NIC-10 Newswire: Jefferson accomplishes weird first in football

ROCKFORD - The Jefferson J-Hawwks started slow but pulled away late to beat Auburn, 30-0, Thursday night, ensuring the first winning season for the school since 1993. Wide receiver Mike Townsend scored three touchdowns, two on touchdown passes from quarterback Jaden Williams, and an 85-yard punt return to put the game out of reach in the fourth quarter. Williams added a touchdown run for the final score. De'Anglos Roby had 109 yards rushing. Jefferson's defense forced four turnovers and recorded its second shutout of the season. Jefferson's win Thursday marked an interesting first. Joe Blume was Jefferson's coach from 1975 to 1993 and he coached the J-Hawks to the playoffs to the playoffs eight times back when it took at least six wins to qualify. From 1994 until last night, Jefferson only reached as many as four wins in a season four times under 11 different coaches. Counting the three losing seasons before Blume took over, Jefferson had never had a winning record without Blume as head coach. Jefferson will find out if it made the playoffs and who it will play on Sunday.

2020 Football (played in the spring of 2021)

NIC-10 Football Standings
Team	Conf.	Overall	PF	PA
Machesney Park Harlem	5-0	6-0	245	135
Rockford Boylan	4-0	4-0	105	14
Rockford East	4-2	4-2	228	109
Rockton Hononegah	3-2	3-2	195	61
Rockford Guilford	2-1	2-1	50	66
Freeport	2-3	2-3	96	168
Belvidere North	1-3	1-3	97	146
Rockford Auburn	1-3	1-3	77	101
Belvidere	1-5	1-5	65	209
Rockford Jefferson	0-4	0-4	34	182

Rushing Leaders
Player	G	Att.	Yards	Avg.	TD
CJ Berry, East	6	91	953	10.5	12
Javius Catlin, East	6	39	423	10.8	4
Dylan Collins, Hononegah	5	77	414	5.4	4
Ky'Ree Shirley, Freeport	5	35	352	10.1	1
Benito Jass, Boylan	3	40	320	8.0	6
Tyron Brakes, North	4	51	314	6.2	6
Jake Tapia, North	4	45	298	6.6	3
Adrian Palos, Harlem	6	54	282	5.2	4
Tarrone Jackson, Freeport	5	59	268	4.5	4
Almarion Bell, Jefferson	4	58	258	4.4	0
Javarrie Reynolds, Guilford	3	53	234	4.4	1

Passing Leaders
Player	G	Comp.	Att.	Pct.	Yards	TD	Int.
James Cooper Jr., Harlem	6	123	214	57.5%	1,833	23	4
Isaac Whisenand, Hono.	5	50	77	64.9%	641	7	5
Benito Jass, Boylan	3	18	30	60.0%	333	3	0
Xzaveon Segner, Freeport	5	22	51	43.1%	235	4	4
Jaquan Brady, Auburn	3	29	64	45.3%	244	4	2
Nick James, Jefferson	4	30	64	46.9%	234	2	3
Stuart Hale, Hononegah	5	10	21	47.6%	133	1	0
Mason Weckler, Belv. North	4	4	5	80.0%	129	2	0

Receiving Leaders
Player	G	Rec.	Yards	Avg.	TD
Dominic McCarren, Harlem	6	43	647	15.0	10
Lezzerick Ishmon, Harlem	6	34	285	8.4	1
Dezzion Jordan, Harlem	6	28	642	22.9	9
Braden Sayles, Hononegah	5	13	311	23.9	2
Xavier Bryant, Boylan	3	4	143	35.8	2
Ky'Ree Shirley, Freeport	5	13	134	10.3	2
Bryce Goodwine, Hononegah	5	14	126	9.0	4
Aaron Winters, Belv. North	4	3	109	36.3	2
De-Arious Maxey, Auburn	3	10	117	11.7	3
Jarrett Strate-Lutzow, Hono.	5	8	102	12.8	1

All-NIC-10 Team
Offense
Pos.	Player	School	Class
WR	Ky'ree Shirley	Freeport	Sr.
WR	Dezzion Jordan	Harlem	Sr.
RB	Tyron Brakes	Belvidere North	Sr.
RB	CJ Berry	Rockford East	Sr.
QB	James Cooper Jr.	Harlem	Sr.
C	Abe Hall	Boylan	Sr.
OL	Hunter Olejnik	Belvidere North	Sr.
OL	Mat Logan	Boylan	Jr.
OL	Caden Geiser	Freeport	Sr.
OL	Jason Stroberg	East	Sr.
TE	Dominic McCarren	Harlem	Sr.
K	Zack Hollister	Boylan	Sr.
At large
WR	Xavier Bryant	Boylan	Sr.
OL	Nate Smith	Harlem	Jr.
WR	Braden Sayles	Hononegah	Sr.
QB	Benny Jass	Boylan	Sr.
Offensive MVP - James Cooper Jr., Harlem

All-NIC-10 Team
Defense
Pos.	Player	School	Class
DB	Joey Appino	Boylan	Jr.
DB	Daquavian Oaks	Auburn	Jr.
DB	Bryce Goodwine	Hononegah	Jr.
DB	Shamar Holt	East	Jr.
DL	Max Caltagerone	Boylan	Sr.
DL	Keshawn Harrington-McKinney	Harlem	So.
DL	Aidan Peters	Hononegah	Jr.
DL	Nick Fehrle	Boylan	Sr.
DL	Nathan Tracy	Belvidere	Sr.
LB	Dan Contreras	Boylan	Sr.
LB	Adrian Palos	Harlem	Jr.
LB	Dylan Sayles	Hononegah	Jr.
P	Joe Namio	Freeport	Sr.
At large
LB	Aaron Winters	Belvidere North	Jr.
DB	A'tiq Muhammad	Guilford	Sr.
DL	Alex Escamilla	Hononegah	Jr.
DL	Tyress Cunningham-Smart	East	Jr.
Defensive MVP - Adrian Palos, Harlem
Coach of the Year - Gary Griffin, East

All-NIC-10 Team
Honorable Mention
Pos.	Player	School	Class
RB	Tristen Gille	Boylan	Sr.
DB	Brady Dolan	Boylan	Sr.
DB	Ethan Taylor	Harlem	Jr.
OL	Brennan McCoy	Harlem	Jr.
OL	Ethan LaRue	Auburn	Sr.
WR	De-Arious Maxey	Auburn	Sr.
RB	Javius Catline	East	Fr.
DB	Jaden Davis	East	Jr.
QB	Jake Tapia	Belvidere North	Sr.
DL	Justino Benitez	Belvidere North	Jr.
OL	Clayton Walls	Hononegah	Jr.
OL	Jacob Klink	Hononegah	So.
QB	Nick James	Jefferson	So.
OL	Calvin Cardenas	Jefferson	Jr.
LB	Aiden Kerr	Freeport	Sr.
LB	Trent Strohecker	Freeport	Sr.
OL	Bryan Sandoval	Guilford	Sr.
OL	Nate Johnson	Guilford	Sr.
LB	Jonathan Urbieta	Belvidere	Sr.
DB	Jonathan Fettes	Belvidere	Sr.

NIC-10 Newswire: East great, former Harlem coach Jerry Stalcup dies at 86

Jerry Stalcup, the former East lineman and linebacker who went on to play in the 1960 Rose Bowl for Wisconsin and then in the NFL and AFL for three seasons, died Sunday at the age of 86.

Stalcup had been out of the public eye for several years because he suffered from CTE - chronic traumatic encephalopathy - a chronic brain condition from his years in football.

Despite that, in 2018, when he was inducted into the Rockford Public Schools Athletics Hall of Fame, Stalcup said he wouldn't change a thing.

"Football is the greatest team sport. How many times do you have 11 guys lined up and all come together?"

After his playing days were over, Stalcup spent decades in Rockford and Machesney Park teaching and training the oncoming generations of players. He was talked out of an insurance career to become a teacher and assistant coach at East, where he was the defensive coordinator for the famed 1973 and 1974 E-Rabs teams that went 22-0 over two seasons, including winning the 4A IHSA state title in the first year the state held playoffs.

He then was hired away by Harlem in 1975 where he coached the school to its first conference title in 1977. He couldn't sustain the success at Harlem. The Huskies would win as many as three games in a season only one more time before stepping down after the 1986 season.

His effectiveness as a coach could be judged by what happened after. In 1987, under Ed Gavigan, Harlem went 3-6. From 1988 through 1993, under four different coaches, Harlem went 1-41.

The program began to turn around when Brian Benning took over in 1993. In 1997, when Benning was in need of a defensive coordinator, he was encouraged to ask Stalcup, who was still at Harlem as a teacher. Jerry agreed and the Huskies went 9-2, winning the first conference title since his 1977 squad.

Stalcup stepped down after the 1998 season and retired from teaching in 1999.

There will be a visitation Friday night from 4 p.m. to 7 p.m. Zion Lutheran Church and funeral services at Zion at 11 a.m. on Saturday.

NIC-10 Newswire: Sanders nears rushing-receiving record at Auburn

Auburn  has just one win this season, but running back Gavin Sanders has had one of the best-dual threat seasons in school history.

Heading into Thursday night's game against Jefferson, Sanders has 629 yards rushing and eight touchdowns and 632 yards receiving with another five touchdown catches.

If you include his 725 yards on punt and kick returns, he has 1,986 all-purpose yards this season for Auburn.

It is impossible to calculate an all-purpose record that includes receiving yards back more than a few years because the Rockford Register Star did not include that statistic in its yearly leaders lists.

Looking just at rushing and receiving and Sanders is likely about to set a school record.

The Knights have had just a handful of 1,000-yard rushers and none of those were featured receivers.

* In 1990, Craig Rideout led the NIC-9 with 1,334 yards rushing, but he had less than 202 yards receiving. That was the lowest published total on the conference receivers leaders list.
* In 1997, Terrell Goldsmith led the NIC-9 with 1,228 yards rushing, but he had less than 150 yards receiving.
* In 2016, Daquawn Bell had 1,213 yards rushing but less than 213 receiving.

Sanders is at 1,261 combined rushing and receiving yards.

NIC-10 Newswire: Guilford close to first volleyball title since 2016

The Guilford Vikings are one win away from the school's first girls volleyball NIC-10 title since 2016.

The Vikings knocked off Hononegah Tuesday night, 27-25, 15-25, 25-19, in Rockton to improve to 16-1 in the conference and 22-9 overall. The Vikings still have to beat Harlem on Thursday night, but they've already at least clinched a share of the conference title.

It's a rare title for Guilford in general and for Rockford Public Schools in particular. Hononegah has dominated the conference for much of the past 30 years and Belvidere North over the past 15 years has risen to be the other major contender. Before 2016, the last time a Rockford Public Schools team had won the NIC-10 volleyball title was Guilford in 1996.

In fact, in 2016, Guilford shared the conference title with Belvidere North, which was that school's first NIC-10 title. Since then, either North or Hononegah has won every conference title from 2017 to 2024.

Hononegah dropped to 15-2 in the NIC-10 and 21-13 overall. Belvidere North is 13-4.

Going back to 1977, here are the conference girls volleyball champions

1977 - Freeport (1)
1978 - Belvidere (1)
1979 - Rockford East (1), Harlem (1)
1980 - Rockford East (2)
1981 - Belvidere (2)
1982 - Rockford East (3)
1983 - Hononegah (1)
1984 - Belvidere (3), Harlem (2)
1985 - Rockford East (4), Hononegah (2)
1986 - Belvidere (4), Hononegah (3)
1987 - Belvidere (5)
1988 - Hononegah (4)
1989 - Hononegah (5)
1990 - Hononegah (6)
1991 - Hononegah (7)
1992 - Belvidere (6), Hononegah (8)
1993 - Hononegah (9)
1994 - Hononegah (10)
1995 - Belvidere (7), Hononegah (11)
1996 - Rockford Guilford (1)
1997 - Hononegah (12)
1998 - Belvidere (8), Harlem (3)
1999 - Harlem (4)
2000 - Hononegah (13)
2001 - Hononegah (14)
2002 - Hononegah (15)
2003 - Belvidere (9)
2004 - Belvidere (10)
2005 - Hononegah (16)
2006 - Hononegah (17)
2007 - Hononegah (18)
2008 - Freeport (2)
2009 - Hononegah (19)
2010 - Rockford Boylan (1), Hononegah (20)
2011 - Rockford Boylan (2)
2012 - Rockford Boylan (3)
2013 - Rockford Boylan (4)
2014 - Hononegah (21)
2015 - Hononegah (22)
2016 - Belvidere North (1), Rockford Guilford (2)
2017 - Belvidere North (2)
2018 - Belvidere North (3)
2019 - Belvidere North (4)
2020 - Belvidere North (5)
2021 - Belvidere North (6)
2022 - Hononegah (23)
2023 - Belvidere North (7)
2024 - Hononegah (24)

2005 Girls Soccer

NIC-9 Standings
School	Con.	Overall
Rockford Boylan	7-0-1	16-5-3
Machesney Park Harlem	7-1-0	15-7-0
Rockton Hononegah	5-1-2	12-7-4
Belvidere	5-2-1	11-8-4
Rockford Guilford	4-4-0	7-8-0
Rockford East	2-5-1	7-10-1
Freeport	2-6-0	10-11-1
Rockford Auburn	1-6-1	6-13-2
Rockford Jefferson	0-8-0	5-13-1

First Team All-Conference
Player	School	Year	Position
Christa Anderson	East	Sr.	Forward
Monica Barrera	Boylan	Fr.	Forward
Cristi Brandt	Hononegah	Jr.	Defender
Ally Copus	Freeport	So.	Goalie
Leanne Falzone	Harlem	Jr.	Midfielder
Kelly Hassen	Boylan	So.	Midfielder
Leann Ippolito	Auburn	Sr.	Midfielder
Holly Johnson	Guilford	Jr.	Forward
Kym Kovanda	Hononegah	Jr.	Midfielder
Carissa Landolt	Harlem	Jr.	Forward
Kylee Merino	Boylan	So.	Defender
Anne Meshes	Boylan	Sr.	Defender
Courtney Meyers	Harlem	Jr.	Defender
Rachel Petre	Hononegah	Sr.	Defender
Anabel Toxqui	East	Jr.	Defender
Kayla Widell	Belvidere	Jr.	Midfielder
Heather Ywaniw	Belvidere	Sr.	Midfielder
Coach of the Year: Mark Couper, Boylan
Most Valuable Player: Anne Meshes, Boylan
Special Mention
Jessica Canova	Harlem	Sr.	Defender
Tori Enderle	Harlem	Jr.	Forward
Katy Lindeman	Auburn	Sr.	Forward
Tara McGill	Belvidere	Sr.	Defender
Jessica Schmitt	Boylan	Sr.	Midfielder
Courtney Shelton	Hononegah	Fr.	Goalie
Deana Stoner	Jefferson	So.	Forward
Abby Wallace	Freeport	Fr.	Defender
Julie Zaumseil	Guilford	Sr.	Forward

Rockford Boylan won a regional and sectional title and qualified for state, losing its first game at state, 1-0, to Normal University.

NIC-10's 100 Greatest Football Players: No. 1 - Laurie Walquist, Rockford

Rockford High School sports pioneer Laurie Walquist is seated
in the front row, second from left, next to George "Papa Bear" Halas.

The Northern Illinois Conference's first great player remains its most accomplished - if you look at high school, college and professional accomplishments in total.

Laurie Walquist was a two-sport star at all three levels and one of the area's biggest winners. He was a halfback in the old single wing offense for the 1916 and 1917 Rockford Rabs. The Rabs were 7-3-1 in 1916 with Walquist scoring one touchdown and adding an extra point. He was the unquestioned star of the 1917 team, scoring five touchdowns and adding 12 extra points for a team that went 9-1 and finished with a claim as the top ranked team in the state.

Walquist and lineman Milton Olander went from starring at Rockford to the starting lineup of the University of Illinois in 1918. Both Walquist and Olander were starters all four years for the Illini.The 1918 team was Western Conference champions with a 5-0 record and the 1919 squad went 6-1 and has been picked retroactively as the national champion by the Billingsley Report and Boand System and co-national champion by the College Football Researchers Association.

Overall, in Walquist's four years in the starting backfield, the Illini went 20-8. Walquist had four passing touchdowns, three rushing touchdowns and a TD reception. Walquist was second team All-Big Western Conference in 1919 and first team all-conference in 1920 and 1921.

Walquist also played basketball at Illinois all four years. After finishing his final season, Walquist and fellow Rockford High School graduate Harry Englund signed with George Halas' Chicago Bears in the fledgling NFL.

Englund, who played with the Decatur Staleys in 1921, would play just that one year with the Bears. Walquist, though, would stick around until 1931, playing with many of the legends who got the pro game on solid footing.

Walquist's 1922 teammates included Halas, the player coach. In 1925, Walquist was in the backfield with Red Grange. In 1929, he was teammates with Paddy Driscoll. In 1931, he played with Bronko Nagurski.

While Walquist was never the big star, he was a star. He played in 111 games, starting 77. He had four touchdown passes, 10 rushing TDs and four receiving. More importantly, he was as big a winner in the pro ranks as he was in high school and college. The Bears had winning seasons in eight of his nine seasons - he didn't play in 1923. The 1926 Bears went 12-1-3. The 1922 and 1927 Bears were 9-3. Overall, Chicago was 73-36-16 with Walquist on the roster.

After the 1931 season, Walquist, who earned an economics degree at Illinois, transitioned to assistant coach and part-owner. He finally left the Bears in the mid-1930s to become sales manager at Chicago Furnace & Supply Co. He settled in Glenview and died in 1985.

No. 1 - Laurie Walquist, Rockford
Year	Level	Team	Accomplishments	Points
1916	High School	Rockford	Winning Team	1
1917	High School	Rockford	First Team All-Conference	2
			Winning Record	1
			Conference Champion	1
1918	College	Illinois	Letter Winner on Power 5 Team	4
			Starter	1
			Winning Team	1
1919	College	Illinois	Letter Winner on Power 5 Team	4
			Starter	1
			Second Team All-Western Conf.	0.5
			Winning Team	1
			National Champion	1
1920	College	Illinois	Letter Winner on Power 5 Team	4
			Starter	1
			Winning Team	1
			First Team All-Western Conf.	1
1921	College	Illinois	Letter Winner on Power 5 Team	4
			Starter	1
			First Team All-Western Conf.	1
1922	NFL	Chicago	Played in NFL	3
			Starter	1
			Winning Record	1
			NFL Runner Up	1
1924	NFL	Chicago	Played in NFL	3
			Starter	1
			Winning Team	1
			NFL Runner Up	1
1925	NFL	Chicago	Played in NFL	3
			Starter	1
			Winning Record	1
1926	NFL	Chicago	Played in NFL	3
			Starter	1
			Winning Record	1
			NFL Runner Up	1
1927	NFL	Chicago	Played in NFL	3
			Starter	1
			Winning Record	1
1928	NFL	Chicago	Played in NFL	3
			Starter	1
			Winning Record	1
1929	NFL	Chicago	Played in NFL	3
			Starter	1
1930	NFL	Chicago	Played in NFL	3
			Starter	1
			Winning Record	1
1931	NFL	Chicago	Played in NFL	3
			Starter	1
			Winning Record	1
Totals				77.5

NIC-10's 100 Greatest Football Players