We are excited to announce the area's first all prep sport magazine focused on everything that is sport from Lombard to New Lenox and from Lemont to Minooka. Our inaugural issue hits the streets this week with Joliet Catholic Academy's football star, varsity wing back Ty Isaac gracing the cover along with Bolingbrook Lady Raider and Ms. Illinois Basketball Player Morgan Tuck who is headed to UCONN to play NCAA D-1 next season.

This first issue covering April and May is loaded with information you can use and will point out some of the greatest accomplishments and crushing defeats the world of sport has to offer.

I would like to thank first and foremost Old World Pizza featuring Fat Ricky of Romeoville, Plainfield, Shorewood, Tinley Park and Elmwood Park and all of our wonderful advertisers who have made this issue possible. Our printing partner is Double D Printing in Downers Grove Illinois. Without their support this magazine would not have been possible and I encourage all of you to be sure and support them with your business whenever possible. These companies understand the value of our athletic community and have committed to assisting us in getting their stories told.

Maybe it was an omen for Romeoville Tuesday night when the lights kicked off during the national anthem in the Spartans SPC conference win over visiting Oswego East in two straight games for the match.

Once the lights fired back up delaying the contest for fifteen minutes, Romeoville opened with a 4-0 lead and did a good job setting their outside hitters for a few big swings that kept the Wolves at bay. The Wolves were trailing 7-3 and turned to one of their captains, senior Libero Tom Campos who stepped in to serve 2 aces and earned another point on a Spartan miscue that brought the Wolves back and played side out ball for much of the remaining first game.

"I found a bit of a rhythm at times serving but in order for it to work everyone needs to step up," Campos said after the loss. "I think it all starts with us three captains. We have three captains on the court and we are in charge of bringing our teammates up."

We're baaack! Okay sport fans, grab your coffee, energy drink or soda. It's time to strap it up and get back to our regularly scheduled program with Big Tone and the Rooster talking football every week right here on the NEST!

With two weekends left in the regular-season, the Lewis University softball team is peaking at the right time, as the Flyers extended their winning streak to six games with the 4-2, 5-1 Great Lakes Valley Conference doubleheader sweep over Bellarmine at Knights Field on Saturday (Apr. 7) afternoon to move over the .500 mark for the first time this season.

"(Our team) has had a great attitude during this streak," Lewis head softball coach George DiMatteo said. "We're more loose and relaxed.

"We put ourselves in quite a hole and we just took the attitude of 'Let's do the best we can', because there's very little pressure on us," DiMatteo continued. "Offensively, we're getting a lot of clutch hits, which wasn't the case earlier this season, and that has a lot to do with this (winning streak) as well."

With the sweep, Lewis improves to 22-21 overall and 14-14 in GLVC action, while the host Knights are now 24-20 on the campaign and 15-11 in conference play.

2010 Joliet West High School graduate Adam Johnson of Plainfield, placed 4th in the USBC Intercollegiate Singles Championship Sectionals in Symrna, Tennessee.Johnson, a sophomore at McKendree University in Lebanon, Illinois is one of 24 male collegiate bowlers to advance to the finals to be held in Lincoln, Nebraska on April 17th and 21st. Finals to be televised in May on the CBS Sports Network.

At the end of every prep season, we spend a great deal of time scouring stats, records and of course recalling the moxie only a local high school coach can bring to the world of sports I cover every week. Personally I enjoy looking back on the amazing accomplishments I have been blessed to witness and grasping at long yellowed articles to stuff away in my memory filing cabinet for future recollection when in jest, the brain may not be as sharp as mine is today.

This annual and seasonal event also affords perfect opportunity to pay homage to an often overlooked talent critical to any teams success...the coach.

In choosing the Old World Pizza featuring Fat Ricky's Winter Sport Coach of the Year, we look for qualities that in my mind define the mark of a good instructor while simultaneously bringing a sense of character and flair to the sport. This season there were several coaches I had narrowed my list to and considering there are fourteen high schools in our coverage area and roughly five winter sport teams in each excluding cheer and poms, that is roughly seventy head varsity coaches to choose from. while that number is large and trust me it is also filled with great coaches, I will toss out my top three of the 2011/12 winter sport season.

No. 6 Lewis men’s volleyball swept non-conference foe King 25-17, 25-23, 25-15 on Tuesday (March 13) evening at Neil Carey Arena. The win was Lewis head coach Dan Friend’s 300th of his career.

Lewis held the Tornado to a -.030 hitting percentage. It’s the second time this season Lewis has limited a team to a sub-zero hitting percentage.

The Flyers put serving pressure on King by recording eight aces. Freshmen Eric Butch (Park Ridge, Ill./Maine South) and Greg Petty (Downers Grove, Ill./Downers Grove North) each recorded four aces.

“The guys brought some service pressure which was a key we talked about before the match,” Friend said.

Petty tied for a match-high with 10 kills. Freshman Geoff Powell (Claremont, Calif./Claremont) hit .364 with five kills. He also added five digs and four block assists.

CHICAGO – The 2011 NAIA National Champion Saint Xavier University football team continued to strengthen its 2012 roster with the recent announcement of five talented prep players from around the Chicagoland area. The new additions include: linebackers Brandon Peterson (Wheaton-Warrenville South) and Jonathan Fasel (Crete-Monee), strong safety Kevin Salmon (Brother Rice), defensive lineman Trace Shoup (St. Rita) and wide receiver Sean Jones(Homewood-Flossmoor). Head coach Mike Feminis was thrilled with the recent signings and strongly believes that some of these players will be able to contribute immediately as freshmen.

"Brandon and Jonathon were at the top of our recruiting list and we are very excited to have both of them," said Feminis. "Both have good size and speed, plus the instincts to be outstanding linebackers. They will be counted on right away as key contributors on special teams and no doubt challenge for starting spots in the near future.

OSWEGO – As far as firsts go, Joliet Catholic Academy’s Rachelle Sartori ranked at the top of the list.

Sartori, a senior, placed first in the 800-meter run with a time of 2:27.92 and also took first in the 1,600 with a time of 5:38.6 as the Angels’ girls track team opened the season at the Oswego East Invitational.

Junior Francesca Sikorski contributed JCA’s other first-place finish, winning the 400 with a time of 1:02.85. Both Sartori and Sikorski were key cogs for the Angels’ state-qualifying cross country team.

Likewise, junior Erin Kennedy placed fourth in the 800 with a time of 2:36.30. Paige Wogen, a freshman, posted impressive times Wednesday afternoon in the 55 dash with a 7.75 and in the 200 with a 29.15.

“Well, for the first meet, we looked pretty good,” said JCA girls track coach Eric McCants, who is assisted by Mindy Izzo. “There is still room for improvement, but it looks like we are headed in the right direction. Our frosh-soph team did better than we expected and we are happy for that.”