Red Devils upset Eldorado, 22-14

September 10, 2017 By Leave a Comment

http://www.bentoneveningnews.com/sports/20170908/red-devils-upset-eldorado-22-14

SESSER, IL –  (Richard Blakely, Benton News.  Please click on the link above for the full story.  Here is an excerpt below.)

Although both Eldorado and Sesser-Valier/Waltonville/Woodlawn were unbeaten going into Friday’s game, the 2-0 Eagles were clearly the favorite.
The Red Devils didn’t read that memo.

They pulled off one of the shockers of the young season, defeating Black Diamond Conference powerhouse, Eldorado, 22-14. Coach John Shadowens’ crew improves to 3-0 while the Eagles fall to 2-1.

Filed Under: High School Sports, Sesser-Valier High School Sports, Sports

Bearcats blanked at Fairfield

September 10, 2017 By Leave a Comment

http://www.bentoneveningnews.com/sports/20170909/bearcats-blanked-at-fairfield

FAIRFIELD, IL – (Randall Risley, Benton News.  Please click on the link above for the full story.  Here is an excerpt below.)

The Fairfield Mules are indeed as good as advertised. They are big, strong, experienced and talented and had no problem putting the hurt to a young Christopher-Zeigler-Royalton Bearcats team Friday by a score of 60-0 in Black Diamond Conference play.

C-Z-R’s primary offensive focus was its passing game and it yielded some good results. Sophomore signal caller Bryce Pratt was 16-of-34 passing for 159 yards and freshman Landen Bate was 1-of-2. The passes were spread out to six different receivers with sophomore, Greg Fletcher, leading the receiving corps with 90 yards on nine receptions.

The Bearcats’ passing attack shows great promise, Hargrove said. The results would have even been better, but there were some dropped passes that negated some significant gains and one scoring opportunity.

 

Filed Under: Christopher High School Sports, High School Sports, Sports, Zeigler-Royalton High School Sports

Salukis dominate season opener over Mississippi Valley State, 55-3

September 10, 2017 By Leave a Comment

by John Locke, SIU Carbondale Associate Sports Information Director

CARBONDALE, IL – The Southern Illinois football program rolled to a 55-3 season-opening win over Mississippi Valley State on Saturday night in Saluki Stadium.

SIU Running Back DJ Davis off to the races in last night’s win over Mississippi Valley State, (siusalukis.com photo)

“You never take winning for granted,” SIU football head coach Nick Hill said. “This is why we do it. It doesn’t matter what the score is. You’re only guaranteed 11 games in college football. Anytime you can get a win, it feels great.”

After waiting an extra week to play–Southern’s bye week was Week 1 of the season–the Salukis dominated from the start. SIU won the toss and took the opening drive of the season 75 yards in six plays. Hans Carmien scored the first touchdown, barreling over a Delta Devil defender to get to the goal line. Southern Illinois kept rolling from there. At halftime, SIU held a 41-3 lead, and most starters did not play in the second half.

“We were able to establish the football game in the first half. We ran the football,” Hill said. “Then, we were able to play a ton of players. I think (Hall-of-Fame broadcaster Mike Reis) said 25 players had a tackle. We were able to play everybody who dressed, and that was big. We built some depth.”

Strikingly, the Southern Illinois defense held MVSU (0-2) to negative-eight rushing yards on the game, while Southern’s offense piled up 285 yards on the ground. Southern’s defense held a Division I opponent to negative-eight or fewer rushing yards for the first time since 2000.

Everyone got in on the fun. Nearly 70 players saw action in the game for SIU. Southern’s eight touchdowns were scored by seven different players. Southern had an astounding 16 tackles for loss–and 16 different players contributed to at least one.

Several SIU defenders dive to recover a fumble in last night’s win over Mississippi Valley State (siusalukis.com)

“We’ll look back, and some of those players that were in during the second half will hopefully help us win football games late in the season,” Hill said. “We play in the Missouri Valley, and it’s a tough league. It’s a physical league. Anytime you play college football, there will be injuries. I tell the team all the time, ‘The team that’s coming in doesn’t care about that.’ It’s next man up, or we won’t be that good.”

Southern’s road gets tough quickly. The Salukis head to Southeast Missouri for a regional rivalry next Saturday. Kickoff against the Redhawks is set for 6 p.m. SIU hasn’t won a road game since 2014 and is looking to snap a 12-game road losing streak.

“How are we going to turn around and get better from this?” Hill said. “Our schedule is set up so if we don’t do that, the team we’re playing will beat us. Even though we’re young, the guys understand it takes a great week of preparation and then 60 great minutes, sometimes more, of full concentration on every single rep.”

NOTES

SIU improved to 34-4 in regular season non-conference games since 2002 (excluding FBS opponents) … SIU is 15-1 in its last 16 home openers … Southern is 31-8 (.795) under the lights in Carbondale since 2002 … True freshmen Chucky Sullivan, Sam Thompson, E’Mare Hogan, Dan Heilbron and Jaylin Wilson all played … Six starters were first-time starters (39 players on SIU’s 102-man roster have started at least one career game at SIU) … Dating back to last season, SIU has won three of its last four games, something the program last accomplished in September 2014 … SIU held a Division I opponent without a touchdown for the first time since 2012 (W, 35-0 vs. WIU).

Filed Under: High School Sports, Sports

Volleyball suffers 3-0 setback to Western Michigan

September 10, 2017 By Leave a Comment

by William Becque – siusalukis.com

KALAMAZOO, MI – The Saluki volleyball team suffered a 3-0 (15-25, 17-25, 22-25) setback to the Western Michigan Broncos on the final day of competition at the WMU Invitational Saturday night. Southern’s Maggie Nedoma was one of six selected to the All-Tournament team.

The Broncos (5-3) used a 7-0 run to break a 6-6 tie in the opening set. Southern (0-7) was unable to close the gap, as Western Michigan went on to build a 10-point spread three times, the last coming at 22-12. Back-to-back Bronco attack errors got SIU to within eight (22-14), but that was as close as Southern could get.

Western Michigan started out the second set in similar fashion, getting out to a quick 6-1 lead. SIU responded with a 4-0 spurt, as Hannah Becker and Nedoma each tallied a kill and Ashley Edelen added a service ace to cut Southern’s deficit down to one, 6-5. The Broncos again utilized a big run to break away from the Salukis, as a 9-1 swing gave WMU a 15-6 lead in the second set. Southern got to within seven, 24-17, on a Broncos service error, but a solo block by WMU’s Quiana Ware ended the second set at 25-17.

The Salukis outhit the Broncos, .367-to-.364, in the third frame, but Western Michigan got the last laugh in a set that featured 12 ties and three lead changes. Barrow staked SIU to an early 5-2 lead, but three-straight points by the Broncos evened the score at 5-5. SIU built a pair of three-point spreads, with an attack error by Western Michigan giving Southern a 13-10 advantage.

The Broncos again responded with a three-point spurt to tie the score. Neither team was able to take more than a two point lead until the Broncos broke a 21-21 tie with another three-point spurt (24-21) to get to set point. A kill by Andrea Estrada got SIU to within two, but the Broncos sided out to win the set and the match.

Four Saluki hitters recorded at least five kills, led by Barrow, who finished with a team-best seven kills. Estrada added six kills and eight digs, while Kolby Meeks hit a team-best .417 with five kills on 12 attempts and no errors. Nedoma finished with five kills against Western Michigan en route to earning All-Tournament Team honors. The Berea Park, Ohio native hit .347 and tallied 23 kills (3.28 kills/set) during the two-match tournament.

Rachel Maguire dished out 15 assists and had eight digs, while Alayna Martin totaled 14 assists and six digs. Edelen led all Salukis with nine digs.

Western Michigan outhit Southern Illinois, .330 to .140 for the match, and led in blocks, 6-2.

The Salukis return home to the SIU Arena on Tuesday, Sept. 12, when they host the SEMO Redhawks. First serve is set for 7 p.m.

Filed Under: College Sports, Sports

Three Flora Junior Football league coaches resign after offsides helmet butt against Mt. Carmel

September 8, 2017 By Leave a Comment

http://my15news.com/local-news/

MT. CARMEL, IL-   This has been making the rounds on social media the last few days.  The above is the link to the entire news cast for NewsChannel 15 in Mt. Carmel for today, with anchor Kyle Peach

At the end of last week’s Flora-Mt. Carmel junior football game, a Mt. Carmel player was airlifted to an Evansville hospital after the following play took place.

Three coaches from the Flora Junior Football League resigned.  Olney was Flora’s next team on the schedule and refused to play them .

The young man is recovering but will be out for the season.

NewsChannel 15 has several Black Diamond games that are streamed on a pay basis, including tonight’s matchup between Fairfield and CZR.

 

 

Filed Under: Junior High Sports, Sports

Week 3 Preview: Christopher-Zeigler-Royalton (0-2) at Fairfield (2-0)

September 8, 2017 By Leave a Comment

by Steve Dunford

Christopher WR Noah Hervey finds some yardage after making a catch against Carmi-White County in Week 2. (Thank you Randall Risley for letting me use your photos.)

The C-Z-R Bearcats hit the road this evening and take on the Fairfield Mules this evening to take on the Fairfield Mules at the Train Yard.  Christopher fell to Vienna Goreville 41-6 in Week One, and last Friday night were shut out by the Carmi-White County Bulldogs 40-0.

Fairfield on the other hand handled two teams that are usually in the thick of things in the Black Diamond Conference.  In week one, they went into Ralph Davidson field and beat the Johnston City Indians 48-0.  In week two, they make the long bus trip to Chester and defeat them 56-22.

Long time Fairfield coach Justin Townsend had this to say about the 2017 edition of the Mules,  “We are a run heavy team, that features 5-6 different running backs splitting the carries. Theron Stewart, Dylan Heifner, and Wyatt Gilbert have had over 100 yards rushing in a game this season. We also feature 2 big, physical, TE’s that can catch the football. Kobi Dagg and Jayden Lewis. Alec Pruitt is our QB and has shown the ability to throw this season. (3 passing TD’S) we start five seniors on the offensive line with a lot of experience.

Our defense is our strength. Return 8 of 11 starters. (5 were all conference last year) Lead by our 2 Senior LB’s Chip Simpson and Lance Jolly.”

After the first two weeks of the season, Fairfield, and who will win the big showdown in Sesser tonight between S-V-W-W and Eldorado, will determine who will be the front runners for the Black Diamond Conference crown.

With all the returning starters for Fairfield, they Bearcats were outmanned by them last year 61-6 at Christopher.  It was one of the greatest things that I ever witnessed at a HS sporting event, as no one left, Christopher was driving late in the forth quarter, and the way the crowd reacted you would have thought they were down 21-14.

The Bearcats are young, and a lot of good things are happening at the lower levels.  They will take a lot of licks this year, but will be very competitive in the future.  I still look for them to possibly pull an upset before the year is over.  Anything can happen after the ball is kicked off, but I just don’t see it happening tonight.

Media

Here is a link to pay to watch the game from NewsChannel 15 in Mt. Carmel http://www.nfhsnetwork.com/affiliates/wabash-valley-college

Here is the link to listen to the game streaming from WFIW in Fairfield

http://www.wfiwradio.com/

 

 

 

Filed Under: Christopher High School Sports, High School Sports, Slider, Sports, Zeigler-Royalton High School Sports

Week 3 Preview: Pinckneyville 0-2 at Benton 1-1

September 8, 2017 By Leave a Comment

by Steve Dunford

Benton QB Hamilton Page (10), with receivers Cade Thomas (4) and Joey Craig (18) wide to the right in Week 1 against Carterville (Thank you Lana Schilli for allowing me to use your pics)

The Pinckneyville Panthers make their second trip to Franklin County on consecutive Friday nights at they face off against the Benton Rangers tonight at Tabor Field.

The Panthers (0-2)  fell at Johnson field as The West Frankfort Redbirds defeated them 36-14.  The Rangers went on the road and defeated the Sparta Bulldogs 29-13.  Tonight, West Frankfort will be traveling to Sparta, as both teams traditionally switch off opponents in weeks two and three.

On last weeks victory, Benton Coach Bob Pankey had this to say about last week’s win at Sparta, “Sparta we racked up 440 yards of offense but only put 28 points on the board. We dropped 2 TD passes and we dropped an interception that would have definitely gone for a TD as well. So we left at least 18 points on the field. I like how our offense moved the ball LastFriday night We just have to finish more drives. I also felt like our defense rose up when it needed to and got stops, kind of a ‘bend but don’t break’ approach. To be able to win even though we didn’t play our best shows the resiliency of our guys. Now we just need to clean up those mistakes for tonight.  

Stats from the Week Two victory will be included at the end.

About the upcoming matchup with Pinckneyville tonight,   “Pinckneyville’s line is big on both sides of the ball and seem to play fairly physical. Their skill positions are mostly seniors which means they have some experience. They will be well coached…Coach Rushing does a good job. They work in a lot of jet motion and misdirection so we will need to play ‘assignment-sound’ football.”

This will be a good measuring stick to see how the Rangers stack up entering into SIRR Ohio division play next week.  With week one opponent Carterville travelling to Murphysboro, and West Frankfort going to Sparta tonight will be a good measuring stick to see as they have the unenvious task of going to Herrin to open conference play.

As of now, I would slot the SIRR-Ohio going in as; 1. Herrin, 2. Harrisburg 3. Benton 4/5 Murphysboro and/or West Frankfort and 6. Massac County.

I am going with the Rangers by 21 tonight.  It will be another notch in their belt for a team that I can see playing in Week 10.

Week 2 Stats against Sparta

Box Score Report – 9/1/2017 7:00 PM
BOX SCORE

Benton 6   23   0   0     -29
Sparta 6     7     0   0 –   13
SCORING PLAYS

Benton 1 12:00 #10 Hamilton Page pass complete to #4 Cade Thomas for 75 yards.
Touchdown! (Point after kick by #1 Ian McMahon no good)
6 – 0 Benton

Sparta 1 12:00 #3 pass complete to #4 for 22 yards. Touchdown! 6-6

Benton 2 12:00 #46 Blane Pankey runs for 4 yards. Touchdown! (Two point conversion pass by #10 Hamilton Page to #18 Joseph Craig good) 14- 6 Benton

Benton 2 12:00 #15 Andrew Dunn runs for 4 yards. Touchdown! (Point after kick by #1 Ian
McMahon good) 21- 6 Benton

Benton 2 12:00 #10 Hamilton Page pass complete to #7 Neal Carlton for 21 yards. Touchdown! (Two point conversion run by #46 Blane Pankey good) 29- 6 Benton

Benton 2 12:00 #10 Hamilton Page pass intended for Team. Intercepted by Team. (Point after
kick by #9 good) 29 -13  Benton

Ranger Stats to Date

Name                       G Att Yds Avg TD YPG
#46 Blane Pankey 2 21 172 8.2 1 86.0
#10 Hamilton Page 2 26 97 3.7 2 48.5
#15 Andrew Dunn 2 11 51 4.6 1 25.5
#4 Cade Thomas 2 1 10 10.0 0 5.0
#18 Joseph Craig 2 1 (-2) (-2.0) 0 (-1.0)

PASSING
Name                       G Cmp Att Yds TD Int YPG Pct QBR
#10 Hamilton Page 2 33 61 405 2 2 202.5 54.1% 114.1

RECEIVING
Name                     G Rec Yds Avg TD YPG
#4 Cade Thomas 2 12 150 12.5 1 75.0
#7 Neal Carlton   2 7 106 15.1 1 53.0
#99 Bailey Hopson 2 5 64 12.8 0 32.0
#18 Joseph Craig 2 6 57 9.5 0 28.5
#15 Andrew Dunn 2 1 23 23.0 0 11.5
#46 Blane Pankey 2 2 5 2.5 0 2.5

DEFENSE
Name                       Total Tackles Solo Assist Sack – Yds TFL Safeties Pass Breakups
#46 Blane Pankey 21 9 24 0 – 0 6 0 0
#12 Ty Gordon 9.5 8 3 0 – 0 3.5 0 2
#15 Andrew Dunn 9.5 6 7 0 – 0 1.5 0 0
#18 Joseph Craig 8 1 14 1 – 0 3.5 0 0
#76 Tyler Butler 7.5 5 5 1.5 – 0 1.5 0 1
#4 Cade Thomas 7 5 4 0 – 0 2.5 0 2
#68 Warren Smothers 7 3 8 0.5 – 0 1.5 0 0
#17 Caleb Pemberton 6 2 8 0 – 0 1 0 0
#7 Neal Carlton 5 2 6 0 – 0 0.5 0 1
#77 Tristan Bigham 3.5 0 7 0 – 0 0.5 0 0
#44 Dalton Roberts 1 0 2 0 – 0 0 0 0
#99 Bailey Hopson 1 1 0 0 – 0 0 0 0
#71 Austin Crawford 1 0 2 0 – 0 0.5 0 0
#66 Lane Kelley 1 0 2 0 – 0 0 0 0
#62 Carston Sanders 0.5 0 1 0 – 0 0.5 0 0
#9 Jaxon Williams 0.5 0 1 0 – 0 0 0 0

 

 

 

 

Filed Under: Benton High School Sports, High School Sports, Slider, Sports

Prep Football: Eldorado’s Traxler gives Hill, Salukis verbal commitment

September 8, 2017 By Leave a Comment

http://www.dailyregister.com/sports/20170905/prep-football-eldorados-traxler-gives-hill-salukis-verbal-commitment

ELDORADO, IL – (Michael Dann, Harrisburg Register.  Please click on the link above for the full story.  Here is an excerpt below.)

He’s a kid described as someone who is a “true hard hat lunch pail guy” and when that description comes from someone like Southern Illinois University head football coach Nick Hill, you know you’re doing something right.

Hill had that to say on twitter Monday night, minutes after Eldorado’s Jacob Traxler gave Hill and the Salukis a verbal commitment.

Eldorado head coach Joe Clark said that Traxler’s perspective on football on and off the field, which is what’s going to be his biggest benefit moving forward.

“He’s a super kid with god-given abilities, he’s humble and he appreciates things a lot more than most typical kids in his position would. SIU got a good one,” Clark said. “I don’t know where he fits in with (SIU) plan right now, but I’m happy for him and Jake is in a position to stay local and find a comfort zone still being close to home.”

Filed Under: Sports

Saluki Men’s Golf travels to Indiana for Wolf Run Intercollegiate this weekend

September 7, 2017 By Leave a Comment

by Kari Johnston, siusalukis.com

Southern Illinois tees off its season on Friday at the Wolf Run Intercollegiate in Zionsville, Indiana as part of a competitive 15-team field that includes five squads in the top 100 on golfstat.com.

The lineup includes top 50 programs Central Florida, Kentucky and North Carolina State. SIU begins the season ranked second in the Missouri Valley Conference.

Wolf Run Golf Club is a demanding, world-class course that was ranked No. 15 on Golfweek’s Best Modern Courses in 2007.

The top two returning players from the 2016 Wolf Run Intercollegiate are Brian Carlson from Purdue, who finished in third, and Ian Snyman from North Texas, who finished in fourth. Last year, Illinois won the tournament.

“Wolf Run will be a great test for us,” said SIU head coach Justin Fetcho. “The golf course is very challenging and will require us to control our emotions and cope with any adversity that pops up.”
The Salukis’ five-man squad will be returnees Sam Meek, Luke Gannon, Peyton Wilhoit and Frankie Thomas, plus newcomer Hunter York. York is a transfer from John A. Logan College and was ranked as the No. 11 juco Player to Watch in the country as of last fall.
“Practice and qualifying have been very competitive and the guys have been working very hard,” Fetcho said. “Everyone traveling this week has played some great golf over the last couple of weeks and they are chomping at the bit to compete against some of the best teams in the country.”
The first teams will tee off at 9 a.m. on Friday morning with the Salukis teeing off at 9:50 a.m. Live scoring will be available on GolfStat.com.

Filed Under: College Sports, Sports

SIU SOFTBALL OPENS FALL SEASON ON SUNDAY

September 7, 2017 By Leave a Comment

by Tony McDaniel, siusalukis.com.

Saluki Softball opens its fall season this weekend with a double header from Charlotte West Stadium against two in-state foes, Rend Lake College and John A. Logan College.

Sunday’s doubleheader marks the first of eight home exhibition games that the Salukis will play this fall in a series of preseason warm-up games to give the defending Missouri Valley Conference Champions a chance to gel as a team.

“We’ve got two pitchers that are coming back and we have seven starters that had significant playing time returning. We also have five freshmen that are coming in that are very talented,” head coach Kerri Blaylock said. “We use fall ball as a chance to play everybody to see where we are at. We will play multiple lineups, positions and those types of things.”

Last season, the Salukis posted a 33-24 record while going 17-8 in Missouri Valley play. Southern capped off the regular season by winning eight of its last 10 games before defeating Missouri State, Illinois State and UNI in the MVC Tournament to win the league title and earn its first NCAA Tournament bid since 2007.

Southern lost several key players to graduation last year including all-time RBI and doubles leader Shaye Harre. Luckily for the Salukis, returning to the team is a nucleus of young talent including senior infielder Syndey Jones and sophomores Katelyn Massa and Maddy Vermejan. All three players were selected to All-MVC teams at the end of the 2017 regular season.

Also returning is the Salukis’ ace pitcher, Brianna Jones. Jones won 18 games in 2017 striking out 130 batters and walking just 35 in 213.1 innings pitched. She posted an ERA of 2.40 on her way to an All-MVC First Team selection.

The Salukis will welcome freshmen, Maris Boelens, Megan Brown, Shelby Hodo, Jenny Jansen and Meredith Wernig to the team this year. Blaylock said that the Saluki faithful will get a chance to see all five newcomers play throughout the fall and that they are settling into the team nicely.

“What is nice about early recruiting and early verbal commitments is that it allows new players to the team a chance to visit campus several times and get to know our kids,” Blaylock said. “It really makes that transition a lot easier. We scrimmaged earlier this week and all the freshmen played and hit the ball very well. They look like they belong.”

Throughout the fall, the Salukis will play eight games at home from Sept. 10 to Oct. 1. The team will welcome some stiff competition into Charlotte West Stadium. Southern takes on three Division I programs in Saint Louis, Southeast Missouri State and Murray State. The three Division I opponents combined to win 84 games in 2017 and Murray State qualified for the National Invitational Softball Championship. Southern is also hosting two very good Division II programs in Southern Indiana and Missouri – St. Louis. In 2017, USI made a run all the way to the NCAA Division II Softball Championship and UMSL hosted the Division II NCAA Midwest Regional.

“We try to always schedule Division I teams,” Blaylock said. “A lot of Division I schools don’t schedule other Division I teams in fall ball, but we feel like it is very important. We have a good mix of Division I, Division II and junior college teams that we play. The junior colleges are very, very good. It is really a good way to test our kids.”

Southern’s fall season kicks off on Saturday at SIU’s football game against Mississippi Valley State when the 2017 MVC Championship team will be awarded their rings in a ceremony at halftime. The following day, the Salukis will take on Rend Lake College at noon and John A. Logan at 2 p.m. Admission is free to all children 12 and under.

For all of the updates with Saluki softball, be sure to follow the team on Twitter and Instagram @SIU_Softball and on Facebook at Saluki Softball.

Filed Under: Slider, Sports
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