Fresh off their success on the football field, the Pecatonica boys are lighting up the basketball courts. Ranked No. 1 in 1A, the Indians have rolled to an 11-0 record and have only been tested once (56-54 win over 2A Normal U-High).
To better prepare for the state tournament, Pec has scheduled larger suburban schools such as Aurora Marmion, Naperville Nequa Valley and Burbank St. Laurence. They will also be tested by undefeated Rockford Christian and Forreston Holiday Tournament champ Byron.
After disposing of highly-ranked Eastland by 30 points, it remains to be seen if anyone around here in 1A can contest the Indians. Thus, their scheduling strategy should pay dividends.
If Pec can make it downstate, it will be the first time in school history they will contend for a state title in any sport. Last year, Aurora Christian deprived them of that chance by edging them 68-66 at the super-sectional.
Aurora (10-4) is in the same super-sectional again, as is Yorkville Christian (12-4). Those records may be misleading as they play bigger schools.
But, first Pec has to get out of the regional or sectional. Former Oregon coach Quinn Virgil told a while ago that even good teams need some luck to win all six post-season games to make state.
Say your team has an off night and an underdog catches fire, for example like Polo did against Dakota, very good teams have been shown the door in the playoffs. Or, it could be by the narrowest of margins, like the loss to AC last year.
Lost in all this hoopla was the recent announcement of Durand-Pecatonica joining the Big Northern conference for football and soccer only. With a combined enrollment of 450, Du-Pec is right on par with what Oregon, Byron and Winnebago have.
Competitively, they have knocked off Genoa-Kingston, Oregon and SV in the playoffs. They even took traditional power Wilmington to the limit in the 3A quarterfinals.
Another plus is geographic location, with Pec being relatively close to everyone else. Instead of an unwieldy number of nine football teams in the NUIC, a more manageable eight-team league results.
It appears everyone benefits. Well, maybe not everyone.
Rochelle was hoping the Big Northern would consider them for membership for all sports. Like Pec, they had a major selling point in geographic location.
A drawback was an enrollment of 868, which is about 100 more than what largest school Dixon has. Dixon still catches some flak for being larger than everyone else in the BNC, so you could imagine how Rochelle would be perceived.
Projected enrollment for Rochelle has it going under 800, but that is relative, as other schools are also declining in students.
However, other than football, BNC schools have a winning percentage in boys and girls sports over Rochelle. But, the prowess shown by the Hubs on the gridiron against much larger teams certainly doomed any chance of getting that coveted BNC invitation.
I know folks in Rochelle have grown weary of innumerable trips down Interstate 39 for conference games against schools like Morris, Ottawa and LaSalle-Peru. That’s not such a big deal in football, but in all the other sports with weekday games, the travel is a pain.
Too bad Rochelle couldn’t be added as a non-football member.
How about the big win in bowling by Oregon’s Gavvin Surmo in the Dixon Toughman Tournament. Going against three teams (Harlem, Hononegah, Dixon) that placed in the top 12 downstate last year, Surmo placed first in an event featuring three games of traditional team bowling before going to 15 games in a Baker format.
No matter what the format is, if you can beat the best from long-time state powers Harlem and Hono, that’s saying something. Two years ago as a sophomore, Surmo qualified for state and looks on target for a return trip his senior year.
Harlem totaled a 6,637, followed by Oregon (6,423), Dixon (6,311) and Hononegah (6,160) in the 16-team field. That bodes well for the Hawks’ chances of making it downstate as a team in a one-class system.
Andy Colbert is a longtime Ogle County resident with years of experience covering sports and more for multiple area publications.
