Bureau Valley, Princeton Alumni Game to feature ties to each school’s history, tradition

The players are signed up and coaches lined up for the inaugural Bureau Valley-Princeton Alumni Basketball Game hosted by each school’s booster clubs Sunday, Dec. 22 at the Storm Cellar.

The lineup of players comes with some unique ties to each school’s history and tradition.

There will be fathers and sons with Princeton’s Gary “Poke” Clark and Zach Clark and Steve and Southern Foster, and brothers with Princeton’s Scott and Ryan DeVore.

There will be two superintendents, Bureau Valley’s Jason Stabler, a 1995 Western graduate, and Princeton Elementary’s J.D. Orwig, a 1993 Wyanet grad, a school board president, Bureau Valley’s Justin Yepsen, a key player on the Storm’s first state team in 1999-00, a head coach, Jason Marquis (2004), a former player, and a booster club president, Bureau Valley’s Josh Egan from the first graduating class in 1996.

There will be two players from the first Bureau Valley teams in 1995-96, Melissa (Milby) Jackson and Drew Kager.

There will be four members of the Storm’s 2018-19 Elite Eight team reuniting, Kale Barnett, Tyler Gustafson, Noah Johnson and Noah Simon, a foreign exchange student from Germany.

And there will be five parents of BV or PHS graduates.

The oldest players will be the venerable baller Don Smucker, a 1971 Tiskilwa graduate for the men, and Sarah (Kiser) Scruggs, a 1997 PHS graduate, for the women.

The teams will be coached by former Storm skipper Brad Bickett and PHS varsity assistant Tim Smith.

The game was schemed by both booster clubs to help supplement the loss of the school’s annual basketball games, which was a major fundraiser night for both schools, since they are no longer scheduled to play for the foreseeable future.

“I am totally excited to see this game take place. I can only hope we play a game that keeps the legacy of local rivals but has that element of fun and a good time running through it,” said PHS Booster Club president Amber Wise, a BV graduate.

The doors will open at 3 p.m. with tip-off at 3:30 p.m.

The men’s 40 and older division will take the floor first. They will be followed by the women in the second quarter, the men’s 21 and older in the third quarter and a mixed division in the fourth quarter.

There will also be a free throw contest after the first quarter, a 3-point contest after the third quarter with alumni cheer/dance performing school fight songs at halftime.

Men’s 21 and older

PHS: Kyle Arnett (2010), Zach Clark (2010), Ryan DeVore (2006), Jacob Fisher (2012), Southern Foster (2012), Brandon Nyman (2004), Max Taylor (2022). Honorary - Michael Camp.

BV: Kale Barnett (2019), Hunter Clemme (2013), Jeremy Culver (2010), Michael Grieve (2006), Corey Gruber (BV assistant coach), Tyler Gustafson (2019), Zach Jacobson (2008), Jonah Johnson (2021), Noah Johnson (2019), Will McEhlinney (2007), Luke Moon (2021), Matt Morman (2007), Dallas Munson (2005), Kole Price (2008), Noah Simon (2019).

Men’s 40 (37) and older

PHS: Gary “Poke” Clark (1983), Scott DeVore (2002), Ben Rapp (1998), Justin Smith (2004), Don Smucker (Tiskilwa 1971), Josh Taylor (1999). PHS parents - Steve Foster, Matt Ross, Blake Jacobs and Jared Shaw.

BV: Adam Franklin (2004), Josh Egan (1996), Jess Entas (Walnut 1995), Drew Krager (1996), Jason Marquis (2004), Paul McMahon (Manlius, 1979), J.D. Orwig (Wyanet 1993), Jason Stabler (Western 1995), Todd VonHolten (Walnut, 1986), Matt Wiggim (1998), Justin Yepsen (2000). Parent - Scott Stoller.

Women’s 21 and older

PHS: Sara Grieff (2018), Kelly Morris (1999), Jamie Munson (2005), Anna Murray (2018), Katie Sayler (1999), Sarah Scruggs (1997), Kelly VanDenBusche (2019), Abby Vladika (2005).

BV: Paige Andersen (2005), Saige Barnett (2020), Jill (Lyons) Barmes (1999), Samantha Bohm (2020), Courtney Hoagland (2018), Melissa (Milby) Jackson (1996), Jessica Judd (1999), Addison Moreland (2018), Breelyn (McMahon) Siefert (2006), Savannah (Wall) Sisk (2017), Natalie Swanson (2012).