DePaul Prep Drops Disney 13-1, a Year Ago

I was looking for some other photos and I noticed that I never processed the photos from the playoff game between DePaul Prep and Disney last spring. The DePaul Prep Rams eliminated Disney 13-1 in the IHSA regional playoff game.

Maybe this will help with some baseball withdrawal.

As I recall, I was using my 300mm, f5.6 lens. I typically only use this lens in bright light situations. This late afternoon game was not a good situation for this. I had to limit the shutter speed to 1/1000. Way to slow as one can tell from the blurry baseball shots. I hope you appreciate that I publish these photos despite them being such good evidence of just how crappy a photographer I am.

Nevertheless, there are some good ones. I hope you like them.

DePaul Prep Handles North-Grand 86-31 in Regional Semi-final

The DePaul Prep Rams defeated North-Grand 86-31 in the IHSA 3A Regional Semi-final matchup at DePaul on March 3, 2020.

My ability to timely post these photos right after the game was overtaken by events. The Election, the girls championship games, oh, and the global pandemic. It seems that we all will have a little time on our hands so I thought I would process these and extend the basketball season.

In these mismatch regional games, the coaches can go deep into the bench. That’s what happened against North-Grand. The bench proved more than adequate to the task. I venture a guess that the DePaul Prep Rams bench could beat most high school first teams.

So I hope you like the photos. I have a couple more game’s photos that did not get published. I will be posting those photos in coming days.

Lane Tech Drops Oak Park River Forest 48-40

Lane Tech defeated Oak Park River Forest 48-40 at Lane on Wednesday (March 5, 2020) in the 4A IHSA regional semi-final. I was working at taking photos so I was not following the game as closely as I would like but—wow—the Indians played hard and defeated the favored Huskies.

Lane missed a lot of shots. But it seemed like they got every rebound. The Lane players are tough with very high energy motors. There is only one speed—fast. They imitate their high energy coach, Nick LoGalbo. I have seen a lot of teams this season. No team has played as hard as Lane did last night. I was impressed.

Going into the last few minutes, Lane had a ten point lead. When the Huskies went to a full court press and began to foul, sending the Indians to the free throw line, the Indians hit the free throws.

If a team gets a lead and hits its free throws at the end, it wins the game.

And another thing, there is no louder gym in the city. It almost hurts one’s ears. Everybody is high energy in that gym. It’s exhausting.

Well now they get Simeon on Friday in the Regional Championship. I wonder if Simeon knows what they’re in for.

Taft Stuns Von Steuben 52-50

The Von Steuben Panthers (7-7, 4-1) hosted rival Taft Eagles (13-5, 4-1) at Northeastern Illinois University for an important game between leaders of the CPS White North Division.

Taft lead the game for only 3.2 seconds. But when those are the last 3.2 seconds, well that’s the important part.

The Eagles tied the game at 50 with 58 seconds to play. The Panthers brought the ball up and were content to run down the clock and take a last shot.

With thirteen seconds on the clock, Panther point guard Sr. Jerry Karr drove the right side of lane. Taft guard Alexei Vlahos tipped a pass. Taft’s Dexter Stigall grabbed the deflection and raced up court for a layup to give Taft its first lead of the game. He missed.

Trailing the play was Taft’s senior guard Matt Leach who in one motion, rebounded the ball and dropped it in the hoop giving Taft its first lead of the game with 3.2 to play.

Stunned, Von Steuben didn’t call time out. They inbounded the ball for a full court last shot. It missed. Taft had pulled off the unlikely comeback after not playing defense or shooting well throughout the preceding thirty minutes.

Taft 52, Von Steuben 50.

The White-North now sits in a four-way tie at the top between Taft, Schurz, Von Steuben and Mather.

Curie Defeats Bogan 69-66

Last year’s 4A third place finisher #1 ranked Curie Condors (13-1, 4-0) hosted last year’s 3A runner-up #4 Bogan Bengals (14-2, 4-1) in a showdown of the current top teams in the CPS Red-South Central Division. The Condors came into the game hot off their victory at the Pontiac Holiday Tournament with a 3-0 conference and a 12-1 overall record. Bogan was hot too, and confident. I am not sure I have seen a team with such swagger as Bogan.

Bogan showed up for their 5:00 p.m. game at 4:56. When I pointed this out to someone at the game, he said, “You must not get to too many Public League games.” Well, now that I think about it, a lot of the games do start late. I must not have I noticed because I am rarely early myself.  

The first quarter was tight with neither team seeming like it could get in any rhythm. In the second quarter, Curie took control going on an 21 to 9 run and took a 39-30 lead into the locker room.

In the third, Curie charged back despite Raheen Hinton’s cold shooting. Elijah Pickens and Saiveon Williams came through for the Condors with clutch defense and inside points done the stretch. The Bengals did not help themselves with missed free throws late in the third quarter which would come back to haunt them.

The officials called a lot of fouls in this game. It seemed like every player on the floor was playing with four fouls at the end. Both coaches were going crazy over the foul calls. I don’t think the problem was the lack of fouls but the lateness of the whistles.

But that is just me. I am not really watching the refs through my camera lens. Neither am I in any position to criticize the refs. It’s a very tough job. (I officiated a parents v. grade school kids game years ago. Even that was hard. I took a lot of grief—in a kids v. parents game. Can one imagine a CPS game between top teams? No thanks.) 

Curie held off furious charges by Bogan throughout the fourth quarter. The Condors stayed just out of reach and closed with a 69-66 victory to take the lead in the Red-South Central Division.

Still plenty of basketball to play including the City Championship. Looking forward to it.

As for the photos, I like the Curie gym. It was my first trip there. There is not a great deal of light but it is better than most and has good color. I boosted the ISO higher than I would like but the photos looked okay. I hope you like them.

Whitney Young Hold Off Lincoln Park 56-50

The #5 Whitney Young Dolphins (3-1, 3-0) holds off #10 Lincoln Park (7-1, 3-0) 56-50 in the the painfully loud gym at Lincoln Park on Friday afternoon (December 13, 2019).

Lane Handles New Trier 57-47

The Lane Tech Indians pulled off an impressive victory over the New Trier Trevians 57-47 in their inaugural game at the Chicago Elite Classic.

It was my first game seeing Lane this year. The Elite Classic did not have rosters for the press so I don’t know the players. But it didn’t much matter. The Indians picked up right were they left off victory over a historic programs.

The pictures will have to do for this game. I was concentrating on the photos and not so much on the story.

I hope you like the photos.

DePaul Prep Wins Opener Over Urban Prep--Bronzeville 74-32

The DePaul Prep Rams opened the 2019-2020 season this evening at the Tom Winicki Gym with a 74-32 victory over the Urban Prep—Bronzeville Lions.

The Rams struggled early in the first quarter but quickly started running the floor after Bronzeville turnovers ending in some easy layups for Ty Johnson. Lance Mosley added 4 three-pointers in the second quarter. DePaul Prep had a 41-21 lead at the half.

In the second half, DePaul coach Tom Kleinschmidt went deep into his bench. The Rams widened the lead holding the Lions to eleven points in the second half. The game finished with a 74-32 final score.

As I wrote in a tweet this morning, 111 days until the state championships. I never realized how short the season is. It will go by fast. So the first part of the season is the Lane/DePaul Prep Battle of the Bridge. The Rams will face Vocational, Niles North then probably Notre Dame. I hope to get out to St. Viator to see those Lions take on Evanston.

Marmion Defeats Amundsen 41-12 in 5A Playoff

CCL/ESCC White Division’s Marmion Academy (6-3) traveled to Chicago on Saturday (Nov. 2, 2019) to take on CPS Great Lakes Division’s Amundsen Vikings (7-1) in IHSA 5A playoff opener. Cadets scored on the opening play from scrimmage and never looked back. Marmion 41, Amundsen 12.

Despite the lopsided score in the playoff game, it was a successful 7-1 season for the Vikings and 5th year head coach Nick Olson. The Vikings under Coach Olson has been 19-9 since 2016.

The Marmion Cadets will face #2 seed 9-0 Rockford-Boylan on Saturday at Marmion.

Lane Tech Falls to Westinghouse 20-7

What looked to be a blowout by Westinghouse in the first few minutes turned into an exciting defensive struggle. Lane Tech couldn’t make up for early miscues and falls to Westinghouse Friday afternoon (Sept. 20, 2019) 20-7.

On Westinghouse’s first offensive play from scrimmage the tailback went up the middle for about a fifty yard touchdown run. Westinghouse then stopped the Indians and blocked a punt. Westinghouse picked up the blocked punt and ran it in for a touchdown.

Just that fast Lane was behind 12-0.

To their credit there was no quit. What could have turned into a rout, didn’t. The Indians defense stiffened. The offence put together a nice drive and it was 20-7 at the half.

There it would remain. A defensive struggle broke out in the second have. Lane moved the ball on a couple late drives only to turn the over deep in Westinghouse territory. Westinghouse held the ball and ran out the clock.

Lane Tech drops to 2-2 on the season and will face Lincoln Park at home next Thursday evening at 7:15.

Riverside-Brookfield Shootout Preview

Time to get back into basketball. The June 21-23, 17th Annual Riverside Brookfield Summer Shootout field and schedule have been announced. The field is packed with top teams including a Chicago area appearance by two-time 4A state champ Belleville West.

The 64-team tournament includes: Belleville West; 4A runner-up Evanston; 4A third place Curie; 3A state champ East St. Louis; 3A runner-up Bogan; 3A third place DePaul Prep; 1A state champ Providence-St. Mel; 4A sectional champs Stevenson, Bolingbrook and Simeon, 3A Regional champs St. Viator; 2A regional champ Uplift.

A couple of first round games should prove interesting. The DePaul Prep Rams, (CCL Blue champs and 3A third-place), take on Belleville West, 4A state champ the last two-years, late Friday at 8:45 p.m. The Rams recently murderous schedule adds a doozy. The Rams graduated three starters among the best in school history, Perry Cowen, Raheem Anthony and Pavle Pantovic. This game should prove quite a challenge for the Rams even though the Maroons will not have two time player of the year and Ohio State recruit E. J. Liddell. We should get a good preview of the Rams new look with the talented group of sophomores as well as juniors D.J. Shower and Brian Mathews.

Another interesting first round game is ESCC 2019 champ Marian Catholic against rival St. Viator, Saturday at 12:35 p.m. Pool M is curiously packed with Marian Catholic, St. Viator, defending 1A state champ Providence-St. Mel as well as Northern IL-Big 12 East conference champ DeKalb.

The Chicago Catholic League is well represented with 10 of its 16 teams in attendance. Conspicuous in its absence is CCL White Division champs St. Rita. Perhaps this has something to do with the recent dismissal of this coach Gary DeCesare.

The Chicago Public League also has top teams in attendance (in no particular order): Curie, Bogan, Simeon, Whitney Young, Uplift and Lincoln Park.

Frequent viewers of this channel know that I tend to concentrate on Chicago Catholic League and CPS games. I am looking to branch out some this year and take in more suburban games. I definitely have to see Max Christie at Rolling Meadows. The Mustangs take on Curie on Friday at 6:55 in R-B’s main gym.

I am also looking forward to seeing Notre Dame’s talented young team with juniors Anthony Sayles and Troy D’Amico. Marian Catholic better watch out for Notre Dame this season. The Dons are going to be good.

The thing about these preseason games is that they are not really like an in-season matchup. The games are quick, the lineups are fluid and don’t reflect the probable in-season starting line-up. There isn’t a whole lot of defense played. I wish I was a more seasoned analyst to tell one exactly what to look for. But I am neither a sportswriter nor a basketball expert. I am photographer and a fan.

As for the photography of this event, it doesn’t lend itself to great picture taking opportunities. Many of the games are in a field house and small gyms without the best light. I am also not as prepared as usual on which players to watch. I am not there to take photos as much as gain intelligence on the best teams to photograph in the upcoming season.

Nevertheless, I am jazzed about the start of the pre-season, at least for me. Hope to see you there—June 21-23 at Riverside-Brookfield High School. I see what I can do about getting some stories and photos up in IL Preps Insider as well.

IHSA Boys Playoff Weekend Recap

We are a week separated from the IHSA 3A and 4A Boys Playoffs now and I am now getting around to the recap. I spent last Friday and Saturday in Peoria photographing as many games as I could.

I found out one cannot photograph and process all the games in real time. Two games per day is about all I can do and get galleries and stories up on a timely fashion.

As for the games themselves, they did not disappoint. Well, except for the first game, where m y DePaul Prep lost to Bogan. The Rams had good shots early but they would not fall. Credit to Bogan. They put on a stellar defense effort basically shutting down everyone on DePaul except Perry Cowen. After that East St. Louis impressed against a tough and scrappy Peoria Manual team in a very entertaining battle.

4A was especially fun. I have seen Evanston five times this year and a couple times last year. Very good and entertaining team. Extremely well coached. Sr. guard Jaheim Holden has to be one of the most exciting players I have seen in the past few years. The Wildkits handles Rochford East who I had not seen. Evanston posses so many matchup problems. Rockford constantly lost track of sophomore Blake Peters and he made them pay. Peters was 7 for 8 from beyond the arc—just deadly.

Then the biggest game of the season so far, Curie v. Beilleville West. E.J. Liddell is better than advertised. Gonna be star at the next level. He has it all. Curie lost composure at the end. The Condors just ran out magic and one by one their best players fouled out.

DePaul Prep refocused and came out wanting to end the season with a win in the 3A Third Place game on Saturday morning. They did just that, soundly defeating a Peoria Manuel team that did not want to be there.

Frankly, I was busy working on photos of the DePaul v. Manuel game and I didn’t see much of the 4A Third Place game. As I recall, Curie won but what I remember is that they didn’t want to be there eight.

Then the premier Evanston v. Belleville West 4A Championship on Saturday night. What a game! It was tough for the Maroons to matchup against Evanston early. The Wildkits came out running and opened a seven point half time lead. As good as the Wildkits looked, Belleville West was playing Evanston’s game and stayed right with the Kits. One just got the feeling at the half that the Maroons would overcome.

That they did. No three pointers for Blake Peters. E.J. Liddell got the ball inside and either scored or dished it off for an easy backdoor bucket. The Maroons overcame and pulled away. It was quite a show.

And then, all the sudden, it was over. Time to go back to Chicago. It just left me wanting more.

Thanks to all for another wonderful high school basketball season. The R-B summer tournament will be here soon. Then the Thanksgiving tournaments. See you then.

As for the photos, these are a few good ones I got over both days. I hope you like them.

CPS Quarterfinals: Simeon 66, Lane 59

Whitney Young Handles Lane 78-69

The Lane Tech Indians (13-7, 4-4) traveled to #5 Whitney Young Dolphins (17-6, 6-1) Wednesday evening (Jan. 23, 2019) for the final CPS Red-West North conference game. Despite the Whitney Young looking every bit the part of their #5 ranking, Lane Tech hung around all evening on the strength of an impressive press break and excellent three point shooting. The Indians got within six points late in the fourth quarter but the late charge failed with the Indians falling 78-69.

The Whitney Young gym presents some challenges to photographing games. First, there is very little room between the baseline and the wall. I couldn’t risk sitting down because I would not get out of the way if a player come flying off the court. Second is the matter of the cheerleaders. Two rows of cheerleaders on either side of the lane—maybe 20 or 24. Not enough room for cheerleaders and photographers.

On the bright side, Whitney Young improved the lights since last year. They installed some new fluorescent lights which are a vast improvement.

I hope you like the photos.

Lane Falls to Orr 72-53

Last night (Jan. 18, 2019), the Lane Tech Indians fell to the Orr Spartans 72-53 at Lane. Lane played their hearts out but Orr was just too good.

I wish I could write more about the game. But last night, more than usual, I wasn’t paying much attention to the game. I was concentrating on the getting good shots, on being in the right position to get good shots and on anticipating the action.

As it turns out, I did okay. Not my best work, but respectable work on short notice without an opportunity to prepare. A good day. The day of my first photo credit in the Chicago Sun-Times.

I hope you like the photos.

DePaul Prep Defeats Lane 45-38 to Win Battle of Bridge Tournament

Notre Dame Defeats Lake View 47-35

Dons survive a challenge from the Wildcats at the DePaul Prep/Lane Battle of the Bridge Thanksgiving Tournament 47-35.