front of the scorer’s table and being hammered to the floor and unnoticed by all officials for nearly 25 seconds as play was not stopped despite alerts from the bench and stands, were missed.

The junior, among the most fierce competitors around who plays hard for every second of every minute of every game with renowned Buc pride, never responded, continued to play his usual excellent all-court game, and the bench and Boone County partisans appeared to give an it-is-what-it-is nod as the bench stayed composed yet competitive under the control of Pearson and Lister.

With the hosts holding a tight 25-22 advantage at intermission, the Indians scored the first eight points of the third quarter as sophomore standout Kameron Kolberg scored all of his eight points.  Junior Jackson Doyle scored eight of his evening’s 14 points in the fourth quarter to nail down the victory.

Senior Deante Barnes led the Bucs with 16 points.  Senior Eric Munoz chipped in with two points with juniors Revolinski (10), Will Morris (six), Xavier Dent (four), Joey Hernandez (three), Nate Horton (two), and Jacob Rodriguez (two) completing the scoring.