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Echoes from D.C. as Knights Sweep Series with Bucs
Belvidere’s head coach Aaron Pearson and Auburn’s head coach Bryan Ott are among the two most celebrated and successful coaches in the NIC-10 with gymnasium championship banners accentuating the prowess of the Bucs and Knights during their tenures.
Not sacrificing character development at the altar of competitive striving, they are solidly fair educators of the skills and best ethics of faith and citizenry.
But as the innovative inaugural coach of Belvidere North Darrin Sisk learned during his tenure across town, ya gotta have the horses to get to the finish line and the hoisting of trophies; though Coach Sisk pulled off many of the most surprising upsets in NIC-10 history with some of the conference’s thinnest rosters.
Both Pearson and Ott have remained competitive in 2016-2017 despite distinct height disadvantages and the dominance of Boylan, the occasional emergence of Hononegah as a threat to league supremacy, and revivals at East and Jefferson.
As long as Auburn and Belvidere have Ott and Pearson along with his top assistant Nate Lister at the helms, their programs will return sooner than later to the top of the NIC-10 as we can almost hear echoes from D.C. forecasting the future, “Make the Knights and Bucs great again!”
This year’s sweep by the Knights over the Bucs was completed with their 49-41 win on Friday, Jan. 20.
While the Bucs came back in the fourth quarter after trailing 10-5 in the first, 28-13 at intermission, and 35-25 in the third behind the game-leading 18 points of senior all-conference lock Will Morris, both teams seemed a little flat from the opening tip-off.
Seniors Austin Brockmann (seven), Austin Revolinski (five), Jay Blandin (two), and Jacob Rodriguez (two) along with juniors Phil Kolk (five) and Shawn Dean (two) completed scoring for the Bucs.
Belvidere traveled a few minutes across town to North for their only game of the year on Wednesday, Jan. 25 at 7 p.m.
Results of that game will be in a later edition of the BDR.
