On RB’s first drive they went four and out. Then RB’s defense got on the field.  Little did they know that it was going to be a long day for them.  The RB defense did a good job holding Lemont on their first drive, preventing them from getting a first down. Then Lemont pulled a trick play on RB and did a fake punt for a first down and a big gain. That play put the RB defense on their heels. The Lemont offense ended up scoring their first touchdown of the night on the next play. Lemont also went for two after they scored and were successful.

The RB offense had a rough night, only getting three first downs all night.  They just couldn’t get things going. Andy Suzuki made a touchdown saving tackle in the middle of the game, showing off his athleticism and catching the opposing player from behind.

Sadly, this was one of the only good plays for RB on Friday night. They lost this game 49-0.

Last year’s Bulldog football team went 4-5. Despite a disappointing game, this year’s team looks good and has been practicing hard all summer with 3-a-days.

They also have a lot of chemistry on the football field. Alex Huffhines and Dylan Beketic have been a one-two punch since their sophomore year. Also Nick Callahan and Andy Suzuki have been on varsity since their sophomore year. They have a lot of experience all together.

The RB football record is 0-2 right now but players are looking forward to their next games and trying to put their worries behind them.

The head coach is Jason Rech and he is assisted by Tom Dignan, Marty Sloan, Mike Alberts, Kevin Turk, Mike Marotta, Tim Olson, Todd Koehler, and Dan Wojtulewicz. The volunteer coaches are Ed Lance, Brian Wilms, Noah Wiza, Dominic Senese, Kevin O’Neal, and Jim Lemmler. A couple of the new faces on the RB football team are David Swan, Luke Keller, and Hank O’Neal.

Mark Musial is notably a star on defense, playing three different positions and also acting as one of the captains of the team. Dylan Beketic is the starting quarterback and will be playing all snaps.  Last year, Beketic filled in for graduate David Skowronski, playing half of the game.  2011 Senior Watoris Slater was a key wide receiver for the Bulldogs last year and Alex Huffhines is taking his place at that position. Tyler Radek was the Bulldog’s running back and Tyler Floros will be trying to fill in his shoes.  Also gone is Jon Schraidt, a formidable offensive and defensive lineman, and Tim and Will Potts will be trying to fill his shoes. 

The biggest games of the season for RB that haven’t happened yet are against Glenbard South, Nazareth, and Fenton.

“It’s a great experience, that I get to have the opportunity to get to go to college for free. I appreciate it and I worked very hard to get to this point,” Slater said.

Slater didn’t really think that he was going to play football in college; he thought that he would be going to college to play basketball. He has played basketball since he was a little kid, and still is. Slater is a three sport athlete here at RB, playing football, basketball, and baseball.

He didn’t start playing football till his sophomore year here at RB. Once he got onto the football field, everyone knew that he could contribute to the team in many ways. He returned kick-offs and played receiver till his senior year.

During his senior year, he played both ways. He started this season at wide receiver and defensive end.  Slater has a rare combination of tremendous speed and athleticism. He has the ability to catch a two yard pass and turn it into a 80 yard touchdown or run by a offensive tackle and get a sack. His skills play a big role in every sport especially his top of the line speed.

When he gets to St. Joseph, he won’t be catching passes anymore; he will be trying to intercept and deflect passes. He is going to play free safety in college.

On October 22, Slater wore royal blue and white for the last time. Come August, Slater will be representing new colors for a new school.

The Dogs are still undefeated in conference play, and aim to run the table in their remaining conference games leading up to the state playoffs. Last year the Bulldogs’ season ended in heartbreaking fashion after a buzzer beater sent the game into overtime against the eventual victors Marshall Commandos.

The Bulldogs have also received solid play from seniors Charlie Morrissey, Alex Dziagwa, Nate Hanley, Jake Johnson, Watoris Slater, and Mike LeBeau. In addition, one of their biggest contributors this season is sophomore Damonta Henry, who led the sophomore team last year as a freshman. Junior Luke Nortier has also been solid off the bench thus far, and is earning more and more minutes each game.

Friday, the Bulldogs will welcome the Ridgewood Rebels and also feature the Alumni Game. The senior guard Morrissey is not taking Ridgewood lightly. However, he feels that there’s a few important ways to beat the Rebels, “The Rebels have 12 or 13 guards on their team, so I think if we can stop their three-point shooting and protect against the drive and kick-out offense we should be able to win.”

The team has lost quite a bit of depth from last season, but they feel that they still have the talent to recapture last season’s success and build on it. Coach Tom McCloskey has his kids playing at a high level, something that he feels confident in. They have nine games left on their regular season schedule and seven of them are conference games.

They will have the tough task of traveling to North Park University on Saturday to play Farragut Career Academy, ranked #3 in the state. They also host Morton on Tuesday, February 22^nd, which is Senior Night at RB. In all likelihood the Dogs will be in a good position to receive a higher seed come playoff time, most likely receiving a #5 or #6 seed in their Sectional.

RB has been operating under a revised tardy policy since the beginning of the second semester. The policy has become the talk of the students, as well as the staff at RB. The policy was reconfigured by Interim Assistant Principal Troy Gobble, Interim Principal Tim Scanlon, Assistant Principal John Passarella, and Dean David Sibley after many teachers showed concern with the issue.

The tardy policy is not entirely new. According to Sbley, “it’s the old policy, with some tweaks.” One of those tweaks is a renewed emphasis on consistent enforcement of the policy by staff and teachers. Teachers are also now required to call a student’s parent or guardian if they have received three tardies. A guideline has been established for the new punishments, including a Saturday detention after the fourth tardy, and an ADA (alternative daily assignment) after the sixth.

Another change to the policy is that tardies are being responded to more quickly than before. Students are now likely to be called down to the office the same day they receive a number of tardies.

To explain the reason for the changes, Gobble said, “What we found was that the policy had become difficult to enforce consistently, and for good reasons. Students and teachers were adjusting to a new building and nobody knew where they were going, and also teachers were just getting used to using Skyward. As a result, tardies became more frequent than they were in the past. Students were coming late to class because the policy felt undefined.  Now that it has been tightened up, the number of tardies has dropped significantly.”

Sibley agreed and said, “it’s getting better. Once kids started realizing they were getting ADA’s for tardies, they were more motivated to get to class on time. The teachers are doing a great job enforcing [the policy], and are really making a difference.” Sibley feels that the vast majority of the teachers are cooperating with the new policy.

Gobble noted that the biggest problem had been first period. He said, “[There were] as many tardies to that period alone as the amount of tardies to any period for the remainder of the day. My first thought was maybe the students were just having trouble getting to school, but we found that was not the problem. We got a map of the school district, and plotted on the map the homes of the students late to first period, and found that there were just as many tardy students from the Hollywood area as there were Broadview and North Riverside.”

Gobble also said there was a day where staff members were posted at each door of the school to count the number of students coming in after the bell rang. They ended up counting 20 students that arrived to school late, but received 50 students tardy to first period that day, leading them to believe the other 30 students were in the building on time but still arriving late to class.

“I think it’s just the high school culture that the morning is the time for students to socialize with their friends,” said Gobble.

Social science teacher John Fields served on this year’s discipline committee. Fields, as well as a number of teachers from RB on the committee, were given the task of compiling a survey for the rest of the teachers about discipline at RB.

“[The survey] gauged how teachers felt about certain issues” said Fields.
Several of the questions on the ten question survey asked about tardiness and attendance.

“I have not yet analyzed the results,” said Fields, “but I think it’s always good to evaluate how things are going.”

The new attention to attendance and tardies has resulted in other changes. Attendance is now posted live on Skyward, so parents can check to see if their student is in class at any point during the school day.

Spanish teacher Jenna Passananti said, “[The new policy] has helped tremendously. In my classes [tardiness] has improved, and the kids are seeing it as more of a priority to get to class on time and are realizing that those two to three minutes in the beginning of class are still part of class. This policy allows the teachers to find their own tardy policy with in their classroom, and if it gets out of control, we have a uniform school policy to fall back on. It really bothered me when students didn’t get to class on time. Any improvement helps.”

Social Studies teacher Dan Monahan has his own views on the policy. He said, “Until there are no tardies, it’s not harsh enough. In my classes personally, I’ve noticed a slight improvement. We’ll analyze the data at the end and see if it has improved.” Monahan said he noticed “no change in behavior from the students,” and still notices kids in the halls after the bell rings.

Monahan also said, “My personal belief is that the punishment doesn’t need to be more or less, but that it needs to be different. I don’t feel that students care about getting detentions, or that they change the student’s behavior at all. If it’s not uncomfortable enough to get the students to stop, then it should be changed.” He suggested that the school should seek alternate consequences for tardies, such as revoking parking permits, or participation in Sixth Man and other school events.

English teacher Sarah Johnson said, “If we aren’t all on board it doesn’t work. Any policy is only as strong as the people adhering to it.”

Many of the students at RB don’t feel as optimistic about the policy, noting flaws with the policy’s structure.

Junior Kylin Collier said, “It’s too ridiculous because the school can’t expect a student to be on time to every class if they have seven classes every day. When they keep handing out detentions it just frustrates the students and takes away from the learning. There are still people tardy every single day.”

Junior Watoris Slater said, “If you’re one minute late, then you may as well just skip the class because you’re going to get a detention anyway.”

Junior Brendan Mortimer said, “It doesn’t work because it doesn’t get enforced right. The teachers play favorites, kids that the teachers like never get marked tardy, but the kids they don’t like always get marked tardy.”

Sibley noted how punishments were decided. “We just follow the handbook, and there are certain things we are mandated by the state to do. The state requires us to follow the guidelines set forth by the Board of Education. Don’t be tardy and you won’t have to see me,” he said.

The starting five players are a strong core of athletes including three all conference returners: Six foot one inch guard Senior Sean McGonagill, six foot guard Senior Billy VandeMerkt, and six foot two inch guard Junior Ryan Jackson. Added to those three are six foot five inch center Senior Terrence Reed, who will be commanding the paint this year, and six foot one inch guard/forward Junior Watoris Slater, who will be a rebounding machine. Both of these players are sure to help ensure the team victory.

The Bulldogs also have a strong core of players that will be coming off the bench. Six foot eight inch center Junior Alex Dziagwa, six foot four inch guard Senior Mike Hansa, six foot one inch guard/forward Senior Mark McDonagh, five foot eleven inch guard Senior Nick Arias, and five foot eleven inch guard Senior Matt Meindl, will all provide relief to the starting five.

The Bulldogs opened up their season this past weekend at the Bill VandeMerkt tournament hosted at RB. The team dominated the competition winning their second consecutive title by beating Payton 65-26, Hinsdale South 73-49, and rival Nazareth 69-45. 

The Bulldogs are looking to keep their undefeated season going by taking on the Tigers of Elmwood Park on Friday, December 4^th at 7 p.m. Come cheer on the Bulldogs, wear your blue and white, and be ready to scream your heart out.