ALAH Lady Knights Win Opener

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•November 18, 2015•

Arthur-Lovington/Atwood-Hammond girls’ basketball started off with a home win against Meridian Monday night,.

The Lady Knights topped the Lady Hawks 49-31. The junior varsity also won 41-23.

It was a strong first quarter with ALAH scoring 20 points to Meridian’s three. Second quarter held momentum for the Lady Knights as they outscored Meridian 14 to 8 this time, heading into the half ahead 34-11.

In the third quarter the paced slowed to a 10-6 score with Meridian coming back in the fourth quarter to score 14 to the ALAH five points. The final score was 49-31. Read More

Big News for the Sullivan Blue Dolphins

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Photo submitted Blue Dolphin first place relay team. Top row- Natalie Drury, Anna Wooters Bottom row- Brynna Sentel, McKenna Kull.

Photo submitted
Blue Dolphin first place relay team. Top row- Natalie Drury, Anna Wooters Bottom row- Brynna Sentel, McKenna Kull.

•November 18, 2015•

It was big news for the Sullivan Blue Dolphin swim team over the weekend with the first place 200 freestyle relay team advancing to the state meet at New Trier High School Friday, Nov. 20.

The sectional relay team includes Brynna Sentel, Natalie Drury, Anna Wooters and McKenna Kull with Lily Bales as alternate.

Sentel also took first place in the 100 backstroke.

Coach Jason Drury explained that swimming at state does not follow class divisions as in other high school sports. Sullivan Blue Dolphin swimmers compete against all high school swimmers in the state at the New Trier meet.

Blue Dolphins swimming in the weekend competition in addition to Sentel, Drury, Wooters, Kull and Bales were Michaela Donnel, Sara Griffin, Cadisen Nuzzo, Anna Wooters and Allison Oligschlaeger.

Sullivan High School swimmers placed fourth overall out of 16 teams at the sectional level.

Further results from the sectionals are fourth place- 200 medley relay team of Oligschlaeger, Griffin, Bales and Donnel; 200 freestyle - third place Kull, 11th place Nuzzo.

200 IM- third Sentel, sixth Oligschlaeger; 50 freestyle- Bales, Nuzzo; 100 butterfly - 10th Bales, 11th Drury; 100 freestyle- fourth Wooters, fifth Kull.
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Mo-Co Rush 10U Completes Fall Season with 18-2 Record

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Photo Submitted Front Row L-R: Mackenzie Condill-Arthur, Alaina Moore-Sullivan, Kailee Otto-Arthur, Kaitlyn Drew-Villa Grove, Alisha Frederick-Arthur, Charley Condill-Arthur, Kacie Sisk-Arcola. Middle Row L-R: Bailey Bennett-Bethany, Kayla Schnippel-Mt. Zion, Ayla Condill-Arthur, Ella Kinkelaar-Mode, Reese Nichols-Findlay, Breanna Gray-Decatur. Back Row L-R: Coaches Kurt Schnippel, Wes Frederick, Dru Bennett and Ginny Condill. Mo-Co Rush 10U Completes Fall Season with 18-2 Record The Mo-Co Rush 10U completed their fall season Halloween weekend by finishing 6-0 in the Olney Halloween Extreme Tournament. The Rush won three pool play games on Saturday and followed that up with three more victories in bracket play Sunday. On Sunday three different Rush pitchers tossed shutouts as the Rush won 12-0, 6-0 and 4-0 to take the title. The Rush finished with an 18-2 record this fall; finishing second twice, and first twice in four tournaments. They averaged 11 runs per game while allowing only 3.5 runs per game. The 10U season continues in January with an indoor tournament in Indianapolis followed by a busy spring and summer that could see them enter tournaments in Pekin, Evansville, Terre Haute, Springfield, Mattoon, Charleston, Effingham, St. Louis, Kankakee and elsewhere. For more information on all of the Rush teams go to www.mocorush.com.

Photo Submitted
Front Row L-R: Mackenzie Condill-Arthur, Alaina Moore-Sullivan, Kailee Otto-Arthur, Kaitlyn Drew-Villa Grove, Alisha Frederick-Arthur, Charley Condill-Arthur, Kacie Sisk-Arcola. Middle Row L-R: Bailey Bennett-Bethany, Kayla Schnippel-Mt. Zion, Ayla Condill-Arthur, Ella Kinkelaar-Mode, Reese Nichols-Findlay, Breanna Gray-Decatur. Back Row L-R: Coaches Kurt Schnippel, Wes Frederick, Dru Bennett and Ginny Condill.
Mo-Co Rush 10U Completes Fall Season with 18-2 Record
The Mo-Co Rush 10U completed their fall season Halloween weekend by finishing 6-0 in the Olney Halloween Extreme Tournament.
The Rush won three pool play games on Saturday and followed that up with three more victories in bracket play Sunday.
On Sunday three different Rush pitchers tossed shutouts as the Rush won 12-0, 6-0 and 4-0 to take the title. The Rush finished with an 18-2 record this fall; finishing second twice, and first twice in four tournaments.
They averaged 11 runs per game while allowing only 3.5 runs per game. The 10U season continues in January with an indoor tournament in Indianapolis followed by a busy spring and summer that could see them enter tournaments in Pekin, Evansville, Terre Haute, Springfield, Mattoon, Charleston, Effingham, St. Louis, Kankakee and elsewhere.
For more information on all of the Rush teams go to www.mocorush.com.

Redskins Get Run Over by Newton

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Photo by Keith Stewart SOV quarterback Ty Molzen tries to stay upright while carrying the ball past two Newton defenders Saturday night. Molzen would lead the Redskins in rushing with 62 yards on 14 carries, while completing 13 of 23 passes for 88 yards and two interceptions.

Photo by Keith Stewart
SOV quarterback Ty Molzen tries to stay upright while carrying the ball past two Newton defenders Saturday night. Molzen would lead the Redskins in rushing with 62 yards on 14 carries, while completing 13 of 23 passes for 88 yards and two interceptions.

•November 4, 2015•

by Keith Stewart
For the NewsProgress

When you think of Newton, you might as well think of a pair of brutal running backs who are almost impossible to stop, particularly junior Mitch Bierman.

Such was the case Saturday when the Eagles defeated SOV 46-21 with a 400-plus rushing attack, including Bierman’s own 295 yards on 22 carries for three touchdowns.

“They’re a darn good football team, and that’s a good back,” said SOV head coach Gerald Temples. “We worked our tail off on run fits and stuff for the cutback, and they’re good enough, and he’s good enough if you don’t do it just right, he finds the seam. And he did. We made a few mistakes. Believe it or not, and people probably won’t, but first half, there are just a couple execution things that we were so close on, but teams that lose tend to say that.”

Monstrous rushing yardage aside, SOV was able to make stops throughout the evening, most notably at the start of the third quarter when they forced the only Newton three-and-out.

The series began with Bierman rushing for just three yards as Max Todd quickly made the tackle. A false start was then called on the Eagles, dropping them back for a loss of five. On 2-and-12, a pass attempt was nearly picked off by Pierce Bradford. Bringing on the punt unit would then be Alex Martin after he tackled Bierman for a 2-yard loss.

And so it would seem that the halftime talk Temples gave his team worked, at least to begin. Read More

ALAH Volleyball Team Falls to Tuscola at Regionals

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•November 4, 2015•

The Arthur-Lovington/Atwood-Hammond Knights volleyball team faced Tuscola at home during regional tournament action Tuesday, October 27.

A spirited first game ended with Tuscola ahead 25-23. In the second game Tuscola won 25-13 to end the season for the Knights. ALAH varsity finished 12-15 overall and 3-4 in conference play. Read More

Lady Timberwolves Bow Out of Post-Season

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Photo by Keith Stewart Okaw Valley’s Madison Fox watches the ball after tipping it over the net Thursday against St. Anthony during the Neoga regional semi-final.

Photo by Keith Stewart
Okaw Valley’s Madison Fox watches the ball after tipping it over the net Thursday against St. Anthony during the Neoga regional semi-final.

•November 4, 2015•

by Keith Stewart
For the NewsProgress

Last Thursday’s regional semifinal match saw Okaw Valley’s volleyball team ousted in a lopsided two-set decision 25-23, 25-9.

Coming into the Neoga regional ranked no. 7, Okaw Valley received a semifinal matchup with no. three ranked St. Anthony, a team whom they had not seen all season long.

And through the first set, it appeared that both teams were evenly matched.

The two sides went back and forth, exchanging points up through a 9-9 tie when the Lady Bulldogs began to pull away.

A service fault called on OV was followed by too deep of a hit by Kristy Burford and then an ace. Megan Dash’s kill attempt would sail out before Nicole Miller’s tip earned the Timberwolves the sideout. Dash would then earn a kill, but her next two attempts would go too far, helping St. Anthony get out to a 16-11 lead before a Dash hit ricochet off Hannah Will. Dash would then put up her best serving of the night, recording two aces to pull within one before a St. Anthony timeout iced her at the line.

Two unforced errors later and OV was back down by four.

But not long after, though down 22-18, the Timberwolves would set out on a 4-0 run with three kills and a tip by Miller. But yet another hit too deep would put the Bulldogs back in the lead, up 23-22. Another Dash kill would tie the game, but then a serve out of bounds and an ace later, and OV dropped the first set. Read More

ALAH Knights Rally to Defeat Timberwolves

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•October 28, 2015•

The Arthur-Lovington/Atwood-Hammond Knights’ volleyball team rallied to defeat Okaw Valley 25-15 and 25-16 on Tuesday, October 20.

The Knights varsity record is 12-13 with a 3-3 conference tally.

Chelsey Chupp had one kill and one dig; Hannah Leal one dig; Abby Foreman two aces, six kills and one dig. Read More

Playoff Bound Redskins Drop Regular Season Finale

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•October 28, 2015•

By Matt Kracht
NP Sports Reporter

Sullivan Okaw Valley fell 42-38 on a last second play against the Clinton Maroons Friday night.

The Redskins held a 10 point lead late in the fourth quarter until a pair of costly turnovers allowed Clinton to steal the conference matchup.  Redskin head coach Gerald Temples said the loss was a disappointing one.   “I told them if we let them hang around, it’s going to be a ball game, and we let them hang around.  It is just disappointing tonight.”

In a classic rivalry game from the old Okaw, the Maroons would score first on a 40 yard touchdown pass aided by the wind to go up 6-0 with 8:18 remaining in the first quarter.

Alec Ballinger proceeded to take the ensuing kickoff 90 yards for the touchdown.  The Redskins special team unit got the inside pursuit sealed off, created a lane and Ballinger turned on the afterburners.  Just like that the Redskins were back on top 7-6 with only eight seconds off the clock.

Clinton punted on its next possession backing the Redskins’ offense up to their own 10 yard line.  Ty Molzen would orchestrate a two minute 90 yard scoring drive capped off with a 50 yard touchdown pass to Bryce Farris.  Farris, who has a nose for the endzone, was uncovered in the slot, and Molzen hit him in stride streaking down the seam alone.  The touchdown pass extended the Redskin lead to 13-6 with 5:22 left in the opening quarter.

Clinton answered with a body blow going 72 yards in four minutes to retake the lead on a 21 yard run.  The Maroons added a two point conversion to go back on top 14-13.  Clinton would score again early in the second quarter to push the lead to 21-13 with just over nine minutes remaining in the first half.   Read More