Pope County upsets Thompsonville on buzzer beater

November 30, 2016 By Leave a Comment

Pope County upsets Thompsonville on buzzer beater

Steve Dunford –Franklin County Hoops and Gridiron

THOMPSONVILLE-  It was déjà vu all over again last night for the Thompsonville Tigers.  For a team that lost on two buzzer beaters last year, and four overtime losses, they were snake bitten again last night.  Pope County pulled the upset as Matt Davis hit a 35 footer past the volleyball line for the win.  The nice maroon clad contingency that made the long trip up from Golconda went home ecstatic.

After one it was Tyson Kessler 13 Pope County five.  The Tigers came out pressing and it was very effective. Two things changed in the second quarter.  Pirate big man, 6’ 8” center Jake Floyd came into the ball game.  I am unsure why he did not get the start.  Second Pope County Coach Jim Simmons puts a little variation in his 2-1-2 zone.  It had a little more variation to it and it looked like a box in one at times keying on Kessler.  Play was very ragged at the half with the Tigers up 22-15 at the intermission.

The third quarter was not one to say the least for the archive vaults.  Jake Floyd took control of the game on both ends of the floor.  He was dominant on the boards, which he ended up with a game high 15.  The Tigers were ice cold (13/41 32%) and did not attack the zone either.  After three the game was tied up at 26.

In the fourth Jared Payne hits three baseline threes and a lot of free throws were shot for both teams in the meantime to get things all knotted up at 40.  The Tigers the offensive rebound off a missed free throw and airs the ball out until the 1:05 mark when Payne goes to the line and hits two free throws and T’ville goes up 42-40.

The Pirates go down and hit a quick three to go up 43-42.  Payne hits two more free throws to put Thompsonville up 44-43.  Pope gets the ball down deep and the post and misses the shot.  Thompsonville gets the rebound and Corbin Fitch is fouled and goes to the line, hits 1-2 to give Thompsonville a two point lead.

Then the shot that took place that will be most likely on Martin’s moments.  You can watch the video on Franklin County-News’ Facebook page

The Tigers will host the NCOE Friday night at 6:00 p.m. in their homecoming game.  The Tigers defeated the Fighting Cardinals 78-75 last Wednesday night at the Christopher Turkey Tournament.  Pope County travels to Crab Orchard Friday night who were 98-83 winners over NCOE last night.

On a side note Carrier Mills coach Keil Peebles was their with his Wildcats last night scouting.  I heard they played extremely well last week at Vienna.

BOX SCORE:

THOMPSONVILLE (45)  Payne 1 4 5-8 19; Kessler 4 1 6-6 17; Darge 1 0 2-4 4; Wilce 0 1 0-0 3; Rabuach 1 0 0-0 2;  Fitch 0 0 0-0 0 Kirkman 0 0-0 0;Dixon 0 0 0-0 0

POPE COUNTY  (46)  Floyd  6 0 2-5 14;  Eddington 1 0 0-0 8 Fasolo 0 2 1-2 7; Grinder 1 1 0-0 5; Walker 2 0 1-2 5; Davis 0 1 0-0 3; Blankenship 1 0 0-0 2 Campbell 0 0 0-0 0

SCORE BY QUARTERS:

THOMPSONVILLE (2-2)      13   9   4   19-  45

POPE COUNTY (3-3)             5  10  11  20- 46

 

 

 

 

 

 

Filed Under: Sports, Thompsonville High School Sports

Selby helps Johnston City remain undefeated

November 30, 2016 By Leave a Comment

GOREVILLE — Led by sophomore Chase Selby, Johnston City rallied from five points down late in the third quarter to knock off Anna-Jonesboro, 66-56, to remain undefeated along with Benton after Tuesday’s second day of the 5th Annual Goreville Invitational.  Story from The Southern.  THE BOX SCORE FROM LAST NIGHT’S BENTON GAME IS INCLUDED IN THIS LINK

Filed Under: Benton High School Sports, Sports

Morgan Griffith Breaks The FCHS All Time Scoring Record In 81-68 Victory Over H’Burg

November 29, 2016 By Leave a Comment

Click on this link to go to the full story on westfrankfortsports. com. There is some video on the Franklin County News Facebook page. Morgan Griffith made history Tuesday night as she broke the FCHS all time scoring record for both boys and girls basketball as she scored 45 points in the Lady Redbirds 81-68 home victory against Harrisburg. Going into the game, Griffith had 1,990 career points, needing 36 to break Missy Broy’s all time record of 2,025. Griffith broke the record with her 2,026th point coming on a free throw with 4:36 to go in the final quarter. The game was stopped again and the second game ball was presented to her. At this time, in a moving moment, Missy Broy who attended the game came out on the court to congratulate the new all time scoring leader.

Filed Under: Breaking News, High School Sports, West Frankfort High School Sports, West Frankfort News

Franklin County High School Basketball Preview 11/29/16

November 29, 2016 By Leave a Comment

 

Steve Dunford-Franklin County Hoops and Gridiron

I am just going to share something first.  I am not slighting the girl’s game at all.  In the next year or two I will be able to write previews and maybe give a prediction.   I have close contact with nearly every boy’s coach in the BDC West, SIRR Ohio division and the GEC.  From all this, I feel I do not have the knowledge yet to give a preview of girls basketball in the county.

In girl’s action tonight, a very tough Harrisburg team will be traveling to Max Morris Gym to take on the West Frankfort Lady Redbirds; Andy Sloan and his Benton Rangerettes have a SIRR Ohio match up at Herrin tonight;  Sieger Shurtz’s Christopher Lady Bearcats will be on the road at Cobden to face the Lady Appleknockers this evening.  In boys action, I am previewing the Benton Hardin County match up at Goreville and the Pope County vs Thompsonville game this evening.

Benton (1-0) vs. Hardin County (0-1)- Goreville Invitational 5:30 p.m.

Benton’s win over Hamilton County last night was what most people expected.  I was a little surprise that Johnston City beat Hardin County last night, especially the margin of victory.

The Rangers had a balanced attack in the opener.  I expect the same tonight.  Benton will be much quicker than the Cougars.  If Coach Ron Winemiller chooses to press, Hardin County might have difficulty breaking it.  I see the Rangers getting some easy transition buckets tonight.  The Rangers have a much deeper bench, which is the usual case when you play a school three times their size.

Other than Thompsonville, most in the county are not familiar with Hardin County High School.  I am going to give you a little information.  They have an enrollment of 175.  Their school was built in the early 80’s when the county schools consolidated, which is a K-12 facility which is similar to Sesser-Valier.

Their gym seats about 2,500, and that is the reason why they host the 1A sectional frequently.  They play a very tough 1A schedule, playing some much larger Kentucky schools.  Along with this week at Goreville, they play in the Eldorado Holiday Tournament.  Most have them as a top three team in the Greater Egyptian Conference.

I will give the edge to the Cougars on being a little more physical than the Rangers.  This along with their size inside might cause some problems in the post for Benton.   Hardin County plays mainly zone.  Like Derek Oxford they have a 1,000 scorer in Tyler Winters.  If he, along with Cameron Shaw gets hot the Cougars might hang around with the Rangers.

Hardin County will win a lot of games this year.  I was taking to Cougar Coach Rodney Lane a couple weeks ago and said, even if we come out of here 0-5, we are here to prepare us for February.  I am giving the edge to the Rangers by 20 tonight.  They just have too many horses.

POPE COUNTY (2-3) vs. THOMPSONVILLE (2-1)

tville-consolation-champions

The Tigers had a very good week at Christopher.  They almost knocked off a very good Webber Township club, beat NCOE in a thriller, and beat Zeigler-Royalton in the consolation championship game.  As Dick Vitale would say the “Diaper Dandies” played very well, especially PG Tyson Kessler.

The Pirates had a mediocre week at Crab Orchard.  They defeated Dongola and Egyptian, which both will be lucky to have five wins this year.  Elverado thumped them, which does not look good on their résumé.  They had a barnburner though, with a good Joppa ball club.  They also hung around with Crab Orchard longer than I expected.  It seems like they are going to be a Jeckel and Hyde ball club. It is hard to anticipate what kind of team will step off the bus tonight.

This is the conference opener for both teams.  The Tigers have a strong back court.  I am just being blunt, but Pope County struggles at the guard spot.  The transfers from Massac County last year will cause some GEC teams some match up problems with their size, but the Tigers have a lot of size too.  In all three games, the Tiger press was very effective.  I would not be surprised if Tiger coach Pete Gordon comes out pressing and use that 2-3 zone, which was very effective at the end of last season.

I say the Tigers will be 3-1 after tonight with a solid ten point victory.  It would be nice if they could go into the Sesser-Valier Holiday Tournament a couple of games above .500 or more.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Filed Under: Benton High School Sports, Christopher High School Sports, High School Sports, Sports, Thompsonville High School Sports, West Frankfort High School Sports

Benton blows out Hamilton County to open Goreville Invitational

November 29, 2016 By Leave a Comment

The Rangers are 1-0 after defeating Hamilton County 62-32 last night in the opening round of the Goreville Invitational Tournament. Parker Williams had 16 points to lead the Rangers. Austin Wills and Derek Oxford added 15. The Rangers face the Hardin County Cougars tonight at 5:30 at Goreville. They were defeated by Johnston City last night 55-42. Here is a link to last night’s story from The Southern.

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

Sesser-Valier Opens Tonight at DuQuoin Tip-off Classic

November 28, 2016 By Leave a Comment

Sesser Valier will be Very Deep…Open Tonight at DQ Tipoff

Steve Dunford-Franklin County Hoops and Gridiron

The 2016-17 edition of the Sesser-Valier Red Devils will tip it off the season in Anders Gym as they play at 6:00 P.M. in the DuQuoin Tip-off Classic against the Lovejoy Wildcats.  Lovejoy is a tiny village in the Metro East just north of East St. Louis.  Over the years they have had a we will play anyone mentality playing Mt. Vernon, Centrailia, Cairo, and Meridian.  Sesser plays one of the tougher 1A schedules in Southern Illinois, especially if the IHSA keeps the regional-sectional complexes the same.

The only one that graduated from last years squad was 6’ 5” senior Jake Styve.  Coach Shane Garner has four starters from last year returning.  Lukas Gunter a 5’ 11” junior has the potential to be one of the better point guards in the region.  His running mate in the back court will be 6’ 2” senior sharpshooter  Charles Farmer.  In the post will be three year starter 6” 3” senior Jamie Lance.  Preston Launius a 6 ‘3” junior, started at the three spot for the Devils last season.

Coach Garner has several to choose from to be the fifth starter.  Addison Baxter a 6’ 2” senior can pretty well play all five spots on the floor.  A pair of 6’ 1” juniors, Addison Page and Joshua Gunter, played significant varsity minutes last year.  Page mainly played the post last season. Joshua Gunter is very versatile, lightning fast and I noticed during football season he bulked up a lot.  Clayton Smith a 5’ 10” junior will most likely back up Lukas Gunter at the point and calling signals will not be much of a change.  He was one of the better QB’s in the Black Diamond this fall.

I have the Devils slated to finish fourth in the Black Diamond West this year behind Goreville, Chester, and Christopher.  Their record at years end will be much better than the 10-20 mark they posted last year.  Their strength of schedule, especially playing this week at DuQuoin and in the BIT will help them come late February.

TOURNAMENT SCHEDULE FOR THIS WEEK FOR SESSER-VALIER AT the DuQUOIN TIP-OFF

6:00 p.m.        Tonight –Lovejoy (Broadcast on WMIX 94.1FM or wmixsports.com)

6:00 pm.         Friday, 12/2- Cairo

12:30 p.m       Saturday 12/2 –CarmiWhite County (Broadcast on WRUL 97.3FM or wrul.com)

7:30 p.m.        Saturday  12/3 –DuQuoin  (Broadcast on WDQN 1580am or wdqun1580.com

 

 

 

 

 

 

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

Rangers Open Play Tonight at the Goreville Tournament

November 28, 2016 By Leave a Comment

Rangers Open Play Tonight at the Goreville Tournament

Steve Dunford-Franklin County Hoops and Gridiron

The 2016-17 edition of the Benton Rangers will hit the hardwood tonight at 7:00P.M., against the Hamilton County Foxes at the Goreville Invitational Tournament.  The Rangers return three starters from last year’s 26-4 campaign.  They ended their season in the first round of the Class 3A regional against Carbondale.  With an enrollment of 577 they are one of the smallest 3A schools in the state.  They finished second in the Southern Illinois River to River Ohio division to the Carbondale Terriers.

The conference will be loaded again.  Daryl Murphy reloads every year at Murphysboro.  Herrin had a very good week down at the Pyramid Plus going 4-1.  Harrisburg has been bit by the injury bug.  Blake Drue is out for the season with a knee injury.  Two of Massac County’s best scorers last year JT Weber and Noah Farmer did not go out for Basketball.  Kevin Toney has a deep bench and the Redbirds will be much more competitive this year.

Kruz Hayes, Brendan Ritchason and Chase Owens were seniors last year who were main contributors for the Rangers.  Four year starter Derek Oxford will be back for the Rangers.  He has topped the 1,000 point mark for his career.  Also returning is point guard Timmy Henson.  Between time at Thompsonville and Benton he is a four year starter.  Coach Ron Winemiller says you can see him getting some time at other ends of the floor this year.  Also back is 6’ 1”Austin Wills who averaged 11 points a game for the Rangers.

You can expect 6’ 3” Parker Williams to get the call in the starting lineup tonight.  The fifth starter for the Rangers according to Coach Winemiller,  will most likely be either 5’ 10” junior Gehrig Wynn or 5’ 8” Junior Cade Thomas.  Coming off the bench for Benton will be juniors Hamilton Page and Blaine Pankey. This duo had a very successful season in the Benton backfield.  All the juniors mentioned have been a very anticipated group since they played in junior high.  They went 14-1 at the JV level last year.  Coach Winemiller also mentioned 6’ 5” sophomore Brandon Utz getting some time as the years go on.

In tonight’s opener against Hamilton County, the Foxes are coming off of a 4-21 record and they are coached by Jeremy Varner.  Their best player is four year starter Oakley Dial.  Everyone else for HamCo is back and will be much improved from last year.  I expect the Rangers to win by 20 tonight.  The Foxes will play very hard, but do not have the horses to keep up with the Rangers.

Here is the Schedule for the Rangers the rest of the week from Goreville:

Tuesday 11/29 at 5:30 p.m. against Hardin County

Thursday 12/1 at 8:30 p.m. against Anna Jonesboro

Saturday 12/3 at 2:00 p.m. against Johnston City

Saturday 12/3 at 8:30 p.m. against Goreville

Join Jim Muir and Tom Wheeler for all the Ranger games this season on Q106, or streaming on wqrlradio.com.  Tonight’s match up with Hamilton County will be video streamed on FoxesFans.net.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

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

Christopher Falls in Turkey Tourney Championship to Wayne City

November 27, 2016 By Leave a Comment

Christopher Falls in Turkey Tourney Championship to Wayne City

Steve Dunford, Franklin County Hoops and Gridiron

CHRISTOPHER-  I talk to a lot of basketball fans across Southern Illinois .  When it came to the Christopher Turkey Tournament, most of us had penciled in a potential championship game against the Christopher Bearcats and the Waltonville Spartans.  In fact, as a Thompsonville alumnus, I was hoping to draw Wayne City in the first round instead of Webber Township.  For 31 minutes, the Indians flat out outplayed the Bearcats on both ends of the floor in route to a 61-57 victory over the hosts in the 42nd annual Christopher Thanksgiving Tournament.

 

The pace was very slow in the first quarter.  Christopher coach Eric Stallman comes out in a 2-3 zone, which the Bearcats play man-to-man 90 percent of the time.  The Indians had a 7-6 lead with about two minutes to play in the first.  The Bearcats go on a 6-0 run at the end of the quarter to take a 12-7 lead after one.

Wayne City goes on an 8-0 run to take a 15-12 lead at the 6:15 mark at the second quarter.  Christopher coach Eric Stallman calls a time out and the Bearcats come out in a full court press.  Wayne City broke the press but for a few possessions, it forced them to play up tempo which the Bearcats like to play.  Christopher took back the lead for a short while.  In the last three minutes of the quarter the Indians began to bust open the Bearcat zone open by hitting three very deep three pointers.  At the intermission Wayne City has a 22-18 lead

The Bearcats come out of the locker room going back to playing man-to-man.  They also came out of the locker room flat.  There were several unforced turnovers and the lid was on the bucket.  To put it bluntly the Bearcats just looked out of sync. Wayne City extended the lead to nine on several occasions.  In the closing seconds of the quarter Kaelab Pedigo hits a three to cut the Wayne City lead to 34-28.

The fourth quarter became very rough.  Both sides of the gym became very vocal with the boo birds coming out.  When the officials tried to establish control, it was tool late.  When Wayne City was pulling away Pedigo would come up with something big, as he had 15 on the quarter.  The Indians kept pounding the ball into 6’ 4” center Chad Dickey who had 14 on the quarter.  It was looking like Wayne City was going to blow the game wide open when the Bearcats were storming back in the closing seconds.  They could not get the lead under three as Wayne City takes the title with the 61-57 victory

Pedigo had a game high 26 points for the Bearcats.  Bradley Young added 12 on the night with seven rebounds.  Jarred Curry chipped in 10 and led the Bearcats with six assists.  There are some little things that does not show up in the box score from time to time.  Zach Snell had four rebounds and an assist in the fourth quarter

For Wayne City Eric Green had a game high 22,  Dickey added sixteen, Jordan Greenwalt added 10 for the Indians.

The Bearcats won the cheerleading title.  The All Tournament Team was the following:  Kaleab Pedigo was named MVP with Bradley Young and Jared Curry from Christopher;  Chad Dickey and Eric Green From Wayne City; Charles Neal and Jaxon Helm from Webber Township;  Isaac McPhail and Zane Wilson from Waltonville and Matt Long from NCOE.

In other action of the evening Webber Township took third place with a 58-55 win over Waltonville.  Thompsonville won the consolation bracket with a 51-38 win over Zeigler-Royalton.  NCOE won the 7th place game with a 77-49 win over the Hamilton County JV squad.

The Hamilton County JV squad set a tournament record with most three pointers made in a tournament with 26.  The record was previously held by the 1996 Christopher Bearcats.

The Bearcats will have a very long extended break from action.  Their next contest will be on Saturday, December 10 at home against the Woodlawn Cardinals.

BOX SCORE:

CHRISTOPHER (57)  Pedigo 5 4 4-5 26;  Young 2 0 8-11 12;  Curry 5 0 0-0 10;  Sanders 2 0 0-0 4 Pratt 0 1 0-0 3;  Schimpf 1 0 0-0 2; Snell 0 0 0-0 0  Motsinger 0 0 0-0 0    TOTALS:  15  5 12-17  57

FOULED OUT:  Pedigo, Young, Schimpf

WAYNE CITY  (61)  Green 1 3 10-14 21; Dickey 7 0 2-2 16; Greenwalt 2 1 3-9 10;  Willett  0 1 1-2 4; Caudle 0 1 0-0 3; Tubbs 1 0 1-4 3  Henson 1 0-0 0 2;

King 0 1 1-2 1   TOTALS:  12 6 19-31 61

FOULED OUT:  King, Tubbs

SCORE BY QUARTERS

CHRISTOPHER (2-1)           12   6  10  29- 57

WAYNE CITY  (3-0)                7  15  12  27-61

 

 

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

West Frankfort Defeats Cairo 64-58 in Opener

November 27, 2016 By Leave a Comment

http://westfrankfortsports.com/fchs-redbirds-open-their-season-with-a-victory-over-cairo-p412-165.htm

Filed Under: High School Sports, Sports, Uncategorized, West Frankfort High School Sports

Christopher vs. Wayne City Preview

November 26, 2016 By Leave a Comment

Christopher vs. Wayne City Preview

By Steve Dunford

Franklin County Hoops and Gridiron

 

At the Championship of the 42nd annual Christopher Turkey Tournament the host Bearcats will match-up against the Wayne City Indians.  I am taking the Bearcats by three in this one tonight.

 

In semi-final wins, Christopher defeated Webber Township 61-52 Wednesday night.  In an overtime thriller, Wayne City defeated Waltonville 61-58 on a last second half court shot by Landon Willett.  Darren Kinnard and Caleb Martin were searching for the video.  I would say there is a very good chance that will be on  Martin’s moments on Monday night.

 

The keys to the game are following:

 

  1. For Wayne City,  it seems Chad Dickey has been in high school for eight years now. The four year starter had 24 in last nights win.  Eric Green is a bomber from the outside he had 13.  Last nights hero. Willett was the third in double figures with 10.  Clayton Tubbs and Jordan Greenwalt looked like they spent a lot of time on the hardwood from Jack Bullock’s story on the game last night.  I let Richard Blakely and Mike Fleming on WXAN tell me about it.  I had my good friend Kevin Smith scouting for me.  He said the team out of the Midland Trail Conference looked very good.

 

  1. I have a gut feeling Bradley Young will explode against the Indians tonight. He spent the night in foul trouble all night in the win against NCOE.  If I told you that Bradley young would only have six that night and the Bearcats would have put up 100, I would have tried to sell someone my beach front property in Buckner.  Teams are keying on him defensively and he is due.

 

  1. Webber Township coach Brad Beatty went to a 1-3-1 zone Pedigo was shut down,  but Curry was dominant on the post.  Curry stepped up big.  I remember that Wayne City was a man to man team.  This will leave some openings for either Pedigo or Young.

 

  1. Bryce Pratt played very well all week. Coach Eric Stallman worried about his bench coming into the season.  He has nothing to worry about.

 

I am cutting this short.  I get to see it with my own eyes.  My opinion will go out the window when they tip it up tonight at 7:30.

 

 

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