Rebels

nearer to

departing

the SCC

Journal Sports Writer

NEW ULM -- The second step in the United South Central Rebels leaving the South Central Conference took place Thursday when USC was accepted into the Gopher and Gopher/Valley Conferences.

The Gopher and Valley Conferences are merged for football and stand alone in all other sports.

""They (USC) have been in the Gopher/Valley Conferences for football for the last two years," said New Ulm High activities director Mark Woodbury. "Now, they have been accepted into the Gopher Conference for all other sports."

USC has not decided whether or not they will change conferences and they will have until mid-January to decide.

"The Gopher Conference is pretty small," commented Woodbury. "There are only two schools (in the Gopher Conference) that have tennis and golf. They have to decide whether they want to be a member of that conference that has fewer activities."

If USC does leave the SCC for the Gopher Conference, it would not take affect until two years from now. "We would still have USC on our schedule for other sports than football until then. They are supposed to give us at least one year's notice, if they think that it is their best interest to join that conference."

If USC does leave it would put other SCC schools in a bind to find games.

"We are looking for other teams to join the South Central in all sports," commented Woodbury. "But right now, there are no takers. Two years ago, we drew a circle around the center of the SCC and invited schools with comparable enrollment; a few responded, but I don't know if there is a school out there that would want to join. We have looked at a school like New Prague, maybe a LeSueur-Henderson, a Sibley East or a GFW. Other than that, there are not that many schools with that type of enrollment."

There was talk several years ago about Albert Lea leaving the Big Nine for the SCC. "That will not happen," Woodbury said.

One school that may fit the bill is Minnesota Valley Lutheran. The Chargers might join the SCC/Southwest Conference merger in football only.

MVL has petitioned the Southern Minnesota Conference, of which they are currently a member in football, to stay in. The enrollment at MVL is currently above the limit set by members of the conference, but is expected to drop back to within limits in the near future.

Woodbury said that USC's proposed leaving of the SCC has created some hard feelings toward USC.

"There are a couple of schools in our conference that have stated that they will not schedule USC for any activities in the future if they pull out of the conference," he said. "There are some very hard feelings towards USC on that."

Another proposal, which was started by former The Journal sports editor Don Brand, was to invite both Mankato schools to leave the Big Nine for the SCC.

"That will not happen," said Woodbury.

"The thing that is thrown about is that schools do not struggle so much in baseball, basketball, softball and wrestling (because of enrollment) but it is in football," commented Woodbury. "It seems like every year, we talk about section football as your football conference. Let's put together a proposal for section football where you play teams in your section during the season. In our case, it would mean games against Marshall, Fairmont, Mankato East and West, Worthington, Waseca.

"The ideal situation would be to have eight or nine teams in your section. There are a lot of schools that favor it. We do, so does Worthington, Marshall. I have even heard that the Mankato schools would favor that (in football only). Mankato does not have to play Rochester each year. You could still keep your conferences in other sports."

Woodbury said the schools opposed to the section football setup are the Metro schools. "They do not worry about scheduling football games. We have trouble finding games."

So as the conference shakeup continues., stay tuned. There will be an announcement coming early this week.

UNKE TO RETURN: Dan Unke's timetable for returning to the basketball court following a staph infection will become clearer this week. "The doctors have told Dan that he will have his last treatment for that infection on Wednesday and they will know more at that time," said MVL coach Craig Morgan. "It will be up to him to determine when he can come back."

Unke is also battling a case of mononucleosis which he contracted two weeks ago. "If it wouldn't be for bad luck, Dan would have no luck at all," commented Morgan. "He is feeling better."

The Chargers really miss Unke's leadership on the floor and it was really apparent in the loss to Sleepy Eye High Thursday night. Right now, there is no offensive flow with Unke on the bench.

EAGLES NOT INTENSE: New Ulm High coach Pat Burmeister said that his team "came out slow to start (trailed 17-7 after one quarter). We did not have very good intensity on defense nor did we shoot the ball very well."

The Eagles, who saw their record fall to 0-2 in the SCC and 1-5 overall in the 62-48 loss to the Rebels, played better when they switched their defense.

"We got back in the game, but in the fourth quarter we had to go back to our man-to-man defense and we missed some chances. We did not have the intensity."

Burmeister said junior forward Charles Ganske "played a great game. He played solid defense. The player he guarded had only nine points when he had been averaging 24 points a game. Charles also had seven points and had 11 rebounds."

Burmeister said the team was "disappointed after the loss to USC. We played well against St. James our last game and we felt that if we carried that attitude into this game, we could win. But we did not have that intensity."

Burmeister was also happy with the Eagles' zone defense "and at times we rebounded well. We still have that problem with rebounding. We seemed to rush our shots in the game and did not execute well on offense."

CRITCHLEY HAS INDIANS IN RIGHT DIRECTION: Ted Critchley's father was a successful head basketball coach and from what I saw from his Sleepy Eye High Indians Thursday night, he will also be a success.

Sleepy Eye High played as good a game as I have seen any Sleepy Eye basketball team play in recent years in their two-point win over the previously-unbeaten Chargers.

"It is going to take me a while to get my head clear," said Critchley following the Thursday win that vaulted the Indians into an unfamiliar spot ... alone in first place in the Tomahawk Conference and unbeaten overall at 3-0.

One thing of many aspects of Sleepy Eye High's game that stood out Thursday were the adjustments that the Indians made late in the game when MVL made a rush

"They (MVL) took us out of our game plan late and we made adjustments," commented Critchley.

"And most of those adjustments by the players were on their own so it is a credit to the kids that are in our program," he said.

One of the big additions has been David Ludewig, who transferred from crosstown rival St. Mary's.

"He came up big for us (18 points) and made some key 3-point shots. He also brought down some big rebounds. He is a good kid who is making the most of his opportunity that has been given to him."

The Indians have a huge Tomahawk Conference matchup Tuesday when they host New Ulm Cathedral.

LEGION COACHES APPLY: Anyone who is interested in coaching one of four American Legion baseball teams in New Ulm next summer (Legion Gold, Blue, Junior Legion or VFW Gold) should formally apply by writing to the New Ulm Legion Club, 13 South Minnesota Street, New Ulm or call Vernon "Ader" Wieland at (5 07) 354-2865. Even if you coached last year, you must reapply.