03-17-2022
BY JACK BULLOCK
CARBONDALE – So how does one separate two of the best players in southern Illinois who are teammates, classmates and both had great seasons in leading their team to a state championship?

The answer is you don't even try.

Six-seven senior Saxton Hoepker and 6-3 senior Isaac Turner of the 2A state champion Nashville Hornets are the 2021-22 ABV Carbondale Super-sectional Area “Player's of the Year.”

Both of this athletes came up huge in leading their school to the promised land of hardwood, the state championship.

Each in their own way were made the big plays on the biggest stage in the state on the biggest day.

They are part of a senior group that spent a lot of time winning ballgames in the past four seasons (in multiple sports) and they deserve this award.

One of the two (Hoepker) was second team Associated Press All-State while the other (Turner) was first team IBCA All-State.

While their offensive numbers are not gaudy, these two were top-shelf defenders on a defensive minded team that shut down some of the best teams in the state on their way to the program's second state championship.

Hoepker ended up averaging 15.4 points per game with 522 total points for the season.

The senior knocked down 61.7 percent of his two-point field goal attempts (187-of-303) and 76.1 percent of his free throws (127-of-166).

He also led the team with 6.5 rebounds a night.

Turner did more damage from the outside, hitting nearly 37 percent from the 3-point arc while averaging 14.7 points a night along with 4.5 rebounds and nearly two assists a game.

He also was sharp from the foul line at 75.7 (84-of-111) on the year.

Both picked up honors in various tournaments in which they competed and were all-conference in the SIRR Mississippi Division.

The rebounding and defense of this team (and this pair) also stood out as they allowed an average of just 35.2 points per game as the club won its final 12-games to cop the championship in their heart-pounding 32-31 title game win over Monticello.

Hoepker helped deliver the title with a late game driving lay up and a big time blocked shot to seal the title game triumph.

While Hoepker is undecided (as of this writing) of where he is headed to college, Turner is going to play football at McKendree University this coming fall.

Turner was a participant in four state championship games.

As a freshman he was on the Hornets hoop's roster as his club lost to Chicago Orr in the 2018-19 2A state final in basketball.

As a sophomore and again as a senior he was a main cog on the Nashville squad that lost to Sterling Newman and Wilmington in 2A football title games.

However he and his teammates got the job done in the title game on Saturday.

Hoepker ended up with 629-career points (10.3 p.p.g.) in just 61-games while Turner finished with 768-career points (9.7 p.p.g.) in 79-games.

The Hornets were led by head coach Patrick Weathers who had the right game-plan to match the talent he had to work with.

The 12-player 1A and 2A First Team ABV Teams are what I like to call my “Dirty Dozen.”

Not unlike the 1967 movie, if you're going to put together a 12-player roster for a basketball team you want kids that can do special things very well on both ends of the court.

For the ABV 2A Team you could make a case for any of the dozen to be POY.

Calvon Clemons delighted the Murphysboro Red Devils' fan base for four years as a varsity player as the 5-7 guard played much bigger than his height and put up strong numbers for the 30-3 regional champion.

He will be missed by head coach Daryl Murphy and his teammates.

His figures read 17.1 points and 4.2 assists per game for the 28-3 club that lost a heart-breaking 33-30 sectional semifinal to Nashville while also being a dynamite running back that played in a state championship game as a sophomore in football.

Steeleville had the best season in the program's history and 6-0 junior guard Jacoby Gross was a huge part of that run to the state finals.

Gross, who missed all of the Covid19 season due to injury, responded with a championship caliber season for the Warriors as they surprised many with a final four run and fourth place finish.

The junior guard led a balanced attack with 11.8 points, including 12-points in a 68-47 shellacking of Macon Meridian at the Carbondale Super-Sectional.

His 11.2 points per game isn't spectacular but it led a balanced offense that produced a 29-8 overall mark, which was a school record for wins.

The junior guard knocked down 40.7 percent from long range and hit 75.3 percent from the foul line.

Gross dished out nearly three assists a game and was one of the defensive standouts (2.2 steals per contest) on a team that allowed just 38.9 points a night.

Carlyle head coach Andy Palmer will miss the services of 6-0 senior Hayden Hoffmann next winter.

Hoffman put up some impressive numbers as a senior and ended up with 1,215-points, which is sixth in the school's history.

This leader popped in 18.7 points a game while helping out on the boards (2.8) assists (1.8) and steals (1.7) on average while connecting on 36.4 percent from the 3-point arc, 44.8 overall, and 82.4 percent from the free throw line, leading by example as the team captain.

Aiden Dodson was one of the bright spots in a stellar season for head coach Blake Doehring and his South Central Cougars.

This 5-9 junior guard netted 15.7 points a game for the 26-8 regional champions.

His other numbers included 3.7 rebounds, 2.2 steals and 1.1 assists to go with shooting 59.1 percent overall and 42.3 percent from the 3-point arc.

Most of these numbers came in and out of a conference (National Trail) that was statistically (won-loss) the best 1A league in the state (.626 winning percentage) at 136-81 in non-conference games.

Speaking of the NTC, that league named an MVP for the season and it was 6-1 junior Logan Fleener.

The numbers for this junior would have been much better but he missed six games during the season due to injury.

With him on the court, head coach Josh Zink and his North Clay Cardinals were much better.

Fleener averaged 17.1 points and 6.2 rebounds for the Cardinals who finished in tied for third in the conference standings, and 12-18 overall.

Noah Klimpel, a 6-1 senior, from Altamont also was part of a winning NTC program for head coach John Niebrugge as the Indians (26-7) reached a regional title game before losing to conference rival South Central.

The senior who Coach Niebrugge called the 'heart and soul' of the Tribe, averaged 11.8 points, 3.8 rebounds and 3.3 assists and was part of a strong defensive unit at Altamont.

One of the kids on this list was part of a resurgent program at Windsor/Stewardson-Strasburg under the tutelage of head coach Bob Lockart.

Sam Vonderheide, a 6-3 senior forward, scored at a 16.5 points per game clip for the Hatchets this season while being one of the top rebounders on the list at 9.5 per night.

In fact Vonderheide posted 27 double-doubles in the team's 31-games as they were upset in the regional by Neoga to finish 24-7.

One of the top guards in the state this season was 6-1 senior point man Taj McKinney of Wayne City.

McKinney is now the school's third all-time leading scorer with 1,864-points as a four-year varsity starter for head coach Jake Talbert's Tribe.

His 23.3 points per game was one of the tops in the South and seven rebounds as a point guard is also pretty special.

McKinney handed out assists (3.4 per game) like Halloween candy in his prep run as his career came to an end in the Woodlawn Regional semifinals.

Six-six junior Tyler Franklin is a three-year starter for the Cobden Appleknockers and has been a top-player in the South Egyptian Conference.

Franklin averaged 20.8 points a game for the Appleknockers as they finished their season with an upset loss to Goreville in the regional title game at Egyptian.

He also averaged just over eight rebounds a game for head coach Wendell Wheeler's 22-9 club and hit 42 percent of his 3-point shots, 54 percent overall and 80 percent from the free throw line.

Franklin dished out 3.2 assists a game and he is currently at 1,067-points for his career heading into his senior season, to go along with 501-rebounds and 207-assists.

Six-three senior Gavin Woodland has been a pillar of strength for head coach Shane Garner at Sesser-Valier.

The three-year starter averaged 16.1 points, 11.1 rebounds and 2.5 assists for the 21-9 Red Devils who were upended in the regional title game.

Woodland hit nearly half of his shot attempts, including 32.1 percent of his 3-point shots.

Macon Meridian senior Graham Meisenhelter had quite a ride this winter as he led his Hawks to sectional title game with a 65-foot shot to beat Tuscola, 82-79 in double-overtime in the Effingham St. Anthony Sectional title game.

Meisenhelter, who missed his teams' first 10-games, overcame a severe injury to pace the Hawks (28-8) with 17.1 points, 9.2 rebounds for the 28-8 finish and ended up with 1,649-points for his career that ended with a loss to Steeleville in the super.

Effingham St. Anthony 6-3 senior guard Craig Croy helped lead the Bulldogs to a regional championship this winter.

Croy averaged 13.1 points and almost five rebounds for the 21-13 regional champions.

As for the Coach and Coaches of the Year for ABV, if you were going a script a great first year as a head coach for a team you couldn't have written up a better one for Patrick Weathers at Nashville.

After being an assistant at the school for several seasons, Patrick took over the program and made the most of his first opportunity.

Weathers bleeds Blue and White (and some Red) of Nashville, having prepped and grown up in the community.

He was part of the 2006-07 Elite Eight Hornets' team that went 31-1.

As the son of Hall of Fame coach Brad Weathers, the father/son combination became the first such duo to win boy's basketball IHSA state championships.

The elder Weathers led Carlyle to the Class A state title back in 1988-89.

This season, in spite of some obstacles, the Hornets won the games they needed to in the way they needed to on the way to the state championship.

Cherishing each possession on offensive, taking care of business on defense, the club got past a couple of regular season hiccups (January) and some early season issues after some of these same kids were still in football mode (November/December) to win their final 12-games, seven of which came in the postseason.

The Hornets won the close games, a sign of a confident/poised team that is a reflection of the head coach and his staff.

Weathers, along with his father Brad, became the only father/sou combo to win state titles in boy's high school basketball.

Research failed to reveal anyone else who accomplished this feat.

(Dave Bennett of Pittsfield won the Class A state title in 1991; son Lee Bennett got second in Class 3A in 2011 were the closest).

They are now the only father/son duo to be awarded ABV “Coach of the Year.”

Brad Weathers won the award in 2013-14.

Special mention goes out to some other coaches in southern Illinois who did good things in 2021-22.

Coach Doug Miller has resurrected the Hamilton County program that was struggling in recent seasons as the Foxes under his leadership went 29-4 with some quality wins against Pinckneyville and Carterville (twice) and an unbeaten Black Diamond Conference East Division championship run.

Coach Troy Bierman at Newton is another of the young coaches in the Deep South who is doing good things at his school.

The Eagles finished 19-10 against a strong LIC and non-conference slate of contests.

They split a pair of regular season contests against Teutopolis before dropping a 48-45 title game decision at the Arthur-Lovington-Atwood-Hammond 2A Regional.

Coach Stephen Dreher at Vienna is another coach deserving of praise for what he has done with the Eagles' program since his arrival in 2020-21.

The Eagles went from a 6-12 Covid19 season team to a 23-10 club that put a scare into Hamilton County at the Eldorado Regional in the semifinals (48-47 loss).

As for the 1A Coaches of the Year, the two at the top met in the championship game of the 1A Okawville Sectional.

Coach Aaron Fiene at Steeleville turned this program into a defensive minded unit, a theory that worked in getting his Warriors to the state finals for the first time in the school's history with a school-record 29 wins (29-8).

Their closest game and biggest scare during the postseason came at Okawville where Christopher gave the Warriors all they wanted before falling 32-31.

Head coach Eric Stallman continues to do great work at Christopher, another small school that needs a coach like him to lead the way.

He continues to get more out of his teams than any head coach in southern Illinois, and he does it each year with little to no fanfare.

Both of these coaches deserved the hardware.

Others who should be mentioned here come from the northern part of the ABV.

Coach Blake Doehring at South Central continues to show that you can win and be competitive at small schools and when you play in the National Trail Conference you better be ready each night.

That league of 10 teams had eight of the programs finish .500 or above and South Central was one of two NTC clubs (St. Anthony) who won regionals this season.

The Cougars bested fellow NTC squad Altamont to win the Dieterich Regional before falling to eventual sectional champion Macon Meridian to end up 26-7 for 2021-22.

Coach Kevin Bowen worked some magic with a mostly young crew this season and the future looks bright at Cisne.

The Lions won the Midland Trail Conference regular season title on the way to a 24-7 mark.

Cisne had some quality wins, including a victory at Mount Carmel and the majority of the squad returns next winter for what should be an even better season.

Head coach Brooks Inman at Okaw Valley put together some good wins this season and his Timberwolves' program keeps getting better.

They beat Tuscola right before Christmas and finished 22-8 overall, 9-1 in the Lincoln Prairie Conference which was good enough for a share of the league championship.

As for "Team of the Year" in ABV, a new award this season, the proof was in the postseason.

Both Nashville and Steeleville got to the basketball promised land (Champaign State Finals) and there is little left to be said.

When you're the last two standing, you get the hardware.

EDITOR'S NOTE: Just in case you have some complaining to do about this list, save it.

I've heard it all over the years about kids not making the list. It happens.

I have narrowed the amount of players that will make the ABV All-South and I'm sorry but not everyone deserves mentioned.

Although you can make an argument about some kids being honorable mention that should be first team, you can save that, too.

Nashville's Hoepker and Turner were the only two players from the same team to make either of the first teams and that is because they were both POY's.

Heck, you could make another argument that the whole Hornets' starting five could be on it.

That's not how it works with all-south, all-conference or all-state teams.

Nashville and Steeleville get three players total with no one else having more than two.

It was a great season, an awesome turnaround from the Covid19 season that everyone suffered through.

It culminated with a trip back to Champaign-Urbana, an arena that the tournament should've never left.

Let's hope 2022-23 is even better.

It will be my Silver Anniversary, 25-years of ABV.

Yes, I'm coming back.

Work on my second season of A Sideline View begins soon.

See you next year at the gym and on the gridiron.

Jack