THREE STORYLINES

How will Notre Dame handle expectations?

Notre Dame is the Wheeling Hardwood Classic’s pretournament favorite.

The Dons are led by senior guard Joe Mooney, a Division I prospect who made the Hardwood Classic’s all-tournament team a year ago, and junior forward Ammar Becar. The pair guided Notre Dame to a 6-1 start to its season, including a victory over Evanston in the Lane Tech/DePaul Prep Thanksgiving Tournament’s championship game.

“Seeding doesn’t really matter,” Becar said. “It’s all about coming in with the right frame of mind and just playing hard — and winning.”

Can Vernon Hills make a deep run with an exhilarating style?

Few teams are more exciting to watch than Vernon Hills when everything is clicking for the Cougars.

Vernon Hills is anchored by 6-5 jumping jack Lem Turner — the Ball State volleyball signee is averaging 3.1 blocks this year, as of Dec. 11 — and the Cougars feature senior guard Robby Nardini and senior wing Bo Manso, who can both light up the scoreboard when they’re hitting shots.

Vernon Hills has a good chance of beating anybody in the tournament if Turner stays out of foul trouble and the Cougars are knocking down their shots from deep.

Can anybody nullify Libertyville’s size?

Libertyville’s biggest strength this year is its size. The Wildcats are anchored by 6-10 senior center Joe Borcia. Junior Ben Kimpler, who’s 6-6, and 6-7 senior Peter Feely also play in the post.

“I think our offense really feeds off those guys,” Libertyville coach Scott Bogumil said. “Conor Peterson, our small forward, is our leading scorer. But he gets so many looks because we throw it into the big guys and they do a nice job of finding him cutting to the basket or spotting up for 3s.”

Like most teams, “we want to maximize our strength,” Bogumil added.

One of Bogumil’s favorite aspects of the Hardwood Classic is that it’s a great coaching tournament, he said. It’s full of teams who play different styles — for example, Naperville Central typically plays zone defense and Niles North usually pressures all over the court — which provides a lot of teaching opportunities.

WINNETKA — Caleb deMarigny and George Sargeant are in the same AP Statistics class at Maine South.

One day after the Hawks had their worst night of the season from the free-throw line in a 47-45 triple-overtime loss to New Trier, Sargeant said Friday that he and deMarigny talked about how the law of large numbers might apply to the team’s percentage this season.

“Right now, we are starting low, but we hope by the end of the year after more games, we will be shooting at a higher percentage,” said Sargeant, whose 61 percent at the line is 23 points below his average as a junior.

The law explains that the average of the results of performing the same experiment a large number of times should be close to the expected value.

Maine South finished 7-for-17 from the line on Dec. 11 against the Trevians. That was a contributing factor in the team’s first loss of the season, which ended the Hawks’ 17-game Central Suburban South winning streak. The point total was their lowest of the season by 12.

“In a one-possession game like that, you have got to hit your free throws,” Maine South coach Tony Lavorato said. “We did not. It’s something we have to highlight this season. It’s something we are stressing and are worried about because it cost us [against New Trier].”

Through seven games, the Hawks (6-1, 1-1) were shooting 56 percent on free throws as a team. Last season, Maine South made 75 percent. Since the 2009-10 season, the Hawks have made at least 67 percent of their free throws each season.

“All year, we haven’t been up to par on free throws, and it finally caught up to us,” said Sargeant, who was 3-for-6 against the Trevians. “I couldn’t really tell you why. Maybe we need to clear our minds more at the line. But it’s definitely something we’ve been working on at the end of practices.”

At week’s end, Maine South’s three best players — junior guard Jon Arenas, deMarigny and Sargeant — had taken 96 of the team’s 137 free throws and made a combined 61 percent. Last season, the three made 81 percent of shots from the line.

The struggle from the line against the Trevians happened on a night the Hawks shot 33 percent from the floor. DeMarigny said every team is going to shoot poorly every now and then, but the Hawks should have been better from the line.

“We just didn’t find another way to win,” he said. “We didn’t do anything else well, including making our free throws.”

Lavorato said it still is too soon to panic about the reasons why the Hawks are having a down year from the free-throw line. He said the problem most likely will work itself out as the Hawks get deeper into the schedule.

“You don’t want to spook them by placing too much emphasis on it,” Lavorato said. “Plus, they are too good of shooters to be this poor for a long time. The season is young.”

NILES — Notre Dame climbed into the Chicago Tribune’s top-20 boys basketball rankings with six straight wins to start its season, but coach Tom Les continued to remind the Dons that there is another step for them to take.

The difference between where Notre Dame is currently and where its wants to be was evident to junior forward Ammar Becar after a 74-70 loss to Hinsdale Central on Saturday night.

“They’re a great team, and we’re a good team,” Becar said. “Coach has been telling us that if we want to be on the next level, we have to play together. We have to execute.”

The term execution was used by both Becar and Hinsdale Central coach Nick Latorre after the game.

The Red Devils rarely settled for bad shots. Senior forward Matt Rafferty — who was spectacular, finishing with 39 points on 15-of-18 shooting — was the source of much of Hinsdale Central’s offense, yet the senior-laden squad’s experience running its sets showed.

“I just thought our kids really executed,” Latorre said. “We did a really good job of getting the ball inside. That’s really our bread and butter, and our kids made a concerted effort to get the ball inside. It seems like when it goes inside, with the personnel we have, good things seem to happen.”

STORY: Notre Dame boys basketball team the favorite at the 37th Wheeling Hardwood Classic

The loss to Hinsdale Central highlighted an area where the Dons, who only have two seniors in their rotation, have room to improve.

“You’ve got to talk on defense,” senior point guard Joe Mooney said. “We had miscommunications and they were getting wide-open layups. It’s just little things like that.”

The inability to get stops was a point of frustration for Notre Dame, especially given that Mooney played so well throughout the second half. The Division I prospect — he has offers from Air Force and UC Davis — finished with 37 points on 20 shots, including seven made 3-pointers. Several of those 3s were difficult attempts Mooney created for himself off the dribble.

Mooney did his best to keep Notre Dame in the game after Hinsdale Central took a 48-37 lead with 3:44 remaining in the third quarter. He scored 18 points, and knocked down four 3-pointers, after that. Becar said that instilled both him and his teammates with energy, but the defense couldn’t get the stops it needed to rally against a team of Hinsdale Central’s experience and caliber.

“We couldn’t recover from [the third-quarter deficit],” Mooney said. “We kept cutting it down from like 11 to six and 10 to four, but we could never really crack it.”

STORY: Matt Rafferty, Joe Mooney put on shooting clinic in Hinsdale Central’s win

PARK RIDGE — This is the first time in his 10 seasons as the Maine South girls basketball head coach that Mark Smith hasn’t felt confident using man-to-man as his primary defense.

Smith said the Hawks aren’t tall enough or fast enough to rely on man this season. Instead, they’ve been playing almost exclusively a 2-3 matchup zone.

“It’s definitely something that is rare for us,” he said. “Zone is something we never really do. But for us to beat the best teams, we have to play zone.”

Maine South’s zone was working well in the first half Friday against Central Suburban South foe New Trier, which is one of the top teams in the state. Although the Hawks eventually suffered a 58-42 defeat, they were in control in the first two quarters.

The Hawks held New Trier junior Jeannie Boehm, a 6-3 center, to zero field goals and four points in the first half and Maine South went into intermission ahead 22-21. Boehm’s first basket didn’t come until the 3:51 mark of the third quarter.

“She’s the player we have to shut down, and I think we did a good job of that, at least in the first half,” said junior forward Julia Spuria, who at 5-8 plays in the middle of the zone. “Our zone generally has been good this season, and we definitely are a lot farther along than we were last year.”

Boehm finished with 16 points.

STORY: Haley Greer leads New Trier girls basketball team past Maine South

Spuria said the key to a good zone is communication.

“You have to talk, you have to know where everybody is,” she said. “The next step for us is to continue communicating better, knowing where the teammate next to you is going to be.”

At 5-10, senior forwards Nina Anderson and Elizabeth Skoronski are the tallest players in the starting lineup. Anderson said she likes playing man-to-man defense, but she’s embracing the zone.

“We’ve run it well at times, and when we do that, we’ve been successful,” Anderson said. “We showed that in the first half [against New Trier].”

Smith is adjusting to life as a coach of the zone. He said the players are, too.

“It was hard at first because in the summer leagues they kind of force you to play man, so we were a little behind coming into the season,” said Smith, whose team came into the week 5-5 and 1-2 in conference play. “We blew a lot of coverages early, but we’ve gotten a lot better.”

A prestigious nomination bestowed on the Eisenhower Public Library puts the library in the running for the nation’s highest honor in library service.

Now in its sixth year since opening as a joint library shared by Harwood Heights and Norridge, the Eisenhower Public Library is one of only 100 libraries or museums in the U.S. to be nominated this month for the 2015 National Medal for Museum and Library Service.

The coveted award is given to one library and one museum each year that “best exemplify the nation’s diversity of libraries,” according to the organization’s web site.

The library, which opened in 2008 and has more than 41,000 registered patrons, was discovered by the Washington, D.C.-based Institute for Museum and Library Services after it was nominated by Fifth District Congressman Mike Quigley.

Quigley did not respond to a request to comment about why he nominated the library, but if you ask library director Stacy Wittmann, she touts community outreach and the staff’s dedication to staying connected with residents.

Like most libraries in the U.S., the Eisenhower Public Library has extended its reach far beyond books to become a hub connecting Harwood Heights and Norridge.

On any day of the week, the brick building on Wilson and Oketo avenues in Harwood Heights is abuzz with activity.

With a tiny café in the foyer that welcomes guests with reasonably-priced pastries and coffee and patrons with questions are met with librarians that seem happy to be there, people seem to feel welcome when they walk into the Eisenhower library.

The library staff is also going the extra mile—literally—to bring the library’s resources to its senior patrons or residents who have trouble getting out of the house.

The home delivery service is especially popular among pregnant women and the elderly, Wittmann said, but anyone can call the library to request materials and have them delivered to their front door (for no charge) the same day.

Librarians are also dispersed to Pennoyer School for five hours each week.

Eisenhower has been sending a librarian to the financially-troubled school district ever since budget cuts forced the school district to let its full-time librarian go several years ago.

“One of the main jobs is to make sure their materials are still current,” Wittmann said. “You can’t collect everything and never get rid of anything, so we take out everything that’s no longer relevant.”

The library is also offering a lot more digital services while training patrons how to use devices like the iPad and modern search systems that have replaced the age-old card catalog system.

If Eisenhower is selected for the national honor, it will be the library’s first national award.

“To my knowledge, I don’t believe we’ve actually ever won any award,” Wittmann said.

Then 10 final honorees selected for the award will be announced in the spring.

Illinois Gov. Pat Quinn has named his budget chief as a short-term replacement for late Comptroller Judy Baar Topinka.

Jerry Stermer has been director of the governor’s budget office since 2012. He was the Chicago Democrat’s chief of staff during Quinn’s first term and the longtime director of advocacy group Voices for Illinois Children.

Incoming Gov. Bruce Rauner had called on Quinn to name Topinka’s longtime chief of staff as her replacement.

Stermer will serve until Rauner takes office on Jan. 12, when the new governor will announce a full four-year replacement.

There have been conflicting ideas about how to fill Topinka’s terms.

Quinn has called lawmakers back to Springfield to consider a 2016 special election so voters could have a say in the process.

With rows of books lining tall rows of shelves, and busy librarians seated behind wooden help desks, not much about the appearance of the Eisenhower Public Library has changed since it opened in Harwood Heights in 2008.

But looks can be deceiving. Just ask Library Director Stacy Wittmann, who is busy preparing for the spring launch of the latest phase of library technology that she says will forever change the way patrons search for and check-out materials.

This spring, the library will finalize the switch from traditional electronic “card catalog” searches to a new integrated search system called “Symphony.”

The goal of Symphony, Wittmann said, is to make the library available to patrons 24/7 without ever having to leave home.

The main change patrons will notice with Symphony is that it eases the search process by pulling together all of the different types of materials (DVD’s, e-books, electronic databases, etc.) on a search topic and displaying the results on a user interface.

“The ease of how people utilize electronic resources is going to see a big change,” Wittmann said. “You used to have to search for (different types of media) individually, and now it will all be right there in one place.”

Aside from providing an easier way to search, patrons will be able to access a host of other new services through Symphony without stepping foot in the library.

Among the perks of the new system will be online access to library accounts, online fee payment, and the ability to download electronic materials and place holds on books.

Book-lovers will also be able to see a record of everything they’ve borrowed in the past—including ebooks and downloaded materials.

Symphony’s takeover of the library will extend to social media and smart phone apps too.

Among the features of Symphony’s Bookmyne+ app is a barcode that lets users scan the ISBN number located in a book jacket and find out whether the title is available for check-out at the library.

“Symphony is the biggest change coming up this next year,” Wittmann said. “It won’t look atomically different than what we’re used to, but it will take some time for people to get accustomed to it.”

Among the heap of new technology infiltrating the library is also a new free program that will digitize patrons’ old printed photographs.

The photo digitization project will convert any number of photos to a flash drive for no charge, but there’s one catch—the library has the rights to republish any converted photos to an online historical database.

“People can bring their photos in and we’ll digitize them and save them to an online flash service,” Wittmann said. “We’ll be adding photos to a historic timeline of the community that will allow people to go through the photos and search for friends and family.”

For more information on Symphony or the Eisemhower Public Library, go to www.eisenhowerlibrary.org.

Patrick Dougherty’s 12-year football career is nearing a close, but with the Illinois State Redbirds playing on Saturday for a spot in the FCS championship game, there’s a chance he could go out on top.

“I think it’s every senior’s dream to have his last college football game be a win,” Dougherty said.

The Redbirds defeated Eastern Washington 59-46 on Saturday in the FCS quarterfinals. Dougherty said the game in Cheney, Washington, was special because the Redbirds fell to the Eagles in a quarterfinal matchup two years ago. He said it felt good to leave the West Coast with a victory in his senior season.

“It was a great opportunity to go over there and show the country we mean business,” said Dougherty, a Chicago resident.

This Saturday, the Redbirds are on the road again to face top-seeded New Hampshire. If Illinois State is victorious, the fifth-seeded Redbirds will play for the FCS title on Jan. 10.

“Being able to cap off a great career and a great season would be really special,” Dougherty said.

Dougherty’s role on the Illinois State football team has expanded each of his five seasons in the program.

He played high school football at Loyola and was a defensive standout. Dougherty led the Ramblers with 122 tackles and recorded nine sacks as a senior, according to the Illinois State website. Despite offers to play at several Division III schools, he took a chance and walked on at Illinois State.

As a freshman, there was no guarantee that he’d even make the roster and he eventually redshirted. However, he played in four games in 2012 and last season he appeared in seven games.

By his final season, Dougherty had made himself an integral part of the Redbirds’ defense. He earned minutes as a defensive end in every game this season, totaling 13 tackles and one sack, and was even awarded a full athletic scholarship for his senior year.

Illinois State defensive coordinator Spence Nowinsky said Dougherty’s scholarship was a well-deserved reward for his years of hard work both on and off the field.

“In terms of effort, he’s second to none,” Nowinsky said. “He’s absolutely selfless, he’s a wonderful teammate and he’s incredibly intelligent.”

Throughout Dougherty’s football career, he’s had the support of his family. His parents, John and Kathy Dougherty, attended all eight of the Redbirds’ home games this season.

“We’re very proud of him, and I think he should be proud of what he accomplished,” Kathy Dougherty said.

She said one of the most memorable moments of this season was senior day, when Patrick Dougherty was honored prior to the Redbirds’ last regular-season game against Southern Illinois.

“Senior day was very emotional,” John Dougherty said. “I held back tears.”

Throughout his time playing football, Patrick Dougherty also has had the support of his twin sister, Jillian Dougherty. She was a cheerleader at Loyola while her brother was a football player there.

“I’ve been watching him play football my whole life, so it would be just as important to me as it would to him if he won the national championship,” Jillian Dougherty said.

Regardless of how Saturday’s game ends, it’s still been a memorable month. Although he missed the ceremony because of the quarterfinal game, Patrick Dougherty graduated from Illinois State on Saturday with a degree in business management.

The following incidents were listed among the official reports of area police departments. Readers are reminded that an arrest does not constitute a finding of guilt. Only a court of law can make that determination.

Norridge

DUI

Lukasz Kierdelewicz, 31, of 4908 W Cornelia St. in Chicago, was charged Dec. 10 with felony driving while under the influence following a traffic stop near Belleplaine and Oriole avenues. Kierdelewicz received a Jan. 2 court date in Rolling Meadows. Bond was set at $25,000.

Ivan Cobari, 23, of 10554 Lake Monterey in Orlando, Fla., was charged Dec. 13 with driving while under the influence following a traffic stop near Forest Preserve Drive and Irving Park Road. Cobari received a Jan. 6 court date in Rolling Meadows. Bond was set at $3,000.

THEFT

Martha Orellana, 43, of 2857 McLean Ave. in Chicago, was charged Dec. 14 with felony theft after she allegedly attempted to leave Carson’s, 4200 N. Harlem Ave., without paying for items worth $227. Orellana received a recognizance bond and a Jan. 5 court date in Rolling Meadows.

Learning to create a stop-motion movie is the topic of an Eisenhower Library winter break program.

Five spots remain for the two-day program from 10 a.m.-2:30 p.m. Monday-Tuesday, Dec. 29-30 at the library at 4613 Oketo Ave. in Harwood Heights.

The program is open to 7th-12th graders.

Kathleen Weiss, reference librarian, explained the program would incorporate iPads and other technology to have fun while learning how to tell a story.

Participants will be able to learn how to create stop action animation.

“They’ll be working in groups of five to create a story, design the sets and characters and then film using an iPad.” Weiss explained.

This program is a first for the library.

“We wanted to do something fun while bridging the gap between junior high and high school programs at the library,” she explained. “By blending the two, we want our younger teens to get comfortable” as they move from the children’s department to the youth department.

Each four-and-a-half-hour session will take a break for lunch. Participants may bring a lunch or partake of the offerings at Fannie Schmoe’s in the library lobby.

Visit eisenhowerlibrary.org or call (708) 867-7828 for more information.

One family is going to have a very, merry Christmas thanks to a local Norridge business.

Going through the Salvation Army Norridge Citadel’s Angel Tree program, employees of LongHorn Steakhouse collected new toys worth nearly $400 to help out a local family of five.

“Being the holiday season, LongHorn wanted to give back to the community,” explained Samantha Delgado, spokesman for the restaurant.

LongHorn joins a myriad of other businesses and private citizens who take part in the Salvation Army’s annual Giving Tree program.

Throughout Norridge and Harwood Heights during the holiday season, the organization places Christmas trees adorned with the names of families in need of assistance to make for a merry experience.

Trees are found in various locations.

Any and all are welcome to pick a family, according to Pamela Church-Pryor, community ministries director.

Participating in the Angel Tree program is but one of many ways in which LongHorn tries to give back to the community that has been so supportive, according to Delgado.

“We’re doing things year-round,” Delgado said.

One program is a weekly LongHorn harvest, in which the restaurant sets asides food weekly for a local food bank.

“This is fresh, unused food that can be repurposed and given back to the community,” she said.

More than 600 people gathered to hear the angelic voices of hundreds of Pennoyer students resonating throughout the school Wednesday night during the annual holiday choral concert.

The Pennoyer holiday music concert is the most anticipated event of the year for the school’s long-running music program.

The kids sing 24 songs together as a group to celebrate Christmas, Hanukkah, and the many different nationalities of its students. The concert also offers a chance for students with musical talents other than singing to shine.

For fourth-grade twins Alexandra and Ivan Shapkarov, the Pennoyer holiday concert was a chance to show off their piano-playing skills to their classmates for the first time.

The pair teamed up to play a joint holiday song together called “Pat-a-Pan.”

Alexandra Shapkarov said she was nervous to play in front of her classmates, but the song “started getting easier by the minute,” she said.

“I like playing piano because it helps me do better in school,” Shapkarov said. “If you master the piano you can master anything.”

The Pennoyer holiday concert presents a rare moment each year when students throughout the school get together and sing as a group, but Pennoyer continues to offer year-round opportunities that allow students with a passion for music to engage in their love of singing during all months of the year.

Music director Lisa Petergal launched Pennoyer’s first after-school choral program when she was hired to teach music at the school 20 years ago.

“I was a general music teacher, and I saw so many kids who loved singing and wanted more opportunities to sing,” Petergal said. “I asked if I could start an after-school group, and it eventually started growing over the years.”

The program was slow to catch on, Petergal admits, with only about 12-15 students joining during the first year. But over the years more kids started to join, and the chorus has now since doubled in size to include about 30 kids in grades fourth through eighth this school year.

With five different grades of students in a single choir, Pennoyer’s choral program is structured differently than the traditional elementary and middle school choruses because it infuses the wide range of ages together into one unified singing group.

The range of multiple grades gains even more diversity in the way Petergal sets up the singers to perform different parts of each song.

Instead of separating the altos from the sopranos and the more mature voices from the high-pitched ones like most school choruses do, Pennoyer’s chorus is divided into just two groups, with the girls singing all the higher-pitched parts of the songs and the boys taking the lower notes.

“This is one big group with everyone singing together,” Petergal said. “We don’t have any basses or tenors because most of the boys’ voices haven’t changed yet.”

The diverse age range encourages teamwork, Petergal said. The older students take on the role of mentors by helping the younger kids read the music and understand the harmonies.

“They interact together similar to the relationship between older and younger brothers and sisters,” she said.

Harwood Height’s Christmas tradition has changed a bit over the years.

The annual “Sing-along with the Clerk” has been around for nearly two decades by former clerk, the late Dianne Larson.

Originally, everyone would gather around the big evergreen tree outside the old village hall, explained current Clerk Marcia Pollowy.

“We had no musical accompaniment,” she said. “It was just us singing.”

After braving the elements, everyone would head inside Village Hall for hot chocolate.

“That was really a treat,” Pollowy said.

In 2009, the event moved indoors.

Now that the holiday event is held inside Village Hall, it has expanded to include activities for kids and pizza for everyone.

“This attracts all ages,” Pollowy said, “from seniors to the little ones.”

She described the sing-along as something fun to do before the holidays and to bring the community together.

“It’s a way to get families involved and boost that holiday spirit,” Pollowy said.

While billed as a sing-along with the clerk, Pollowy explained others participate in the show.

Trustees sing as well as residents, and everyone is invited to
join in.

“If it were just me singing, nobody would come,” she said with a laugh.

Nick Pieruccini hadn’t played much football at Minnesota State-Mankato before this season.

The Notre Dame graduate redshirted as a freshman and missed most of last season with a torn labrum in his right shoulder. Then, in April, a coaching change disrupted spring practice and threatened to cast a shadow over this season.

But Pieruccini, a quarterback, wasn’t thinking about any of that as he prepared to play in the Mavericks’ first NCAA Division II national title game. Minnesota State-Mankato is 14-0 entering the championship game against Colorado State-Peublo on Saturday in Kansas City, Kansas.

“It has just been nice to get healthy and go play again,” said Pieruccini, who received a medical redshirt last season and still has three years of eligibility left.

Making this season more memorable was Pieruccini played with Connor Thomas, one of his best friends, his roommate and a fellow Notre Dame alumnus. Thomas graduated in 2011, and Pieruccini in 2012.

“That’s definitely pretty cool,” Pieruccini said. “The one year we played varsity together at Notre Dame we went 5-5 and lost in the first round of the playoffs. It wasn’t as good as it is now.”

Nothing about what transpired earlier this year was good for the Mavericks.

Pieruccini and Thomas were recruited by Todd Hoffner, who was suspended for the 2012 season when Minnesota State-Mankato found what it deemed to be child pornography on his school-issued phone. The three brief videos were of Hoffner’s naked, or partially clothed, children playing after a bath.

Hoffner was arrested, but the charges were later dropped. The school still chose to fire him in May 2013 for viewing pornography on his work laptop and allowing his wife to use the computer, according to the Mankato Free-Press. The arbitrator determined that several people had access to the computer, according to USA Today, and Hoffner denied viewing pornography.

In Hoffner’s absence, Aaron Keen was put in charge of the program and led the Mavericks to a 13-1 record in 2012 and 11-1 mark in 2013.

But an arbitrator cleared Hoffner of any wrongdoing and ordered him restored to his old position as head coach, if it was a job he still wanted. Although Hoffner had been hired as head coach of Minot (North Dakota) State, he decided he wanted to return to Minnesota State-Mankato.

On his first day back to practice on April 19, the players refused to practice for Hoffner and pledged their allegiance to Keen.

Hoffner said he didn’t blame the players for their actions. He said it was a case of miscommunication and misinformation.

“Quite an ordeal,” he said. “Those young men just wanted to play football and focus on football. The information shared with them [by the university] was not necessarily the truth. It was hard for them to imagine how this all happened. It was a shock to the system when I came back.”

Pieruccini didn’t want to dwell on the past.

“What happened, happened,” he said. “There wasn’t anything we could do about it, so we all came together and played for each other. It’s a great brotherhood that allowed us to stick together through it all.”

In his first full season, Pieruccini platooned with sophomore Ricky Lloyd in a two-quarterback system. The 6-1 Pieruccini threw for 1,245 yards and 12 touchdowns and ran for 548 yards and scored seven touchdowns in 14 games.

“He processes and evaluates coverages well,” Hoffner said. “He always has an opportunity to make plays with his feet or his arm.”

For his part, Thomas, a 5-11, 205-pound junior running back, led the team in rushing, totaling 1,338 yards and 13 touchdowns in 14 games. He ran for 123 yards and scored a touchdown in the team’s 47-13 win over Concord in the semifinals.

“A very decisive runner, shifty and a tremendous cutter,” Hoffner said. “He gets north and south very quickly.”

Notre Dame football coach Mike Hennessey said he isn’t surprised by how his former players performed on the field.

“Wherever those two guys went, I figured they would be successful,” he said. “No. 1, they are talented. No. 2, they are team players and team leaders.”

Hoffner, who coached the Mavericks from 2008-2011 before missing two seasons, said he’s proud of how the players responded to the unusual challenges they faced this season.

“Bottom line is that I am so happy for these young men, for them to get to this stage,” he said. “I couldn’t be happier.”

Paul Chryst was one of the reasons Chris James picked Pittsburgh.

However, James got to play only one season for Chryst, who left Wednesday to take the head coaching job at Wisconsin, where he played and was an assistant coach.

“That was his dream job,” said James, a 2014 graduate of Notre Dame. “I can’t blame him for going home, but it was hard for us.”

Despite Chryst’s decision, James said Friday he’s committed to the Pitt program for the long term. The Panthers finished the regular season 6-6 and play Houston in the Lockheed Martin Armed Forces Bowl in Fort Worth, Texas, on Jan. 2.

“For now, I am here,” he said. “[It] stinks that he’s gone, but the last thing on my mind is transferring. I love my teammates, and I plan to make the best of my next three or four years.”

STORY: Notre Dame grads help Minnesota State-Mankato reach national title game

A 5-11, 210-pound running back, James made an immediate impact in the backfield as a freshman. He’s run 82 times for 404 yards and four touchdowns and had one catch for 23 yards. James is third on the team in rushing yards. He ran for a season-best 122 yards on 19 carries in a 30-7 win over Syracuse on Nov. 22.

“When I was being recruited, I was told I would have a chance to come in and contribute,” James said. “I would have liked to have some more wins, but it was all a learning experience for me.”

James said his first introduction to the college game came at the team’s preseason camp. On a run to the outside that he said he normally would break for a long gain around the corner, he was caught by a linebacker and defensive end and pushed out of bounds before he could make his cut.

“Right then and there, I knew I wasn’t in high school anymore,” he said. “The main thing is the speed of the players. Everybody is fast here. It’s taught me to be a smarter runner, to be able to read the defensive line more. In high school, I would see a hole and go. Now, you have to learn how to run.”

Notre Dame coach Mike Hennessey said he stayed in contact with James throughout the season, mostly by text and e-mail. After watching James run for 4,220 yards and score 53 touchdowns in high school, Hennessey said his star running back was ready for the big time.

“It’s about what I expected,” Hennessey said. “He got a great opportunity this year, and I sure am looking forward to him making more progress in the future.”

NORRIDGE — The wrestling season is less than a month old, but there’s already ample evidence of junior Rocco Caringella’s improvement from last year.

Ridgewood’s 126-pounder started the week at 12-2, which includes an unblemished 9-0 mark at the Vernon Hills Tournament during the first week of competition.

Caringella’s success has come after he spent the offseason working on his craft. He wrestled Greco-Roman style — where holds below the waist are not allowed — during the summer. He also worked against wrestlers who are better than him, including college grapplers at a five-day camp at Northern Illinois and defending 3A state champion Kris Williams of Thornwood.

Those experiences have helped Caringella’s confidence increase, especially in tough matches.

“I’m definitely more comfortable [this year],” said Caringella, who was 22-20 as a sophomore. “It’s a mental thing. I’m not afraid to wrestle somebody who’s better than me if I know they’re better. It just encourages me to wrestle my best because I’ve already wrestled [the best] before.”

Caringella also has grown physically. He said his weight went up to about 138 pounds in the offseason, but he has been cutting his weight down to 126 of late.

Ridgewood coach Jared McCabe said Caringella has only had to cut about three or four pounds each week during the wrestling season.

“I felt like I would have a better chance [in matches] because I’d be at a lighter weight class,” Caringella said of why he stayed at 126.

Caringella also has been working harder this year, according to junior Adonis Silva, who is sometimes his practice partner.

“He’ll be trying harder when he’s running, and when we’re drilling,” Silva said.

Caringella said his goals this year are to be all-conference — he was all-Metro Suburban as a sophomore — and to qualify for the state tournament.

McCabe said Caringella is capable of advancing to state. Caringella’s openness to trying new things could help him reach that level.

His willingness to experiment has been evident both in practice and in matches. McCabe said Caringella tried a move called a Kelly tip when he had a comfortable 9-2 advantage in a dual meet against Maine East on Dec. 4.

“The move didn’t work, but he tried it,” McCabe said. “He tried something new because he wants to expand on the moves he hits. … The more moves you hit, the better you are.”

Caringella’s intelligence has proven to be another asset on the mat. He earned high honors — it’s given to students with a GPA of 4.0 or higher — at Ridgewood during the fourth quarter of his sophomore year.

McCabe said Caringella’s wit could be especially helpful when he tries to pick up new moves or when he has to make split-second decisions during tense matches.

“He’s got the talent,” McCabe said. “He works hard every day, and he’s smart enough — definitely smart enough [to get downstate]. He’s off to a great start this season.”

Help Squad recently heard from readers on both sides of the consumer satisfaction fence regarding mattress warranties.

The first was a letter complaining about the cost and process associated with filing a warranty claim with Sealy for a mattress’s unnatural sag. This resulted in Help Squad investigating the details of Sealy warranties. When it was discovered that the mattress in question was actually a Serta, Help Squad then proceeded to gather information on that warranty program. Coincidentally, right around the same time, another Help Squad reader inquired whether our column would ever feature a positive customer service experience. Ironically, that reader’s experience was with Tempur-Pedic – a mattress company! This reader’s issue also involved filing a warranty claim for a mattress with an unusual sag. What are the odds?

Since just about everyone reading this column sleeps on a mattress, we thought we would share what we learned about the policies and procedures surrounding submission of a sagging mattress warranty claim with Sealy, Serta and Tempur-Pedic. Below is a high-level summary of each.

Sealy

What constitutes unnatural sagging? Body indentions of 1.5” inches.

How is unnatural sagging verified? A third party inspector comes to a consumer’s home to measure.

Cost for inspection? Our Help Squad reader was given an estimate of $60 by Sealy, but Sealy’s warranty claims process is handled by its various retailers, and as such, inspection costs vary.

Shipping or other fees? Per Sealy’s website, the purchaser is responsible for transportation and inspection costs associated with any warranty claim, which will vary from retailer to retailer.

Turnaround for repair/replacement? This also varies due to the variety of retailers involved.

Is defective mattress repaired or replaced? If deemed defective, Sealy will repair or replace (at Sealy’s option) the defective mattress within a “reasonable period of time.”

Serta

What constitutes unnatural sagging? Sagging that measures 1.5” or greater.

How is unnatural sagging verified? A third party inspector comes to a consumer’s home to measure.

Cost for inspection? $35, applied to the replacement mattress delivery fee, if deemed defective.

Shipping or other fees? $149 delivery fee minus $35 inspection fee: $114.

Turnaround for repair/replacement? Four to six weeks from submission of warranty paperwork to delivery of new mattress.

Is defective mattress repaired or replaced? According to Customer Service, Serta will only replace, not repair, mattresses. According to Serta’s website, mattresses are repaired or replaced (at Serta’s option) with charges per the Serta Warranty Schedule.

Tempur-Pedic

What constitutes unnatural sagging? Deterioration causing mattress to have a visible indentation greater than 0.75”.
How is unnatural sagging verified? Consumer places straight edge, such as broom handle, across sagging area, inserts upright quarter in sag area under straight edge, takes photo and submits to Tempur-Pedic.

Cost for the inspection? No fee, as there is no professional inspection involved.

Shipping or other fees? No shipping or other fees per the experience of Help Squad’s satisfied reader. However, per the Tempur-Pedic website, during the first ten years of warranty, Tempur-Pedic will not charge a purchaser to repair or replace a mattress if deemed defective, however transportation costs associated with repairs or replacements are purchasers’ responsibility.

What is turnaround for repair/replacement, if deemed defective? Two to three weeks from submission of paperwork to delivery of new mattress.

Is defective mattress repaired or replaced? Tempur-Pedic’s website states it will repair or replace a purchaser’s defective mattress (free of charge for years 1-10; at a prorated rate for remainder of warranty) but our reader’s seven-year-old mattress was replaced free of charge.

The bottom line for this or any type of warranty

Know who you will be dealing with should an issue arise. Know if coverage is prorated at any point during the warranty period. Most importantly, ask how warranty claims are verified, and what, if any, costs could be incurred.

Need help?
Are you the victim of fraudulent business practices? Is someone just exhibiting bad business behavior? Let Help Squad make the call for you. Send your letters, your complaints, your injustices and your story ideas to HelpSquad@pioneerlocal.com and we will be happy to help you.

So this is Christmas.

Does it still matter?

We’ve been bombarded by the sites and the sounds of the holiday season long before Thanksgiving.

That great day of thanks was highlighted by the official start of the shopping season marked by “Black Friday.”

As the day approaches, we’re running around still searching for the right gift, decorating the house with twinkling lights, putting up the tree, and creating the holiday menu.

But is there any more meaning to the day?

On Christmas, the churches will be filled with worshippers who attend faithfully each week and those who attend once or twice a year.

Why do those who never go to church the rest of the year faithfully attend on Christmas? Is it just tradition, or is there something more meaningful at work.

If we look closely at the story of the first Christmas, we see there is something there for everyone, something that touches us in a most basic and human way.

Start with Mary, the virgin who learns she is with child. An unwed, single mother with no future.

Then there is Joseph, a man older than Mary, betrothed to her. A nice guy, he decides to quietly divorce Mary.

So there you have it, before we even get started we have a teenage mother, much pain, dishonor, disgrace and a broken family. Basically, the human condition in a nutshell.

In their dreams, what they perceive to be God tells them what to do next. Against what most of us would consider good judgment, they go forward and marry.

But then comes the next turn. They have to travel to Joseph’s hometown to be counted. Basically, they have no place to stay, no job, no money and no family to help. They’re homeless.

Mary gives birth in the barn. Then come the travelers from afar. They are searching for something, too. They bring gifts, place them before the child, and leave.

Isn’t all of this just like us — struggling to mend broken relationships, hoping to make right what was wronged in our lives even when it makes no sense, never feeling quite at home or at ease, even in our home town, and traveling the world over looking for an answer?

Christians consider this story to be the greatest event in human history, when God became one of us.

If it is so, God had to become like us to the core. Weak, fearful, unsure, unwelcome, alone, but willing to trust something we don’t even understand.

And if that is so, then we must look at our fellow travelers in this life, even those considered the lowest of the low, the down and out, the poor, the jobless, the homeless, the refugees, the unwed teenage mothers, and see in their faces the light of God?

And if we do see that, shouldn’t we look into their eyes and give them the sacred gifts of love and peace?

So this is Christmas.

WHEELING — The Buffalo Grove boys basketball team hung tough with Notre Dame for the first quarter of the teams’ first-round game at the Wheeling Hardwood Classic, but the Dons dominated after that. Notre Dame pulled away for a 70-37 victory.

Notre Dame’s led 28-15 at halftime and 52-26 by the end of the third. Notre Dame (8-1) outscored Buffalo Grove 24-11 in the third quarter to put the game safely out of reach.

Notre Dame’s Joe Mooney led the team in scoring with 15 points. The Dons also scored effectively in the paint as junior center Anthony D’Avanzo (13 points) and junior forward Ammar Becar (12) both reached double figures.

The Bison’s zone slowed down Notre Dame’s potent offense at the start of the game, yet a 9-0 run late in the first quarter put the Dons ahead 15-10 heading into the second.

“I thought we started out the game with a lot of energy,” Buffalo Grove coach Keith Peterson said. “I think in the third quarter, we didn’t come out with quite the energy. We weren’t very strong with the basketball. We weren’t moving the ball very crisply, and we had to go to a man [defense] — and really we were overmatched when we went man. That’s why we went zone for most of the game. Once we went man there, their size and their physicality kind of took us out of our game.”

Sophomore guard Collin Dekorski led Buffalo Grove (1-9) with nine points.

Notre Dame advanced to play Prospect at 7:15 p.m. Tuesday.

• John Prunskis, MD, FIPP, was chosen by Becker’s ASC Review, leading source of healthcare industry information, as a top person to know in the Ambulatory Surgery Center industry. Prunskis was selected for making an impact on the ASC industry and standing out as a leader in the field. In 2012, Prunskis founded Barrington Pain and Spine Institute, Illinois’ only Ambulatory Surgery Center dedicated to the diagnosis and treatment of spine and other pain problems.

• Northbrook-based KemperSports announced that, for the third consecutive year, it has been named the Club Management Company of the Year by the BoardRoom magazine. The three consecutive years of being honored is unprecedented in the 16-year history of the magazine’s “Excellence in Achievement” awards.

• PCTEL, Inc., a leader in performance critical telecom solutions, announced the appointment of Shelley Bacastow of Burr Ridge to vice president and general counsel.Bacastow succeeds Varda Goldman.

• Kenneth Hehn, EIT, engineer intern, recently joined Hanson Professional Services Inc.’s Chicago regional office. He will be responsible for calculations, field measurements and design work for transportation projects.

• Dynatrace, the market leader in the new generation of application performance management, today announced that John Van Siclen has been appointed Chief Executive Officer.

Kessler Orlean Silver & Co., P.C. is pleased to announce that it has merged in Ruzicka & Associates, Ltd. of Northbrook, IL effective December 1, 2014. Ruzicka & Associates, Ltd. and its three principals have moved into the KOS offices in Deerfield, IL and operate under the KOS name. Founded 38 years ago, Ruzicka & Associates, Ltd. provides a full range of accounting and tax services with a strong specialty niche servicing not for profit clients.

Does your company have news about grand openings, hires, promotions, awards or recognitions? Email your items to biznotes@pioneerlocal.