Benton, West Frankfort, Illinois News | Franklin County News
Newspaper covering Franklin County, Illinois
By BRUCE A. FASOL
The West Frankfort Redbird boys junior and varsity basketball teams are at home Tuesday night. The Redbirds play host to visiting Carmi-White County in a non-conference game.
The Redbirds are coming off a lopsided loss Friday at Herrin, 73-35.
The JV game begins at 6 p.m., and Varsity game approximately 7:45 p.m.
Both games can be heard online at www.wfschools.org
By Jim Muir
The Benton Rangers wrestling team turned in a solid 5th place finish Saturday in the 17-team Cumberland High School “Skull & Crossbones Invitational Tournament.
Benton tallied 120 points in the prestigious event trailing Prairie Central (246.50), Shelbyville (179.50), Herrin (147.50) and Lawrenceville (124.00).
Individually the Rangers were led by freshman Peyton Smith who improved to 17-1 overall during the first year of his high school wrestling career. Smith registered three wins on the day in the 132-pound class by pinning Jimmy Pearsley(Herrin) in 1:30, Zach Kocher(Lawrenceville) in 3.00 and Paul Garcia(Prairie Central) in 1:30.
Brothers Chris and Chase Worthey also had an outstanding day in Cumberland – Chris Worthey finished second and Chase Worthey finished third in the 126-pound and 120-pound classes respectively.
Benton coach Duane Bean said his young team “grew up a lot” during the tough competition.
“We wrestled well,” said the Benton coach. “It is a good tournament and we’re a better team after competing this weekend. Even some of our kids that didn’t win really improved.”
Bean pointed out that Benton was only four points out of fourth place and took only 10 wrestlers to the tournament that had 14 different weight classes.
He gave high marks to Chris and Chase Worthey and also to Smith.
“Chris and Chase wrestled very well and both were in a tough bracket,” said Bean. “And Peyton beat a kid who is ranked in the state, pinned him in 90 seconds. Peyton had a great day.”
TEAM SCORES
PRAIRIE CENTRAL 246.50
SHELBYVILLE 179.50
HERRIN 147.50
LAWRENCEVILLE 124.00
BENTON 120.00
CUMBERLAND 116.00
CARLYLE 112.00
OLNEY 111.00
MT. OLIVE 98.50
MT. CARMEL 88.00
OAKWOOD 80.00
CARMI-WHITE COUNTY 54.00
CARTERVILLE 46.00
HARRISBURG 42.50
DECATUR EISENHOWER 35.00
EFFINGHAM 33.00
EFFINGHAM ST. ANTHONY 9.00
CASEY-WESTFIELD 6.00
(Benton wrestlers listed in all CAPS)
132 LBS – PEYTON SMITH– Champion
Pinned Jimmy Pearsley(Herrin) in 1:30
Pinned Zach Kocher(Lawrenceville) in 3:00
Pinned Paul Garcia(Prairie Central) in 1:30
126 LBS—CHRIS WORTHEY finished in 2nd Place
Pinned Levi Baker(Effingham) in 1:16
Won by major decision 10-2 over Antonio Alvarez
Lost 6-2 to Eli Roberts(Herrin)
120 LBS—CHASE WORTHEY finished in 3rd Place
Pinned Jacob McKinstry(Lawrenceville) in 0:46
Lost 6-3 to eventual champion Zach Zvonar(Carlyle)
Beat Colton Carmody(Olney) 10-5 for 3rd Place
138 LBS—DANIEL KRUG finished in 5th Place
Pinned Hunter Welch(Carmi-WC) in 1:58
Lost to Wyatt Fox(Shelbyville) 4-1
Pinned James Kruep(Carlyle) in 3:30
Pinned Braden Dees(Carterville) in 3:20
Pinned Shon Calvert (Mt. Olive) in 5:20 for 5th Place
170 LBS—ZACH MOCABY finished in 6th Place
Pinned Cody Ayers(Oakwood) in 3:06
Lost 9-0 to eventual champion Josh Hicks(Shelbyville)
Won by major decision 10-0 over Tim Sturm(Olney)
Won 9-5 over Kane Garcia(Mt. Carmel)
Lost 6-2 to Tyler Godden(Cumberland)
106 LBS—Jarred Burnett finished in 6th Place
Lost by pin to AJ Dees(Carterville) in 0:46
Won by pin in :57 over Aaron Nettles(Carlyle)
152LBS—Jarron Bennett(did not place)
Pinned Tyler Flood(Carlyle) in 0:39
Lost by technical fall 15-0 to eventual champion Sam Schuler(Prairie C)
Pinned Jeff Klelel(Effingham) in 2:22
Lost by Pin in 5:39 to John Sandschafer(Eff. STA)
285 LBS—Tyler Wiliiams(did not place)
Lost 8-4 to Dillon Walters(DEC. Eisenhower)
Won by Pin in 0:16 over Trent Carll(Casey-Westfield)
Lost by pin in 1:14 to Brent Morgan(Mt. Carmel)
195 LBS—Devon Siveking(did not place)
Pinned David Nibbe(Oakwood) in 3:22
Lost by pin in 3:04 to Timmy Carll(Cumberland)
Pinned Scott Jones(DEC Eisenhower) in 1:03
Lost by pin to Dakota White(Mt. Olive) in 1:02
145 LBS—Luke Blackman(did not place)
Lost by pin to Zach Poe(Cumberland) in 1:22
Lost by pin to Zach Horatscki(Oakwood) in 2:25
BENTON PLACED 5TH PLACE AS TEAM IN THE 18 TEAM TOURNEY!!
BENTON TOOK 10 WRESTLERS TO CUMBERLAND AND 6 OF THEM PLACED IN THE TOP 6.
Benton will return to action TONIGHT when they travel to Anna-Jonesboro with the meet starting at 6:30pm.
Eric Stallman’s Christopher Bearcats had their five game winning streak stopped when they went north to Sesser-Valier and lost a hard fought Black Diamond Conference game 49-48 Friday night.
Kevin Merck’s scored at the 6:13 mark for a Cats 2-0 lead as the Bearcats didn’t score again for four minutes until junior Eric Young made a steal to tie the game at 4. Tyler Atchison hit a three and Jake Towers scored on a great pass from Josh Calloni as the Cats took a 9-6 first quarter lead.
The Bearcats went on another four minute drought and didn’t score until the 3:53 mark when Atchison hit another three. The next time down the floor a loose ball caused a giant pile up and Christopher’s R.J. Kuh came up with a bloody face, after the game he was seen by a nurse who butter flied the cut closed. Jr. Ethan Conner hit a free throw at the 3:06 mark and a minute later Calloni knocked down two free tosses. Fellow freshman Hunter Wheeler grabbed an offensive rebound and was fouled going back up and hit one of his charity tosses and then the Cats went in at half leading 19-17 in a defensive battle
Young started the second half with a steal and a lay-up, Merck’s followed with two free throws for a 25-18 Bearcat lead. Merck hit two free throws before a S-V technical foul but the Cats missed both of these free throws and turned the ball over throwing it in. Young stepped up big again with his third steal and basket of the game to put CCHS up 29-20. The Cats lead then went to 31-22 and Young’s defense again got him another layup for a 33-22 lead, the biggest of the night.
Someone forgot to tell Coach Chip Basso’s crew that they were out of the game. The Cats evened the score when one of their players was called for a technical after fouling. S-V’s Derek Hood hits both free throws and the Red Devils clawed back to being down only 33-25. The home team’s Jacob Vanwey scored and Jordan Gunter fired in a long range three. With the Red Devils down 33-30 the Cats fell asleep on a missed Red Devil free throw as 6-feet-6-inch Justin Kulich gets the rebound and scored his only field goal of the night as the Cats 11 point lead was trimmed to 33-32 at the end of the third stanza.
The fourth quarter started with Mercks hitting one of two charity tosses for Christopher, followed by a rebound basket on the next possession giving the visitors a 36-34 advantage. The lead increased to four when Young scored on a nifty pass from Towers. Kulich hits one of two free throws when a foul was called on Christopher and where Cat fans were initially excited when they thought the call was a charging foul on SV’s all conference tight end. Young scored for a 40-35 lead but after a SV basket Coach Basso called a time out at the 3:12 mark and his team down 40-37.Reggie Eubanks is fouled at the 2; 32 mark and makes the first freebie but misses the second. The Cats then made a mistake that will later haunt them as no one screened Kulich out and he hit a bucket to tie the score at 40-40. Young scored the last basket of the night for him and the Cats are up 42-40 but Gunter answered with a basket and again it’s a tie game.
SV’s Hood hits another big basket and tied the score at 42 and there is under a minute to play.
To say the last 50seconds were wild would be an understatement — SV’s Kulich hits a free throw, Hood follows with a basket for a 47-42 SV lead. The Cats Atchison scores with 27.1 seconds left in the game to get close at 47-44. Then sophomore Nick Marlow hits one free throw at the 27 second mark and after a Bearcat miss, Eubanks hits another freebie for a 49-45 SV lead with 25 seconds left in the game. Atchison hits his fourth trey of the game at the buzzer as the Red Devils win a hard fought contest 49-48.
Scoring for Sesser-Valier was Gunter 11, Hood, 10, Vanwey 8,Marlo 7, Tyler Baxter 7,Kulich 4 and Eubanks 4.
Young led the Cats with 15 ,followed by Atchison with 14, Mercks 9,Towers 4,Calloni and Kuh 2 and Conner and Wheeler a free throw.
Coach Jeremy Varner’s Bearcat JV squad remained undefeated with a 62-39 victory in the preliminary game to raise their record to 5-0.
By BRUCE A. FASOL
The West Frankfort Redbirds have been assigned their 2012 opening opponent in the Eldorado Holiday Tournament. The Redbirds will play the Fairfield Mules in their first round game.
Fairfield was seeded No. 8, and will play West Frankfort in the 11:30 a.m. game, on the tournament’s first day, Dec. 27. If the ‘Birds win that game, they advance to play the winner of top seeded Harrisburg/Hardin County. Should the Redbirds drop the contest they play the breakfast game at 8:30 a.m. the following morning.
The tournament grid begins at 8:30a.m., when No. 4 Union County, Kentucky, tips off with Carrier Mills. The next game is set to begin at 10 a,m. when No. 5 Massac County plays Hamilton County. The Redbird game follows this one. Then, at 1:45 p.m., the Harrisburg Bulldogs take on Hardin County.
The Herrin Tigers return to the EHT field for a 3:15 p.m. game vs. Carmi-White County. Herrin is seeded No. 6. The tournament’s third seed, the Meridian Bobcats, play the 4:45 p.m. game against NCOE.
The evening session begins with a match-up between No. 2 seed Gallatin County and Galatia. The evening session concludes with host Eldorado, a surprising 7 seed, meeting Anna-Jonesboro.
The tournament concludes Saturday night with the title game starting at approximately 9 p.m. Harrisburg, top seeded and state rated with an unbeaten mark, is a heavy favorite to win the tournament.
By BRUCE A. FASOL
The West Frankfort Lady Redbirds snapped a two game losing streak with a Saturday afternoon win over visiting Murphysboro, 56-42.
The game saw the Lady Devils jump out to a lead after one quarter of 11-10. In the second quarter, Matt Hampleman’s team outscored the Lady Red Devils 19-9 for a 29-20 intermission lead.
By BRUCE A. FASOL
General George Custer got a warmer reception at Little Bighorn than the Redbirds received Friday night at Herrin. Entering the game, both teams had won only once. Pre-game talk among the fans was a close game was expected. Then, reality set in. Final score: Herrin 73-West Frankfort 35.
A relentless trapping zone defense forced the Redbirds into three consecutive turnovers to begin the game. Still, early, the Redbirds held it close as Herrin struggled offensively. In fact, Nick Korolenko’s jumper tied the game at a bucket apiece three minutes into the contest.
However, Herrin corrected their offensive mistakes – and the ‘Birds never did. At the end of the first quarter Herrin held a commanding 17-2 lead. Still, there was hope. A week ago, Irvin Lukens’ club held a huge lead over Benton. But, the Rangers came back to win that game in overtime. The Redbirds would not be as lucky. Mistakes continued to haunt the “Birds into the second quarter and by half Herrin’s lead had ballooned to 38-8 .
In the second quarter, the ‘Birds offense did show some signs of a slight pulse. That continued in the third quarter. Quarter Three was the most productive quarter of basketball for West Frankfort Friday night. The Redbirds put 17 points on the Memorial Gym scoreboard in that frame. This was in part aided by two three-point shots from sophomore Braxton Koehl and a pair of buckets by sophomore Christian Dunning.
But, by then, the Redbirds also had quit defending the lane,and were giving up easy buckets off drives and entry passes. Herrin’s Jeril Pirtle used that quarter to knife his way through the porous defense for 9 third quarter points. teammate Justin Lukens had 8 in the quarter as Herrin substituted freely. Both teams finished the long ago decided game with bench personnel.
Herrin was led by the 26 points from Justin Lukens, son of the Herrin varsity basketball coach, Irv Lukens. Justin Lukens had quarters of 9,9 and 7 points, sitting out much of the fourth quarter. Pirtle ended up with 15 points for the game. No other Tiger scored more than 6 points.
Christian Dunning was the lone Redbird in double figures with 14 points. Korolenko had 7 points. Koehl had the two three-point shots mentioned earlier for a total of 6, senior Trenton Easley had 3 points, Drew Maller and Zack Fort had 2 points apiece and Gage Williams had a free throw for a single point.
The major statistic in the game was turnovers. Herrin committed 8 for the game. West Frankfort had 23 turnovers, as they were helpless against Herrin zone defenses and extended court pressure. The inability to even get shots attempted negated any hope of a comeback for Dan Dewerff’s team.
The Benton Rangers wrestling team improved to 7-2 overall with a solid showing in the Benton Dual Meet held at Rich Herrin Gymnasium. Benton picked up victories over Sparta, Pinckneyville and Fairfield in the eight-team meet.
Benton results are listed below:
2012 BENTON DUALS
BENTON – 60
SPARTA – 15
106 – Jarred Burnett won by pin in :47 over Triston Loucks(S).
113 – Nathan Flatt won by forfeit.
120 – Chase Worthey won by forfeit.
126 – Chris Worthey won by forfeit.
132 – Peyton Smith won by pin in 1:10 over Anthony Carter(S).
138 – Daniel Krug won bypin over Greg Scheibol(S) in 3:29.
145 – Alex Yates won 13-7 over Charles Rogers(S)
152 – Jarron Bennett won by pin in 2:24 over Deon Baker(S).
160 – Luke Blackman won by forfeit.
170 – Benton forfeitedto Jay Baue(S).
182 – Zach Mocoby won 7-2 over Dylan Hatley(S).
195 – Benton forfeited to Cedric Briscoe(S).
220 – Devon Siveking won by pin in 3:35 over Tyler Adams(S).
HVY – Tyler Williams lost 14-8 to Jerrod Penny(S)
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BENTON – 52
PINCKNEYVILLE – 17
106 – Jarred Burnett won by forfeit.
113 – Nathan Flatt won by forfeit.
120 – Chase Worthey won by forfeit.
126 – Chris Worthey won 12-3 over Chris Hagan(P)
132 – Peyton Smith won by pin in :49 over Hunter Olive(P).
138 – Daniel Krug won byforfeit.
145 – Nick Goffinet won by forfeit.
152 – Jarron Bennett lost 20-4 to Chris Ward(H).
160 – Luke Blackman lost by pin in 2:16 to Jerod Winkleman(P).
170 – Benton forfeitedto Quinin Baker.
182 – Zach Mocoby won by pin in 1:21 over Michael Jones(P).
195 – Double forfeit.
220 – Double forfeit.
HVY – Jordan Piercy won by forfeit.
BENTON – 59
FAIRFIELD – 24
106 – Jarred Burnett lost by pin in 1:31 to Austin Goodman(F).
113 – Nathan Flatt won by forfeit.
120 – Chase Worthey won by pin in :30 over Aaron Clark(F).
126 – Chris Worthey won by pin in :51 over Don Bielecki(F)
132 – Peyton Smith won by pin in :23 over Derek McInnis(F)
138 – Daniel Krug won bypin in :44 over Colton Crawford(F).
145 – Alex Yates lost by pin in 4:50 to Braden Robertson(F).
152 –Luke Blackman won 16-1 over Mathew Sampio(F).
160 –Jarron Bennett won by pin in :13 over Brock Lewis(F).
170 – Benton forfeitedto Nick Mathews(F).
182 – Zach Mocoby won by pin in :25 over Hunter Clevenger(F).
195 – Benton forfeited to Andrew Garrison(F).
220 – Benton forfeited to Charles Wheeler(F).
HVY – Tyler Williams won by pin in 4:31 over Aaron Cates(F).
Other Team Scores:
Harrisburg 60 – Carterville 24
Harrisburg 42 – Fairfield 42 (Harrisburg wins by criteria)
Sparta 42 – Harrisburg 33
West Frankfort 66 – Anna Jonesboro 0
West Frankfort 48 – Pinckneyville 12
West Frankfort 42 – Fairfield 42 (West Frankfort wins by criteria)
Sparta beat Anna-Jonesboro(No score to report)
Carterville beat Pinckneyville(No score to report)
Benton is 7-2 and 1-0 in the Ohio division of the River to River conference. Next, at Cumberland Invitational Tournament in Toledo on Saturday, December 15.
By Tom Wheeler
The Christopher Bearcats only led 30-26 at half time but with some deadly outside shooting they outscored the Cobden Appleknockers 21-8 in the third frame to pick up a 68-45 victory.
The win improves Christopher to 6-1 overall.
Senior guard Tyler Atchison had three of four his long range bombs during this spell while running mate Jake Towers added two more.
Going into the last quarter leading 51-34 the Cats controlled the ball and knocked down their free throws, in fact they were 9 for 9 on the game. There was only 13 fouls called on Cobden in the game and 10 on the host Cats in a very well-played game by both teams.
Junior three man Eric Young led the scoring for the Cats with 24 points, his high game this season and was joined in double figures by Atchison with 16 and Towers with 14. Other scorers were R.J. Kuh 8, Kevin Mercks 4 and Hunter Wheeler 2.
Cobden was led in scoring by senior point guard J. C. Chapman, an all-tournament selection at this year’s Thanksgiving tournament, with 11 points. 6’2” junior Tyler Lewey was also in double figures with 10 while junior Austin Flamm was close with 9 points. Other Appleknocker scorers were Josh Aspen with 6, Garrett Marks with 4, Nathan Sweitzer with 3 and Jordan Waldrop with a bucket. Cobden also shot free throws well hitting 7 of 8 attempts. With the Cats 9 for 9, and Cobden’s 7 for 8 and a total of 16 of 17 made me wonder, when was the last time you saw a high school basketball game with only one free throw missed.
Coach Jeremy Varnier’s JV team won their fourth game in as many outings 52 -34 to raise their record to 4-0. Christopher will return to action Friday night as they travel north to take on the Sesser-Valier Red Devils in a key Black Diamond Conference match up.
By Jim Muir
The Nashville Hornettes raced out to an 11-0 lead and never looked back Thursday night defeating the Benton Rangerettes in convincing fashion 42-18.
With the loss the Rangerettes fall to 7-3 overall while Nashville improves to 10-0.
The Rangerettes were never in the ball game trailing 16-2 at the end of one quarter and 22-7 at the intermission as the stingy Nashville defense took Benton totally out of any offensive rhythm. Benton did not its first field goal until the 3:00 minute mark of the second quarter when Katie Sandusky hit a 3-pointer. It was the only field goal the Rangerettes had in the first half.
Benton coach Andy Sloan saw two distinct reasons for the disappointing and lopsided defeat.
“First, I think you have to give credit to Nashville for the way they played defense which took us completely out of our offense,” Sloan said. “But, we did not play very well and we didn’t we didn’t play hard. We didn’t set a good screen all night long and didn’t do a very good job on defense. We knew what Nashville was going to do on defense but we didn’t handle it very well.”
The Rangerettes managed only two field goals for the first three quarters – a pair of 3-pointers by Sandusky. Benton added three more field goals by Morgan Corn, Mikala Carney and Ashtyn Ward in the fourth quarter when the game had long been decided.
Sandusky led the Rangerettes in scoring with six points followed by Corn with five and Mikala Carney with three, Sami Minor and Ward with two each.
Erica Brown led the balanced Nashville scoring attack with 15 points, followed by Shay Harre with 12 and Shawn Rennegarbe with 10. Also scoring for the Hornettes was Hannah Yung with three, Emily Gill with two and Alli Kellerman with two.
The Rangerettes will not have long to regroup from the loss as they face one of the toughest weeks of the season beginning Monday when undefeated Sesser-Valier visits the East Gym. Then on Tuesday Benton travels to Massac County before finishing up on the road at Massac County on Thursday.
By TAMMY HEAD
The JV Benton Rangers got their first win in overtime Tuesday night against Carmi-White County.
The first quarter of action proved the two teams were evenly matched ending with an 11-11 score. The score continued to go back and forth for the rest of the first half with the Rangers up 17-15 at half-time.
Rangers seemed to gain a little energy in the second half and gained the biggest lead of the game in the 4th going up 33-28 with 5 minutes left to play in regulation. Keegan Dawson hit a big bucket underneath to push the Rangers’ lead to 7 but Carmi immediately answered with a fast break and layup.
With 2 minutes left to play, Carmi was back within 2 points. Then at the 1:18 mark, Carmi tied the game at 36-36. Spike Buntin hit two free throws with 58 seconds remaining to make the score 38-36. A Ranger foul sent Carmi to the line to hit one of their two attempts and bringing them back within one.
With 24 seconds left, Carmi fouled Tyler Owens sending him to the line for the Rangers. After missing the first free throw, Owens hit the second making the score 39-37.
Carmi inbounded the ball with 15 seconds and Clay Vaught hit a 10-foot jump shot to tie the game with only 9 seconds left.
Benton had time, but a turnover gave Carmi the chance at the last second shot. A missed shot sent the Rangers into Overtime.
The Rangers took control of overtime and steadily pulled ahead of the Tigers. The final score was Rangers 48, Tigers 42.
Spike Buntin led the Rangers is scoring with 20 points, followed by Dakota Head with 9, Keegan Dawson with 6, Tyler Owens with 5, Trey McDaniel with 4 and Jesse Vanhorebeck and Brendan Ritchason both with 2. Also seeing action for the Rangers was Andrew Simpson, Gus Gibbs, and Martin Ward.
