Close calls for four state finalists lead Rockford's top 10 high school games of 2023

Rockford's 2023 high school sports season was full of epic games.

One football game for the NIC-10 lead came down to one final play on a two-point conversion try in overtime. Another pitted a team seeking a historic season in Class 3A against a team on the road against a team that had beaten the 5A state champ. One of the smallest public schools in the state, after graduating all five starters, made a Cinderella run to the state basketball finals — but only after surviving another local team seeking its best-ever season in a double-overtime sectional thriller.

And it wasn't just football and basketball. From January to December, there were standout games in almost every month in almost every sport, including four eventual state finalists surviving a playoff game by the skin of their teeth.

Here are our picks for the 10 best of the best:

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FOOTBALL

Byron 26, Lombard Montini 20

Byron clobbered unbeaten Mt. Carmel 69-7 in the Class 3A state title game, but some believed the real championship match was the week before against a Montini team that has won five state titles in 5A and 6A since 2009, but dropped down two classes this year even though it beat 5A state champ LaGrange Nazareth during the regular season. If Montini wasn’t formidable enough, Byron wasted a couple of chances to put the game away and was in danger of losing despite Caden Considine rushing for 239 yards and Brayden Knoll for 147. Montini led 20-18 late, mostly by recovering two Byron fumbles, throwing two long passes and cashing in on a controversial penalty to score a TD in the final seconds of the half. The Broncos had a chance to clinch the game after that second long pass, but Considine intercepted a fourth-down pass near the goal line and returned it to 45 yards to midfield. He then ran the ball on eight of the next nine plays and scored the winning TD in the final minute to keep the most dominant team in state history — this was Byron’s only game closer than 36 points — on its title track.

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Boylan 35, Belvidere North 34 (OT)

“I don’t even know how, but we won,” Boylan’s Philip Dixon said after catching the game-winning 8-yard TD pass in overtime. That right there should tell you what a classic this game was. The score is another reason: 35-34 might be the most famous score in Boylan history. That’s the score the Titans won by after trailing Hononegah by 21 points to keep their epic 75-game conference win streak alive in 2013. And it’s also the score when Hononegah ended that streak the very next year. And if Belvidere North hadn’t missed a late field goal, it would have been 31-28 — the same score North won by last year despite having only 10 first downs to Boylan’s 26. Boylan dominated most of this game too, but Max Gyllenswan through two fourth-down touchdown passes — his only completions of the day — to rally North. “That was the only reason it came down to the wire,” said North’s Nico Bertolino, who scored two touchdowns but was stuffed on a two-point try when North went for the win on the final play of overtime. North would have another classic loss, leading almost the entire way before losing 14-10 to Lake Zurich in a game that could have sent the Blue Thunder to the 6A state semifinals for the first time, but it’s week 3 showdown at Boylan was the NIC-10 game of the year.

Lena-Winslow 30, Chicago Hope 28

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Lena-Winslow was not just in search of its fourth straight Class 1A state title, but the Panthers appeared to be on a mission, crushing every team in its path — until the state semifinals. They survived that one with one of the best comebacks of the year. But they did tumble in the finals, placing second for the first time as a program. "This is the first time we've faced adversity all year," said Le-Win senior fullback Gage Dunker, who rushed for 203 yards with a touchdown and three two-point conversions, "and boy did we respond." The Panthers held off Chicago Hope 30-28 as Dunker's backfield mate Cobryn Lynch, who rushed for 60 yards and a touchdown and also hauled in two touchdown catches, snagged an interception at the Panthers' 3-yard line with 52 seconds left to preserve the win. Hope QB Eddie Jenkins Jr. threw for 259 yards and three touchdowns and rushed for 62 yards and another score as Hope snagged leads of 21-16 at halftime and 28-16 until late in the third quarter. But it was the Panthers who rallied and then had the final big play of the day to move on.

BOYS BASKETBALL

Scales Mound 60, South Beloit 57 (2 OT)

Scales Mound was the state’s biggest story in 2022. One of the smallest public schools in the state was not only state-ranked for the first time, it was No. 1. The Hornets finished third in the state with five starters who had been varsity players for four years. After they all graduated, Scales Mound somehow went even further, taking second in Class 1A. But to get there, they had to rally from a 17-5 deficit after one quarter to outlast South Beloit in double overtime in the Eastland Sectional semifinal. A pair of early 3s by Jared Schober helped South Beloit build that early lead and 6-8 sophomore Ross Robertson dominated the entire game, finishing with 37 points and 24 rebounds. South Beloit led 47-43 but did not score in the final four minutes of regulation, while Scales Mound cashed in on a technical foul on South Beloit and two missed Robertson free throws to force overtime at 47-all. Robertson hit a tough 3-pointer to force the second OT. Only then did Scales Mound, led by All-State guard Thomas Hereau’s 23 points, pull away.

Taylor Ridge Rockridge 60, Rockford Lutheran 59

It was a battle down to the end, but Lutheran couldn't find a way to finish the job against Taylor Ridge Rockridge, falling 60-59 in the Class 2A boys basketball regional final last year. It was a No. 1 versus No. 2 showdown, and No. 1 prevailed. Senior point guard Walt Hill Jr. did everything for Lutheran except find a way to get his long 3-pointer to go in. He found a way, with three defenders on him, to get a shot off at the buzzer, but it rimmed out and Lutheran fell just short of exacting revenge. Lutheran was eliminated in the Sterling Supersectional by Rockridge 57-52 the year before, but this time it was back-and-forth, and Hill, who scored 28 points and had six steals and five assists, somehow got off a shot just before the buzzer. However, it bounded out.

GIRLS BASKETBALL

Guilford 43, Huntley 40

Avery Green scored 18 points and Lindsey Knuth had 16 points and eight rebounds to lead Guilford to its first regional title since 1996. And they did it against a top-seeded Huntley (28-5) team led by two NCAA recruits. Guilford led by as much as 35-24 midway through the third quarter but Huntley forced a 10-second violation after cutting it to 41-40 with a 3-pointer, giving it the ball and a chance to win with 18 seconds left. Huntley then missed a free throw but grabbed the offensive rebound. Green, the shortest player on the court at 5-3, then reached over and stripped the ball away from behind. She eventually made two free throws to clinch the win. Guilford finished a school-record 25-10 and won its first sectional game in school history when it rolled over South Elgin 59-38 in the semifinals the next week.

BASEBALL

Freeport 7, Hononegah 5

For the first time in history, two teams met on consecutive days to decide the NIC-10 title. After Hononegah won 6-0 at Freeport, the Pretzels came back to score five runs in the top half of the final inning and win 7-5 at Hononegah and both teams finished 16-2 in the NIC-10. Almost all of the action seemed to revolve around Zach Arnold, not one of the many all-conference players on both rosters. Arnold singled into a double play in the fifth. He threw out a runner at the plate in the sixth. After leaving the outfield to pitch in relief, he grabbed a sharp come-backer to the mound to start a double play in the seventh. Then fell down and watched a potential game-ending grounder bounce lazily over his head for a hit.

“A lot of hard things. A lot of easy things. But I came back from it,” Arnold said. It was a wild game. A crazy game. A game that decided the NIC-10 title. Hononegah would go on to win only its sectional title in history, beating Algonquin Jacobs 3-2 behind 6 ⅓ no-hit innings by Maddux Hibbard and finishing 29-7, one win short of the school record, but even that game wasn’t as eventful as Hono’s second game against Freeport.

Sterling Newman 10, Dakota 7

Stand-out pitching from James Eyster and Brody Keeney led Dakota during the season, but Dakota’s offense led the way in its thrill-a-minute postseason run. Three straight games were the best area 1A games of the year. Dakota beat annual power Warren/Stockton 8-7 in the regional finals, rallying from 4-0 down in the third inning and 7-5 in the bottom of the seventh, with Eyster hitting the game-winning two-run single. Then Dakota beat Fulton 7-6 in the sectional semifinals. “That one was really interesting,” Dakota coach Kyle Kampmier said. Dakota led 7-1 in the final inning with Eyster still on the mound, but Fulton scored five times before Kaidyn Niedermeier came on in relief to get the final strikeout and strand the tying and winning runs on base.

That gave Dakota a chance to win its first-ever sectional title. Kampmier wanted to walk Notre Dame recruit Brendan Tunink. Keeney, a sophomore who had thrown a perfect game early in the year, said no. Tunink wound up hitting three home runs off him. The last came after Keeney again suggested a walk with a 7-6 lead and the bases empty. “No, we will not walk him,” Keeney said. “We will go after him again.” That third homer tied the game at 7. Walking, it turns out, didn’t work either. Dakota finally walked Tunink with two outs and the game tied 7-all, but Sterling Newman scored three times for the win. Still, a great game, an even greater three-game stretch and a great performance by a great opposing player made for an unforgettable Dakota playoff run.

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GIRLS VOLLEYBALL

Galena def. Durand, 21-25, 25-14, 25-22

Durand won 25 games last year, its seventh year in a row with at least 20. It is easily the school’s best sport, topped by a third-place finish in Class 1A in 2017, its only state trophy in any sport except bass fishing. But Galena has won 30 matches for eight straight years. The Pirates didn’t lose a single set en route to the state title last year — except the first set in the championship match of the Durand Regional. Four early kills by 6-1 senior Rhiannon Robertson, an NCAA Division I recruit who signed with North Dakota State, helped Durand turn an early 4-5 deficit into a 16-10 lead en route to taking the first set. In the third set, Durand led 5-1 and was tied 12-12 but the Bulldogs looked finished at 24-18. With Galena one point from victory, Robertson’s big serves helped Durand close to 24-22. Galena then finally handled one of Robertson’s serves and won the match on a kill by Addie Hefel, who along with Gracie Furlong was the star of both Galena’s state champion volleyball team and its current No. 1-ranked girls basketball team.

GIRLS SOCCER

Crystal Lake Central 4, Boylan 3

The Boylan Titans girls soccer team hadn't placed at the girls state soccer tourney since 2004, but that stretch appeared to be nearing its end. The Titans won 12 in a row and Boylan's star-studded lineup had Crystal Lake Central on the ropes early in the sectional finals — twice. But CLC, which went on to take third at state, rallied for a 4-3 win with a pair of late goals, ending the Titans' dreams of a state-tourney berth. Earlier in 2023, the Boylan boys went as far as any other Rockford-area soccer team, falling 2-1 to Elmhurst Timothy Christian in the sectional semi in another exciting soccer game. Reese Schlichting scored Boylan's lone goal in that one, and he led the NIC-10 with 28 goals. For the girls, senior Maggie Schmidt finished up her career with another strong season scoring 25 goals and 15 assists, while senior Kyra Cruickshank racked up 20 goals.

This article originally appeared on Rockford Register Star: Here are Rockford's 10 best high school sports games of 2023