•September 7, 2016•
Arcola-ALAH cooperative golf team won a triangular match Aug 30 at Kaskaskia Country Club.
Clayton Miller was the medalist shooting with an even par round 35. Blake Lindenmeyer was the runner up with a 39. Arcola’s record is now 9-1 Read More
Photo by Darian Hays
Good night for Marcus Vanausdoll, pulling down passes for touchdowns, intercepting passes and a highlight 67 yard break away touchdown run to seal the win late in the game.
•September 7, 2016•
By Matt Kracht
NP Sports Reporter
After a barn burner road win over Tri-County to start the season, Arthur-Lovington/Atwood-Hammond entered their week two home opener at Wilson Field versus Palestine-Hudsonville set up for a trap game.
Knights’ head coach Dale Schuring thought the team struggled with focus throughout the contest but ultimately came up with enough big plays to get the job done. “Tonight we were overconfident. We weren’t ready to go, and we never really got mentally focused tonight. We did enough to win and made some big plays, but our week one performance was far better than this.”
ALAH fumbled away the opening possession deep in their own territory which forced the defense to make its first key stop of many. The Knights’ defensive dominance in the first half was impressive as the stingy unit held the Pioneers to just 15 rushing yards on 11 carries and eight passing yards on two completions in the first half.
Tim Weaver, the defensive coordinator, and linebacker coach Don McCarthy seem to develop perennial ball hawks at all positions. Marcus Vanausdoll has blossomed into an all-conference defensive back under the pair’s tutelage. Vanausdoll came up with two interceptions in the contest including an 86 yard pick six that ended the first half and put the Knights up 20-0. Read More
•September 7, 2016•
Kirk Whitaker
NP Sports Reporter
Tuesday and Thursday Arcola-Arthur-Lovington/Atwood-Hammond golf won both matches at their home course—in convincing fashion both days.
Top returner Clayton Miller led the way both nights shooting back-to-back even par 35s with Blake Lindenmeyer taking second on Tuesday with a 39 (+4) and Shandon Herschberger almost tying him Thursday with a 36 (+1).
Lucas Hutton, Dallas Sisk and Jacob Butler rounded out the top five for Arcola which shot 161 and 163 at the two meets Tuesday and Thursday as a team, taking first place by 28 and 26 strokes those two days respectively. Read More
•September 7, 2016•
By Kirk Whitaker
NP Sports Reporter
Kristy Buford set the tone for Okaw Valley, and the rest of the ‘Wolves followed suit Tuesday night when the Timberwolves came to Sullivan and took a two-set victory over the Lady Redskins 25-18, 25-12.
The OV senior started off the first set with four kills and an ace, leading her team to an 8-3 start.
“Kristy did what she was supposed to do and led us,” Timberwolves’ head coach Jay Potter praised. “She receives the most sets, and tonight she played with few errors. When that happens, we always have a better chance to win.”
The advantage rose to 15-7, but after their second timeout, Sullivan came back with a vengeance out of the timeout that brought the game to a two point deficit, 18-16, with an ace from Ally Elzy and a kill from Esther Miller at key points along the way. Read More
•September 7, 2016•
Kirk Whitaker
NP Sports
It was no rest on Labor Day in Arthur Monday night as the Knights volleyball team took down Monticello 25-15, 25-18. Arthur-Lovington/Atwood-Hammond keeps a perfect 4-0 record for the young season.
Madison Brown brought the heat to the court throughout both sets finishing with team highs in aces (five) and assists (13).
In the first, Brown started serving for the Knights and pushed the contest out to a 7-1 advantage, and ALAH never looked back.
“This is the first game of the season where we have come out in game one ready to play,” Knights head coach Emily Crossman explained. “We had been getting down at the beginning, but starting like this gave the girls a real confidence booster going forward.” Read More
•September 7, 2016•
Whit Kirtaker
NP Sports
This was one humdinger of a week of sports to recap.
To start:
As of print date, the Cubs are 41 games above .500, and the magic number to cinching the NL Central is close to single digits.
Texas beat Notre Dame in college football—a 50-47, double overtime barn-burner might I add—for the first time since 1970. Surely Texas could have gouged the Irish in that time with Ricky Williams, Vince Young, and other stars in that time frame, but scheduling didn’t really allow for those games.
Speaking of the 70s, for the first time since 1972 two top five teams—LSU and Oklahoma—fell in the first week of the season. LSU’s loss was to Wisconsin, 16-14 at Lambeau Field, and Oklahoma got caught on the tracks 33-23 against Houston who showed they haven’t lost much, if anything, since their upset triumph over Florida State in the Peach Bowl last season. Read More
•September 7, 2016•
Okaw Valley varsity golfers hosted a triangular meet at Eagle Creek Aug. 30.
The Okaw Valley team won with a 174. Shelbyville was second with a 192 followed by Mt. Pulaski at 248.
Medalist was Tanner Coleman, Okaw Valley 41.
Individual scoring leaders: Cameron Nickerson Okaw Valley 43; Austin Harshman, Okaw Valley 43; Payton Howell, Shelbyville 43; Case Crawford, Okaw Valley 47; Daythan Summers, Shelbyville 47. Read More
•September 7, 2016•
Knights volleyball improved the Arthur-Lovington/Atwood-Hammond varsity record to 3-0 following a two set win over Villa Grove Sept. 1.
The ALAH volleyball team used the home court to full advantage winning 25-14 and 25-10 over the Villa Grove team. Read More
•September 7, 2016•
Okaw Valley High School varsity volleyball had three close sets with Neoga Sept. 1 with the host team winning the match 2-1.
The visitors came out strong with Okaw Valley taking Neoga 25-23 in the first set. Neoga took advantage edging Okaw Valley by three points 25-22. The toughest match went down to the wire with Neoga winning the set 27-25 and the match. Read More
•September 7, 2016•
Arcola golf won a triangular match September 1 vs. Oblong and Villa Grove at Kaskaskia Country Club.
Clayton Miller was the medalist shooting another even par round 35. Shandon Hershchberger was runner up shooting a one over 36. Arcola-ALAH record is now 11-1.
Team Scores: Arcola - 163, Villa Grove - 189, Oblong - 193. Read More