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Seventh grade Indians take second place in tourney

Published

13 years ago

November 21, 2011

BenGil Staff

Nick Price takes it to hole.

The annual 7th grade middle school basketball tournament hosted by Gillespie took place last week. The tournament, which was expanded to 8 teams this year, consisted of Litchfield, Collinsville, Mt. Olive, Hillsboro, Staunton, Jerseyville, Carlinville, and your Gillespie Indians.

The Indians, coached by Tim Wargo, found themselves in the championship game Friday evening. Coach Tim Wargo thought it was a joke, but every time Wargo looked up at the scoreboard Saturday afternoon and then again Wednesday evening, he was also in control of the lead.

The seventh grade team played their first game against Carlinville Saturday afternoon. Carlinville, who they beat prior in the season by just a handful, came out strong in the first couple minutes but their lead was quickly diminished by the Indians. The Indians started out in a deficit, but it did not take long for them to get warmed up as they were well in control of the lead by the end of the first quarter: 14-7.

Entering the second period, the Indians showed no signs of letting up. The Indians added 9 points in the second quarter and held Carlinville to just a mortifying 2. Led by Jake Vogel, the Indians were well in control of the game by halftime as the scoreboard favored the Indians 25-9.

Coming out from halftime in their first game of the tournament, the Indians were expecting a cake walk in the second half but were surprised by Carlinville. Carlinville came out in full swing in the second half and were able to draw 7 fouls on the Indians to be shooting bonus free throws by the final quarter. The Indians could only find the bottom of the net for 10 points, but Carlinville could only score 14 and the Indians took their first victory in the tournament: 35-23. Scores of the first game were: Jake Vogel (11 points); Nick Price and Dyllon Penzotti (9 points); Tate Wargo, Chandler McDaniel, and Daniel Dobrino (2 points).

The Indians advanced to quarter final championship Wednesday evening matching up with Jerseyville. Jerseyville came in strong after beating Staunton by large double digit figure. It was neck and neck in the first quarter as defense played a major role. The Indians could only score 3 points in the first quarter, but they held Jerseyville to 4.

Trevor Fredericks makes a strong pass.

Coming out in the second quarter with a one point deficit, the Indians slowed the game down and spent more time on the offensive end. The strategy seemed to work and the Indians were running into the locker room with a 13-10 lead after the second quarter.

After halftime, no one was imaging how this game ended. The two teams went head to head in the second half and it went back and forth as they both fought for the lead. After the third quarter, the game was tied at 19 and both teams could only score two points in the fourth quarter to knot the game at 21 and send the game into overtime.

The four minute overtime was four long minutes of hard defense. After the four minutes ticked off the clock, the game was still knotted at 21 and the score clock was reset to 4 minutes for round 2 of overtime. Jake Vogel and Nick Price carried the Indians in the second overtime combining for 6 points. Jerseyville did not give in though as they added 7 points on to their 21, but it was not enough as the Indians still had the edge after scoring 8 points.

After the 29-28 double overtime victory, the Indians sealed their seat in the championship game against Collinsville. Scorers of the second game were: Nick Price (13 points); Tate Wargo and Daniel Dobrino (6 points); Jake Vogel (4 points); and Dyllon Penzotti and Ronnie Bertolino (3 points).

The championship game was held Friday evening. The Indians matched up with Collinsville, who has won the tournament for four consecutive years. Collinsville came into the championship game after defeating Litchfield and Hillsboro, both by over 20 points.

The Indians played hard the first quarter scoring 9 points to their 13, but it went downhill after the first quarter. Collinsville had a fast paced offense and pressed full court until they were in control of the lead by 20 points. The Indians added 3 points to the home half of the scoreboard in the second quarter, but Collinsville added 11 and the score was 12-24 at halftime.

Chandler McDaniel fights for the ball back.

The strategy of the Indians in the second half was play slow, play hard defense, and try and contain Collinsville. The plan did not work out as Collinsville came out with a fresh breath in the third quarter and found the bottom of the net for 17 points compared to the Indians 5. Heading into the final quarter of play, the Indians trailed 17-41.

The Indians played hard defense in the final quarter holding Collinsville to just 2 points, but the offense struggled as they could only gather 2 points. The Indians struggled from the free throw line, shooting an unpleasant 33% as they were in bonus much of the second half. The Indians took second place in the tournament after the 43-19 defeat, their best finish in 2 years.

Collinsville went on to take first place and go undefeated in the tournament, tallying 5 straight years taking the first place trophy home. Scores from the championship game were: Nick Price (10 points); Tate Wargo and Chandler McDaniel (3 points); Dyllon Penzotti (2 points); and Jake Vogel (1 point).

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Featured

Gillespie man injured in DUI accident

Published

9 years ago

October 16, 2015

BenGil Staff

Genisio's Ford Mustang in the City of Gillespie's impound lot Tuesday morning.

A Gillespie man was taken to a local hospital after suffering injuries following a single-vehicle accident that occurred Sunday morning, October 11, after he drove off the roadway and into a deep ditch near the intersection of Route 16 and Charles Street in Gillespie.

Gillespie Police Chief Jared DePoppe reported that the police department was dispatched to the scene of the accident shortly before 3 a.m. Officers arrived to find Jonathan Genisio, 29, of Gillespie as the driver and only occupant inside the Ford Mustang vehicle.

Genisio was arrested, but give a notice to appear in court so he could seek medical treatment. He was charged with six different counts in addition to having his vehicle impounded. His charges include driving under the influence of alcohol, no insurance, improper lane usage, failure to reduce speed to avoid an accident, failure to notify SOS of an address change and failure to wear a seat belt.

At the time of publication on Thursday evening, the vehicle was recovered from impound and Genisio was discharged from the hospital. The extent of his injuries was unable to be released by medical personnel.

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Community News

Gillespie council discusses budget and meeting process

Published

9 years ago

August 1, 2015

BenGil Staff

Treasurer Dan Fisher (right) addresses the council.

The treasurer for the City of Gillespie had a lot to say about how city officials handle their subcommittees and how city funds are spent during the city’s committee meeting held Monday evening, July 27.

Dan Fisher, the elected treasurer for Gillespie, spoke to the council for over 30 minutes about how bills are paid and more importantly, how purchases are appropriated for and planned. During the city’s board meeting held earlier this month, Fisher suggested the council move their meeting dates to coincide with how the bills are paid.

He explained that many council members bring up issues or have questions about certain bills during the council meetings, but the questions are left to be answered by the city clerk who isn’t present at the board meetings. In addition to dragging out the meetings, Fisher said the questions should be taken care of before the meeting is held.

“We need to have a standardized process on how we buy things,” Fisher told the council Monday evening. “We need to spend more time on appropriating.”

We need to have a standardized process on how we buy things

Fisher distributed a “Budget Basics” packet to board members during the committee meeting held Monday and said the council should consider implementing a purchase order system to account for all purchases. “That way when the bills come in, we can match the form up with it and everyone knows what the purchase was for and what account it comes out of,” he clarified.

Council members agreed with what Fisher had to say to them. “We need to spend a lot of time when do our appropriation and it’s going to take a lot of time from everyone, including myself,” he continued. “We need to find a way to be collective in how we do things.”

Fisher closed by adding that the council also takes too long at their regular city council meetings, which are held on the second Monday of each month. Speaking of the city’s July meeting that lasted nearly 3 hours, Fisher said the council needs to be much more “business-like”.

“We take too long at our meetings,” he closed. “It’s been proven that people lose focus after 90 minutes and there is no reason why we shouldn’t be able to get a meeting done in 1 hour and 15 minutes.”

City clerk Frances Smith spoke up after Fisher referred to the council’s last meeting. She prefaced her statement by saying she didn’t intend to saying anything, but continued by saying that the council’s July 13^th meeting took her three days to transcribe. “It makes the clerk’s job hard – whoever it is,” she said. “There is a lot of side conversations and it’s very hard to hear on the tape.”

Ash Street Project

Alderman Steve Kluthe informed the board that he received the bid specifications back for the Ash Street Project which allows the council to advertise the specs to get an idea how much drainage project will cost.

Kluthe said the bid specifications cover everything including equal opportunity employer and prevailing wage information, but said the project could probably be handled by a local contractor. The project includes installing a culvert that will transfer the water to Cherry Street.

The council hopes the completed project will then alleviate the water that currently gets backed up north of Ash Street. “They are going to put a culvert underneath Ash Street to the north and grade the ground on the north side so the water flows to the culvert and down to the south end where there is a storm drain,” Kluthe explained.

TIF District

We should stretch the money out and begin to reinvest the money into community development

Fisher informed the council that the tax bills for the TIF district went out and the city can expect to receive close to $60,000. He reminded the council that even though the city made a big payment to United Community Bank last year in excess of $90,000, there will still be a payment made to UCB for their portion paid into the TIF until the TIF expires, which Fisher said is 12-14 more years.

After the city pays UCB, Fisher said the council can expect to still have somewhere north of $40,000 remaining each year. “I would like us to start to look at other projects that meet the TIF criteria that we could spend $20-$30,000 per year,” Fisher explained. “Long-range projects – projects that could last 10-12 years. We should stretch the money out and begin to reinvest the money into community development.”

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