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Indians'
advance to semifinals
Johnston
City ground attack too much for Pana; will face Maroa-Forsyth next Saturday |
11/16/2024
BY JACK BULLOCK
JOHNSTON CITY - Watching the Johnston City Indians' offense
is like appearing on the TV game show “Let's Make A Deal”
while knowing exactly what's behind Door #1.
The Tribe
built its reputation on running the ball and the Pana Panthers
couldn't stop Coach Todd Thomas' club on Saturday.
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Central
romps past Murphysboro
Top-ranked Cougars win first ever
road playoff game, 34-7; Mt. Zion next |
11/09/2024
BY JACK BULLOCK
MURPHYSBORO - This season Breese Central senior quarterback
Preston Baker has had the weapons he's needed at his disposal.
The Cougars'
signal caller used everything in the holster in shooting down
Murphysboro in their second round 4A playoff matchup on the
road.
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Nashville
survives late scare
Hornets
score in final minute for 42-35 win over Stanford Olympia |
11/02/2024
BY JACK BULLOCK
NASHVILLE - Playing close playoff football contests seems to be
the norm for the recent editions of the Nashville Hornets.
Saturday's
3A first round matchup against Stanford Olympia looked in the
bag for the host Hornets as they led 34-20 with just 8:22 left
in the game.
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Chester
falls in season finale
Yellow
Jackets surrender 28-straight points in 35-28 loss to Waterloo |
10/26/2024
BY JACK BULLOCK
CHESTER - Saturday afternoon the Chester Yellow Jackets came out
fired up in their contest against 4A playoff bound Waterloo.
Honoring
the American Armed Service for the day and wearing their camouflaged
uniforms, the home team came out with a big effort.
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Lions
clinch league championship
Carterville
edges Murphysboro; improves to 6-2. 4-0 |
10/18/2024
BY JACK BULLOCK
CARTERVILLE - The Carterville Lions led 21-14 at halftime of
their conference showdown on Friday night at home against rival
Murphysboro.
After
intermission, on its first two possessions after taking the
second half kickoff, Coach Brett Diel's club sputtered.
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Warriors
wallop Mt. Carmel
Casey-Westfield
stays undefeated with big home victory; Aces fall to 3-4 |
10/12/2024
BY JACK BULLOCK
CASEY - Saturday night's home game for Casey-Westfield didn't
have a great start to it.
Coach
Jeff Fritchnitch looked on as the Warriors allowed the Mt. Carmel
opening kickoff bounce towards the sidelines where one of the
Golden Aces fell on the ball at the C-W 30-yard line.
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Vandalia
clinches playoff berth
Vandals
overpower winless Hillsboro; improve to 6-1 |
10/11/2024
BY JACK BULLOCK
HILLSBORO - One might believe that the Vandalia Vandals would
be setup for a bit of a let down after an emotional 35-34 overtime
win the previous week against rival and previously unbeaten
Greenville.
Heading
into their contest on Friday night at winless Hillsboro, the
Vandals could have taken the game lightly.
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Mules
"muscle" past Flora
Fairfield
evens mark at 3-3 with key league win; Wolves fall to 3-3 |
10/05/2024
BY JACK BULLOCK
FAIRFIELD - Saturday afternoon the Fairfield Mules celebrated
their homecoming with a commanding 20-6 victory over Flora to
even their mark at 3-3.
More
importantly Coach Justin Townsend's club took a step towards
securing its 11th consecutive IHSA playoff berth.
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Lions
pick up big road win
Carterville
improves to 4-2 overall, 2-0 in the Ohio Division |
10/04/2024
BY JACK BULLOCK
HARRISBURG - When the season began Carterville head coach Brett
Diel probably couldn't have imagined a worse start.
The Lions
got ran off of the field in a 41-0 shellacking delivered at
home by Benton.
Another
loss on the road at St. Joseph-Ogden left Carterville at 2-2
after four games.
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| Eagles
pick up homecoming win
Late
touchdown gives Eldorado 16-8 win over Hamilton County |
09/28/2024
BY JACK BULLOCK
ELDORADO - Saturday afternoon's
contest between Hamilton County and Eldorado appeared to be
headed to overtime with just over a minute remaining in the
fourth quarter.
An opening
quarter touchdown by the host Eagles and an early third quarter
.....
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Red
Hill to BDC football
Salukis
will begin playing in 2025-26; 10-team conference schedule restored |
|  09/24/2024
BY JACK BULLOCK
BRIDGEPORT - The Bridgeport Red Hill school board voted Monday
night to accept the invitation to join the Black Diamond Conference
in football only beginning in the 2025-26 school year.
With
the loss of Vienna/Goreville from varsity football, having not
fielded a team in three of the last four seasons, the Black
Diamond Conference needed a tenth team to keep their closed
conference schedule complete.
Red Hill
will replace V/G in the already completed schedule starting
next fall.
The Salukis
are currently members of both the Midland Trail Conference and
Little Okaw Valley Conference in all other sports and have been
an independent in football since leaving the Little Illini Conference
after the 2020-21 school year.
Red Hill
is currently 3-1 on the season for head coach Billy Gray, and
posted a win over current Black Diamond Conference team Christopher/Zeigler-Royalton
last Saturday.
CZR picked
up the game to replace what would have been a varsity game in
Week 4 against Vienna/Goreville.
None
of the other BDC teams found a game this year to replace the
void and will receive forfeited wins from Vienna/Goreville.
If and
when V/G begins varsity football again, they would play as an
independent.
“We
are excited about this new partnership with the BDC. This conference
gives us a chance to be competitive while providing some stability
that we didn’t have as an independent,” said Red
Hill Athletic Director Greg McKinney. “The MTC will still
be our main conference and we will participate in every sport
but football. We look forward to hosting the Hamilton County
Foxes on Week 1 next year. A huge thank you to the BDC for extending
us this offer.”
One of
the drawbacks with the change is that they will lose a annual
rivalry game against Lawrence County rival Lawrenceville, who
the Salukis have played each season in the Oil Field Trophy
game.
This
is similar to when Eldorado joined the Black Diamond in 2003-04,
and stopped its rivalry game against Harrisburg.
“But
this (move to the BDC) checks so many other boxes for us,”
said Coach McKinney. |
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Tigers
continue roaring start
Richland
County rolls to fourth-straight victory with big second half at Marshall |
09/21/2024
BY JACK BULLOCK
MARSHALL - On an overcast day on the road at Marshall Saturday
afternoon the Olney Richland County Tigers continued to shine.
Having
gone the entire 2023-24 football season without a victory, Coach
Luke Carmody's crew have turned things around in a big way in
2024-25.
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Golden
Aces get back on track
Mt.
Carmel breaks out with big win at Robinson; improves to 1-2 |
| 09/14/2024
BY JACK BULLOCK
ROBINSON - Beginning the season 0-2 is something that doesn't
happen too often for programs like Mt. Carmel.
The last
time MC started a season with two-consecutive was back in 2005.
The Golden
Aces are a perennial playoff program and ......
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Red
Devils' stay undefeated
Sesser-Valier/Waltonville
makes first quarter score hold up; improves to 3-0 |
| 09/13/2024
BY JACK BULLOCK
SESSER - The Sesser-Valier/Waltonville Red Devils stayed unbeaten
on the season with an 8-6 victory over Fairfield on Friday night
at Carroll Kelly Field.
The hosts
scored their lone touchdown in the first quarter, gave up a
second quarter score to the Mules and then ......
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Red
Hill wins rivalry game
Salukis
dominate second half, beat Lawrenceville 23-7 |
| 09/07/2024
BY JACK BULLOCK
BRIDGEPORT - Saturday's battle of Lawrence County was tied at
7-7 at halftime in a defensive struggle.
But
Red Hill came up with the formula for success in the second
half to take a 23-7 victory over Lawrenceville on the strength
of a couple of big plays from their offense.
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Chester
rolls past Panthers
Yellow
Jackets improve to 2-0 with 56-6 thumping of Pinckneyville |
09/06/2024
BY JACK BULLOCK
CHESTER - It
took just a few minutes for the Chester Yellow Jackets to take
command of their home contest against Pinckneyville on Friday
night at home.
The
hosts never let up until the final horn.
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Red
Hill, Cumberland, Madison, AM head into season
Salukis,
Pirates try to continue playoff success; Trojans, Explorers look to
rebuild |
08/30/2024
BY JACK BULLOCK
CARBONDALE - For Red Hill the path
to the playoffs a year ago was thorny for an independent team
with a wild, mostly Saturday afternoon, schedule of contests.
Coach
Billy Gray got his club playoff eligible late in the season,
winning their final three regular season contests to get into
the 1A tournament.
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Aces
have new faces in 2024-25
Mt. Carmel hurt by graduation;
C-W, Lawrenceville, Newton, Robinson look stronger
Marshall continues to rebuild, Richland County has "sleeper"
look, Paris also strong |
08/30/2024
BY JACK BULLOCK
CARBONDALE - Last
season four of the eight Little Illini Conference teams made
it to the IHSA football postseason and two of the teams (Mt.
Carmel, Casey-Westfield) each advanced past the first round.
Paris
and Lawrenceville each lost their playoff openers.
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Central
looks for continued success
Roxana
should still be playoff caliber; Columbia looks to rebound from tough
season
Salem has much to replace; East Alton-Wood River looks to rebuild
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| Red
Bud, Chester, should battle for playoff spots
Veteran Dupo, Wesclin, Carlyle look to
join the race; Sparta returns to action |
08/29/2024
BY JACK BULLOCK
CARBONDALE - It was a memorable season for a couple of Cahokia
Conference Mississippi Division squads.
Roxana
won the championship with Breese Central finishing second.
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Plenty
of talent returns in the BDC
JC, CWC, Fairfield, SVW look
to battle
Hamilton
County, CZR, Flora, Eldorado, Edwards County
appear improved |
8/23/2024
BY JACK BULLOCK
CARBONDALE - Relatively speaking the Black Diamond Conference
football race (in most campaigns) comes down to one pivotal
game, usually a contest between unbeaten teams.
The 2023
season produced that game in Week 8.
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