Shane Hulsey, Sports Writer
QUINCY — Annie Eaton’s volleyball acumen continues to amaze first-year Quincy Notre Dame coach Danielle White. For a handful of points during Monday’s West Central Conference match against Camp Point Central, Eaton, normally a setter, found herself at outside hitter in a rotation White likes to implement from time to time. “I remember this summer…
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HANNIBAL, Mo. — Kevin Westhoff knows how intense and physical the Hannibal soccer team’s games against Marshall can be. “Playing them all four years of high school, it’s always been like this,” Westhoff siad. “It just gets crazier and crazier each year.” And in a game that featured three red cards, several hard fouls, and…
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QUINCY — The Quincy University women’s volleyball team fed the hot hand, and the Hawks parlayed that momentum into one of their most dominant sets of the season. In Saturday’s Great Lakes Valley Conference and homecoming match against Missouri S&T, Quincy sophomore outside hitter Susanna Beretti finished the third set with three straight kills, and…
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QUINCY — A touchdown in a game separated by 35 points with less than two minutes left in the fourth quarter can seem insignificant. Try telling that to Harold Williams. Williams’ 28-yard touchdown run with 1:41 to go punctuated state-ranked Quincy High School’s 49-7 Western Big 6 Conference victory over United Township on Friday night…
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HANNIBAL, Mo. — Sometimes a team’s record doesn’t tell the whole story. Hannibal football coach Jeff Gschwender believes that is the case regarding the Pirates’ 2-2 start to 2024. “I feel like we’re a little better off than where I expected to be,” Gshwender said. Gschwender’s positive outlook stems from not only the Pirates’ lopsided…
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CARTHAGE, Ill. — Even though the Macomb volleyball team won the first set of its Prairieland Conference match Tuesday against Illini West, Bombers coach Briana Rexroat knew they could play a cleaner second set. The Bombers committed 11 combined service and hitting errors in the first set, and Rexroat gave her team a benchmark to…
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MACOMB, Ill. — The doubt Quinn Rexroat once had has transformed into confidence. Rexroat had mixed feelings about moving from libero, a position she had played for the first six years of her volleyball career, to setter as a freshman at Macomb High School. “I just liked controlling the defense and I didn’t really like…
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QUINCY — Beau Eftink and Dylan Kies may have found their new good luck charm. The Quincy Notre Dame tandem rocked Snoop Dogg shirts — black button-ups with a No. 93 and ‘Dogg’ written on the back — and Spider-Man hats to go along with their American flag pants as they won both of their…
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PAYSON, Ill. — Quincy Notre Dame volleyball coach Danielle White knows the days are ticking away until the postseason begins. “Forty days is not a lot, so we have to start really performing how we are going to want to be performing come that 40-day mark,” White said. That was White’s message to her team…
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MONROE CITY, Mo. — The end of an era for the Monroe City softball program is coming soon. Panthers coach Melissa Chinn tries not to let that cross her mind. “It’s very sad to think about,” Chinn said. At the same time, she is grateful for having been able to coach each of the three…
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QUINCY — The American flag pants the Quincy Notre Dame boys golf team wears each year during the Quincy Ryder Cup might not be the most comfortable, but Raiders junior Aiden Tangy would gladly trade a little bit of discomfort to look stylish. “They’re very hot, but they’re really cool,” Tangy said. “I think they…
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HANNIBAL, Mo. — The Hannibal boys soccer team may not have earned the opportunity to play for a championship in its own tournament, but Kevin Westhoff and the Pirates relished the chance to exact revenge on Rolla — the team that, until Saturday, had handed Hannibal its only loss of the season. Westhoff’s penalty kick…
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PALMYRA, Mo. — Monroe City freshman Anna Russell is quick to point out what makes the Flower City Park cross country course — the site of Saturday’s 10th annual Palmyra Invitational — so challenging. “Lots of hills,” Russell said. It wasn’t just the number of hills that made it so tough, either. “The gradual incline…
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MONROE CITY, Mo. — South Shelby senior linebacker Daniel Timbrook didn’t score, but his interception turned the tide just the same. With the Cardinals leading Monroe City 12-6 and 6:35 to go in the second quarter of Friday’s Clarence Cannon Conference opener at Lankford Field, Monroe City running back Dylan Ross broke off a 54-yard…
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QUINCY — Fearless. If Quincy High School volleyball coach Kate Brown had to pick one adjective to describe the way her team is playing right now, this is the one she would choose. “They’ve found that fight and the fuel to the fire,” Brown said. The Blue Devils scratched and clawed their way to a…
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CANTON, Mo. — Allie Ruffcorn wasn’t just pitching for the Canton softball team on Wednesday. She was pitching for Carson Birck. Birck, a 2020 Canton graduate and former Tigers baseball and basketball player, died Tuesday during a work-related accident. “I cried a lot during warmups,” Ruffcorn said. “I didn’t go to school today. I just…
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MONROE CITY, Mo. — The Monroe City football team sees the train coming down the tracks. “The kids know what’s coming,” Panthers coach David Kirby said. And as the train that bears the name South Shelby quickly approaches, Kirby knows the kind of performance it will take to knock off the reigning Clarence Cannon Conference…
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PAYSON, Ill. — You can take Ella Archer out of volleyball, but you can’t take volleyball out of Ella Archer. The Payson Seymour do-everything senior, who also plays softball and basketball, decided to step away from volleyball during her junior year. “I just needed a break, a little time off to kind of regroup,” Archer…
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AUGUSTA, Ill. — Amanda Stephens knows the Southeastern volleyball team has bigger fish to fry, but that doesn’t diminish the excitement of winning a tournament on their home floor. “This is only the beginning,” Stephens said. Southeastern went 5-0 and didn’t lose a set en route to a Lady Suns Classic title. The Suns swept…
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QUINCY — That’s more like it. The Quincy Notre Dame boys soccer team had only scored five goals in its first five games, but the Raiders’ performance, especially offensively in the second half, in their 6-1 victory Saturday over Lincoln at Advance Physical Therapy Field is an encouraging sign. “That’s more of what I was…
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BOWLING GREEN, Mo. — While Mark St. Clair’s 200th career head coaching victory will go on his personal resume, he was quick to pass the credit to others in his circle who have helped make that accomplishment possible. “There have been a lot of people who have contributed to every one of my wins —…
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AUGUSTA, Ill. — Kennedy Gunning’s reaction said it all. In a rematch of a three-set roller coaster that took place just nine days ago, Gunning delivered the game-winning kill for the Illini West volleyball team in a 20-25, 25-18, 15-11 victory over Camp Point Central in Lady Suns Classic pool play Thursday. Her subsequent celebration…
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CAMP POINT, Ill. — Hello, old friend. For the third time in a little more than a calendar year, the Camp Point Central and Hardin Calhoun football teams will clash when the Panthers make the 90-minute trek south to Hardin on Friday. “They played us as tough as anybody last year no matter who we…
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QUINCY — Less than 24 hours after the Quincy High School football team routed Quincy Notre Dame by four touchdowns, senior setter Annie Eaton and the QND volleyball team wanted to make amends. “Our football team didn’t have the greatest outcome, so we wanted to come out and show that volleyball’s got it,” Eaton said.…
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MONROE CITY, Mo. — Except for the final score, Dylan Ross wouldn’t have wanted it any other way. Ross, a senior running back and linebacker for Monroe City, welcomed the challenge of facing 15-time state champion Valle Catholic in Week One. “If we play a cupcake Week One, we’re just going to be known as…
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CARTHAGE, Ill. — Volleyball is often a game of momentum, but in Claire Huston’s eyes, the pivotal moment in Tuesday’s match between Camp Point Central and Illini West didn’t happen in the flow of play. After the Panthers cruised to a 25-18 first set victory, the Chargers punched back with a commanding 25-12 effort in…
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CARTHAGE, Ill. — The moment hit Sawyer Johnson as soon as she stepped into the gymnasium at Illini West High School on Tuesday. She was about to coach her first-ever high school volleyball game. “It was crazy,” Johnson said. “Stepping into that varsity game, seeing everybody and seeing the girls, it was like ‘OK, this…
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QUINCY — Danielle White feels like she is right where she belongs, but sometimes it doesn’t seem real. “I catch myself like, ‘Is this really happening?’” White said. The former Carthage Middle School volleyball coach took the reins of the Quincy Notre Dame program in March, and from the first day she stepped foot on…
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QUINCY — From her time playing college volleyball, Kate Brown understands the mental battles student-athletes go through. “I was terrible with mental toughness,” Brown said. “I would get so mad at myself. It wasn’t necessarily at my team, it was at me for not doing the things I know how to do.” That personal experience…
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Coverage of the Pleasant Hill football program brought to you by: PLEASANT HILL, Ill. — Numbers are up, and so is Mike Giles’ confidence. The Pleasant Hill/Western veteran football coach expects the Wolves to immerse themselves in the playoff hunt. “You hate to jinx it, but I think we’ll be right up there,” Giles said.…
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