FIGHTIN' IRISH TOO MUCH FOR 'DOGS

Maybe the Notre Dame boys basketball team could have given Springfield Catholic a better football game Saturday night.

That might be a stretch considering the Bulldogs don't field a football program and the Fightin' Irish are the defending Class 2A champions. But judging by Springfield's 86-62 drubbing of the Bulldogs, Notre Dame coach Chris Janet might have been willing to hit the gridiron with the 2A powerhouse.

Springfield opened up a 24-9 first-quarter advantage and continued to build on that lead until it reached 34 points early in the fourth quarter. The Bulldogs made 5 of 12 3-pointers in the final quarter to bring the final margin to 24 points.

The loss dropped Notre Dame to 6-12 overall. The Irish improved to 14-6, with three of their losses coming to state-ranked 2A squads. The other three losses came during a tournament at Jefferson City-Helias against larger schools.

"Everyone that's beat us is a quality team so we can't gripe about our record," said Springfield coach Bobby Brown. "Had we picked a different tournament record-wise we might have been better, but as a team we wouldn't have been as good."

The Bulldogs should be convinced of Springfield's talents.

"They're a very strong 2A team," Janet said. "They've got their top three players back from a team that went to the quarterfinals last year."

Most of Springfield's lineup also consists of players off its state-championship football team. All-state quarterback Kyle Cernech showed plenty of basketball skills with a game-high 27 points.

"They're for real," said Janet. "They're a team that might advance far into the (state) playoffs."

"State is very much in our mind," said Brown. "We didn't look good and start to peak until about this time last year."

The Bulldogs were certainly not at 100 percent for such a huge challenge. Notre Dame's two tallest players -- 6-foot-5 junior Jason Rubel and 6-6 junior Anthony Ressel -- were both at home with the flu.

Said Janet: "With out those two (Rubel and Ressel), we were fighting an uphill battle all night long."

The Irish took full advantage with 6-7 Seth Wand (10 points), 6-4 Joe Huff (eight), 6-3 Mark Stewart (10) and the 6-3 Cernack clearing the boards for several easy putbacks. Rick Galager added 14 points for the Irish.

"They killed us on the boards," said Janet. "We didn't do too many things right and that's not a good combination."

Notre Dame junior Michael Wehner played a gutsy game on the inside, scoring a team-high 21 points. Sophomore Josh Eftink added 11 points.

Notre Dame will host Perryville Tuesday night.

* Notre Dame sophomore Scott Reinagel left the game on a stretcher in the third quarter after sustaining an injury to his vertebrae in a collision between two Springfield players. The game was delayed for about a half-hour as Reinagel was taken to the hospital by ambulance as a precautionary measure.

Janet said Reinagel experienced dizziness when attempting to get to his feet, but had feeling and movement in all of his extremities.