Sports
Basketball season is around the corner
It's November and time to start thinking about high school basketball. The girls' practices are already underway and the boys will open practice next Monday.
It's that time of year when I start turning pale and Dustin starts babbling. Alright, maybe it's not that bad. I began making phone calls Tuesday to set up photo sessions for the basketball teams. Dustin and I will hit the road with cameras in hand starting next week.
I also mumbled the same thing over and over as high school secretaries got tired of hearing me. 'Hi, this is Millie at the Effingham Daily News. Could you fax me a copy of your boys and girls basketball schedules?'
Those started rolling in and folks around the Daily News begin giving the sports department the evil eye as they hear the fax machine go off, walk to it and guess what . . . it's a sports schedule.
Next on the agenda will be the stories as each coach in the area . . . 21 boys coaches and 15 girls coaches . . . will hear Dustin's voice or my voice asking questions about their teams. Our basketball section will be inserted into the paper, Friday, Nov. 27.
Of course by then we'll have already been to several girls and boys games.
That brings up the Effingham St. Anthony High School Boys Turkey Tournament. The schedule arrived on my desk Tuesday and it's almost the same as last years. That's because the pool drawings were the same.
In Pool A are Effingham, St. Anthony, Taylorville and Vandalia. In Pool B are Breese Central, Charleston, Flora and Mattoon. The tournament opens Nov. 23 and finishes Nov. 28.
The tourney begins Monday, Nov. 23 with Charleston facing Flora at 6:30 p.m. Effingham takes on Vandalia at 8. Tuesday's games find Mattoon against Breese Central at 5 p.m. followed by Effingham meeting Taylorville at 6:30 and St. Anthony taking on Vandalia at 8.
In Wednesday's games, Flora meets Breese Central at 5 p.m., Mattoon takes on Charleston at 6:30 and St. Anthony faces Taylorville at 8. Play skips Thursday since that day is Thanksgiving. Friday's games will find Breese Central against Charleston at 3 p.m., Flora taking on Mattoon at 4:30, Taylorville against Vandalia at 6 and St. Anthony and Effingham squaring off at 7:30.
The tournament comes to a close Saturday with the pool number 4's meeting at 3 p.m., pool number 3's at 4:30, pool number 2's at 6 and pool number 1's at 7:30.
Admission to the event will be $4 for adults and $2 for students. All session passes will be for sale the first night for $15.
Breese Central won last year's tournament by defeating St. Anthony in the title contest 58-44. The third place game went to Mattoon over Effingham 50-43. Charleston won fifth place by beating Taylorville 50-40 and seventh place went to Vandalia over Flora 58-47.
The girls start the basketball season before the boys do. St. Anthony will travel to Newton for its first game Thursday, Nov. 19 and then take part in the National Trail Conference Tournament Nov. 20-28.
Effingham's girls begin play in the Newton Thanksgiving Tournament which is scheduled to begin Monday, Nov. 23 and run Nov. 24, 27 and 28. The Hearts regular season opens Tuesday, Dec. 1 with a home game against Newton.
So be on the lookout for basketball. And don't forget wrestling. The high school season begins the week of Thanksgiving for most area wrestling teams.
Millie Lange can be reached at 217-347-7151 ext. 124 or millie.lange@effinghamdailynews.com.
- Sports
-
-
Cumberland cross country lacks experience, has potential
The Cumberland Running Pirate cross-country teams will look to rebuild this year after a solid, but not stellar, 2009 season that saw the Pirates finish seventh in IHSA regionals.
-
Hearts make statement with opening win
For one team, it was a confidence-builder. For the other, it was a good test of a new offense. When the final point hit, Effingham had defeated crosstown rivals St. Anthony two sets to one in the season volleyball opener for both squads.
-
Strong pitching leads St. Anthony to a win
Ben Hecht’s two straight hits allowed in the top of the first inning that led to an early St. Elmo run were an aberration. A moment’s lapse in an otherwise strong pitching performance.
-
Local horses win at DuQuoin State Fair
Three of the richest events at the recently completed DuQuoin State Fair harness racing meet went to locally-based horses, led by an encore performance by Illinois State Fair champion Powerful Charger.
-
Eagles rally for win in season opener
Newton built a 26-7 lead through the first 32 minutes of Saturday afternoon’s season opener against Prairie Central only to see the Hawks score three consecutive touchdowns for a one-point lead with less than seven minutes to play in the game.
-
St. A wins, Effingham falls in soccer
The St. Antony Bulldogs were victorious in their season opener, beating Lincoln 1-0 in the opening game of the St. Anthony Bulldog tournament Friday night.
-
Bulldog tough
The St. Anthony soccer team is on the rise. Head coach Scott Demers thinks so. The Bulldogs, who struggled to win more than two games in seasons past, finally broke through in 2009 and finished with an 8-8-1 record. That was Demers’ first season, and for his second season he thinks the Bulldogs can achieve even more.
-
Effingham soccer gears up for Charleston tourney
Seniors on his roster is one thing Effingham soccer coach Kurt Roberts is not lacking. The Hearts have 11 seniors on their 18-person roster, but it’s experience at the varsity level Effingham is mainly lacking with Logan Arney — a two-year letterwinner — supplying most of it.
-
Hearts golf team goes deep
Effingham boys’ golf coach Jeff Schafer is excited about the possibilities for his team this season. Despite losing Pat Viverito and Cody Hartke to graduation and Colby Glover’s decision not to play this year, Schafer said this year’s Hearts could be the deepest team he’s had in his 11-year tenure.
-
Upperclassmen to lead EHS girls' golf
Effingham girls’ golf coach Jerry Trigg isn’t ready to base too much on just two tournaments played to start the 2010 girls’ golf season.
- More Sports Headlines
-
Cumberland cross country lacks experience, has potential
