Winnebago junior Chas Cross led the list of local boys basketball players who were named to this year’s Illinois Basketball Coaches’ Association All-State Team for classes 1A and 2A.
Cross, a 6-foot-7 center who led Winnebago to a fourth-place finish in the state, was one of 15 players in the state named to the first team. Cross averaged 16.9 points, 10 rebounds and 4.5 blocks a game for the Indians (31-2).
Two area players made the fourth team — Eastland senior forward Tyler Zumdahl and Rock Falls sophomore guard Jake Junis.
PEORIA — It’s usually a once-in-a-lifetime experience for parents to follow their children to a state tournament.
Unless your last name is Reinke.
This weekend was the third state tournament appearance for Winnebago in six years, and the name Reinke has been on every roster. Wes was a reserve player for the 2003-3004 team and a starter the following year. This year, his younger brother, Brad, is a junior starter.
Marshall 66, Winnegabo 55: All of the Winnebago players hung their heads as they walked off the court after their final game of the season Saturday.
But there were three in particular — Jake Doty, Chuck Misuraca and Russ Fiori — who were the most emotional after Winnebago’s 66-55 loss to Marshall.
“It’s tough, knowing it’s our last game ever,” Misuraca said. “It’s really hard.”
Ben Powers has been challenging this year’s Winnebago team all season long.
“I told them they’d never win as many games as we did,” said Powers, who was a starting guard for Winnebago’s first state runner-up team in 2003-2004 and is now the freshman coach for the Indians.
“I told them until they got down state, then we could start talking about it.”
Now that this year’s Indians are at state, Powers and the rest of us can make some comparisons.
Seton Academy 83, Winnebago 58: Winnebago beat a lot of good teams to enter the state tournament with a 31-0 record.
But what the Indians ran into Friday at state was like nothing they’d ever seen.
“We haven’t played against anybody with that kind of quickness all year,” Winnebago coach Joe Murphy said. “They’re a very good team.”
Winnebago 69, Princeton 41: Winnebago’s starters struggled early, but the Indians’ second wave swamped Princeton in a 69-41 Class 2A Supersectional rout Tuesday night.
“Our second unit came in and got some steals and forced some turnovers in that 16-2 run,” coach Joe Murphy said.
No. 1-ranked Winnebago (31-0) will play No. 3 South Holland Seton Academy in the IHSA Class 2A boys basketball semifinals 6:30 p.m. Friday at the Peoria Civic Center.
Winnebago 58, Rockford Lutheran 38: The Indians turned a full-court, back-and-forth battle in Friday’s Class 2A Plano Sectional championship game into a blowout, and the Crusaders never saw it coming.
Winnebago (30-0), up just 26-25 at halftime, wore down Rockford Lutheran (19-9), worked itself into position with an 11-2 third-quarter run, and pulled away for a 58-38 win. The Indians earned their third sectional title — but their first since 2006 — and posted their third
Winnebago 57, Morrison 45: Winnebago is known for its height advantage. So when the Indians were getting outrebounded by a much smaller team from Morrison at halftime Tuesday, they took it personally.
“We know we have the size, we just needed to box out,” Winnebago senior forward Jake Doty said. “That’s a big key for us.”
The Indians came back after halftime and redeemed themselves to beat Morrison 57-45 in the Plano Sectional semifinals.
Winnebago (29-0) will face the winner of tonight’s semifinal between Lutheran and Elgin St. Edward in Friday’s 7:30 p.m. championship game.
Winnebago 64, Oregon 38: The Indians overwhelmed Oregon in the post with 27 points from Chas Cross and another 14 points from forward A.J. Thomas. Brad Reinke chipped in 11 points for Winnebago, while Nathan Todd scored 19 for Oregon (9-19).
The Indians led 29-19 at halftime and pulled away with a 22-11 run in the third quarter.
- Emily Tropp, rrstar.com
Winnebago 53, Oregon 52: Winnebago finished its regular season unbeaten, though Oregon gave the Indians their closest game of the season. The Hawks had possession in the closing seconds but missed a jumper and the tip-in putback. Chas Cross scored 14 points for the Indians (26-0, 10-0 BNW).
Winnebago 83, Stillman Valley 60: Russell Fiori scored 22 points to lead Winnebago. Aaron Palmer had 16 points Stillman Valley.
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Oregon 46, Winnebago 40: It was now or never for the Oregon girls basketball team to get past rival Winnebago in Monday’s Class 2A Byron Regional.
After two straight seasons of losing to Winnebago, including a 42-36 loss Tuesday, Oregon finally avenged it with a 46-40 victory.
“We played smart,” Oregon’s Carissa Oelke said. “We were more focused this time.”
Oelke’s 3-point conversion with 1:48 left gave the Hawks the lead for good at 41-39.
Before that, the teams hadn’t allow too much of a separation during the second half. Oregon led 32-30 at the end of the third quarter.
Winnebago 67, West Carroll 48: Brad Reinke led the Indians with 17 points and Russell Fiori had 10. Nathaniel Law had nine for West Carroll.
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Winnebago 59, Rockford Lutheran 52: Finally, after 22 fairly easy wins, Winnebago had a close game Saturday.
With the conference title on the line, the Indians were up for the test.
Winnebago had its closest game of the season as it hung on to beat Lutheran 59-52. The Indians improved to 23-0 and clinched the outright Big Northern West title.
“It was good experience for us, because we had never really had a close game,” Winnebago junior Brad Reinke said.
“It’s definitely been exciting. We knew we’d have a good year, but we’re exceeding all our expectations.”
Winnebago 81, Oregon 58: Winnebago clinched at least a tie for the Big Northern West boys championship Thursday with a victory over Oregon.
The Indians (22-0, 7-0) led 27-11 after the opening period and 49-30 at the half.
Chas Cross scored 16 of his team-high 20 in the first half. Oregon’s Ryan Rosenbalm had a game-high 22.
Winnebago can claim the title outright with a win Saturday against Lutheran.
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Winnebago 41, West Carroll 22: Despite no player scoring in double figures, Winnebago’s balanced offense nearly doubled up West Carroll. Hayley Thomas led Winnebago with eight points. Kate Wiersema had 11 points for West Carroll.
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Winnebago 42, Oregon 36: Winnebago pulled out to a 12-3 first-quarter lead and clung to the lead from there, holding the Hawks to 36 total points.
’Bago’s Emily Myers led the way with 13 points while Oregon got 16 points from Erin Pederson, and 20 more from the rest of the team.
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Winnebago 62, Genoa-Kingston 42: Winnebago held Genoa-Kingston to 13 points in the second half and strolled to a 62-42 victory Tuesday for the Indians’ 21st win in a row to open the season.
Winnebago, which trailed 16-15 after the first quarter, led by five at half and pulled away with a 16-8 third-quarter run.
Chuck Misuraca led the way for Winnebago with 14 points and Jeff Sartorius added 12. G-K got 11 points from Scott Suchy.
WINNEBAGO — Mike Mann’s first 3-point attempt in the first quarter was an air ball. He tried another three in the second quarter, and it was a brick.
But the only shots anyone will remember about the Winnebago junior from Thursday’s game are the ones Mann took in the third quarter.
Mann drained four 3-pointers and scored all of his season-high 16 points in the third to lead Winnebago to a 63-49 win against Byron. The Indians improved to 20-0 and remained unbeaten in the Big Northern West (5-0) at the halfway point of their conference schedule.
Winnebago 50, Stillman Valley 44: Austyn Ford (15) and Emily Myers (10) led Winnebago’s scoring effort against Stillman Valley.
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Stillman Valley equalized the Big Northern West girls basketball race.
Lutheran has been playing the un-equalizer ever since.
The Crusaders jumped to a huge early lead Tuesday in a 55-45 victory at Winnebago that tied them with Stillman for the BNC West lead.
Since losing their second close game to Stillman Valley two weeks ago, Lutheran (18-5, 5-2) has won three games by a combined 71 points.
That includes jumping to a 27-4 lead against Oregon (14-8, 4-2) and 32-9 against Winnebago (14-8, 4-4) their last two games.
Winnebago 67, Stillman Valley 59: Despite four 3-pointers and 24 points from Aaron Palmer, the Cardinals could not catch up to Winnebago.
The Indians jumped out to a 22-9 lead in the first quarter and held on. Brad Reinke scored 16 for ’Bago.
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Winnebago 80, Pecatonica 47: Chas Cross (20 points), Russell Fiori (15), Chuck Misuraca (11) and Brad Reinke (11) scored in double figures for Winnebago.
Byron 32, Winnebago 29: BYRON — Meghan Fitts scored eight of her team-high 14 points in the fourth quarter to lead the Tigers. Emily Lehne added 12 points for Byron. Emily Myers scored 13 to lead Winnebago.
Marengo 48, North Boone 33: POPLAR GROVE — Marengo outscored North Boone 13-2 in the first quarter and led 27-10 at halftime. Caitlyn Adams and Kelsey Edwards led North Boone with nine and eight points, respectively.
FORRESTON - Chas Cross stands out on the court because of his height.
But the 6-foot-7 Winnebago junior is more than just tall.
“He’s tall, and he’s got a seven-foot wingspan, his arms are so long,” Winnebago coach Joe Murphy said. “And he can move on top of it.
“If I was on the other side of the court, I’d be frustrated by him, too.”
Cross was too much for anyone to handle at this week’s 49th Annual Forreston Holiday Tournament. A two-year-starter, Cross led the Indians to their second-straight title with a 62-49 win against Morrison in Friday’s championship.
Winnebago wins pool at E.C. Nichols Tournament
MARENGO — Winnebago won its pool at the E.C. Nichols Holiday Tournament Tuesday with a 54-41 win against Hampshire.
Chas Cross scored 19 points for Winnebago, which will play two games Saturday. The Indians are trying to win their fifth straight championship.
Elgin Tournament
ELGIN — Palatine Fremd knocked Auburn out of the championship bracket with a 46-38 win.
It was the second day in a row that Fremd (2-7) pulled an upset in the tournament thanks to its defense. Fremd beat Batavia 57-28 Monday. Auburn dropped to 7-2.
Keith tops R. Christian in semi-finals
Lamish Al-Basha scored a game-high 21 points to lead Keith past Rockford Christian 54-49 in the semifinals of the Rockford Christian Tournament.
Keith will play Indian Creek in today’s 8 p.m. championship game.
Trinesha Cornell added 14 points for Keith.
Rockford Christian, led by Amy Hicks’ 18 points, outscored Keith 26-25 in the second half, but was held to six points in the third quarter. Brianna Hellyer also had 10 points for the Royals.
Winnebago 72, C. Life 27
ROCKFORD - After Lutheran jumped out to a 6-0 lead in the first quarter, Winnebago scored 22 unanswered points to finish 3-6 on the season.
Jake Koehler’s 8-yard run started the scoring for the Crusaders.
Winnebago scored on two Michael Sojka runs (60 and 7 yards) and a 66-yard run by Kevin Shaw. Sojka finished with 102 yards on 13 carries.
- rrstar.com
BYRON — David Boyle threw TD passes of 60 and 75 yards to Brady Scheffler to help Byron edge Winnebago, 34-32.
Adam Head also threw a 42-yard TD pass to Kyle Smith for Byron and Smith scored on runs of 7 and 9 yards. Michael Sojka scored three TDs for Winnebago on a 5-yard run, a 4-yard run and a 23-yard run.
Sojka’s last TD brought the Indians within 34-32, but they didn’t convert the extra-point attempt.
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WINNEBAGO - Stillman Valley scored 13 points in the fourth quarter to survive a scare and walk away with a 34-24 win at Winnebago Friday.
The state-ranked Cardinals (7-0, 3-0 Big Northern West) trailed Winnebago (2-5, 0-3) 21-15 at halftime but outscored Winnebago 19-3 in the second half for the win.
This was the closest game of the season for Stillman Valley, which was ranked sixth in Class 4A this week. Winnebago scored first on a 4-yard run by Seth Gustafson, but Stillman Valley answered with a 24-yard run by Cody Brewington and the Cardinals led 8-7 after the first quarter.
OREGON - Oregon scored 21 points in the first quarter and went on to beat Winnebago 49-11 at Oregon on Friday.
The Hawks (6-0, 2-0 BNW) rang up 330 rushing yards and had rushing touchdowns from Nick Snyder (15 yards), Carson Andrew (3 yards), Nick McKeown (80 yards), and Andrew Smith (52 yards).
Oregon also scored a 57-yard punt return by Ryan McWethy, a 12-yard pass from McWethy to Smith, and a 79-yard kickoff reutrn by Robbie Brink.
McKeown finished with 109 yards on four carries.
WINNEBAGO - Chris Wilkins both ran and passed for more than 100 yards and also returned a fumble for a touchdown to help Genoa-Kingston overcome two early long runs by Winnebago’s Seth Gustafson.
Wilkins gave the Cogs (5-0) a 7-0 lead with an 80-yard pass to T.C. Holterhaus. Winnebago (2-3), which upset G-K by one point last year, then took the lead on runs of 33 and 44 yards by Gustafson (150 yards on 19 carries).
WINNEBAGO — Michael Sojka and Seth Gustafson eached topped 100 yards rushing and combined for five touchdowns Friday night to lead Winnebago (2-1) to a 34-13 Big Northern football victory over Marengo.
Gustafson had 102 yards and TDs of 25 and 75 yards on six carries. Sojka had 104 yards on 13 carries and TD runs of 16, 37 and 2 yards.
Scott Donley (148 yards) and Bobby Gaines (105) also ran well for Marengo, but Marengo scored only one offensive touchdown. It added a 91-yard kick return by Donley for the final score after Winnebago already led 34-7.
WINNEBAGO — Jeff Sartorious completed 8 of 11 passes for 100 yards and Seth Gustafson ran for 120 yards on 18 carries to lead Winnebago (1-1), to a 21-13 victory.
Gustafson gave the Indians a 14-7 halftime lead with TD runs of 41 and 28 yards. Matt Hamel pushed it to 21-7 with a 1-yard run in the fourth quarter.
The Indians held the Whip-Purs (0-2) to 65 yards rushing on 21 carries.
POPLAR GROVE - Jon and Alex Albrecht spent hours throwing a football in the backyard when they were kids, all the while hoping that a night like Friday would someday happen.
“It’s like a dream come true,” Alex said.
Identical twins Alex and Jon Albrecht were part of a sophomore foursome that led North Boone to a 31-20 win over Winnebago. It was the first season-opening win for the Vikings in four years.
In his first varsity game as a starting quarterback, Alex threw for 275 yards and two touchdowns on a 20-for-31 night with no interceptions.
The Big Northern West flip-flopped last year.
Teams that typically are on top of the conference were at the bottom, while teams that have struggled finally dug themselves out of the basement.
But one thing remained the same — Oregon.
The Hawks repeated as champions last year with a 4-1 conference record and finished 8-3 overall.
