Tuscola looks to return to state
Warriors will be tested at St. Anthony; Webber, CORL, Arcola emerge from regional upsets

02/26/2024
BY JACK BULLOCK
CARBONDALE - While the NCOE Sectional field turned out to be “all-chalk” only one team that advanced to the Effingham St. Anthony Sectional was supposed to be there.

Seeding-wise the only top dawg to get out of the regionals that feed to St. A was defending third place finisher from a season ago Tuscola.

The Warriors won the Casey-Westfield Regional last week with wins over Heritage, Martinsville and the hosts, 53-37, in the title game on Friday.

Coach Justin Bozath's club survived a brutal regular season schedule and are now 28-5.

Tuscola started the season 15-0 and then ran into a gauntlet of contests on the road against 2A teams Clinton, Tolono Unity, Shelbyville, Teutopolis and Warrensburg-Latham.

The Warriors went 2-3 in that run with wins over T-Town and W-L.

All five of those teams played for 2A regional championships on Friday night with Teutopolis and Tolono Unity winning regional titles.

Coach Bozarth's club is now on a nine-game winning streak heading into the sectional.

Jordan Quinn, a 6-3 senior, and 5-10 senior Josiah Hortin are both all-state candidates for Tuscola.

Hortin scored 22-points in the regional title game win at Casey-Westfield, making 13-of-16 free throws while Quinn added 12.

The club hit 17-of-21 from the foul line to advance to the sectional for the third-consecutive season.

Five-nine junior guard Kam Sweetnam adds to the backcourt strength for the Warriors

Josiah Hortin, a 5-10 senior guard, was also part of the long postseason run a year ago as was backcourt mate Kam Sweetnam, a 5-9 junior.

Six-foot senior Jackson Barrett, 6-3 junior Parker James, 6-5 junior Sawyer Woodard and Logan Kurtz, a 5-10 sophomore are all major contributors for Coach Bozarth, who is now 153-59 in his seventh season as head coach at Tuscola.

The Warriors will face Centralia Christ Our Rock Lutheran, winners of the Edwards County Regional last Friday.

The Silver Stallions are 18-15 on the season as they are now a part of the Gateway Metro Conference.

Six-foot senior Parker Boehne scored 12-points in the 39-35 win over Edwards County Friday night.

Jayden Bazile added 11-points and seven rebounds in the victory while junior Christian Nolman added five.

CORL started the season 0-6 but are currently riding a four-game winning streak.

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Although it is difficult to call a 30-3 an upset winner of a regional but Webber Township pull another of the mild surprises (seeding-wise) when they toppled Altamont, 57-45 on the Indians' home floor to win the Altamont Regional on Friday night.

Coach Jaxon Helm, a 2017 Webber graduate, is in his first season as head coach and the club has just three defeats to regional winners Waltonville (twice) and Goreville.

The Trojans are on an 11-game winning streak and won two tournaments, the Wayne City Holiday Tournament and the Midland Trail Conference Tournament where they beat Waltonville in the title game.

Six-two sophomore Nathaniel Marlow has been a special player for Webber Township in his two seasons as a varsity starter.

The guard/forward is already over 1,000-points for his career and he has had some big games this season.

But he isn't alone when it comes to contributions.

Senior Nikkos Ulm has been stellar this season for the Trojans.

He scored 22-points in the win over Altamont while Marlow added 17 as the Trojans' 30-wins is now a program record, besting the 29-wins by the 2004-05 super-sectional team.

Five-eleven senior Drew French is a guard that brings the energy for the Trojans' club.

Five-eight sophomore Carter Bain is also a starter and contributor for Coach Helm.

Bain, normally not a scorer, nailed a pair of big 3-pointers in the second quarter of the regional title game victory.

Six-foot senior Damien Fleener is another key player for Webber Township while sophomores Waylon Jones and Kylan Moser are important reserves.

The biggest 1A stunner from Friday night came at the Okaw Valley Regional.

Arcola, who quietly went 23-6 in the regular campaign, added three postseason wins with none bigger than its 57-52 overtime win over the state's top-ranked team Effingham St. Anthony to win the first regional championship since 2016.

Coach Greg Gisinger and his Purple Riders ambushed St. A, jumping out to a 29-20 halftime lead and then outscoring the Bulldogs 14-7 in overtime to win perhaps the biggest game in the program's history.

The Purple Riders (cool nickname) returned everyone from last season's 17-14 squad and survived a pretty tough regular season in 2023-24.

After a rough start, Coach Gisinger's squad have won nine-straight games and 19-of-20 since the Dieterich Holiday Tournament.

The loss was in the Lincoln Prairie Conference Tournament championship to Okaw Valley.

Arcola avenged that defeat with a 51-38 victory over the Timberwolves in the regional semifinals.

They put it all together in the St. Anthony game with four different players hitting double-figures in scoring.

Braden Phillips, a 6-4 junior forward, scored 15-points in the Friday night title game win.

Gerardo Alanis, a 6-1 point guard, added 13 while 6-3 senior Jackson Miller and 5-10 freshman Brady Phillips each scored 12.

Junior guard Tanner Thomas scored five-points for Arcola.