Matt Schuckman, Sports Editor
October 26, 2023 | By Matt Schuckman, Sports Editor
CHILLICOTHE, Ill. — The response was swift, sudden and significant. “That was a bit of a soul-crushing goal,” Quincy Notre Dame’s Mason Monteyne said. Title-dashing, too. In the 14th minute of Wednesday night’s Class 1A Chillicothe IVC Sectional championship, senior forward Leo Cann gave the Quincy Notre Dame boys soccer team a 2-1 lead over…
Read Full Article October 26, 2023 | By Matt Schuckman, Sports Editor
CHILLICOTHE, Ill. — The reign is over. The Quincy Notre Dame boys soccer team, the defending Class 1A state champion, was eliminated from the postseason Wednesday night, losing 5-2 to Peoria Christian in the championship game of the Class 1A Chillicothe Sectional. Muddy River Sports Editor Matt Schuckman was at IVC High School and put…
Read Full Article October 25, 2023 | By Matt Schuckman, Sports Editor
HANNIBAL, Mo. — Thomas Janes understood his role when the season began, and it had far less to do with creating or denying scoring opportunities than it did with keeping the Hannibal boys soccer team on course. Graysen Crabill found himself in the same situation. The two senior defenders are the only upperclassmen on a…
Read Full Article October 25, 2023 | By Matt Schuckman, Sports Editor
QUINCY — The Quincy University men’s basketball team will play its only exhibition game next Monday against the University of Iowa at Carver-Hawkeye Arena in Iowa City, Iowa. The Hawkeyes are picked ninth in the Big Ten Conference’s preseason media poll. Muddy River Sports Editor Matt Schuckman spent time with the Hawks at Pepsi Arena…
Read Full Article October 23, 2023 | By Matt Schuckman, Sports Editor
QUINCY — Quincy High School football coach Rick Little’s biggest chore and most constant worry isn’t prepping the Blue Devils for the playoffs. It’s filling a potential open week on the 2024 schedule. Last January, Rock Island Alleman informed Western Big 6 Conference principals and officials it would not field a varsity football team during…
Read Full Article October 22, 2023 | By Matt Schuckman, Sports Editor
QUINCY — An answered prayer, a unique draw and a top spot on the bracket. The revealing of the Illinois High School Association’s football playoff pairings had some of the intrigue teams crave and an intriguing twist with the final team to qualify for the 256-team field spread over eight classes. Quincy Notre Dame, which…
Read Full Article October 22, 2023 | By Matt Schuckman, Sports Editor
CHILLICOTHE, Ill. — The value of Max Frericks’ presence in goal can’t be overstated or undersold. He’s a game changer. The Mendota boys soccer team became the latest to realize so Saturday in a penalty-kick shootout to decide who plays for a Class 1A sectional championship. The 6-foot-3 Quincy Notre Dame senior goalkeeper stopped the…
Read Full Article October 22, 2023 | By Matt Schuckman, Sports Editor
QUINCY — One hundred minutes Saturday afternoon wasn’t enough for either the Quincy Notre Dame or Mendota boys soccer team to can any separation. So the recent postseason nemesis went to a penalty kick shootout to decide who advanced. The Raiders won the shootout 4-1, giving them a 3-2 victory and a spot in Wednesday’s…
Read Full Article October 21, 2023 | By Matt Schuckman, Sports Editor
QUINCY — Jack Mettemeyer found the end zone in his final regular-season game at Flinn Stadium, helping the Quincy High School football team put a stamp on a dominant fourth quarter and a 56-33 victory over Mahomet-Seymour on Friday night. The victory pushed QHS’s record to 9-0, marking just the second undefeated regular season in…
Read Full Article October 21, 2023 | By Matt Schuckman, Sports Editor
QUINCY — A season’s worth of build-up and an unblemished record carried the Quincy High School football team to the doorstep of history Friday night. All that remained was one final step. It may have been the most arduous and gratifying step these Blue Devils have taken. Leading state-ranked Mahomet-Seymour by just two points at…
Read Full Article October 21, 2023 | By Matt Schuckman, Sports Editor
QUINCY — For the first time since 1935, the Quincy High School football team finished the regular season undefeated, capping a 9-0 run with Friday night’s 56-33 victory over Mahomet-Seymour at Flinn Stadium. Muddy River Sports Editor Matt Schuckman captured some of the images of the victory for this photo gallery:
Read Full Article October 20, 2023 | By Matt Schuckman, Sports Editor
QUINCY — The Illinois High School Association promotes a sportsmanship program entitled “Do What’s Right!” Thursday, the IHSA followed its own motto and did the right thing. IHSA executive director Craig Anderson and assistant executive director Beth Sauser acknowledged the red card issued to QND goalkeeper Max Frericks during the second of the boys soccer…
Read Full Article October 19, 2023 | By Matt Schuckman, Sports Editor
QUINCY — Some of the postseason drama that comes with Week 9 has been eliminated already, although a couple of Illinois prep football teams need victories to enhance their postseason prospects. Here is a look at what’s on tap this week: Mahomet-Seymour (7-1) at Quincy High School (8-0), 7 p.m. • WTAD 930 AM •…
Read Full Article October 19, 2023 | By Matt Schuckman, Sports Editor
MONMOUTH, Ill. — What Quincy Notre Dame boys soccer coach Greg Reis preaches in practice seems to resonate with his players. At the very least, sophomore midfielder Sullivan “Sully” Walker is listening. “(Reis) has been telling me ever since I scored my first goal to crash the goalie because you’re always there to make something…
Read Full Article October 19, 2023 | By Matt Schuckman, Sports Editor
MONMOUTH, Ill. — The definition of a “ball in hand” is going to determine if Max Frericks will be the Quincy Notre Dame boys soccer team’s starting goalkeeper come Saturday. Right now, sophomore Carter Hankins needs to be ready to fill that role. Frericks, the senior goalkeeper who was the backstop on last year’s Class…
Read Full Article October 19, 2023 | By Matt Schuckman, Sports Editor
MONMOUTH, Ill. — The Quincy Notre Dame boys soccer team figured out how to use the rain and the pace of play it created on Pattee Fields grass surface to score four second-half goals and beat Monmouth-Roseville 5-2 in Wednesday’s Class 1A regional championship. Muddy River Sports Editor Matt Schuckman hung out in the rain…
Read Full Article October 18, 2023 | By Matt Schuckman, Sports Editor
QUINCY — A 3-0 loss to Collinsville in the Class 3A regional semifinals Tuesday night brought the Quincy High School boys soccer team’s season to an end one game into the postseason. If only Mundelein Carmel could have been so lucky. The Corsairs are watching the postseason unfold instead of playing in it. Had things…
Read Full Article October 18, 2023 | By Matt Schuckman, Sports Editor
FARMINGTON, Mo. — Siena Minor finished with a flourish, helping the Hannibal girls golf team set a standard future golfers can chase. Minor, a senior, birdied three of her final eight holes Tuesday to shoot a 2-under 70 at Crown Pointe Golf Club to finish third individually at the Class 3 state tournament. She is…
Read Full Article October 17, 2023 | By Matt Schuckman, Sports Editor
QUINCY — The Pit provided the perfect atmosphere to goodbye, even if it had Emma Hoing shedding tears. “I was so emotional tonight,” Hoing said. “I cried.” She also delivered. A senior outside hitter on the Quincy Notre Dame volleyball team, Hoing threw down a team-leading eight kills to power the Raiders to a 25-19,…
Read Full Article October 17, 2023 | By Matt Schuckman, Sports Editor
QUINCY — Two rambunctious student sections, splashes of pink throughout the gym and lively play on both sides of the net made for an entertaining crosstown showdown Monday night at The Pit. The Quincy Notre Dame volleyball team capped an undefeated regular season at home with a 25-19, 25-15 victory over Quincy High School on…
Read Full Article October 17, 2023 | By Matt Schuckman, Sports Editor
QUINCY — Videographer Frank Cann put together a highlight package from Monday night’s crosstown showdown between the Quincy High School and Quincy Notre Dame volleyball teams at The Pit. The Raiders won 25-19, 25-15.
Read Full Article October 15, 2023 | By Matt Schuckman, Sports Editor
HANNIBAL, Mo. — The Hannibal girls golf team is making history one event after another. Come Monday, when the Pirates tee it up at Crown Pointe Golf Club in Farmington, Mo., in the Class 3 state tournament, it will be the first time in program history they will play at state as a team. The…
Read Full Article October 14, 2023 | By Matt Schuckman, Sports Editor
QUINCY — The crown fits perfectly. Favored to win the Western Big 6 Conference championship and never shying away from those expectations, the Quincy High School football players finished off an undefeated run to a league title Friday night, beating Geneseo 35-7 at Flinn Stadium. It is the Blue Devils’ first WB6 championship since 2016,…
Read Full Article October 14, 2023 | By Matt Schuckman, Sports Editor
QUINCY — The Quincy High School football players proved they can be resourceful. Late in the fourth quarter Friday night at Flinn Stadium and the starters on the sidelines with a 35-7 lead over Geneseo, a plan was hatched to dump a cooler of water on Blue Devils coach Rick Little at game’s end to…
Read Full Article October 13, 2023 | By Matt Schuckman, Sports Editor
EWING, Mo. — The Highland softball team heads into the postseason as the No. 1-ranked team in Class 2, riding an 18-game win streak and backed by a record-setting offensive attack. The Cougars’ captains — Emma Harshberger, Olivia Ritterbusch and Haleigh Winter — joined Highland coach Paul Scifres on the tailgate of Muddy River Sports…
Read Full Article October 12, 2023 | By Matt Schuckman, Sports Editor
QUINCY — From a movie made before any of the Quincy High School football players were born comes a line that resonates with what the Blue Devils are trying to achieve. They are chasing perfection, the same way the T.C. Williams Titans were. In the closing sequence of “Remember the Titans,” a movie released in…
Read Full Article October 12, 2023 | By Matt Schuckman, Sports Editor
QUINCY — Anika Reddy talks about her game in the same manner she handles forehands and backhands. Steady and straight. “If you get overconfident, you start missing shots and hitting shots out that could have been winners,” said Reddy, the No. 1 singles player in the Quincy High School girls tennis team’s lineup. “If you…
Read Full Article October 12, 2023 | By Matt Schuckman, Sports Editor
QUINCY — The Quincy University women’s soccer team planned to board a charter bus at 9 a.m. Friday and head toward Kansas City for a pair of Great Lakes Valley Conference games that will impact the Hawks’ postseason pursuit. The Hawks did so without a full roster. A tumultuous week featuring one player being dismissed…
Read Full Article October 12, 2023 | By Matt Schuckman, Sports Editor
QUINCY — It started with the American Association’s longest hitting streak of the season and ended with Rookie of the Year honors. Dayson Croes’ first season as a professional baseball player was an undeniable hit. He capped it with a tournament championship in Mexico. Croes, the former Quincy University All-American infielder, signed with the Winnipeg…
Read Full Article October 12, 2023 | By Matt Schuckman, Sports Editor
QUINCY — The Illinois prep football playoff picture is starting to gain some clarity. Six teams in our area have qualified, should qualify or could qualify depending on what happens over the final two weeks of the regular season. Around the state, some coaches and other prognosticators are updating and changing brackets, opinions and thoughts…
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