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Sports Editor Matt Daniels with a look at what’s going on around the area:
Provided
The St. Joseph Middle School baseball team gathers at home plate on Saturday evening at the EastSide Centre in East Peoria after the Panthers won an IESA Class 2A state championship. St. Joseph beat previously unbeaten Pleasant Plains 4-1 in the state title game and finished the season 22-4.
Three reasons we love sports today
➜ 1. Congrats to the St. Joseph Middle School baseball team. The Panthers completed a historic season on Saturday evening, winning an IESA Class 2A state championship after defeating previously undefeated Pleasant Plains 4-1 at the EastSide Centre in East Peoria.
➜ 2. Kelton Pruemer and Kiptyn Rosenthal combined on stifling Pleasant Plains for the Panthers, with Pruemer throwing four innings and earning the win. He struck out three and only walked two. Rosenthal got the save with three shutout innings of relief.
➜ 3. Brock Franzen went 3 for 3 with two RBI, while Ike Sheltato (2 for 3, RBI) also chipped in for St. Joseph’s second state title in school history as the Panthers finished the season 22-4.
Maddux Quick and the Monticello boys’ golf team is at the Class 2A Centennial Sectional on Monday at the UI Golf Course in Savoy.
Numbers game: 128
Area high school golfers who will tee off Monday at their respective IHSA sectional tournaments across the state, like Kelton Hennesy (left) of the Mahomet-Seymour boys’ team. Included in the mix are eight boys’ teams — M-S, Monticello, Prairie Central and Rantoul/Paxton-Buckley-Loda in Class 2A, Fisher, LeRoy, St. Joseph-Ogden and Salt Fork in 1A — and eight girls’ teams — M-S in 2A, Arcola/Arthur-Lovington-Atwood-Hammond, Clinton, Hoopeston Area, Monticello, St. Thomas More, Sullivan and Watseka in 1A — still vying for a spot at state.
Pat Bryant and the Illinois football team is back home for the first time since Sept. 14 this Saturday when the Illini host Purdue.
Crowd control
Three events I’m paying attention to
➜ 1. Purdue at Illinois football. Ryan Walters and his Boilermakers are bad. The Purdue coach and former Illini defensive coordinator even said the same after Wisconsin beat the Boilermakers 52-6 on Saturday. If Bret Bielema and his Illini don’t roll this Saturday afternoon in Champaign, then serious questions will start to mount.
➜ 2. Fisher/Gibson City-Melvin-Sibley at Oakwood/Salt Fork boys’ soccer. Two of the area’s top programs square off at 4:30 p.m. Tuesday in Oakwood. Should be a good one.
➜ 3. Champaign Central at Centennial volleyball. The two Unit 4 rivals will meet on the court at Coleman Carrodine Gym at 7 p.m. Tuesday.
St. Thomas More boys’ golf coach Jack Anderson.
Coach’s corner
Three questions with St. Thomas More boys’ golf coach Jack Anderson:
âžœ 1. My favorite sports team is … the Crushers Golf Club in the LIV Tour. I’m a big Bryson DeChambeau fan.
âžœ 2. Three coaches I’d like to have dinner with are … Jerry Haas, Mike Small and Dr. David Wright.
âžœ 3. My biggest pet peeve is … golfers who complain about their performance without putting in sufficient effort and time toward their practice.