03/04/2025
BY JACK BULLOCK
CARBONDALE - Three of the four teams that made it to the deep south 1A sectional a season ago are back to do battle this week at Cobden.

Last season Goreville, Mounds Meridian and Waltonville all won regional championships and made it to the Norris City-Omaha-Enfield Sectional.

Meridian defeated Waltonville and defending state champ Waterloo Gibault in the title game on their way to finishing second in the 1A finals to champion Winchester West Central.

The Bobcats are back after losing some key players from last season but head coach David Davis has the program on the same path as last winter.

Meridian enters the week after dispatching Gallatin County and Hardin County by a combined 52-points in winning the Crab Orchard Regional.

Six-five sophomore Antonio Flenoid, Jr. paces the Bobcats with 18.8 points and 11.6 rebounds a game.

Senior Colin Monan is second in scoring at 16.5 points while junior guard Javione Ransom adds 10.2 points a night.

The Bobcats played a tough non-conference schedule and all but one of the losses came against 2A and 3A teams.

The only 1A defeat came against their opposition on Wednesday night.

Waltonville bested Meridian 65-53 back on December 7 and the Spartans are back in the sectional semifinals in consecutive seasons for the first time since 1990 and 1991.

Coach Anthony Lowery and his club had to sweat out a 54-51 regional title game win over upset minded Steeleville at the Marissa Regional.

Gage Peterson, a 6-6 junior forward, and 5-11 junior Kyle Cooper lead the way for the Spartans.

Peterson averages nearly 16-points a night and Cooper contributes over 17.

Peterson (18) and Cooper (13) led the way in the regional title game win.

Sophomore forward Jagger Mayville adds 11-points a game and sophomore guard Witten Devor puts up eight-points a contest for Waltonville, who comes into the week at 28-4.
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Goreville, who lost a heartbreaking decision in the sectional semifinals last March to Gibault, returns for head coach Todd Tripp.

The Blackcats have also been impressive this season and they're riding 10-game winning streak.

The only losses this season have come against 2A powers Benton and Nashville and a 70-63 decision to Waltonville in the title game of the Sesser-Valier Holiday Tournament.

Six-foot senior guard Cole Tripp, 6-7 senior forward Drake Buffington, 6-3 senior forward Connor Craig, 6-foot sophomore Nick King and 5-10 junior guard Zech Green have come up big for the Blackcats this season.

Goreville raced out to a 28-5 first quarter lead and coasted home to a 80-49 win over Galatia to keep the regional championship plaque at home as they advanced from their own event.

Green nailed down six 3-pointers in the win, all in the first three quarters of the dominating win while Tripp finished with 11-points and Craig mustered up 14.

Okawville is the Tuesday opponent for the Blackcats.

The Rockets were the top-seeded team at the Christopher Regional and they outlasted the host Bearcats 43-35 in the finale on Friday night.

Head coach Ryan Heck's club is the only one of the four that hasn't spent time in the state 1A rankings but the Rockets' are not without a chance.

Okawville plays a rough metro-east area schedule littered with 2A and 3A teams and they play in a division of the Cahokia Conference in which they're the only 1A program.

Six-nine senior forward Aidan Anderson averages a double-double in scoring and rebounding.

Anderson paces the Rockets attack with 20.6 points and 12.8 rebounds.

He netted 21-points and snagged 13-rebounds in the regional win for the now 19-15 squad.

Two other players; 6-foot sophomore Braylen Turner and 6-1 junior Landen Shubert averaged in double-digits with 11.7 and 10.3 points respectively.

The only 1A loss this season was to Waltonville, 64-44 on the road back on January 14.