Boys swimming, gearing up for a new season

This year’s boys swimming will make a splash on November 22^nd, when the season officially begins. In the mean time, boys are invited to participate in the preseason till the real season starts. The preseason started in October and will end late November. The preseason consists of swimming from 6:00 to 7:30 am on Tuesdays and Thursday and they are encouraged to go to the weight room on their own time.

“I’m looking forward to working hard and hopefully making my way up the varsity team.” said sophomore Ian O’Day.

Once November 22^nd comes around the boys will start the season and will have practices Monday- Friday from 3:30 to 5:30 pm. They will also have morning practices from 6:00 to 7:30 on Mondays, Wednesdays and Fridays. Eventually, the meets will start which are held on Saturdays.

Boys soccer playing gaining conference momentum

The Riverside Brookfield Bulldogs men’s soccer team scored its third win against conference rival Elmwood Park 7-1 on Tuesday, September 28^th. This win improved their record to 3-8 overall (3-5 Conf.). The team has been struggling against tough non-conference teams. The team does not have a chance for the conference title they were shooting for; however they still have a chance for the regional title. 

All of the game’s goals were scored in the first half of play. To start the Bulldogs strong, Junior Ruben Chavez scored the opening goal. Chavez would finish the game with a hat trick. Two other goals came from senior captains T.j Armic and Alejandro Amaya. Also leaving the game with goals were Hrvoje Zolo (Sr.) and Cateyano Chavez (Soph.).

In the second half the both teams would not score a single goal. The second half consisted of Bulldog dominance with excellent ball control and goalkeeping by junior goalkeeper Max Ohle.

Ohle in the net has been great for the team this year. He missed a couple of games earlier in the season to a groin injury; thankfully he has been healthy since recovery and will be a valuable asset for the rest of the season.

“The injury of Ohle was a huge moral blow to the team, but now he is back, healthy and most of all ready for regionals,” said Armic.

Thursday they played another conference rival Timothy Christian. RB would walk away the victor with a 5-2 win. This win brought their record to 4-8 (4-5 Conf.) on the season. This win makes the team 3-1 in their last four games.

Scoring for the team were R. Chavez two goals, Tyler Polanski one goal, C. Chavez one goal, and Eddie Marentes one goal. This displayed another example of the explosive offensive style of play they have.

On Friday they faced long time rival Ridgewood Rebels at Shuey Stadium. The Bulldogs lost against the Rebels the last time they met 4-2. Looking for revenge from the last loss they would play a very tough game.

This game would have a very questionable ending. The game would end in a tie 2-2 without an overtime period, however this was a conference game so the concern was that the game should of have been continued into overtime. R. Chavez would leave the game with a pair of goals on the night.

EXTRA:  Read full coverage of 2-2 tie controversy here.

The tie leaves the team with the record of 4-8-1 (4-5-1 Conf.) which isn’t what they hoped for this season. Amaya said, “We started off really bad but we have improved and grown a lot as a team.”

Thursday the dogs played new conference rival Glenbard South at Glenbard. Glenbard South was just added to the Metro Suburban Conference last year. The Raiders have been giving the team problems all year. In the first meeting they had Glenbard walked away with a devastating win 1-2 at our home field. This game would be completely different RB was shutout in a rough 5-0 loss.

With only two scheduled games left in the season the dogs are out of the running for conference. Their next two match ups are October 12^th and 15^th at the lovely Shuey stadium. They will play Illiana-Christian and Ridgewood.

The Dogs have had a long season compared to last years, but they still have high hopes for the regional competition. They will be faced up against St. Francis in their first match. They beat them last year and Polanski said, “To win this game we are going to play hard, watch their film, feed Ruben, and get the W.” The game is October 20^th at Shuey Stadium.

Boys Golf Chase to Sectionals

The boys golf team is looking forward to making a run down to sectionals this year.  Their top four varsity golfers consist of Kris Strnad, Max Recht, Mike LeBeau and Jack Kemper.  These golfers have put a lot of time into their games over their years as Bulldogs.  Now they are looking to take their talents to sectionals this season.

The Varsity Bulldog golfers had three invites between August 16-21.  The Bulldogs came in third place at the Nazareth invite as Strnad shot a 75, second overall in the tourney, and Kemper shot an 80.  At the Addison Trail invite the Bulldogs finished 15^th overall against some of the state’s top teams such as Hinsdale Central and Lyons Township.  Lastly, the Bulldogs competed in the Lemont invite.  Strnad shot an 85, while Kemper and Recht each shot an 86, to lead the Bulldogs to a 10^th place finish.  More recently, the Bulldogs faced off against De La Salle on Tuesday September 7^th.  It was awfully windy this day, but Lebeau managed to shoot a 40 while Strnad shot a 41.

When Kemper, a junior varsity golfer, was asked about his chances at sectionals he said, “Pretty good if I can keep my game consistent.”  Kemper believes that Timothy Christian and Illiana Christian will be their toughest in conference competition this season.

Lebeau, a top senior varsity golfer, said, “Yes, if the top four stay consistent,” when asked if they will make it to sectionals.  LeBeau has been playing golf since he was a young boy, so he does not lack any experience.

Matt Meindl, a Riverside-Brookfield graduate, went down to sectionals last season for the Bulldogs.  Meindl has golfed with this year’s team during practice to teach them what it takes to get to sectionals.  He looks to continue his golfing career this year at North Central College.  Meindl made it to sectionals last year for the Bulldogs, so now the real question is who will step up this year for the Bulldogs?

Heartbreaking loss ends Boys Basketball

Shooting guard Ryan Jackson’s heroics could not save the Bulldog Boys Basketball season.  The Dogs were dealt a tough loss by ranked Marshall, 56-54, on Tuesday, March 9th. Every Bulldog fan at the game was probably in disbelief.

First a miraculous half court shot by Marshall’s Marlon Sykes tied the game to send it into overtime with three seconds left.  Then, Marshall’s Kiefer Sykes hit a game winning shot with four seconds left.

I can’t imagine what the players were thinking. Before the game, most people you would talk to would say that Marshall would win in a blow out, but our own Bulldogs weren’t going to let that happen.

The Bulldogs were led by Jackson with a outstanding 29 points and 7 rebounds. Some more top scores were senior point guard Sean McGonagill with 14 points, 4 rebounds, and guard Watoris Slater with 8 points, 7 rebounds.  

By all means this was the best high school basketball game I have ever seen. That game meant so much to the RB community. Even if you don’t like the game of basketball, you would have felt for the team. The Bulldogs showed that they could go into a game as an underdog and stay in it no matter what. 

RB can play with the top ranked teams. Despite the loss, we should still be happy.  The Dogs put up a fight until the last second.

RB Boys soccer makes history

On Saturday 24^th, the Boys Varsity Soccer Team made history, winning a regional title for the first time. After a lucky first round bye, the boys destroyed St. Francis in a 6-2 championship victory.

The Bulldogs exploded on offense, scoring six goals, an incredibly high number for high school soccer games. Senior Ruben Chavez led the Bulldogs attack putting three shots into the net. The team’s defense shined as well, with great efforts by senior defender Jerry Brown and senior goalie Mark Benya.

Benya, who hopes to continue playing soccer at the University of Chicago after high school, said, “The regional victory was awesome. It was especially nice because we were so close last year, and it was nice to be able to redeem ourselves.”

This is quite a historic event, being the first time that the team has taken a regional title. Although the Bulldogs fell to Chicago High with a score of 2-1 on Tuesday, October 27^th, the team considers the season a raging success.

The Bulldogs have had a very successful season, going 8-2 in conference play and 15-4 in overall matches. To add to their success, the team beat Nazareth Academy on Senior Night.

Junior Elliot Louthen said, “The season as a whole was extremely successful. We set our goals of winning conference and regionals at the beginning of the season and we completed them.”

“Our team has been playing together long before high school and we have great team chemistry. It was nice to see our work come together in such a historic event,” added Benya.