Christopher plays Steeleville tonight at 6:00 at Crab Orchard

Steve Dunford -franklincounty-news.com

Tonight down at the Crab Orchard regional Christopher will face Steeleville and Sesser-Valier will face the Crab Orchard Trojans.

I have a few things to say first.  First my condolences goes to Robert “Radar” Patton long time Gallatin County coaches family.  He passed away today.

He has ties to Franklin County as current Gallatin County Coach Doug Miller was his assistant for a few years.  Miller started his coaching career at Thompsonville.

Radar’s son Drake was the coach of the Galatia-Thompsonville Lady Cats before going back home to coach at Gallatin Co.  He met head to head with his dad in a few times coaching.

If anyone knows if there has been a trust fund set up for Jack Bullock let me know.  He lost his home  in a fire last Thursday. I use abaselineview.com a lot as a reference to prepare for my stories.  He has graciously let me share links.

Bryce and Jodi Bainter with Hensley Jean.

Here is some happy news.  Steeleville coach Bryce Bainter has a new addition to his family.  His lovely wife Jodi gave birth to an eight pound baby girl, Hensley Jean, at 8:04 this morning at   Momma and the baby are doing well.

I have a soft spot for coaches wives.  They are the back bone of the family.  I have never met Jodi, but we will talk soon if the Bainter’s oblige.

There are several coaches that have very young families.  After the season, I am going to do several feature stories on each family.

Now on to tonight’s games.

Christopher 15-12 faces Steeleville 20-8 at 6:00 p.m. at Dee Ozment gym in Crab Orchard.  Christopher had a little trouble with Z-R in their last Friday night.  Steeleville picked up a nice win against Elverado Monday night in the first round.

The Warriors and the Bearcats have not faced each other this year. The Bearcats are 8-2 against common opponents.  They are 2-1 against Sesser Valier and Chester.  They have beat Trico twice. They also own wins against Webber Township and New Athens.

The Warriors are 4-4 against common opponents.  They beat Trico twice and had wins over Webber Township and New Athens.  They lost to Sesser Valier and Chester three times.

Owen Gross a 6′ 1″ sophomore plays the three spot.  He is more of a third guard and one of the better ones in Southern Illinois.

Dusty Sutton a 5′ 8″ senior plays the point and Andrew Grafton a 5″ 11″ senior is his running mate.  They have some size in the post 6′ 4″ Reid Frediking and 6′ 3″ senior RJ Smith.

They have a very deep bench.  They can bring a couple kids that are 6′ 6″ to give them some additional size.

I am curious how Owen Gross matches up with Jared Curry.  Grafton and Kaleb Pedigo along with Gabe Schimpf could get in a shootout.

The size inside might give Bradley Young a little trouble. He gets a extra amount of adrenaline in a big time game.  Along with Pedigo, he has been on the big stage a lot during his career.

Bryce Pratt  has been “Cool hand Luke” all year.  He does not look like a freshman at all on the court.

I give the edge on the bench to Steeleville. Christopher coach Eric Stallman has been going to his bench a little more.  Senior Zach Snell has played a lot more minutes down the stretch, as well as freshman Gabriel Motsinger and sophomore Dalton Saeger.

This is a game that I can not pick a favorite in.  It will be a good one.  I am looking forward to Richard Blakely telling me about it on WXAN.