11/22/2025
BY JACK BULLOCK
CARBONDALE - The finish of the 2024-25 National Trail Conference season wasn't completed until the next to last day of the state tournament.

Because Effingham St. Anthony made it to the state finals in Class 1A, finishing fourth.

It was the second trip to the finals for Coach Cody Rincker and the eighth regional championship for the program since he took over in 2013-14.

However, with the IHSA success factor in place, the Bulldogs were moved up to 2A for the 2025-26 campaign as a reward, or punishment, whichever way you want to look at it.

Altamont finished in second place in the regular season standings last season for Coach John Niebrugge, which was a tie with North Clay, while Dieterich rounded out the superfecta of the NTC standings

Dieterich and St. Anthony were the only ones from the NTC to cut down regional nets.

The Movin' Maroons and Coach Brent Bohnhoff were one of the three teams in the league to go over 20-wins before losing to Tuscola in the sectional.

North Clay and Coach Josh Zink fell to St. Anthony in the regional title game at South Central after defeating Altamont in the semifinals.

The Cardinals lost some offense on graduation day but return some good ones for another run at the conference crown and an evasive regional title, something that they haven't taken home since 2012-13.

South Central welcomes a new head coach as Fairfield native Landon Zurliene takes over the Cougars' program as he acquires a job at a program that produced a 19-13 mark last winter.

A new head coach will also be in place at Windsor/Stewardson-Strasburg as Cody Drone will lead the Hatchets.

WSS was the sixth team from the NTC that won at least 17-contests.

The bottom three teams finished 29-63 overall.

St. Elmo/Brownstown, Neoga and Cowden-Herrick/Beecher City had it rough in 2024-25.

Each will have work to do better this winter.

Neoga and head coach Andrew Snow, after tornado damage destroyed part of their gym, will play home games at Lakeland College and the Emerald Acers Recreation Center.

Both are located in Mattoon.

CHBC and SEB are also members of the Egyptian Illini Conference.

You can add another team to the league as Cumberland joins the National Trail Conference as the league will now have 10-teams competing.

The Pirates could make a big splash in the NTC pool in their inaugural season as they return significant talent from a season ago and are now Class 1A for the postseason after an enrollment drop.

Coach Justin Roedl, an Altamont native, brings his program to the league he grew up with.

Of the nine teams from last season, a total of 47 seniors from the 2024-25 rosters are no longer there.

Five of the seniors were ABV 1A first team all-south selections.

That is a bunch of kids, and stats, to replace for the programs.

The 2024-25 season for the Effingham St. Anthony Bulldogs ended on a bit of a sour note as they lost their state semifinal game to eventual 1A champion Chicago Hope Academy and the third place game to Peoria Christian.

A 31.4 overall field goal percentage (33-of-105) in two games didn't get the job done

But a trip to the state Final Four is always a good thing in any sport.

Coach Cody Rincker added to his legacy with a 32-6 mark, including regional, sectional and super-sectional titles as well as taking home the championship of the Effingham/Teutopolis Holiday Tournament.

They had a remarkable 18-2 record against 1A teams, with the only defeats coming in the finals.

The defeats they took were to state ranked 2A power Breese Central, 3A Edwardsville, 2A Teutopolis and 2A Bloomington Central Catholic.

Not bum in the lot.

But this is the norm at St. A for this franchise as they have never backed away from a tough schedule.

Heading into 2025-26, the program faces quite the conundrum.

Five seniors, four of which were starters and one who ended up the school's all-time leading scorer, have left.

Brock Fearday, a 6-3 senior guard/forward, averaged 16.7 points a game and he finished his career with 1,755-points.

Teammate and classmate 6-3 forward Ryan Schmidt finished with a 17.7 points per game average.

Those two left some big pairs of shoes to fill.

Three other seniors; Sam Link, Will Fearday and Maddox Wiedman are also missing.

Fearday was the top scorer of those three with 7.9 p.p.g.

“Our team will be very inexperienced due to the loss of two all-state players,” said Coach Rincker about Fearday and Schmidt. “These two averaged nearly 40-points a game between the two of them. We also lost senior starters in Sam Link and Will Fearday, both whom played a crucial role in our success last year.”

As with all big-time programs, the Bulldogs will respond with a new group of kids looking to shine.

Returning starter Keenan Griffith, a 6-foot senior guard, was a contributor a year ago with a 6.7 points per game average.

Griffith will assume more of a leadership role this winter from his guard position.

Aiden Lauritzen is a unique situation in which after a year of concentrating on baseball, he is going to play basketball again for his final season.

Lauritzen is a 6-2 senior and he should help out, something that Coach Rincker will welcome.

The first player off of the bench for the Bulldogs a year ago was Miles Waldhoff, a 6-foot junior, who averaged four-points a game.

He knew his role a year ago and was a big part of why St. Anthony got to play their final two games at the State Farm Center in Champaign.

Jonny Gannaway, a 6-5 sophomore forward, saw action on the varsity last season.

It seems like the Bulldogs always have some big Dawg's in the pound and Coach Rincker will turn to 6-7 junior Gabe Looman to move on up to play more minutes.

Six-two Will Bierman and 6-1 Will Vonderheide should both “will” their way into varsity minutes.

Alex Mayer will also see time on the court, especially since Coach Rincker likes to use his bench.

The sophomore group will be in the running for varsity playing time.

Conner Storm, a 6-foot guard, 6-5 forward Cooper Sehy and 6-3 forward Freddie Jansen round out a solid reserve unit for St. Anthony as they try to reel in another National Trail Conference regular season championship.

“We have some very big roles to fill, but we have a hungry, determined and enthusiastic young group that are looking forward to the opportunity to make an impact on this year's bulldog team,” added Coach Rincker, who has a spectacular 284-98 record.

For the first time since 2016-17, the National Trail Conference welcomes another program to the battleground.

Cumberland, who previously called the Little Illini Conference, the Little Okaw Valley Conference and then the Lincoln Prairie Conference home, has taken up a new residence at the NTC.

Coach Justin Roedl couldn't have picked a better time to step into strong 1A league than 2025-26.

The Pirates are coming off of a 22-11 season in which they captured the St. Elmo Holiday Tournament championship, took home the regular season crown of the LPC and won 14 of their final 16 regular season contests.

After a first round KO of Robinson, Cumberland saw its season end at the hands of host Paris in the 2A regional semifinals.

But more good news came there way for 2025-26 as the enrollment dropped enough to make the Pirates 1A.

This is a game changer for a club that returns four starters and three key reserves.

Despite three seniors leaving in the spring, including starter Kelby Bierman, the Pirates look like they could be in the running for a regional championship and some regular season bling.

Coach Roedl has some size in the lane with three-year starter 6-7 forward Zack Harmon.

Harmon led the club with nearly nine rebounds a game and almost seven points.

But every vehicle needs an engine to make it go and Coach Roedl has one in 6-1 junior Cameron Roedl, the coaches' son.

Roedl led a balanced scoring attack with 11.1 points a contest as a sophomore while dishing out 3.5 assists.

Six-foot junior guard Chase Stewart was second on the team in scoring with 8.9 points a night and was deadly from 3-point land.

Reed Miller, a 6-foot senior guard, was the Pirates' third leading scorer from a year ago.

The fifth starter and the top reserves will be veterans 6-1 forward Kaleb Bierman and 5-9 senior guard Kade McMechan.

Both have experience coming in.

Six-one junior forward Isaac Venatta also played important minutes as a sophomore for Coach Roedl.

The Pirates' resume from last season also featured wins over 2A Fairfield, 2A Hillsboro and 2A Newton as well as running the table in their final campaign in the Lincoln Prairie Conference, a league they will continue to compete in for football.

This season the schedule will be a bit tougher as the NTC doesn't do opponents any favors.

“We have a lot of varsity experience and minutes coming back from a team that finished 22-11 a year ago. We have four starters, our three top scorers, and seven of our top players back,” said Coach Roedl. “If we can stay healthy and come together as a team we should have a pretty successful season. We have a good mix of players that work well together and can score the ball from all positions. If we want to reach our potential they will have to buy into the defensive side of things where I feel we can be very good by the end of the year.”

For a school the size of Altamont, it doesn't make much sense that they can be this good this many years in succession.

However when you add good athletes/kids in with strong coaching, the formula is a winning one.

Head coach John Niebrugge seems to bring out the best in his players and it has paid off in his 13-years running the Indians' program.

The record speaks for itself as this coach, and his assistants, transformed this program from a pretty good program to a perennial winner.

In 10 of his seasons at the school, his teams topped 20-wins and they've never been below the .500 mark.

Last season the Tribe nearly added another 20 spot in the win column but they fell to North Clay in the South Central 1A Regional semifinals to end up 19-11.

Right after the Christmas break, Altamont was just 4-8 and not playing their best ball.

The second half was much improved (15-3) and they ended up in second place behind St. Anthony with a 6-2 NTC mark.

The Indians are missing senior starter Ben Roedl, who graduated after being second on the team in scoring (9.5 p.p.g.) and second in rebounding (6.5 r.p.g.) for 2024-25.

Another senior contributor, 5-7 guard Alex Walker, left the program.

But the core of the players from last season return.

The Indians will have some depth on the bench and strength in the starting lineup as the top scorer and rebounder from the squad is back for his senior go-around.

Six-four senior guard Kade Milleville has accomplished a great deal in his varsity career.

Milleville netted 18.1 points and hauled down 7.8 rebounds per game for Altamont as a junior, which garnered him some honors including first team NTC and first team 1A ABV all-south.

He has a shot at some additional personal hardware in 2025-26.

Milleville has a great deal of help and he will need it because the National Trail looks to be just as tough as usual to get to the championship.

Coach Niebrugge also has 6-3 junior forward Zaine Miller back.

He adds more physicality to the lineup and he is capable of even more points than his 8.8 average a season past.

Something significantly special happened at Altamont last winter for Coach Niebrugge.

Six-two sophomore Cooper McManaway became just the second freshman to ever earn a varsity letter during this mentors time at AHS.

McManaway added 10.6 points a game for the Indians and he was an important part of their overall success.

Parker Bell, a 6-3 junior, is a strong athlete who showed he could start or come off of the bench.

The others that Coach Niebrugge mentioned will fill roles and be very important.

Six-two senior Cooper Pals was a stalwart on the JV a year ago and has worked his way into a role on the club that will likely feature a strong bench.

Another from the same sort of spot is 6-3 senior Jacob Johnson who, like Pals, was a two-year junior varsity player and he could prove to be an important part of the reserve unit.

There is even more size available for the Tribe with Blake Berg, a 6-3 junior and JV starter as a sophomore.

Coach Niebrugge also added some names to keep an eye on for reserve minutes.

Six-two sophomore Nate Lurkins, 6-2 sophomore Carson Milleville, 6-foot junior Kaiden Wolff, 6-foot junior Calvin Bannister and 6-4 junior Hayden Bridges.

When you add all of these ingredients together, Altamont appears ready to hit the ground running when the season begins.

“We return three starters from last year's 19-win group who got second in NTC. That is over 76 percent of the offense coming back. We have four players, Milleville, Miller, Bell or McManaway on any given night who could be the leading scorer,” said Coach Niebrugge, who is 283-108 overall at the school. “We have very good role players with Pals, Johnson and Berg and look for the two sophomores, Lurkins and Milleville, to get better and contribute more as the season goes along. Our practices are going to be highly competitive and our depth and our experience should be a positive factor throughout the season. Our schedule and the NTC will be a tough road so our record could be inaccurate, but the players have their sights set on a deep postseason run.”

The team that has the most varsity experience returning in the National Trail Conference, is the North Clay.

This makes Cardinals' head coach Josh Zink very happy.

As things worked out, only three seniors were part of the program last season.

Although they will be missed, the Cardinals look to grab some brass rings in 2025-26 and perhaps a regular season or tournament championship for this long standing league.

“This season we return the most experienced group I’ve had in nine years. With several players who have competed in big games over the past four seasons, we look to build on last year’s 24-wins and push for championships and a deep postseason run,” said Coach Zink. “Our experience and maturity give us an edge, but talk is cheap. Everything must be earned. We learned late last season what it takes to truly earn wins, and that’s the mindset we’ll carry forward.”

North Clay definitely had some memorable highlights last season and were close to taking home some serious hardware only to fall a bit short.

The Cardinals finished as a runner up at the Wayne City Holiday Tournament last December and fourth in the NTC Tournament.

The consolation championship of the Cumberland Thanksgiving Tournament was brought back to Clay County.

But the best run was at the end of the season as Coach Zink and his troops got on a winning streak heading home.

The Cardinals won 10-consecutive games to reach the regional title game at South Central.

But Dieterich, a team they beat on the road on February 7, flipped the script and eliminated North Clay, 69-49.

While the Movin' Maroons moved on to the Red Hill Sectional, the Cardinals went home 24-10 overall in what could be a precursor to a step forward in 2025-26.

Cody Zimdars, a 6-1 senior guard, it back in black (and red) for North Clay this season.

Zimdars was first team NTC and 1A ABV all-south after averaging 20.4 points and 5.1 rebounds a game while also handing out a pair of assists a night.

He did a little bit of everything for the Cardinals as a junior, leading the team in most categories and is over 1K in points with a shot at the school record for career points.

Six-one senior Mason Byers is another varsity veteran for Coach Zink, as he also snagged some awards as a junior.

Byers was a seller last winter as he cashed in 17.1 points and five rebounds a contest.

The Cardinals have some size in the paint with 6-5 senior Carder Walden.

Walden added 12.6 points and a team leading 5.8 rebounds per outing.

Kade Atwood is a 5-11 senior point guard who topped the team handing out dimes (5.1 a.p.g.) along with scoring 10.5 p.p.g.

Atwood battle through some injuries last winter but still put up good numbers.

The fifth starter and prime time players off of the bench will come from a pretty good group for Coach Zink to choose from.

Six-five junior Lucas Griffey is a forward for North Clay that Zink thinks highly of.

Griffey showed improvement over the summer and played key minutes in 2024-25.

Lane Wolfe, a 5-10 junior, is another of the backcourt players who came into games in key moments last season.

Coach Z added Collin Schnepper, Grant Probst and Cooper Lewis to the mix.

Schnepper is a 5-11 junior guard while Probsts stands 6-2 and is a sophomore.

Lewis, a 5-11 freshman, will also help out.

Zimdars is nearing the program's career scoring mark, as he enters the season with 1,431-points and he is chasing the total of 1,526 of former Cardinals' standout Dick Tolliver who played back in the 1960's for Louisville.

The Dieterich Movin' Maroons took a gargantuan graduation hit in the spring.

The program had eight seniors “move on” after winning a regional championship, the sixth in the program's history.

That group also won its own holiday tournament and finished second to St. Anthony in the NTC tourney final and to Casey-Westfield in the Cumberland Thanksgiving Tournament title game.

They dropped a close contest to Tuscola, 59-49 in the semifinals of the Red Hill Sectional to end up 26-8.

St. Anthony and Tuscola, the sectional finalists at Red Hill, handed Dieterich two loses each.

The eight games that the Movin' Maroons lost in 2024-25 were to six opponents that were a combined 214-60.

Coach Brent Bohnhoff's team will have an entirely different appearance in 2025-26.

Dieterich averaged 57.7 points a game last winter and 46 of the points graduated.

Topping that list was ABV 1A first team all-south and NTC first team choice Lucas Westendorf (16.7 points a game).

He also averaged 8.4 rebounds per outing, which led the club in both columns.

Landon Keck was second on the scoring chart with 12.7 p.p.g.

Jaxon Funneman, Tanner Will, Braylon Williams, Jay Desai, Draven Homann and Ben McDaniels all contributed in their own way in the success of the squad.

One important senior starter returns after a solid junior year.

Brock Niemerg, a 6-3 senior forward, has the most experience of any Dieterich returnee.

Niemerg nearly reached double-figures in scoring (9.1 p.p.g.) as a junior.

Six-three sophomore Bryce Bohnhoff averaged 4.9 points a game as a freshman, appearing in all 34 of the varsity contests.

Junior 6-2 Ezra Cook managed to get into 22 games as a sophomore.

Those three are the key returning players with the most experience.

But there is one other player who will don the Maroon colors for the first time this season moves in from another area program.

Senior Jackson Icenogle, a 6-3 senior forward, was the top scorer for Mulberry Grove as a junior a year ago.

He should slide right into important impactful minutes in 2025-26 as he will enter the season with more than 1K varsity points under his belt.

One of the other players that Coach Bohnhoff will have the pleasure of working with is 6-3 senior Tanner Niemerg.

Add 6-foot senior Andrew Hall and 5-11 junior Gavin Meinhart to the list of suitors for extended varsity minutes.

“With these players all stepping into prominent roles, the team is looking to build strong chemistry and continue to be competitive. The foundation is in place for Dieterich to be a force, but much of the success will come from how well these players adapt to their increased responsibilities and play together as a cohesive unit,” said Coach Bohnhoff.

Neoga high school was devastated last March, long after the Indians' basketball season was in the record books.

On the weekend of the state finals, a Tornado touched down in Cumberland County and tore the roof off of the gymnasium.

It turned into a major construction project and it has forced some changes to the curriculum at the school.

Most importantly Neoga and head basketball coach Andrew Snow will need to keep the bus gassed up.

All of basketball games for 2025-26 will be on the road.

Although Lakeland College and the Emerald Acers Recreation Center have stepped up to help give Neoga a basketball home for some of its games, arranging practices and travel will be difficult situations.

Something similar happened to Cobden a few years ago after the Appleknockers' gym was condemned.

Undaunted and unshaken, the school and basketball program will move forward to the 2025-26 season.

The Indians didn't win an NTC game last season (0-8) and finished just 8-25 overall.

When you have a tough stretch like Neoga did, it makes it even worse when you hook up with some powerful programs that are members of this standout small school league.

There were some positives.

Neoga topped county rival Cumberland early in the season and won the play-in game of the NTC Tournament.

They also posted wins over Martinsville, Kansas Tri-County, Mulberry Grove, Decatur St. Teresa and a first round regional win over Heritage before being eliminated by Casey-Westfield at the Chrisman Regional.

Nevertheless, Coach Snow has some kids to work with.

Six-three junior starter Braden Ray is one of the returning players for the Indians, after putting up some numbers (5.2 p.p.g./4.3 r.p.g.) last season.

According to Coach Snow, Ray is an "above the rim" type player.

A starter from late in the season returns and will man the point guard position; 6-foot sophomore Grady Haarman.

Cayden Hakman, a 5-10 junior, started some games a season ago for Neoga.

Six-three junior Kaden Bryant is a player that will help out underneath the basket.

After missing last season with an injury, 6-2 junior Malik Coy will return to give his coach some additional options.

Some inexperienced kids from a season ago gained some playing time in varsity games over the summer and Coach Snow will utilize them this winter.

Six-one sophomore Evan Fearday, 5-11 senior Ayden White and 5-10 freshman Trenton Ballinger could end up being productive for the Indians, who hope crawl out of the cellar in 2025-26.

“We will be primarily a young team with mostly juniors and sophomores making up the varsity lineup. But this is a group that plays well together and got a lot of varsity experience last season. It will be important for us to establish some consistent scorers early on in the year to set the foundation for our team. We have a good combination of size and guards that can handle the ball. We had a good summer and were able to put up points,” said Coach Snow. “Defense will be an emphasis for us early on to figure out the best combination for us. We will be playing all of our home games at Lakeland College this season while our school is under construction due to the tornado last spring. That will be a challenge for us to adapt to but is an exciting experience for our players.”

South Central will have a new leader on the bench when the season begins in November as Coach Landon Zurliene gets his first opportunity as a head coach.

Zurliene was a standout player at Fairfield in his prep days and steps in straight out of college from McKendree University.

He becomes just the sixth head coach in the school's history, taking over from former head coach Blake Doehring.

Zurliene will start his coaching career with a big rebuilding job ahead of him.

The Cougars had nine seniors on the roster a year ago and all are absent, leaving a void.

Brody Markley, Kage Hiestand, Seth Bergmann, Callaway Smith, Lucas Bursott, Jalen Smith, Evan Hoover, Lucian Amos and Seth Jones.

All turned in the uniforms last winter.

The lone starter for the Cougars from the 19-13, 4-4 squad is 6-foot junior guard Westin Neilson.

Six-foot senior guard Hudson Moore and 6-2 junior forward Michael Fischbach are the ones returning with a modicum of playing time at the varsity level.

Brock Sigrist, a 6-1 sophomore, will likely end up playing minutes this season for the Cougars along with 5-8 freshman Aiden Hoover.

Eli Hiestand, a 5-8 sophomore, 6-1 junior Tyson Jones and 5-10 sophomore Draven Gillespie round out who Coach Zurliene will turn to early in the season.

The Cougars had an overall good season in 2024-25 with some quality wins.

The season ended with a loss on their home floor to eventual regional champ Dieterich.

“This will be a young squad that will be paced by returning leading scorer Westin Neilson, who made over 100 3 pointers last season,” said Coach Zurliene, who as a player was a first team ABV 2A all-south selection in 2020-21.

If you're looking back in the history of the two basketball programs that form the Windsor/Stewardson-Strasburg co-op named the Hatchets, you will have dig a few years to find either of the program's last successful postseason.

Windsor was the last of the two to take home a regional championship.

Under then head coach Bruce Austin, the Blue Devils won a 1A regional title in 2010-11 and reached a sectional championship game before falling to Chrisman to end the fine season at 26-4.

Stewardson-Strasburg got to a regional title game in the first season of four-class basketball, losing to Dieterich on the Movin' Maroons home floor, finishing 19-10 for then head coach Mike Walker.

Neither program, separate or together, have went as far since.

The Hatchets will have a new mentor this season.

Cody Drone steps in to replace Shane Smith, who stepped down in the spring.

Drone has head coaching experience from Charleston and Sullivan and inherits a squad that were middle of the pack in the NTC (4-4) while finishing 17-14.

The Hatchets finished their regular season schedule by winning four of their final five contests before being bounced out of the postseason by Nokomis in the opener of the Moweaqua Central A&M Regional.

WSS had some seniors wave “buh-bye” last spring, including 1K scorer senior Jackson Gurgel along with classmates Rylan Rincker and 'all-name team' player Blayzz Verdeyen.

The other seniors tossing their uniforms in the bin on the way out were Roger Deleon and Kendal Morris.

Coach Drone has some kids with varsity playing time from last winter returning.

Six-one senior guard Aiden Sayers is back for the Hatchets after a pretty good junior campaign while 6-5 junior forward Brody Bible also had a standout sophomore season.

Bible was second on the team in scoring (9.3 p.p.g.) while Sayers ranked third (8.8 p.p.g.) as both trailed Gurgel (17.7 p.p.g.)

Two seniors are back with familiar WSS last names.

Five-nine senior guard Seth Rincker and 6-2 senior forward Tyler Vonderheide will fill spots on the floor as the season starts out.

Coach Drone added some names as potential help.

Five-nine senior Austin Rahn should provide support in the backcourt as should 5-10 senior Ethan Dison.

Both got into a handful of varsity contests as juniors.

The junior group has 5-9 guard Jakob Gurgel, 5-9 guard Koy Morris and 6-1 forward Wyatt Weatherall.

Coach Drone also mentioned 5-10 sophomore Eli Jones as someone who will look to help out.

We have a solid group of returners with very capable newcomers mixing into our program. We are replacing a considerable amount of points and experience from graduating seniors but are bringing back two starters and three contributors from last year's squad,” said Coach Drone. “Overall, our team is athletic and quick across the board at all five positions. We have good depth and several capable scorers and defenders. We had a great summer building our team identity and we were very competitive in summer play. Once we gain more experience together at the varsity level, I believe we will be highly competitive this season and in conference play.”

Previews for St. Elmo/Brownstown and CHBC are located on th Egyptian Illini Conference preview page.