Prep Notebook | Fall sports season ends, winter sports gets underway
And then there were none.
The Murphysboro Red Devils were the region’s last fall sports team standing before being ousted from postseason play Saturday by the juggernaut that is the Rochester Rockets, 42-14.
Murphysboro had an impressive season to say the least, going undefeated in the Ohio Division of the River-to-River Conference at 4-0 and finishing the regular season 8-1 before winning three straight playoff games leading into the Class 4A state semifinal matchup against Rochester.
To put it nicely, the Rockets are a football factory. Rochester has a public school enrollment of 754 with students from Buckhart, Mechanicsburg, Springfield and Rochester all filtering into the school district.
In recent years, Herrin (2014 and 2017), Carterville (2022) and now Murphysboro (2023) have fallen victim to Rochester in the playoffs. And despite how good all those local teams were, they hardly had a chance against a team that draws from a much larger population base.
Those parents who prefer not to enroll their student-athlete in one of the public schools in the greater Springfield area either opt for a private school like Sacred Heart-Griffin or travel to nearby Rochester, because once a school has that reputation of a sports powerhouse, there is more interest in going there.
It’s hard to contend with that kind of an advantage if you go to school here.
Ahry Comer of Pope County picked LSU to continue her athletic career next year. The standout runner, who placed 11th at the cross country state meet, said she will mostly focus on her track career at the Baton Rouge, Louisiana-based school.
Last spring, Comer won state championships in the 400 and 800 meters, as well as earning a third in the 1600 meters.
Picking LSU over Oklahoma State, Indiana, Kentucky, and North Carolina, Comer said her family has been LSU Tigers football fans for years so she grew up liking the school.
“And when I made my visit there, I liked everyone that I met, including the coaches and athletes. I also loved the facilities,” she said. “Going to school here has been a dream of mine since I was little. I can hardly wait.”
Harrisburg's Tony Keene signed his National Letter of Intent to run track and field at Southeast Missouri State University on Monday at Harrisburg High School.
Keene will compete for the Redhawks next year in multiple events, including pole vault, jumps, hurdles, and the decathlon.
He was also a member of the football team and is a state-ranked wrestler.
BASKETBALL TIME
The girls have been in action for the last week, while the boys teams get started this week.
Fellow sportswriter Kedarius Flowers, photographer Byron Hetzler and I had the opportunity to see some girls hoops last week at the Du Quoin Invitational. As is always the case with Athletic Director Derek Beard running the show, the hospitality was fantastic.
I'm not just talking about the food, which was very good, but also the willingness to help us out with box scores and making sure that we had no technical issues with the internet service when doing our work.
Salem and Pinckneyville both looked pretty good. The surprise team of the tournament was Cairo, who finished second to Salem.
Pinckneyville was third, but the Panthers have the makings of a fine team. Senior guard Emily Baggett is a good scorer. Senior center Rileigh Harris is going to be tough to stop in the low blocks and sophomores guards Abby Keith and Madison Bruns look to be capable offensive players, as well.
HARGROVE MILESTONE
Speaking of the Du Quoin tournament, Christopher senior All-Stater Amiah Hargrove was named tourney MVP. She scored a whopping 127 points in four games, which averages out to almost 32 points-per-game. She had 37 of those points against both Du Quoin and Cairo, while notching 34 against Pinckneyville. Only Woodlawn held Hargrove somewhat in check at 19 points.
Even more impressive than the MVP award was the fact that two free throws late in the last game against Pinckneyville pushed Hargrove over 2,000 total points for her career.
Not too shabby, especially considering that she lost about two-thirds of her freshman season due to a shortening of the schedule for COVID-19.
HERRIN TOURNEY
This week, six local girls teams will compete for a title at a round-robin Thanksgiving tournament title at Herrin. It’s the first time in several years that the Tigers have hosted a holiday tournament.
Kudos to Herrin Athletic Director Stephanie Allen for making that happen.
Competing this week are: Carterville, Cairo, Johnston City, Benton, Carbondale, and Herrin. Games will be played Monday and Tuesday evenings, as well as Wednesday, Friday, and Saturday afternoons.
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