Game 153: Moline vs. Normal Community (Boy's Basketball)

Moline Maroons

Game 153
Moline vs. Normal Community (Boy's Basketball)
IHSA Class 3A Sectionals (@ Wharton Fieldhouse)
(3/9/11)

The end of the road.  There was a 50% chance that this would be my final broadcast of the 2010-11 season.  With a Moline win tonight, I would head back up to Wharton Fieldhouse on Friday for the Sectional championship.  If not, it would be time to focus on spring sports. 



You know you're early to the game when you arrive to an empty gym....and the lights aren't even on yet.  That was the case tonight, a few minutes before 5:00 for the 7:30 game between the Moline Maroons and the Normal Community Ironmen.

Dax (or Dex) was there to greet me before the game.  He is the man that sweeps the floor before the game and at halftime.  He's a popular guy around Wharton.  He told me he convinced one of the track and field guys to come to the game tonight. 

After unloading most of the equipment, a few more guys came into the gym, and we had a lively discussion talking about open enrollment schools (always a hot topic!), and much of our conversation surrounded stories of East St. Louis.  East St. Louis will play in the Sectional championship on Friday night.  I am bad with names, but the group consisted of Tom (?), an older gentleman that might have been a teacher (judging by what he was holding), and the two "ref agitators."  They are Moline fans that were referee-striped shirts that read, "ref agitator" in red across the front, and sit in the front row on the baseline.

Normal Community Ironmen

The WJBC radio guys arrived, and appeared to be having some equipment issues with their wireless equipment.  By this time, my broadcast partner for the night, Bill Horrell helped them out in trying to find a land line.  I believe they opted to go the cell phone route.  We shared some information on each team.  Despite covering Galesburg throughout the season, I have watched around a half dozen Maroons games.  Moline played in the Galesburg Thanksgiving Tournament, the two games against the Silver Streaks, and I also watched them play Peoria Central in the Peoria/Quad Cities Shootout.

The press section was packed, with the print media in the front row that included Andrew Peterson of the Quad City Times, Jim Benson of the Bloomington Pantagraph, and Marc Nesseler and Steve Tappa of the Moline Dispatch.  In fact, "Taps" had his own reserved seat.  Nesseler wrote in the paper today the records of the Maroons when various writers covered the team.  The Maroons were 9-1 when Steve Tappa covered them.  One of the workers at Wharton wrote "Reserved for Steve Tappa" with a star and taped it on the table.  Bill and I were in the 2nd row, along with Moline athletic director Todd Rosenthal, and the WJBC broadcast crew was in the last row behind us.

A pair of Maroons advanced in the three-point shootout, Grey Giovanine and Connor Welvaert.  Each knocked down 8 three's.

Here is video from the teams entering Wharton Fieldhouse.


Game Time
Normal Community jumped out to an early 8-0 lead, behind three-pointers by Anthony Beane and Chase Robbins.  Moline countered with a 5-0 run.  The Ironmen led 17-10 at the end of the 1st quarter.

Another 5-0 run to start the 2nd quarter pulled the Maroons to within two points, trailing 17-15.  Normal Community started to pull away, but Moline kept it close and it was 24-18 at halftime.  Beane finished the first half with 8 points, all coming in the 1st quarter.  He finished the game with 12 points.  The Ironmen finished with 4 three-pointers in the first half.

Normal Community was wearing their visitor uniforms, which are bright orange...similar to what a hunter would wear.

The Ironmen took advantage of the allowed uptick in physical play during the 3rd and 4th quarter, and outscored Moline 19-8 to take a 43-26 lead heading into the 4th quarter.  It was all Ironmen in the final frame, cruising to a 60-40 win.

Anthony Goodar (6'3" Sr.) scored a team-high 17 points for the victorious Ironmen.  He was seen talking with Carl Sandburg College head coach Ryan Twaddle after the game.

Moline's Anthony Lindauer knocked down 6 three-pointers and finished with a game-high 19 points.  He struggled at the free throw line, going just 1-5.  The entire Maroons group struggled with their shooting, as the team shot 14-38 from the field.

Playing in their final game in a Moline Maroons uniform were Grey Giovanine, Kyle Lewis, and Josh Johnson.

I talked with both head coaches after the game, Dave Witzig of Normal Community and Ryan Webber of Moline.  Those interviews can be heard on the Thursday edition of Sportsline, which airs from 12:20 to 1:00 on 1590 WAIK (www.1590waik.com).  Each show is archived on the website, on the sports page.  Other guests on Thursday's show will be Carl Sandburg College softball coach Todd Winkler (from Pensacola, Florida) and new Monmouth-Roseville baseball coach Chris Schwarz.  On Friday's show, a preview of the Class 1A/2A state finals with many of the head coaches.

New Eats?
Before the game I took an extra drive around with my timeliness.  As I was cruising down Avenue of the Cities (always 23rd to me), I noticed Uncle Pete's Gyros.  I've never seen this place before, and Bill Horrell told me that it just moved to that location.  Bill said that the gyros are much better at Uncle Pete's than Dr. Gyro's, my favorite joint in Rock Island.  I had a footlong cold cut combo from Subway on my way to the Quad Cities, so I wasn't hungry.  I'll have to keep this in mind when covering baseball/softball this spring!

Things I Thought on the Drive Home
153 broadcasts are in the books for the 2010-11 season.  It's bittersweet, as it feels like a giant weight lifted off of my shoulders, however it was extremely fun being in a gym every night, and sometimes in upwards of 14 hours in one day.  The traveling (around 11,000 miles), and meeting new people from every corner of the state.  Before I close the book...err blog on the Quest 2: 150, I'll have to recap with a final numbers rundown, what I find in the backseat, and looking back at all of the fast food meals (I may not want to know this). Here are some things I thought while driving home from a basketball game for the final time this season.

1)  I always see a cop in Viola.  I make a lot of trips on Route 67 to the games in the Quad Cities, and there is almost always a cop in Viola sitting, or driving through the town.

2)  "Fat Bottomed Girls" is a funny song.  Everytime I hear the Queen classic, it puts a smile on my face.  It's just a funny song.  "Fat bottomed girls make this rockin' world go round." 

3)  I am craving a jalapeno burger from Crappy's in Galesburg.  It's odd that the burger makes me want to rip out my tongue and throw it in the freezer, and drink gallons of (beverage of choice).  I went through a stage where I hated spicy foods, after loving spicy foods as a kid.  On the non-spicy side, I called Slim Jims, "spicy sticks."  I also only slightly opened my cans of Mt. Dew and sucked out the pop.  I was a weird kid.

4)  Did I leave my underwear on the bathroom floor?  The realtor showed my house today (fingers crossed, sell sell sell), and my biggest fear is that I will leave something out.  Tonight, it was underwear in the bathroom (I didn't, by the way), and whether or not the house smelled like fish (I cooked fish last night, and it did smell a little fishy when I got home).

Beau 4 Bobblehead!

5)  Basketball season flies by as fast as summer.  It doesn't seem like 4 months of basketball have gone by already, but it has.  I guess the good thing about this, is that it means spring sports are right around the corner, meaning warmer weather and another round of different sports!

And with that, the final game blog entry.  Stay tuned, as I will have a recap of the Quest 2: 150 with a numbers report.  Also, I am involved in the Peoria Chiefs Media Madness Bobblehead contest.  I am playing for the Special Olympics - Area 4 (Knox, Warren, Henderson, McDonough, Mercer, Fulton, and Rock Island counties).  Voting begins next week.  Check out www.beau4bobblehead.com, and here is the direct link to the bracket: LINK.  The winner gets $500 for their charity, so let's help out Special Olympics and Vote 4 Beau!

Game 153 Miles:  170