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Larry's Sports Shorts
 

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Welcome to our Website! Check here for Larry's Sports Shorts -- Information and Comments on Central Illinois Sports.


   

Sports Shorts . . . 
11/17/08 The High School Girls basketball season opened for ISD as they hosted the Triopia Trojans in a WIVC contest.  The Trojans won 50-26 as they played as well as we have seen them play in a long time.  First year coach, Travis Sievers, had them ready and they took care of business. They turned the ball over 15 times in the first half but cut that to only 6 in the second half and shot 57% from the free throw line (12-21) in the win. They forced 25 turnovers on the Tigers and played a pretty sticky defense. For ISD, they were led in scoring by Sanchez, Rainey and Bernal with 7 points each. Mancera had the other 3 points on a long range shot. The Tigers only hit 3 of 16 free throws and will need to do a better job from the charity stripe.  Randi Huey led the Trojans with 16 points while Kimmie Carlin added 11 as she came in off of the bench. She is a nice addition to the Trojan team as she handles the ball pretty well, can shoot and was 3-4 from the free throw line. She need to get a little stronger with her passes, but that will come in time. Welch poured in 8, Reither 6, Andersn 4, Lovekamp 3 and McLain 2 in the victory. Triopia led from the beginning and will take their 1-0 record up against a good Tiger team from Beardstown on Thursday. Their JV won 18-5 in the earlier game. 
11/15/08 The Triopia Trojan Football team has not been in the semi-final round since 2004 but they earned it yesterday with a hard fought win over the Tuscola Warriors 22-21.  They scored the winning touchdown, after a Warrior fumble, with 1:22 on the game clock and hung on to post the victory.  Phelps took a knee with .01 seconds on the clock and the celebration began.  The Trojans were trailing in the ball game with a little over 5 minutes left, by a scored of 21-8 but were able to score on a 27 yard reverse to Dinsmore and a 2 point conversion from Phelps to Fricke got them close at 21-16. With only 3:29 left on the clock, they needed the ball back and got it as Brockhouse recovered a fumble on the Warrior 33. Phelps faked a hand off to Arendt and Kerr was wide open on the left side, so he threw a pass right on the numbers and the rest is history. Triopia will play Sidell Jamaica at home next Saturday for the chance to play in the state finals in Champaign on the 28th at 10:00 am. Tuscola rushed for approximately 104 yards and threw for 204 but you could see they were wearing down in the 4th quarter, with their hands on their knees, etc. It was a tough physical battle and a game worthy of a quarter-final match up. Caleb Little is a good quarterback who can run or throw and was 14-26 through the air with 47 yards on the ground.  He threw for 1 score and rushed for one as the Warriors ended their season with 8 wins and 4 losses.  For the Trojans, they took what Tuscola gave them. Arendt (70 yds), who has 1,666 yards on the year, was the focus of the Tuscola defense, so they ran Dinsmore (31 yds), Chute (29 yds), Kleinschmidt (36 yds) and Nordsiek (29 yds).  Then Phelps had a nice day through the air with a 3-5 day, 62 yards including the game winner. The defense did their job as they forced 3 turnovers, (Dinsmore and Wise interceptions) and (Brockhouse fumble recovery) and Fricke kicked the ball well. Millard also had one of his best kick offs of the year at crunch time, so all in all (with the exception of the bad snap) it was a solid game for Triopia and they deserve to be where they are.  Sidell-Jamaica will be strong, but from my own personal opinion, I would rather play them than face Tuscola again based on strength of schedule and the home field advantage. 

I would imagine that AC/Virginia may be down a little after their loss in the championship volleyball game at Redbird Arena, but I hope not.  They are a very good team and when they take a moment to think about it, they will realize what a great state run they made.  They won the conference, they won a sectional, a super-sectional and took a good Lanark team (39-3) to the wire before taking 2nd place n the state. That's good stuff and this is a relatively young team.  They will miss their seniors, Birdsell, Jacobs and Honkala, but their nucleus for a strong team will be in place when they get ready for the 2009 season.  They played in good tournaments, against winning programs and finished the year with 34 wins and 8 losses.  If they are disappointed, I hope it is short lived as they made their fans and the local area very proud and deserve all they praise they have received.  Kristy VanMeter took over a good team and helped guide them to the state finals.  The ground work was laid by Carrie Jo Donnan and when she stepped down, the Knights never lost a beat. They will be a front-runner, in my opinion, again next season and I only hope they know that.       

11/14/08 It wasn't easy, but AC/Central-Virginia won their semi-final volleyball 20-25, 25-18, 25-22 over Sciota-West Priarie today at Redbird Arena in Normal.  They had lost to the Cyclones earlier this year at the Mt. Pulaski Tournament so got a small measure of revenge along with the right to play for the state title in class 1A. Gentes had 9 kills and 2 blocks to lead W. Prairie while Shelly added 8 kills and Peterson 6. Peterson & Burke  led in points with 5 each while Derry sered 4 winners and Chapin 3. Derry was a good setter with 21 on the day as the Cyclones end their title run with a record of 33 wins against only 8 losses. Jacobs  had 21 kills, Bergerud 10, Honkala 8 and Allen 7. Bergerud led with 5 blocks and Honkala added 3 while Jokisch had 1. Stribling led the way in points with 8 and also contributed 40 assists in the win.  The Knights only had 3 service errors in the match and while they started off slowly, they picked up the pace and finished strong. They will face Lanark (Eastland) at 10:30 in the morning for the championship.

In the opening match at Redbird Arena, for the Class 1A volleyball championship, it was Lanark improving to 38-3 with a 25-22, 25-16 victory over Toledo. Sparks had 6 kills and 2 blocked for the Pirates. Gable had 3 kills, 2 points and 1 assist and Whitaker added 3 kills, 2 points, 1 block and 12 assists. Brandt was strong with 6 blocks, 2 kills and 2 points and Titus served up 5 points. Toledo was having some difficulty with the net play of the Cougars and just weren't consistent enough to force a third game. Toledo will take a 28-4 record into the 3rd place game tomorrow. Blair was big time with 9 kills and 3 blocks for Lanark. Hare added 6 kills and 4 blocks and Bunyer was able to kill 4 and block 1 as they led the Cougar attack. Damaris Linker had 7 points, Kane 6 and Kniss 6 as Lanark showed they have several areas of scoring. Pierce had 4 assists and Hope Linker had 17 assists and 2 service errors. They will give the Knights some trouble around the net tomorrow, but they will have to deal with AC's offense themselves.  It should be a very good title match and will start around 10:30 am.    

11/8/08 On Thursday night the AC/Virginia volleyball team made a little history when they won their first sectional championship. Tonight they won a super-sectional match with Warrensburg-Latham 25-18, 25-23.  They will play Sciota West Prairie in final four action from Redbird Arena on Friday.  Sciota defeated the Knights earlier this year for one of their 7 losses.  It should be a great match and the worst either team can do is 4th in 1A volleyball for 2008. Boyd had 6 points and 5 kills, Babb 9 points and 2 kills, Heffernan 2 points, 14 assists, Ellis 2 kills and 2 blocks, Green 5 kills and 2 blocks and Wood played well with 2 points, 3 kills and 3 blocks. They only had 1 service error on the night. Fr the Knights, Birdsell served 5 points and had 5 digs. Jacobs had her usual good match with 9 points, 7 kills and 3 digs. Allen had 2 points and 3 digs while Bergerud added 3 points, 6 kills, 6 blocks. Stribling continued to play well with 3 points, 1 kill, 3 digs and 24 assists. Honkala had 8 kills and 2 blocks. Jokisch contributed 1 point, 4 kills, including the game winner, 2 blocks and 1 assist. The Knights had 2 service errors in the win and played solid volleyball in a hostile environment. The Lady Cardinals had a large crowd behind them, but the black and yellow of AC/Virginia was large as well and the fans wanted to be with the team as they continue to make history. They will take a 33-7 record to Normal and Redbird Arena where they will try to win the state title.   
11/8/08 The Triopia Trojan football team defeated Arcola 46-0 and will take on Tuscola next Saturday.  The Warriors won their game 21-7 over Mt. Olive.  Arcola had trouble moving the ball with consistency today and ended up with 108 yards of offense. They had 53 yards of rushing as their lead carrier, Beau Fishel had 22 carries for 55 yards.  VanGundy was 8 of 17 passing for 55 yards. They will end their season with a record of 7 wins and 4 losses. Triopia was led in rushing by Arendt with 178 yards on 14 carries.  He scored from 13, 36 and 63 yards.  Phelps carried 9 for 49 with touchdown runs of 1 yard and 4 yards.  Dinsmore went around end for a 45 yard TD and he carried 3 times for 98 yards.  Phelps was 3-3 through the air for 48 yards. Kerr caught 1 pass for 24 yards and Fricke also had a 16 yard catch. The Trojans converted on 5 (2 point) extra point tries.  Triopia had 398 yards on the ground and 48 through the air as they got their offense in gear after a slow start and couple of fumbles. It was a relatively clean game with the exception of a couple of un-sportsman like penalties.  With the win, Triopia moved to 11-0 on the year and will try to get a little revenge at Tuscola on Saturday.  It will be a tough game but the Trojans have got what it takes to get the job done. It should be a great game and real test for both teams.      
11/6/08 AC-Virginia volleyball made history tonight as they won their first sectional and will move on to Warrensburg-Latham on Saturday night in super-sectional action against the host school. Warrensburg defeated Moweaqua Central A & M 25-12, 25-14 in Tuscola tonight.  The Camp Point Central Panthers got off to a slow start tonight and the Knights, who wee sharp, took them in two 25-12, 25-17.  Kayla Moore had 6 points and 6 assists while Jennings recorded 3 kills and 3 assists.  Miller served 2 points with 3 kills and March came on late with 5 points and 2 kills. The Panthers ended their season with a 22-13 record.  As for the Knights, they improved to 32-7 behind some good play and numbers.  Birdsell did a solid job as libero and served 2 points. Jacobs had 8 kills and Allen had 6 points and 3 kills.  Bergerud added 9 points as well as 6 kills and 2 blocks.  Stribling served 12 points, had 2 kills and 18 assists in the win. Jokisch had 1 kill and 1 block while Honkala was strong at the net with 2 kills and 8 blocks.  It was a good win as AC-Virginia put the pressure on from the beginning and only had a couple of points in the game where they showed a lack of concentration. The crowd for both teams were supportive and well behaved and it was a fun night of volleyball.  We will be at Warrensburg with a 6:40 start on Saturday.     
11/4/08 The host school, AC-Virginia Knights will move on to the title game on Thursday against the Camp Point Central Panthers at 7:00 to determine who plays in the supers in Warrensburg on Saturday night.  The Knights won 25-23 in a hard fought first game over Routt Catholic and lived off of Rocket mistakes in game two to win it 25-17.  Routt ended their season with 29 wins and 9 losses and the Knights improved to 31-7 with the win. Katie Lindsey led the Rockets with 12 kills, 5 points and 2 blocks and fry had 16 assists. White and Morgan Eilering each recorded 5 kills while Eilering added 3 blocks and White 1. Fitzgerald had 3 points and 2 assists and Routt only had 1 service error on the night. They just didn't play well at crunch time and AC took advantage of the situation. Bergerud was strong with 10 kills, 6 points and 4 blocks. Jacobs added 5 points and 5 kills, while Birdsell served up 5 points. Allen contributed 4 points and 3 kills and Honkala had a good net game with 4 kills and 2 blocks. Stribling served 2 points, had 4 kills and 18 assists as she went about her business in steady fashion. 

In the night cap it was a fun match with CPC winning the opener 25-21 after the Big Red made a late surge.  The second game went to 33-31 before March put away the game winner. Girard is a scrappy team, led by LeGrand's 11 points, 6 kills and 1 block. Sloman had 6 blocks,  Roller 7 and Ryan 3 as Girard made it hard to score.  Dunn served 5 points and had a kill of her own. Fouts played a nice match with 4 points, 1 kill, 2 blocks and 18 assists. The Big Red finished heir season with 27 wins and 8 losses. The Panthers have an interesting team with several players who can step up when necessary. Katelyn Moore served 8 points and recorded 18 assists. Kestner did a nice job of libaro work and Jennings put 3 kills, 3 blocks and 2 assists on the books. Kristen Moore killed 6 and blocked 1 and made herself well known at the net. Miller had 2 points and 8 kills and Heimann served 8, killed 6 and blocked 3.  March had numerous digs in the back row, added 4 points and had 5 kills, including the game winner. It was a seesaw battle from 24-24 until the end of 33-31 and was tied at 26, 28, 30 and 31. It was a great semi-final match.  The only downside was the radio broadcast was interrupted by a dropped cell phone call.  According to A T & T, it was caused by too many trying to call out of the gym at the same time and over-loaded the system.  Good luck on title night as it may get worse.  These are good teams and we expect a hard fought win.  Whoever wins, will face the winner of the Tuscola sectional in the last match prior to Redbird Arena.  

11/1/08 In the IHSA Class 1A Football Playoffs, in the lower bracket, Triopia defeated Hardin-Calhoun 20-6 and Arcola got past Carrollton 21-16, so Arcola will travel to Triopia to play the Trojans next Saturday at 2:00 pm.  Mt. Olive was a big winner over Astoria (South Fulton Co-op) 36-14 and Tuscola defeated Routt Catholic 31-12 and that means Mt. Olive will travel to the Warriors for their meeting.  Villa Grove improved to 10-0 with their 41-21 win over Arthur-Lovington and the Pawnee Indians won at Brown County 20-0 and those winner will play in Pawnee in the next round.  The final games of the lower bracket had Sidell (Jamaica) South Fork Co-op handing Cerro-Gordo a 50-31 loss and they will host the Greenfield Tigers who dropped Virden 15-14 in their meeting. In the Triopia game, Phelps rushed for 20, threw for 10 and scored twice in the game.  Arendt rushed for 74 yards, Chute 12, Nordsiek 39 and Dinsmore 24 while Kleinschmidt carried for 63 yards and a 41 yard touchdown run. Baalman led the Warriors with 27 yards and Lammy scored the lone touchdown.  In the Pawnee-Brown County game, the Hornets had trouble with the offense and ended up with 177 yards on the day and 0 points. They missed a field goal, had a bad snap on another and fumbled twice in the loss. Warrd had 59 yards and Cross 46. The Indians were led by Benitone's 63 yards and 3 touchdowns.  Reynolds added 43, Thompson 2 yards, Donahue 86 and Pearce with 80 yards.  Pawnee runs a very tight offensive line and Benitone (225 lbs) was hard to get a hand on and get to the ground.  This was an entertaining, hard fought ground game with some good hitting.  

In the Regional Championship games in volleyball, Routt defeated West Central 25-16, 25-18 at the Meredosia-Chambersburg site and will face AC/Virginia who beat Illini Central 26-24, 15-25, 25-18 at the New Berlin Regional.. They will play the first game on Tuesday at the AC Sectional.  In game two, it will feature Girard who upset Greenfield (at Virden) 25-16, 18-25, 25-16 taking on Camp Point Central who beat Liberty at Liberty 22-25, 25-14, 26-24.  The two winners will play for the title on Thursday at 7:00 pm.  We will carry both days on 101.3 WVIL.  The winner of the AC Sectional will face the winner of the Tuscola Sectional at Warrensburg Latham on Saturday November 8th at 7:00 pm.  Routt played a solid game and they were intense throughout, which has not always been the case.  Fitzgerald served 7 point, Lindsey 5, Eilering (Morgan) 5, Fry 4 and Drake 3.  Vortman led the Cougars with 6 points.  In kills, Bailey Eilering had 3, Lindsey 5, M. Eilering 9, Fry 2, White 8 and Drake 1.  Vortman 2, White 5, Kirbach 4 and Anslyn 2 led West Central. Fry led Routt with 17 assists and Fisher led the Cougars with 8. The Rockets will take a 29-8 record to AC to face the 30-7 Knights. We don't have CPC's record or the record for the Big Red.  

10/30/08 Day two of the Meredosia-Chambersburg Volleyball Regional had no surprises and West Central will move on to take on the #1 seed, Routt Catholic Lady Rockets.  The Championship game will be Saturday night at 7:00 pm.  In game one this evening, the Cougars easily defeated ISD 25-7, 25-10 as the Tigers were just no match.  In the second game, Griggsville-Perry had some trouble with Triopia but bet them in two games, 25-16, 25-17 and ended the Trojans season. Triopia had some good volleys, but they didn't have enough fire power t the net to stop the Tornadoes and finished their season with a record of 3-25. They lose 3 seniors so will come back next season with a veteran squad.  They played tonight without one of their floor leaders, Rachel Carls.

In the semi-final match up, it was West Central 24-11 and the #2 seed facing Griggsville-Perry 18-10, the #3 seed.  The Tornades started out well but just couldn't keep the pressure on and lost 25-20 as Vortman served out with the final 5 points.  In the second game, Griggsville-Perry got 21 points but came up a little short.  Whitaker had 3 points, 6 kills and 1 block.  Emrick added 5 points and 2 kills. Freeman was active with 4 points and 15 assists.  DeSpain put 2 points, 3 kills and 1 assist on the books, while Katie Sharrow recorded 6 points, 3 kills and 1 assist and Kelsey Sharrow ended her high school volleyball career wih 4 points and 4 kills.  Fisher was strong for the Cougars with 9 points and 17 assists. Todd had 2 points, McLaughlin 4 points and 3 kills, Anslyn 3 kills, Vortman 6 points and 3 kills as Kirbach had 3 points, 5 kills and 2 blocks.  White had a good evening with 1 point, 10 kills and 2 blocks.  Routt split with West Central, the first time they met this season, then the Cougars defeated Routt in two and the Rockets came back to knock of West Central in two. Basically that tells you that when the two meet, Saturday night on a neutral court, it is anybody's guess as to how it will turn out. The winner will get the regional title and the right to play the winner of the New Berlin Regional.  Game day for the next round is the 4th at AC High School. AC/Virginia will be the title game at New Berlin, Liberty upset Augusta Southeastern and will be in the championship match at Liberty and Greenfield faces Girard for the Virden title.         

10/29/08 Pleasant Hill knocked off Meredosia-Chambersburg 25-7, 14-25, 25-17 but it wasn't easy.  The Indians fought back in game two and finished their season strongly.  Hopper had 8 points, 5 kills and 2 blocks. Large had 3 service points and 6 assists while Chute added 5 points and 5 assists.  Erica Martin contributed 3 points and 2 kills while Abby Martin had 3 points, 4 kills, 1 block and 1 assist.  Meredosia-Chambersburg finished their season with 3 wins and 19 losses. P-Hill earned the right to play Routt by winning game one easily, then stumbled in game two and made a nice recovery in the tie-breaker. Madison Black led the way with 7 points, 9 kills, 2 blocks and 1 assist. Macy Black also played well with 2 points, 11 kills and 3 blocks. Edwards was solid from the service line (12 points) and had 1 kill with 22 assists. Clowers adder 5 kills and Rouse recorded 8 points. Damon had 1 point, 2 kills, 3 blocks and 1 assist. The Wolves improved to 12-15 with the win.

In match two, Routt started slowly and had to work to win the first game 25-17 and game two they led from the beginning to win 25-18.  The Wolves ended their season 12-16 as Damon had 4 points, 2 kills and 2 blocks.  Madison Black had 4 points and 2 kills and Macy Black finished with 5 kills and Clowers added 5 kills and 1 point.  Edwards was solid with 11 assists and 1 point. Routt was led by Morgan Eilering with 7 points, 7 kills and 7 blocks. Erika White had 2 points, 8 kills, 1 block and 8 assists. Lonergan had 3 kills, 1 block and 1 assist and Drake continued to serve well with 5 points. Fitzgerald added 3 points and an assist while Bailey Eilering ended with 3 kills and a block. Redd had 4 points and Fry had 5 points, 1 kill and 12 assists. Lindsay had a sore back and played very little as Routt improved to 28-8 and will play for the regional title on Saturday night.     

10/24/08 Triopia played well tonight as they knocked off Hardin-Calhoun in football 45-0.  The win kept the Trojans undefeated as they improved to 9-0 and the Warriors fell to 5-4.  Arendt led the way with 178 yards and 3 touchdowns which gives him 21 on the year. Chute carried 7 times for 68 yards and 2 touchdowns and Dinsmore was 6 for 61 with a 41 yard scoring run.  The Trojans converted on four 2 point plays and kicked one out of two with one being blocked.  Phelps carried 10 times for 34 yards, Nordsiek 4 times for 20 yards and Meyer had one carry for 0 yards. Phelps was 1 for 4 in passing for 29 yards.  Triopia had 3 penalties for 22 yards and fumbled 5 times while losing 2. Kerr caught the 1 pass.  David Baalman led the Warriors with 35 yards as Hager added 24, Bushnell 23, Hazlewonder 5 and Lammy minus 1.  Baalman was 6 for 12 with 1 interception as Kleinschmidt picked him off late in the game. They fumbled twice and lost them both. They rushed 35 times for 86 yards and had 28 yards through the air. Their only penalty was for 10 yards. Dan Long caught 2 for 10 yards, Hagen 2 for 10 yards and Hazelwonder 2 for 8 yards.  Hardin-Calhoun is hoping to make the play offs with their 5-4 record and could possibly face the Trojans in the first round.  If Virginia upset Carrollton tonight, then the Hawks may be the Triopia foe in the opening round.    
10/23/08 It was an important high school volleyball game tonight at Routt Catholic between the Rockets and the visiting Cougars from West Central.  It was not a well played match with numerous errors on both sides and the Rockets prevailed 25-22, 25-16 to improve to24-6 (8-2).  West Central fell to 21-11 and this may not be the last time they see each other this year.  If they survive to the championship game of the Meredosia-Chambersburg regional, they will play on Nov. 1 at 7:00 pm.  Routt had 10 service errors this evening and several service return errors.  The Cougars had 6 service errors and an extraordinary high number of service errors. Part of it was senior night and part of it was familiarity of the two opponents.  Fisher had 2 points, 1 kill and 10 assists while McLaughlin added 6 points and a kill. Kirbach had a nice defensive night with 4 blocks, 2 kills and a point. White tallied 2 points, 3 kills and 2 blocks. Redd served 4 points, Bailey Eilering had a point and 2 kills and Erika White had 4 kills and 3 assists.  Morgan Eilering served 1 point, killed 4 and blocked 1 while Fry killed 3 and counted 14 assists. Fitzgerald had another nice night of serving with 10 points, 1 kill and 1 assist. Drake had 2 points and Stice 1.  Lindsey led the way again with 12 points and 6 kills and had several digs. Routt will play at QND this week end and play next week in the regional as will West Central. There is no such thing as a bad win, so while it wasn't pretty to watch it was an important night of volleyball for both teams.  
10/21/08 If you like high school volleyball, you needed to be at AC High School where the Knights took on the Routt Rockets.  It was senior night and the WIVC championship was on the line. The match was championship style and you knew whoever made the fewest mistakes would be the winner.  It turned out the more consistent of the two teams, all year long, prevailed tonight as the Knights won 25-17, 19-25, 25-18 . They had the help of three service errors in a row for Routt late in game three. In a tough match you simply can't give away points and three in a row was a little more than the Rocket defense could handle.  The Knights were not without their share of miscues and service errors(8) but they deserve the title. Stribling had 4 points, 3 kills and 30 assist tonight as Jacobs added 13 kills and 5 service points. Bergerud had 2 points, 5 kills and 2 blocks while Birdsell had 9 points and numerous digs from back court. Allen tossed in 4 points and 1 kill and Honkala was good at the net with 6 kills and 4 blocks. Jokisch started strong and compiled 1 point, 6 kills and a block. For the Rockets, they were led in kills by Lindsey with 10 and she also had 2 blocks. Drake led the points with 11, as Fitzgerald added 7.  Fry had 5 of her own with a kill, a block and 23 assists. Bailey Eilering had 3 kills and 3 blocks and Morgan Eilering counted 1 point, 1 kill and 5 blocks. Meado had a kill and a block and Erika White tallied 6 kills and 1 assist.  Redd did her usual good job of digging the ball and she served 2 points. Routt had 7 service errors but none bigger than the late 3 at crunch time. The Knights are 25-4 (8-0) and Routt will take a 23-6 (7-2) record into their senior night Thursday against West Central. With the regional coming up, it is important that Routt take care of the Cougars or they will give them a psychological advantage next week in what could be a regional title match. West Central has take the last three games from Routt, so it should be a fun night of volleyball from the Routtdome.     
10/20/08 Routt volleyball got exactly what they were looking for with a great effort against a quality Hartsburg-Emden team. The Stags are young (2 seniors) but they are athletic and talented and will have a couple of very good years coming up. Ubbenga had 4 points, 9 kills, 4 blocks and 1 assist.  Langley recorded 4 points, 1 kill and 20 assists. Boundy had 4 points, 3 kills and 1 assist, Alissa Hoerbert 4 points, Johnson 5 points and a number of nice digs. Rankin (Fr) added 5 kills, Parke 5 kills and K. Hoerbert 2 points.  Hartem fell to 7-16 but this is a very good team for that record.  The Rockets have a big match coming up tomorrow night as they play the AC/jVirginia Knights for a piece of the WIVC crown.  They finished well tonight as Morgan Eilering had 4 points, 8 kills and 10 blocks. Bailey Eilering had 5 kills, Fry 5 points, 2 kills, 1 block and 21 assists.  Fitzgerald recorded 6 points, Drake 5 points, Lindsey 8 points, 7 kills and 2 assists. Erike White had a solid game with 2 points, 9 kills, 2 blocks and 4 assists.  Routt played well as a unit tonight and had contributions from several players as they cut down on the mistakes. After they play AC/jVirginia tomorrow, they have West Central (who has beaten them 3 games in a row) on Thursday and will likely face the Cougars in the title game of the Meredosia-Chambersburg Regional in the near future.  They also will play at QND over the week end, so it is crunch time if the Rockets want to make a good post-season run.  Routt's JV squad also won 26-24, 26-24.  The varsity score was 20-25, 25-20, 25-18 in a well deserved win for the Rockets. 
10/18/08 Routt Catholic, West Central, New Berlin and Northwestern made up pool A at the Waverly Volleyball Tournament for 2008. Routt won the pool play with a 5-1 record, West Central was 2nd with a 5-1 record (Routt had 48 points in head to head and the Cougars 43), New Berlng was 2-6 and Northwestern 0-6.  Greenfield was 5-1 in pool B, Pleasant Plains was 4-2, Franklin-Waverly 3-3 and Springfield Calvary 0-6.  Franklin-Waverly won the consolation championship match over Calvary.  In the championship round, it was Routt over Pleasant Plains 25-9, 25-18.  West Central defeated Greenfield 26-24, 32-30.  Pleasant Plains took 3rd place in the tournament with a 25-22, 25-23 win over Greenfield who finished 4th.  In the title game, the West Central Cougar was more consistent than Routt and defeated the Rockets 25-23, 25-21.  The All Tournament team was Kaci Keltner of Franklin-Waverly, Kelsie Dearing of Pleasant Plains, Leah Pembrook and Olivia Walker from Greenfield, Kali Fry and Katie Lindsey of Routt Catholic,  Tomi White and MCkea Fischer of West Central. Players who stood out but didn't make the All Tournament team were Morgan Eilering and Erika White of Routt Kate Mansfield of Greenfield, Claire Maskey of Pleasant Plains and Hannah Vortman of West Central. They were instrumental in the success of their respective teams and need to be recognized.  
10/17/08 White Hall  North Greene got off to a great start tonight with a 7-0 lead over the undefeated Triopia Trojans in football. Once they were down 12-7, they came back and scored again to make it 13-12 and that's the last time they led in the game.  The final score was 56-19 and the Trojans improved to 8-0 and the Spartans fell to 2-6. This is a pretty good 2-6 team. Willeford was 13-19 for 163 yards and 1 touchdown. He also ran 11 times for minus 1 yard. McGee caught 5 passes for 117 yards, White 4 for 37, Meyer 3 for 12 and Willeford caught 1 from Hull for 7 yards. The Spartans rushed 26 times for 43 yards. Caristi scored from 11 yards out and recovered a fumble that he ran in from 67 yards out.  They also fumbled once and lost it and were penalized 8 times for 74 yards.  Triopia got off to a slow start, then picked up steam.  The play of the night was an 85 yard kick off return by Dinsmore.  He also rushed 12 times for 66 yards. Arendt had a good game with 125 yards on 11 carries as he scored 2 touchdowns and 2 extra points. Nordsiek rushed 7 times for 74 yards and a score. Chute had his best night of the year with 101 yards on 7 caries and he also scored a touchdown. Phelps rushed for 33 yards and a score and threw for 2 touchdowns. Dinsmore also had one interception on the evening. The Trojans fumbled 3 times and lost them all. They were also penalized 8 times for 85 yards.  They had 450 yards of offense and White Hall North Greene ended up with 216. Next up for Triopia is Hardin-Calhoun on senior night at Don Kemp Field on the 24th.  Then it is off to the play offs as they will host a first round game.  
10/16/08 It was Volley for the Cure night at Beardstown as the Tigers played host to the Triopia Trojans.  It wasn't much of a fight tonight as the Trojans were not on top of their game and were defeated 25-8, 25-14.  The Trojans didn't have Rachel Carls in the starting line up due to a finger injury. Reither had 1 point and 1 assist.  Welch added 1 point, 1 kill, 1 block and 1 assist. Clayton started tonight and had 1 kill and 1 assist and Joehl recorded 2 points and 1 kill. Rahe blocked 2 at the net and had some nice digs defensively.  Meghan Carls contributed 1 point and 1 block. Triopia had 3 service errors in the first game and 4 more in the 2nd game. Beardstown was in charge from the beginning and the only real negative part of their night was 8 service errors. Kuhlman had a kill, Riddle 3 kills, Young 2 kills and a block. Thurman added 2 kills and a block.  Bottens served a point and had 1 assist.  Paige Meyer had 4 points and 18 assists while Bennett had 1 point, 9 kills and 3 blocks as she owned the net.  With the win, the Tigers improved to 11-8. The Beardstown JV also won 25-21, 25-11.  
10/14/08 AC/Virginia volleyball was too strong tonight for the visiting Pleasant Plains Cardinals. Plains was playing without one of their senior leaders, Kelsie Dearing but the fundamental play and lack of mistakes by the Knights put a lot of pressure on the young cardinals and the end result was 25-13, 25-11 as AC/Virginia improved to 23-4 on the season. Maskey led the Cardinals with 3 points, 1 kill, 1 block and 1 assists.  Anderson had 2 kills, a block and an assist while Yakel, Steindl and Bruce all added a kill. The Cardinals had 2 service errors in the opener and 2 more in game two.  Jacobs was strong tonight with 10 points, 7 kills and a block. Bergerud added 3 points, 6 kills and a game high 6 blocks. Birdsell counted 6 points, Allem 3 points and 5 kills and Honkala contributed 2 kills and 4 blocks. This was one of the better net games we have seen from the Knights this year. Stribling was her usual good setter with 21 assists, 3 points and 1 kill. Anna Herzberger came off of the bench with a kill. Two service errors in game 1 and one more in the second game was all AC/Virginia committed tonight and that is also an improvement. The Cardinals fell to 12-14 with he loss. The Plains JV won 20-25, 25-19, 25-13 in a very good match to watch. We will see Plains again this week end as they play in the tough Waverly Tournament.   
10/13/08 Routt Catholic volleyball improved to 17-4 with a 2 game match win over Brown County 25-12, 25-14 this evening. The Hornets fell to 6-13 with the loss and never did get into the flow of the game this evening.  They had too many unforced errors and service errors and never seriously challenged the Rockets. Babb led the way with 2 points, 4 kills and 1 block. Sam Kassing had 7 assists but she committed 3 service errors to give points back. Bick recorded 2 service points and Lipcaman had 2 kills. For the Rockets, they were led by Lindsey with 9 points, 3 kills and 1 block. Morgan Eilering had 5 points, 3 kills and 2 blocks also while Bailey Eilering had 1 pont, 1 kill and 1 assist.  Fry played well with 2 points, 2 kills and 9 assists. Fitzgerald added 4 points, Drake 1, Stice 2 and Erika White put in 2 points and 2 kills.  We also saw Lonergan add a kill as well as Meado.  The only down side was 7 service errors on the Rockets.  The JV won 25-11, 25-10 for Routt as the continue to roll along.  Our next Rocket broadcast will be Wednesday at Hardin-Calhoun.  
10/11/08 Routt Catholic shocked West Central with an 82 yard kick off return by Nick Rossi to start the game. 7-0 Rockets with 14 seconds gone. Ludvigsen intercepted a Hoots pass and returned it to the 8 yard line and Tonry scored on the next play to make it 13 to nothing.  Kyle Schone recovered a fumble and Denney hit from 1 yard out to make it 19-0 at the end of the first quarter. On the day, Denney had 119 yards and scoring runs of 1 yard, 11 yards and 18 yards.  Tonry had an 8 yd, 56 yd, 32 yd score from scrimmage and a 75 yard kick off return for a score. He had 207 all purpose yards on the day. Cosgriff had several nice tackles and intercepted a pass.  Rossi accumulated 57 yards including a 21 yard touchdown run. Shade added 10, Pratt 9 and Doyle ended up with minus 2 yards and a fumble as he filled in at the quarterback position. Jefferson led the Cougars with 173 all purpose yards including a 50 yard run from scrimmage and a 54 yard pass completion for a score from Hoots.  He had one 2 point conversion and Hoots had the other.  Hoots finished with minus 16 yards, Buhlig 21 yards, Boehs 11 yards, Weder 5 yards and Crockett caught a pass for 11 yards.  Brandon Bettis recovered a fumble on the defensive side of the ball. Heineman played as he is recovering from shoulder surgery and he only threw a short conversion attempt pass and he tossed one about 30 yards, incomplete to Ludvigsen.  Routt is 6-1 with games with Carrollton and Bunker Hill left on their regular season schedule.   
10/10/08 Tonight's high school football game between Brown County and Virginia was what we expected it to be.  Hard fought defensively, the two teams had a hard times moving the ball on a regular basis except for one extended drive by the Hornets.  The final score was 24-17 as Brown County improved to 5-2 and the play off hopes for the Redbirds came to an end.  The Redbirds scored first in the game with an interception by Kilby and a scamper to the corner of the end zone. The long drive by Brown County came on the ensuing kick off as they went 53 yards in 11 plays and Ward ran it in from 2 yards out.  The half time ended on a 21 yard field goal by Henricks and 10-7 score.  Brown County fumbled early in the third quarter on their own 7 yard line and Kilby caught a 5 yard pass from Rupple to take the 14-10 lead as VanBrookers kick was good on both touchdowns. The Redbirds recovered a Ward fumble after a 51 yard reception, then had to punt the ball from the end zone. The snap was low and Evin Lowe had to run it out and only made it to the 4 yard line. The Hornets punched it in on 3 plays was Ward scored again.  Then Stuber recovered another Redbird fumble and a 6 play 28 yard drive resulted in another Ward 4 yard touchdown.  The final score of the game came on a 22 yard VanBrooker field goal, then the Hornets ran out the final 5:33 of the game. The night belonged to Jacob Ward with 216 yards rushing and 3 score. Brown County ended the game with 340 yards, 5 lost fumbles, 1-6 passing with an interception and 6 penalties for 45 yards.  Taylor carried for 13 yards, Cross for 87 and Bradbury 3.  The Redbirds had 60 yards of offense with 92 passing and minus 32 rushing. They fumbled 5 times and lost 2 and were 5-14 through the air. They had 6 penalties for 65 yards. Devlin led the way with 3 catches for 61 yards.  It was a good defensive game with both teams taking advantage of turnovers. It was a hard hitting WIVC match up as we end the north division play.   
10/9/08 It wasn't surprising that Greenfield came to Triopia and left with the win as they improved to 16-3 (6-1) on the year.  The final score of the match was 25-11, 25-20 and the inconsistency of the Trojans didn't help them.  They had some good moments but the Tigers just hit with too much consistency and gradually pulled away in both games. Reither had 5 points, 1 kill and 2 assists. Welch added 5 points and 3 kills and Joehl served 7 ponts with 3 aces. Rahe had a block and 2 points and a block while Meghan Carls was able to serve 2 points. 2 kills and 1 assists. Rachel Carls recorded 5 points with 2 kills and 4 assists.  The Trojans also had 5 service errors.  The winning Tigers got contributions from several players. Leah Pembrook 4 points and 3 kills. Plogger 7 service points and 1 assist.  Mansfield 7 points and 2 kills, Bailey 6 points and 2 kills, Williams 15 points and 6 assists, Emily Pembrook 3 points and 4 assist. M. Plogger 4 assists, while Koehne 4 points and 1 kill and Walker, with limited playing time, had 2 points and 1 kill.  The Tigers had 6 service errors. They are the #1 seed at the Virden regional. Routt is #1 at Meredosia Chambersurg and AC/Virginia is the top seed at New Berlin. We will start at the Meredosia-Chambersburg regional and go from there to the AC/Virginia sectional.      
10/7/08 The Routt Rockets volleyball team improved to 16-4 at the expense of the Spartans of White Hall North Greene 25-10, 25-21.  Morgan Eilering has been stepping up her game recently and recorded 4 points, 8 kills while Bailey had 3 points, 3 kills and 1 assists. Fry put 17 assists on the books and Lindsey was on top of her service game with 11 points (3 aces) and 2 kills. White had a well rounded game with 4 points, 1 kill, 1 block and 1 assist and Fitzgerald added 3 kills with an ace.  Cari Drake put 6 straight points with 1 ace into game #2 as she served out. Redd has been steady with the digs and passes but she was also able to serve up 3 points and the Rockets are making strides toward getting ready for the possible conference championship with AC/Virginia and on to post season play.  There is a lot of good volleyball left in the area as the races heat up. Knox had 4 points, 6 kills and 1 assist for the Spartans, Sarah Randall had 4 points, 2 kills and 6 assists.  Crawford had 5 assists, Kessinger 4 kills, 1 block and 1 assist while Spencer served up a couple of points, Elliott had 3 kills and Hull and Price also got in the record book.  Two service errors on each team was impressive as that is a sure way of giving away points.  
10/6/08 AC/Virginia Volleyball dropped Beardstown tonight to improve to 21-4 on the season. They just go about their business in work man like fashion until they get the job done. It is pretty basic when you watch them play and they don't make a lot of mistakes to allow the momentum to switch to their opponent. The Tigers are a good team with some height and a lot of solid athletes, but they (like Greenfield & West Central) don't maintain their pressure and don't make the same good plays time after time that keeps them in the match and the Knights gradually build an insurmountable lead and post the win.  Unofficially, Rawlins had 4 points, 2 kills, 1 block and 3 assists, Thurman 1 block, Rohn 2 points and a block, Meyer3 points and 2 assists and Bennett 1 point, 6 kills and 2 blocks . Beardstown only had 1 service error but they had a lot of receiving errors.  Jacobs was strong with 5 points, 2 aces, 6 kills and 2 assists.  Allen served 7 points had 2 kills and Bergerud contributed 5 points, 4 kills and 2 blocks. As usual, Stribling did a great job of setting and distributing the ball with 8 points, 1 kill and 15 assists. Honkala recorded 2 kills and 1 block while Herzberger came in with 2 kills and Jokisch had 5 points and 2 kills.  There were only 4 service errors for for the Knights and that is a nice improvement.  The AC/Virginia JV won 25-14, 25-17 also as they show the well isn't dry.  
10/4/08 Virginia/AC and West Central went into today's game with 1-4 records and there was very little scoring in the first half as the Redbirds took a 7-0 lead to the locker room.  The 2nd half was an entirely different a story as Virginia/AC went on to win 34-6. West Central got it close at 14-6, but they just couldn't get a sustained offense going and the Birds got away from them. It didn't help that the Cougars threw 3 interceptions and lost 2 of their 3 fumbles.  West Central could only muster 97 yards of offense and gave up 352, so that will get you a loss nearly every time.  Ryan Jefferson led the Cougars with 93 yards on the ground.  The Redbirds changed their offense and it looked pretty good.  They went away from the spread offense and their "I" formation with Young and Jacob Robeson getting the bulk of the carries, they moved the ball.  Robeson is 6' 2" 220 lbs and he has some speed so he is a load to stop.  It will interesting to see him work against the strong line of Brown County next week.  Ruppel scrambled for 60 yards and was 10-12 passing for 115 yards to this is not the same team we saw in 2 previous losses. Kilby had 5 catches for 59 yards and 2 TD's while Robeson rushed for 2 and Young 1.  This may make, what we thought was going to be a good game anyway, Friday's match up intriguing.        
10/4/08 It was a close game and it went 8 innings before it was decided, but St. Agnes defeated Bluffs Jr. High 5-4 in baseball and the BlueJays eventually ended up 4th in the state class 2-A division. That is some good stuff and bodes well for the future for baseball for Bluffs/Winchester.  David Jacob was just more than the Jays could handle as he ended up with a 3-3 day, 3 runs scored, a 2 run home run and 3 stolen bases. It was hard to pitch around him and he scored the winning run so he had quite a day. He had also pitched the Aces to the 1-0 win over Beecher on Friday. St. Agnes only had 5 hits in the game if that will give you an idea as to how much they counted on Jacob. Barnett started the game for Bluffs and went 7 innings, so Berry came in and took the loss.  The Bluejays had 8 hits, 4 runs, 2 errors and they left 5 on base.  They had the lead at 2-0 on an Alex Berry home run and led again at 4-2 when Cory Barnett drove in 2 runs,  but they just couldn't hit the relief pitcher, Mitch Trees who was the game winner. It was a good run by Bluffs and the first time they took home  trophy from state play so they shouldn't feel bad at all. Barnett was 3-4 and Berry 2-4 while Boehs, Devlin and Drew Barnett also picked up a hit. Hickman had a single for the Aces and Vogel had the winning RBI in a well played game by both teams. St. Agnes went on to win the championship, so that is a little consolation for the Jays.  Our Saviour School from Jacksonville won the 1-A title so it was a very good year for our local teams. 
10/3/08 For all practical purposes, Triopia locked up the WIVC North Division title for football tonight as they knocked off a very good defensive minded Brown County Hornet team 12-3.  The Trojans have put up a lot of points this year but, they could only push across 2 touchdowns with no extra points.  Arendt scored on a 7 yard run off the right side and Phelps had a quarterback sneak for 1 yard. The Trojans rushed 42 times for 191 yards and threw 1 time with an interception (Ace Henricks).  Arendt led the way with 133 yards, Nordsiek had 36 tough yards, Phelps 20, Kleinschmidt 12 and Chute caried 5 times for 14 yards.  Triopia fumbled 4 times and didn't lose any of them. The Trojans also had 6 penalties for 65 yards.  Brown County had 27 caries for 66 yards and they had 116 yards through the air with a 9 for 17 effort from Yingling. He threw 3 interceptions (1 for Williams, 2 for Phelps).  The Hornets fumbled 1 time and lost it while they had 5 penalties for 55 yards.  Cross carried for 43 yards, Wared 6 times for 3 yards, Bradbury 7 for 28 yards and Yigling had 3 carries for minus 8 yards.  Stuber had a carry for 0 yards. Ward (45), Wilson (12), Bowen (50) and Shoopman (8) all caught passes.  Brown County's lone score was an impressive 37 yard field goal by Henricks. The Hornets had 3 excellent goal line stands and nearly had 4th.  The hit hard and Triopia had a difficult time sustaining long, time consuming drives.  This was as good as you could expect for a defensive high school football game that you could hope to see.  These two teams are going to the play offs and they are not teams anyone is going to want to face in the early rounds. Both teams should feel good about themselves for post season play.    
10/3/08 Bluffs Junior High went to East Peoria to play in the state baseball tournament for the 2nd year in a row and this time they are coming home with a trophy.  With their 4-2 win over McNabb Putnam County they are assured of at least 4th place and they are hoping to take it all. Cody Ballerino had 2 of the 4 hits for the Pumas, including a 2 run home run in the 4th.  That was all the Pumas could pus across in the game.  Warren had one of the hits and scored a run. The other hit was a single in the 7th by Fay, who was stranded at 3rd. Sam Lucas pitched good game as he gave up 7 hits, 4 runs, striking out 9 and walking 3.  Mathews was the winning pitcher as he threw 7 innings, faced 27 batters, struck out 11 and walked 1.  He allowed 2 runs on 4 hits and went 2 for 3 from the plate with a run scored.  Berry also had 2 hits with 2 RBI's and 1 run scored. Corey Barnett was 1 for 3, Burke 1 for 2 with a run scored and Drew Barnett was 1 for 3 with an RBI.  It was a solid win and the Blue Jays will take on St. Agnes of Springfield tomorrow at 10:00 am.   
10/2/08 Triopia volleyball had their moments tonight but just couldn't sustain the consistency to defeat Griggsville-Perry.  They were beaten 25-17, 25-20 as the Tornadoes improved to 12-5 with the win. Freeman had a nice night setting the ball (14) and Katie Sharrow led the way with 6 kills while Despain and Emrick added 4 each. Whitaker only had 2 kills tonight as she wasn't quite as active as usual. Kelsey Sharrow contributed 9 service points but Hobson led the way with 10. Griggsville-Perry had 6 service errors on the night. Reither had 4 points, 2 kills and 4 assists for Triopia.  Rachel Carls had 3 points, 4 kills, 1 block and 6 assists as she covered a lot of court. Welch counted 5 points, 6 kills and she also had a block.  Megan Carls scored 5 points and had 1 kill as well. The Trojans had 3 service errors in the first game and 2 in the second. They weren't able to hit the ball cleanly on several occasions during the match and that helped lead to their down fall. We will see them at home next week against a good Tiger team from Greenfield, so they will need a nice effort to stay in the match. The Triopia JV did a nice job again tonight and won 25-20, 25-20. 
10/1/08 It was a wonderful night of high school volleyball at the Bowl in Jacksonville as the Crimson won a squeaker 25-27, 25-17, 25-22 over a good Routt Catholic team. A lot of money was raised for the Mia Ware Foundation and breast cancer awareness and the crowd was treated to quality volleyball.  Heise was strong for Jacksonville with 9 service points, 8 kills, 3 blocks and 14 assists. Beets had 9 points as Jackson added 4 points and 10 assists. Fox had 4 kills and 4 blocks while Burgess served 5 points and put down 11 kills. Chatham contributed 7 points, 1 kill, 2 blocks and 2 assist and Grubb threw in 2 kills and 2 blocks.  Lindsey led the Rockets with 3 points, 4 blocks and 22 kills. Fry had 29 assists, 1 kill and 1 block.  Morgan Eilering served 8 points, had 5 kills and 6 blocks as she was strong at the net. Fitzgerald had 7 points, 1 block and 1 kill.  Drake had 4 points and White played well with 2 points, 3 kills, 2 blocks and 4 assists.  Bailey Eilering had 3 points and 2 kills and Redd was strong in the back court with numerous digs and saves and was also able to serve 4 points.  It was fun to watch the match as it was played at a high level and will likely become an annual event.  I, for one, hope so.    
9/30/08 Routt Catholic High School went about their business tonight and kept their concentration as they knocked off the Carrollton Hawks 25-8, 25-16 in volleyball.  They are now 15-3 (4-1) on the year.  With the loss the Hawks fell to 5-10 on the year.  Leseman had a couple of kills for Carrollton while Newingham and Lake had a block each. Scnhelt led in assists with 4 and Meza added 2. Fry did a nice job of setting the ball tonight with 16 and White added 4. Lindsey led in kills with 10, Morgan Eilering 4 and Bailey Eilering 3. Fitzgerald, White and Meado each put down 1 kill.  Morgan and Fitzgerald each had a block. Fitzgerald and Lindsey each had 8 service points.  Alex Worrell came in the game with 3 points late also as everyone contributed in the win.  Routt will face Jacksonville, for the second time this year, as they play the Crimson at the Bowl tomorrow night.  In their first meeting, Jacksonville won 26-24, 26-24 and we expect a similar match as they play in a Volley for Cure evening.  
9/29/08 AC/Virginia volleyball took another step toward the WIVC title tonight as they defeated the visiting Tigers of Greenfield 26-16, 25-19.  It was primarily a difference in consistency and execution on the part of the Knights who won the match. The combination of Jacobs, Bergerud, Jokisch and Honkala with some great digs by Allen, Birdsell and Williams pus the sets of Stribling were just too much for the Tigers to handle. Mansfield had a kill, Leah Pembrook 4 and Walker 4 for Greenfield and Krotz had 5 service points but the sets were inconsistent for the hitters and the momentum of the games was on the side of the Knights. Allen had 4 kills, Jacobs 5, Bergerud 5, Jokisch 4 and Stribling 2 while Stribling dished out 15 assists in the win. Birdsell is quick and had numerous digs for AC/Virginia as they play good team ball. Once again they had too many service errors for my comfort, but this is the still the most consistent team I have seen this year and they are going to be hard to handle.  They still have West Central and Routt Catholic to get by if they want solo ownership of the WIVC Crown.   
9/26/08 The #6 and #8 teams in class 1A football for Illinois got together tonight to play football in Jacksonville.  You knew it was going to be a game of big plays (Routt) vs clock control and long drives (Triopia) and the Trojans came away with a 26-7 win. Routt hit first with a 40 yard touchdown pass from Heineman to Ludvigsen, then Denney kicked the extra point and the Rockets led 7-0 at the end of the 1st quarter.  A 7 min, 13 second drive for Triopia in the 2nd quarter, (Arendt touchdown and 2 point conversion) and a late interception by Mark Williams gave the Trojans the half time lead of 8-7.  Triopia got the 2nd half kick off and held the ball for 8 minues 40 seconds and scored a touchdown on a Phelps fumble into the end zone.  It was covered by either Kerr or Fricke for the score.  On the kick off, the Rockets didn't cover the ball and Tim Wise recovered it for Triopia and the Trojans put 6 more points on the board on a Phelps 1 yard dive. The score was set up by an 18 yard run by Chute.  The final score of the game came on a 6 yard run off of the left side by Arendt and his 2 point conversion.  Routt had trouble on the ground with 15 carries for minus 14 yards.  That forced them to pass and they did a pretty good job of it.  They completed 8 passes for 114 yards as Ludvigsen had 2 for 56, Yording 4 for 39, Hungerford 1 for 16 and Tonrey 1 for 13.  Fricke had 1 catch for Triopia for 18 yards and Williams had 2 interceptions.  Arendt rushed 35 times for 160 yards, Nordsiek 9 for 30, Kleinschmidt 7 for 14, Phelps 6 for 13 and Chute 3 for 16.  Triopia had 232 yards on the ground and 18 in the air for 250 yards and Routt only had 10 plays in the 2nd half.  The bad number for Triopia was 7 fumbles, which makes 10 in the last 2 games.  They had 8 penalties for 60 yards.  Routt only had 3 penalties for 15 yards as this was a clean football game.  Both teams are play off bound and Triopia will have to get past Brown County in the Trojan homecoming game next Friday and that will give them the WIVC north title. If the Hornets win, we will have a 3-way tie with 3 quality teams. It was a big crowd and a real battle between two of the better teams in Illinois football.    
9/25/08 West Central was home and the favored team to knock off the winless Trojans of Triopia and they got the job done. The first game wasn't much of a contest as the Cougars posted a 25-12 win.  Game two was interesting as West Central made a few mistakes and Triopia played better to make it a25-21 final in favor of the home team. Reither had a good match with 7 service points, 2 kills and 5 assists. For Welch, she had 2 points, 2 kills, 2 blocks and 1 assists and Joehl added 1 point, 4 kills and 1 block. Megan Carls had 2 service errors but, she also had 3 points, 1 kill and 1 block while Rachel Carls contributed 2 points and 3 assists.  Three service errors in the game one and 4 in game two didn't help the Trojan cause. Fisher did a nice job with 4 points, 1 kill and 21 assists tonight as she spread the ball around.  Todd had 2 points, McLaughlin 10 points and 3 assists, Kirbach 4 points and 8 kills, Anslyn 5 kills, Cox and Stone 2 kills each and Vortman served 2 winners and had a kill.  Tomi White led the way with 9 points , 1 block and 13 kills.  The Cougars had 1 service error in the opener and 4 in the second game. The West Central JV won 25-17, 19-25, 25-20. West Central is still in the upper part of the conference and are looking for some help as they hope Greenfield, Routt and AC/Virginia all beat each other.  
9/24/08 Routt started slowly tonight against Bunker Hill in volleyball and lost the opener 25-22.  They picked up some momentum in game two and won 25-17 and closed it out with a 25-19 win. With the win they improved to 13-3 on the year and the Minute Maids  fell to 3-8 with the loss. Brooklyn Hlafka had 8 points, 5 digs, 7 kills and 3 blocks as she led Bunker Hill. Golike had 9 points, 4 digs and 7 assists. Hutson played well with 5 points, 3 digs, 5 kills and 1 block and Smith added 8 points, 1 dig and 1 kill, but the Minute Maids looked like they ran out of steam in game 3. They are an awfully nice team to be 3-8.  For Routt, Redd had 5 points, 6 digs and 1 kill, Morgan Eilering 3 kills and 2 block, Bailey Eilering 4 points, 2 digs, 8 kills, Fry 2 points, 1 dig, 4 kills and 20 assists, while Fitzgerald contributed 16 points (4 aces), 3 digs and 1 assist.  Lindsey played well with 10 points (3 aces), 4 digs, 3 kills and 1 block.  Drake added 5 points while White had 7 kills, 2 blocks and 2 assists.  We have seen Routt play better, but this was a good outing after the slow start and they will take it. This was a tall team they were facing and the Rockets handled themselves well. They hit some smart shots, had some quality digs and the sets were basically pretty good. They are trying to round into shape as they have West Central and AC/Virginia ahead on their schedule. The Routt JV won 25-17, 13-25 and 25-14.    
9/23/08 Tonight's high school volleyball match between Routt Catholic and Triopia was good for both teams.  It was good for the Rockets as they won 25-21, 25-11 to improve to 14-3 on the year.  It was good for the Lady Trojans as this was the best they have played all year and good enough to beat a lesser team. They lead most of the first game and were down badly in game  number two before coming back to make it respectable. Joehl had a good night with 4 service points, 1 kill and 2 assists. More importantly, she had no service errors. Reither had 1 point, 1 kill and 4 assists. Welch added 2 points and 4 kills and did hit one serve out.  Megan Carls had 4 kills and 1 assist and Rachel Carls was very active tonight with digs as she had 3 service points, 2 kills and 3 assists. Triopia fell to 0-14 on the season but, if they play like they did tonight they will win more than one match before the year is done. Routt was steady and just too big and strong for the Trojans to stay with. White had 2 points, 3 kills 1 block and 2 asists. Drake and Fitzgerald each added 2 points. B. Eilering had a point and 3 kills while M. Eilering had 5 ponts, 5 kills and a block.  Fry had a good night with 7 points, 1 block and 20 assists. Lindsey led the way with some solid kills (11) and 9 points. The 9 service errors was the only blemish on a nice night of volleyball for the Rockets. They will take on a tall and strong Bunker Hill team, at home, tomorrow night and it should be a fun match to watch and broadcast. The Rockets still have an outside shot at a piece of the conference title, but they will need a little luck and some help from AC/Virginia, then a victory over the Knights in the last week of the regular season.  It's a long shot, and all Routt can do is their part by winning.  
9/22/08 AC/Virginia had it on cruise control in game one and then lost of their concentration in game two but won rather easily 25-10, 25-21 over the Warriors of Hardin-Calhoun this evening in volleyball.  They are perfect in conference play and have only one loss in the season. Lorton led the Warriors with 2 service points, 6 kills and 4 blocks while Rose added 4 points, Witt 6 points, 1 block and 1 assist. Hardin-Calhoun just couldn't get on any sustained runs and ended the match on a service error. The only down side of the AC/Virginia match is their service errors again. They had 9 tonight and about 8 against Triopia last Thursday, so they need to improve on that area. Jacobs had 13 service points with 5 kills. Allen contributed 4 service points and 4 kills while Bergerud had 7 kills, 1 block and 2 points. Stribling only had one noticeable bad set tonight as she had 16 good ones and 1 point. This is a good volleyball team and we will have some fun with them on Monday as they host the Greenfield Tigers in a "Volley for the Cure" night to help with breast cancer awareness. It will still come down to Routt, Greenfield and AC/Virginia for the title and West Central could play the spoiler for one or more of these teams chances.    
9/20/08 The Rushville Rockets improved to 2-2 on the season with a 35-12 win over the Mendon-Payson Mustangs today in a road game.  The Rockets started off well with a 1st quarter drive that culminated in a 9 play, 68 yard drive and a 1 yard TD by McKelvey.  They hit again at the .38 second mark of the first quarter with a 57 yard cut back run for McKelvey.  Then he struck again with an 11 yard run for score in the 2nd quarter and kicked all three extra points for a 21-0 half time lead.  Briney finished the Rocket scoring with 2 touchdowns in the third quarter and McKelvey stayed perfect with the kicks to make it 35-0. The Mustangs scored a couple of late touchdowns and missed both 2 point conversions. Vandermaiden scored from 9 yards out and Graff hit Miller for a 3 yard score to end the day. Unity ended the day with only 55 net yards and had a tough time running the ball. They were 10-24 in passing for 106 yards but had minus 51 on the ground. Briney rushed for 36 yards, Benninghoff 74, Smith 78 and McKelvey led the way with 18 carries for 143 yards. The Rockets were 1-3 passing for 5 yards and ended with 342 yards rushing behind their big offensive line. The only down side for Rushville-Industry was the 2 interceptions and 100 yards in penalties.  It was a quality win and the Rockets will face Illini West next week.  They are looking for 5 wins minimum and their 19th straight post season appearance. Second year head coach, Mike Bickerman seems to have this team headed in the right direction.  
9/19/08 Triopia defeated Virginia/A