Area products revving up high-powered Carthage
The high-powered Carthage College offense is making football games look like track meets, and area graduates have played lead roles.
After piling up 641 total yards in a 70-46 win over Hope (Holland, Mich.) College with quarterback Evan Jones (Grayslake Central) throwing for a school-record 428 yards, Carthage collected 517 more yards Saturday in a 27-21 win over Lakeland College of Sheboygan, Mich.
Jones added 324 passing yards and 2 more TDs to give him 8 TD passes in two games.
In the win over Hope, junior Jeff Koeneman (Fremd) caught 8 passes for 126 yards and 1 touchdown as a wide receiver and rushed six times for 87 yards and 2 more scores as a tailback, one a 52-yard run.
Freshman brother Mike Koeneman (Fremd) caught 1 pass for 44 yards.
Also contributing for Carthage, cornerback Danny O'Donnell (Elk Grove) had 11 tackles, 1 interception, blocked an extra point and returned 2 punts and 3 kickoffs, one for 57 yards.
Safety Eric Brightwell (Rolling Meadows) partially blocked 2 punts and had 6 tackles.
In the win over Lakeland, O'Donnell, who was named the league's special teams player of the week, returned a kick 95 yards for a touchdown and had 4 tackles with 2 interceptions and 2 passes broken up, Jeff Koeneman caught 8 more passes for 125 yards, and Jake Smith (Fremd) scored on a 7-yard run and added 53 rushing yards.
• Illinois State's Tom Nelson (Hersey) returned a punt 82 yards against Murray State, the second longest punt return for a score in school history.
• Quarterback Tim Podulka (Elk Grove) of Augustana College led the team in rushing (90 yards) and completed 15 of 18 passes for 135 yards against Greenville.
Soccer
Sophomore goalkeeper Frankie Gorg (Hersey) of Illinois Wesleyan University was named College Conference of Illinois & Wisconsin defensive player of the week. He turned away 8 shots in a 2-0 win over Maryville (St. Louis) University.
• Junior Liz Holby (Fremd), who earned a starting spot on the Indiana University front line, leads the Hoosiers with 4 goals. She netted the game-winner against Loyola and also had the goal that sealed a win over George Mason.
• Scott Wallner (Buffalo Grove) of Augustana College converted a 28-yard free kick against Central College. Matt Meyer (Schaumburg) leads the team in scoring with 4 goals.
• Jackie Peterson (Schaumburg) of Carthage scored 2 goals against Carroll College and now has 7 in seven games.
• Roger Straz (Maine West) was named the Carthage College soccer team's scholar-athlete. Entering this 2008 season, Straz had appeared in 56 of Carthage's 59 games. He also was a four-semester member of the athletic director's honor roll and a two-team dean's list member at Carthage.
• Sophomore Tom Marsden (Grayslake) of Augustana College played the entire 110 minutes in goal and made 10 saves in a 0-0 double overtime tie with Greenville.
• Carthage's Gary Mouradian (Antioch) scored the lone goal and was assisted by Chris Fidlow (Carmel) in a 1-0 win over Concordia (Wis.). Also for Carthage, Maria Korosis (Lakes) scored in a 2-0 victory over Clarke.
Volleyball
Sophomore Jenna Howard (Wauconda) of Augustana College leads the conference in service aces at 0.70 (26 in 37).
Cornell College (Mount Vernon, Iowa) junior outside hitter Kristin Paczosa (Buffalo Grove) was named Iowa Conference volleyball player of the week and Cornell's female athlete of the week. She led the Rams to a 5-1 week, including a 4-0 mark in claiming the team title at the Beloit Buc Blast. She had 59 kills (3.69 kpg) 10 blocks, 9 service aces and 59 digs. In one game she had 16 kills in 28 attempts with only 1 error for a .536 percentage. She also had 4 aces, 10 digs and a block.
• Kyrsten Becker (Rolling Meadows) of the University of St. Francis was named to the all-tournament team in the Mustang Classic hosted by Morningside College in Sioux City, Iowa. In conference play against Robert Morris College, she had a career-high 19 kills in 36 attempts in the three-game win.
• Sophomore Jackie Dickens (Hoffman Estates) of Augustana College had 14 blocks in a 3-2 loss to North Central.
Bowling
The third annual High School Bowling Coaches of Illinois clinic will be held Saturday, Oct. 4, at Joliet's Town and Country Lanes.
Team USA head coach Jeri Edwards will be the guest clinician for the day. She has been involved in all levels of bowling since winning the IHSA individual state title for her team champion Rich Central in 1980.
Also successful at Penn State, Edwards won both WIBC and LPBT championships and is a USBC Gold-level coach.
Preregistration is $25 for HSBCI members and $35 for nonmembers, which includes a one-year HSBCI membership.
Go to www.hsbci.org for more information.
Cross country
Freshman Rachel Dean (Lakes) of Judson University was named the National Christian Collegiate Athletic Association Runner of the Week. Running in her first collegiate meet, Dean finished two seconds ahead of the Aurora University Invitational field with a 23:05 clocking. Judson is in its first year of cross country after a 13-year absence.
Mike Richardson (Buffalo Grove) of Illinois State helped the Redbirds to a second-place finish by taking 10th in 25:12 at the 27-team Illinois Intercollegiate.
Golf
Illinois State's Joe Emerich (Palatine) was named the Missouri Valley Conference golfer of the week. He had rounds of 76-73-73 in the Kansas Invitational.
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