With no postseason and limitations on 'who could play who' due to Covid19 restrictions it was a difficult season for all involved.

03-24-2021
BY JACK BULLOCK
CARBONDALE - Not unlike what a politician would do when looking into running for president, ABV is working on another website.

I have purchased “A Sideline View” (asidelineview dot com) domain name.

In the next few weeks I will be working towards adding High School Football to my prep sports coverage.

The teams and conferences will be the same as the ones I currently cover for boy's high school basketball in southern Illinois.

SIRR, LIC, BDC and SCC are the ones I will focus on along with the few independent teams that fall into the geographical area of which ABV previews each year for hoops.

I'm going to use the spring games currently going on to gather information and photos for a 2021 preview.

After that it will be game coverage like I do for basketball.

The first year will be a “baby steps” year in which things will build towards the future.

Since moving from Mount Vernon to Carbondale, I've decided to focus more on my sports and this is the first/next step.

It might be complicated at first and the initial season of football will have its issues, but as of this exact moment, Football is on the docket.

Class 2A

School W-L Pts Prv

1. Rockford Lutheran (9) 16-0 99 1

2. Mt. Carmel (1) 16-2 79 3

(tie) Breese Central 15-0 79 4

4. Corliss (1) 11-2 75 2

5. Elmhurst Timothy Christian 14-2 68 5

6. Nashville 14-1 56 T6

7. Macomb 14-0 41 8

8. Fieldcrest 12-1 34 10

9. Sacred Heart-Griffin (Springfield) 11-5 26 9

10. Breese Mater Dei 12-2 10 NR

Others receiving votes: Clark 8. Fairfield 8. Massac County 6. Teutopolis 5. Carterville 4. Hillsboro 3. Deer Creek-Mackinaw 1. Eureka 1. Chicago King 1. Pinckneyville 1.

Class 1A

School W-L Pts Prv

1. Cobden (5) 19-0 100 2

2. Yorkville Christian (6) 10-1 98 1

3. Casey-Westfield (1) 11-1 84 3

4. Kewanee (Wethersfield) 15-1 74 4

5. Indian Creek 17-4 60 5

6. East Dubuque 17-1 58 6

7. Monmouth United 14-2 46 7

8. LeRoy 12-2 33 8

9. Fulton 12-1 28 9

10. Roanoke-Benson 13-3 21 10

Others receiving votes: Okawville 13. Winchester-West Central 10. Concord Triopia 7. Macon Meridian 7. Norris City 6. Effingham St. Anthony 5. Steeleville 4. Goreville 3. Wayne City 2. Mounds Meridian 1.

Coach Wendell Wheeler and his club took care of business in a 58-43 victory over the Pioneers.

The season finale, with no postseason, completed an 18-0 campaign but it also saw ......

But you had to go way back to find that last championship.

Coach Aaron Fiene's club had some issues shooting the ball from the foul line against foul-plagued Carlyle at home.

Coach Wayne Harre's club made a pair of key 9-0 runs, one to open the contest and the other to break the final tie score in the fourth quarter, as Nashville improved to 10-0 in the league with a 55-44 victory over the Pinckneyville Panthers at home.

03-05-21
BY JACK BULLOCK
SESSER – Senior night turned out to be quite a sendoff for the Sesser-Valier Red Devils on Friday night as a trio of 'soon to be' 2021 graduates all produced points in the clubs' 77-54 romp over Zeigler-Royalton.

Garrett Gunter and Jake Newbury each totaled 23 points while Jaden Lance contributed in the early going by nailing down a key 3-pointer for his three points.

3-03-2021
BY JACK BULLOCK
NORRIS CITY - How does one write about one of the best games you will see on a high school basketball court?

Not the way you would want to watch an Academy Award Winning movie.

For this we start at the end.

02-26-2021
BY JACK BULLOCK
MURPHYSBORO - For a relatively young basketball team, the Massac County Patriots continue to handle varsity ball games like veterans would.

Playing a group of sophomores and freshmen with a couple of key seniors, head coach Joe Hosman has blended together a crew that has won it's first seven contests of the 2020-21 season.

02-23-2021
BY JACK BULLOCK
FARINA - It the 70-plus seasons of boy's high school basketball at Effingham St. Anthony the program has produced nearly 1,500 wins.

Logic would suggest that they have won some 'less than pretty' contests in that long history.

However it is unlikely that any of the victories were any 'uglier' than Tuesday night's .....

The Mt. Carmel Golden Aces, who hadn't played or practiced much (if all) in the last eight days, hit the road for a pair of games on Saturday at Salem and Woodlawn.

02-19-2021
BY JACK BULLOCK
RAMSEY - If you look at the sheer numbers from the contest between Egyptian Illini Conference rivals Patoka and Ramsey on Friday night, the visiting Warriors shouldn't have come out of this game with a win.

Coach Joe Eddy's team started really poorly and fell behind the Rams early.

Although the substitutions weren't technically “changing on the fly” like on the ice, Coach Cruser initially used two groups of five every few possessions.

02-12-2021
BY JACK BULLOCK
CHRISTOPHER – With neither team being able to do much damage offensively from the outside on Friday night, Christopher turned to its 'man in the middle' to get the job done.

Six-foot-six junior center Peyton Mazur stepped up with a 19 point, 13 rebound effort as he led the host Bearcats to a 58-47 win over Black Diamond Conference foe Goreville.

02-11-2021
BY JACK BULLOCK
SALEM - The Salem Wildcats lost a pair of games to open the season with a close loss at home to Fairfield on a last second shot (61-59) and a rough road defeat at Freeburg (50-36) where the 'Cats scored just 10 points in the first half.

Coach Andy Fehrenbacher was looking for a 'break out' game for his club when Wesclin came to town on Thursday night in each of the teams' second Cahokia Conference Mississippi .....

02-09-2021
BY JACK BULLOCK
ANNA - Having just a handful of practices with his team and virtually no real scrimmages, Nashville head coach Wayne Harre wasn't exactly sure what to expect when his team took the floor on the road Tuesday night at Anna-Jonesboro.

What he found out that although the team still needs a lot of work, there was a lot of good things that came out of the Hornets season opener.

It is a very exciting yet dicey word.

Getting ones hopes up can sometimes lead to a big disappointment at the end.

Being down by double-digits at the end of the first quarter and trailing throughout, Coach Kevin Bowen's club mustered up enough mini runs to close the gap at the end of the third quarter.

02-03-2021
From Matt Troha, Illinois High School Association Assistant Executive Director

IDPH alerted us today that media attendance at high school sporting events will be a local high school/district decision, meaning media will not be a part of, or counted against, the spectator limitations.

We alerted our member school admins about this change just a few minutes ago, so please keep in mind as you reach out about coverage plans that some schools may not have seen the update yet or had a chance for internal discussion on what their plans will be.

IDPH also provided the interpretation that the 30-foot distancing rule from the playing surface could be exempted for media in need (such as photographers or TV). Again, that will be a local decision as well.

Communication between media and schools remains the key to this process, as you should still not show up expecting to cover a high school event without permission from the school first.

02-02-2021
INDIANAPOLIS - On Tuesday the National Federation of High Schools released it's new findings related to the Covid19 and new guidance for high school athletics.

The assesment of how to move forward for states to play sports took a bit of a turn from the previous assessment from May of 2020.

Click on the link to read the full statement from the NFHS and SMDC.

01-29-11
BY JACK BULLOCK
PINCKNEYVILLE - The Pinckneyville Panthers have struggled offensively this season in finding consistency.
Following a Friday night loss on the road at Anna-Jonesboro in which they shot just 24 percent from the field in a 42-37 loss head coach Bob Waggoner wasn't sure how his team would react on Saturday night when they played host to Roxana in the final game of the Pinckneyville Panther Showcase.

“We understood the high level of anticipation surrounding today’s announcement, along with the scrutiny that will accompany it,” said IHSA Executive Director Craig Anderson. “Ultimately, the Board adhered to its stated goals throughout the pandemic: providing an opportunity for every IHSA student-athlete to compete safely this year and maximizing opportunities for traditional IHSA spring sports after they lost their entire season a year ago. I recognize that many schools and coaches could likely offer a tweak here or there that would have, in their opinion, made it ‘better’ for their school or sport. Our Board faced an impossible task with a litany of factors. They were conscientious in considering every possibility and I believe their decisions today are a positive step for the mental, emotional, and physical well-being of our students. We are excited to channel our energy into creating as many positive experiences for Illinois high school students as we can between now and the end of this extraordinary school year.”

The Board approved the following schedule for the remainder of the school year:

The Board is considering State Series competition for traditional IHSA spring sports only. Dance and cheerleading will be allowed to conduct virtual Sectional and State Final meets, as they will record their performances and submit them to be judged.

“The Board wants to do everything in their power to prevent spring sports from going two consecutive years with no postseason IHSA play,” said Anderson. “There are obviously no guarantees, as risk levels by sport and local region mitigation statuses will factor significantly. Postseason could mean being limited to a Regional or Sectional level of competition, but we have not ruled out the idea of playing a full state tournament in these traditional spring sports if possible. The overwhelming feedback we have heard from athletic directors and coaches was that returning to play in all sports should be the main goal.”

With the exception of football, which requires individuals to participate in practice on 12 different days, all sports will be required to hold practice on seven different days prior to holding a contest. Holding multiple practices on a date does not impact that timeline. If student-athletes transition from basketball or boys swimming & diving into football, they will need to participate in practice on 10 different days prior to their first contest. Winter sport contests could begin as early as today, dependent on when a school’s Region reached the appropriate mitigation status and when they began practices.

The IHSA Sports Medicine Advisory Committee (SMAC) issued a statement reminding all student-athletes, coaches, and schools on the importance of acclimatization:

"The IHSA SMAC reminds member schools that student-athletes may need additional conditioning in order to participate in a full schedule this season. In addition to season/practice requirements, care needs to be given to each student's individual acclimation as they return to play. When building schedules, attention needs to be given to academic pressure, changes from in-person to remote learning, changes between tiers of mitigation, time spent traveling to events, appropriate time to practice/learn the sport between games, etc. to ensure the student experience truly enhances the academic day."

IHSA guidelines require all student-athletes to participate in masks (with the exception of swimming & diving, gymnasts on an apparatus and outdoor events where social distancing can occur) and for all game personnel not participating in the contest to also wear masks and adhere to social distancing.

“We still have regions of the state that need to make strides in order be able to play basketball this winter,” said Anderson. “That underscores the importance of our schools following all the mitigations and precautions. We need to maintain a positive trajectory not only to get winter sports going, but to make sure we do not have any regions regress before spring and summer sports have their opportunity. We can all do our part by wearing a mask and socially distancing.”

The Board also agreed to consider other participation opportunities for a given sport, like basketball, if the sport is unable to be played in a specific region.

“We have said from day one that if and when we were allowed to play again this year, the situation would be fluid,” said Anderson. “We don’t feel great about the notion of some schools falling behind based on their Region’s status, but also recognize that we are running out of time and can’t afford to hold back the Regions that can play.”

In October, the Board ruled that students who play sports (football, boys soccer, girls volleyball) that were displaced from their traditional season could participate on high school and non-school teams simultaneously. The Board affirmed this position in Wednesday’s meeting with additional sports moving out of their traditional seasons, and also ruled that girls and boys basketball players will need to cease non-school team participation within seven days of their first high school game.

All sports that are out-of-season can conduct contact days through June 4. Contact days are limited to three days per week per sport with a maximum of six hours of contact per week with no interscholastic competition.

The IHSA Board of Directors issued the following statement on the day’s events:

“Unprecedented circumstances create extraordinary decisions. The IHSA Board of Directors faced one of the most difficult decisions in the Association’s 100-plus year history today. Please know that we did so with great diligence, empathy, and understanding. There were an immense number of factors that went into today’s decisions. We knew there would be obstacles no matter what we decided. Whether those hurdles included overlapping seasons for multi-sport athletes, equity between sports, preseason acclimatization guidelines, the prioritization of spring sports, facility conflicts for schools, officiating, and that is just naming a few. Please know that each potential roadblock was recognized and given consideration. The IHSA membership, like our state, is incredibly large and diverse. Each Board member brought different concerns to the table that impacted their own school or region differently. There was never going to be a one-size fits all solution to playing 25 sports seasons in a little over four months. What did occur was collaboration and camaraderie. Each Board member may not have been able to have all of their specific concerns addressed, but we worked together to produce a schedule and plan that we believe will work for our student-athletes.”

01-27-17
BY JACK BULLOCK
HARRISBURG - Despite jumping out to an early lead and never trailing in the semifinal win over Galatia, the Crab Orchard Trojans never were in a comfort zone.
Coach Jon Brown's club, however, managed to overcome some “shaky” moments on both ends of the floor to advance to Saturday night's Greater Egyptian Conference Tournament ....

Mind-boggling!

The Hawks drilled three opponents by a combined 201-70 to win the annual event for the second straight season.

01-24-04
BY JACK BULLOCK
BENTON - Too fast, too deep, too much!

Those words summed up the Cairo Pilots win over its long time rival Pinckneyville in the title game of the 30th Annual Benton Invitational Tournament.

Jumping out to a quick early lead, highlighted by a huge 20-6 second quarter blitz, the Pilots .....

01-23-13
BY JACK BULLOCK
ALTAMONT – In the very first year in which the St. Anthony Bulldogs played in the National Trail Conference Tournament, the Effingham based Catholic school lost in the quarterfinal round.

The year was 1951.

01-22-13
BY JACK BULLOCK
WEST FRANKFORT – The Johnston City Indians left the door to victory open for Anna-Jonesboro on Wednesday night in the finale of Wednesday night’s session of the 2014 West Frankfort “Mid-Winter Classic.”

However the Wildcats couldn’t take advantage of the opportunity.

01-21-16
BY JACK BULLOCK
NASHVILLE - The Breese Central Cougars knew it was going to be a tough week, as it always is, at the Nashville Invitational Tournament. And despite a very tough fourth quarter on Thursday night against the host, everything has gone as planned for the state-ranked club and number three ranked team in the ABV 2A top ten.

01-19-13
BY JACK BULLOCK
NASHVILLE – The Teutopolis Wooden Shoes have found themselves a new home away from home.

It is called the Assembly Hall in Nashville, Illinois.

Riding the strong inside play of 6-foot-6 senior Kyle Pruemer and a defensive effort that slammed the door shut on a high powered and highly regarded 1A team

01-18-17
BY JACK BULLOCK
BENTON - For even the best of teams, there are some nights that don't go as well as planned.
The first half of the Pinckneyville Panthers' contest against Sesser-Valier at the 44th annual Benton Invitational Tournament on Wednesday night would be considered a “clunker” of a performance.

In fact, after spotting the Eagles a brief 1-0 lead, Woodlawn scored the next 14-points to take command.

Coach Shane Witzel's club never let Odin off the deck in crushing .....

01-14-15
BY JACK BULLOCK
CHESTER - After falling in the opening game of the Chester Invitational Tournament on Monday night, the New Athens Yellow Jackets got back to the basics on Wednesday in their consolation bracket contest against Cobden.

Coach Marc Derwort got his club to key on their defensive effort and on getting on the glass.

01-12-16
BY JACK BULLOCK
BENTON - The Benton Rangers used their overall quickness and depth on Tuesday night in their non-conference game at home against Eldorado.

Combating the Eagles size advantage by speeding up the game defensively and finishing with .....

01-09-17
BY JACK BULLOCK
ULIN - The very first possession of Monday night's contest against Century on the road turned out to be a bad omen for Johnston City and their head coach Jerry Hampleman.

With the Centurions having the ball and the Indians on defense, Century missed four .....

01-05-16
BY JACK BULLOCK
WALTONVILLE - The Waltonville Spartans made sure that the potential for a “trap” game against Hamilton County on Tuesday night at home in their first game back after the Christmas break didn't happen.

As a matter of fact, Coach Tyler Mitchell's team used a “1-3-1 half-court trap” to make .....

01-03-17
BY JACK BULLOCK
MCLEANSBORO - In a season in which wins have been tough to come by for the Hamilton County Foxes, it helps when a senior can step up and deliver a victory.

On Tuesday night Hamilton County turned to veteran guard Oakley Dial who .....

01-03-14
BY JACK BULLOCK
CARTERVILLE – The Nashville Hornets picked up a key road victory in the SIRR Mississippi Division on Friday night at Carterville by capitalizing on their strengths while exploiting the Lions’ weakness.

The very large front line of Coach Brad Weathers’ club got inside and outside scoring from Daniel Thorson and Clint Johannes and took advantage of Carterville’s second half foul problems in a 51-38 win.

01-02-10
BY JACK BULLOCK
DU QUOIN - Despite its own shortcomings the Herrin Tigers picked up an important non-conference victory on Saturday night to improve to 9-5 on the season.

Coach Irv Lukens witnessed his team commit 17-turnovers, give up some late game easy scores and commit a silly technical foul early in the game.

And for senior's Dawson Verhines and Josh Wiggs – two out of three ain't bad.

Jumping on the Goreville Blackcats early and never letting up – Woodlawn cruised to a 68-40 win on Thursday night in front of an overflowing crowd at Sesser.

In fact head coach Jeff Mandrell has witnessed his team win every other trophy at this long-standing event except the biggest one.

12-30-05
BY JACK BULLOCK
SESSER - For the Waltonville Spartans, the name of the game is defense. Coach Mike Denault instilled this philosophy into this program when he arrived at WHS three years ago.

On Friday night in the title game of the 25th Annual Sesser-Valier Holiday Tournament, the Spartans showed that they could shut opponents down when they have to.

12-28-2020
BY JACK BULLOCK - The third edition of ABV's “The Upsets” is unique to the rest of the list.

This contest was the only one that I attended.

If you are a numbers person there was an ominous feel for the Class A Regional championship game at Madison as the Trojans played host to the number-two ranked Freeburg Midgets.

In the brief history of the high school they had three regional championships in a row (1972, 1973, 1974) when the two-class era began but just two 20-win seasons before this mentor arrived in Clinton County.

12-13-2020
BY JACK BULLOCK
It was a grand moment in the history of the Massac County boy's basketball program.

Yes, they had won regional titles before and yes, they have won one since.

But the victory on February 27, 2004, isn't remembered so much for how great the .....

12-15-2020
BY JACK BULLOCK
One of the hot topics when it comes to high school athletics in Illinois the past 13 years has been the implement of four-class basketball.

The Board voted to move the sport of wrestling from the winter season to the summer season, which will run from April 19 to June 26, 2021.

The Board approved the IHSA ‘s winter sport guidance for all low risk sports, which includes Boys Swimming & Diving, Cheerleading, Dance, Boys & Girls Bowling, and Girls Gymnastics. These sports will be conducted from November 16, 2020, to February 13, 2021. The mitigating guidance for each sport will be posted on the IHSA’s COVID-19 Resource page on October 29. The IHSA Board will review spectator and group gatherings for all winter sports at a future meeting in November.

In addition, the Board took action to follow the guidance of the IHSA Sport Medicine Advisory Committee (SMAC) and will allow Boys and Girls Basketball to begin practices, per IHSA Return to Activities 2.0, on November 16. Contests can begin on November 30th within an Illinois COVID Region or within a conference. As a part of the mitigation plan, masks will be worn by all players, coaches, and officials during play. Boys and Girls Basketball teams will follow team limitations allowing a maximum of 31 games. It will become a local school decision to determine if a school will allow their basketball teams to participate following the guidelines developed by the SMAC.

The Board released the following statement regarding the basketball action:

“The Illinois High School Association Board of Directors made the decision today to continue with the IHSA basketball season as scheduled in 2020-21. In August, the Board slated basketball to take place from November to February based on the Illinois Department of Public Health (IDPH) assigning a medium risk level to the sport. The IHSA Sports Medicine Advisory Committee (SMAC) offered additional mitigations, such as masks during play and social distancing on benches, that the SMAC believed would allow basketball to be played safely.

The high school basketball season was potentially put on hold on October 27, when Governor Pritzker announced that IDPH had changed basketball’s risk level from medium risk to high risk.

After diligent discussion, the Board has made the decision today to follow the recommendation of the IHSA SMAC as it relates to basketball. The Board remains considerate of rising COVID-19 cases in Illinois and understand the importance of adhering to safety guidelines for the good of all citizens. However, the Board has not been presented any causal evidence that rising COVID-19 cases make basketball more dangerous to play by the IDPH or any other health organization nationally or internationally. On the contrary, the IHSA has been looking to bordering states who have sponsored both medium risk and high risk sports in the fall that have noted a low incident rate of COVID-19 spread.

Instead, we will require all IHSA basketball teams to adhere to those SMAC mitigations, and allow local school officials to make decisions related to participation.

Mounting challenges, from increased mental health issues among our students to a shrinking calendar that limits our ability to move sport seasons this school year, were instrumental in this decision to move forward with basketball as scheduled. We see our students regularly leaving the state to play sports, or covertly continuing to play locally. Students can be better protected in the high school setting, and the Board remains steadfast that playing under IHSA rules and SMAC mitigation is the safest way to conduct athletics at this juncture.

Illinois is a large and diverse state, and the IHSA membership is reflective of that. We understand that this decision will impact each high school and district differently. Some schools who remain in remote learning may not be able to start winter sports on time, and we feel for those in that situation. However, we have also learned that we cannot continue to look down the road to a season that may never come.

Contact days for our teams this fall have been an incredible boon to our students’ well-being. We fear for the mental health of students who attempt to traverse a long winter with no athletic outlet available. So much about dealing with this virus has been learned in the past eight months, and this decision will grant the membership the opportunity to apply that knowledge during their basketball season.

Each member of the IHSA Board volunteered for this position because they are passionate about high school sports and activities, and the positive impact they have on our students’ physical and mental health.”