MARCH 15, 2009
As they say, "It's a great day to be Irish", but I believe.....
IT'S AN EVEN BETTER DAY TO BE A SPARTAN!!
Our P.E. classes will be continuing their units on Pickleball, Ping Pong, Bags, and in 6th grade, Wiffleball. As well, our 6th graders will test for their current units on Wednesday, rotating to their next activity on Thursday!! Go over those study guides!!!
My personal congratulations go out to all the Lakeview student/musicians who did such an outstanding job last weekend at the DuPage Festival of Bands competition held at Lakeview.
In the "Lunch-with-the-Coach" phase of my weekly blog, the winner of last week's question ("What is another name we use for the activity...Cornhole?") was Tosha K, who correctly answered....."BAGS".......way to go Tosha!!!
The question for this week is ...... "Who were the four Lakeview alums who helped Downers Grove South to a very successful Boys Basketball season this past year?" Remember...........first person to correctly e-mail me the answer (tdodd@ccsd66.org) is the winner!
Have a great final two weeks until Spring Break!!
Coach Dodd
OH, ..........and just one more thing............................................
GAME OVER!!!!!!!!!!............SPARTANS WIN!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Did you really think I wasn't going to celebrate Friday night??????
As a culmination to a great season, the Lakeview Spartan Boys Varsity Basketball team defeated Cass Jr. High in the S.E.D.A.A. tournament championship game by the score of 34-32. The Spartans ended their season with an overall record of 17-7, 12-3 in the conference, and 3-0 in the post-season. Following early-week wins over Eisenhower and Westview Hills, the Spartans faced the Warriors for the second time this season. Having beaten Cass 43-42 on a last second shot by Robert M., the championship game looked to be a great one before it started. Cass came off two early-week wins, including a thriller by one over 12 and 3 Old Quarry.
After a first quarter that wound up tied at 8, the Spartans ran off 10 straight points on two baskets by Robert M., a three-pointer by Andrew J., and a basket/free throw by John B.. Cass' Jerry S. hit two jumpers to bring the Warriors back to trail only 18-12 at half-time. A back-and-forth third quarter was highlighted by Cass' (former 66er) D.J.D.'s jumper to put them ahead. The next possession saw Andrew J. answer with a three-pointer of his own, giving Lakeview the lead back. The Spartans' Jeff J. hit two key baskets down the same stretch, including a three-pointer from the left corner!!! At the end of three quarters, the score stood at Lakeview 26 and Cass 23.
As the fourth quarter unfolded, the Cass guards (Jerry S. and D.J.D.) battled to keep the Warriors even, only to have their Lakeview counter-parts answer the challenge. Cass hit three, three pointers during the final stanza, but were unable to penetrate the inside of the Lakeview defense. Jeff J., Alex P., Povilas G., and Robert M. refused to allow any layups or put-backs for easy points. Andrew J., John B., Alex P., and Jeff J. handled the Cass pressure in their attempt at take-aways.
During the final seconds, Cass had opportunities to regain the lead from the outside, including a long three-point attempt at the buzzer that rimmed off.
While preparing for the game, our philosophy was to not let their guards both get into the twenties for points. At the end, D.J.D. finished with 18, while Jerry S. had 10.
Final game stats for Lakeview:
POINTS --- John B. > 9....Jeff J. > 8....Robert M. and Andrew J. > 6 .....Povilas G. > 5
REBOUNDS -- Robert M. > 7 .....Alex P. > 5 .....Povilas G. > 3 ......Jeff J. > 4 .....
John B. > 3 .....Andrew J. > 2
As far as the Spartan' fans, what needs to be said!!!!!! During all the years of games played at Old Quarry, I can not remember the hosts having to open the upper deck for the crowd......until Friday night!!!! I would like to be able to say "Thanks" to each of our fans individually, but I know this can not be done.......................so....................I think I will try to mention some groups I believe were there. Let's start with the players' parents, grandparents and other relatives; Lakeview cheerleaders and their parents; the administration (Mr. and Mrs. Liles) and the fine arts dept. (Mr. Tedeschi and Mr. Ohlsen) who had front-row, center-court seats; Coach Dvorak and his family, as well as Miss Nyhlen; what appeared to be many of my first hour P.E. class (thanks to chauffeur Slayden); many of our varsity cheerleaders from LAST year; Coach and Mrs. Little (and "Little" Little), parents of our alumni who are currently at college, MANY, MANY of our current student body, and finally , "The Superfans" (lead by Patrick Lally) from Downers South, including Lakeview basketball alums Malcolm Herron, Seth Carson, Mike Cahill, and Alex Gorniak (on crutches). I think this great support of the Spartans got our guys going during crunch time!!! Oh, and one more......my wife Julie, who holds her breathe everytime she comes and watches me get wrapped up in the game!!!!!!
I have asked a lot of my club this season, and sometimes these things have been looked at with questions, and on a rare occasion mild resistance................but accepted as the way we were going to do things!!! I truly believe that this reached the players, and hopefully they understand now what it takes to be successful!! Everyone needs to be pulling in the same direction, and Friday night, we were!!!!!!! Our "bench players" (Vincent L., Joe N., Marty L., James I., Zak P., Jeff J., Steven K., Chris W., Kevin R., Tony L.) who did not see as much playing time as they would have liked were great teammates, and worked very hard in practice. This is not the easiest mind-set to be in, but they were great in their roles on the team!!!!!!
I hope to see all of the "Spartan Nation" at the awards dinner this coming Thursday night; March 19th at Lakeview!!!!!
CONGRATULATIONS to each and every one of the members of the program!!!
THE BAR HAS BEEN RAISED, AND THE BANNER WILL BE RAISED!!!!!!!!
GO SPARTANS........PLAY HARD!!!!!!
Coach Dodd
