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North beats South again in Belvidere’s civil…hoops
It must be the steady and strong yet civilly sensitive demeanor and reconciling determination of District 100’s new superintendent Dr. Dan Woestman coupled with the classy sideline leadership of North’s head coach David Loner and Bucs head coach Aaron Pearson and top assistant Nate Lister because a thrilling 54-52 overtime victory by host North over Belvidere was the epitome of competitive passion tempered by mutual respect and sportsmanship on the benches as well as in the bleachers and student sections.
Despite previous pejorative trends pushed mostly by boorish adult fans and irresponsible social networking, the benches and District’s Central Office seem to have taken the lead in calming what had become increasingly volatile and civically divisive.
While there will always be folks in society and church who long for the way things never were or maybe were but are no more, an occasional sigh can be heard from Belvidere residents who muse about the potential of two of the smallest schools in the NIC-10 joining forces to challenge the behemoths at Auburn, Harlem, Hononegah, and PEDs-infused (Performance Enhancing Demographics) Boylan.
Now that the distinctly diverse cultures of North and South have been cemented, it will never happen unless a new level of fiscal sobriety is forced upon District 100 by higher authorities.
Moretheless, kudos to Woestman, Pearson, Loner, Lister, and assistants Bradford, Piper, Sattelberg, White, and Hernandez for providing a mature model for players, parents, fans, and booster clubs.
Getting back to the game, it’s easy to summarize North’s win.
North’s victory wasn’t that surprising, and they seemed in control throughout the game even when trailing 9-6 after the first quarter and with the game knotted 44-44 at the end of regulation. Loner’s troops ran their offense with astonishing patience, reminiscent of the Steelers LeVeon Bell waiting for a hole to develop before dashing to major chunks of yardage, and knocked down eight three-pointers as the Bucs could manage only two.
With stud senior Austin Revolinski in foul trouble all night and picking up splinters during many of the most critical moments of the game when his ruggedly competitive excellence was needed most and senior point Nate Horton unavailable, the Bucs had so many turnovers that not even Bertrand Russell could have calculated the debilitating total.
Along with the uncharacteristic subtractions rather than additions from the freebie stripe, the outcome even into overtime wasn’t indicative of the game’s momentum that always pointed North.
Senior Will Morris continued his first-team-all-conference lock play with a game-leading 25 points as knowledgeable observers expect basketball and football recruiters at the next level to beg him to play for them.
Senior Xavier Dent controlled the boards at both ends as usual and scored nine points.
Seniors Austin Brockmann and Revolinski each had six points followed by senior Jacob Rodriguez with a point from the line and junior Phil Kolk finishing the visitors’ total with five.
North’s box score was highlighted by balanced scoring and deadly accuracy from downtown.
With a distinct height advantage and led by juniors Marco Yates (15), Callahan Diercks (13), and Sebastian Gutierrez (11), fans can expect North to dominate local action for another year at minimum and make a run at their first NIC-10 ring in 2017-2018,
Senior Bennett O’Connell (eight) along with juniors Evan Waddell (five) and Corbin Gustafson (two) completed scoring for the hosts.
With the game seesawing back and forth until overtime, the Bucs turned over the ball four times in the first 90 seconds of the extra period and never really challenged North’s emerging dominance within District 100.
Both teams returned to action on Friday, Jan. 27 with the Bucs traveling to formidable Hononegah and North at Harlem.
Varsity action for both games tipped off at 7 p.m.
