By Troy Hayes, Decatur Herald & Review
Special to MaxPreps.com
It happens a lot. High school basketball coaches watching with apprehension as players they are staking their hoop dreams on play football on Friday nights.
For some coaches, it may be an obsessive thing, though most will tell you otherwise. Some will even encourage a basketball-first kid to not step foot on a football field for fear of an injury curtailing a championship season on the hardwood.
But most, as uneasy as it may make them every time their star hits the ground awkwardly, will support a decision to strap on the pads for a chance to put a jolt into someone.
“Oh, you’d tie yourself in knots if you thought about that kind of stuff,” said Meridian basketball coach Jack Blickensderfer, who has three prominent returners (Trent Swigert, Dakota Getz and Kyle Fore) playing on Fridays this fall.
“My mama told me a long time ago that you can only worry about the things you can control, and you can’t control if a kid gets hurt or not. Now the thoughts might creep in there a little more once basketball season gets a little closer. Then you might start hoping a little more that nothing goes wrong.”
Mount Zion basketball got a pretty big scare last week when senior Colby Long, who was making his debut for the Braves on the football field with twin brother Caleb, snapped the humerus bone in his left arm making a tackle against Lincoln. Surgery was needed this week to set the bone.
Colby, who averaged 15.4 points while directing the offense for the Braves last winter, says he wouldn’t have missed it for the world.
“No, I wouldn’t change anything. It was a blast to play,” said Colby, who should be well enough to play in the Team Soy Capital Turkey Tournament. “It was just a freak thing that I got hurt.”
Interestingly, that’s how most basketball coaches look at the possibility of a season-threatening injury.
“You could get hurt in PE,” said Warrensburg-Latham coach Vic Binkley, who has to worry about Dominique Warnsley and C.J. Yeakley among others tonight against Clinton. “In 2003 (when the Cardinals finished third at state in basketball), we had Korte Long and Andy Calmes out there catching passes. It was a little scary, but what can you do?”
Though most coaches agree with Binkley and Blickensderfer, there are amendments to the let-’em-play train of thought.
Eisenhower hoops coach Jeremy Moore has five kids that will likely play for the Panthers this winter, including potential starters Caleb Davis and Josh Eubanks, lining up tonight against Normal West.
“I sure don’t have a problem with playing football. You can get hurt playing anything. Now, if it was Lewis Jackson (who’s playing at Purdue now), I’d say something,” he said. “But for kids that aren’t going to destroy their future if they get hurt, I think it’s good for them to play football.”
Of course, there are some that would just as soon see their kids in open gyms or taking shooting practice than doing up-downs and pursuit drills.
“I’ve known coaches that would do all they could to discourage basketball players from playing football, and I’ve seen it the other way as well,” Blickensderfer said. “I think a kid ought to be out there having fun, helping the school and his teammates in whatever they decide to do.”
The kids themselves? Well, they just want to play.
“I know I haven’t changed my mind at all,” Caleb said. “It’s too much fun out there to worry about that stuff. If it happens, it happens.”
Crazy Comeback
Virden coach Bruce Paisley has seen nearly everything in his 22 years of coaching. Well, nearly everything.
Paisley got a huge — albeit welcome — surprise last week when his Bulldogs made a mad dash of a comeback to beat New Berlin on the road, 20-15.
Down 15-0 with about nine minutes left in the game, Virden forced three turnovers and scored with 1.8 seconds left to win the game.
“We’ve made fourth-quarter comebacks before, but three touchdowns with 9 minutes left in the game, we’ve never done anything like that,” Paisley told the Springfield Journal Register. “It was an amazing experience. But that’s what makes this game so unique. I found out we have a team with a lot of heart.”
A Long, Strange Trip
With the Little Okaw Valley Conference short a team, Arcola High School will make a monster road trip to fill its Week 2 open date. The Purple Riders travel to Orion, nearly 200 miles from their East-Central town.
And the prize they get for a three-plus hour bus ride? The top-ranked team in Class 2A.
Whipping Post No More
Danville High School used to be an almost automatic win in the Big 12 Conference. Not anymore.
When B.J. Luke returned to coach returned to his alma mater three years ago, the Vikings had won just four games in the previous four years. It wasn’t automaticallyturned around — Luke went 1-8 his first year back — but two straight playoff appearances with young starters had everyone in the Vermilion County area excited.
They’re ecstatic now. The Vikings, who are still relatively young, knocked off perennial power Bloomington 34-27 in double overtime last week. Sophomore Edward Clark sealed the win with an interception in the end zone.
Games of the Week
Terrific matchups litter Week 2 in the Associated Press’ Class 1A, 2A and 3A ranks.
Galena (No. 1 in Class 1A) tangles with No. 9 in 2A Eastland Pearl City; No. 2 in 1A will face Lena-Winslow (No. 8 in 2A); Maroa-Forsyth (No. 3 in 2A) hosts Decatur St. Teresa (No. 4 in Class 3A) and Morrison (No. 6 in Class 2A) lines up with Class 3A’s No. 4 ranked team, Sterling Newman Catholic.
Troy Hayes, a sportwriter for the Decatur Herald-Review, covers central Illinois for MaxPreps. He may be reached at thayes@herald-review.com.
