Boys’ Basketball Team Posts Fine
17-7 Mark

Mike Tovar (20 above) jumps in jubilation while Anthony Westbrook also celebrates in the final moments of Mooseheart’s playoff victory over Oregon.

> Certainly, there have been Mooseheart boys basketball teams that won more games than this year’s 17-7 squad.

And maybe even a case could be made that there have been more talented teams in the history of the Red Ramblers program.

But this year’s team did win a postseason tournament game-- something that hadn’t happened in a generation-- when the Ramblers defeated Oregon in the opening round of this year’s Illinois state tournament.

And it almost got better. Mooseheart led Byron, one of the top-ranked small-class schools in Illinois, in the late-going of the second-round of the tournament.

Unfortunately for upset-minded Mooseheart, the favored Tigers recovered and knocked out the Ramblers with a 40-34 defeat.

Next year looks incredibly bright for this Ramblers team, though senior star Stephen Pinto, a rebounding and shooting force, must leave to graduation.

But most of the starting lineup is back, including Mike Tovar, who will be a senior next season.

And the sophomores showed they are ready for their chance to play varsity basketball too.

Tovar Tries To Dunk The Competition

> Officially, Mike Tovar had just 45 seconds on the court during the state high school slamdunk competition.

But in reality, Tovar had much more than those precious few seconds in the cavernous Carver Arena at the Peoria Civic Center. And while he did not advance to the competition’s finals he gained a lifetime of memories in his March 8 appearance.

“It’s great,” Tovar said. “That’s why I wanted to come down here, for the experience.”

Tovar recorded three official dunks in his 45-second routine and the judges gave him 26 points. That score wasn’t among the top four, which meant Tovar, a Mooseheart junior, saw his basketball season end in the preliminaries.

“I do feel good about how I did,” Tovar said. “In the first round, there were six people who got ‘zero.’I was worried I was going to choke. But getting 26 was good. My goal was to be higher than halfway and I did that.”

In State Wrestling, Fernandez Makes It To 135-lb. Sectional

> Arturo Fernandez finished his senior wrestling season with a trip to the Plano Sectional -- although he was hoping to get just a little further.

A week after struggling with flu and a cold, he finished second in the 135-pound weight classs at the Harvard Regional. Fernandez was the only Red Ramblers’ Sectional qualifier.

“I was excited, it was really exciting,” Fernandez said. “I was feeling a lot better and I thought I’d be able to wrestle better than I did at Regionals.”

Fernandez wrestled well but was eliminated in early-round action at the Sectional meet.

“We had a very inexperienced team this year,” Mooseheart coach Mark Johnson said. “We had a lot of freshmen and sophomores on the varsity. Next year, they’ll be more experienced and, hopefully, stronger.”

Ramblers Girls Basketball Team Nearly Finishes
Above .500

> Mooseheart’s girls basketball team had twin goals in the 2006-07 season: one was to finish above the .500 level; the other was to win at least one game in the state playoffs.

As it transpired, the Red Ramblers missed both goals, but the closeness with which the team came to fulfilling its aspirations showed the tremendous improvement the squad showed during the season.

Senior leaders such as Jasmin Barnes and Adrianna Tezanos-Pinto graduate, but a great core returns from this year’s 10-11 squad, as will head coach Bryan Miller, who infused the squad with enthusiasm and knowledge in his first year leading the program.