Matt Schuckman, Sports Editor
QUINCY — Day by day, football season draws near. This week, gridiron fans get their first taste of the upcoming season as NFL training camps get underway. Rookies and veterans for both the Chicago Bears and Kansas City Chiefs have reported, and every team will have its camp in full swing by Wednesday. A handful…
Read Full Article 
QUINCY — Flinn Stadium’s turf field is getting a facelift. Work has been ongoing throughout the summer to lay down a new artificial turf surface at Quincy High School’s venerable outdoor facility, and this week, crews began putting strips of turf in place. It replaces a surface that was installed in 2011 and had exceeded…
Read Full Article 
MACOMB, Ill. — There’s a phrase first-year Western Illinois University football coach Joe Davis dropped during his time talking to media members during Wednesday’s Big South-Ohio Valley Conference Virtual Media Day that the Leathernecks better be prepared to hear often. Never them, always us. WIU is venturing into new territory this fall, having left the…
Read Full Article 
MACOMB, Ill. — In the seven months since Joe Davis became the Western Illinois University football coach, one thing above all else has become abundantly clear to him and everyone around him. Loyalty matters. To his players. To the football alumni. To WIU fans in general. Davis and his staff have embraced that and used…
Read Full Article 
QUINCY — Jacob Kroeger’s day began job hunting and ended with flight plans. That’s quite a way to start the week. Monday morning, the former Palmyra multi-sport athlete and recent All-American left-handed pitcher at Maryville University had a meeting about a potential graduate assistant position with a regional college athletic program. Monday night, he signed…
Read Full Article 
QUINCY — Jonny Bottorff is gearing up for what should arguably be the best season of his collegiate football career. The Quincy Notre Dame graduate heads into the 2024 season as the projected starter at center for Northern Arizona. The 6-foot-3, 295-pound Bottorff earned second-team All-Big Sky Conference honors last season after transferring from Missouri…
Read Full Article 
PALMYRA, Mo. — The most prolific strikeout pitcher in the history of the Maryville University baseball program is going to get the chance to prove he can bury hitters in the pros. He’s making history for the Palmyra baseball program as well. Jacob Kroeger, a left-handed hurler who recently completed his playing career as a…
Read Full Article 
QUINCY — The afternoon sun hung high in a cloudless sky above an empty parking lot, making it impossible to escape just how luminous it can be. Ethan Rose didn’t shy away from it, even when brightness is his nemesis. “There’s nothing like having your eyesight,” he said. “It’s something you take for granted. Like…
Read Full Article 
QUINCY — Make it two for two for Dayson Croes. An All-American infielder while playing for the Quincy University baseball team, Croes recently earned his second all-star honor in his second season playing professional baseball. He was named a starter for the West Division for the American Association of Professional Baseball All-Star Game. Croes, who…
Read Full Article 
QUINCY — The best summer collegiate baseball is played on Cape Cod in Massachusetts, and Quincy High School graduate Kenny Taylor has a front row seat to see it all. The former Blue Devils outfielder is spending his summer as an intern with the Orleans Firebirds in the Cape Cod League, which means he is…
Read Full Article 
PITTSFIELD, Ill. — The Sangamo Conference football coaches are scrambling, and it could result in Pittsfield being without a season-opening game. Monday, Riverton officials announced publicly it will not field a varsity football team for the upcoming season due to low participation numbers. The statement released by the school said it will field a junior…
Read Full Article 
QUINCY — Random musings after digging into the archives on a random July night … • Lucas Loos finds his name on Baseball America’s list of the top 100 college senior sign targets for the upcoming Major League Baseball amateur draft. Because the Payson Seymour and John Wood Community College graduate has exhausted his NCAA…
Read Full Article 
URSA, Ill. — The sun had already started its dive toward the horizon as Armando and Cindy Gonzalez settled in to their chairs, but the fading daylight didn’t bother them. “Fresh batteries and all,” Armando said as he held up the lantern he planned to use after dusk. His wife of 30 years reached into…
Read Full Article 
QUINCY — David Hutson and Luke Siebers were met with a challenge when they joined a pair of their former Quincy Notre Dame golf teammates for the final nine holes of what turned out to be a record-setting round Thursday. Just don’t kill the vibe. Truth be told, they probably enhanced it. When they arrived…
Read Full Article 
QUINCY — Alex McCulla knew his record-setting round needed to be signed for and verified. So after his foursome that included former Quincy Notre Dame golf teammates Jack Leffers, David Hutson and Luke Siebers completed their round Thursday afternoon, they went to the clubhouse so there’d be witnesses. McCulla, the reigning Quincy men’s city champion…
Read Full Article 
QUINCY — Engage Ben Kasparie in a conversation about baseball if you get the chance. What you will discover is a player whose appreciation for the craft is as strong as his spirit to compete. “A swing is like painting a picture,” said Kasparie, a graduate of Quincy Notre Dame and John Wood Community College…
Read Full Article 
QUINCY — Sweet or salty? Creamy or crunchy? King size or nibbles? How do you like your snacks? Muddy River Sports Editor Matt Schuckman and Daily Dirt scribe and Muddy River Sports racing writer Steve Eighinger break down their favorite snack foods for the latest episode of The List. If you have an idea for…
Read Full Article 
QUINCY — The windshield time Wyatt Mueller and his parents logged criss-crossing the Midwest as the Quincy Notre Dame senior football player was courted by college recruiters grew increasingly tiresome. “The worst part was driving everywhere,” Mueller said. “ And sitting in the car.” The miles driven and time away from home are going to…
Read Full Article 
QUINCY — Vegas, baby! The Club Four 17U Boost volleyball team is heading to the Mojave Desert and what is quickly becoming one of the nation’s epicenters for major sporting events — Las Vegas — to play in the USA Volleyball Girls Junior National Championships. The team leaves Monday and will participate in pool play…
Read Full Article 
SAINT LEO, Fla. — Josh Keim is climbing the coaching ladder. After four highly successful seasons at Black Hawk College in Moline, Ill., the former Quincy University assistant baseball coach was named the head coach at NCAA Division II Saint Leo University on Friday, replacing Rick O’Dette, who resigned June 13. Keim played for O’Dette…
Read Full Article 
QUINCY — Count ‘em one, two, three. That’s how many individual tumblers from Gem City Gymnastics and Tumbling captured national championships during the United States Tumbling Association National Championships, held last week in Louisville, Ky. Palmyra’s Ruby Akerson won the championship in the advanced girls 14-15 division, while Payson’s Kaylin Vazquez-Epperson took the title in…
Read Full Article 
QUINCY — The map shows Santa Clara, Calif., is nearly 2,000 miles away, but Bradley Longcor III doesn’t see it as being nearly that far. “We realized the plane flight is four hours,” the Quincy High School basketball standout said. “The other schools recruiting me are four hours away, too, except that’s a car ride…
Read Full Article 
CARTHAGE, Ill. — If the best is yet to come, Wesley Robertson will rewrite the Illini West baseball program’s entire record book. What he did during his sophomore campaign was pretty impressive as a starting point. The third baseman set the Chargers’ single-season record for RBIs, driving in 50 runs as Illini West went 28-5…
Read Full Article 
PLEASANT HILL, Ill. — McKinley Lowe and the Pleasant Hill softball team made history this spring. Not only did the Wolves win 26 games, but they became the first team in school history to play for a sectional championship. A 1-0 loss to Illini Bluffs ended the incredible run, but Lowe set aside the pain…
Read Full Article 
QUINCY — This wasn’t on Jonny Dahl’s birthday wish list, but it will go down as one of the most memorable gifts he’s ever received. “Unbelievable,” he called it. Nine days shy of his birthday — Dahl turns 28 years old on July 3 — he was officially introduced Monday as the new John Wood…
Read Full Article 
QUINCY — The tributes to Willie Mays since the Hall of Fame baseball player passed away have been captivating and enlightening. If you watched FOX’s pregame show prior to the St. Louis Cardinals facing the San Francisco Giants at Rickwood Field in Birmingham, Ala., you were treated to some of the most well-produced and engaging…
Read Full Article 
QUINCY — Zach Richardson first became a household name in this region as a three-sport standout athlete at Louisiana, Mo., and later as a member of the Truman State University football team. He made his way back close to home when he joined KHQA as a sports and news reporter. Three years later, Richardson is…
Read Full Article 
QUINCY — Had the week been solely about football and showcasing his talents for a state-wide audience, Chris Flachs would have walked away satisfied. The heart-felt moments that accompanied playing the game he loves sent him home humbled. The recent Quincy High School graduate and soon-to-be Quincy University freshman offensive lineman took part in the…
Read Full Article 
QUINCY — Lauren Bogle decision to resign as the John Wood Community College women’s basketball coach in early May was partially based on a desire to join a staff where she could learn more from a seasoned head coach. “It’s time to go learn under someone new now, and that means finding another spot,” Bogle…
Read Full Article 
QUINCY — At its most fundamental level, the goal of golf is the same for a 5-year-old, a 75-year-old and everyone in between. Put the ball in the hole. The reaction to accomplishing that can be decidedly different however. Sometimes, it’s a fist pump and a Hallelujah. Other times, it’s an exasperated sigh or a…
Read Full Article