Rangers fall to JC again in the 1931 sectional…Indians finish 4th in the state

by Steve Dunford

Thank you all for the positive response as I have been looking back into the archives of some of the postseasons in the past.

For the rest of the month of July we will be focusing on High School Basketball and talk to area coaches about their summer.

I will be changing to High School football and the other fall sports mode on August 1st.

In 1930, there was not a Franklin County school that made it to the sectionals.  Carbondale beat Mt. Vernon for the sectional finals and fell in the quarterfinals at state.

In 1931, the Rangers fell to the Johnston City Indians in the semi-finals of the Carbondale Sectional.  JC Beat Simpson in the Championship game.  The Indians took the fourth place trophy back to Williamson County as they fell to Chicago Harrison in overtime.

Here is the sectional and state tournament scores from 1931.

Carbondale

Murphysboro 22-12 Cobden

Simpson 19-17 Pinckneyville

Benton 47-15 Chester

Johnston City 17-7 Equality

Simpson 12-10 Murphysboro (OT)

Johnston City 17-15 Benton

Johnston City 14-12 Simpson (OT)

1930-31  State Finals

Quarterfinals

Chicago (Harrison) 44, Mt. Vernon (H.S.) 33

Decatur (H.S.) 24, Collinsville 23

Galesburg (H.S.) 30, Peoria (Manual) 22

Johnston City 23, Rantoul 14

Semifinals

Decatur (H.S.) 27, Chicago (Harrison) 20

Galesburg (H.S.) 28, Johnston City 27

Third Place

Chicago (Harrison) 28, Johnston City 26 (OT)

Championship

Decatur (H.S.) 30, Galesburg (H.S.) 26