Z-B football needs to be in a win-win situation
It's time for Lonnie Bible to earn whatever portion of his athletic director's salary is designated for providing some TLC to Zion-Benton High's football program.
Now that it appears he has the right man -- Bob Strickland -- in place to head the grid program, it's paramount that Lonnie put the team in the best possible position to take the next step forward.
(News-Sun file)
(News-Sun file)
• 2005 -- 2-7
• 2006 -- 1-8
• 2007 -- 1-8
• 2008 -- 0-9
• 2009 -- 3-6
And that would be making the IHSA playoffs.
The math on this is simple: It takes five wins in nine games to be eligible for postseason play.
Since becoming a member of the brutally tough Lake Division of the North Suburban Conference, Z-B has not gotten close to that number.
And, up until now, it really didn't matter because the Zee-Bees weren't even getting to "3," let alone "5."
Bu this year, the first under Strickland, Zion-Benton finished 3-6 and, more importantly, played its best ball at the end of the season, which is when most losing teams pack it in and start thinking about basketball.
Which brings us back to Lonnie Bible ... and the one word that needs to be drilled into his brain this morning:
Scheduling.
Bible's mission must be to find two non-conference opponents to open the season against that we safely can call "sure wins" for the Bees.
And no, it's not imperative that he do so. It's non-negotiable.
So, even though Zion-Benton has opened its season with Deerfield every year since the Red Sea parted, it's time to break, buy out or otherwise do whatever it is you have to do to get out of a 100-year contract with a Deerfield football program that is sometimes great, sometimes very good, always better than average, and never bad.
Since Zion joined the NSC Lake five years ago, it has opened each season 0-1 with a loss to Deerfield, which then went on to win at least five games in every season.
That, Lonnie, is what WE'RE supposed to be doing ... winning at least five games.
And the only way to get there is by opening the year 2-0.
Let's be realistic. Every year, NSC Lake powerhouses Stevenson, Warren and Lake Zurich are going to beat the Bees. That's three losses built into the schedule.
Then, every year, either Libertyville or Lake Forest is going to be good as well, which accounts for a fourth loss.
That leaves no margin for error.
Zion-Benton has to beat Mundelein, has to beat either Libertyville or Lake Forest, has to beat the team it faces from the NSC Prairie (small-school) Division, and, MUST win its two season-opening non-conference games.
That will get Z-B to five wins, and that is the only way to get to five wins.
Being a playoff team -- even a one-and-doner -- will get more youths in the basketba--driven community excited about football. That, in turn, means that maybe Z-B gets better players down the road ... more kids in the weight room, etc. Then, maybe, it will become possible to close the generation gap that exists between the Z-B program and Warren/Stevenson/Lake Zurich.
It starts with getting the right man to head the program, and it looks as though Strickland might be that man.
Next is putting the team in position to be successful.
Lightening up on the schedule IS the next step. This year, Deerfield went 6-3, Minooka went 7-2, and Z-B was dead in the water at 0-2 before we even got to Labor Day.
Hey, these Zion kids played their best ball Week 9 of the season with absolutely nothing to play for but pride.
Imagine what they could do if that Week 9 game next fall has playoff implications.
Let's at least try to find out.
FILE PHOTO
The next step is for Zion-Benton High football coach Bob Strickland to get his team to the five-win plateau.
Boothe still can't put
her best foot forward
This surely was not the way Sarah Boothe expected the trip to Italy to go when she signed on to play women's basketball at Stanford University.
Now a sophomore, Boothe went with the Cardinal on a September basketball tour to Europe, but never got the sweats off due to a lingering foot injury.
The former Warren High star has reportedly been told by doctors that the stress fracture in her navicular bone, which required surgery in early June, is healing properly.
She was on crutches for two months following the June surgery, and though doctors gave her the OK to discard the boot for everyday activity, they thought it wise to keep the ankle immobilized for the trip to Italy, so she wore the boot there.
The navicular bone is a tricky rascal. It is a small bone on top of the foot near the ankle that often causes athletes problems. The 6-5 Boothe first noticed pain in the foot in late April.
Nevertheless, she tried out for, and made, the U.S. women's under-19 national team. But, due to the injury, she could not play.
Boothe averaged 10.7 minutes and 5.0 points as a freshman last season. She is currently stuck behind All-American Jayne Appel on the Stanford depth chart, a situation that will change next year when Appel is gone.
FILE PHOTO
Always a force on offense, 6-foot-5 center Sarah Boothe, a Warren High grad and Stanford University sophomore, has been slowed this fall by a stress fracture in her right ankle.
42-0 & 42-0: WHAT ARE THE ODDS?
Vernon Hills High is hosting Brooks High in Round 1 of the IHSA football playoffs, and both teams will enter the postseason on the heels of a 42-0 beat-down. Our Cougars were smashed by mighty Lake Zurich, and the Brooks Phoenix surrendered to Chicago Curie.
