Hebrews 12:1

How would you characterize your season of competition, more like a sprint or a marathon?  Which one requires more perseverance, the ten second race or the two hour race?  Those answers are obvious, but the keys to such perseverance and endurance are a little more elusive.

The letter to the Hebrews mentions such values in chapter 12 and verse 1, “Therefore we also, since we are surrounded by so great a cloud of witnesses, let us lay aside every weight, and the sin which so easily ensnares us, and let us run with endurance the race that is set before us.” 

I have a friend who is an 8 time winner of the Boston Marathon, in a wheelchair!  Jean Driscoll knows what endurance is.  To win that race requires going 26.2 miles in a wheelchair, in just over 1 and ½ hours.  That’s fast and fast for a long time.  That’s what endurance looks like.

Your course is set before you this season, it’s called a schedule.  We can all see it, but can we all finish it with endurance?  We certainly can if we’ll heed the instructions from the earlier parts of the verse.  We must keep our predecessors in mind for inspiration and encouragement.  We must lay aside those things which weigh us down and ensnare our lives.  Lastly, we must compete every day with the end of the season in mind.  Let’s compete for a championship and approach every day of practice and each competition like champions.

Game times have been set for this Saturday’s IHSA second round playoff football games.
3A – Mt. Carmel at Nashville – 1 p.m.
5A – Marion at Springfield Sacred Heart Griffin – 2 p.m.
2A – Chester at Johnston City – 2 p.m.
4A – Herrin at Belleville Althoff – 7 p.m.
4A – Carterville at Roxana 1 p.m

I Peter 1:13

What happens when one competes in an out-of-control way?  That person commits foolish fouls, is assessed a technical foul, draws an unsportsmanlike conduct penalty or even gets disqualified.  The value of competing under control is obvious and the penalty for not doing so is immediate.  What value might self-control have beyond competition?

Peter wrote to his friends about self-control in his first letter at chapter 1 and verse 13 where we read, “Therefore prepare your minds for action, be self-controlled and rest your hope fully upon the grace that is to be brought to you at the revelation of Jesus Christ.”

After we have done the mental preparation for competition, we must exercise self-control in order to execute the game plan and to play at an optimum level.  If we lose control emotionally or lose our focus on the task at hand, we’ll be distracted from the goal and failure will track us down.

In today’s competition and throughout the season, prepare your minds for action and be self-controlled.  This will be the key to victory, on and off the field of competition.

CHAMPAIGN, Ill. – The Rend Lake College Lady Warriors Volleyball team fell in three (11-25; 19-25; 17-25) to No. 1 ranked Parkland College Cobras last night during round one of the Region 24 Championship.

RLC’s Denise Bruns (Pinckneyville) and Sydney Crews (Mt. Vernon) led the offense hitting seven and five kills respectively. Crews also had 11 digs and two blocks. Three other Lady Warriors delivered kills for the night, including Rowdee Sanders (Carterville) with three kills and three blocks; Allie Lietz (Hoyleton) with three kills; and Ashley Modglin (Shiloh Hill) with one kill and two blocks.

Cassidy Melliere (Prairie du Rocher) led the defense with 13 digs while also scoring one ace. Other top performers for RLC were Koral McBride (Murphysboro) with eight assists and seven digs, Emily Green (Wayne City) with eight assists and three digs, and Kacee Roberts (Ewing) with eight digs.

Head Coach Sara Crews said of the match, “We came out of the gate slow against the team who is currently, and has been most of the season, ranked number one among Division II teams in the country. I am proud of the girls for playing hard and not letting the first set be the tone for the rest of the match. They battled back in sets two and three, and made Parkland work for their right to advance to the next round of the postseason.”

The Lady Warriors ended their regular season 4-30, with a 2-8 record against GRAC (Great Rivers Athletic Conference) teams. For all things athletic at The Lake, visit www.rlc.edu/warriors.

INA, Ill. – The Rend Lake College Lady Warriors defeated the Lindenwood-Belleville Lady Lynx 69-47 in their home opener Saturday.

Freshman Jasmine Washington (Evansville, Ind.) led the team with 15 points, six rebounds, and five assists in her first NJCAA appearance. She also added five steals and four blocks to the game. Fellow starters Jordan Bruenton (Cincinnati, Ohio) and Brianna Hawkins (Louisville, Ky.) also blazed the way with 12 and 11 points respectively. Jada Ballew (Cincinnati, Ohio) added another six points to the scoring column during the game. Sophomore Savannah Enlow (Corydon, Ind.), the sole returning player for the Lady Warriors Saturday, started the game with a three.

“The game started off with a big three made by Savannah Enlow, then a domino effect after that,” said Assistant Coach Krystal Gundy. “It was a great defensive win for us. Everyone Lady Warrior scored for us which made it a great team win.”

Four other Lady Warriors put up points, including Mykhaela Tolds (Pearland, Texas) with 13, Valencia Chandler (Joliet) and Ieisha Sanders (Mt. Vernon) with four each, and Jenae Rowe (Joliet) with one.

RLC will play St. Louis Community College at 5:30 p.m. Wednesday at home before taking the road to Jefferson College and Shawnee. For all things athletic at The Lake, visit www.rlc.edu/warriors.

Romans 12:9

Who is there in your life who loves sincerely?  Your parents?  Your teammates?  Your best friend?  How is sincere love expressed?  The Apostle Paul has some ideas in today’s scripture.

In Romans chapter 12 and verse 9, Paul writes to his friends saying, “Love must be sincere.  Hate what is evil; cling to what is good.”  In this passage Paul gives us an idea of the nature of real, sincere love.

Paul says that a sincere or pure hearted love will lead us to hate what is evil, that is things that harm people.  There are plenty of evil things that surround an athletic team, just think about everything that could creep into your team and harm various ones.

He also says that a pure hearted love will lead us to hold tightly to things that improve our lives and the lives of those we love.  That’s what it means to cling to good.  What are some things to which you can cling that will enhance the lives of your team?

In today’s contest:  Hate what is evil – things that will hurt your team.  Cling to good – attitudes and behavior that leads to victory and teamwork.  Let these values lead you to excellence today.

INA, Ill.  – The Sept. 13 Basic Handgun Training course has been rescheduled for next Saturday, Sept. 20. The class will still meet from 8 a.m. – 4 p.m. in the Applied Science Center (ASC), Room 101, on the Ina campus.

For more information, contact the RLC Community and Corporate Education Division at 618-437-5321, Ext. 1714 or morrise@rlc.edu.

CARBONDALE, Ill. – The Salukis are 3-0 for the first time since 2007 after a four-touchdown win over SEMO on Saturday. Next up is Purdue, as Southern Illinois takes its high-powered offense to a Big Ten venue.

1. How good has Southern been on offense this year? It ranks fourth in the nation in scoring (44.3 points) and 13th in total offense (463.3). Coordinator Bill O’Boyle has this unit firing on all-cylinders early.

2. QB Mark Iannotti continues to impress. He ranks third in the nation in passing and has 10 touchdown strikes already, second only to Eastern Washington’s Vernon Adams. Against SEMO, he did something that Saluki greats Joel Sambursky, Nick Hill, Chris Dieker and Kory Faulkner never did — throw six TD passes in a game.

3. His biggest throw of the night against SEMO was a 60-yard touchdown to WR Tay Willis in the second quarter on 3rd-and-9. On the previous possession, Iannotti had thrown a pick-six that allowed the Redhawks to cut the deficit to 21-13. He misfired on his next two passes, and you had to wonder if he was beginning to crack? Hardly. Iannotti threw a perfect deep ball, hitting Willis in stride, and tossed three more touchdown passes from that point forward. You can almost see his confidence growing with each game.

4. Five different receivers caught touchdowns for Southern. That’s a first in Saluki history. As a defensive coordinator, you have so many weapons to defend besides All-American TE MyCole Pruitt. Wideouts Willis and LaSteven McKinney are scary one-on-one match ups. Then you can bring RB Malcolm Agnew out of the backfield. With TE Adam Fuehne back from mono, Southern has the potential to field an elite offense.

5. It’s no secret Pruitt wants to play in the National Football League. He has made several amazing catches this season that must have NFL scouts excited. At Eastern Illinois last week, he leaped high in the air and snatched a ball in traffic for what could have been a touchdown, though he was ruled out of bounds. Against SEMO, he made a fingertip catch of a fastball from Iannotti for a TD. He also made one catch in the third quarter in which he dragged four defenders along for an extra nine yards. He’s doing everything you’d expect of a pro prospect.

6. The offensive line deserves credit for its performance so far this season. Not only is the running game averaging 6.0 yards per carry, but the unit has allowed only two sacks in 83 pass attempts this season. They are doing it without arguably their best tackle — LT Ethan Wirth. Senior Corey Boemer has played admirably on the left side. After the game, Lennon said Wirth, who has an ankle sprain, might play next week.

7. Ok. I admit I was a bit nervous watching Agnew run the ball eight times in the fourth quarter with the Salukis up by four TDs. Of course, you don’t want to risk losing the nation’s sixth-leading rusher when the game is in hand. However, there was good rationale for playing Agnew early in the fourth. SIU was backed up to its own one-yardline after a brilliant goal-line stand by the defense. The Salukis were presented with the opportunity to work on their power running game with their backs against the wall, and they were successful, as Agnew ripped off gains of 6, 4, 8, 5, 3, 6, 12 and 1 yard. It was a confidence-builder for the offense and who knows when they’ll find themselves in a similar situation? Mika’il McCall finished off the drive for Southern.

8. Speaking of the goal-line stand by SIU’s defense, SEMO attempted six-straight power running plays from the 15-yardline early in the fourth quarter in a test of wills between the teams. The Salukis were up to the challenge, stopping the Redhawks on four-consecutive plays from inside the 3. Yet another confidence-builder for this team.

9. SIU’s secondary had their hands full with WR Paul McRoberts, who caught seven passes for 86 yards. After the game, Lennon told me McRoberts is a BCS-caliber player. CB Keith Suggs did an admirable job on McRoberts. Suggs was also robbed of a touchdown in the third quarter after he scooped up a fumble and was on his way to the end zone before an inadvertent whistle ended the play.

10. The Salukis are getting good pressure on the QB with 11 sacks and 14 quarterback hurries so far in three games. OLB Tyler Williamson has been on a tear with 3.0 sacks, but eight other players have had a hand in on at least one sack.

11. I loved Southern’s clock management with a big lead late in the game. You might have found it odd to see them in the no-huddle during the third quarter, but they never snapped the ball with more than 5-or-6 seconds on the play clock.They had a matchup they liked and made it difficult for SEMO to substitute. In the fourth quarter, the offense ran like clock-work, with Iannotti breaking the huddle with 12 seconds on the play clock and the ball being snapped with 2-or-3 seconds to go.

12. Before you get too far ahead in predicting a 4-0 start for SIU, remember that the Missouri Valley Football Conference is 2-49 all-time against the Big Ten. Purdue is coming off a solid performance in a loss to No. 11 Notre Dame. They have more scholarships and more resources, not to mention home-field advantage. The Salukis will have to play a near-perfect game to be competitive. Of course, SIU has one of those two Big Ten wins, knocking off Indiana in 2006. North Dakota State has the other win — beating downtrodden Minnesota in 2011. If you can’t be there in person, the game will be televised on the Big Ten Network.

 

By Matt Hampton
SIUSalukis.com

Opening Statement
“We’re in the process right now of getting ready for that next challenge, and we’ve come off a good three week stretch where I think we’re making progress as a football team. There’s still a pretty good level of improvement that needs to occur. We definitely need to step forward in several facets of our game, and playing a team like Purdue is going to really force us to be at the highest level that we can possibly be, so I think the timing of this matchup is good for us. The challenge is huge, and that’s what we need right now, and that’s what we’re looking forward to.”

“You mentioned the areas of improvement. What specifically would you like to see your guys do better?”
“There’s just a lot of little things that you know as a coach that sometimes may not even be all that obvious to the fans, but there’s things that we need to be sharper on with communication, with the finer points of the offense and the defense. Tackling was an area that I wasn’t real happy with this past week. There’s just enough there so that you come out of that game where you’re happy with the results, but when you watch the film you kind of scratch your head and say `I thought it was better than that,’ so we need to get better.”

“How do you feel like you guys have handled the early season success so far?”
“Well I think we’ve handled it well. It’s one of those things where we kind of expected to be in this position. I think everyone realizes we can be better and we need to be better. That was the message to the team yesterday. We play in a league that’s very unforgiving, and to be competitive in our league, you have to have your game at a very high level, and if you don’t, you’ll come up short. That’s what we’re trying to prepare for, is to be at that level.”

“With a game like this where the bullseye is more on their back and they’re expected to win as an FBS team, how do you use that to your advantage?”
“We’re not going to make a big deal of that. That’s just the nature of the game. I think nowadays the FCS playing the FBS just isn’t that uncommon of a matchup. You’ve seen FCS programs have success and play close games and get victories, so for us we’re just trying to prepare our game so that we can put the best game possible out on the field and give a good representation of who we are.”

“Every year is different, but you’ve had some FBS games where you haven’t started very well in the first quarter. With the way this team has started three games in a row, are you pretty confident you can do that again?”
“I’d say there was only one game where we didn’t start well, and that was Ole Miss when we were down 21 points in the first six minutes. The other ones we actually had leads going into the second quarter. You get ready for the entire game. You get ready for the complete package and what needs to happen to give yourself a chance to be competitive; and if you put too much emphasis on the start, then are you going to have enough at the end? We’ve played three games. We know what adversity feels like right now. We’ve been through some of that, and now we’re really going to be challenged to a point where we find out if we’re ready to handle the next level.”

“What impressed you about the way Purdue played Notre Dame this past weekend?”
“They’re a team that’s getting better, from watching their film from Week 1 to Week 2 to Week 3, the team that you’re watching this past week is a different team than the first week or the second week. They played with a lot of passion. They played with a lot of heart. This was a huge game for them with the rivalry feel to it, plus playing in Indianapolis was a big deal, so I know this game was important to them.”

“Do you see their size presenting a lot of matchup problems for you?”
“I think we see that size every week. Our offensive line averages about 315 or 320, so that size factor just isn’t as big as what it might have been 10 or 15 years ago. We want fast, agile defensive linemen that move around well, so that’s by design. I think that once you start getting linemen that are in that 280-plus range you lose a lot of your mobility. We are who we are, and that’s by design.

“How much will their new quarterback, who’s a new starter this year and isn’t very experienced, play into the game plan in terms of how much pressure you guys bring?”
“We have to do what they’ll allow us to do. He did start five games for them last year, so he’s fairly experienced coming into the season. You see improvement in his game week after week which is normal with any quarterback in his development, so naturally if we can bring pressure, that is something we like to do, but we have to see whether or not they will give us the formations or the presentation that will allow us to do that. A lot of time, what dictates the pressure is where you’re at in the game.”

“Finishing games was an issue last year for the team. What so you see as the biggest thing that’s changed between last year’s team and this year?”
“Well I disagree with you there. We won a lot of close games last year, so I don’t think you can say we didn’t know how to finish games last year. We beat Northern Iowa in Northern Iowa in overtime; we just lost a couple of close games that were heartbreakers. That’s what you learn from it is that if we just find a way to make one more play, you’re not looking at a completely different gameplan, you’re just trying to find that extra play. Last year’s team, I thought was a very good, solid football team, the chemistry was strong, and now we’re just trying to build on that just to find that extra play.”

“Their running back is one of the fastest guys in college football. How do you keep him in between that tackles?”
“That’s up to them to a degree. They’re going to have their gameplan. We just have try to keep him running east and west more than he’s running north and south. When he starts going north and south, he’s pretty fast. When you’re the Big Ten champion in all the sprinting events, that’s very impressive.”

“How do they use him? Do they move him around?”
“Actually their running backs have a lot of catches. Their top receiver is their tight end, and then the next two are the two running backs, so they do a lot with the backs out of the backfield. They have a nice package, they’re very diverse in the formations that they give you, so they’re not going to sit in any one formation and just let you play against them.”

“Special teams wise, how good do you feel about your kickoff return coverage unit right now?”
“Our coverage unit will be tested just because both backs are also their two return guys who are  #2 and #3 in the history of Purdue football with kickoff returns, so I’m more hopeful that our kicker’s leg is feeling good that day to not give them a chance to return any, but I think our coverage teams are good, but we’re going to have to be very good this week to contain them.”

“One play in the first half where the SEMO receiver was wide open and he overthrew him, was that a miscommunication?”
“The coverage we’re playing is a Cover 3, and it was more about being out of position than a miscommunication, so we just needed to have our safety over. As a coach, there are three things that you always look at when you watch film on a play. You look at their alignment, their assignment, and their technique. If you have poor alignment, many times you can put yourself at risk of giving up a big play. Just being a couple yards off where you need to be is not good. Then you look at it to see if it was a physical mismatch. But as a coach when you see if it was assignment, alignment, or technique, now you just have to coach it up better.”

“One thing that has changed over the first three games is that you’re scoring more points. Is that a different philosophy or were we just lucky?”
“Again, fans have a way of looking at things a little differently. It’s a team effort. We’re scoring points because we’re giving our offense good field position by creating turnovers. Saturday’s game, they got the ball on the 1-yard line once and got it on the 3-yard line another time. Against Eastern Illinois we returned a couple punts that that took them way down. It’s a team effort to score points. It’s not just about offense. That’s where I think fans really miss the boat. They just think it’s a one-dimensional show, where the reality is if your defense, offense and special teams aren’t all coexisting well together, it’s going to be tough to score points.”

“Are you encouraged, though, by your offensive line right now with what they’ve been able to do creating holes for the run game?”
“I’ve been encouraged with the fact that we came in wanting to establish the run game and we’re establishing the run game, especially in the third and fourth quarter where it’s critical to have a potent run game, we’ve been able to do that. Again, we’re going to be tested at a higher level, and that’s exactly what we need to see where we’re at as a football team. Can you expect everything to work the same way it did against Southeast Missouri or Eastern Illinois, we have to find that out. Naturally, you’re going to have other options that we can go to so we’re not going to put all our eggs in one basket here and think we can just go do what we want to do.”

“Can you talk about Mark Iannotti’s confidence, how much it’s grown out of these three games you’ve seen?
“It’s not unexpected from my perspective. I’ve seen him through the spring, I saw his leadership skills in the summer, and now through pre-fall and the first three games, this is what I was hoping to see. This is what I thought that we had. He can still take another step forward, there’s still some ceiling left for him to achieve. I think with each game he gets that much more comfortable and confident, and with that he should continue to improve.”

“McRoberts caught a lot of passes under pretty good coverage. How do you feel about the play of the secondary?”
“That McRoberts, he’s pretty good. You should’ve seen the catches he made against Kansas. He had seven receptions for 88 yards, his longest was a 26-yarder. Going into the game if you would tell me that we could hold him to those type of numbers I would’ve taken it in a second. He is a big time receiver that would make any secondary in the country look like they were having some difficulty. Some of the catches he made were what you see on Sunday, so he is a talented individual.”

“Have you been happy how you have defended the big play?”
“Yeah, and that was the message to the team. We weren’t as sound with our reads defensively so we were giving up some runs there in that 8, 9, 10 yard range and you just hate seeing it but you’re not giving up the big play and when you don’t give up the big play, you keep points off the board. I think the key factor is that you need to remember, anytime you make a team settle for a field goal, you’re keeping points off the board. If you look at the scoring opportunities Southeast Missouri had, they settled for three field goals and we had a goal line stand. That could’ve been an additional 28 points. You do have that bend but don’t break mentality from time to time, but that’s defense. You just can’t give up easy scores, and we have to make them earn everything they get. If you’re doing that to the team, at least you’re giving your players a chance.

“What kind of matchup problems does their tight end, Justin Simms, give you?”
“Well the other one is actually on the John Mackey watch list, number 86, he’s big and physical. Simms is kind of their number two guy. The way I look at their two tight ends is kind of similar to the way we do it with Pruitt and Fuehne. They use them a lot in their formations. You’ll see them wide from time to time, you’ll see them in tight. They have a very tight end friendly offense. That’s kinda how they manage it.”

“Do they use them in the red zone like you use your two guys?”
“Well seldom do they leave the field. One of them is always on the field. They’re not always going to give you your traditional tight end formations so unless you’re looking for them specifically, you might not even realize that they’re in the game, but a lot of times they’re at different points in their offensive attack.”

“I was pretty impressed with Solomon how he’s playing after that knee injury. Is he at 100% yet?”
“Right now he just needs to get in shape. That doesn’t happen overnight, so he should be getting more and more comfortable with what we’re asking him to do with each practice, but he’ll be available.”

“Do you consider them a pass first team?”
“It’s depending on what they want to work on. They have a 50-50 approach, they have a nice scheme as far as how they’re doing it. They’ll do a lot of high-percentage type passes where it’s really not that different than doing an extended pitch or something along those lines. It’s just trying to get their skill players out in open space and let them make plays. It’s a good mix, They’re not going to let you just tee off and get after them. They’re going to constantly be changing it up and having a lot of  variety with their offense.”

“Would you say they play a more multiple defense or just a straight 4-3?”
“It depends on who they’re playing and what the situation is. Defensively I think the improvement I’ve seen from their first game to this past week against Notre Dame, they have done a much better job with the package. They have the capabilities to bring pressure when they want to bring pressure. It just kind of depends on who they’re playing and what they feel they need to defend as far as what concept they’ll be using.”

“How do you continue to get Malcolm Agnew into space and get him opportunities this weekend?”
“Well with Malcolm, it’s the running back position, so naturally we have our bread and butter plays. You continue to run those and then you just find other concepts that get him in the open. Screens have been good for us with him, so that’s always an element. Anytime you have teams looking for screens that might take a little edge off of them too. Sometimes with a guy not even getting the ball, he may help you just as a diversion type thing. We want to be creative with Malcolm but at the same time we have enough weapons around him that we don’t have to completely be one-dimensional.”

“Could you talk about recruiting MyCole Pruitt? Was is a heavy battle with some of the FBS schools?”
“He was under the radar. We were excited about him and we were surprised that more schools weren’t actively recruiting him. Sometimes in recruiting it’s the program that you come from where if you’ve got a good football reputation then all the colleges go there but if the program that you’re in is one that’s under the radar then sometimes that’s where you find that diamond in the rough, and that’s what we did.”

“Could he play defense?”
“He could play any position. He’d be a great defensive lineman I believe, with his athleticism. His strength is very good, but he’s at the perfect position for him, which is the tight end spot. His hands are as good as anybody on the team.”

“How do you think him going through his injury last year helped him mature, especially in a leadership role?”
“With an injury, until you go through one, you never know how tough you are. I think there MyCole found an inner strength that allowed him to play through the season and through some pain, and that will be something that will help him down the road. Football is a game where after that first practice you’re never at 100% so you’re always dealing with something.”