Shane Hulsey, Sports Writer
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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HANNIBAL, Mo. — Kevin Westhoff has welcomed the change. Primarily a midfielder in his first two seasons with the Hannibal boys soccer program, Westhoff began playing center back for JB Marine, his club team based in St. Louis, last December and is moving to the back line this fall for the Pirates. “It’s a much…
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PALMYRA, Mo. — Physical, tough and disciplined. That is Dalton Hill’s mantra. “We don’t have to beat people based upon talent, but what we are going to do is we are going to be a physical team, we’re going to be a tough team, we’re going to be a disciplined team,” the second-year Palmyra football…
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Coverage of the Illini West football program brought to you by: CARTHAGE, Ill. — The Illini West football program is stuck in the middle, and Chargers coach Jacob Calvin senses the urgency to change that. “These kids are tired of it,” Calvin said. The Chargers head into this season looking to snap a playoff drought…
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AUGUSTA, Ill. — Amanda Stephens’ troublesome knee isn’t giving her trouble any longer. A senior setter and hitter on the Southeastern volleyball team, who has committed to Indiana University-Indianapolis, missed the final 12 matches of her junior season and watched the Suns fall in the Class 1A sectional semifinals all because the pain in her…
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CARTHAGE, Ill. — Four months ago, Sawyer Johnson was finishing up her animal science degree at Iowa State University. Now, she is the head coach of an Illini West volleyball team that won a regional championship and set a school record with 35 victories in 2023. “It’s been a challenging step for sure, but we’re…
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Coverage of the Hannibal football program brought to you by: HANNIBAL, Mo. — No Aneyas Williams, no problem. This is the prevailing attitude within the Hannibal football program. “With Aneyas or without Aneyas, we’re still going to win,” senior running back Mike Ferreira said. As Williams, who rushed for 4,255 yards and racked up 3,249…
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Coverage of the West Hancock football program is brought to you by: HAMILTON, Ill. — A change in scheme yielded substantial offensive improvements for the West Hancock football team in 2023. If the Titans take a similar leap forward in 2024, it will be with a new quarterback who set a school record at wide…
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QUINCY — Jason Knuffman’s confidence in the Quincy Notre Dame girls golf team is at an all-time high. “This is probably the most talented team I’ve coached since I started in 2017,” Knuffman said. “In the last 20 years, this could be as high as we’ve finished.” Those are lofty expectations considering the Raiders have…
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QUINCY — While the Quincy High School girls golf team may not be the favorites to sit atop the Western Big 6 Conference throne, second-year coach Tommy Hosteng wants to at least give the other schools a scare. “I want to challenge everyone else, give them hell,” Hosteng said. Being the underdog is unfamiliar territory…
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MACOMB, Ill. — Ladies first. The motto and message of Western Illinois University’s Women’s Football Night came across loud and clear. “Ladies first. We mean it when we say it,” WIU cornerbacks coach Elven Walker said. Walker was one of several WIU coaches and players who helped run drills at Hanson Field on Friday night…
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CARTHAGE, Ill. — Like millions of other football fans, Roan Jackson anxiously awaited a new college football video game. “I had a PlayStation 3 and I played NCAA Football 14 for the last five years,” Jackson said. “One of my friends had NCAA 14, and that’s how I started playing. I got it for my…
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CANTON, Mo. — As the calendar flips to August, Tom Sallay and the Culver-Stockton football team hope to turn over a new leaf. The Wildcats posted just one win in 2023 — their fewest since 2017 not including the 2020 COVID impacted season — and lost their final seven games by an average of 32…
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PITTSFIELD, Ill. — Sometimes when it feels like all hope is lost, the stars align perfectly. The Pittsfield and Jacksonville football teams can thank their lucky stars having found a Week One game after both schools’ originally scheduled opponents announced they weren’t going to play. “I wasn’t too sure we’d find a game,” Pittsfield coach…
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HANNIBAL, Mo. — Jansen Lawson couldn’t possibly do it, too, could he? Yes, he could. And he did. After Quincy High School graduate Brady Lowe hit an inside-the-park grand slam in the top of the first inning of Saturday’s Missouri vs. Illinois All-Star Game at the Veterans Sports Complex, Lawson, also a former Blue Devil,…
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HANNIBAL, Mo. — It felt different for Jacob Rich this time around. But at the same time, it all felt familiar. The South Shelby baseball coach took the reins of the Missouri team for Saturday’s 10th annual Missouri vs. Illinois All-Star Game at the Veterans Sports Complex. By doing so, he became the first person…
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QUINCY — Billiards has taken Kelly Fisher all over the world. This week, it has brought her here. Fisher, the No. 1-ranked player by the Women’s Professional Billiards Association, is playing in the America’s Heyball Championships at the Oakley-Lindsay Center, the first tournament of its kind in Quincy. Fisher’s resume is impressive and dynamic —…
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QUINCY — Through all of the chaos playing professional basketball overseas can create, former Quincy University standout Tanner Stuckman has held tight to one mantra. “Nothing is impossible,” said Stuckman, who walked on at QU following his prep career at Quincy Notre Dame and developed into a first-team All-Great Lakes Valley Conference selection by his…
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QUINCY — The prospects of bringing summer college baseball back to Quincy in 2025 are growing stronger. Quincy Mayor Mike Troup said since the fall of 2023, he and representatives of Quincy University have been in conversations with an ownership group with ties to the Prospect League’s Springfield Lucky Horseshoes about bringing a team to…
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