Greetings everybody and welcome to Duerrisms for the week of May 1st, sponsored as always by our friends at ADVANCE Physical Therapy. We have been under forced sabbatical for the past two months (DO or DIE Basketball Show) but we are back now throught the Do or Die Bowl in June. Hope you have been enjoying the DUETube Postings in our absence. Those will continue through the rest of the school year as well and should be up for you every Friday, offering some unique material apart from this column.
Believe it or not, my "break" after finishing the All Do or Die Basketball Show lasted all of 24 hours. I have already begun work on the 2009 Edition of the GRIDIRON PLAYBOOK, which should be available to all of you in early August. We have already received our questionaires back from Quincy High, Pittsfield, Clark County, Hannibal, Central Lee, Farmington Harmony, Scotland County, Routt Catholic, South Shelby, Centralia, Western Illinois, Culver Stockton, CSE, Highland, Macon and Clark County and I have already finished the first five previews of the year for the magazine. Thanks to all of the coaches who have returned their paperworks so promptly. I am working on a June 5th Deadline for our publisher and that doesn't allow much time, so I would ask that you get those worksheets returned to me as fast as possible so we can get your kids as much ink as possible. For better or worse this year, the previews are even more in-depth than last year and are taking me longer to write, so again thanks to all of our coaches for their cooperation.
On a related note, we will be inviting Clark County's Mason Owen, Concord Triopia's Jacob Fricke, and Illini West's Stefan Flynn to appear with their State Championship Trophies on the cover of this year's magazine. Later this month, we will put up a poll on our message board for seven other players from different teams to be GRIDIRON PLAYBOOK "models" so be looking for that in the coming days and be sure to vote on your favorite local grid star.
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KHQA/ADVANCE Student Athlete of the Week
We have embarked anew on our fourth season of the KHQA/ADVANCE Physical Therapy Student Athlete of the Week. In a slight twist this season, we will be offering scholarship awards to two winners in June as our Male and Female Student Athletes of the Year. We have received our final group of nominations, so a big thanks to all the teachers, coaches, and Athletic Directors who worked so hard to make sure quality kids from their school were properly honored. Our board of judges will be meeting one last time in Late May to make a decision as to the Boys and Girls Scholarship winners from the list you see below. Our banquet is planned for
2008/2009 Honorees
Week One: TAYLER ONION, Rushville-Industry Volleyball, Basketball, and Track
Week Two: AMANDA DARNELL, Quincy Notre Dame Cross Country
Week Three: JILLIAN YODER, North Shelby Softball
Week Four: TIM DENNEY, Jacksonville Routt Football, Baseball
Week Five: PARKER FREIBURG, Quincy High Golf
Week Six: MACY BROSS, Palmyra Softball
Week Seven: ROSS HUTSON, Illini West Football, Baseball
Week Eight: KACHINA HUDSON, Mark Twain Softball
Week Nine: CALEB GRAY, West Hancock Football, Basketball
Week Ten: DAHN KEMP, North Shelby Football
Week Eleven: ALI COOPER, Quincy High Tennis
Week Twelve: CHLOE BARNES, Quincy Notre Dame Basketball, Volleyball
Week Thirteen: AARON ZETTERLUND, Keokuk Football, Soccer
Week Fourteen: LYNN WILLIAMS, Clark County Football
Week Fifteen: CHELSEA REUTENAUR, Hannibal Volleyball, Basketball
Week Sixteen: ASHLEY TREASTER, Hannibal Volleyball
Week Seventeen: JACOB STENDBACK, Pittsfield Wrestling
Week Eighteen: DAVIS HENDRICKSON, Macomb Football, Basketball, Baseball
Week Nineteen: HENRY JOHNSON, Pittsfield Basketball, Baseball
Week Twenty: BRETT GLASER, Macomb Football, Basketball, Baseball
Week Twenty One: ALAN KELLER, Palmyra Basketball
Week Twenty Two: TREVOR PEZLEY, Central Lee Basketball
Week Twenty Three: JULIE GARMOE, Holy Trinity Basketball
Week Twenty Four: ZACH WOOD, Southeastern Basketball, Track and Field
Week Twenty Five: MATT PATTERSON, South Shelby Football, Basketball, Baseball
Week Twenty Six: CASSIE FERGUSON, Pittsfield Vollleyball, Basketball
Past Winners:
2007/2008: LUKE GUTHRIE, Quincy High/University of Illinois (golf)
2006/2007: KATELYN BASTERT, Illini West/Duke University (cross country/track)
2005/2006: MIKAL BENCOMO, Clopton/SEMO (Womens Basketball)
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RANDOM MUSINGS
This time around, Jay Baldwin won't be talked down. After vowing to resign last year due to constraints with his full time job, the Holy Trinity Girls Basketball Coach found himself talked back on to the sidelines for the Lady Crusaders for the 2008-2009 season. This time around, Jay is REALLY done. His resignation was acted upon this week, though begrudgingly from his administration. And it's easy to see why the HTC leadership would not want to let him go. When he took over the Aquinas program back in 1999, Lady Dons Basketball was in flux and little more than an off-season diversion for volleyball players. In the ten years since, Jay fashioned Aquinas/Holy Trinity into a two-time Elite Eight squad and gave the program its first ever state appearance back in 2002. Jay was also the 2004 KHQA Girls Basketball Coach of the Year. Class guy who was a great ambassador for Southeast Iowa Girls Basketball, Coach Baldwin will be sorely missed in these quarters next winter.
Troy Noble's tumultuous tenure as the boys basketball coach and athletic director at Illini West ends with this season. Look, I don't presume to understand the nature of the disconnect on why this was such an ill fit, but almost from the start there was a strong undercurrent of discord here and its unfortunate. From a media standpoint, Troy was very easy to deal with and always incredibly cordial and fun to talk basketball with. By the same token, I know there were coaches who weren't happy with his work as AD and players who just absolutely blanched at his handling of team business; culminating with a failure to nominate any of his kids for All Area honors at the end of the year. That stuff is important to 16 and 17 year olds. Managing players (and parents) at the high school level is a completely different animal from college coaching and ultimately, from all I gather, that is what led to this quick and unfortunate divorce; but it is probably one of those cases where ultimately it is best for all parties involved and you just wish them all well going forward.
Of all the coaching changes in our area, the Todd Bradshaw departure at Griggsville really threw me. For a decade now, Todd has worked his tail off to make the Tornadoes truly viable and his two district titles and ability to further develop a mother lode of junior high talent into consistent high school production has largely been taken for granted over the years. I guess selfishly, I just assumed Todd would be there forever. More than that, the guy just made G-P basketball interesting and fun; a colorful personality who brought out other coach's "A Game." Todd left me a message in the wake of his resignation and he was clearly still very emotional about his decision, but did say he would probably be back in the game in a couple of years. Sure hope so. The sidelines won't be as animated without him.
By the way, for those keeping track: Mark Twain, Payson Seymour, South Shelby, Griggsville-Perry, Southeastern, Beardstown and Illini West Boys Basketball jobs are now open. And Kirksville.....
Inexplicably, The Tigers have opted not to retain Highland and H-LG alum Chuck Arnold as their head coach, despite a record 20 games over 500, a district title, and no discernable flaws in coaching, teaching, or behavioral judgement. The guy went 22-3 back in 2007 and now he is out??? What in the world is going on in Kirksville, which also chased away football coach Doug Baughman (more on his landing spot, wink wink, in the coming days) For a revealing look at the debacle that is the KHS Administration, see also my friend Fred Beck's website at KTVO: http://www.heartlandconnection.com:80/sports/sports_story.aspx?id=287895. I would think that given his record of success and reputation, Chuck lands on his feet very quickly.
Macomb Basketball Fans dodged a bullet when Rochester's overtures to Dan Watson to coach basketball and serve as Athletic Director weren't enough to pull the gifted Bomber Coach out of McDonough County and closer to home. Is there a new threat on the horizon? Eric Buerkett has stepped down as the head coach of Williamsville back on April 20th, which also happens to be Watson's alma mater and one of two medium school coaching positions (Plains being the other) that might most pique his interest. The lure of being closer to home to support his mother (remember, Dan lost his father over the Christmas Holiday) means Watson might listen. Still, Dan's got a phenomenal situation in Bomber Country, maybe the most basketball savvy athletic director in state in his corner, and a lot of talent returning. From what I gather in what little I've talked to Dan about both Rochester and Williamsville, it's going to take an amazing sell to snare him away.
Paperwork is done. QND Boys will indeed host MSHSAA Class 3 State Runner-Up Whitfield and All Stater Julian Johnson in the marquee game of the 2010 KHQA/SUBWAY/Superfan Shootout. Other boys games for Superfan Saturday include Pittsfield and Illini West doing battle and a head-to-head between outstanding guards as Bowling Green's Ryan Cox goes nose-to-nose with the region's best returning point guard: Ben Vogel of Central Lee.
The recruiting dominos are starting to really fall in Tri State Basketball. Bowling Green All State Point Guard Brandon McCann has given his verbal pledge to Rockhurst, where he will unite for one season with former Canton star and reigning GLVC Player of the Year Aaron Hill. McCann was the region's most pursued talent, getting Division One attention as a prospective walk-on from both Iowa State and Colorado as well as scholarship attention from New Hampshire. His final decision, however, came down to a pair of GLVC Schools: Drury and Rockhurst. Drury had put on the biggest push but apparently Rockhurst got an assist from our neck of the woods when former Culver Stockton skipper and interested father Steve Hill watched McCann play Palmyra in the Hannibal Tournament and called over to Kansas City to suggest that the Rockhurst staff might want to get some tape on the kid. From a pure college projection standpoint, McCann is the most college ready point guard to come out of this area in a long time. Aside from his slight frame, McCann has incredible floor savvy, handle, quickness, and most importantly, defensive jobs. He has also shot over 52% from the field over the last two years. How good will Aaron Hill be playing with a true pass-first point guard next year? And how long before QU regrets not recruiting McCann out of its own backyard?
Nice to see Truman State Coach Jack Schrader getting back to recruiting his own backyard. The Bulldog skipper put on a huge push this winter for both Bowling Green's Brandon McCann and 2008 KHQA Player of the Year Matt Patterson. On Wednesday, Schrader got the South Shelby point guard to make his pledge and Patterson, one of the classiest kids in all of Tri State Sports, accepted a full ride scholarship to Kirksville. Kids who can shoot a basketball like Matt Patterson are rare. He has one of the highest basketball IQ's in the Tri States and while he is more of a combo guard right now, it is easy to Matt sculpting his game into that of a more traditional floor general relatively quickly. Bottom line, this is the ultimate no risk signing. Worst case scenario, Matt Patterson is a proven three point shooter and superb character/classroom leader that is a treat to be around. Best case scenario, the kid is the MIAA's answer to Aaron Hill. Kudos to the Bulldogs on a phenomenal get.
Patterson is a sure fire look for the McDonald's/Quincy Herald Whig Classic in June and will get a chance to play for newly announced head coach Matt Thomas of Palmyra. The Illinois Boys squad will be skippered by Western Boss Marty Hull. The Whig also announced this week that Liberty/Payson's Brad Neisen will coach the Illinois Girls and Bob Gilliam of Monroe City will get the honor of working with the Missouri Girls. Our congrats to the Whig Folks on some well deserved selections. One question, though....does Brandon McCann get the "Mike Smith Exemption" from Don O'Brien? If so, I have Missouri winning it's second ever Classic.
Culver Stockton Coach John Windham is already making some pretty strong local recruiting in-roads. First, he stole Central Lee Pivot Trevor Pezley (who has been impressive, according to Windham in open gyms) and now he gets a future point guard to go along with him in Highland's Kyle Ellison. Ellison has three Conference Championships on his career resume and while he is more of a combo guard right now, the C-SC staff thinks Kyle has the floor savvy and toughness to be a pretty good one guard with a year or two worth of seasoning. Ellison is a tremendous character kid and I really like what Windham is doing in terms of going after rock solid citizens as the foundation of his program.
Iowa Wesleyan Coach Alan Magnani has picked up his second local commitment of "the season" snaring Keokuk Swingman Josh Beaird to go along with Central Lee All Stater Brett Azinger. QND sharpshooter Zac Ufkes made a pledge this week to Westminster College to become a Bluejay.
Got an e-mail on Thursday from one of our favorite Brown County Hornets, Volleyball Coach Danielle Doerfler, telling us she was resigning her position with the school to take a pretty lofty position as the coordinator for the Physical Education Program at MacMurray (Danielle is a Jacksonville native) as well as serving as Professor of Physical Education. There was a time, not so very long ago, when Hornet Volleyball was little more than the punch line to a joke. Sarah Bauer helped pull the Hornets out a half decade of winless futility and Danielle came along and built upon that spark of life. This year, BC produced its first ever college signee (Sam Kassing) and while no one is confusing the Hornet Program with Jacksonville or West Prairie yet, Doerfler presided over a nice rise to respectability. She will be sorely missed. We wish her well in her new gig at Mac.
QND has filled it's Week Three Football Vacancy for the 2009 season with Spring Valley Hall. If Shawn Jeppson is playing quarterback for the Red Devils, I want a full IHSA investigation.
Spent Tuesday Night in America's Hometown taking in the Pirates baseball showdown with state ranked Boonville. Neil Hugenberg got the start and delivered 14 strikeouts in a 2-1 loss. I happened to be sitting next to the young lady who was running the JUGGS Gun for the Boonville Coaching Staff and I saw Neil paint the radar gun with 88 mph on two different first inning pitches. Clint Graham says Neil was up as high as 89 later in the game. Any doubts about the condition of this kid's formerly risky back should now be put to rest. Hannibal has a huge statement game coming up next week at home against undefeated Macon.
Pittsfield was dropped from the ranks of the unbeaten on Thursday by a Western team that had really been struggling. Ryan Motley gets the complete game victory and Keaton Baker homered in the Wildcats upset win. Now that the Saukees are ticked off, how many games in a row do you think John Schultz's team reels off from here.
Sleeper Report (Delivered Larry King style)
1) Quietly, Brown County's Grant DeWitt is pitching as well as anyone in the area right now.
2) For my money, Beardstown's Tyson Nordsiek is the best defensive third baseman in the region and it is not even close for second
3) Quincy High's John Wert may be my favorite lead-off hitter in our region, if only because no one else in memory drops as many pretty bunts for singles.
4) Every time I have seen Pittsfield play, Michael Johnson does something "small" that ultimately turns out to be a key reason for his team's victory
5) For a guy who was completely off-radar at season's start, Hannibal's Kyle Arthaud has been a revelation. And I don't just say that because he is related to a co-worker. 6) Explain to me again why the Tri State's answer to Cody Ross, Jacob Schmudlach, did not play for Illini West last season? In a word, wow....
7) He won't get legit COY consideration with Beardstown and Griggsville Perry playing so well, but Brad Bergman has been a revelation at Quincy High
8) Kristy Obert's change-up might be the trickiest pitch to hit in Tri State softball. She fools me with the camera, and at the risk of sounding immodest, that doesn't happen often...
9) Remember this name: Rhea Hobson. Griggsville-Perry is far more than just superstar Lacy Emrick.
10) We sang his praises during basketball, but I really like Macomb's Seth Wickert as a future big time pitcher.
Macomb standout Kendall Hocker, who has pitched as well this year as any kid east of the Mississippi, has narrowed his college choices to ICC, Carl Sandberg, and Lincoln Land. He might be the steal of the area for whichever JUCO lands him.
The Eddie Guardado of John Wood Baseball, Travis Rueppel, pledged to continue his career next year at Quincy University. The former Virginia/AC Central star will likely serve as a spot starter or long reliever for the Hawks. No word yet on what is next for Levi Graham and Josey Garnett.
Rueppel's V/AC teammate and former KHQA Player of the Year Eric Jockisch is 3-5 in his sophomore season at Northwestern with a 4.39 ERA. He is fourth in the Big Ten in innings pitched and he has tallied 44 strikeouts against just 19 walks.
One the eve of this weekend's Big Ten Championships at Penn State, Quincy High alum Luke Guthrie is aiming to help the Illini to their first conference title since 1988. Illinois is ranked number one in the country by Golfstat and the Illini have won more meets (6) than any other team in the Top 25. And Luke is rated the ninth best player in the Big Ten (as a freshman) by the Golfweek/Sagarin Ratings. Luke is currently ranked 149th in the country. Iowa's Cole Peelver, a senior from Keokuk, is ranked 170th on that same poll.
Shameless Programing Alert: Coming up this weekend on OVERTIME, we profile the best talent evaluator in Tri State Baseball and find out how Greg Wathan built John Wood into a 30-6 powerhouse with supposed "recruiting leftovers." And on Friday on Sports Final, look for Joe Murano's piece on an Archery Dynasty in Northeast Missouri.
I know the Dogwood Bowl and Hueby Bowl are right around the corner, but for those of you who can't get enough of the 5 on 5 fun, now comes the Purple Pride Bowl, hosted by the Hoerner YMCA, Keokuk High School Football Boosters and Iowa Wesleyan College Football. It is the brainchild of one of our favorite former Northwestern LaHarpe stars Ryan Duffie and former IC Quarterback Peter Jennings. The Purple Pride Bowl will be held Saturday, May 16th at the Keokuk High School and Hoerner YMCA in Keokuk, IA. For registration information, you can call 319-524-6724 Ext.103.
Also, don't forget the day after the DO or DIE BOWL in Hannibal, you can play on the turf at Porter Stadium in the first ever CK11 Bowl to help commemorate the Colin Krigbaum Memorial Scholarship Fund. Details coming soon.
You may have seen the story on our website about Shaymus Guinn, the son of Western Illinois Soccer Coach Tony Guinn, who is battling a rare form of cancer. The entire Western Athletic Community has rallied for fundraisers to help Shaymus win his fight, and that includes a Fellowship of Christian Athletes fundraiser that raised 1800 dollars in eight days for both Shaymus, and Olivia Chatterton, who is battling Down's Syndrome and Leukemia. Clearly, there are a lot of big hearts in Macomb helping these children...none bigger than the man who actually invented this column, Steve Horrell, and his commitment is obvious here....
<http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yQrYsxE80kE>
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