Belleville East star basketball player Malcolm Hill will remain at Illinois despite the coaching change from Bruce Weber to John Groce.

Metro east area track and field junkies will be able to get their fill this weekend as two of the top regular season meets in the state take place at Belleville West and East St. Louis.
Four of the top-ranked boys track teams in the state will collide for the first time in 2012 on Friday  at the Norm Armstrong/Belleville West Invitational at Belleville West High School.
Leading the field is defending Class 2A state champion Cahokia, while another Class 2A power Triad is also in the event which begins with field events at 11 a.m.
Preliminaries in the running events begin at 11:45 a.m.
Also in the field is Edwardsville, led by senior Garrett Sweatt in the 1,600 and 3,200 meters, is also in the field along with Belleville East and East St. Louis
On Saturday, fans will be able to get their first look outdoors at defending Class 3A state champion East St. Louis when the Flyerettes host the annual Jackie Joyner-Kersee Relays at Clyde Jordan Stadium in East St. Louis.
Prelims begin at 10 a.m.

The ‘12 girls track and field season is barely two weeks old, but already the Belleville West Maroons have shown they’ll be a force both locally and state-wide not too far down the road.
Second behind Rock Island in the Southwestern Illinois Relays a week ago, the Maroons claimed their first win of the season by capturing the Belleville West Invitational on Friday, nipping perennial state power O’Fallon by four points.
The Maroons are loaded in the field events where senior Samantha Voegtle (shot put and discus), Kelsey Shannon (high jump) and Claudette Day (long jump) are potential state medal winners while Day is also solid in the hurdles.
The Maroons will also be well-tested this season, competing in the same Southwestern Conference with defending Class 3A state champion East St. Louis, Edwardsville, Belleville East and O’Fallon on a weekly basis.

Metro east area track and field fans will have a tough choice to make on where to go Friday as two major early season meets take place at Belleville West and O’Fallon High Schools.

The Lebanon Greyhounds are unranked in Class 1A and not drawing a lot of attention this season. And, that’s the way coach Hank Feldt likes it.

Former Althoff High and St. Louis University star Kevin Lisch has been named Most Valuable Player of Australia’s National Basketball League.

The era of the artificial surface has begun at Collinsville High School.

That familiar "ping" heard at high school baseball fields throughout the country has been replaced by something that sounds more like a thud now that the mandated switch to BBCOR bats has been implemented.

Ready, set, go!
  The ‘12 outdoor prep track season kicks off with the first big meet of the year when many of the top teams and athletes in the state compete on Saturday in the Southwestern Illinois Relays at Edwardsville High School.
The boys meet which features potential state champions Belleville West and host Edwardsville begins at 9 a.m. with the girls competition set for 10 a.m.
The Edwardsville boys team feature the state’s top sprinter in Cameron James and one of the nation’s best distance runners in Garrett Sweatt.
Sweatt will attend Stanford University in the Fall.

The honors keep rolling in for Edwardsville junior Emmonnie Henderson.
Henderson, who helped lead the Tigers to a second place finish at the Class 4A State Tournament earlier this month, has been named as a first team all-state selection by the Champaign News-Gazette.
Local players earning second team all-state status included Mater Dei senior and DePaul recruit Brooke Schulte, Joymesia Howard of East St. Louis and Taylor Voss of Central.
Earning special mention status were Shaye Harre of Nashville, Taylor Klingelhoefer of O’Fallon, Paige Rakers of Carlyle and Mariah Sunkett of Belleville East.
Honorable mention selections were Alexis Brown of Belleville East, Leslie Harden of Madison, Paige Luehmann of Granite City, Emily Michael of Highland, Maddie Timmermann of Central, Lauren White of Edwardsville and Savannah Wittenbrink of Columbia.

If its 3-2 triumph over Granite City on Friday is any indication, Belleville East's girls soccer team could be in line for a huge season.

With more wins than 76 Division I teams heading into this week, Baylor University pitcher Trent Blank is creating a wide blip on the college baseball radar.

The O’Fallon Panthers will host their own softball tournament featuring several state-ranked teams this season. The eight-team tournament will be held April 20-21 at the O’Fallon City Park.

Edwardsville junior all-state forward Emmonnie Henderson headlines the 2011-12 all-Southwestern Conference girls basketball team which was released this week.
Joining Henderson as first team selections were Alexis Brown of Belleville East, Samantha Voegtle of Belleville West, Joymesia Howard of East St. Louis, Paige Luehmann of Granite City and Taylor Klingelhoefer of O’Fallon.
Second team honorees included Mariah Sunkett of Belleville East, Diamond Enlow of Belleville West, Shaye Barrett and Kayla Murphy of Collinsville, Leigh Kesper and Lauren White of Edwardsville and Kaitlin Kendall of O’Fallon.
Third team selections were Erica Walker of Alton, Emily Becker of Belleville West, Tori Bell of Collinsville, Petra Elbert of East St. Louis, Sarah Parker of Edwardsville and Natalie O’Keefe of Granite City.

Belleville East junior guard Malcolm Hill was voted first-team all-state when The Associated Press announced its Class 3A/4A All-State basketball teams on Wednesday.
Hill, a 6-foot-5 University of Illinois recruit, was joined on the Class 4A first team by Jabari Parker and Steve Taylor from Chicago Simeon, Rockford Auburn’s Fred Van Vleet and Keith Carter from Proviso East.
Hill averaged an area-leading 23.8 points per game along with 4.5 rebounds. He also has 82 assists, 49 steals and 30 blocked shots.
DeShawn Munson, a 6-4 junior guard from East St. Louis, earned second-team all-state honors in Class 3A. Munson averaged 19.7 points and 7.2 rebounds for the Flyers, who lost to Springfield Lanphier in the Springfield Super-Sectional on Tuesday.
Munson also had 83 assists and 60 steals.
Metro-east players earning honorable mention all-state honors in Class 4A were O’Fallon senior guard Roy Bullock III, Edwardsville junior guards Garrett Covington and Tre Harris, Collinsville senior forward Daryn Foster
Cahokia guard Keenan Minor and East St. Louis guard Brandon Johnson were named to the Class 3A honorable mention all-state team along with Jerseyville’s Matt Murphy.

The O’Fallon Panthers are ranked seventh in the state in the Class 4A preseason softball poll by the Illinois Coaches Association.

The metro-east lost several good people in the last few days.

Wednesday is the national signing day for football, soccer and several other sports.

The Nashville-Mater Dei girls basketball on Saturday afternoon had a postseason feel to it even though it wasn’t a postseason game. The two state-ranked squads — Mater Dei is No. 7 in Class 3A and Nashville is No. 3 in Class 2A — went toe-to-toe for 32 intense minutes.

The Class 4A Belleville West Girls Basketball Regional looks like a free-for-all with four fairly equal Southwestern Conference teams battling it out.

When Belleville East and Belleville West tangled Thursday across the river at the Coaches vs. Cancer Shootout, it evoked memories of the old KMOX/Coca Cola Shootouts held each year in St. Louis under the direction of longtime Shootout kingpin Keith Pickett.

O’Fallon and Edwardsville received No. 1 seeds in Class 4A, while East St. Louis and Mater Dei received No. 1 seeds in Class 3A for the girls basketbal playoffs.

Mascoutah’s Katelyn Gibson has committed to play softball for Division III powerhouse Emory University in Atlanta, Ga.

Belleville West High School graduate Kaitlyn Hill had a career night playing in her own backyard. Hill, a 6-foot-3 junior center for Austin Peay, registered the first double-double of her career in the Governors’ 72-61 loss to Southern Illinois University Edwardsville on Monday night at the Vadalabene Center.

Triad and Litchfield have been invited to join the Highland Girls Tournament. Those two schools replace Edwardsville and Olney East Richland.

The Okawville Rockets and Alton Marquette Explorers are the top seeds in the two local Class 1A girls basketball regionals.. Playoff pairings for both of the the small-school classes were released last Friday. The two large-school classes (Class 3A and 4A) will be released this coming Friday.

Central and Nashville, which are both state ranked, are the two local favorites in the Class 2A girls basketball regionals. The playoff pairings for the two small-school classes were released on Friday.

The All-Tournament team for the Belleville East Winter Classic consisted of five players from five different teams. McCluer senior guard Demetrius Floyd was chosen as the Most Valuable Player of the tournament.

One of the most versatile girls basketball players in the metro-east is Highland’s Emily Michael. The 6-foot senior forward-center literally can do it all.

This will be the Edwardsville Tigers last appearance in the Scott Credit Union/Highland Girls Tournament. The defending champion Tigers have not been invited back to the tournament next year.

While their basketball record is a so-so 7-7, that still represents progress for the Waterloo Bulldogs.

With a little over a month remaining before the ‘12 wrestling postseason begins in all three classes, the best metro east wrestlers are poised to make runs at state tournament medals.
 In the Jan.  issue of  ‘Illinois Best Weekly’ a total of 13 area wrestlers are ranked in the top six in their respective weight classes.
Following is a list of area wrestlers ranked.

In Class 3A
• Mech Spraggins, Belleville West, ranked 3rd in 132 pound weight class.
• Justin Valencia, Granite City, ranked 2nd in 160 pound weight class
• Taylor McGiffin, Alton, ranked 2nd in 182 pound weight class
• Blake Blair, Edwardsvile, ranked 2nd in 195 pound weight class.

In Class 2A
 • Cole Wysocki, Triad, ranked third in 106 pound weight class
 • Leslie Williams, Cahokia, ranked fifth in 120 pound weight class
 • David Pearce, Civic Memorial, ranked 3rd in 126 pound weight class
  • Lavion Mayes, Mascoutah, ranked 3rd in the 145 pound weight class
  • David Frazier, Cahokia, ranked 5th in the 160-pound weight class
  • Jake Tindle, Triad, ranked 1st in the 170-pound weight class

In Class 1A
 
  • Michael Harris, Althoff, ranked 4th in the 126 pound weight class
  • Kevin Roper, Carlyle, ranked 4th in the 182-pound weight class
   • Kameron Harris, Althoff, ranked 5th in the 182-pound weight class

The Belleville East Winter Classic pairings have been set.

Talk about your bad timing. The Collinsville Kahoks were getting on a roll when senior guard Kayla Murphy sustained a knee injury in the late going against Granite City on Tuesday night.

The Edwardsville Tigers ran their winning Southwestern Conference winning streak to 38 on Tuesday with a 59-31 thrashing of East St. Louis in a game that wasn’t as close as the final score indicates.
 East St. Louis, with perhaps the second best player in the SWC in senior Joymesia Howard spending most of the night on the bench in foul trouble, stayed with the Tigers (15-0) for a quarter, but were blown out of the gym by the patience and disciplined Tigers.
Edwardsville faces another challenge on Thursday against a dangerous O’Falllon squad. And coach Lori Blade’s crew could possibly get pushed at the Highland Tournament in two weeks by Mater Dei and/or Nashville.
But once again in 2011-12, there doesn’t appear to be any challengers to the Tigers claim as the top girls basketball team in the metro east.

Here are the pairings for the 26th annual Scott Credit Union-Highland Girls Basketball Tournament. There are two new teams -- Beecher City and Vandalia -- this year.

I'm glad to see the Columbia-Freeburg Holiday Tournament (being held this year at Columbia High School and Middle School) return to a bracket format. While coaches enjoy pool play tournaments, with their guaranteed four or five games, I've always felt the fans felt a little confused by the process. Add in the usual amount of blowout games and you wonder if some teams really enjoy going 0-5 in the span of a week and have nothing to show for it but a few bruises and a bashed-in schedule.

The Red Bud Musketeers won’t be going far — or be away for very long — to celebrate their holiday season on the basketball court.

Red Bud will play in the Duster Thomas Hoops Classic at Pinckneyville High School on Dec. 27-28.

The Musketeers, who are in the same pool with the host Panthers, Steeleville and Teutopolis — open tournament play against Pinckneyville at 8:30 a.m. on Dec. 27.

The title game is set for Dec. 28 at 8:30 p.m.

Following is the complete tournament schedule.

Duster Thomas Hoops Classic
at Pinckneyville High School
Pool A: Pinckneyville, Red Bud, Steeleville, Teutopolis
Pool B: Benton, DuQuoin, Lawrenceville, Olney
Tuesday, Dec. 27
Pinckneyville vs. Red Bud, 8:30 a.m.
Lawrenceville vs. Benton, 10 a.m.
Olney vs. DuQuoin, 11:30 a.m.
Steeleville vs. Teutopolis, 1 p.m.
DuQuoin vs. Lawrenceville, 4 p.m.
Red Bud vs, Steeleville, 5:30 p.m.
Benton vs. Olney. 7 p.m.
Teutopolis vs. Pinckneyville, 8:30 p.m.
Wednesday, Dec. 28
DuQuoin vs. Benton, 8:30 a.m.
Steeleville vs. Pinckneyville, 10 a.m.
Olney vs. Lawrenceville, 11:30 a.m.
Red Bud vs. Teutopolis, 2 p.m.
Seventh Place Game, 4 p.m.
Fifth Place Game, 5:30 p.m.
Third Place Game, 7 p.m.
Title Game, 8:30 p.m.

Ho! Ho! Ho!

The rivalry resumes on Tuesday.

The Belleville West Maroons and Belleville East Lancers will rekindle their city rivalry in their annual pre-Christmas doubleheader when the two Southwestern Conference schools meet Tuesday at Belleville East High School.

The girls game begins at 6 p.m. followed by the boys game at 7:30 p.m. The East and West junior-varsity teams will meet in two separate gyms at Belleville East beginning at 4:15 p.m.

We know the Illinois High School Association isn't perfect. The state's governing body for high school sports has to please a lot of people at every level, from superintendents to principals, athletic directors, coaches and players.

Belleville West coach Joe Muniz is taking the glass-half-full approach to the loss of leading scorer Nick Van Osdale for at least six weeks to a broken right wrist. Muniz thinks Van Osdale’s absence could make the Maroons stronger in the long run because it’ll force some of the team’s reserves to step up.

While others consider Saturday's Saluki Shootout finale of Central vs. Harrisburg a potential early preview of the Class 2A Super-Sectional, Central coach Stan Eagleson is a little more cautious.

Pairings for the prestigious Collinsville-Schnucks Holiday Classic, scheduled for Dec. 28-30 at Fletcher Gym, will be determined Sunday night when coordinators meet.

The pairings for the Mascoutah Girls Invitational have been released. The touney runs from Dec. 27-29. The tourney tips off with the Althoff Crusaders playing the Okawville Rockets at 8:30 a.m. on Dec. 27. The championship game is set for 7 p.m. Dec. 29.

Looking back at his own past, Edwardsville coach Mike Waldo said he could feel empathy for Diarra Cropper. The senior forward missed three free throws after being fouled on a 3-point attempt with no time on the clock in the first overtime period against Belleville East on Tuesday night.

The Belleville West Maroons will look at extend their domination of city wrestling when they compete in the Battle of Belleville on Wednesday at Althoff High School.

What began as a chance for the basketball teams at Belleville East and Collinsville to play at the University of Illinois’ Assembly Hall in Champaign has apparently been derailed by an NCAA ruling.
NCAA legislation passed in April forbids Division I schools from hosting non-scholastic basketball events on campus if potential student-athletes participate.
According to the Champaign News-Gazette, the “State Farm Shootout at The Hall” event was organized by the Champaign County Convention and Visitors Bureau, and the event meets the definition of that NCAA rule.
As a result, Illinois could be sanctioned by the NCAA for allowing the event to proceed as scheduled. Shootout organizers instead decided to mov the event to Parkland Junior College in Champaign.
There were seven games scheduled, with three of those — including Belleville East-Collinsville — that were originally scheduled games moved to Champaign specifically for the shootout.
The News-Gazette article said similar events at college-town sites in Peoria, Lexington, Ky., and Durham, N.C., were also canceled.
Belleville East Athletic Director Jim Loyet said Saturday he had spoken with Collinsville Athletic Director Chris Kusnerick and the administrations from both schools agreed to play the game as originally scheduled before it was moved for the shootout.
That would be a Jan. 6 home game for Belleville East.
Loyet said he also e-mailed the Shootout organizers informing them of the decision, but as of Saturday had not heard back from them yet.
“We did sign a contract with them, but we signed a contract to play at Assembly Hall,” Loyet said. “It would be different if it was a nonconference game and a team that we were supposed to play from out of the area. This was such a late invitation that it’s better for both schools to play it back in B...

While Cahokia was playing on friendly rims at its own gym Friday night, what the Comanches did to the Carbondale Terriers left everyone a little stunned.

Belleville West finally gets to open its basketball season Tuesday.

Emily Becker (Belleville West), Sam Epenesa (Edwardsville), Katie Roustio (O'Fallon), Brooke Schulte (Mater Dei) and Taylor Voss (Central) were all first-team selections on the recently released Champaign News-Gazette All-State Volleyball Team.

Belleville West football coach Cameron Pettus will be the guest speaker at the Dec. 9 meeting of the Belleville Area Senior Men's Sports Group.

Coach Rick Gibson's optimism about his O'Fallon Panthers is understandable.

It's almost time for the boys basketball season to begin.

Wednesday is the fall national signing day for high school athletes in basketball, baseball, softball, volleyball, wrestling, swimming, golf and tennis.

Waterloo High senior volleyball standout Rachelle Wiegand will sign with the University of Illinois-Springfield on Friday.

Prep Football Playoffs
(Seeds, records in parentheses)
Second-Round Games
Friday, Nov. 4
Class 8A
(16) Belleville East (6-4) at (9) Naperville Central (7-3), 7 p.m.
(13) Lockport (7-3) at (12) Homewood-Flossmoor (7-3), 7 p.m.
(6) Brother Rice (7-3) at (3) Downers Grove South (9-1), 7 p.m.
Class 7A
(8) Wheaton Warrenville South (7-3) at (1) Lincoln-Way East (10-0), 7:30 p.m.
(2) O’Fallon (9-1) at (10) Pekin (7-3), 7 p.m.
(3) Chicago St. Rita (8-2) at (11) Andrew (7-3), 7 p.m.
(3) Crystal Lake South (9-1) at (11) Mundelein Carmel (7-3), 7 p.m.
Class 6A
(1) Lemont (10-0) at (5) Oak Forest (7-3), 7 p.m.
(5) Lakes (8-2) at (13) Grant (7-3), 7 p.m.
Class 5A
(4) Joliet Catholic (8-2) at (1) Morris (9-1), 7 p.m.
Class 4A
(5) Rock Island Alleman (9-1) at (13) Evergreen Park (7-3), 7 p.m.
Class 3A
(1) Aurora Christian (9-1) at (5) Oregon (7-3), 7 p.m.

Saturday, Nov. 5
Class 8A
(7) Chicago Mt. Carmel (7-3) at (2) Bolingbrook (9-1), 6 p.m.
(1) Loyola Academy (10-0) vs. (9) Chicago Dunbar (7-3) at Gately Stadium, 1 p.m.
(5) Glenbrook South (8-2) at (13) LaGrange Lyons (6-4), 7 p.m.
(2) Maine South (10-0) at (7) Stevenson (8-2), 3 p.m.
(3) Palatine (9-1) at (11) Glenbard North (7-3), 6 p.m.
Class 7A
(5) East St. Louis (8-2) at (4) Oswego (8-2), 3 p.m.
(8) Lake Zurich (8-2) at (1) Glenbard West (10-0), 1 p.m.
(5) Machesney Park Harlem (9-1) at (4) Elk Grove Village (9-1), 1 p.m.
(7) Wheaton North (8-2) at (2) Rockford Boylan (10-0) 1 p.m.
Class 6A
(7) Oak Lawn Richards (6-4) at (3) Chicago Hubbard (8-2), 7 p.m.
(1) Crete-Monee (10-0) at (5) Peoria Richwoods (7-3), 2 p.m.
(3) Danville (9-1) at (2) Normal West (10-0), 7 p.m.
(8) Lake Forest (8-2) at (1) Batavia (10-0), 1 p.m.
(2) Prairie Ridge (9-1) at (10) ...

Mater Dei's second-round opponent in the Class 4A state football playoffs is Apollo Conference heavyweight Mount Zion.

The 2011 cross country season is over for Althoff sophomore sensation Savannah Ames.

One of two girls in the state to beat defending Class 1A state champion Kristen Busch of Freeburg, Ames has suffered a stress fracture in left foot and will miss the remainder of the ‘11 postseason, Althoff coach Gary Calhoun said on Wednesday.

Calhoun said Ames suffered the injury 10 days ago, but still managed to place second behind Busch at the New Athens Regional last Saturday.

Ames was considered as a potential top 5 placewinner for the Class 1A State Cross Country Meet which will be held in Peoria on November 5.

  Freeburg cross country coach Carl Florczyk knows exactly what to expect from seniors Kristen Busch and Caitlin Busch next week at the Class 1A State Cross Country Meet at Detweiller Park in Peoria on November 5.


 The defending Class 1A state champion, Kristen Busch is a favorite to repeat and twin sister Caitlin is a sure bet for a fourth straight top 10 finish.

  In junior Olivia Von Bokel and senior Kristen Thouvenot, Florczyk, has two runners capable of finishing in the 25-40th place range. The key for the Midgets hopes of being in the trophy hunt rests with junior Morgan Mense, sophomore Emma Farley and freshman Lindsay Mank.

  The Midgets will try to take that final step towards the state finals on Saturday when they compete in the Metro East Lutheran Sectional at Southern Illinois University at Edwardsville beginning with the girls race at 10 a.m.

   The boys race follows at 10:45 a.m.

   Other outstanding individuals competing Saturday include Tori Fulgham of Roxana as well as Savanna Ames and Grace Rowan of Althoff.

   In the boys race, the top team looks to be Sparta which is led by seniors Jon Hill and Wes Bradshaw. Columbia senior Drew Spargo may be the area’s top individual.

What a rough Tuesday night for metro-east soccer teams, as only Waterloo remained to play deeper into the postseason. Eliminated were O'Fallon in Class 3A, Triad in Class 2A and Columbia in Class 1A.

Here’s the first-round schedule for state football playoff games involving area teams:

40-year reunion of the 1971 Belleville East football team will he held tonight and Saturday. The team will be honored at the Belleville East-O’Fallon game tonight, with a reception to follow for players and coaches at the Shiloh Eagles facility.

Longtime Belleville East boys track coach Jim Loyet has announced his resignation from the position.
 
Loyet, who has helped build the Lancers program into one of the best in the St. Louis area and the state, said Tuesday that he submitted his letter of resignation last week.

Loyet’s resignation was accepted at the Belleville School District 201 Board meeting on Monday.

Loyet will remain as the  Belleville East athletic director.

With starting quarterback Mike Martz already out for the season with a collarbone injury, Mater Dei football coach Jim Stiebel got more bad news on Tuesday.

University of Illinois basketball recruit Malcolm Hill and the Belleville East Lancers will be playing in his future home Dec. 10 at the Assembly Hall in Champaign.

Belleville East's and Collinsville's boys basketball teams will meet at 3:45 p.m. on Dec. 10 in the State Farm Shootout at the Hall, to be held at Assembly Hall in Champaign.

The local contingent of tennis players heading north on Wednesday to compete in the Illinois High School State Girls Tennis Tournament added another entry late Saturday when the doubles team of Julie Graf and Grace Pavek of Mascoutah placed fourth at the Carbondale Sectional.

The Indians top combination, Graf and Pavek placed finished 2-2 in sectional and will be one of nine doubles combinations from the metro east competing in the state finals.

 The 2011 IHSA State Girls Tennis Tournament begins on Thursday at sites throughout suburban Chicago.

O’Fallon High senior linebacker and safety Ka’Ra Stewart received scholarship offers from Illinois, Missouri and Iowa this week and already has one from Alabama-Birmingham.

I had to hurry and get this done so that nobody thinks I had an unfair advantage of seeing the early first round scores at the boys and girls state golf tournaments which began on Friday.

I wouldn’t cheat!

While all five of the state tournaments feature local players who should fare well. Look for the  metro east players to do especially well in the Class 2A boys and Class A girls events.

In Class 2A boys, Althoff and Galesburg should battle it for the state team championship. The Crusaders and Silver Streaks had by far the low scores in the state during sectional meets earlier in the week and both have four players of posting scores in the low 70’s or better if the conditions are right. Althoff also two players in senior Sam Lidisky and sophomore Michael Johnson who should be in the running for the state individual title.

 In the girls Class A event, Nashville should be in the trophy hunt for the second straight year. The Hornettes placed third in ‘10. Nashville sophomore Shawn Rennegarbe and Althoff senior Nicole Johnson could be in the title hunt with two good days.

Whenever the Althoff Crusaders and Cahokia Comanches play, there always seems to be more on the line than just bragging rights between the two South Seven Conference rivals.

St. Clair Bowl in O’Fallon has been awarded a five-year contract extension from the Illinois High School Association to host the Boys Bowling State Final. The five-year contract runs through the 2015-16 school year.

Red Bud senior running back Tyler Hubert has been chosen as the St. Louis Rams' High School Player of Week presented by Rawlings.

The Edwardsville Tigers will be heading into unfamiliar surroundings in the Class 3A Joliet Golf Sectional.

The Tigers, along with the Collinsville Kahoks and seven individual golfers, will be competing on Monday at Inwood Golf Course in Joliet.

Don’t look now but the race for the Southwestern Conference football championship is probably headed to the wire.

And it won’t be decided until the final week.

With three games remaining in the regular season, Belleville East (4-0) holds a one game lead over both O’Fallon (3-1) and East St. Louis (3-1).

The Lancers play at Edwardsville (2-2) on Friday then close with two home games against Collinsville (2-2) on Oct. 14 and O’Fallon on Oct. 21. O’Fallon plays at Collinsville on Friday and hosts Edwardsville on Oct. 14 before traveling to Belleville East for the season finale.

 East St. Louis hosts Granite City (2-2) on Friday, travels to Belleville West (0-4) on Oct. 14 then hosts winless Alton (0-4) on Oct. 21.

Schedule advantage? East St. Louis.

The Althoff Crusaders’ South Seven Conference football game against the Carbondale Terriers on Friday has been moved from Belleville East to Belleville West. Kickoff is still set for 7 p.m.

Mater Dei took over the No. 1 spot in the new Associated Press 4A state football rankings released Tuesday.

Someone asked me Tuesday whether I was ready for basketball season to start?

The Alton Redbirds might be winless at 0-6, but they’ve found their quarterback for the rest of the season.

Freeburg High School senior Kristen Busch looks to get back to her winning ways on Tuesday when the Midgets compete in the St. Clair County Cross Country Meet at Frank Holten State Park in East St. Louis.

Belleville West star sophomore linebacker Tori Millender’s season is over following surgery earlier this week to repair a finger injury.

After graduation took a heavy toll on his defense, Belleville East coach Tim Funk was worried about his team’s ability to keep opponents from scoring this season.

But, after five games, the Lancers’ defense has stood firm.

After climbing out from beneath the debris of a 20-2 deficit in the first game Tuesday against Belleville West, the Althoff Crusaders dusted themselves off and began playing volleyball again.

A 40-year reunion of the 1971 Belleville East football team will he held Oct. 21-22. The team will be honored at the Belleville East-O’Fallon game on Friday night, with a reception to follow for players and coaches at the Shiloh Eagles facility.

Here are the pairings for the Belleville East Metro Classic volleyball tournament:

Several of the area’s top high school volleyball teams will join some of the top teams in Illinois and the Midwest at the Effingham Crossroads Classic Friday and Saturday.

Just two weeks into the season, Mater Dei’s football team has lost its top two-way player in senior tight end and linebacker Peter Ratermann.

Red Bud High football coach Dave Lucht doesn’t typically include large quantities of bubble wrap packaging in his team’s medical kit, but he may want to start considering that option.

Mater Dei graduate Jay Voss, pitching for the Detroit Tigers’ Class AA Erie affiliate this season, has been named Eastern League Pitcher of the Week.

East St. Louis edged out Laze Zurich for the top spot in the Associated Press Class 7A preseason state football poll released Tuesday.

Here is a look at the Rivals.com list of top 30 football prospects in Illinois. Metro-east players making the list were Edwardsville defensive tackle Vincent Valentine at No. 13, O'Fallon linebacker Mike Cotton at No. 22 and East St. Louis quarterback Lamontiez Ivy at No. 23.

The Metro-East High School Huddle local sports radio show makes its 2011 debut 11 a.m.-noon Saturday on KSLG-AM 1380.

O’Fallon High linebacker Mike Cotton has become the sixth verbal commitment for Indiana University and new head coach Kevin Wilson.

According to an e-mail sent to media members Wednesday, the Illinois High School Association’s Board of Directors “approved significant changes to the IHSA Multiplier Policy and the Classification Policy” on Monday. A follow-up e-mail trying to clarify the original pointed out that the Board of Directors does not have the ability to modify the multiplier. According to assistant executive director Matt Troha, the change involves the waiver policy as it relates to the multiplier. Typically, any changes of significant nature are announced as soon as possible by the IHSA. With this announcement, a press release regarding the changes is scheduled to be e-mailed to the media this morning with a follow-up conference call at 2:30 p.m. with IHSA Executive Director Marty Hickman. Wednesday’s e-mail came from Troha. In 2005, the IHSA changed its bylaws with the addition of a 1.65 multiplier used to determine playoff classification for private schools. In short, private schools multiplied their official enrollment by 1.65 to determine their competition class for the playoffs. Among metro-east private schools, Althoff and Mater Dei compete as 3A schools in a four-class system (sports such as basketball and baseball) and 2A schools in a three-class system (sports such as soccer, track, etc.). In sports with two-class systems, both schools compete as Class AA teams.

O’Fallon High catcher Austin Bossart, Waterloo outfielder-first baseman Garrett Schlecht and Marissa infielder-pitcher Logan Tabor each were selected to the Illinois High School Baseball Coaches Association All-State Team.

Waterloo’s missing offense showed up Saturday in the third-place game at the Class 3A state baseball tournament.

Waterloo High senior outfielder Garrett Schlecht was selected in the ninth round of the Major League Draft on Tuesday by the Chicago Cubs.

Longtime Nashville and Collinsville High assistant coach C.J. Cruser was hired Thursday as the new boys varsity basketball coach at Waterloo High School.

The Belleville News-Democrat will run baseball box scores this summer for American Legion, Junior Legion, area high school varsity leagues, the Mon-Clair League and Clinton County League.

O’Fallon slugger Lauren Smith revealed the secret behind her nickname of “G’’ after the Panthers’ 7-2 win over the Collinsville Kahoks in the semifinal round of the Class 4A Moline Softball Sectional.