St. Charles North graduate Tenbrock delivers a unique first
Penn State University freshman kicker Lucas Tenbrock, a St. Charles North High School graduate, had the honor of delivering the first kickoff at Northwestern University’s new Ryan Field on Oct. 2 in Evanston.
The 6-foot-6, 210-pounder drove the opening kick 56 yards, where Northwestern’s Gavin Sawchuck signaled a fair catch at the Wildcats’ 9-yard line.
A two-time DuKane Conference specialist of the year with St. Charles North, Tenbrock kicked off three times in Northwestern’s 34-13 Big Ten Conference victory, averaging 61.7 yards a kick with a touchback.
Solely a kickoff specialist thus far at Penn State, going into Saturday night’s game against USC Tenbrock led the Nittany Lions with 15 kickoffs for 950 yards, an average of 63.3 yards per kick, with nine touchbacks.
Hamann, nice shot
Playing for the No. 2 team in NAIA women’s soccer, Indiana Wesleyan senior forward Alyssa Hamann (Cary-Grove) led the Crossroads League in goals and scoring after Saturday’s 5-0 win at Goshen College in Indiana.
A Crossroads player of the week at the start of the season when she scored three goals on four shots, Hamann put up 27 points in the 11-1-2 Wildcats’ first 13 games. Her 12 goals also led the league.
A first-team Crossroads League pick as a sophomore and junior, Hamann also was tied for the league lead with a team-high five game-winning goals.
The Iron Man
Karsten Ternes (Wauconda), a redshirt sophomore defender for the Purdue-Fort Wayne men’s soccer team, leads the Mastodons in minutes played. Counting Saturday’s scoreless draw at Robert Morris University (Penn.), Ternes had started all 10 games for Purdue-Fort Wayne. He’d racked up a team-high 810 minutes.
Ternes was the captain of the Daily Herald Lake County All-Area Boys Soccer Team in 2023 as a senior. At defensive midfielder, Ternes was also an all-state selection that season, as well as the Northern Lake County Conference player of the year, his fourth straight all-conference selection.
Named to the Horizon League All-Tournament Team last season, Ternes in 2025 started all 17 games for Purdue-Fort Wayne and ranked third on the team in minutes while scoring two goals with two assists.
Coaching news
In late August, Loudon Love (Geneva), a past two-time Horizon League player of the year in men’s basketball at Wright State, was hired as an assistant coach for the Southern Illinois University Salukis. He joined the staff of his former Wright State coach, Scott Nagy, now in his third season leading the Salukis.
Love, Wright State’s all-time leader in rebounds and blocked shots, had spent the prior five years playing professional basketball in a variety of locales — in Canada, France, and Italy, and in several NBA G League locations.
College sports are loaded with connections. The man Nagy replaced as head coach at Southern Illinois, Bryan Mullins (Downers Grove South), last week was named among Silver Waves Media’s 100 Most Impactful/Influential High Major Assistant Coaches.
A defensive whiz, assist machine, and hall-of-fame member both at Downers South and at Southern Illinois, Mullins is entering his third season as an assistant coach at DePaul University.
In 2024-25 Mullins helped the Blue Demons set their 3-point basket record; last season, the Demons had their best finish in the Big East Conference.
In five seasons as SIU’s head coach from 2019-24, Mullins went 86-68. As part of Porter Moser’s staff at Loyola from 2013-19, Mullins aided the Ramblers’ 2018 Final Four run.
Mullins’ older brother, Brendan Mullins, was hired earlier this year as associate head coach at Belmont University. He’d spent the prior two seasons at Murray State.
Brendan Mullins was on the bench with his brother at Southern Illinois and brings nearly two decades of coaching experience to Belmont — including six seasons at Wright State.
doberhelman@dailyherald.com