Anna Jonesboro Wildcat is being honored for saving a man’s life

ANNA — It was late Christmas Eve, and 16-year-old Kyle McMahan was driving home from his girlfriend’s house when something caught his eye off the southbound Interstate 57 exit into Anna.

Kyle wasn’t quite sure what it was, but turned his car around to go and take a closer look.

“I wasn’t really sure what I exactly saw,” Kyle said. “I hurried up and (turned my car around and) turned my hazards on and was running over to look and got over there …”

Please click on the link to read the rest of the story from Stephanie Esters of the Southern Illinoisan.

NOTE:  This young man comes off the bench for A-J Coach Mike Chamness.  The Wildcats are in action tonight facing the West Frankfort Redbirds at the Midwinter Classic.

He also was an all purpose back and served a huge role for coach Brett Detering’s final four football team in 3A

http://thesouthern.com/news/local/communities/anna/a–year-old-anna-teen-is-being-honored-for/article_8eb0c707-f167-5ace-a030-8cd57948a5e6.html#tracking-source=home-top-story

Bradley Young’s dunk against Goreville

GOREVILLE –  Several of you have asked for the link to Bradley Young’s dunk Thursday night against Goreville.  It is one of the better dunks in a high school game I have witnessed.  I am going to share a link below to Blackcats Network.

The dunk was part of one of the best High School games that I have watched in a long time. The whole video is worth watching.

I tried to get a screen shot, but it was to blurry to use.

That night Braden Webb had 31 points to lead all scores and Jared Curry in his second game back had 26 as Christopher defeated Goreville 81-76.

The dunk is at the 18:48 mark of the video in the link below.  Goreville streams every game on Blackcats Network.  I watch a lot of games on their stream. -sd

https://www.pscp.tv/BlackcatsNetwrk/1djGXMqdXpzJZ

 

 

 

Midwinter Classic ticket information

Tickets for the Midwinter Classic go on sale tomorrow (January 10th) starting at 10:00 am in the following order:

All chair seats, $5.00
General Admission, $5.00
Student General Admission, $3.00

NOTE: Pre-Tourney Sales are for entire ticket packets ONLY at this time, for the Mon-Wed-Fri-Sat sessions.

NOTE: Chair seat holders can only purchase the # of chair seats that they purchase during the regular season during the 4:00pm-8:00pm time periods shown below.

**If you are in the Parent or Employee group, and DO NOT currently hold chair seats, you will be limited to purchasing 2 chair seats from 4:00pm-8:00pm.

**After 8:00pm, there is NO LIMIT to the amount of tickets that an individual may purchase.

NOTE: Single session tickets will only be sold beginning 2 hours before each session begins FOR THAT NIGHT ONLY!

4:00-6:00: Gold Chippers, Red Chippers, Parents of Players & Cheerleaders, and District Employees.

6:00-7:00: Current chair seat holders, Draw Cards 101-175

7:00-8:00: Current chair seat holders, Draw Cards 176-250

8:00-9:00: Any Redbird Fan (May purchase any # of tickets)

ABV Jack’s new ranklings: Devils, Bearcats ranked, Tigers, Redbirds honorable mention

Jack Bullock knows the pule on 1A and 2A Boys Basketball for Springfield south more than anyone.  There are a lot of polls floating around and I think they are a little off.

One thing that Jack mentioned is Jared Curry of Christopher will be back Friday night against Goreville.  The Bearcats have survived the storm since he has been injured.  Several have stepped up including Gage Hawkins in his absence.

Please click for his latest rankings form A Baseline View

http://abaselineview.com/abvrankings.html

 

 

 

Mid Winter Classic Pairings released

BOYS WEST FRANKFORT MID-WINTER CLASSIC TOURNAMENT 2018

POOL A:  ANNA-JONESBORO, CHRISTOPHER, WEST FRANKFORT, ELDORADO

POOL B:  CARTERVILLE, CAIRO, HERRIN, MARION

Saturday, January 13 6:30 Cairo vs. Marion

Monday, January 15

5:30 Carterville vs. Herrin

7:00 Eldorado vs. Anna-Jonesboro

8:30 West Frankfort vs. Christopher

Tuesday, January 16

8:30 Christopher vs. Eldorado

Wednesday, January 17

5:30 Herrin vs. Cairo

7:00 West Frankfort vs. Anna-Jonesboro

8:30 Carterville vs. Marion

Thursday, January 18

18 8:30 Cairo vs. Carterville

Friday, January 19

5:30 Anna-Jonesboro vs. Christopher

7:00 West Frankfort vs. Eldorado

8:30 Herrin vs. Marion

Saturday, January 20 Finals

3:30 4th Place Teams from Each Pool Play for 7th & 8th Place Overall

5:00 3rd Place Teams from Each Pool Play for 5th & 6th Place Overall

6:30 2nd Place Teams from Each Pool Play for 3rd & 4th Place Overall

8:00 1st Place Teams from Each Pool Play for 1st & 2nd Place Overall

Tie Breakers 1st tie breaker is the head-to-head play within your division 2nd tie breaker is each team’s free throw percentage.

The 30-point mercy rule will be in effect during the fourth quarter.

A Baseline View releases new rankings

 

 

The Sesser-Valier Red Devils are ranked fifth and the Christopher Bearcats sixth in the latest poll Class 1A released by Jack Bullock (ABV Jack) of the website abaselineview.com.

The Thompsonville Tigers crack the honorable mention slot in Class 1A, and  the West Frankfort Redbirds crack the 2A honorable mention slot.

Please click on the link below for the latest poll.

http://abaselineview.com/abvrankings.html

All Tournament Team: Sesser-Valier Holiday Tournament

Cameron Bowby – Marissa-Coulterville

Matt Campbell –  Johnston City

Tanner Dunn – Goreville

Blake Fewkes – Woodlawn

Lukas Gunter – Sesser-Valier 

Gage Hawkins – Christopher 

Tyson Kessler – Thompsonville

Keith Kiener III – Chester

Preston Launius – Sesser-Valier 

Peyton Massey – Goreville

Blake McKay – Woodlawn

Chase Selby – Johnston City

Braden Webb – Goreville

Tyler Winchester – Sesser-Valier 

Bradley Young – Christopher 

Christopher defeated by Goreville in the SVHT semi finals

Bearcats will play in the third place game at 3 p.m. today

SESSER –  The Christopher Bearcats fall to their BDC rivals the Goreville Blackcats 59-52 in a semi-final game of the Sesser-Valier Holiday Tournament.

The Bearcats jump out to a 14-9 lead until the closing seconds of the first quarter.  Bradley Young had five points and a couple of assists to Gage Hawkins, they had five points each for the quarter.  At the end of the quarter, Tanner Dunn hits a buzzer beating three to cut the deficit 14-12.

That was a momentum change going into the second quarter.  Starting with Dunn’s three, Goreville goes on a 16-2 run to take a 25-16 lead.  Bradley Young picked up his second foul through that stretch.  When they went down nine, Coach Stallman went back to Young when they found themselves down nine.

Christopher was in deep foul trouble, because Bryce Pratt and Gabriel Motsinger picked up their third fouls on the next two possessions.  The Blackcats kept chipping away and They were up by 33-20 at the half.

Braden Webb comes out in the first possession of the second half, and Goreville was on the verge of blowing it wide open.  The Bearcats then go on a 15-4 run to 39-35 as Braden Webb fouls Bradley Young.,

The Bearcats could not capitalize with Webb on the bench, as Landon Albright had back to back stick backs to put Goreville up by eight.  On a day for buzzer beaters, young hit a three to cut it to five.

Dalton Saeger, who has been Mr. Fourth Quarter throughout the tournament picks up a bucket and hits two free throws, sandwiched in between a Tanner Dunn stick back.  Then Bryce Pratt hits young on a fast break to cut the lead to 45-44.

Dunn then goes to the line to hit two free throws.  Bradley young hits a bucket. Goreville sinks two more free throws on the next possession.  Bryce Pratt hits a three to make it 49-49.

Morgan Bishop on the next possession knocks down a three to make it 52-49.  The air went out of the Bearcats sails then.  Goreville goes down and scores on the next three trips down the floor.

Pratt hits another three with eight seconds on the clock.  A Goreville free throw ices the victory to make it a three possession game.

Goreville improves to (9-2) 0n the season.  They will play in the championship game against the Sesser-Valier Red Devils tonight at 7:00 p.m.

Christopher falls to (8-3) on the season.  They will face the Woodlawn Cardinals in the third place game at 3:00 p.m. this  afternoon.

Box Score

GOREVILLE (59)  Webb 5 2 0-1 16, Dunn 3 1 2-2 11, Bishop 2 1 2-2 9, Massey 1 1 3-4 8, Albright 3 0 0-1 8, Tosh 1 0 2-2 8, Geyman 0 0 3-4 3, Glidewell, 0 0 2-2 2,  Fassaro 0 0 0-0 0

CHRISTOPHER (52)  Young 6 0 5-6 17, Hawkins 5 0 3-7 13, Saeger 3 0 4-4 10, Pratt 1 2 0-0 8, Motsinger 2 0 0-0 4,  Garver 0 0 0-0 0, Flowers 0 0 0-0 0

Line Score

GOREVILLE (9-2)    12 – 21 – 10 – 16  –  59

CHRISTOPHER (8-3)  14 – 6 – 18 – 14  –  52

Wheelers and basketball: A family legacy

Robin Scholz/The News Gazette
Unity’s JT Wheeler (25) dunks in a prep game at Unity High School in Tolono on Friday, Dec. 15, 2017.

TOLONO — JT and TJ Wheeler don’t play basketball against one another in a 1-on-1 setting. They play a personalized version of HORSE.

Fittingly, it’s called ILLINI.

The “match this shot” game, in this household, pits JT, the current Unity boys’ basketball star, against TJ, the former hoops standout at both Christopher High School and the University of Illinois.

Please click to read the full story from Colin Likas of the Champaign News-Gazette.

http://www.news-gazette.com/sports/prep-sports/boys-basketball/2017-12-17/wheelers-and-basketball-family-legacy.html

 

Sesser-Valier Holiday Tournament Parings Released

SESSER – The Parings for the Sesser Valier Holiday Tournament were released about an hour ago.   The Woodlawn Cardinals received the top seed in the event.  They will face the Zeigler-Royalton Tornadoes at 5:00 p.m, in a first round matchup.  All first round games will be played on December 26th.

The Christopher Bearcats (4-1) are the #3 seed, facing the Galatia Bearcats (2-6)  at 10:30 a.m.

The Sesser-Valier Red Devils (2-5) are the #4 seed and they will face the Waltonville Spartans in their traditional 8 p.m. matchup.

The Thompsonville Tigers (3-4) are unseeded and they face the #5 seed the  Cobden Appleknockers (6-4) at 6:30 p.m.

Below is the full bracket – sd

 

 

 

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