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On Sunday, March 28th the St James Trojans 8th Grade Boys Volleyball team won the 2010 Diocese of Belleville Parochial ‘A’ Division Championship. On Sunday, March 21st the St James Lady Trojans 8th Grade Basketball team won the 2010 Diocese of Belleville Parochial ‘A’ Division Championship. It has truly been a banner year for St James Trojan athletics this year. In the fall the boys baseball team and girls softball team won the diocesan championships. This winter the girls volleyball team and boys basketball team won the diocesan championships. And now spring is here with two more diocesan championships for the St James trophy case, which is already overflowing. At the core of this is a special group of 8th grade athletes, boys and girls, who have time and again this year exemplified what hard work, determination and teamwork can accomplish.
Lady Trojans Win Diocesan Championship Against Familiar Foe
The Lady Trojans and Coach Kevin Colbert made the trip east to Olney, Il for the Diocese of Belleville Parochial ‘A’ Division Championship Tournament. It seems an awfully long way to go to face a familiar opponent, but that’s what happened as the Lady Trojans defeated the Lady Raiders of Queen of Peace 37-36 to win the Diocesan Championship.
By virtue of their regular season record the Lady Trojans held the number one seed in the tournament and as a result a bye in the first round. In the second round the Lady Trojans faced another familiar opponent in the Lady Crusaders of Immaculate Conception School in Columbia, IL. The Lady Crusaders were unable to keep it close, trailing 11-4 after the first quarter. The defense of the Lady Trojans continued to stifle the Lady Crusaders’ offense as St James extended their lead to 20-8 at halftime. While the Lady Trojans were sputtering offensively in the third quarter their defense was still holding ICS in check. And so it went into the fourth quarter with the Lady Trojans defeating ICS 35-17. Alexa Wilson led the St James Lady Trojans with 13 points, Mackenzie Weilbacher with 8 points and Carly Bowman with 6 points.
The Lady Trojans faced a new opponent in the semi-finals in the form of St Marys of Mt Carmel, Il. In the final weeks of their season, Lady Trojans Coach Kevin Colbert had been experimenting with some different defenses to complement the teams man-to-man and zone defenses.
That decision paid dividends against St Marys. Both teams had some missed opportunities on offense and defense prevailed in the first quarter as the Lady Trojans led 4-3 after the first quarter. Both teams continued to battle but St James got a bit of an edge leading 14-11 at the half. The second half belonged to the Lady Trojans. St James’ offense came alive in the third outscoring St Marys 14-5 in the third quarter to take a solid 12-point lead going into the fourth quarter. The Lady Trojans’ dominance continued into the fourth quarter as St James outscored St Marys 11-4 to win 39-21 and advance to the tournament championship game. Mackenzie Weilbacher led the Lady Trojans with 13 points, Alexa Wilson had 11 points, Maddie Weilbacher had 7 points and Katie Nagel had 6 points.
The Lady Raiders of Queen of Peace had taken a different route to the championship but were happy to be there nonetheless. They wanted another shot at the Lady Trojans who defeated them in the finals of the Althoff Feeder Tournament earlier in the season. The Lady Raiders came out enthused and took an early lead but the Lady Trojans responded. Queen of Peace led St James 10-8 after the first quarter. The Lady Trojans were keeping it close but still trailed at the half 22-15. The trend continued into the third quarter as the Lady Raiders had now built a ten point lead 30-20 going into the fourth quarter. The Lady Trojans found themselves in unfamiliar territory. They had never been down by such a big deficit all season long and had usually been on the other side of the equation. Coach Colbert tried to spur his team on between quarters and whatever he said must have worked. The Lady Trojans came out firing on all cylinders. Their defense stopping the Lady Raiders offense and their offense taking advantage of a Lady Raider team that suddenly looked tired. St James chipped away at their lead until in the last moments of the game when the Lady Trojans made their move and defeated Queen of Peace 37-36 to win the Diocesan championship. Mackenzie Weilbacher led the Lady Trojans with 15 points, Maddie Weilbacher with 8 points and Alexa Wilson with 7 points.
Trojan Netters Beat Blessed Sacrament for Title
The St James Trojan 8th Grade boys volleyball team beat the Blessed Sacrament Vikings on Sunday to win the Diocese of Belleville Parochial ‘A’ Division Championship Tournament. As it was earlier in the season, the game would be about the Trojans balanced style of play versus the Vikings big hitters at the net. And the result was an exciting match as the Trojans beat the Vikings 21-16, 11-21 and 15-8 to take the match and the Diocesan Championship.
It was close early in the first game as the two teams exchanged the lead several times. The Trojans sought to use consistent, deep serves and precise ball placement against the Vikings. The Vikings worked to set their big hitters at the net for strong spikes and kills. As game one wore on the Trojans were becoming more effective at blocking Vikings spikes and recovering. 8th grader Kole Rakers had some great defensive plays at the net helping the Trojans to take the advantage and win game one 21-16.
Game two started similarly to game one but the Vikings quickly came on strong. The Viking hitters were scoring on big plays and had adjusted to Trojan blockers. Ball placement was key in game two as the Vikings found open spots on the court and the Trojans could not. The Vikings opened up their lead 13-7 and were in control of the match. Trojan servers were still on target putting the ball deep but the Vikings were handling and setting well. In addition to some big hits the Vikings also scored on some well-placed dinks. Game two belonged to the Vikings 11-21.
Game three saw the emergence of Trojan 8th grader Zach Skaer. Skaer had been having a good night for the Trojans with several blocks and a few nice plays at the net, but game three really saw him step up. With the game very close at 9-7, Skaer had a nice 5-0 serving run to help the Trojans separate a bit from the Vikings to a 13-7 lead. Then with the score 13-8, 6th grader Jordan McFarland had a big kill for the Trojans making it 14-8. The Trojans went on to win with the next serve as the Vikings mishandled the ball, giving the Trojans the game, match and championship 15-8.
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