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| Richwoods High School |
Galesburg vs. Richwoods (Boy's Basketball)
Class 3A Regionals (@ Richwoods)
(3/2/11)
The 145th game of the Quest was scheduled in Peoria. Now that we are in complete postseason mode, the travel is getting further, and time is getting shorter, hence a longer wait between blog entries.
I have never broadcasted a basketball game at Richwoods High School, but did broadcast the Class 5A Semifinal football playoff game that Richwoods hosted against Sacred Heart-Griffin. That game would probably go down as one of my favorite broadcasts of all-time.
Speaking of favorite all-time broadcasts, this is a question that is asked of me on countless occasions, and it's really hard to answer on the spot. Over the years, I have kept a running count of my favorites, and here are a few in no particular order (note: I am sure I'm missing a few)
1) United vs. Cobden Class 1A State Softball Championship (2009). By far, my favorite broadcast of all-time. Can you deny a state championship that goes 19 innings, and a pitcher (United's Katie Bertelsen) strikes out 34...yes 34, batters. Far and away my top game to broadcast.
2) Richwoods vs. Sacred Heart-Griffin Class 5A Semifinal Playoffs (2009). The host Knights were a big underdog to Ken Leonard's crew from Springfield, but Richwoods held a coming-out party for freshman running back Kendrick Foster.
3) Bushnell-Prairie City vs. North Fulton boy's basketball (2003-04). This game not only went to overtime, double overtime....nor triple overtime, but FOUR overtimes. A fun game to broadcast, my buddy Quincy Bejster was on color commentary. He is now working for Larry Bostwick down in the Jacksonville area.
4) Knoxville @ Gibson City-Melvin-Sibley Class 2A 2nd round football playoffs (2004). GCMS ran the "ghost man" play early in the game, the same play that would beat them in the end of this shootout. It was little used sophomore Robbie Hinkle (now a senior at Monmouth College, where he is starring in baseball), who scored the game-winning touchdown.
5) Orion @ Macomb boy's basketball (2005-06). It was a regular season matchup, but the teams went back-and-forth....and back again. There were some serious post game fireworks after this heated battle. Macomb went on to the Class A state finals in Peoria.
6) December 28th, 2010 (Galesburg Girl's Basketball). It was a pair of games, in which the Silver Streaks broke their own state record in an 8:00 a.m. game against Paris....then just hours later tied that same record against Rantoul at the Charleston Holiday Tournament. Galesburg went on to set the NATIONAL record for three-pointers made in a single season.
At the end of the season, I will recap the 2010-11 Quest 2: 150 broadcast season, and list off a number of my favorites.
The last time Jimmie had broadcasted a game at Richwoods, he said he was on the floor, next to the scorer's table. Athletic Director Daniel Camp had emailed me back and said we would be in the southwest balcony. Once we arrived at the gym, Jimmie said it had changed quite a bit since the last time we was there.
One of the assistant coaches came up and talked with us. Coach Jenkins said he has a son that is going to school at Knox. Josh Jenkins was a red shirt for the Prairie Fire this season, he is a Woodruff graduate, from the final class at the now deactivated school. He said he was going to send him a text to listen to our broadcast. He has another son on the Knights, Dillon Jenkins, a junior. They are no relation to another Jenkins in the Richwoods starting lineup, Will.
The programs weren't set out yet, so we exchanged rosters and copied them down. We had a nice perch in the corner of the balcony, and Jenkins said the door downstairs would be locked, so there wouldn't be too much through-traffic.
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| The view from above |
Assistant coach Troy Noble and his wife were in the gym before the rest of the team. They had come to Peoria earlier in the day, but he said he did NOT get dragged to the mall. The biggest question of the night was who the Silver Streaks would send out in the three-point shootout. Noble made mention of it, and I interrupted so I could take a guess. Jimmie and I talked about this on the way over to Peoria.
My four guesses were; Ryan Carl, Stefan Simic, Chad Johnson, and Zachary Wilke. I was 2-4, as Carl and Johnson were correct. However, the other two shooters were Austin Gernant and Trimaine Carson. I don't think Carson has attempted a three-pointer all season. He won a shootout against Wilke in practice, in fact he knocked down six of ten in the corners (impressive!). Both Carl and Gernant advanced to Friday's shootout, hitting eight apiece.
Former Galesburg radio man Jon Raymond was in the gym, and sat behind us. He works in radio in Peoria now. I don't know Jon too well, but we have been in the same fantasy football league for several years. In fact, we used to do a live draft at Crappy's, but have gone online the last few years.
Girl's basketball coach Evan Massey stopped up to the broadcast table, and was telling me about a big Galesburg victory over a very strong Richwoods team in 1976, a squad that featured Richwoods girl's basketball player Mariah Smith's dad, Mark Smith. That game came a year after a 55-point blowout loss over Galesburg at Richwoods.
Galesburg took an early lead 11-10. The Silver Streaks had a pair of plays of the game in the first half. The first play came late in the 1st quarter on an ally-oop two-handed slam dunk by Chad Thompson. The second play of the game was bigger in the scheme of the game and momentum. In a 25-23 game, Richwoods had the ball in the final 30 seconds. With 10 seconds remaining, Brandon Thompson picked the pocket of a Knights guard, and took it in and scored with just a few ticks of the clock, and Galesburg went into the break leading 27-23.
Richwoods went on a short run in the second half, but Dalton Davis hit a couple big outside shots to keep the Streaks in it. Richwoods led by one point at the end of the 3rd quarter, but Galesburg went on an 18-0 run that carried over from the final minute of the 3rd quarter throughout most of the 4th quarter. The Streaks outscored the Knights 16-2 in the 4th quarter to win, 61-45.
Brandon Thompson finished with a game-high 31 points, and was our easy winner for the First Glass Breakout Player of the Game. No other Silver Streak scored in double figures. Nate Desjardins scored 15 points to lead Richwoods. Preston Wells scored 13 points, despite scoring his team's first 11 points.
After the game, coach Mike Reynolds talked in the post game show about the win over a good Richwoods team, and how some people wouldn't give Richwoods credit as a good team. This comment was made to various negative commenters on the Galesburg Register-Mail website, where they comment below game stories and do not give credit to the basketball teams. It's funny that these people with nothing better to do, than criticize 16 and 17 year old kids, make excuses for a basketball program that has collectively (boy's and girl's) won 53 games, and have a 53-14 record.
Knuttel Pronunciation
When I broadcast the Richwoods football game in the fall of 2009, I am pretty sure the pronunciation on Tim Knuttel was (Kuh-noo-tull). Before the game, coach Jenkins said that he calls him (Nut-tull), and I believe I heard the P.A. announcer pronounce it, (Kuh-nut-tull).
Game 145 Miles: 220
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