Photo by RR Best
Quarterback Nick Frerichs tries to break a Raider tackle Friday night. The junior rushed for 125 yards and one touchdown and threw for 101 yards, including a touchdown pass to Joe Jeffers.

First win over Raiders since A&M formed

by Kirk Whitaker
Arthur/Sullivan Reporter

After getting blown out by Maroa-Forsyth last week, SOV had to prepare for Central A&M, whom the Redskins had never beaten before. The stakes were even higher, due to the fact that this was the homecoming game for the athletes from Okaw Valley.

“Okaw Valley really does a great homecoming, and our kids do enjoy going over and participating in it,” Redskins head coach Charles Brown said. “The atmosphere was great today.”

Despite whatever distractions may come from the school festivities, Brown said his boys prepared well this week, and the evidence of such showed late in the first quarter as SOV drove down the field. Read More

Photo by Keith Stewart
The Lancers’ Jessica Davis puts a kill on during Monday night’s matchup with Sullivan. Davis had plenty of big hits in the third set to give her team the momentum it needed to ensure the win and its continued undefeated streak, which stands at 9-0.

Lancers prevail with second and third match wins

by Kirk Whitaker
Arthur/Sullivan Reporter

The rivalry between Sullivan and Arthur-Lovington has proved to be a hotly contested matchup in whatever sport the two schools face off in the last few years, and yesterday, in volleyball, that didn’t change.

The Lady Redskins came out white hot in the first set, getting on top of Arthur-Lovington ending the first set on a 10-1 run.

“We struggled with the ball on our side,” said Lancers head coach Val Cornwell. “We talked about passing and serves—which wasn’t very good at all—because we were being forced to go only outside so we couldn’t do much.” Read More

Photo by Keith Stewart
Sullivan’s Brittin Boyer dives for the ball during Saturday’s tournament at Mattoon. Her effort during the five matches earned her a spot on the all-tournament team.

Poor showing Saturday all but erases strong start

by Keith Stewart
keith@newsprogress.com

After going 3-0 to start the season, the Sullivan volleyball team fell to 3-5 all in one day while competing at the 33rd Annual Mattoon Tournament this past Saturday.

All but one of their losses came in two set matches, with their final match against St. Elmo-Brownstown going to three sets. Sullivan won the first 25-22 but then fell in the next two sets 15-25, 12-15.

“I was pleasantly surprised to see our ‘refuse to lose’ attitude in the first two matches of the season especially, and I saw nothing of that attitude in our team as a whole in the tournament,” said head coach Heather Lindenmeyer.

Sullivan first faced Warrensburg-Latham but lost a close first set 25-23 followed by a 25-17 loss.

The Redskins next faced Heyworth, who had the same morning defeated host and reigning tournament champion Mattoon, in three sets. Read More

Most area high school sports got underway the week of August 26.

The News Progress has compiled previews for Sullivan, Okaw Valley, and Arthur-Lovington high schools, which in turn see a variety of competitors in volleyball, soccer, football, cross country, and golf.

Check out this week's sport section for all fall 2013 previews.

For American Legion Post 429’s Senior Legion baseball team, it has been a sub-par summer. The Senior team finished the season 9-13, with the final two losses coming in the first two games of the division tournament.

Submitted by Duff Hoel
Pictured, front row, left to right are Griffin Day, Dylan Hart, Nick Bates, Avery Schrock, Cole Evans, Kaleb Williams, Dalton Hoel, Luke Armstrong, and Zach Hrvol.
Back Row, left to right: Coach Dillon Hoel, Coach Adam Carver, Jeremy Plank, Clayton Turner, Blake Woodard, Devin Rose, Jackson McCrory, Devin Still, Zach Bates, and Coach Duff Hoel. Not pictured:Tommy Watson and Brody Elder

According to head coach Duff Hoel the team played well and had opportunities to win both of those games.
“Going into the season we knew the senior team was not very deep. The senior team had some good hitters and scored runs pretty well but couldn’t hold leads. The team had only one true pitcher. We had a few arms, but pitching was certainly a weak spot on this team."
There were also chances for improvement left untapped.
“I was really disappointed that we weren’t able to get more games in due to weather and other teams canceling games due to lack of players," said Hoel. "The older guys had an opportunity to play some good teams when we did get games in."
According to the coach, there were some players on the junior team that could have contributed some depth to the senior team.
“We had several players on our junior team that have a skill set that would allow them to play senior legion, but we made the decision to keep them on the junior team and try to make a deep post season runwith the junior team.”
And the Juniors are doing just that, as they are enjoying an unprecedented amount of success for a Mo-Do team, a season on the opposite end of the spectrum of the senior team. Read More