Photo by Keith Stewart
SOV’s Chanley Heykoop returns a punt during Friday’s game against Hoopeston. Heykoop would set up his teammate Jake Eaton for a two yard touchdown run to go up 14-0 in the first quarter.

September 3, 2014

Redskin bench makes big contributions

by Keith Stewart
keith@newsprogress.com

SOV may have deferred receiving the opening kickoff in Hoopeston Friday night, but it didn’t much matter. The Redskins got the ball back less than two minutes into the quarter. Four yards later, SOV was up 14-0. And these initial plays only foreshadowed the eventual 73-0 opening win.
“It’s important to get that first win under your belt especially when you’re bringing in a new system and everything,” said new SOV head coach Gerald Temples. “I thought our kids played hard.”
As the game grew on, other signs of SOV dominance came in the form of holding the Cornjerkers to a total of negative 13 yards in the first quarter, recovering a non-onside  kickoff return late in the fourth quarter, and blanking Hoopeston despite, at one point, them being on the SOV 11 yard line.
“We have to clean up a few things, so it’s not a ball game where we go back home pounding our chest or anything like that,” said Temples. “It’s a ball game we build on.” Read More

Photo by Keith Stewart
Freshman Madison Brown looks up in preparation to set the ball against Tuscola last Thursday. Brown led the team in both aces and assists with 3 and 14 respectively.

September 3, 2014

Warriors middle hitting, blocking too much for ALAH

by Keith Stewart
keith@newsprogress.com

After Thursday night’s 25-21, 25-17 defeat at the hands of Tuscola, it’s clear that given the Knights’ volleyball success in the last three years in particular, area teams are anxious for a win.
“In the locker room before we came out, the girls said that’s something they’d never done before,” said Tuscola head coach Lydia Benson. “So this is one of those things in our season that we’re always going to look back on and focus on if we start going down hill or need a refocusing point.”
The first set was a much closer contest than the second, and while the latter may have shown more of the Knights’ resiliency, both sets came down to Lady Warrior runs that ALAH could not avenge.
A quick Tuscola error and freshman Madison Brown ace, ALAH went up 2-0 to start the first, but the set would be tied four times before Tuscola began to slowly pull away. Three unanswered points had ALAH down 9-6 before an Emily Seegmiller kill brought the side out. But Tuscola’s Madie Allen responded with her own big hit from the middle, one of several on the night. Read More

August 20, 2014

Martinez scores hat trick in victory

by Keith Stewart
keith@newsprogress.com

Despite an hour-and-a-half-delay to Tuesday's season opener at Georgetown-Ridge Farm due to thunderstorms, the Arthur-Lovington/Atwood-Hammond soccer team came out on top 4-2. Read More

August 20, 2014

Another strong year expected 

by Keith Stewart
keith@newsprogress.com

Despite going 15-3 last year, the Arthur-Lovington/Atwood-Hammond/Arcola golf team bowed out early in the postseason after being bumped up to double A regional play in Mahomet. There they faced schools such as Mattoon, Champaign Centennial, and Monticello. And this year could see a similar grouping, but head coach Tyler Renshaw believes his team will be better equipped to make a run for sectionals.

“We had a great season last year,” said Renshaw. “We got a tough draw with double A. I think we probably would have gotten out as a team in single A and definitely two or three individuals. We could have even gotten out of double A, but it took mid to upper 70s to get out, and though we had the guys that could do it, they just didn’t do it on that day. It was a tough break that day.”

Photo by Keith Stewart
Pictured back row, left to right: Jimmy Lopez, Clayton Miller, Chris Davis, Jack McLane, Dylan Bugos, Lucas Hutton, and Samir Patel. Front row: Bailey Conner, Blake Lindenmeyer, Parker Ingram, Mason Gentry, Mitchell, Bernius, Kyle Schmitt. Not pictured is Shandon Herschberger.

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August 20, 2014

New coach hopes to continue winning tradition

by Keith Stewart
keith@newsprogress.com

New coach, new conference members, new team, and a slightly new team identity. The Arthur-Lovington/Atwood-Hammond volleyball team has had a lot to grapple with in the way of change so far in the preseason, which will no doubt continue into the regular season this year. But first year ALAH high school coach Emily Crossman isn’t too worried.

“The beautiful thing is the girls have taken all the of the change with a grain of salt, and it hasn’t affected them one bit,” said the former seventh grade AL volleyball coach, who took her team to a third place state finish last year. “From a coaching standpoint, it’s difficult to know my opponents and strategize against them so we’re really focusing on ourselves and our team and what we can do right against other teams.”

And speaking about coaching, Crossman has a pair of shoes three decades in the making, to fill, as last year’s high school program bid adieu to legendary Valerie Cornwell,who tallied a record of 447-401 at Arthur, including three regional titles in the last three years, and back-to-back sweet 16 appearances. 

Photo by Keith Stewart
Pictured are ALAH volleyball’s returning varsity letter winners, from left to right: Brooke Tabb, Elyse Harris, Emily Seegmiller, Felicia Wolfe, and Logan Kauffman. Not pictured is Alyssa McArthur.

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