Ashton High School - Spotlight Yearbook (Ashton, IL)

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FU' XB? ASHTCJNA COMMUNITY I I X v I - I in 51 I 15, - lifjs A nur L me ASHTON, ILLINOIS Q, rllf' 1 em-1oeL ' The Aces started the season with a bang, by defeating Lee Center 59 to 15 and continued to win the next several games until meeting up with Steward. Steward being one of' the strongest offensive teams in this section of the state, handed the Aces their first set-back by the lop-sided score of 56 to 33. ' We did it before and we can do it again, was the chant ' from the fans, as Ashton erased a several point deficit to pull away from the Grovers in the second half to defeat them 49 to 29 for the second time this year. Ashton eliminated Rollo in their first game of the G.R.V.C. tournament and was leading 40 to 17 when the game was turned over to the second team. In the second game the Aces' failure to hit the basket and also their failure to stop Knetsch, Paw Paw's lanky center, who scored 17 of Paw Paw's 24 points, spelled defeat for the Aces, the sec- ond of the season. The Aces, however, trimmed Lee Center 54.to 17 for third place honors on the following night. An exciting game was played between Ashton and Stillman Valley on the opening night of the Route 72 Conference Tournament on the Stillman Valley floor. When the final whistle blew, the score stood 52-52. At the end of the first overtime period the score was still knotted 36-56. The Aces registered a field goal on the tip-off to start the second overtime period making them the winners of a very hard fought game. In the semi-finals held at Franklin Grove, Ashton downed Monroe Center by a score of 37-25. In the finals on the home floor, the Aces tangled with an inspired Leaf River team and after considerable difficulty, managed to come out victorious by a score of 53-29. Ashton entered the Regional Tourney with.a record of, 19 victories and 5 defeats and had high hopes of going to the finals. The team displayed some real ball-handling and marksmanship in defeating Stillman Valley 50-29 on their H opening night of play but was defeated by Oregon 39-26 on the second night, thus bringing to a close another success- ful season. A

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mis' fx ...N fxsfrron fommumrr ,a flfk l-l gf By., TQ Sf F F I N 7 wg lim C' f' g .f-H ,JI-I J I-.I J J.. Ulf' H-H ASH TON, cLLaNoa5 March 28, 1942 Dear Ray: E , In your last letter you wondered what sort of a season we had in basketball. Of course, Cahem!J we never could have beaten your famous 1955 team but we did passably well. I was in the 5th or 6th grade when you and Al used to be the demons of the maple courts in these parts and how well I remember the many games your team won. The Ashton first team won 21 games this year while los ing 4 and the second team won 15 and lest 2. Both teams dominated the Route 72 Conference throughout the winter. Just as last year, the varsity won the conference without suffering a single less. Stillman Valley was the next strongest team with a record of 8 victories and 4 defeats 4 compared with 12 and O for the Aces. Our ponies ended the conference race in a tie with Stillman Valley with a record of 10 and 2. Four fine trophies were added to the trophy case over in the Gym. They were as follows: first in the Route 72 Conference tournament, first in the Route 72 Conference, heavyweight round robin play, tie for first in the Route 72 Conference lightweight round robin play, and 5rd place in the G.R.V.C. tournament. The team was composed of Loren Calhoun, Ed Calhoun, Willis Kersten, La Verne Kersten, and Ed Zager. John Kersten and William Patton were subs. On the second team were Junior Landis, Harlow Dailey, John Kersten, George Yenerich, and Red Unger. Subs were William Patton, Maynard Patton, and all the boys on the 5rd squad. They were James Klingebiel, Neil Montanus, Gaylon Mace, and Billy Jacobs. These 3rd squad boys played a series of three practice games with the strong Ashton grade team winning 2 of them.

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xx. ' ' M T. Fx i-XSHTUN CfD11AMlU?NlI'fY I QL MJ U 'wiL L V 'T ' -J .4 2U Vi1fi11-fam ASH TON, :mucus .5jfAf1i 7 V A ss., 5 - ,.i 5' r. .53'f5' a . n 4- a 2435? Q- rllfjrl :F 1-1001 ..?gi:f:f.' 1' V U , g 5 ' I believe you attended last year's basketball banquet given by the Civic Club. Again this year the Civic Club entertained the high school squad together with Mr. Butler's grade boys. It was really a fine occasion. The M. E. ladies served the food but this year we had local after-dinner speakers. Some of the speeches were really rare as you can well imagine. Coach Vaux awarded letters to eight players and small basketball watch charms to the first 'fiven which had engraved H1942 basketball championsn on them. The really crowning part of a swell season came March 19, 20, 21 when ten of us and Coach Vaux spent the three days in Champaign witnessing the state tournament. The athletic department really out-did itself on this trip to show us a good.sime. I will never forget that trip. You are right about our team not having quite the speed of the 1940-41 team. This year's team had more scor- ing punch and more defensive ability though. You can see by the enclosed records that we often ran up around fifty points on the opponents while holding them down quite well part of the time. ROUTE 72 CONFERENCE STANDINGS T F1921 E252 ?......C'C - lf. 23 Ashton 12 0 , 1.000 578 514 Stillman Valley 8 4 ' .667 405 592 Monroe Center 7 5 .585 545 548 Byron 6 6 .500 441 408 Franklin Grove 5 7 .417 561 425 Leaf River A 4 8 .555 518 595 Forreston O 12 .000 518 494 A Here's hoping that next year's team will have just as successful a season as we had. - As ever, ' A '42 Ace