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Larry's Game Blog
 

What's New!
Check here for Larry's Game Blog -- his thoughts, opinions and recap of local game broadcasts

   

Larry's Game Blog . . . 
1/6/12 from Ryon McNeff Tonight the South Fulton Rebels hosted the BPCA Spartans in Prairieland Conference action. South Fulton got out to a hot start with a 6-0 run but then BPCA answered back with a 13-0 run to take a 13-6 lead after the 1st quarter. The Spartans would hold on to the lead for just about the rest of the contest but then all of a sudden South Fulton got a couple of buckets to fall through. Those buckets would be enough to pull South Fulton out to a late lead and the Rebels held on for the 38-34 victory. Free throw shooting down the stretch really hurt the Spartans while it was the exact opposite with the Rebels. BPCA shout 14/54 from the field and shot 3/7 from the free throw line while South Fulton went 13/36 from the field and 9/26 from the free throw line. The Spartans were led in scoring by Anthony Taylor with 9 while Casey Jones led the Rebels with 12.
12/28/11 from Ryon McNeff A late tip off would not deter either Brown County or Illini West from providing us a great contest tonight. Brown County would have to play a solid contest up and down the floor in order to keep up with a very talented Charger ball club. Tied at 13 after the 1st quarter, Illini West would outscore the Hornets 14-9 in the 2nd quarter to take a 27-22 halftime lead. Brown County made a solid effort in the 2nd half but just could not find an answer for the outstanding 3-point shooting of the Chargers and fell by a score of 52-40. Illini West shot 7-14 from behind the 3-point arc with Brody Gronewald going 4-6. Alex Sheppard led the Hornets with 13 points while Brody Gronewald led Illini West with 18. Brown County falls in to the consolation bracket and will take on Lewistown at 2:30 on Thursday afternoon.
12/15/11 from Ryon McNeff Tonight the Lady Rockets hosted a very tough Havana team and would be tested right from the get go. Though Rushville-Industry was more than up to the challenge as they played with Havana the majority of the game. But about halfway through the 3rd quarter, the Lady Ducks decided to settle for nothing but 3's and they made them. This allowed Havana to pull away quickly as the Lady Rockets would not be able to keep up with the pace after another string of turnovers. Both teams would commit way too many turnovers tonight as the Lady Rockets had 37 while Havana ended up with 30. Kelsey Snowden led the Lady Ducks with 13 points this evening while Tabitha Crow once again paced the Lady Rockets with 20. Crow went 11-12 from the free throw line tonight and shot outstanding from the field as well. The Lady Rockets still have lots of room for improvement but they are improving as they are really starting to discover just how good they can be. Should make for an interesting showing in the Lady Tiger Classic.
12/12/11 from Ryon McNeff Tonight the Lady Rockets had a tough challenge in front of them as they hosted the Lewistown Lady Indians. Both teams jumped out to a hot start and would be tied at 14 after one quarter. But then the Lady Rockets started to pick up their aggression level and started out playing Lewistown on both sides of the court. This intensity level was something I thought this team was capable of but could they do it without committing a bunch of turnovers. Well, Rushville-Industry was able to hold on to the ball and held the lead the rest of the way through this game for the 70-61 win. Delanie Monn led the Lady Indians in scoring tonight with 19 while Tabitha Crow had a second straight game as the top scorer for Rushville-Industry with 22 points. Rushville shot only 39% from the field but shot a great 60% from the free throw line. But the number that stands out is that the Lady Rockets only had 23 turnovers tonight. For a team that is averaging around 30 turnovers per game, this is an outstanding achievement that they need to keep up to continue winning.
12/10/11 from Ryon McNeff This afternoon Rushville-Industry hosted Elmwood in a Prairieland Conference matchup. The Lady Rockets jumped out to a quick start in this one as Elmwood would commit a turnover on each of their first 6 possessions while Rushville would capitalize on each turnover. Rushville was up 19-9 after one quarter and the Lady Trojans could never get any closer than that as Rushville picks up the 61-32 victory. Elmwood was led in scoring by Jordan McCoy with 11 points while Rushville was led by Tabitha Crow's 18 points (8-9 from the field, 2-2 from the free throw line). The biggest thing that still concerns me with this Lady Rocket squad is the high amount of turnovers they commit. To win by 30 and have 35 turnovers is not a good number. If they can get this turned around, they could be a much more solid team.
11/5/11 from Ryon McNeff Brown County headed to Southeastern IL to take on the Cumberland Pirates in game of two halves. The first half was all about the Pirates and their ability to eat the clock and be patient. Brown County would get a big play on offense or defense, only to find that they had committed a penalty to erase the effort. Cumberland would strike on the first play of the 2nd Quarter to take a 6-0 lead. The Hornets made multiple attempts to tie it up before the half but their penalties kept killing their drives and Cumberland took a 6-0 lead into the Half. Brown County got the ball to start the second half and they looked like a totally different team. They marched right down the field and capped off the drive by a 11 yd TD run for Rick Logsdon, the extra point gave the Hornets a 7-6 lead. Cumberland QB Kendal Butler, determined to lead his team back into this game, broke open a 30 yd run but could not hold on to the ball and gave the Hornets a huge momentum swing. The ensuing drive resulted in a TD reception for Justin Volk and increased the BC lead to 14-6. Once again, Cumberland was threatening in the 4th quarter and Justin Volk came up huge on defense. Volk picked off a pass from Butler and returned it 45 yds to set up the next scoring drive. Brown County got another TD from Logsdon and advance to the Quarterfinals with a 20-6 victory. Kendal Butler was as good as advertised for Cumberland as he finished the day with 116 yards rushing and 49 yards through the air. For Brown County, Rick Logsdon finished the day with 2 TD's and 168 yards rushing while Justin Volk led the receiving department for the Hornets with 42 yards and 2 INT's. The win sets up a great rematch between WIVC North Rivals, Triopia and Brown County, in Mt. Sterling to decide who advances to the Semifinals.
10/29/11 from Ryon McNeff When the seeds came out one week ago, many people thought that this could be a very intriguing match up between Lewistown and Brown County. The Indians are a team who love to go to the air with short passes for large gains, while the Hornets are a team who just grind it out on the ground. Brown County would strike first in this contest with a 2 yd run and extra point from Alex Sheppard to go up 7-0. Then with under a minute to go in the 1st Quarter Rick Logsdon broke open an outstanding 50 yd run to the end zone to give the Hornets a 14-0 lead at the half. Sheppard would score two more times in the second half and helped Brown County to a 28-7 victory of Lewistown. One of the biggest sticking points in this game was the number of penalties committed by Brown County, 10 penalties for 80 yards. If the Hornets want to advance into the later rounds, they are going to have to find a way to stop committing penalties. Lewistown finished today with 162 yds on the ground and 98 through the air, while Brown County went for 269 on the ground and 47 through the air. Gage Beekman led the Indians with 61 yards rushing while Matt McCoy had 58 yards receiving. Rick Logsdon led the way for Brown County with 142 yards rushing and Alex Sheppard had one catch for 26 yards. Logsdon also went over the 1000 yard mark for the season in today's game to be only the second ever in the Tom Little era; Sheppard reached the feat in week 9. Lewistown's season comes to an end at 6-4 but will return a team next year full of juniors that will have a ton of varsity playing experience. Brown County improves to 9-1 and advances to the 2nd round to take on Cumberland. It will be a road game for the Hornet's as the Cumberland Pirates defeated West Central, on the road, 12-0 in round 1.
10/19/11 Liberty and Rushville-Industry are relatively evenly matched team and they went 3 games tonight to decide a winner.  It was the Eagles 28-26, 22-25, 25-14 as the Rockets just couldn't get in gear in the third game.  Claus served 12 straight points in the final game and when she was finished it was a 15-3 lead for Liberty and pretty much out of reach.  She also had 1 assist, 1 block and 7 kills.  Neisen had 6 points, 1 assist, 2 blocks and 7 kills.  Barry had 6 kills and 1 point and Ormond finished with 7 points, 1 kill and several digs as the Libero.  Hyer traded off as the setter, with May, and had 3 points, 10 assists and 3 kills.  Wiewell added 7 kills, 1 block and 1 assist.  Klingele had a good night with 1 assist and 8 kills and May was solid all the way around with 3 points, 5 kills, 2 blocks and 15 assists.  This was a nice win for the Eagles but they had 7 service errors  with 6 in the first game.  It was senior night for the Rockets as 5 of their players had their last home game.  Scherer had 2 assists and 2 kills.  Kessler contributed 3 points and 10 assists.  Haywood played very steady with 3 points, 7 kills and 6 blocks.  Ashley Thomas had 10 points and 3 kills.  Fried finished with 2 points and 10 assists and Rhoads added 6 kills and a block.  Salrin had 8 points and Taber had 1 point and 11 kills.  Rushville had 4 service errors in the match and fell to 15-17 on the season. They will take on South Fulton, in their last regular season match of the season and will open against Macomb in the regionals next Monday.  Liberty's JV team won tonight also 25-21, 25-18. 
10/18/11 from Ryon McNeff Tonight the Lady Tigers hosted their long standing rivals from the North in the Lady Rockets for Volley For The Cure. Beardstown does a great job with this event every year and tonight was no exception with a great turnout and great participation. Those in attendance tonight also watched a great match between these two schools. In game #1 Beardstown jumped out to a 10-5 lead before Hannah Salrin gains 10 straight service points to put Rushville up 16-10. But the the Lady Tigers would make a comeback to tie it up at 19-19 and held on for the game one win. The next two games really saw Rushville-Industry come to life and play some of the best ball I have seen from them all year. While, Beardstown seemed to loose a lot of their confidence and just could never find their rhythm again. Rushville-Industry picks up the conference victory with a 21-25, 25-18, 25-20 win over Beardstown. Abby Newman and Sara Brewer both had 10 service points tonight while Jill Harris added 16 kills for the Lady Tigers. Hannah Salrin led the way in service points for the Lady Rockets with 20 while KJ Haywood and Ashley Thomas were both able to pick up 9 kills in the match. Rushville improves to 15-11 while Beardstown falls to 17-8.
10/17/11 from Ryon McNeff Tonight Rushville-Industry kicked off the final week for the 2011 high school volleyball season as they hosted Central. Game number one was outstanding as Rushville-Industry came back from behind and played outstanding volleyball to take the early lead. But then Central was able to find some momentum in the next two games and they were able to take the match over Rushville. Central had a great night from Karina Witt with 17 assists and Madison Steinkamp also added 11 kills. Madison Kessler and Emma Fried had 10 assists each for Rushville-Industry while KJ Haywood had a great night with 10 kills and 4 blocks. Rushville-Industry still has 3 more games to go this week and every game will be a great test for them heading into the regional.
10/13/11 from Ryon McNeff Tonight the Lady Rebels traveled to Bushnell to take on the Lady Spartans in a Prairieland Conference match-up. BPCA got out to a quick start in the first two games and looked to be headed for an easy win. Then around 15-15 in game #2, South Fulton all of a sudden came to life and we had a real battle on our hands. Both teams battled back and forth and then South Fulton would finally pull away to force the 3rd game. Game 3 would be all about South Fulton as they could do no wrong and they were able to hold on for the win 19-25, 25-22, 25-16. Madison Benson led the Lady Spartans tonight with 8 kills and 5 blocks and even gained an assist. Courtney Musson led the Lady Rebels tonight with 12 assists and 8 kills to help the Lady Rebels pick up the Conference victory.
10/10/11 from Ryon McNeff Tonight the Lady Rockets welcomed the North Fulton Wildcats to town for a Prairieland Conference match-up. Rushville-Industry jumped out to a very hot start in the contest with the help of Carly Rhoades. Rhoades' net play in game one was outstanding as she was able to gain 5 kills and 3 blocks in the 1st game. In the 2nd game, North Fulton got on a hot streak towards the middle of the game and made a hard charging comeback from a 6 point deficit. But the comeback would not be enough as the Lady Rockets were able to hold on for the 25-14, 25-21 conference victory over North Fulton. KJ Haywood finished the night with 7 service points, 4 kills, and 3 blocks for Rushville-Industry. Allie Simkins finished the night with 5 kills and 3 blocks for North Fulton. The Wildcats fall to 5-17 (2-7) while Rushville-Industry improves to 14-15 (6-4) on the season.
10/7/11 from Ryon McNeff Tonight the Rockets hosted the team from Knoxville in the last Prairieland conference match-up of the season. Both teams came in to the contest coming off of big wins in week 6. Knoxville elected to receive to start the contest and moved down the field but the Rushville-Industry defense stepped up in a big way and forced the Blue Bullets to punt. The Rockets went 3 and out on the ensuing possession but their defense was still up to the challenge. Knoxville would score twice in the first half with an 11 yard run and a 11 yard pass play to Dillon Lehr to go up 14-0 at the half. Rushville-Industry would get the ball to start the second half and had a long 4th down situation and ran a fake punt to Beau Newell who took it 68 yards for the score with 10:43 to go in the 3rd quarter. This play looked all but dead but Newell never gave up on it and his teammates gave him some tremendous blocks to clear his way in to the endzone. Neither team was able to get another score as defense reined supreme and Knoxville held on for the 14-6 victory. Knoxville gained 252 yards on the ground this evening while only adding 11 yards through the air. Though the Blue Bullets biggest downfall tonight was penalties, which they had 7 penalties for 50 yards. Rushville-Industry had 194 yards of rushing and 28 yards through the air. The Rockets did a great job of limiting penalties with only 2 for 15 yards. Beau Newell's 68 yard carry made him the leading rusher for the Rockets tonight while Dillon Lehr lead the Blue Bullets with 81 yards over 17 carries.
10/3/11 from Ryon McNeff Tonight's WIVC match-up featured Brown County and West Central. Brown County is a very young team that is still trying to find a groove while West Central is a young team that has improved greatly throughout this season and has a bright future. The Lady Cougars jumped out to a hot start tonight and played very fundamentally sound volleyball the entire match. Brown County struggled to get their coverage adjusted all night long and West Central did a excellent job of finding those holes in their 25-14, 25-11 conference victory. Rachel Moore led the Lady Cougars with 17 Assists and Victoria Miller led the Lady Cougars with 9 Kills and 3 Blocks tonight. Vanessa Markert led Brown County with 4 Kills and 2 Blocks. Brown County falls to 4-12 (2-3), while West Central improves to 18-7 (5-2)
9/30/11 from Ryon McNeff Tonight the South Fulton Rebels hosted the North Fulton Wildcats for Homecoming. Both teams came out looking like there was a lot of energy in both and South Fulton especially showed a lot of energy and looked to try and make North Fulton really fight for this one. North Fulton got on the board early with a pass from McCabe to Coufal to make it 6-0. Then South Fulton got their first chance on offense of the evening and after an incomplete pass, that could have resulted in a huge play, the next snap to Kessler was wild and resulted in a fumble recovery for the Wildcats. North Fulton was able to score on the ensuing drive but South Fulton did not look like a team ready to give up. The Rebels kept trying to go to the air but they just came up a bit short each time. In the second quarter North Fulton was able to find the end zone 4 different times in a period of about 2 minutes of clock and they also recovered a squib kick that South Fulton froze up on. In the second half the Rebels came out with some new life and were able to put a couple of scoring drives together before the final horn. North Fulton won this one 54-14. The Wildcats ended the night with 162 yards of rushing and 85 yards through the air. Their biggest downfall tonight was the 11 penalties for 80 yards. Justin Higgins carried the ball 10 times for 65 yards tonight while Travis Windsor had 46 yards of receiving. For South Fulton, they finished the night with 93 yards of rushing and 122 yards through the air. The Rebels were able to keep the penalties to a minimum with just 3 penalties for a total of 15 yards. Joey Hamm had 5 carries for 49 yards this evening while Bryar Anderson had 57 yards of receiving. North Fulton improves to 5-1 (3-0) on the season and gains playoff eligibility while South Fulton falls to 0-6 (0-3) on the season. I also want to mention that the game between these two schools is working to become known as the Blackout Game and they want to use it as a chance to help out a charity. This year Easter Seals was the charity and the students from South Fulton were able to raise $600!
9/27/11 from Ryon McNeff Tonight Triopia hosted Franklin in a non-conference Volleyball match-up that would be a good test for both teams. Franklin got off to a quick start in the match and had Triopia down early but then the Trojans pulled it together and really found a good grove that Franklin could just never find an answer for. Adrienne McLain was outstanding tonight for Triopia in making sure all of her sets were spot on for the hitters as she finished the night with 24 Assists. It really was a team effort for the entire Triopia squad tonight as they just played with a ton of confidence and made very few mistakes in the 25-12, 25-15 win over Franklin. Sydney Timmons finished the night with 3 Kills and 2 Blocks for Franklin. Erin Washington and Katie Clayton both had 10 Kills tonight, Washington also added 3 blocks. Triopia improves to 13-5 on the season while Franklin falls to 8-9.
9/22/11 from Ryon McNeff Tonight the Lady Rockets made the trip north to Avon to take on the BPCA Spartans in a Prairieland Conference match-up. Rushville-Industry got out to a very hot start in game one but the lingering question would be if they could find a way to carry that momentum over in to game two. BPCA saw that the Lady Rockets were not able to carry that momentum over and took advantage to force a 3rd game. Once again BPCA jumped out to a huge lead in this one but Rushville-Industry tried to make a comeback but came up a couple of points short. BPCA wins the match 10-25, 25-20, 25-23 to improve to 3-15 (2-4). Rushville-Industry falls to 9-9 (4-3) with the loss. Ashley Thomas and Carly Rhoades lead the Lady Rockets with 7 Kills and KJ Haywood added 5 Blocks on the night. Hannah Cortez lead BPCA with 6 Kills on the night.
9/19/11 from Ryon McNeff Rushville-Industry is facing a tough week with 3 conference match-ups against tough competition and their first opponent would be the Patriots from Peoria Heights. It really seemed like all night long neither team could find much momentum and really just played point-for-point volleyball. Finally in Game 2 KJ Haywood stepped up with the Lady Rockets down 16-10 and with her excellent serving helped propel the the Lady Rockets to a 25-18 win in game 2. Rushville-Industry wins this match 25-23, 25-18. The Lady Rockets improve to 9-7 (4-1) while the Patriots fall to 5-8 (2-3). Jessica Surrells led the Patriots with 8 Kills and 3 Blocks on the night. KJ Haywood stood out for the Lady Rockets with 10 Service Points, 5 Kills, and 3 Blocks in the match.
9/16/11 It was wonderful weather for football, with a huge homecoming crowd, a great marching band and the Rushville Rockets were ready to play.  The only down side was they were playing a very good Elmwood-Brimfield team that was 3-0 and averaging 50 points a game while only giving up 10.  The final score was 54-6 as the Trojans got off to a 2 touchdown lead with only 4 plays of offense.  They lead 41-6 at half time and recovered a fumble on the opening kick off of the second half, scored a touchdown and cruised to the win with a running clock.  In the middle of all of this, you still got the feeling that Rushville is a pretty good team who simply played a better team tonight.  The Rockets moved the ball well and part of the problem was their 4 fumbles (lost 3) and the interception in the end zone.  Onion had 45 yards on 6 carries early in the game and finished with 42 on the night with 18 carries as Elmwood-Brimfield had Jehle spy on Austin and hit him on every play.  Rushville-Industry finished the game with 64 yards on the ground and 55 through the air, including the 34 yard touchdown pass to Weishaar.  For the Trojans, they ended up with 279 yards rushing and 146 through the air with the 8 touchdowns and 6 conversions.  Bean ran for 117 yards, Westart for 94, Cluskey for 39 and Harkness 20 to lead the ground game. Brandon McCormick was 7 for 8 in passing for 146 yards and 2 TD's. Jack Canter was 2 for 6 for 55 yards and the 1 touchdown for Rushville-Industry.  The Rockets are 1-3 after the loss and the Trojans improved to 4-0 and share the conference lead.  If the Rockets don't win another game or two this season I am going to be a little surprised as they are not as bad as some of their scores indicate.      
9/13/11 from Ryon McNeff Two teams at the top of the conference squared off tonight in a battle that could play a big factor in to this years Prairieland Conference championship. South Fulton got off to a hot start in this match, playing point for point with Knoxville but the Lady Rebels were committing too many mistakes. A lot of attacks were going out of play and too many service errors proved to be just too costly. I feel if South Fulton could find a way to limit these errors, they would be one of the toughest teams in the entire area. Knoxville is a team that really did not have one stand out contributor as everyone on their team blends very well together to get the job done. Knoxville won this match 25-20, 25-15 to improve to 11-2 (2-0) on the season while South Fulton falls to 7-5 (2-1) on the year. Knoxville was lead by Chelsea Lee with 6 Service Points and 12 Assists. Destini Bollinger stood out tonight for the Lady Rebels with 15 Kills plus 3 Blocks on the night.
9/12/11 from Ryon McNeff Meredosia hit the road tonight and traveled to take on South Fulton in Astoria. South Fulton would not prove to be too gracious hosts as they took advantage of the holes that the Lady Indians left them. The Lady Rebels also had some issues throughout the match as they committed 11 service errors. South Fulton won this matchup 25-16, 25-19 to improve to 6-4 (1-0) on the season while Meredosia falls back bellow the .500 mark to 6-7. Carlie Sides contributed 3 service points and 3 kills on the night for Meredosia. Courtney Musson had 12 assists in the match while Destini Bollinger had 10 kills. Meredosia will be back in action tomorrow night against West Central while South Fulton will travel to Abbingdon.
9/9/11 from Ryon McNeff Both teams entered tonight's contest with a record of 0-2 and both facing some very tough opponents in the first two weeks. BPCA showed last week that they were a team that really likes to attempt to create the big plays and that is exactly what they did tonight. So many times BPCA took a big risk and found the huge reward as South Fulton was just not able keep up with the speed of the Spartans. BPCA wins this contest 52-26 on the heels of James Miller's 171 yds rushing and 2 TD runs. Spartan QB Seth Tolley was 3-5 passing for 115 yards and 1 TD. South Fulton did make noise in the second half as QB Seth Kessler finished the night with 138 yards passing, 40 yards rushing, and 2 passing touchdowns. Braden Wherley also add 66 yards rushing on the night with a Touchdown. BPCA improves to 1-2 on the season while South Fulton falls to 0-3. The Rebels will host Lewistown next week at home.
9/2/11 from Ryon McNeff Rushville-Industry opened up their home schedule last night as they took on the Commandos from Abbingdon. The Lady Rockets have already begun to turn a lot of heads in the area as they are a team that is showing a ton of potential and capitalizing on that potential. With this being the first game of Praireland Conference action for the Lady Rockets, here was another chance to get things rolling on a great start and that is exactly what they did. Abbingdon came out strong in game 1 and played neck and neck with Rushville-Industry but they just could not find an answer for the defensive play of Jenna Taber or KJ Haywood. Those two had a stellar night on defense and at the net. Taber finished the night with 7 kills while Haywood had 6 kills and 2 blocks. Abbingdon's Amanda Sandrock was finally able to find her rhythm in game 2 as she ended the night with 7 kills. Rebecca Stipp also added 6 assists on the night for the Commandos but it would not be enough as Rushville-Industry picks up the conference victory 25-13, 26-24. The Lady Rockets improve to 3-4 (1-0) on the season after the stellar effort from Madison Kessler. Kessler ended the match with 17 service points and 13 assists. The Lady Rockets will be back in action tomorrow night as they travel to Southeastern.
9/2/11 from Ryon McNeff When I arrived in Rushville at 5:30 tonight, there was already a nice crowd on filing in to Bob Wixom Field as the Rockets would host the Spartans in Week #2 of the season. The first quarter showed a lot of promise for BPCA as their offense was executing some excellent plays and slowly starting to wear down the Rocket defense. But the defense held strong and the Rockets had the ball at the start of the 2nd quarter when someone decided to take charge. Austin Onion had a 27 yard TD run and a completed PAT to give the Rockets a 7-0 lead with 11:31 to go in the 2nd quarter. Onion would go on to complete two more TD runs in the ballgame. BPCA was able to get on the board from the QB sneak by Seth Tolley late in the 3rd quarter. The Spartans would get another touchdown late in the 4th quarter but it would not be enough as the Rockets held on for their first victory in 24 games, 26-12. BPCA's James Miller had a stellar night on the ground as he was able to gain 91 yards on 28 carries. The Spartans had around 154 yards on the ground and 140 through the air. Rushville-Industry's Austin Onion gained 148 yards rushing on 22 carries while the Rockets gained a total of 297 yards on the ground and 40 through the air. Rushville improves to 1-1 on the season and BPCA falls to 0-2.
9/1/11 Rushville won their first match of the 2011 season tonight and played well doing it.  The final score was 25-19, 25-13 as they defeated Western.  Rushville-Industry is 1-3 and Western 0-3 after the final.  Zarr played aggressively and had a good first game with 2 points, 4 kills and 2 blocks.  Platt ended the night with 6 assists and a kill and Wharton had 1 point and 2 kills. Motley added 1 point and 3 kills while Colston contributed 1 kill and 1 block.  The Wildcats had 8 service errors in the loss. For the Rockets, Kessler had 5 points, 5 assists and a kill.  Haywood looked good at the ned with 1 kill and 3 blocks and Ashley Thomas had 1 point and 2 kills.  Fried served well with 6 points including 4 aces and she also had 2 assists.  Rhoades killed the ball 3 times while Taber played a nice defensive game.  She had 5 points with 2 aces and 3 kills on the night.  Salrin had 6 points, 2 aces and 2 assists and Welty added 1 kill as the Rockets are hopeful they have turned the corner with their first win and can get on a roll.  They are good enough to play competively night after night and just need to gather the confidence to know how good they could be.  
8/31/11 by Ryon McNeff The Rockets came into tonight's match looking for their first win of the season against Illini West.  IW and R-I played neck and neck through game 1 but with the scored tied at 15, Illini West took control of the game 1.  But in game 2, Rushville-Industry could do no wrong as they showed everyone that they are a team on the climb and forced the decisive 3rd game with a 25-8 win.  The 3rd game was a good battle early on but the Chargers were just too much as they pulled away and won the game and the match 25-17, 8-25, 15-8.  Holly Jones had 10 Assists for Illini West, while Madison Kessler had 6 Service Points, 5 Assists, and 2 Kills on the night for Rushville-Industry.

Our second match of the evening turned out to be the best match of the night as Beardstown and Brown County would battle it out.  Brown County has had a rough start to their season but they came out looking like that was old news and out Beardstown in a big hole to start the match.  Beardstown did make a late game comeback but it wouldn't be enough as Brown County took game 1 25-21.  In game 2, these two teams came out playing back and forth until Jill Harris took control for the Lady Tigers and helped her team force a 3rd game with the 25-15 win.  Beardstown really took control early in the 3rd game and Brown County could never come back as Beardstown wins the game and the match 21-25, 25-15, 15-8.  Jill Harris had 7 Service Points, 1 Assist, 9 Kills, and 1 Block on the night for Beardstown.  Jenna Yingling had 6 Service Points, 7 Kills, and 3 Blocks on the night for Brown County.

Our final game of the night saw South Fulton looking to get on the winning track against a very tough Unity squad.  Unity has looked extremely strong throughout this entire tournament and tonight would be no different as South Fulton was never able to put much together tonight and would loose the match 25-12, 25-13.  Unity's Rachel Rush was unstoppable tonight as she had 9 Service Points and 10 Kills in the match.  South Fulton just really seems to be a team that is still looking for some consistency and once they find it, they will be a team that should really start to surprise people.

 

8/29/11 Ryon McNeff Beardstown and Southeastern were both 2-0 coming into our final match of the evening and this would be a good test for the Beardstown squad to see where they stand early in the season. The Lady Tigers looked great early on in the match as they were executing well and you could start to see the concern from the Southeastern side. But after the Lady Suns took a quick timeout the momentum started to change and Beardstown started to look out of sync and had to play catch up the rest of the night. Southeastern wins this match 25-20, 25-17 to improve to 3-0 on the season, while Beardstown's record goes to 2-1. Kait Herter had 6 Assists and Jill Harris had 4 Assists and 4 Kills on the night for the Lady Tigers. The loss does take Beardstown out of Championship contention in this tournament but they still show a ton of potential and could really be a contender late in the season.

West Hancock and South Fulton both suffered very close and tough losses in their opening night games and set up the exciting match up tonight. The Titans got out to a quick start, but South Fulton never gave up hope and showed a lot of resilience in tonight's match. One thing about this South Fulton team that I am noticing is that they just seem to be one of those teams that takes a while to find their grove and once they do, they can be very hard to stop. The downside to this is that they are getting in too big of a hole and just do not have the time to dig themselves out of it. West Hancock wins this match over South Fulton 25-19, 25-21. Courtney Musson had 8 assists on the night while Carly Beebe had 8 kills for South Fulton.

Liberty and Brown County both lost their opening night games at the Suns Classic and both were looking for their first wins of the young season. The Lady Eagles jumped out to a early lead in game 1 and would never look back as they defeated the Lady Hornets 25-5, 25-16. Liberty's Meredith Hyer was a blast to watch tonight as she totaled 12 Service Points while getting 14 Assists in this match. It seemed as if Hyer could do no wrong in this match and because she is a Sophomore, it will be interesting how she develops over the next few years.

8/30/11 Ryon McNeff Our final match of the night saw a tough Southeastern squad take on a young Brown County squad.  Southeastern would not leave much doubt in anyone's mind, as they took control of this game at the very beginning and never would give Brown County a chance to lead throughout the entire match.  Southeastern wins the match 25-6, 25-17.  Brown County falls to 0-2 on the young season, while Southeastern improves to 2-0.  Southeastern's Alivia Nelson had 5 kills as she hooked up with Bethany Tindall who had 5 assists in the match.
8/30/11 Rushville and Payson squared off for the second time this year as they played at the Lady Suns Classic.  In their first meeting it was a 25-7, 27-25 win for the Indians and the Rockets were hoping tonight they could break through.  It didn't happen as Payson was too consistent as they won 25-14, 25-9 to improve to 7-2 on the season.  For Rushville-Industry, they fell to 0-2. Erin Smith has been a consistent setter in high school and tonight was no different.  She had 9 assists, 6 service points with 2 aces and also added 4 kills.  Flesner was tough from the service line with 9 points and 2 aces as she added 1 assist and 2 kills.  Richards was the tallest player on the court and she played an all around good match with 2 points, 1 assist, 8 kills and 3 blocks. Hagerbaumer finished with 2 points and 3 kills and Loos was active with 7 points, 1 assist and 1 kill.  Gregg came off of the bench with 1 assist and 2 kills.  Payson was patient, reversed the ball well and was the better team tonight. 
8/29/11 Ryon McNeff Central and South Fulton met to open their tournament play in the Lady Suns Classic.  Early on, in Game 1, it looked like Central was going to run away with this game, that was until Carly Beebe got a chance to serve.  Beebe earned 13 consecutive service points, with most of those points being directly related to her serve.  In game 2, South Fulton's net play really came to life and this team began to execute much better than they did in game 1.  But they just were not able to overcome the powerful combination that Central puts on the net as Central took the game and the match 25-19, 25-22.
8/30/11 Beardstown got off to a slow start against a pretty good Liberty team and lost 25-22.  Once they settled down, they took care of business and won the next two games - 25-14, 15-4 and improved to 2-0 on the young season.  Liberty came into the game 0-2 but they have a nice young squad who execute well. It feels like they will win a lot of games before the season is done. It was a good team effort but, Claus, Hyer and May stood out as they were on top of their game.  Riddle had 15 points, 3 kills and 5 assists in the win.  Harris was more aggressive than she was in the season opener against North Fulton and finished with 11 service points, 12 kills, 9 assists and 8 blocks in the win.  Herter also had good numbers with 6 points, 2 kills, e assists and 8 digs. Janssen had 8 digs and Brake 6 as the Tigers played good team ball.  Next up for the Tigers will be a strong Southeastern team and a solid challenge to see how they compare. 
8/26/11 from Ryon McNeff Welcome back to another exciting football season and tonight's opener featured Havana traveling to South Fulton. South Fulton is a team with a lot of unknowns coming into tonight's contest and Havana really found a way to expose the unknowns. Havana held South Fulton to just 4 yards of rushing on the ground, while Havana picked up 167 yards on the ground. Neither team had much success in the air, but when they did it always seemed to be negated by a Penalty. This game would end up with a running clock in the majority of the second half as Havana picks up the week 1 win 47-0.
7/15/10 from Ryon McNeff Calhoun and Beardstown faced each other tonight in the 9/10 softball district championship game. The game was tied at 1 with two outs in the bottom of the 3rd and Beardstown opened up a 5-1 lead and would never look back in this one as they won 10-2 for the District Championship. Olivia Dour threw a no hitter tonight for Beardstown while Megan Stock went 2-2 at the plate with a Double, Triple, and 4 RBI's. Calhoun just could not time Dour's pitches all night long and really gave it their all tonight. Beardstown advances on to the Sectional in Taylorville on Friday night at 6pm.
7/14/10 from Ryon McNeff Tonight's game was expected to be a good match up between Brown County and Calhoun, and instead this game just ended up completely one sided. Calhoun scored 8 runs in the bottom of the first and Brown County could just never catch up from that. I think that Brown County was tired and really out of pitching and that just did not help when Calhoun had about all of their pitching available. Jesse Oswald got the win on the mound for Calhoun with the final score favoring Calhoun 19-2. Calhoun will now advance to tomorrow night's championship game against Beardstown at 7 pm.
7/13/10 from Ryon McNeff In the winners bracket championship game, Beardstown and Brown County met to see who would advance to Friday night's championship game. This game started out great early on as it was tied at 1 after the 1st inning. Then as the game went on, Beardstown slowly gained more runs off of Walks, Stolen Bases, Errors, and Wild Pitches. Brown County made a couple of attempts to come back into this one but they could not get it done and were defeated by Beardstown 12-4. Beardstown advances to the Championship game on Friday night and Brown County falls to the play-in game Thursday night at 6pm against Calhoun.
7/11/10 from Ryon McNeff The third and final meeting between these two teams would follow the same course as the other two. Good hitting, strong defense, and solid pitching performances. The only downfall in this one would be who would make that mistake that would give the other team an advantage in the game. Unfortunately for Richland County, they would commit those mistakes at the wrong times when Calhoun could really take advantage of them. Richland County ended up commiting 4 errors to Calhoun's 3, also Richland County had to many pitches go to the backstop with runners on 3rd base. The final in this one would be 9-5 in favor of Calhoun. Richland County's Dani Hawkins did everything she could to help her own case on the mound by also going 2-3 at the plate this evening. For Calhoun, Abby Baalman got the win on mound and Faith Maag went 2-3 at the plate with 2 singles and a run scored. Calhoun now advances on to the State Tournament this Saturday in River Forest, IL.
7/10/10 from Ryon McNeff Calhoun and Richland County squared off in a battle for the Section 2 championship in Beardstown this afternoon and this was a championship caliber ballgame. There was great defense by both teams on the field today but the defensive star was Jynsen Yonaka from Richland County. Yonaka made a couple of amazing catches out in center field to keep Calhoun from getting on base. The end of the game was just as exciting as we were tied at 3 heading into the bottom of the 6th. Richland County's Paige Ginder stepped up to the plate and hit a rope to the right field fence and was determined to get as many bases as possible out of the hit and an error allowed Ginder to come all the way around and score. 4-3 was the final score and Richland County has forced the if game against Calhoun tomorrow night at 7pm.
7/9/10 from Ryon McNeff Game 1: The first game of the 2011 9/10 Softball District Finals saw Rushville take on Pike Co. American.  Pike Co. American is a young team that really did very well at holding their own against what may be a very tough Rushville squad.  Madlyn Belville had an outstanding pitching performance for Rushville as she only allowed one hit and was responsible for all 12 Pike County outs by way of strikeouts. Rushville came up to the plate swinging and scored 11 runs on 14 hits and that would be enough for the 11-1 win.  Ellisa Trailer went 3-3 at the plate with 3 base hits and 3 runs scored for Rushville.  The lone hit for Pike County American came from Kylee Smith in the top of the first inning. Game 2: Game 2 of the day was the best game of the entire day as Brown County and Jerseyville opened up tournament play. Jerseyville is a team with only 9 players, but those 9 players have a lot of confidence in themselves which really showed out on the field.  At one point in the game Jerseyville would only have 8 players out on the field as the catcher got overheated and center field was left open.  This team never let that get them down and they continued to battle through the entire game.  Brown County showed some great defense today and they also showed that they are a team that will run the bases any chance they get.  Brown County ended up winning this one 10-4 and will advance to play Rushville on Monday.  Jerseyville will now play Pike County American on Sunday afternoon.
7/7/10 from Ryon McNeff The 11/12 year old Softball sectional got under way tonight in Beardstown as Calhoun took on district 5 champion, Silvis. Calhoun had control of this one from the very beginning as they jumped out to a big start and lead and never looked back. In the second inning, Calhoun scored 6 runs and ended up winning the ballgame 12-2 in 5 innings. The line on Calhoun tonight was 12 runs on 5 hits while Silvis' line was 2 runs on 4 hits. Emma Schleeper went 2-3 at the plate tonight with 2 base hits. Calhoun advances to the semi-finals tomorrow night at 7 against Richland County. Silvis will play the looser of the semifinal game on Saturday at 5pm.
7/6/10 from Ryon McNeff For the second time in this tournament, Brown County and Pike County squared off with a berth to the state tournament on the line. This game got out to a great start for both teams, but then in the 3rd inning Pike County jumped out to a 4-0 lead and never looked back as they won the championship 9-4. Collin Clinging went 2-3 at the plate for Brown County. For Pike County no batter had more than 1 hit, but that was due to a high number of walks. Congratulations to Pike County on their District Championship.
7/5/10 from Ryon McNeff In one of the most exciting games of the tournament, Beardstown and Brown County squared off in the elimination game to see who would take on Pike County in the championship game. Brown County got out to the hot start early in this one but Beardstown kept finding ways to come back and tie the game up. In the top of the 7th, Beardstown had to score 5 runs to stay alive. Beardstown got one run early in the inning and then Marcus Blair hit a Grand Slam over the left field wall to tie the ballgame at 12. Then in the bottom of the inning, Brown County had runners on and Bayley Wiese hit a shot right past the second baseman for the game winning base hit. Brown County advances to the championship game on Wednesday night against Pike County after the 13-12 win.
7/3/11
from
Ryon
McNeff		 Game #4 is the first elimination game of the tournament as both BC and Jerseyville lost in their opening round games. Jerseyville came out today as a much better looking team than they did against Beardstown the night before. Caleb Schulte came out and had a solid effort on the mound despite giving up the lead to Brown County in the bottom of the 5th inning. Jerseyville scored 2 runs in the top of the 7th inning to tie the game up at 7. Then Brown County had the basses loaded and no outs when Jake Lofland drew the walk and the winning run touched the plate as BC defeated Jerseyville 8-7. Collin Clinging went 2-3 at the plate and did a great job of patrolling left field. Brown County advances to tomorrow's elimination game at 10am against Calhoun.
7/2/10 from Ryon McNeff Game #3 of the 2011 Jr. Baseball tournament got underway this afternoon as Calhoun made their first appearance in the tournament against a tough Beardstown team. Calhoun only had 9 players on the team today and that just made it that much harder playing in the early afternoon heat. Once again, Beardstown got out to a very hot start at the plate and had a 4-1 lead heading into the bottom of the 4th inning. That is when the big inning occurred in the game and Beardstown scored 6 runs on 1 hit, and Beardstown never looked back as they won the game 11-1 in 5 innings. Alex Schultz went 2-3 at the plate with 2 RBI's. Schultz also got the win on the mound facing 12 batters, striking out 4, and only surrendering one hit. The lone run of the game for Calhoun was scored by Keegan Sabol as he reached base on the lone base hit surrendered by Schultz.
7/2/11 from Ryon McNeff Game 1:
The opening round game of the 2011 Jr. Baseball district tournament had a great start to it, but it quickly turned to a one sided affair.  Beardstown's bats would not be stopped in the game yesterday and as a result they scored 17 runs on 11 hits while only committing 1 error and leaving 8 runners on base.  This is a Beardstown team who flat out impressed this afternoon as they played excellent defense and really capitalized on their opportunities.  Beardstown's Marcus Bouser went 3-4 at the plate with 3 singles, 3 runs scored, and a couple of RBI's.With the win, Beardstown will advance to play tomorrow against Calhoun at 1 and Jerseyville will play Brown County at 3.

Game 2:
Our second game of the evening saw the annual rivalry between Brown and Pike Counties renewed.  Though in this one, Pike County made it a one sided affair as they pulled away early and Brown County could just never find their way back into the game as they lost 9-4.  Brown County's Michael Scoggan went 3-4 at the plate a solo home run.  Scoggan also played some outstanding defense out in center field and really helped to keep BC in this one.  For Pike County, Mitch Main had an outstanding evening as he went 2-3 at the plate with a 2-run home run and a single.  Main's effort also carried over to defense as he was a solid wall behind the plate and showed off his strong arm multiple times to keep Brown County runners close to their bases.  Pike County will next play on Monday at 12pm.  Brown County's next game will be Sunday at 3pm against Jerseyville.
6/30/11 from Ryon McNeff Beardstown and Brown County faced off in a rematch of the semi-final contest from Tuesday night, though this game would take a much different course.  The first inning went 1,2,3 for both sides and then in the Top of the 2nd inning, Beardstown made its stand.  Beardstown's bats came to life and scored 8 runs on 5 hits.  Brown County could not recover from that inning and they were defeated by Beardstown 15-3 in 5 innings.  Samantha Blair got the win on the mound and also went 3-3 at the plate with 2 RBI's and 3 runs scored.  Beardstown advances to the Sectional in Beardstown in a couple of weeks.
6/29/11 from Ryon McNeff For the second time in three days, Brown County and Pike County squared off in the elimination game.  Once again Brown County came out with hot bats to start the game but Pike County was able to respond this time and really made this a very entertaining and competitive game to watch.  Bailey Powers had a great night for Pike County as she went 3-4 with 2 runs scored and a RBI.  Though Powers' effort was not enough to keep Pike County in the tournament as Brown County eliminated Pike County by the score of 10-7.  For Brown County, Leah Rohrer went 3-4 at the plate with 3 RBI's and 2 runs scored.  Brown County advances to Thursday night's championship and a rematch with Beardstown at 6pm.
6/28/11 from Ryon McNeff

Tonight's second round game was expected to be a great game and it certainly lived up to it as this game was a big back and forth contest the entire way.  Brown County got out to a quick start in the game as they had a 5-1 lead after five innings, but then the momentum shifted towards Beardstown when Brown County began committing errors.  Beardstown was able to capitalize on 5 Brown County errors and numerous wild pitches.  The final score in this one was 7-6 in favor of Beardstown, who now advances to Thursday night's championship game while Brown County falls to tomorrow night's elimination game against Pike County. 

6/27/11 from Ryon McNeff

The IL District 17 Jr. League softball district finals got underway last night in Mt. Sterling as Brown County and Pike County squared off in an opening round game.  Brown County found their offensive power right off the bat in this one as they scored 3 runs in the first inning and would never look back as Pike County just could not find the offensive power that they needed.  Do not discount this Pike County team by any means as they played extremely solid defense last night and if they could find a way to get the bats going they will be a very hard out for any team.  The final score in this game was 7-4 in favor of Brown County.  Leah Roher went 2-3 at the plate for Brown County and also came in and finished up the game from the mound, in a solid performance.  Pike County's MaKenzie Flowers went 1-2 at the plate and scored 2 runs and also drew 2 walks on the night.  Brown County will play on Tuesday night against Beardstown, Pike County will play the looser of Brown County and Beardstown on Wednesday night.  All games at 6 pm.

5/21/11
from Ryon McNeff 		This morning we had a softball regional championship match-up between Springfield Calvary and Virginia/A-C.  This game got out to a very quick start for the Redbirds as they were able to score leadoff batter Madalyn Allen to take a 1-0 lead after the first inning.  Unfortunately for VAC, that was all of the offense they could produce as they only were able to achieve one more base runner the rest of the game. Calvary was as hot as ever at the plate this day as they were able to score 11 runs on 16 hits.  The Saints were just able to find every hole that was open on the field and place the ball in those holes with every at bat.  Calvary went on to end Virginia/A-C's season with a final score of 11-1 in 5 innings.  Calvary's Ali Mattsson went 3-4 at the plate today with 4 RBI's and also made some great plays at second base to rob base hits away from VAC.
5/19/11 In a semi-final baseball at the Routt Regional the Tornadoes of Griggsville-Perry played the Indians of Payson and the winner would get Routt Catholic for the regional title on Saturday.  In regular season play, the Tornadoes had defeated the Indians 9-1 and 9-8 so it looked like this may be win #3.  In the end, it was a very good game with Payson winning it 3-2.  The big hit was a 2 run home run, in the top of the 6th, by Adam Hilgenbrink.  Griggsville-Perry got off to a quick start with 2 hits and 2 runs in the bottom of the first.  They gave up an unearned run in the 2nd and made that lead stand until the 6th when Payson took the lead for the first time and went on to win.  Hobson led the Tornadoes with 2 doubles and a run scored.  Risley and Brock Rumple had the 2 RBI's and Craven pitched a nice ball game, but the Tornadoes came up 1 run short.  Griggsville-Perry finished with 4 hits, 2 runs, 1 error and they left 5 runners on base.  Craven walked 2 and struck out 8 in the loss.  Payson had 5 hits, 3 runs, 1 error and they left 2 runners on base.  Ash, Koetters, Hilgenbrink, Alex Wiseman and Terwelp had the hits for the Indians.  Manion recorded the win with 3 walks and 6 strike outs. It was a fun game, well pitched and exciting to the end as the Tornadoes end their season 21-8 while,  the Indians earned the right to see if they can upset the #1 seed Rockets of Routt Catholic.  They will bring an 11-14 record into the title game with Routt who is 21-10.  
5/18/11 by Ryon McNeff This afternoon North Greene and Triopia softball teams began post-season play as they squared off in the Regional Semifinals.  These two teams met a week ago with Triopia coming out on top and leaving North Greene hungry for a win.  And hungry North Greene was, as they came out of the gate with a very high level of intensity that could be noticed in every play of the ballgame.  North Greene leadoff hitter, Kallie Phares, was hit by the second pitch of the ballgame and would later score the first run of the game off of a hit by Haylee Kessinger.  Triopia had a chance to tie the ballgame up in the fifth inning after a leadoff double by Adrienne McLain but the closest the runner came to scoring was third base and the game remained at 1-0 through five innings.  North Greene took control of this ballgame in the top of the seventh when Jenny Ward stepped up to the plate with the bases loaded and hit the first pitch she saw over the centerfield fence for the grand slam and gave us our final score of 5-0.  Jenny Ward was the standout player of the day for the Spartans as she only allowed two hits on the mound and went 2-4 out the plate with 4 RBI’s.  North Greene will play for the regional championship on Saturday morning against Griggsvlle-Perry.
5/16/11 by Ryon McNeff Regional Baseball action got underway this afternoon as Rushville-Industry hosted Central Southeastern in a regional Quarterfinal match-up.  This game proved to be a flat out pitchers dual as both starting pitchers went the distance and only allowed two hits each. Each team only saw two base runners make it to third base all day with only one being successful in advancing to home.  In the bottom of the 6th inning, Dillon Ingles lead off the inning for the Rockets with a base hit.  He then stole 2nd base and advanced to third on the throwing error when CSE attempted to throw him out.  Standing at third and needing a run, Ingles took off running on a pitch for home plate and by the time the catcher had the ball, Ingles had already touched the plate safely and that one run would be all that R-I would need to advance as they defeated CSE 1-0.  Keaton Dyche pitched a great game for the Rockets as he only surrendered two hits while striking out 11 batters.  The Rockets move to 16-18 on the season and advance to Wednesday night's regional semifinal match-up with host QND.
5/10/11 by Ryon McNeff The Rushville-Industry softball team was back in action this afternoon as they hosted Quincy Senior High in a non-conference matchup.  This game got out to a quick and efficient start as we were scoreless after the completion of three innings.  Though in the 4th inning, QHS brought the bats to life and gained a lead that they would never let go of.  Rushville-Industry created a lot of chances to tie or win this game but they just could not get the hits when they really needed them.  QHS went on to defeat Rushville-Industry by a score of 3-2.  Michala Swanger takes the loss for the Rockets who fall to 5-18 on the season. Hannah Salrin went 1-3 on the afternoon with an RBI and a run scored. But Salrin also made a great defensive play back in the 3rd inning by diving, and tagging out, the QHS runner heading for home to keep the game scoreless.
5/9/11
by Ryon McNeff 		This afternoon Rushville-Industry hosted North Fulton in a Praireland Conference softball matchup. The game got out to a strong start with both teams plating a run in the first inning. Unfortunately the strong start would not last for Rushville-Industry as they could not keep up with the offensive production of North Fulton.  Rushville-Industry attempted to make a comeback in the last two innings but they just were not able to get the runs they needed and ended up being defeated by North Fulton 8-3.  Michala Swanger takes the loss for Rushville-Industry, though she still had a strong performance on the mound with 9 strikeouts.  Rushville-Industry's Hannah Salrin had a dyn-o-myte afternoon as she went 3-4 at the plate, scored 2 runs, and also had two great defensive plays out at shortstop.  Rushville-Industry falls to 5-17 on the season.
5/5/11 Rushville-Industry and Triopia baseball have both had their ups and downs this season.  The Rockets play pretty well early, get a lead or stay even for a while and have not been able to finish to post the win.  They came into tonight's game with 12 wins and 15 losses and couldn't hold their 4-0 lead to eventually lose to the Trojans 12-4.  Triopia, on the other hand, have been prone to the error and not able to play 7 innings of solid defense.  Tonight they made 2 errors in the first inning, after 2 outs, and gave up 2 unearned runs.  They allowed 2 earned runs in the second and it looked like they would drop the game.  Rushville-Industry gave them 2 unearned runs in the 4th and allowed them to close to 4-2, then had a tough 5th inning in which Triopia scored 5 runs (2 earned) and added 3 in the 6th and 2 in the 7th to cruise to the win.  With the win, Triopia improved to 10-13 on the season. It was a good pitching game for John Love as he went 6 innings to post the win.  He gave up 7 hits, 4 runs, 2 earned  as he walked 2, hit 1 and struck out 7. Dinsmore had a nice day with 3 hits, as did Parrish and Kleinschmidt added 2.  They had 8 of the 10 Trojan hits in the win. Ingles had a couple of hits for the Rockets and 5 other players each picked up a hit. Ingles and Feigl had the RBI's and Canter went 5 innings to take the loss.  He looked like he wore down in the 5th as he walked 2, hit 2 and had 2 wild pitches.  In about 10 days, the Rockets will open post season at home against Augusta-Southeastern and the Trojans will be home to face Virginia/AC.  
3/21/11 from Andy Phelps

Triopia fell to 1 – 3 on the early baseball season with a tough 7 – 6 loss to New Berlin this afternoon. New Berlin improves to 1 – 1 with the victory. Triopia jumped to an early 4 – 0 lead in the first. Cody Parrish had a RBI double and Jansen Joehl an RBI single. Triopia scored a single run in the 5th with an RBI single by Kody Kleinschmidt. New Berlin tied the score with a big 5 run 5th inning the big hit being a 3 RBI double off the bat of Scottie Thoele. The score remained tied until Josh Millard led off the top of the 7th with a double; he was sacrificed to 3rd by Wayland and scored on a sac fly by Kyle Meyer. It wasn’t enough though as New Berlin scored 2 runs in the bottom of the 7th without the benefit of a hit to win the game. Triopia stranded 11 runners on the day and thats the reason for the defeat. Derrek Schone, Kody Kleinschmidt and Josh Millard all collected 2 hits for the Trojans.

2/17/11 Havana won the Mason City Sectional for girl's basketball tonight as they downed the Routt Catholic Rockets 38-36.  It was a dog fight from the beginning and unfortunately came down to a couple of non-calls, a questionable technical, a bloody nose and the final horn.  Over all it was a championship quality game and it was unfortunate that one of the teams ended their season. It was the 35 turnovers for Routt that was their real problem, and the inability of the Ducks to get to the inside as often as they wanted which resulted in 25% shooting in their win.  Havana hit 12 of 48 shot attempts and 12 of 23 free throws with 19 turnovers.  Ellsworth led the way with 16 points but it was not an easy win for the Ducks and you have to give them credit for gutting it out to advance.  Routt got 11 points from Garde, who played an excellent first half.  Routt hit 10 of 31 shots and 15 of 21 free throws as they hung around in spite of their high number of turnovers.  The Rockets ended their season with a record of 22 wins and 8 losses.  It was a very good season for them and most of their success came from their defense which they showcased tonight as they held a powerful offense down to just 38 points.  With the win, the Ducks will get a chance to take on the West Central Cougars in the Super-sectional round at Illinois College on Monday.  The Cougars knocked off the Carrollton Hawks 55-33 to advance and it should make for an interesting match up in front of what we would anticipate to be a huge crowd.  A trip to Illinois State and the final four will hang in the balance as we will, once again, send a good representative to the state title chase.     
2/9/11 Havana was fantastic tonight with their overall offense. They hit 16 of 22 three point shots for 73% on their way to a 94-39 win over Lewistown.  The Indians didn't play a solid game of defense tonight but they just got overwhelmed with the tremendous start for the Ducks. Ellsworth scored 22 points, Brown 20 and Patton 16.  McClure and Parker scored 8 each, Eakle 7 and Huber 6 as nine of the Havana players scored in the game.  They only had 12 turnovers with 57% free throw shooting and an impressive 36 of 55 (65%) shots from the field.  With the win, the Ducks improved to 28-3 on the year and will face South Fulton tomorrow night in the regional title game.  The Indians will end their season with 15 wins and 15 losses.  Lewistown started the season very well and once Monn got her nose broke, they just couldn't stay on a roll.  Monn wore a face mask tonight and you tell she was having some difficulty handling the ball and with some of her shots.  She also had a wrap on her right arm as she hyper-extended her elbow in Monday night's game. With her injuries she still led the Indians with 11 points tonight while Eberle had 9, Bull 8 and LeGrande 7 in the loss.  They were only able to hit 33 per cent of their shots and 45 per cent of their free throws with 22 turnovers in the game.  Rachel Bull is the only senior on the Indian squad so, they should have another nice season next year.

In game number two at the Mt. Sterling regiona. the Rebels of Astor (South Fulton) defeated the Mendon Unity Mustangs 53-36 and will get one more shot at Havana in the championship game on Thursday. The Mustangs only shot 22 per cent in the game and had 4 players in the scoring column.  They did shoot 66% from the line and only had 12 turnovers but didn't have consistent scoring.  Moore scored 20 points and Rush 12 and no one else had more than 2 points in the loss.  Mendon Unity will end their season 15-10 but, they are another one of those young ball clubs who will be able to use this year as a stepping stone to much better things to come.  South Fulton had three players (Churchill 17, Beebe 14, Porter 10) in double digits and 6 players overall who scored in the game.  They had 13 turnovers while hitting 44% of their shots and 65 per cent of their free throws. They will take a 25-5 record into their title game with Havana. The last time these teams played each other, it was a double overtime win for the Ducks so, it should be a very good regional championship game.     

1/21/11 At the Winchester Tournament, the Brown County Hornets defeated WHNG by 9 points. Tonight it was a different story as the Spartans were very sharp and led at every quarter and won the game 52-31.  It was a bigger margin than most fans and supporters thought it would be.  The Hornets got off to a very slow start with 3 points in the first quarter and 4 in the second to trail 24-7 at half time.  Part of the problem was 2 for 19 shooting and 3 of 8 free throws in the first half.  The other part of the problem was the solid defense the Spartans played, especially Blake Fulton's performance in the paint.  He had, unofficially, 7 blocked shots tonight with 5 more times when he made the Hornets alter their shots.  He was just too tough in the post and it had positive affect for WHNG.  Six of the Hornets scored in the game with Henricks leading the way with 11 points.  Brown County only hit 12 of 54 shots (22%) and 5 of 12 from the free throw line.  Good news for them was their 13 turnovers in the game while forcing 24 on the Spartans.  The Spartans hit 20 of 32 from the field (62%) and 8 of 12 (66%) from the free throw line. The only negative in their game was 10 turnovers in the first half and 14 in the second half.  Kaiden Davis shot well from the field as he hit 6 of 9 from the field and 4-4 from the line.  Blake Fulton was 6 of 7 from the field so, he played the best game I have seen from him this season on both sides of the ball.  Hull added 9 points on 3 of 4 shooting and 3 of 5 free throws. Wear added 8 points and White 5 as this was a good team win.  The Spartans will play next week in the Beardstown Tournament and are the #1 seed in pool B.  The Hornets will play Routt tomorrow night at home in conference play and will need to rebound from this loss as the Rockets are playing well. 
1/10/11 Only 3 of the Lady Tigers were able to score in the ISD loss to Greenfield in the 2nd day of the Lady Spartan Classic.  Mancera scored 10 points, Murrell 6 and Wilkes 4.  ISD will take on the Barry Western Wildcats in the next round.  The Greenfield Tigers had 6 players in the scoring column as Kelsey Pembrook led the way with 12 points and Megan Plogger added 10.  Bishop added 9 as Kelly Pembrook and Bowman tossed in 8 in the well balanced attack.  The final score was 49-20 as Greenfield improved to 6-10 and ISD fell to 0-10.

 In the second game, it was Griggsville-Perry defeating the Barry Western Wildcats 51-22.  Bradshaw (23), DeSpain (14) and Hobson (12) all hit double figures as the Tornadoes evened their record at 9-9 and have a date with Greenfield on Thursday. Platt had her second good game in a row and finished with 11 points in the Wildcat loss. Motley had 5 points in the game as Barry fell behind early and just couldn't get back to the lead.  Western will take a 5-12 record into their Thursday night game with the ISD Tigers.  

1/8/11 from Ryon McNeff The first game of the day in the old gym at the 2011 Lady Spartan Classic pitted Beardstown against #2 seeded Litchfield.  Beardstown played amazing defense and had wonderful execution on offense to go into the half down by one, but then Litchfield would start to show why they were the higher seeded team.  The Lady Panthers came out of the halftime break and showed a lot more intensity with their offensive production and were able to finally pull away, and hold off a late charge from Beardstown, to secure the 66-56 win. Beardstown was led in scoring by Emily Riddle with 25 points and Litchfield was led in scoring by Kelsey Going with 16 points. 

Our second game of the day saw Pittsfield and Pleasant Hill square off in a game that would be decided very early on, as the Lady Saukees led 23-7 after the first quarter.  Pleasant Hill was just not able to find any type of answers to stop Pittsfield and this game would be end with a running clock to bring us to a final score of 70-30.  Leading the scoring for Pleasant Hill was Kara Law with 14 points, and leading the Lady Saukees was Shea O'Brien with 27 points in the win for Pittsfield.

Game number three pitted two WIVC conference rivals, Carrollton and Virginia/AC Central, against each other.  Carrollton jumped out to a very hot start in this one by establishing their 3-point shooting ability early and using that to propel the Lady Hawks to a 52-21 victory over the Lady Redbirds.  VAC was led in scoring by Lyn Vaughn with 7 points in the ballgame.  Carrollton was led by Kim Lake with 13 points.  Anna Schnettgoecke and Patsy Coonrod also added in 10 points for the Lady Hawks. 

The final game of the session was between the #3 seeded Routt Lady Rockets and the Lady Raiders of Brussels.  Routt established the early lead and took a 45-8 lead at the half by playing great deffense and using excellent shooting from the field.  The second half would see the same type of game being played as the Lady Rockets would take the win 68-29 over Brussels.  The Lady Raiders were led in scoring by sophomore Shannon Kamp with 14 points.  Routt was led in scoring by Alyssa Garde with 12 points and Kelly Lonergan with 11.  The Lady Rockets also shot 47% from the field and will take on Carrollton in the Quarterfinals on Tuesday night.
1/6/11 Triopia girl's basketball got a small measure of revenge tonight as they defeated Rushville-Industry 41-36.  It was a back and forth game with the lead changing hands numerous times and the Trojans were able to hang on at the end.  McLain hit a trey in the 4th quarter and 2 big free throws to help seal the deal.  Reither had a great night with 21 points and a 6-6 free throw effort with several assists.  McLain had 7 points also as 6 Triopia players hit the scoring column.  35% shooting from the field and 82% (9-11) from the line were instrumental in the victory.  The Trojans improved to 4-10 with the win.  The Rockets had the early lead and led again later in the game but had a few too many turnovers (27) to grab the lead for good.  They were 14-52 from the field and 3-4 from the line in the loss (6-11) and were led by Crowe with 3 treys and 15 points overall.  The Rockets had 7 players score in the game but just never got any sustained run.  
12/29/10 Triopia finished the Classic with a 35-17 win over the Brown County Hornets.  Seven of the Trojans scored in the win, with Reither leading the way with 9 points as Sayer scored 8 and Carls 7.  Ten for sixteen free throw shooting was helpful also. The scoring woes for the Hornets continued and they were only able to make 1 of 6 from the free throw line.  Buss led them in scoring with 7 points.

West Hancock had some up and down moments in the tournament and most of that is due to their being so young.  It was good game for them verses Rushville today however, and they cruised to a 62-37 win as 14 players scored in the game. Billing led the way with 11 points and Dorch had her third good game in a row.  5 for 12 free throw shooting was a little low but the win kept them alive for championship day and chance to finish 9th.  Rachel Simpson had a good tournament over all and scored 10 in the loss.  She also had 4 for 5 in free throws as she finished her final Lady Tiger Classic for her high school career.  

Mendon played Routt Catholic well and the Rockets were able to hang on for the 37-35 win in the end.  The Mustangs are young and a very promising team for the finish of this year and for the next couple of years at the least.  Rush hit for 14, Begeman 10 and Moore 9 to lead the way.  They were 5-11 from the charity stripe and knocked down 2 treys.  Lonergan and White each scored 11 points for the Rockets  and the team improved a little to 6-11 from the free throw line as they set themselves up for a shot at 5th place on Thursday.

12/28/10 White Hall North Greene defeated the injury plagued Brown County Hornets 41-21 and McKinnon was the leading scorer for the Hornet team with 5 points.  They have lost their tallest player, their team leader and their leading scorer, so they are having a hard time.  They may have a difficult time tomorrow when they face the Triopia Trojans.  The Spartans had three players in double digits as Price scored 14, Randle 11 and Kessinger 10.  The down side of the Spartan victory was their 5 of 19 performance from the free throw line. 

Lewistown rebounded from their loss to Mendon Unity with a 63-39 win over the Rushville-Industry Rockets. Katie Simpson and Brandy Wise had 15 and 10 points respectively for the Rockets in the loss.  Free throw shooting was a problem for the Rushville squad also as they were only able to make 9 of 22 shots.  LeGrande led the Indians with 24 points while Monn and Bull hit 12 each as the Lewistown team hit double digits in each of their 4 quarters.  The Indians will face Pittsfield tomorrow at 3:00 in the consolation bracket. Rushville will play West Hancock at 11:30 in the consolation losers bracket.

The Macomb Bombers beat Griggsville-Perry 56-45 and will need to get past Pleasant Plains at 4:30 tomorrow.  Meline scored 14 points to lead 9 players in the scoring column.  Ten of seventeen free throws also helped with the win.  The Tornadoes had three players in double digits as Despain scored 14, Bradshaw 13 and Hobson 11.  Eighteen of thirty six free throws helped with the loss as the Tornadoes trailed the entire game.  Griggsville-Perry will play Canton to stay alive in the consolation losers bracket.   

12/27/10 In the high school gym today, Canton opened the game with a 36-29 victory over a feisty White Hall North Greene team. Price had 13 and Elliot 9 and the Spartans hit 12 of 17 free throw attempts. Chasteen hit for 11 points, Lingle 8 and Kumer 6 in their win.  They only hit 50% of their free throw shots and will need to stay on top of their game when they take on Pleasant Plains on Tuesday.  

Macomb defeated an injury plagued Brown County club 50-12 as they controlled the game from the beginning.  The Hornets were led by Yingling with 6 points and they only shot 6 free throws all game long and made 2 of those.  Twelve of the Bombers scored in the game and on one had more than 8 points in the game.  It was a well-balanced attack and put the Bombers into a match up with the #1 seed Havana Ducks. They will see a great deal of team speed from the Ducks and will have to play very well to survive the constant pressure of the Havana attack.

Liberty-Payson posted a 20 point win over Pleasant Plains as the Cardinals are in a rebuilding year. Seven of the Cardinals scored in the game but no one had more than 6 points in the loss.  The Eagles improved to 12-1 with the win and will take on a strong Illini Bluffs team tomorrow, so that should be a fun game to watch.  Cramsey had 14 points and Flesner 12 to lead the Eagles.  Liberty-Payson hit 15 of 25 free throws and controlled this game from the beginning. It is hard to imagine they will be able to do the same with the talented Tigers of Illini Bluffs.  This will be a fun match up and either of these teams could move on in the winners column.  It won't get any easier as Farmington or Havana would be the next round opponent.

Farmington had Griggsville-Perry in trouble on a couple of occasions in today's game, but the Tornadoes fought back on each occasion and got as close as 3 points with about 2 minutes left in the game.  The final score was 44-37 as the Farmers got away at the end.  Despain played well in the loss, with 15 points and Hobson added 12 but it wasn't enough as the taller Farmers came away with the win.  Pille led Farming with 12 points and Abel hit double figures with 10.  Stobaugh added 8 points also.  Eight of the Farmers contributed points in the game and they hit 6 of 8 free throws in win.  The speed of the Havana Ducks will be hard for the bigger and somewhat slower Farmers to deal with.  If they can, they will make their way to the semi-final round of the tournament.  It should be a good game and will be the final game of Tuesday's action.    

Canton won a qualifying game early in the day and played Illini Bluffs later in the day.  They lost 60-38 as the talented Lady Tigers played well to move forward in the winners bracket.  Wilson had 14 and Kumer 9 to lead Canton. The Lady Giants had 8 of their players score in the game, but it was not a good day from the free throw line as Canton only hit 8 of 21 shots.  Illini Bluffs did a better job from the charity stripe as they hit 16 of 20 and outscored the Lady Giants in all four quarters. McClintock scored 20 points and K. Wall 16 as the Tigers had 7 players score.  They pretty much dominated the game with double digit scoring in each quarter  and will square off against the Eagles of Liberty Payson in the next round. 

In the final game of the day. the #1 seed Havana Ducks did a nice job against Macomb and came away with a 48-26 win and a shot at Farmington tomorrow.  The Lady Bombers got 8 points from Thorman and from Mahr but they couldn't keep up with the Ducks.  Havana has a deep squad and had 10 of their players score in their lop-sided win.  Ellsworth scored 11 points to lead the Ducks and they did a nice job as the #1 seed.  The speed, quickness, defense and ball movement of Havana is going to be hard for any of their opponents in the tournament as they seem to find a way to overcome their opponents height on a regular basis.  Everything starts with the consistent pressure put on by the Ducks and they will find your weakness if you have one.  Farmington will be a taller opponent tomorrow and it will be fun to see how Havana deals with them.  

12/13/10 Rushville-Industry put up a good fight early, led by some very good defense by Crow, then things got out of hand.  The final score was 78-54 as the Indians of Lewistown improved to 7-3 and the loss dropped the Rockets to 4-4.  Katie Simpson had 17 and Wise 14 to pace the Rockets but, it wasn't quite enough. Nine of the Rockets scored in the game as they hit 17 of 56 shots and 18 of 27 free throws.  They forced 24 turnovers on the Indians but, committed 25 of their own so it was a wash.  Lewistown had eight players in the scoring column, however they had 4 of them in double digits.  LeGrande was unstoppable in the paint and finished with 24 points while Bull had 16, Monn 12 and Eberle 10. LeGrande scored most of her points on put backs as Rushville did not go a very good job in blocking her out. Bull and Mon got their points on driving to the hoop and also on free throws when they got fouled. Eberle hit 4 of 8 from the field for her points.  The Indians hit 30 of 54 from the field and 16 of 23 from the line and were just too strong for the Rockets tonight. The only bad number for the Indians was the 24 turnovers as they seemed to lose their concentration periodically and the quick handed defense of Rushville-Industry took advantage. Both of these teams will be in the Lady Tiger Classic this year and may meet again.  
12/11/10 The West Central Lady Cougars traveled to Springfield to take on Annawwan at the 2010 IBS Shootout this afternoon and they definitely had their hands full.  Annawan was just about as equal of a team to W. Central as you will find and they gained an advantage with West Central getting into foul trouble.  Tiffany King fouled out of the ballgame about half way through the 4th quarter and that allowed Annawan to attack the inside and get back into the ball game.  West Central was able to hold off a late charge by the Bravettes and secure the 59-54 win.  Leading the way in the scoring department for West Central was Tiffany King with 19, Alex Schaad with 16, and Andrea Lietz with 13.
11/18/10

from Ryon McNeff

West Central (1-0, 1-0) traveled to Brown County (0-1, 0-1) this evening as both teams tipped off their 2010-2011 girls basketball campaign.  The first half of this game was a very sloppy but well fought battle between the two teams as we went into halftime with West Central on top 25-16.  Brown County came out to start the second half with a lot more intensity but it was short lived as West Central also stepped their game up a notch and they push their lead to 20 points by the end of the third quarter.  The fourth quarter was very quiet and took us to a final score of 56-27 with West Central picking up their first win on the young season.  For Brown County the leading scorer on the night would be Aimee Kerley with 9 points, following her would be Molly Babb and Melissa Kackley with 4 points each.  For West Central, Tiffany King had an outstanding evening as she had 20 points and went 11 for 13 from the charity line.  Dakota Nicholson also had 11 points for the Lady Cougars with three buckets from behind the arc. 
11/15/10 We opened our 2010 basketball schedule tonight as the Lady Tigers of Beardstown went to Rushville to take on the Rockets. It was an exciting game of surges with the Rockets winning the second half and the game 62-51.  The Tigers scored 16 of their 20 first half points from the free throw line as they hit 16 of 24, but their difficulty in scoring baskets came back to haunt them in the second half.  They hit 6 of 10 from the charity stripe in the second half but were outscored 42-31 and lost the game. Harris had a nice game with 9 points in the 1st half and 13 in the 2nd half for a 22 point night.  She finished with 10 of 13 free throws. Newman hit double digits (10) and Schultz played a good florr game and contributed 8 points in the loss. Hoenes (5), Hembrough (4) and Herter (2) rounded out the scoring. The Tigers turned the ball over 6 times in the first half and 13 times in the second half.  The Rockets hit 5 of 12 free throws in the first half and 18 of 20 in the second half to record the win. Katie Simpson was shut out in the first and half and set the bench most of the time with 2 quick fouls.  She made up for it in the second half as she scored 22 points and finished 8 for 8 from the free throw line.  Rushville-Industry had 8 players score in the game as Taber (10), Ealy (8), Crow (8), Haywood (6), McWhorter (4), Lauzon (3) and Wise (1) rounded out the scoring.  The Rockets had 12 turnovers in the first half and 9 in the second half, which is too many but they hustled themselves to the win.  This year they can go about 10 deep and while they had 19 fouls in the first half, they had enough good players to hang in to the end.  They play ISD later this week and follow that up with South Fulton and Camp Point Central so it will be interesting to see how good they might be.  They only won 3 games last year, so it is a good start to what they hope will be a winning season.    
11/13/10

from Ryon McNeff

On Saturday, Brown County traveled to Calhoun to take on the Warriors in a Quarterfinal match up. It was a defensive battle for the entire 1st quarter as neither team was able to find the end zone. But as we started the 2nd, Brown Co's. Jacob Wilson was not going to be denied as he had one of the best 17yd runs you will see to put the Hornets on top by 7. Calhoun responded on their next possession with a touchdown but then on the extra point, Ace Henricks was able to break through and block the attempt. And as we went into halftime that score would stand with BC on top 7-6. The second half was all Brown County as Ace Henricks was responsible for all of the scoring with TD runs of 8 and 11 yards, a extra point, a completed pass for a 2pt conversion, and he also completed a 20 yd field goal which brings us to the final score of 25-6. Looking at the numbers for the Hornets leaves Dallas Phelps on top in rushing with 120yds. Ace Henricks was right behind him though as he had 95 yds on the ground and also completed 2 passes for 20 yds. Jacob Wilson ended the day with 72 yds rushing and Rick Logsdon had 53 yds on the ground for Brown County. With today's win Brown County will advance to the semi-final round for the first time in school history and for their efforts they will get to host the #2 seed Tuscola Warriors. This will be only the second time the two schools have played as Tuscola def. BC in the second round last year, in Mt. Sterling, on their way to a 1A state championship. 
10/30/10

from Ryon McNeff

Brown County hosted Tri-Valley in today's opening round of the 2010 IHSA 1A Playoffs.  The hornets came out firing as they ran three plays and ended up scoring on the third play with a 13yd run by Dallas Phelps.  The next offensive drive for BC found Henricks putting the ball in the air to Sheppard for a 47yd TD completion With 1:08 to go in the 2nd Qtr, Henricks and Sheppard were able to connect for a 26yd TD Pass to put BC on top 20-0 at the half.  Then in the 3rd Qtr. Alex Sheppard came up with an amazing play on defense as he was able to strip the ball from the Tri-Valley ball carrier and took it into the end zone for a 29yd TD.  That touchdown would be all there was as BC went on to win 27-0.  Dallas Phelps ended up with 42yds on 15 carries today.  Alex Sheppard had 1 defensive touchdown as well as 98yds. receiving with 2 TD receptions.  Brown Co. will advance to next week's second round and will another team from the HOI conference, LeRoy.  
10/27/10 Brown County and Camp Point Central opened the Mendon Volleyball Regional and the Panthers were too tough for the Hornets to handle. The final was 25-14, 25-12 as Brown Co. ended their season.  Buss had 1 point and 10 assists while Babb finished with 4 kills and 3 blocks.  Kerly served 1 point and had 6 kills While Jones finished with 5 points and McKinnon had a point and 2 kills. Jackie Bick also contributed 1 point and 1 assist. For the Panthers, it was a good team effort.  Will had 6 points 2 kills and 7 assists. Keauna Flesner had 3 points, 3 kills and 4 blocks as Janssen had a point and assists.  Myers played very well with 7 points, 3 kills and 4 assists and Heimann had 7 points, 8 kills and 2 blocks.  Graw also played well with 5 points 3 kills and 3 assists.  Musick had 2 kills and 2 assist and the Panthers only had 2 service errors in the win.  The win gave the Panthers a chance to play in the semi-final round.

In game two, it was a very good match of championship quality as Camp Point Central squared off against the #1 seed, Payson Seymour squad.  The Indians won in two but it wasn't easy as the Panthers fought to the end.  The final was 25-23, 27-25 as Payson Seymour moves on to the title game on Saturday night. While Central didn't want to end their season tonight, they did it in good style and put a scare in the #1 seed.  Will had 2 points and 8 assists while Flesner had 6 points, 1 kill, 1 block and 3 assists.  Janssen also played well with 3 points, 2 kills and 2 assists.  Myers also had 7 points, 4 kills and 3 assists.  Heiman had 1 point, 5 kills, 5 blocks and 1 assist.  Graw had 3 points, 2 kills and 1 assist and Musick rounded out the scoring with 7 kills and 2 blocks.  This is a young Panther team and we have not heard the last of them.  The Indians responded well to the pressure that was put on them and they survived the battle. It is good to win close games this time of year as it shows you how mature a team we are watching. Dakota Flesner had 3 points and 11 kills.  Wolf had a couple of kills and Durbin played a nice game with 5 kills and 3 blocks. Huber had 4 points and Loos finished with 2 kills and 1 assist.  Richards came up big  at the right time and ended the night with 4 points, 9 kills and 4 blocks.  Erin Smith is a good leader and had 4 points and, unofficially, 27 assists as she covered the court well.      

9/26/10 Tonight's High School Football game between Brown County and Routt Catholic was what we thought it would be.  A 0-0 score at half time and a final 17-7 victory for the Hornets with some solid defense and hard hitting was the outcome.  The Rockets fell to 4-1 and will take on another tough opponent on Thursday when they host the 5-0 Triopia Trojans.  As for the Hornets, they will be at their homecoming and Payson-Unity will be their guests. Routt was led by Tonry who carried 22 times for 87 yards and Rossi carried 6 times for 67 yards and a touchdown.  Schmidt was 1-5 for 11 yards and Routt simply didn't have the ball much in the 2nd half. They had 3 penalties for 15 yards. Brown County had 1 field goal attempt blocked and got scoring from a 5 yard Wilson run, a 3 yard Henricks run and a 30 yard Henricks field goal. Henricks also threw 7 times for 70 yards and Sheppard had 1 toss for 45 yards just before the end of the 2nd quarter. Wilson caught all 4 passes and and also rushed for 111 yards on 18 carries. Phelps carried for 45 yards and Logsdon had 41 with Henricks adding 34 as the Hornets spread the ball around. The 10 penalties for 75 yards and 1 interception was the only downside of a good Hornet game.  They travel to Triopia in 2 weeks and would love to go there with a 6-0 record as the WIVC North title might very well be on the line whether Triopia beats Routt or not.  This North division is shaping up pretty much as we thought it would. Mendon could be the fly in the ointment if the Hornets look past them. I doubt that will happen and I feel we are headed for a big show down.   
9/16/10 AC/Virginia defeated Triopia-Meredosia 25-15, 25-22 in a WIVC volleyball match tonight.  You had to grade the Trojans pretty high in the game if you watched it as they battled all night long. They did have a little lull in the middle of the first game, but they had a lead in each of the two games and had a legitimate chance of winning either game.  That is saying a lot in regard to where this Triopia team has come.  The Knights were as steady as they always are and will be a real force in the conference again this season.  Clayton had 8 points, 4 kills and 4 blocks as she played a good game again.  Washington didn't play especially well in the opener but, she was excellent in game two as she finished with 3 points, 6 kills and 4 blocks.  Mixer added 2 points and 3 kills as Sayre served up 3 points also.  Reither had 11 assists while Rachel Carls had 2 points , 1 kill and 1 assists.  Jokisch was hitting very well tonight and led in kills with 15.  Stribling did her usual good job of setting as she finished with 23 assists and Maggie Allen had 5 blocks and 2 kills as she played a good net game. Madelyn Allen had 6 points and an assist and played a good back court game.  Jenna Thompson served 8 points while Cave had 6.  Birdsell had 2 kills and Stock played a nice match with 1 pont, 4 kills and 4 blocks. Vaughn had a kill and 2 blocks and Stribling had 4 kills to go along with her floor play.  This was a good team win for the Knights  as they have a lot of players who can hurt their opponent.  
9/3/10 by Ryon McNeff Brown County hosted Carrollton last night and at first glimpse this game appeared to be a good one as Carrollton marched down the field for a TD. But then the BC offense took to the field and they were able to score with very little trouble and that trend continued the rest of the night. What stood out to me was the fact that after the first drive, BC's defense stepped up their game in a big way that caused Carrollton to have big trouble moving the football. Another big improvement that I saw tonight was that the BC defense was doing a much better job of pass defense as was evident in the many broken up pass plays that they caused. Two plays in this game stood out with the first one being on BC's first offensive drive on 4th down they elected to kick the FG. The snap went over the holder's head and Henricks was able to catch it and see Wilson standing over to his left who caught a 12 yd pass for the TD. Our second standout play of the night was a nice fake by the BC offense where Henricks rolled to the outside while the ball was with Sheppard who connected on a pass with Wilson for a 82 yd pass play for a TD. I also would like to commend Coach Fullerton and his Lineman and Special Teams for their outstanding night. Those two aspects of this team stepped up in a big way tonight that no one could have imagined. Brown Co. will open up WIVC North next week by hosting Virginia.
8/27/10 from Ryon McNeff Brown Co. and Pleasant Hill/Western met up last night in their season opening contest and Brown Co. took control of this one early.  Coming into tonight's game, this game was thought to be a very critical early season matchup for both teams but there were also a lot of questions surrounding both teams.  BC's defense forced a 3 and out on the first drive of the game and then on BC's first offensive play of the game Jacob Wilson broke open a 41yd run for a touchdown. Henricks had a nice night kicking the ball as he went 6-6 on extra points and he also was successful on his 44yd Field Goal attempt.  For Pleasant Hill their standout player was Brett Cox as he was great at getting open and was able to bring down 9 receptions for 70yds. QB Matt Gunterman had a great night in the air as he went 12-20 in the air with only one INT.  The overall performer of the night though was BC's Rick Logsdon who ran for 143yds on 10 carries and also scored 3 rushing touchdowns.  Brown Co. will host Carrollton in their home opener next week and PH/W will travel to Unity.
7/25/10 Tonight Beardstown 11/12 Softball had their great run come to an end as they suffered a 6-2 loss at the hands of LaGrange.  This game was the second time these teams had played in the tournament and this time LaGrange came out firing on all cylinders as their hitting and fielding was just outstanding as they would get the play they needed every time.  Beardstown came out swinging but every time they would make contact it would go directly to one of the LaGrange fielders.  When Beardstown was on defense the exact opposite was happening for them as LaGrange was able to get the ball into any hole they could to get runners aboard.  This Beardstown team should be very proud of their accomplishments during the past month as they came out of what may have been the toughest district in the state and got all the way to the state semi-finals without suffering a loss.   
7/24/10 After a 5 hour delay, Beardstown was finally able to open up state tournament play against LaGrange.  Both of these teams started out with very strong pitching and defense as we stayed scoreless heading into the bottom of the 3rd.  Then with one out in the inning, Hayley Behymer gets the first hit of the ballgame which allowed Savanah Hay to come in as the Special Pinch Runner and she brought an agressive base running strategy that got her to cross the plate on a base hit by Emma White, Erika Hull also scored a run in the inning as she reached safely on a dropped third strike and then scored on a dropped third strike.  Beardstown went on to give a total team effort to defeat LaGrage by a score of 3-1.  Next up for Beardstown will be Antioch who are the defending state champions and return a majority of that team.  This game should be a good one and will start at 2 pm on Sunday.
7/20/10 Tonight the Beardstown 11/12 Softball team was in East Moline to take on East Moline in the Sectional Championship game.  East Moline got into the championship game by a 9-4 win over Richland Co.,] and from what everyone up there was saying sounded like we just might have been in for a very offensive game as East Moline had a lot of base hits in the game.  But once again Samantha Blair came out with her A game and only gave up one hit and one run.  Mikaila Kirchner had an outstanding night at the plate for Beardstown as she went 3-4 with 3 base hits, 3 runs scored, and a couple of RBI’s.  With the outstanding team effort, Beardstown won the game 16-1 to advance on to the state tournament as the Section 2 Champion.  Beardstown will now play against Section 1 on Saturday, 7/24, in East Moline at 2 p.m.  Beardstown will also be a part of the opening ceremonies at 10 a.m. on Saturday.
7/18/10 Beardstown Softball continued their dominance yesterday in the 11/12 Sectional as they defeated East Moline by a score of 15-0.  Prior to the game I was not for sure how this matchup would fare because East Moline had played a very weak Taylorville team in the opening round and they saved their #1 pitcher for Beardstown yesterday who ended up giving up 14 runs.  Mackenzie Icenogle had a nice day at the plate as she went 2-3 with 2 RBI’s.  Beardstown used the running game on the bases with Emma White as she had 4 stolen bases on the game.  The story of the day was the no hitter thrown by Samantha Blair as she face 13 batters, one over the minimum, and struck out 8 of the 13 she faced.  Beardstown now advances to the championship game on Tuesday night at 6:30 in East Moline against the winner of the Monday night game between East Moline and Richland County.
7/17/10 Beardstown opened up sectional action today with a game against Richland Co.  Beardstown jumped out to an early lead in this game as they led 9-0 after 2 innings.  Samantha Blair was pulled from the mound after the second inning so that she would be avaliable for tomorrow's game as today she faced 6 batters and struck out 5.  Loriana Trujilo, Mikaila Kirchner, and Summer Lindsey all went 2-2 in the ballgame as all three had great days at the plate.  Beardstown will now play East Moline on Sunday at 4pm as East Moline defeated Taylorville 35-3 earlier in the day.
7/15/10

Our first game of the evening was between Brown Co. and Calhoun.  This game got off to a good start for both sides as the score was tied at 3 after 2 innings of play.  After the 2nd inning, Calhoun would only go on to score 3 more runs and Brown Co. would score 10 more to give them the win by a score of 13-6.  For Calhoun Connor Gilman had a good night at the plate as he went 2-3 with two base hits and two runs scored.  For Brown Co. Ronnie Coultas had a great game as he made some key defensive plays at catcher by tagging out two different runners at the plate on a couple of very nice plays.

The second game of the evening was between Macomb and Beardstown.  Both team’s pitchers got off to great starts as after 2 innings our score was tied at 1.  In the Bottom of the third Beardstown was able to get 5 runners across the plate and that would be enough for the 6-1 win.  For Macomb, Brandon Bickers had a good night at the plate going 1-2 with a leadoff ground rule double into the right field corner in the second inning.  For Beardstown, Trey Perry went 2-3 at the plate with two doubles, two runs scored, and two RBI’s.  Beardstown will now take on Brown County on Friday night at 6 pm.

7/14/10

Last night the second round of the 9/10 Baseball District Finals got underway with a matchup between Jerseyville and Brown Co.  This game was a tight score the whole way through as the biggest lead was after Jerseyville scored 2 in the top of the 1st inning and from there no one ever led by more than one run. For Brown Co. Darian Drake went 2 for 3 with 2 doubles an RBI and 2 runs scored.  For Jerseyville their top performer this evening was John Bray as he went 2 for 3 with a double and the 2 run Homerun that put Jerseyville back on top to win the ballgame by a score of 5-4.

 Our second game of the evening saw Macomb and W. Hancock take to the field in highly offensive game.  This game was neck and neck all the way through until the bottom of the 5th inning when W. Hancock was able to plate 6 runs to give them the comfortable lead to win the ballgame by a score of 17-10. For Macomb, Mason Westen went 2 for 3 with two singles and two runs scored in the game.  For W. Hancock, Kulton Johnson had a good night as he went 2 for 3 with two singles and one double, two runs scored, and 5 RBI’s in the ballgame.

7/12/10

The Junior Baseball championship game was a one sided affair as Brown Co. jumped out to an early lead in the first inning and never looked back.  Brady Long came out with an amazing pitching performance for Brown Co. as he picked up the complete game win by striking out 6 batters, and only allowing 3 hits.  Nathan Mekdara’s grand slam in the 3rd inning broke the game open as Mekdara finished the game 2-3 with 5 RBI’s.  Brown Co. won the game over Pike Co. by a score of 18-3 and will now play in the Sectional on Saturday night in Salem.  

7/11/10

Our first game saw Pike Co. American take on Rushville who was playing their first game of the tournament.  Pike Co. American took an early lead in the first inning only to see Rushville bring the score to 11-6 in the bottom half of the inning.  Then when Pike Co. American came back up in the second they never looked back as they took advantage of multiple walks and wild pitches to run the bases and built up a comfortable lead.  The player of the game was from Pike Co. as Chandler Hayden had a nice day going 1-1 with a base hit , 5 Stolen Bases, and scored 3 runs in the 24-8 win for Pike Co. American.

 Our next game pitted Pike Co. National against Brown Co.  Both of these teams had big wins on Saturday and both were coming out looking for another win.  Pike Co. National was the first to step up to the plate as they were able to plate 11 runs in the inning and held Brown Co. to just 1 run.  Blair Borrowman had a great day on the mound for Pike Co. National as she went the distance and picked up the win.  Mariah Markert had one of the best hits we may see in this tournament as she hit a hard line drive that went 195 ft to the fence in left field for Brown Co.  In the end Pike Co. National came out on top by a score of 22-6 and will now play Pike Co. American at 8 pm on Tuesday night.

7/10/10 Our first game of the afternoon pitted Tri-County vs. Pike Co. American.  Tri-Co. came out and had an early 10 run lead in the ballgame until the fifth inning when Pike Co. scored 11 runs on no hits.  Kristen Sibley pitched the majortiy of the game for Pike Co. and she did a very good job as she struck out 4 batters and only allowed a couple of walks.  Tri-Co.'s Jessica Medlock had a good day on the bases as she scored 5 runs and had a couple of stolen bases.  Pike Co. went on to win this game by a score of 28-20 and advances to play Rushville on Sunday.

The second game of the day was saw Pike Co. National taking on Beardstown in what was probably the most anticipated game of the day.  This game stayed close through the second inning as we started the third with a 4-2 score.  Then in the bottom of the third Pike Co.'s bats came alive with 5 runs on 3 hits to break the game open for an eventual 15-5 win for Pike Co. National over Beardstown.  For Pike Co. Jordan Brite had a great game as she struck out 9 batters and also had a base hit and 3 RBI's.  For Beardstown Autumn Hobrock scored two runs and had a good game defensively.

The third and final game of the afternoon was