Possley out to prove himself once again

North Central College football coach John Thorne runs a program people want to be part of.

Nolan Possley of St. Charles East is the type of player coaches just can't get enough of.

It's a great match.

The Saints senior - currently in prep baseball mode for the first time in three years, an outfielder on the roster but mainly a pinch runner on the field - has 4.6 speed, always a perk for a quarterback.

That was the position he played this fall for the Saints. All-Conference in the Upstate Eight and All-Area for the Daily Herald, Possley also started at linebacker and fullback and you figure if coach Mike Fields wanted him at nose tackle Possley would have sprinted in there.

"Coach always put me in a good situation," said Possley, a receiver his junior year. "During practice that week, he'd tell me early, like on Monday, or call me over the weekend and tell me what he was going to have me play that week."

Possley settled in at quarterback, running for 430 yards and passing for 703 with 11 touchdowns combined. Against Waubonsie Valley he ran for a 58-yard touchdown and threw the game-winning 10-yard touchdown pass in overtime. Playing linebacker on that rainy, mud-splashed night, Possley also recovered a fumble.

"He kind of did everything. That's what we like about him, is his athletic ability and also his speed," said Brad Spencer, his recruiter at spread offense-based North Central.

"He's going to come in and play quarterback and that's what he wants to play. With quarterbacks, the biggest thing we recruit is just an athlete," said Spencer, a receiver on Naperville Central's 1999 state championship team.

Possley will test his 30-inch vertical leap by seeing if he can vault three current contenders for the quarterback job. North Central returns sophomore Alex Haan (Chicago Christian), redshirt freshman Brad Crackel (Oswego East) and true freshman Spencer Stanek (Lincoln-Way East.)

Possley, who decided to pursue a college football career after his first couple games last fall, is the sole high school senior quarterback fully committed to North Central to this point, Brad Spencer said.

North Central's past two quarterbacks - three-year man Aaron Fanthorpe and Kam Kniss - have been named player of the year in the College Conference of Illinois and Wisconsin the last five seasons combined. North Central has held at least a share of the last four CCIW titles after the Cardinals went since 1960 without one.

"He definitely has a lot of potential, and some shoes to fill," Spencer said. "The thing with Nolan is he's a competitor and he's got his head on straight. He's a mature young man and I think he's anxious to come in and compete at a program of our caliber."

Possley attended North Central's spring practice on April 14. He realizes all he can control is giving his best in any situation. And that's no different from last season.

"It's definitely going to be fun competing with them," Possley said, "feeding off what they can do and trying to match that and do better than that. It's kind of nice to have a fair competition and see where that takes us."

On the moveNo truer words were ever spoken about a club soccer player."We're always in season. We never stop," said Sammy Scofield.We last caught up to the Geneva junior after she had provided her commitment to Notre Dame on Oct. 21. Scofield pulled in Sunday after a week in California, invited to participate in the U.S. Under-18 National Team. Among the two dozen players there was Vanessa Laxgang, one of her teammates on the Eclipse Select club out of Libertyville. They won the Under-17 national title last summer, Scofield playing center-midfield.In California - the camp was in Carson, inland, east of Torrance with a view of Los Angeles through the haze to the north - and the girls endured the customary training sessions, intrasquad games and a few scrimmages. Thursday was a light day, then a movie. The girls saw "Date Night" with Steve Carell and Tina Fey."It was funny," Scofield said. "I liked it."It took her a little to warm up to the soccer."It was definitely a big deal and I was nervous for sure because it was different, I was out of my comfort zone," said Scofield, who chose Notre Dame over offers from Wisconsin, West Virginia, Clemson, Penn State, Missouri and Rutgers."But once I got comfortable and, like, settled down, it was just playing and it wasn't anything new. It was the anticipation leading up to it that got me nervous."The main focus of this camp was to prepare for the 2012 U-20 FIFA Women's World Cup.Next up for Scofield is a Midwest showcase with always-moving Eclipse Select in Carmel, Ind. Perhaps another national camp will be in Scofield's future, but she said she's not going to lose sleep over it."It was a good experience, and fun to play with that good of players," she said. "But I'm always going to love my club team. That's where my loyalty is, too, so I was happy to come back to all of them."Vikings ruleThere's strong Geneva representation at Saturday's Illinois Basketball Coaches Association Hall of Fame induction in Bloomington. The Class of 2010 includes the Tison brothers, Haskell (Class of 1961) and Allan (Class of '66), who went on to play at Duke and Georgia Tech, respectively. Both are members of Geneva's Hall of Fame, "Hack" a 6-foot-11 center who remains the Vikings' all-time points leader.Also representing Geneva as a "Friend of Basketball" is longtime announcer Kurt Wehrmeister, out of Geneva's Class of '75. It's perfect timing, as after 32 years in basketball and 30 in football, Wehrmeister is retiring as the Vikings' full-time announcer though he may return for select dates. Vikings boys coach Phil Ralston nominated Wehrmeister, who, like all good announcers, preferred to talk about someone else - the Tisons."I think it's nice that two of our old heroes from the early '60s get recognized," Wehrmeister said. "They're both really grand gentlemen and sort of unassuming."Haskell Tison certainly sounds that. A year after Duke lost to John Wooden's first UCLA title team in 1964, the Celtics drafted Tison in the sixth round. Shifting gears, Wehrmeister recalled, Tison instead went to work for IBM. Also joining the IBCA Class of 2010 are former West Aurora player Melinda Spearman and familiar names such as Jacobs' Jim Hinkle, Plano's Brad Korn, Kirkland-Hiawatha's Gene Lamont (yes, that Gene Lamont), NBA ref Ron Olesiak and Joe Spagnolo of Lombard, longtime director of the Proviso West Holiday Tournament.About 1,500 people are expected to attend. If the national anthem starts the ceremony, there's no better choice than Wehrmeister to sing it.