The Mt. Pulaski Junior High School boy's baseball team will take on Monmouth ICS this Friday morning in the Class 1A IESA state finals. 

The Hilltoppers blanked Springfield Christ the King 5-0 last Saturday to reach the state finals. They defeated Springfield St. Agnes and Springfield Blessed Sacrament in Regional action. 

Game time Friday morning is 11:30 am from the Eastside Centre in East Peoria. They'll match up against either Royal Prairieview Ogden or Effingham Sacred Heart on Saturday morning with the third-place state game at 2 pm on Saturday and the State Championship game at 4 pm on Saturday.

Also in Class 1A, Lexington will take on Peru Catholic and Roanoke-Benson takes on Bunker Hill Wolf Ridge.

Local 2A matchups in the IESA state tournament include Maroa-Forsyth taking on Monmouth United, Tri-Valley plays Tremont and St. Joseph plays Pleasant Plains.

In 3A, Tolono Unity plays Alton, Normal Kingsley plays Morton Junior High School while Williamsville plays Frankfort Summit Hill.

All tournament games are at the Eastside Centre in East Peoria.

Due to COVID in the Tuscola football program, the Clinton Maroons football team will host Seneca to take the place of Tuscola who announced a 10-day shutdown of its football program today.

The Warriors announced they will be shutting the program down for ten days to resume practice on Columbus Day. 

The Maroons have announced they will play Seneca at home for Senior Night.

Out of the Vermillion Valley Conference, the Fighting Irish are 1-4 on the season. They lost to Iroquois West 32-20 in week five action. 

Friday night will also be Breast Cancer Awareness night and Pink Out at Clinton High School.

Hear Friday's action at 7 pm on The Big 1520 AM/92.3 FM/106.5 FM WHOW, at dewittdailynews.com, the WHOW mobile app, and on Amazon Alexa.

As heard on WHOW, Luis Robert homered twice, Reynaldo Lopez pitched two-hit ball over a season-high six innings and the Chicago White Sox beat Cincinnati 7-1 Tuesday night as the Reds were eliminated from postseason contention.

The Reds (82-76) had won four straight but were knocked out of the NL playoff hunt mid-game when the St. Louis Cardinals beat Milwaukee to lock up the second wild card.

The White Sox (90-68), who clinched the AL Central last Thursday, have won three straight. They remain 2 1/2 games behind Houston for home-field advantage in the first round of the AL Division Series.

Yoan Moncada and Gavin Sheets also homered for the White Sox. Sheets, who connected off Luis Cessa in the fourth, added an RBI single during a two-run sixth.

Lopez (4-3) didn't walk a batter and hasn't issued a walk over his last 11 1/3 innings. After allowing a single to Joey Votto to start the second, Lopez retired his next 10 batters.

Eugenio Suarez ended Lopez's shutout bid with his 30th homer with one out in the fifth. Suarez joined teammates Votto and Nick Castellanos in the 30-homer club. 

Sonny Gray (7-8, 3.99) will oppose the White Sox on Wednesday night. Gray is 4-0 with a 2.93 ERA lifetime in seven career starts against Chicago. Carlos Rodon (12-5, 2.47) will face the Reds. Rodon is 4-0 with a 2.35 in his last five starts but has pitched only once since Sept. 10 due to left shoulder fatigue.

Nolan Arenado, Dylan Carlson, and Jose Rondon homered to back Adam Wainwright, and the Cardinals extended their winning streak to 17 games and clinched an NL wild-card berth with a 6-2 win over the Milwaukee Brewers on Tuesday night.

St. Louis will play in the NL wild-card game on Oct. 6 at the Los Angeles Dodgers or San Francisco, whichever does not win the NL West. The postseason trip will be the third in a row for the Cardinals.

Wainwright (17-7) allowed two runs and seven hits in six innings, throwing 102 pitches and stranding seven runners. Wainwright has won six consecutive decisions for the Cardinals and 10 of his last 11. He is 4-0 in September and improved to 2-1 in four starts against the Brewers this season.

Paul Goldschmidt and Tyler O'Neill each had two hits in an 11-hit attack.

With the score 2-2 in the fifth, Goldschmidt doubled off Jandel Gustave (1-1) and O'Neill singled followed with a single to right that gave him 22 RBIs in the last 20 games. The ball went under the glove of Avisail Garcia for a two-base error. Arenado's sacrifice fly made it 4-2.

Rondon homered with two outs in the sixth - all three of his home runs this year have come as a pinch hitter. Arenado's 34th home run, a two-out drive in the seventh, tied Scott Rolen (2004) and Fernando Tatis (1999) for most among Cardinals' third baseman in a season.

Luis Urias hit a two-run homer in the fourth. Urias played in place of Willy Adames, who was a late scratch.

Milwaukee's Brandon Woodruff allowed two runs and seven hits in four innings.

Adrian Houser (9-6, 3.34 ERA) is 2-0 with a 0.45 ERA in three starts against the Cardinals this season.

Miles Mikolas (2-2, 4.15 ERA)is 5-1 in his career against the Brewers. He logged a season-high seven innings pitched last Wednesday at Milwaukee.

Colin Moran hit a three-run homer and drove in four runs as the Pittsburgh Pirates dealt the Cubs their seventh straight loss, rallying to beat Chicago 8-6 on Tuesday night.

Moran's homer, his 10th of the season, to deep center field in the first inning opened the scoring. The Pirates scored four runs in the sixth to move ahead 7-6. Moran singled home an insurance run in the seventh.

Bryan Reynolds had three hits and scored three times for Pittsburgh, which won for the second time in six games. His single started the sixth-inning rally.

Moran had two hits and drew two walks, and Jacob Stallings also had two hits for the Pirates.

Chicago's Nick Martini went 4 for 4 with two RBIs as he set a career-high for hits. Frank Schwindel, Matt Duffy and Austin Romine had two hits apiece.

Down 6-3, the Pirates rallied in the sixth inning. Ben Gamel's sacrifice fly made it a two-run game, and Hoy Park drove a tying two-run triple to center field. Pinch-hitter Michael Chavis singled in Park with the go-ahead run.

Enyel De Los Santos (2-1) pitched one scoreless inning for his first win since the Pirates claimed him off waivers from Philadelphia earlier this month. Adam Morgan (1-1) took the loss.

Chris Stratton worked a scoreless ninth inning for his seventh save, as the Pirates snapped a seven-game losing streak to the Cubs.

The Pirates are expected to call up RHP Roansy Contreras from Indianapolis to start Wednesday night and make his major league debut. RHP Kyle Hendricks (14-7, 4.81), who is winless in his last six starts, will pitch for the Cubs.

Belmont is joining the Missouri Valley Conference on July 1 as the league’s 11th member after nine years in the Ohio Valley Conference.

Greg Jones, Belmont president, announced the decision Tuesday. He called it time for Belmont to take another step and help the university raise its game in all sports.

Also on Tuesday, the Texas-based Southland Conference, which had five football teams depart its FCS league earlier this year, announced the addition of Texas A&M-Commerce. The 2017 NCAA Division II national champion Lions will officially join next July 1 to begin a four-year transition to Division I.

The Chicago Bears have been playing at Soldier Field since 1971, but they might not be playing there much longer. According to The Athletic, the Bears have entered a purchase agreement to buy the Arlington International Racecourse property, which is located in Arlington Heights, Illinois, a suburb that sits roughly 35 miles outside of downtown Chicago. 

The Bears said in June that they made a bid for the land because they wanted to explore the possibility of building a new stadium there. With the purchase agreement now in place, the Bears are now the proud owners of a 326-acre piece of land that will easily fit any new stadium design they might have in mind. In anticipation of the Bears buying the property, the Arlington Heights village board approved a zoning change in June that will allow a football stadium to be built on the land, which is currently occupied by a horse racing track. 

Despite the fact that the Bears appear to have one foot out the door at Soldier Field, Chicago mayor Lori Lightfoot wrote on Tuesday night that she is committed to keeping the Bears in her city. 

One potential wrench that stands in the way of a move to Arlington Heights for the Bears is the fact that the team has a lease at Soldier Field that runs through the 2033 season. 

The Chicago Tribune found that the Bears would be able to get out of the lease in 2026 by paying a penalty of $84 million. If the Bears aren't ready to buy the lease out in 2026, the fee would actually go down each year through 2033. 

If the Bears started the process of planning a new stadium at some point next year and the stadium took four years to complete  -- from the design stage to the final day of construction -- they could cut an $84 million check to the city of Chicago in 2026 and start playing at their new stadium then. 

A renovation of Soldier Field in 2004 cost $690 million, according to the Chicago Tribune, and a renovation now would likely cost even more. One big downside to Soldier Field is that it's the smallest stadium in the NFL. The stadium, which was built in 1924, only seats 61,500 and due to spatial constraints, it's unlikely that number could ever be expanded by much. 

The Monticello Lady Sages swept the Clinton Lady Maroons in two close sets Monday afternoon in non-conference high school girl's volleyball action from Clinton High School.

The Lady Sages took the first set 26-24 and then took the second set 25-20.

Monticello hosts Tolono Unity this afternoon and the Lady Maroons travel to Roanoke-Benson today.

Eloy Jimenez hit a two-run home run, Yasmani Grandal homered to spark a six-run fourth inning and the AL Central champion Chicago White Sox held off the Detroit Tigers in a testy 8-7 win on Monday.

The benches cleared after Chicago first baseman Jose Abreu and Detroit shortstop Niko Goodrum exchanged words when Abreu was tagged out attempting to steal second base in the ninth.

Abreu had been hit by a pitch from Alex Lange one inning after the Tigers' Isaac Paredes was hit by a pitch. There were no ejections regarding the altercation, though White Sox bench coach Miguel Cairo was tossed for arguing after Abreu was hit.

Jimenez reached base four times and scored two runs. Cesar Hernandez and Zack Collins drove in two runs apiece in the makeup of a game postponed last Wednesday because of rain.

Keuchel (9-9) gave up two runs on seven hits in five innings. Liam Hendriks pitched the ninth, giving up one hit, for his 37th save.

Jonathan Schoop homered for the Tigers, who had defeated Chicago in their last four meetings. Eric Haase had a two-run single and Niko Goodrum supplied a two-run triple during the Tigers' five-run eighth.

Matt Manning (4-7) issued a career-high five walks while allowing six runs in 3 1/3 innings.

Detroit trailed 8-2 prior to the eighth-inning outburst. Schoop hit a sacrifice fly after the run-scoring hits by Haase and Goodrum. The Tigers had runners at the corners with two out before reliever Garrett Crochet retired Zack Short on a foul pop.

Reynaldo Lopez (3-3, 3.16 ERA) will start the opener of a two-game series against Cincinnati on Tuesday. Lopez is 0-2 with a 6.23 ERA this month and has given up a combined four home runs in his last two starts.

The St. Louis Blues signed longtime president of hockey operations and general manager Doug Armstrong to a five-year contract extension Saturday.

Armstrong, 57, was named the organization’s 11th general manager after the 2009-10 season after joining the Blues as assistant general manager in 2008.

The Blues have qualified for the Stanley Cup Playoffs in nine of Armstrong’s 11 seasons at the helm winning three central division titles and the franchise’s first Stanley Cup in 2019 defeating the Boston Bruins in a seven-game series.

Armstrong served as the Dallas Stars’ general manager from 2002-2008. He previously had spent nine seasons as the Stars’ assistant general manager and was under general manager Bob Gainey when Dallas won the Stanley Cup in 1999.

The Blues also announced the acquisition of forward Logan Brown and an undisclosed conditional draft pick from the Ottawa Senators in exchange for forward Zach Sanford.

Brown, 23, is a St. Louis native and son of former Blues all-star defenseman Jeff Brown. He has one goal and eight assists in 30 career NHL games. He was drafted 11th overall by Ottawa in the 2016 NHL Entry Draft.

Sanford, 26, had 71 points on 36 goals and 35 assists in 183 regular-season games with St. Louis since being acquired from Washington in 2017 and scored in game seven of the Blues’ Stanley Cup Final win over the Boston Bruins.

Lucas Giolito pitched six scoreless innings, Eloy Jimenez had a two-run single and the AL Central champion Chicago White Sox defeated the Cleveland Indians 5-2 on Sunday.

Chicago clinched its first Central title since 2008 by beating the Indians in a doubleheader opener Thursday but is 34-33 since the All-Star break.

The White Sox lost two of three from the Indians after wrapping up the division, including a 6-0 defeat on Saturday.

Giolito (11-9) allowed five hits, struck out six and threw 100 pitches. Cleveland advanced only two runners to third base off Giolito, who escaped his biggest threat by retiring Owen Miller with men on first and second to end the sixth.

Harold Ramirez homered off Craig Kimbrel in the eighth, but Liam Hendricks pitched the ninth for his 36th save in 42 chances.

Jimenez's two-run single gave Chicago a 3-0 lead in the third. Yasmani Grandal, who had three hits, and Leury Garcia added RBI singles.

Garcia's double and walks to Jose Abreu and Grandal loaded the bases in the third. Jimenez lined a single to left.

Grandal's single put Chicago ahead in the first. Garcia's single made it 4-0 in the sixth.

Both teams had a scheduled day off for Monday, but rainouts last week changed those plans. The White Sox play in Detroit while the Indians host Kansas City. 

Andrew Knizner scored the go-ahead run on Codi Heuer's wild pitch in the ninth inning, and the Cardinals beat the lowly Chicago Cubs 4-2 on Sunday for their 16th straight victory.

The Cardinals' franchise-record streak is the longest in the majors since Cleveland took 22 in a row in 2017, and the best in the National League since the New York Giants won 16 straight in 1951 on their way to an improbable pennant.

Paul Goldschmidt and Harrison Bader homered to extend a streak that has rocketed the Cardinals into position for the second NL wild card, leading Philadelphia and Cincinnati by six games with six to go.

Next up is a three-game series against NL Central champion Milwaukee beginning on Tuesday night in St. Louis.

Knizner drew a leadoff walk in the ninth. With one out and the bases loaded, Heuer threw a pitch to Tyler O'Neill that tailed away from catcher Willson Contreras, bringing Knizner home.

Heuer then mishandled O'Neill's comebacker and Lars Nootbaar scampered to the plate, giving the Cardinals a 4-2 lead.

Chicago dropped its sixth straight game. The fourth-place Cubs (67-89) went 39-42 at Wrigley Field this year.

Heuer (7-4), who was acquired in the July 30 trade that sent Craig Kimbrel to the crosstown White Sox, has allowed at least one run in each of his last three appearances.

Following an off day, RHP Adam Wainwright (16-7, 3.05 ERA) starts the series opener against Milwaukee. RHP Brandon Woodruff (9-10, 2.52 ERA) takes the mound for the Brewers.

Alec Mills (6-7, 4.83 ERA) starts Tuesday night in the opener of a three-game series at Pittsburgh. RHP Mitch Keller (5-11, 5.96 ERA) gets the ball for the Pirates.

Aaron Rodgers completed two deep passes to Davante Adams on a last-minute drive, setting up Mason Crosby's 51-yard field goal on the final play of the game that gave the Packers a 30-28 victory over the San Francisco 49ers on Sunday night.

Rodgers did it twice on passes of 25 and 17 yards to Adams after the Packers took over at their 25 with 37 seconds left and no timeouts following Jimmy Garoppolo's 12-yard TD pass to Kyle Juszczyk.

Adams came back after taking a hard hit from Jimmie Ward that looked like it could knock him out of the game and finished with 12 catches for 132 yards.

The comeback spoiled the first game for the 49ers (2-1) with fans since beating Green Bay in the 2019 NFC title game. San Francisco had rallied from 17 points down to take the lead before getting crushed by Rodgers.

Rodgers threw for 261 yards and two touchdowns to lead the Packers to back-to-back wins after a season-opening 38-3 loss to New Orleans. Rodgers had six TD passes and no interceptions in wins over San Francisco (2-1) and Detroit.

Rodgers connected on a 1-yard TD pass to Adams and a 12-yarder in the fourth quarter to Marquez Valdes-Scantling to help stake the Packers to the lead.

They made it 27-21 when Garoppolo inexplicably threw the ball to the ground behind him while trying to avoid a sack by Kenny Clark that set up a field goal by Crosby.

Garoppolo responded with the TD drive but it wasn't enough.

The Packers host the Steelers on Sunday.

After finally getting his first career victory at Las Vegas Motor Speedway on his 21st try, Denny Hamlin is on an undeniable hot streak he just might ride all the way to his long-sought first NASCAR Cup Series championship.

Hamlin finally broke through in Vegas on Sunday night, holding off Chase Elliott and kicking off the second round of the playoffs with his second win in September.

Three weeks after Hamlin got his first victory of the season in the playoff opener at Darlington, he led 137 laps in Vegas in his Joe Gibbs Racing Toyota, including the final 39.

After a season of frustrating results and a 17-year career filled with championship near-misses, Hamlin has emerged as a serious contender for the title once again. He is just 14 points behind Kyle Larson in the points standings, and he’ll have no pressure heading into the high-stakes upcoming races at Talladega and the Charlotte Roval with his ticket already punched for the third round by this Vegas victory.

The 41-year-old veteran had struggled on this 1 1/2-mile track for most of his career, with just two top-five finishes in his first 18 starts. He has put together three consecutive top-four finishes since then in Vegas, capped by this victory under the lights and fireworks.

Kyle Busch finished third on his hometown track, followed by Martin Truex Jr. and Ryan Blaney as the 12 remaining playoff drivers began the second round and the final seven races of the season. Hamlin, Busch and Truex put Joe Gibbs Racing in three of the top four spots.

Larson finished 10th on the track where he won in March. Kevin Harvick, who scrapped with Elliott over tactics last week at Bristol, finished ninth.

The NASCAR Cup Series playoff race continues at Talladega next Sunday.

Myles Garrett made a franchise-record 4 1/2 sacks and Cleveland brought Justin Fields down nine times while holding Chicago to just 1 net yard passing as the Browns thumped the Bears 26-6 on Sunday.

Garrett had a field day against Fields, thrust into the lineup after veteran Andy Dalton injured his knee last week. The Bears (1-2) wanted to be patient and not play the No. 11 overall pick until he was ready.

The Browns (2-1) didn't cut him any breaks, and their defense, which had been criticized for performances in the first two games, got it together at Fields' expense and held Chicago to only 47 yards and six first downs.

Browns running back Kareem Hunt scored on an angry 29-yard run in the fourth quarter and finished with 155 yards rushing (81) and receiving (74).

Baker Mayfield threw a touchdown pass to Austin Hooper and completed five passes for 77 yards to star Odell Beckham Jr., who played for the first time since a season-ending knee injury on Oct. 25.

Chase McLaughlin kicked field goals of 57, 52, 41 and 28 yards for Cleveland.

The Bears return home to host the Detroit Lions on Sunday.

Nic Baker threw two touchdown passes and Javon Williams Jr., rushed for two in a Southern Illinois comeback that saw the Salukis score five unanswered touchdowns and defeat Illinois State 35-17 in a Missouri Valley Conference opener on Saturday.

Jackson Waring’s 1-yard touchdown run had given Illinois State (2-2, 0-1) a 17-0 lead early in the third quarter, but the game flipped from there as Southern Illinois (3-1, 1-0) forced two punts, a fumble and took over on downs three times on the Redbirds final six possessions.

Baker was 21 of 32 passing for 227 yards with a pair of touchdowns. He was also intercepted twice. Landon Lenoir rushed for 86 yards and a TD while Izaiah Hartrup gained 82 for Southern Illinois.

Waring, a freshman, passed for 166 yards for Illinois State with Austin Nagel making four catches for 100 yards.

After relieving Jack Plummer in the third quarter and throwing interceptions on his first two series, Aidan O'Connell capped a 94-yard scoring march drive with a 14-yard scoring toss to T.J. Sheffield for the game’s only touchdown and a 13-9 victory over Illinois.

The Boilermakers (3-1, 1-0 Big Ten) started the day without their best receiver, their top two running backs and lost starting tight end Payne Durham in the first half after a jarring hit knocked his helmet loose.

After leading Purdue to field goals on its first two series, Plummer couldn’t muster another score, so Brohm changed quarterbacks and O’Connell made the game-turning play for the touchdown with 5:44 left in the game.

Purdue’s defense clinched the victory by forcing a turnover on downs in its own red zone.

Illinois (1-4, 1-2) has lost four straight since a season-opening win over Nebraska.

But it was coach Bret Bielema’s decision to punt on fourth-and-2 from the Boilermakers’ 34-yard line that drew questions, especially after Jeff McCort made three field goals including the tie-breaker to give Illinois a 9-6 lead early in the fourth quarter.

As heard on WHOW, Bryce Dewberry returned a fumble 90 yards for a pivotal touchdown and Eastern Illinois went on to defeat Tennessee Tech 28-14 in an Ohio Valley Conference opener on Saturday.

Midway through the fourth quarter, Tennessee Tech drove inside the 10-yard line looking to tie the score. With 2nd-and-goal from the 5, the 16th play of the Golden Eagles’ drive went awry as quarterback Drew Martin fumbled in the backfield and Dewberry returned it 90 yards for an Eastern Illinois touchdown and a 28-14 lead.

Tennessee Tech (0-3) outgained Eastern Illinois (1-4) 379-304 and controlled the ball for 36 minutes. However, The Golden Eagles committed four turnovers and were 4 for 15 on third down as the Eastern Illinois defense came up with several big plays. Jordan Miles had three of the Panthers’ five sacks and caused two fumbles and Jason Johnson had 16 tackles, nine solo.

The Panthers’ Otto Kuhns completed 15 of 26 passes for 183 yards and two touchdowns, both to Deairious Smith, who had six receptions for 109 yards.

Martin was 26-for-38 passing for 315 yards and a touchdown for Tennessee Tech.

Joey Sprinkle accounted for all six Monticello scores and the Sages blanked Pontiac in the second half to roll the Indians 42-12 in Illini Prairie Conference high school football action Friday night from Homecoming at Pontiac High School.

Sprinkle ran in from 2-yards out three times in the first half, scored from five-yards out to start the second half, another two-yard score in the third quarter and hit Triston Foran from a yard out in the back of the end zone for the final score.

The Indians stayed around thanks to a 35-yard pass from junior quarterback Nick Crane to Wyatt Griffith and then hit Kodi Davis for a 57-yard touchdown in the second quarter that made the score 21-12 at the half.

Sprinkle finished 17-for-31 for 256 yards and a score. He also ran for 62 yards and five touchdowns. Foran hauled in nine more catches for 152 yards and a touchdown. Spencer Mitze (mitts) broke out for five catches and 89 yards. 

Luke Teschke finished with five carries and 64 yards in limited action for Monticello. 

The Sages improve to 5-0 while Pontiac drops to 1-4.

Monticello will host Rantoul for Homecoming next Friday night. Hear the action on 95.9 FM WEZC and online at dewittdailynews.com.

Joey Sprinkle hit Tristan Foran with an 8-yard go-ahead touchdown that Foran wrestled away from the defender in helping Monticello outlast Bloomington Central Catholic 32-27 last week, now the Sages head to Pontiac tonight for another Illini Prairie Conference high school football matchup.

Coach Cully Welter liked the way his kids played with poise after the Saints used over eight minutes of the first quarter to punch in the game's first score and then trailed 10-0 early in the second quarter. 

Coming into tonight's matchup at Pontiac, Coach Welter says the Indians will, per usual, be bigger than the Sages upfront and they bring some matchup problems in the skill positions.

The third-ranked Sages come into tonight's contest tied for first in the Illini Prairie at 4-0 with Tolono Unity while Pontiac is among a trio of teams at 1-3 in conference play. Game time is 7 pm and can be heard on 95.9 FM WEZC and online at dewittdailynews.com.

Illini Prairie

Prairie Central at Illinois Valley Central

Paxton-Buckley-Loda at Rantoul

St. Joseph-Ogden at Olympia

Tolono Unity at Bloomington Central Catholic

Apollo

Effingham at Taylorville

Mahomet-Seymour at Charleston

Mt. Zion at Lincoln

Big Twelve

Champaign Central at Normal Community

Danville at Peoria Manual

Normal West at Peoria Notre Dame

Peoria at Champaign Centennial

Peoria Richwoods at Bloomington 

Central Illinois

Central A & M at Tuscola

Shelbyville at Warrensburg-Latham

Lincoln Prairie

Argenta-Oreana at Oakland Tri-County

Arthur-Lovington-Atwood-Hammond at Cerro Gordo-Bement 

Sangamon Valley at Arcola

Toledo-Cumberland at Villa Grove

Mid-Illini

Limestone at East Peoria

Dunlap at Metamora

Morton at Washington

Pekin at Canton

Sangamo

Maroa-Forsyth at Williamsville

Non-Conference

Ridgeview at El Paso-Gridley

G.C.M.S. at Eureka

Heyworth at Tri-Valley

Dee-Mack at Fisher

Fieldcrest at LeRoy

Tremont at Madison (Sat.)

Urbana at Du-Pec (Sat.)

8-Man Football

Polo at Flanagan-Cornell-Cornell-Woodland

Champaign St. Thomas More at Edwardsville Metro-East Lutheran

Blue Ridge at Decatur LSA

Purdue coach Jeff Brohm decided to pull Jack Plummer during last week’s loss to No. 12 Notre Dame.

Illinois coach Bret Bielema took the opposite approach with Brandon Peters.

Now after a week of quarterback questions, the Boilermakers and Illini will renew their rivalry Saturday with Plummer and Peters again expected to be again in the starting lineup.

Plummer was solid, going 25 of 36 with 187 yards, one touchdown, no interceptions and two sacks by the Fighting Irish. Backup Aidan O’Connell finished 11 of 18 with 104 yards and no sacks.

Illinois (1-3, 1-1 Big Ten) faced a similar scenario this week after losing its third straight.

Peters struggled against Maryland after returning from a non-throwing shoulder injury. Some were calling for a switch back to Artur Sitkowski, the transfer from Rutgers who stepped in when Peters got hurt.

Freshman running back Josh McCray was one of Bielema’s first recruits and after last week’s game against Maryland, everyone understands why. McCray scored on a 38-yard TD run and led the Illini with eight carries for 60 yards before going to a nearby hospital for an undisclosed reason. Bielema said McCray went home a few hours after the game and is expected to play Saturday.

Eastern Illinois and Tennessee Tech will meet on Saturday afternoon in the Ohio Valley Conference opener for both schools.  

EIU fell to 0-4 on the season after a 31-24 loss to Illinois State in the 109th Mid-America Classic on Saturday evening at O'Brien Field. The Panthers have played three of their first four games on the road including a loss at SEC member South Carolina.  

Tennessee Tech fell to 0-3 on the season with a loss at SEC member Tennessee.  TTU has been shutout in its last two losses.

Eastern Illinois special teams had two blocked kicks on Saturday against Illinois State as the Panthers blocked both a punt and field goal in the game.  Last season EIU blocked three kicks during the season with two blocked punts and one blocked field goal. 

Eastern Illinois pass defense limited Illinois State to just 54 yards passing on Saturday night as the Panthers are ranked sixth in the FCS in passing defense allowing just 115 yards per game.  It was the second time this season EIU has held an opponent under 100 yards passing after Indiana State had 87 yards in the Week Zero opener.  

Game time is 1:30 pm on Saturday. Hear the action starting at 1 pm with pre-game at 1 pm on WHOW.

Tony La Russa stood in the visiting dugout, soaking in the scene as the Chicago White Sox celebrated their first AL Central title since 2008 after a 7-2 victory over Cleveland in a doubleheader opener Thursday. 

Chicago (86-66) moved into first place for good on May 7. The White Sox have not advanced in the postseason since winning the 2005 World Series and last hosted a playoff game 13 years ago.

Anderson hit his fifth leadoff home run of the season and added a three-run drive in the second for his sixth career multi-homer game. Luis Robert and Eloy Jimenez hit consecutive homers in the second as Chicago grabbed a 7-0 lead off Aaron Civale (11-5).

Aaron Bummer (4-5) retired all three batters in the fifth as four White Sox relievers combined for 3 2/3 scoreless innings in a game shortened to seven innings under pandemic rules.

Closer Liam Hendriks struck out Myles Straw to end the game, setting off a celebration in front of the visiting dugout that featured players saluting the several hundred White Sox fans at Progressive Field.

As heard on WHOW, Oscar Mercado broke a 3-3 tie with a two-run homer in the seventh as Cleveland earned a split of the Thursday doubleheader. Straw led off with a single and Mercado followed with his first game-ending home run, a drive off Jose Ruiz (1-3).

The White Sox trailed 3-2 entering the seventh, but strung together three straight hits against Emmanuel Clase (4-5). Gavin Sheets scored when Hernandez hit into a forceout.

Shane Bieber (7-4), who hasn't pitched since for the Indians since June 13 because of a strained right shoulder, is scheduled to start Friday night. The reigning AL Cy Young Award winner will face White Sox RHP Dylan Cease (12-7).

Paul Goldschmidt homered twice, and the St. Louis Cardinals overcame a five-run deficit to beat the Milwaukee Brewers 8-5 Thursday and extend their longest winning streak in 39 years to 12 games.

On a day Adam Wainwright faltered early, St. Louis trailed 5-0 before rallying with one run in the fifth, four in the seventh, two in the eighth and one in the ninth.

The Cardinals maintained a 4 1/2-game lead over Philadelphia for the second NL wild card, with Cincinnati another game back.

St. Louis began its winning streak by overcoming a four-run deficit against Cincinnati to win on Sept. 11. The Cardinals are on their longest winning streak since April 11-24, 1982, and are two shy of the franchise record set in 1935.

Milwaukee has lost five in a row since clinching its fourth consecutive playoff berth on Sept. 18, including four defeats to the Cardinals.

Yadier Molina started the comeback with an RBI single in the fifth off Adrian Houser.

St. Louis loaded the bases with one outs in the seventh on two walks and a single against Jake Cousins, and Tommy Edman hit an RBI grounder off Brad Boxberger, whose throwing error on a pickoff attempt brought in another run. Goldschmidt tied the score with a two-run homer.

Nolan Arenado walked against Aaron Ashby (3-1) leading off the eighth and scored on Manny Pina's passed ball for a 6-5 lead. Molina added a sacrifice fly.

Goldsdmidt added his 29th homer in the ninth off Ashby.

T.J. McFarland (4-1) pitched a one-hit seventh, Luis Garcia threw the eighth and Giovanny Gallegos struck out two in a perfect ninth for his 12th save in 20 chances as four relievers combined for shutout relief.

Wainwright, who has won nine of his last 10 decisions, allowed five runs, four hits and two walks in four innings.

Tyrone Taylor hit a grand slam in the first inning and a solo shot in the fourth.

J.A. Happ (9-8, 6.02 ERA) opens a four-game road series as the Cardinals take on LHP Justin Steele (3-3,4.20 ERA) and the Chicago Cubs. It's the first time Happ has faced the Cubs since 2017. He is 1-5 with a 6.00 ERA in seven career starts against them, including 0-2 at Wrigley Field.

The Clinton Lady Marons took the first set at Central A&M but the Lady Raiders rallied to hold off Clinton and take home a three-set win in Central Illinois Conference girl's volleyball action Tuesday at Central A&M High School.

The Lady Maroons took the first set 25-18 but Central A&M bounced back to take the second set 25-18 and then held off Clinton 25-23 in the final set.

Clinton will host Decatur St. Teresa Thursday night.

The Top 10 of the latest Class 3A high school football AP rankings remained nearly unchanged, as Monticello continues to hold steady at No. 3.

Reed-Custer cracks the top-10, replacing Durand in the poll this week. Wilmington received seven first-place votes to stay at No. 1. Princeton received the remaining three votes to stay at No. 2. Monticello, Tolono Unity and Williamsville round out the top 5. 

The Sages have been ranked third in 3A since the start of the season. 

Byron, Farmington, Mt. Carmel and Montini remained sixth through ninth in the poll.

Decatur St. Teresa received seven first-place votes to stay at No. 1 in the 2A poll followed by IC Catholic and its three first-place votes. Maroa-Forsyth stays at No. 3 this week followed by Breese Mater Dei and Tri-Valley moved up a spot to No. 5. 

Bismarck-Henning, Pana, Rushville-Industry, Knoxville came in 6-9 and Rockridge and Sterling Newman tied for tenth in the 2A poll.

Lena-Winslow is the unanimous No. 1 in 1A followed by Brown County, Central A&M, Winchester West Central second through fourth, and Camp Point Central and Carrollton tied for fifth. 

Fulton checks in at No. 7, Abington and Kewanee-Weathersfield tied for eighth this week and Forreston rounds out the top-10.

Joliet Catholic is the unanimous No. 1 in 4A. Springfield Sacred Heart-Griffin is No. 2 in 4A this week. Mt. Zion is No. 9 this week.

Rochester is the unanimous No. 1 team in 5A this week. Peoria checks in at No. 6, up a spot from last week. Metamora is No. 8 and Mahomet-Seymour cracks this week's top 10 at No. 10. 

East St. Louis is the No. 1 team in 6A, Mt. Carmel is No. 1 7A, while Normal Community moved up to No. 7 in this week's 7A poll - up from No. 9 last week. Loyola is the unanimous No. 1 in 8A.

Cardinals closer Giovanny Gallegos fanned pinch-hitter Pablo Reyes with the bases loaded for the final out and St. Louis won its 10th straight game, increasing its lead in the playoff chase by holding off the division-leading Milwaukee Brewers 2-1 Tuesday night.

The Cardinals increased their edge for the second NL wild-card spot to four games over Cincinnati. Philadelphia remained 4 1/2 behind St. Louis while San Diego fell five back.

Milwaukee, which has secured a playoff spot, lost its third straight. The Brewers, whose magic number to clinch the NL Central stayed at three, lead the Cardinals by 9 1/2 games.

Jake Woodford (3-3) and four relievers combined on a four-hitter as the Cardinals moved closer to the longest winning streak in franchise history, 14 games set in 1935. In their 130-year history, the Cardinals have only had 12 double-digit winning streaks.

Avisail Garcia singled to open the Milwaukee ninth and Lorenzo Cain grounded into a forceout - originally ruled a double play, the call was reversed by replay.

After Luis Urias walked, Cain took third on a flyout. Christian Yelich was intentionally walked and Gallegos struck out Reyes for his 11th save, and eighth in nine chances in September.

St. Louis scored a run in the first without a hit off Brandon Woodruff (9-10) and added a run in the eighth on Tommy Edman's RBI single.

The Brewers scored once in the eighth off Luis Garcia when pinch-hitter Daniel Vogelbach walked, Kolten Wong doubled and Willy Adames followed with a sacrifice fly.

Woodford allowed just two singles in five innings, striking out five and walking one. Alex Reyes and Genesis Cabrera each followed with a hitless inning.

Miles Mikolas (1-2, 4.50) starts the third game of the series on Wednesday. Mikolas allowed three hits in 5 2/3 scoreless innings in his last start for his first victory since 2019.

Brett Anderson (4-8, 4.18) is scheduled to come off the IL for his first start since Sept. 1. Counsell said Anderson was likely to make a short start, followed by the bullpen.

Akil Baddoo and Victor Reyes drove in two runs apiece and the Detroit Tigers stalled the Chicago White Sox's drive for the AL Central title with a 5-3 victory on Tuesday.

The magic number for the White Sox to clinch the division remained at two games.

Reyes had four of Detroit's 16 hits. Daz Cameron reached base four times and scored two runs for the Tigers, who have won the first two games of the three-game series.

The White Sox have lost five of their last seven games and manager Tony La Russa is concerned that his team is ''treading water'' as the postseason approaches.

Bryan Garcia (3-2) pitched 1 1/3 scoreless innings of relief for Detroit starter Tyler Alexander, who went five innings. Michael Fulmer got the last four outs for his 11th save.

Jace Fry (0-1) gave up three runs on four hits in 1 2/3 innings of reli

ef of Keuchel. Luis Robert led Chicago's offense with two hits and two RBIs.

Robert gave the White Sox a 2-0 lead in the third with a two-run single through a drawn-in infield. The Tigers scored in the bottom of the inning on Baddoo's RBI single.

Baddoo's second run-scoring hit tied the score at 2 in the fourth.

Detroit nearly took the lead in the sixth when Reyes was called safe at home on Baddoo's fielder's choice grounder. The call was overturned upon video review.

The Tigers broke the deadlock in the seventh on Niko Goodrum's RBI single. Reyes ripped a two-run single to give his team a three-run lead.

Tim Anderson's single in the eighth knocked in the White Sox's final run. Chicago left 13 runners on base.

Reynaldo Lopez (3-3, 3.00) is scheduled to start the series finale on Wednesday. Lopez has 13 career starts against the Tigers, posting a 4-4 record and 3.42 ERA in those outings.

Casey Mize (7-8, 3.64 ERA) has lost all three of his starts against the White Sox this season. The prized rookie won't be on the mound for long - he's been placed under a three-inning limit.

Nick Gordon hit a two-run homer and two singles, Josh Donaldson and Max Kepler each had three hits and two RBIs, and the Minnesota Twins beat the Chicago Cubs 9-5 on Tuesday night.

Mitch Garver added three singles and an RBI in his return from a back injury to help last-place Minnesota end a two-game slide. Byron Buxton had two hits and scored twice as the Twins rode a 16-hit attack to win for just the third time in nine games.

Willson Contreras and Trayce Thompson cracked solo shots for the Cubs at breezy Wrigley Field. Patrick Wisdom drove in two and fellow rookie Frank Schwindel doubled to extend his hitting streak to 10 games, but Chicago lost for the fifth time in six.

Thompson homered for the second straight game and for the second time in eight at-bats since being recalled from Triple-A Iowa a week ago. Thompson, who bounced around the minors after playing 51 games with Oakland and the White Sox in 2018, is the brother of Golden State Warriors star Klay Thompson.

Contreras' 21st homer was his second in three games. The Cubs catcher also drove in a run with a sacrifice fly. Rafael Ortega had two hits and scored twice.

Kyle Barraclough (2-0), the first of six Twins relievers, got five outs for the win. Cubs starter Alec Mills (6-7) allowed seven runs on six hits in four innings.

Twins RHP Joe Ryan (1-1, 2.12) faces Cubs RHP Kyle Hendricks (14-6, 4.81) on Wednesday night.

COVID protocols within the Clinton High School football program has led the forfeiture of this Friday night's game against Decatur St. Teresa for a second straight week.

Last week it was announced the Maroons did not have enough players to field a varsity roster after quarantine protocols were finalized for their Saturday game against Central A&M.

The Maroons, who are 1-3 on the season and will move to 1-4 after its Friday forfeit, will play at Tuscola Friday, October 1.

Aaron Jones caught three of Aaron Rodgers' four TD passes and rushed for a fourth score, and the Packers had a welcome return to normal, dominating the second half in a 35-17 win over the division-rival Lions on Monday night.

The Packers, who got thumped 38-3 by the New Orleans Saints in Week 1, looked more like the team that went 13-3 in each of coach Matt LaFleur's first two seasons. Green Bay (1-1) won its ninth straight home opener.

Rodgers went 22 of 27 for 255 yards and surpassed John Elway for 10th all-time in passing yards with 51,633. Rodgers has followed up each of the Packers' last five regular-season losses by throwing four touchdown passes and no interceptions in his next game.

Detroit's Jared Goff completed 13 of his first 14 passes but struggled the rest of the way as the Lions (0-2) blew a 17-14 halftime lead. Goff finished 26 of 36 for 246 yards. He connected on touchdown passes to Quintez Cephus and T.J. Hockenson but also threw an interception and lost a fumble.

Green Bay scored touchdowns on its first three second-half possessions to seize control.

The Packers faced third-and-12 on their opening series of the second half when Rodgers threw a 50-yard completion to Davante Adams, who ended the night with eight catches for 121 yards.

The Packers are at San Francisco (2-0) on Sunday night. This will be the fourth time in the last three seasons the Packers have played at San Francisco. They won 34-17 last season. Two years ago, the Packers lost 37-8 to the 49ers in the regular season and 37-20 in the NFC championship game.

As heard on WHOW, Carlos Rodon was pulled after a rocky third inning and the Chicago White Sox, closing in on the AL Central title, squandered a three-run lead in a 4-3 loss to the Detroit Tigers on Monday night.

Despite the defeat, Chicago's magic number to clinch the division dropped to two when second-place Cleveland was swept by Kansas City in a doubleheader.

The White Sox can wrap up their first AL Central crown in 13 years Tuesday - and secure a second consecutive playoff berth for the first time in franchise history - with a win over Detroit and another Indians loss to the Royals.

Harold Castro's eighth-inning single broke a 3-all tie for Detroit.

With two outs in the eighth, Craig Kimbrel (2-2) hit Robbie Grossman with a pitch. Grossman stole second and Castro drove a 2-2 pitch through the infield.

Drew Hutchison (2-1) picked up the win with two scoreless innings of relief. Tigers rookie Alex Lange pitched the ninth for his first career save, becoming the eighth Detroit reliever to earn a save this season.

Detroit's Matt Manning allowed three runs on four hits in five innings.

The teams continue their three-game series Tuesday afternoon. The game was originally scheduled for 6:40 p.m. but has been changed to 1:10 p.m. to try to avoid expected rain in the area. Detroit's Tyler Alexander (2-3, 4.13 ERA) will face Dallas Keuchel (8-9, 5.23).

Jon Lester notched his 200th career win, Nolan Arenado hit a two-run homer and the St. Louis Cardinals beat the NL Central-leading Milwaukee Brewers 5-2 Monday night for their ninth consecutive win.

The Cardinals have won nine straight for the first time since 2004 to solidify their grip on the second NL wild card. They remained three games ahead of Cincinnati for the final postseason spot, with San Diego four games back and Philadelphia 4 1/2 games behind.

The longest winning streak in franchise history is 14 games, set in 1935.

Milwaukee's magic number over the Cardinals to clinch the division title remained at three.

Lester (7-6) is the third active pitcher with 200 wins, joining Houston teammates Justin Verlander (226) and Zack Greinke (219). He's the 30th left-hander in major-league history to reach the mark.

St. Louis got on the board in the first on Arenado's homer, his 33rd of the season, off Freddy Peralta (9-5).

Milwaukee clawed right back in the second. Avisail Garcia, who returned to the starting lineup after missing four games with lower back spasms, led off with a homer off Lester. Luis Urias followed two batters later with a solo shot of his own to tie it.

Lester retired 10 straight until giving up a single to Jackie Bradley Jr. with two outs in the fifth. Lester surrendered three runs and seven hits in six innings. He struck out two and didn't walk a batter in an efficient, 77-pitch outing.

Lester has worked five innings or more in 19 of 26 starts this year, including nine of 10 since joining St. Louis at the trade deadline.

Cardinals' relievers Kodi Whitley, T.J. McFarland and Luis Garcia held the Brewers scoreless over the final three innings. Garcia got his first save of the season.

Peralta retired 11 of 12 until allowing the first two batters to reach in the sixth. The Cardinals took a 3-2 lead on Yadier Molina's run-scoring single.

Peralta gave up seven hits and three runs in six innings. He struck out nine and walked one.

St. Louis tacked on a run in the seventh when Matt Carpenter, batting for Lester, hit a leadoff double and scored on Paul Goldschmidt's sacrifice fly. Molina drove in another run in the eighth to extend the lead to 5-2.

Jake Woodford (2-3, 4.30 ERA) will take the mound for the Cardinals in the second game of the series while RHP Brandon Woodruff (9-9, 2.55) goes for the Brewers. Woodford will be making his second career start against Milwaukee. Woodruff is 3-2 with a 3.32 ERA in eight career games (six starts) vs. St. Louis.

Justin Fields played the second half after Andy Dalton exited with a knee injury against his former team, and the rookie quarterback used Chicago's stellar defensive performance to direct the Bears to a 20-17 victory over Joe Burrow and the Cincinnati Bengals on Sunday.

Roquan Smith returned an interception 53 yards for his first career touchdown, one of three straight picks thrown by Burrow and four consecutive takeaways for the Bears during the decisive stretch in their first win of the season.

Fields took over on Chicago's final drive of the second quarter after getting in on a handful of plays prior to that. But the biggest key for the Bears was the defense bouncing back after it was picked apart by Matthew Stafford in a season-opening loss at the Los Angeles Rams.

Dalton was hurt on a 14-yard run early in the second quarter. Fields took the final three snaps of that possession.

Dalton was in for the next drive, before Fields led Chicago's final one of the half. Dalton took some warmup throws at halftime, but did not return to the game.

The Bears were up 20-3 before Burrow threw a 42-yard touchdown pass to Ja'Marr Chase. Fields then got intercepted at the Chicago 25 by Logan Wilson, who returned it to the 7. Burrow hit Tee Higgins for a 7-yard TD on the next play, cutting it to 20-17 with 3:39 remaining. But the Bears hung on for their third straight win over Cincinnati (1-1).

Fields, who was in on five plays in the opener, completed just 6 of 13 passes. The No. 11 overall draft pick also ran for 31 yards.

Dalton, facing his former team for the second time in as many seasons, threw a touchdown pass to Allen Robinson. The three-time Pro Bowler, who led Dallas to a victory at Cincinnati last year, completed 9 of 11 passes for 56 yards.

Robinson caught his 40th career TD when he hauled in an 11-yarder on the game's opening possession.

Robert Quinn had one of Chicago's four sacks, giving him 1 1/2 on the season. He had just two last year.

The Bears are in Cleveland next Sunday.

San Diego center fielder Fernando Tatis Jr. dropped Nolan Arenado's bases-loaded popup and heaved the ball home, leading to a five-run first inning, and the St. Louis Cardinals beat the Padres 8-7 Sunday for an eight-game winning streak.

Tatis' brutal error and mental mistake - he chose not to make an easy throw to second or third for a forceout - came one day after his dugout dustup with teammate Manny Machado.

St. Louis completed a three-game sweep and opened a three-game lead for the second NL wild card over Cincinnati and Philadelphia, which played at the New York Mets later Sunday. The Cardinals had not won eight in a row since Aug. 7-15, 2018.

St. Louis was 8 1/2 games out of a wild card spot on Aug. 10.

San Diego, which trailed 8-4 in the eighth inning, has lost eight of 11 and dropped 3 1/2 games back of the Cardinals.

Jake Arrieta (5-14) left after six batters and 20 pitches because of a right adductor groin strain. He allowed five runs - four earned - three hits and a walk while getting one out.

St. Louis loaded the bases with no outs in the first when Tommy Edman doubled, Paul Goldschmidt singled and Tyler O'Neill walked.

Arenado hit a pop to center that Tatis settled under 226 feet from the plate and allowed to bounce out of his glove. Rather than throw to second or third for an easy forceout, the 22-year-old center fielder with the $340 million, 14-year contract rushed a one-hop throw that reached the plate well after Edman scored standing up.

Dylan Carlson followed with a sacrifice fly, Sosa hit an RBI double and Harrison Bader greeted Stammen with a two-run double for a 5-0 lead.

Former Cardinal Tommy Pham's 14th homer cut the gap to 7-4 in the sixth, and Carlson singled home a run off Dinelson Lamet in the seventh.

Pham hit a two-run double off Luis Garcia in the eighth and scored on Hosmer's groundout. With Myers on third, Genesis Cabrera induced Adam Frazier's inning-ending flyout.

Jake Woodford (2-3, 4.30 ERA) will start the first game of a four-game series in Milwaukee Monday night. The Brewers will counter with RHP Freddy Peralta (9-4, 2.57 ERA).

As heard on WHOW, Lucas Giolito pitched into the sixth inning, Jose Abreu matched the major league RBI lead and Yasmani Grandal homered for the second game in a row as the White Sox beat the Texas Rangers 7-2 on Sunday in the rubber game of their weekend series.

With 13 games left in the regular season, Chicago's magic number is four to clinch the division title over second-place Cleveland. The White Sox (85-64), looking to make the playoffs in consecutive seasons for the first time in franchise history, on Thursday start a span of five games over four days in Cleveland.

Abreu's two-run single capped a five-run fourth for the White Sox and pushed his RBI total to 113, tying Kansas City catcher Salvador Perez. Abreu is trying to join Cecil Fielder (1990-92) as the only AL player to lead the league in RBIs in three consecutive seasons.

Chicago's big inning started when Grandal led off by lining a ball just over the wall in right-center for his 22nd homer. Cesar Hernandez also had a two-run single in that outburst off Jordan Lyles (9-12) for a 5-0 lead.

Giolito (9-10) struck out four while allowing one run over 5 1/3 innings. It was the right-hander's second start since missing two weeks because of a strained left hamstring, and he pushed to go back out to the sixth and got his pitch count to 97.

Carlos Rodon (12-5, 2.38 ERA) has won four consecutive starts going into the opener of a three-game series at Detroit on Monday night. Rodon is 2-0 with a 1.38 ERA in two starts against the Tigers this season.

Patrick Wisdom struck out four times for a second straight day but delivered a towering three-run shot that highlighted the Chicago Cubs' eighth-inning comeback in a 6-4 victory over the Milwaukee Brewers on Sunday.

Wisdom set a Cubs record for homers by a rookie on a day that exemplified his feast-or-famine approach.

The Brewers' ninth-inning rally fell short and the magic number for wrapping up their first NL Central title since 2018 remained at three. Milwaukee clinched its fourth consecutive playoff berth Saturday.

The Brewers had beaten the Cubs 11 consecutive times, one off the franchise record for consecutive victories over one opponent. The Brewers won 12 straight from the Pittsburgh Pirates in 2008.

Milwaukee seemed on its way to matching that record until the Cubs rallied from a 2-1 deficit in the eighth.

Pinch-hitter Willson Contreras started the rally with a 14-pitch walk against Brad Boxberger (5-4). Matt Duffy and Frank Schwindel followed that up by hitting consecutive first-pitch RBI doubles.

Adam Morgan (1-0) earned the win with one inning of shutout relief.

The Cubs are off Monday before beginning a two-game home series with the Minnesota Twins on Tuesday. Alec Mills (6-6, 4.50 ERA) will start for the Cubs and Griffin Jax (3-4, 6.65) pitches for the Twins on Tuesday.

As heard on WHOW, Pha’leak Brown scored on a 3-yard run with 1:54 to play and Illinois State defeated Eastern Illinois 31-24 on Saturday night.

After Illinois State stopped the Panthers on downs, Eastern Illinois blocked a field goal attempt but couldn’t get an advance on the ball and had four incompletions from inside their 35 in the final 34 seconds.

The Redbirds (2-1) put together the winning drive after stopping the Panthers on fourth-and-1 from the 27 with 4:15 left.

Eastern Illinois never led after the Redbirds took the opening drive 75 yards, scoring on a 15-yard run by Nigel White. The Panthers caught up on a 93-yard punt return for a touchdown by DeAirious Smith that tied the game at 17 at 6:46 of the third quarter.

Illinois State regained the lead on an 8-yard run by Jackson Waring before Eastern Illinois tied it again early in the fourth.

Joseph Petrino kicked a 32-yard field goal as time expired to lift Maryland over Illinois 20-17 on Friday night.

In a game best described as weird from beginning to end, the normally explosive Terrapins consistently had trouble against a tough Illinois defense. Taulia Tagovailoa passed for 350 yards (32 of 43) but was held to only one passing touchdown.

Tayon Fleet-Davis carried the ball 11 times for 62 yards for Maryland. He also caught the lone touchdown pass from Tagovailoa.

Illinois quarterback Brandon Peters, in his first start since being injured early in the first game of the season against Nebraska, was effective but clearly rusty for Illinois (1-3, 1-1). He was 10-of-26 passing for 185 yards and had one interception.

Josh McCray carried the ball eight times for 60 yards and had a 38-yard touchdown run for the Illini. Chase Brown carried 14 times for 57 yards. Receiver Casey Washington had a 30-yard touchdown run.

The game got interesting on the first drive of the third quarter. Tagovailoa marched the Terrapins down the field to cap a drive with a 2-yard touchdown run by Fleet-Davis to make the score 10-3 Maryland. Illinois then went three and out, but Maryland fumbled the ball on its next drive at the Illinois 7 that prevented what appeared to be a certain score.

Illinois then put together an impressive eight-play drive capped by McCray’s 38-yard touchdown run.

McCray and Brown would each leave the game in the second half with injuries, which severely hindered the Illinois offense.

The Illini took the lead in the fourth quarter, after a series of fumbles and turnovers by both teams, when Washington recovered a fumble by teammate Reggie Love III and scampered 38 yards into the end zone.

Maryland answered with a 10-yard touchdown pass from Tagovailoa to Fleet-Davis to tie the score at 17.

Illinois couldn’t put together a drive late in the game, and Maryland took advantage of a short field following an Illinois punt from its own end zone that helped set up Petrino’s game-winning kick.

Tristan Foran wrestled away an interception from his defender in the end zone for a go-ahead score as Monticello outlasted Bloomington Central Catholic in a 32-27 thriller Friday night from Monticello High School in Illini Prairie Conference football action.

From the 8-yard line, Joey Sprinkle’s pass sailed high, Foran wrestled the pass away from his defender. Initially ruled an incomplete pass, the officials overturned the call after about a minute of deliberation.

The touchdown was set up by a 47-yard reception by Tylor Bundy on a 3rd and 25 after Monticello had a first down called back because of a questionable block in the back. With pressure in his face, Sprinkle lofted a floater up the junior had to sky for to snag out of the air and tumbled another 10-yards for a momentum-changing first down. 

The Sages got down quickly 10-0 after BCC used an 8-plus minute drive to strike first on the opening possession of the game.

After an early field goal in the second quarter, the Sages answered with 12 straight points on a Sprinkle one-yard touchdown pass to Foran and then Sprinkle ran another score in from 4-yards out. 

The Sages held a 19-18 advantage at the break. 

Out of the half, Monticello went three-and-out but on the Saints' first possession, a deep pass over the middle was tipped and picked by Peyton Scott, setting up an 18-yard touchdown pass to Blake McDuffie on a screen pass. 

The Sages withstood a fourth-quarter safety after a punt by Sprinkle was blocked and stayed poised when the Saints took a late 27-26 lead. 

Sprinkle finished with 163 yards through the air and four touchdowns and 81 yards on the ground with a touchdown.

Foran finished with eight catches for 91 yards and two touchdowns. Jacob Tackett finished with 81 total yards and a touchdown. 

Monticello improves to 4-0 overall and will travel to Pontiac next Friday night.

BCC is 3-1. 

Hear next week’s action on 95.9 FM WEZC and online at dewittdailynews.com.

Illini Prairie:

Illinois Valley 0, St. Joseph-Ogden 48, F

Pontiac 8, Paxton-Buckley-Loda 48, F

Rantoul 14, Prairie Central 48, F

Olympia 14, Tolono Unity 42, F

8-Man Football:

Galva 0, Champaign St. Thomas More 70, F

Apollo:

Lincoln 22, Mahomet-Seymour 53, F

Mattoon 20, Effingham 14, F

Taylorville 14, Mt. Zion 55, F

Big Twelve:

Bloomington 10, Normal West 14, F

Peoria Manual 0, Peoria 1, forfeit

Urbana 0, Champaign Central 1, forfeit

Heart of Illinois:

Tri-Valley 35, Tremont 0, F

Eureka 41, Fieldcrest 0, F

Fisher 0, Ridgeview 42, F

LeRoy 7, GCMS 14, F

Lincoln Prairie:

Arcola 20, Toledo-Cumberland 14, F

Argenta-Oreana 0, Villa Grove 1, forfeit

Arthur-Lovington-Atwood-Hammond 41, Oakland Tri-County 14, F

Cerro Gordo Bement 48, Sangamon Valley 0, F

Sangamo:

Maroa-Forsyth 70, Pittsfield 0, F

Non-conference:

Champaign Centennial 0, Kankakee 40, F

It'll be a matchup of undefeated Illini Prairie Conference teams tonight in Monticello when the Sages host Bloomington Central Catholic.

Coach Cully Welter says the Saints are among a host of teams that are very strong and competitive in the Illini Prairie Conference this season. Monticello beat the run-first Olympia Spartans 46-22 last week but this week face a BCC team that will mix up their offensive looks.

Several aspects of last year's team were surprising, perhaps one of the most obvious was the play of an undersized defense. Coach Welter says while this year's unit isn't last year's, he feels the kids that are stepping into new roles are taking what they learned last year and adding it to the experience they are getting.

BCC rallied to beat Paxton-Buckley-Loda 13-12 on the final play of the game last week. Coach Welter was complimentary of the Saints and how hard they play. He feels this will be a good challenge for his team.

Game time tonight from Monticello is 7 pm. Hear all the action on 95.9 FM WEZC and online at dewittdailynews.com. 

Illini Prairie Action Tonight

Illinois Valley Central at St. Joseph-Ogden

Pontiac at Paxton-Buckley-Loda

Rantoul at Prairie Central

Olympia at Tolono Unity

8-Man Football

Galva at Champaign St. Thomas More (Sat.)

Apollo

Lincoln at Mahomet-Seymour

Mattoon at Effingham 

Taylorville at Mt. Zion

Big Twelve

Bloomington at Normal West

Danville at Peoria Richwoods

Normal Community at Peoria Notre Dame (Sat.)

Peoria Manual at Peoria

Urbana at Champaign Central

Heart of Illinois 

Tri-Valley at Tremont

El Paso-Gridley at Dee-Mack

Eureka at Fieldcrest

Fisher vs. Ridgeview

LeRoy at G.CM.S

Lincoln Prairie

Arcola at Toledo-Cumberland

Argenta-Oreana at Villa Grove

Arthur-Lovington-Atwood-Hammond at Oakland Tri-County 

Cerro Gordo-Bement at Sangamon Valley

Mid-Illini

Canton at East Peoria

Metamora at Limestone

Pekin at Morton

Washington at Dunlap

Sangamo

Maroa-Forsyth at Pittsfield

Non-Conference action tonight:

Champaign Centennial at Kankakee 

Decatur LSA at Polo (Sat.)

Fithian-Oakwood at Dwight

Milford vs. Flanagan.-Cornell-Woodland 

Milledgeville at Blue Ridge

Ottawa Marquette at Heyworth

After a season-opening win against Big Ten foe Nebraska, Illinois has lost two straight at the hands of UTSA and Virginia and is looking for a something to help right the ship.

Next up on Friday night is a tough, balanced Maryland team that has won its first two games.

Illinois (1-2, 1-0 Big Ten) has looked bad on offense, defense and special teams in its last two games, losses to UTSA (37-30) and Virginia (42-14).

Maryland opens conference play on the road after defeating Howard 62-0 and West Virginia 30-24. The Terrapins are getting votes in the AP Top 25.

Maryland quarterback Taulia Tagovailoa is the younger brother of Miami Dolphins quarterback Tua Tagovailoa, but he’s looking to make his own way on the field.

Tagovailoa has thrown for 606 yards and six touchdowns in two games, many to his favorite receiving tandem of Dontay Demus Jr. and Rakim Jarrett. The two wideouts are tied for the team lead with 12 receptions apiece, with Demus topping all pass catchers with 261 receiving yards.

Tagovailoa completed 22 of 27 for 274 yards with three touchdowns against Howard and sat out most of the second half.

Eastern Illinois hosts Illinois State for the 109th Mid-America Classic for the Panthers 2021 home opener.   The rivalry game dates back to 1901 and is the longest FCS rivalry game in the state of Illinois.  The rivalry ranks as the 15th longest among FCS schools and is the eighth longest among non-Ivy League members.  

Punter Logen Neidhardt was named the Ohio Valley Conference Special Teams Player of the Week following his efforts at Dayton.  Neidhardt averaged 52 yards per punt against the Flyers with six total punts.  He had a long punt of 72 yards with one punt pinned inside the 20 and three others going for touchbacks.  On the season Neidhardt, a graduate transfer from Ohio Dominican, ranks 23rd in the FCS in punting at 45.9 yards per punt.  He has five punts over 50 yards and six of sixteen punts have been downed inside the 20-yard line.

Jordan Vincent finished with his second big tackle game on Saturday at Dayton as the second year safety had 12 tackles.   Ten of his twelve tackles were solo stops as Vincent currently ranks 37th in the FCS in solo tackles with 17.   Vincent currently leads the Panthers with 24 tackles and his 8 tackles per game ranks third in the OVC.

Eastern Illinois opens the home season this Saturday after playing three straight on the road to open a season for the first time since 1993.

Eastern Illinois limited Dayton to just 134 yards passing on Saturday as the Panthers have held all three opponents this season to under 175 yards passing.  On the season EIU ranks 10th in the FCS in pass defense allowing 135.3 yards per contest including a low of 87 by Indiana State in the Week Zero contest.  

Redbirds senior punter JT Bohlken was one of the Redbirds' biggest weapons at Western Michigan, as he consistently flipped the field and kept the Broncos at bay with his right leg. Bohlken averaged nearly 50 yards per punt (49.8) and had six punts over 50 yards. 

The Redbird defense had to come up with big plays at Western Michigan, and two of the biggest of the night came on big hits that caused turnovers by the Broncos. 

Bryce Harper doubled to start a seven-run, game-tying rally in the fourth inning, doubled in the go-ahead run in the sixth and sealed the Philadelphia Phillies' 17-8 win over the Chicago Cubs on Thursday night with a three-run homer in the seventh.

The Phillies are three games behind first-place Atlanta - rained out Thursday - in the NL East with 16 games left this season, and 2 1/2 games behind St. Louis for the second wild card. San Diego and Cincinnati also lead Philadelphia in the wild-card chase.

Harper doubled and scored in the fourth, extending his hitting streak to 12 games. He's batting .436 (17 for 39) with four doubles, seven homers, 14 RBIs and 11 walks over that stretch. He has a hit in 21 of his last 22 games and is batting .314 with a 1.055 OPS and 77 RBIs this season.

Patrick Wisdom had a two-run double and Matt Duffy hit a three-run homer off JD Hammer in the third for a 7-0 lead. The Cubs had five hits, walked three times, Ian Happ was hit by a pitch, and they sent 12 batters to the plate in the inning.

Willson Contreras hit a solo homer to center off Hector Neris in the seventh and it was 10-8.

The Cubs did not name a starter for the first of a three-game set at Milwaukee. RHP Adrian Houser (9-6, 3.25 ERA) takes the mound for the Brewers.

Alex Cobb pitched five scoreless innings, Luis Rengifo and Jose Rojas hit home runs, and the Los Angeles Angels coasted to a 9-3 win over the Chicago White Sox on Thursday.

Cobb was activated from the 10-day injured list after suffering right wrist inflammation and allowed two hits in his first start since July 23.

The Angels (72-74) won their second consecutive game. The White Sox (83-63) lost for the fifth time in eight games. The AL Central-leading White Sox have dropped six consecutive series against the Angels dating to 2016, and they're 4-15 in their last 19 games against them.

Cobb (8-3) allowed only two baserunners to advance as far as second base, and he induced inning-ending double plays in the second and fourth innings.

Chicago starter Reynaldo Lopez (3-3) allowed a season-high seven runs in his seventh start of the season. Lopez had allowed two home runs in his previous 30 innings prior to surrendering homers to Rengifo and Rojas.

The White Sox committed three errors, including two during a five-run fourth capped by Rojas' two-run homer. Shortstop Tim Anderson bobbled a grounder but was assessed an error even after second baseman Cesar Hernandez was late in covering second base for a potential force play.

That led to a three-run double by Jack Mayfield.

Jose Abreu drove in two runs, increasing his season total to 109.

White Sox catcher Yasmani Grandal, who has a personal-best streak of reaching base safely in 30 consecutive games, received a rest.

Dylan Cease (11-7, 4.22) will take the mound Friday night when Chicago opens a three-game series at Texas. Cease allowed seven runs in 2 2/3 innings in the Sox's 9-8 loss to Boston on Sept. 11. Hear tonight's action on WHOW. 

Chandler Smith bumped past Sheldon Creed on a late restart Thursday night at Bristol Motor Speedway and held on for his first NASCAR Trucks Series victory and a spot in the second round of the playoffs.

The 19-year-old Georgia driver challenged Creed on the inside off a restart with five laps left, with the No. 18 Kyle Busch Motorsports Toyota making contact with Creed that left the defending series champion with a cut left rear tire.

Smith advanced to the second round of eight drivers, with Todd Gilliland and Austin Hill eliminated. Creed and John Hunter Nemechek had already qualified for the next round. Matt Crafton, Stewart Friesen, Carson Hocevar, Ben Rhodes and Zane Smith also advanced.

Grant Enfinger was second, followed by Nemechek, Friesen and Johnny Sauter.

Creed was looking to become the first series driver to sweep a playoff round. He opened the 10-driver playoffs with a victory Aug. 20 at Gateway and won his second in a row at Darlington on Sept. 5.

The NASCAR Cup Series takes to Bristol, Tennessee for the Bass Pro Shops Night Race. 

The 500 lap, 266.5 mile race will be the second of the season after Bristol hosted the Cups first dirt race in March. 

Kevin Harvick won after starting fourth. Last week at Richmond, Martin Truex Jr. led a 1-2-3 Joe Gibbs Racing finish with Denny Hamlin second and Christopher Bell third.

Regular-season champion Kyle Larson was sixth at Richmond and his points lead was cut to 34 over Hamlin and 38 over Truex. All three have qualified for the next round of the playoffs. 

Three Team Penske drivers — Joey Logano, finished fifth; Ryan Blaney, sixth; and Brad Keselowski, ninth — were all running in the top five together at one point at Richmond. 

Defending series champion Chase Elliott is seventh in points, 79 behind. ... Kevin Harvick is sixth, 73 back.

Paul Goldschmidt and Nolan Arenado each hit one of St. Louis' four homers, and the Cardinals flashed some fantastic outfield defense in beating the New York Mets 11-4 on Wednesday for their fifth straight victory.

Harrison Bader homered, drove in three runs and made a timely grab at the center-field fence in his New York homecoming to help Jon Lester improve to 9-1 against the Mets. Edmundo Sosa also went deep and Goldschmidt had three hits for the Cardinals, who totaled 25 runs in a three-game sweep.

St. Louis, which jumped into playoff position Tuesday night for the first time since May 30, has won seven of eight to move a game ahead of San Diego for the second NL wild card heading into a pivotal series against the Padres this weekend.

Pete Alonso and Kevin Pillar homered for the fading Mets, who appear finished in the pennant race with 15 games to go. They went 1 for 14 with runners in scoring position and dropped five games behind St. Louis, with three teams in between.

Tyler O'Neill laced a two-run double in a five-run first inning against rookie Tylor Megill (3-5), who was coming off an outstanding start against the Yankees.

Running on an 0-2 pitch, Sosa scored all the way from first base when Bader blooped a two-run single to center.

New York had a couple of chances to get back in it, but Bader and substitute right fielder Lars Nootbaar came through with clutch catches.

The speedy Bader sprinted to the wall near the 408-foot sign and left his feet to snag Javier Baez's long drive with two on to end the fifth.

Nootbaar, moments after entering on defense in a double switch, got pumped up when he robbed Alonso of a three-run homer to keep it 8-4 in the seventh.

Lester (6-6) allowed three runs - two earned - and six hits in six innings. The 37-year-old lefty struck out seven and walked none, boosting his record to 3-1 in nine outings for St. Louis since his July 30 trade from Washington.

The Cardinals are off on Thursday before opening a three-game home set Friday night versus San Diego. Miles Mikolas (0-2, 5.47 ERA) starts against his former team, seeking his first major league victory in two years. St. Louis also will celebrate the 10th anniversary of its 2011 World Series championship this weekend.

As heard on WHOW, Brandon Marsh hit a tiebreaking solo homer off Michael Kopech in the eighth inning, and Los Angeles beat the Chicago White Sox 3-2 on Wednesday night.

Mike Mayers (5-5) struck out the side in the seventh for the win. Steve Cishek worked out of a jam in the eighth before Raisel Iglesias finished for his 32nd save.

The White Sox put runners on the corners with one out in the ninth, but Brian Goodwin struck out swinging and Cesar Hernandez flied out to deep left.

The Angels played without Jo Adell after the young outfielder was placed on the 10-day injured list with a left abdominal strain, likely ending his season. Maddon also said he would be very surprised if star outfielder Mike Trout played again this year.

Trout injured his right calf running the bases May 17 and had a setback last month, but the three-time AL MVP has left open the possibility of returning in 2021.

Yoan Moncada homered for AL Central-leading Chicago, which had won three of four.

The game was tied at 2 after each team pushed across a run in the sixth. Luis Rengifo hit a sacrifice fly against Dallas Keuchel, and Yasmani Grandal responded with an RBI single for the White Sox.

Keuchel issued a season-high five walks in six innings, but he worked his way out of trouble in his best performance in a month. The veteran left-hander went 0-3 with a 12.89 ERA in his previous four starts.

Reynaldo Lopez (3-2, 2.05 ERA) pitches for Chicago in the series finale Thursday afternoon. The right-hander committed a key throwing error in his last start, a 3-1 loss at Oakland last week. Alex Cobb (7-3, 3.82 ERA) comes off the IL to start for Los Angeles. He had been sidelined by right wrist inflammation.

Andrew Knapp scored when the ball knocked off Robinson Chirinos' mitt in the ninth inning to bolster Philadelphia's tenuous playoff push with a 6-5 win over the Chicago Cubs on Wednesday night.

The Phillies bullpen blew the lead in the eighth and ninth innings. Chirinos hit a two-run homer off Jose Alvarado that tied it 4-all in the eighth. Matt Duffy hit a solo shot off Ian Kennedy (2-1) in the ninth and tied it at 5.

The Phillies have 32 blown saves this season.

J.T. Realmuto, the All-Star game catcher playing first because of a sore right shoulder, led off the eighth inning with his 15th homer of the season in a topsy-turvy final two innings for a club clinging to playoff aspirations.

Knapp led off the ninth with a single off Trevor Megill (1-2) and advanced to third on a sacrifice and a groundout. Chirinos couldn't get a handle on Megill's knuckle-curve and Knapp scooted home with the winning run.

The Phillies entered 4 1/2 games behind first-place Atlanta in the NL East and remained three games behind St. Louis in the wild-card race. San Diego and Cincinnati are ahead of the Phillies for the second wild card with 17 games left this season.

Jose Alvarado wasted another solid outing by righty Ranger Suarez. He struck out a career-high eight over six innings. He made his 10th start of the season out of 37 appearances and has a 1.50 ERA over 90 innings.

The Phillies have leaned more on Bryce Harper to keep them in the race.

He led off the fourth with a double off Cubs starter Alec Mills and scored when Didi Gregorious hit into a double play. Freddy Galvis added a two-run homer, his 13th, later in the inning for a 3-0 lead.

Suarez gave two back in the fifth when New Jersey native Frank Schwindel - who had a hefty cheering section behind the Cubs dugout - hit a two-run homer that made it 3-2.

Suarez even helped himself when he doubled off Mills in the fifth and scored on Realmuto's single for a 4-2 lead in the fifth.

The Phillies had lost six of seven and eight of 11 overall as part of a late-summer swoon that knocked them out of a short run in first place in the NL East.

The Phillies are expected to throw a bullpen game in the series finale against Cubs RHP Kyle Hendricks (14-6, 4.54 ERA).

>>Bristol Weekend for NASCAR

The Camping World NASCAR Truck Series resumes it's playoff schedule tonight with the UNOH 200 at Bristol Motor Speedway from Bristol, Tennessee.

Defending series champion Sheldon Creed led 104 of the 147 laps and has won three consecutive playoff races dating to last season. He leads John Hunter Nemechek by two points in the standings through one race in the postseason. Three-time champion Matt Crafton is third, 34 points behind. Canadian racer Stewart Friesen is 36 back and Ben Rhodes is 54 behind.

Sam Mayer won last year's race after starting 17th. Creed won at Darlington two weeks for his second straight victory.

The race under lights tonight is a 200 lap race at 106.6 miles. Race time is 8 pm central time. 

The XFinity Series runs Friday night from Bristol at 6:30 pm local time and the Cup Series takes to 'The Last Great Colosseum' Saturday for the Bass Pro Shops Night Race. 

>>NASCAR Releases 2022 Schedule; Cup Series Coming to St. Louis

Homestead-Miami Speedway will return to the playoff portion of the season in 2022, while St. Louis was awarded a Cup Series race and NASCAR will race on Easter Sunday for the first time in more than three decades in schedule changes released Wednesday.

Homestead hosted the season finale from 2002 through 2019 but was bumped to an early-season race date last year as NASCAR began experimenting with long-overdue schedule changes. Phoenix Raceway was awarded the finale in 2020 and is slated to host it for a third consecutive season next year.

Homestead was given a second chance for 2022 with an Oct. 23 race date that makes it the middle race of the third round of the playoffs. The track located 40 miles south of Miami Beach is beloved by drivers but lost its cache after 17 years of hosting the finale.

World Wide Technology Raceway in Illinois across the Mississippi River from St. Louis will make its Cup debut on June 5. The 1.25-mile oval has held NASCAR national series races since 1997 and IndyCar the past six seasons. It is the only new track added to the 2022 Cup schedule.

The Cup Series will be 36 races as always, but Pocono Raceway lost one of its two dates to get the race near St. Louis. Pocono hosted two races a year from 1982 through 2021, but the last two years the events were doubleheaders held on the same weekend.

The 2022 season will officially open Feb. 20 with the Daytona 500, but NASCAR on Tuesday said its exhibition, made-for-television Clash that typically opens Speedweeks in Daytona will instead be held Feb. 6 on a temporary quarter-mile oval inside the Los Angeles Memorial Coliseum.

It is the first time the Clash has not been held at Daytona International Speedway since its 1979 inception. NASCAR this year ran the race on Daytona’s road course.

NASCAR will race on the Indianapolis Motor Speedway road course for the second year in a row as part of a shared weekend with the IndyCar Series on July 31. But NASCAR wants the race back on the oval and IMS officials said Wednesday it will consider moving the race — potentially on a rotating basis with the road course — as fans and drivers are attracted to the prestige of the famous speedway.

The Brickyard 400 was held on the 2.5-mile Indy oval for 27 years before it moved to the road course this year.

NASCAR will also return to the dirt at Bristol Motor Speedway on April 17, its first Easter Sunday race since 1989. Bristol this year experimented by covering its 0.533-mile track in dirt as part of radical NASCAR changes to the 2021 schedule.

The Tennessee track announced during its March race that it would be on dirt again next year, but it moves a month later to avoid weather concerns that have plagued the track for years.

COVID protocols within the Clinton High School football program have caused Saturday afternoon's game at Central A&M to be canceled.

Athletic Director Matt Koeppel told Regional Radio News after they conducted contact tracing, they did not feel they had an appropriate number of varsity players to move forward in playing their game Saturday.

Koeppel says there is some frustration in how COVID protocols around sports change but credits the district for having kids in school and doing the things they need to do to have kids in school.

While Saturday's game is canceled, Koeppel notes the remaining kids not in quarantine due to contact tracing will continue to practice. He hopes to be able to play next Friday night against Decatur St. Teresa.

Clinton is searching for a week 9 matchup as well after Sullivan announced last week it would be canceling the remainder of its varsity season due to participation. Koeppel expressed his appreciation to the Central A&M administration for their understanding during this time. 

The Top-5 of the latest Class 3A AP state high school football rankings remained the same as the Monticello Sages football team stays at No. 3 this week.

Wilmington, Princeton, Monticello, Tolono Unity and Williamsville make up the top-5 again this week. Byron, Farmington and Mt. Carmel move up a spot at 6-8 while Montini drops to No. 9 and Durand is new to this week's rankings at No. 10.

Decatur St. Teresa and IC Catholic are 1-2 respectively in 2A. Maroa-Forsyth stays put at No.3. Breese Mater Dei and Rockridge are 4-5, respectively. Tri-Valley drops a spot to No. 6 and Bismark-Henning, Pana, Sterling Newman and Rushville-Industry round out the top-10.

Central A&M dropped out of the top spot in 1A after its week 3 loss. Lena-Winslow takes over No. 1 but the Raiders still received a first-place vote to tie with Brown County for No. 2. Cumberland and Aurora Christian round out the top-5. 

Joliet Catholic takes over the top spot in the 4A poll after Springfield Sacred Heart-Griffin lost to Rochest in Week 3. After a week 3 loss, Mt. Zion slips into a tie for tenth in the latest poll with Dixon.

Rochester is the unanimous No. 1 in this week's 5A poll. Peoria stays put at No. 7 this week and Metamora moves up a spot to No. 9.

In 6A, Cary-Grove stays at No. 1. Springfield High comes in at No. 6. while Washington stayed put at No. 8. 

Normal Community cracked the top-10 in 7A, tying with St. Charles North for tenth. Pekin moved up a spot to No. 9. 

Edmundo Sosa hit the go-ahead single in a three-run 11th inning and the hard-charging Cardinals climbed all the way back into postseason position Tuesday night with a 7-6 victory over the New York Mets.

New York scored twice in the bottom of the 11th and had two runners aboard when Kwang Hyun Kim retired pinch-hitter Albert Almora Jr. on a grounder for his second career save - at last closing out a mentally grueling game that took 4 hours, 34 minutes.

Tyler O'Neill homered and drove in three runs for the streaking Cardinals. They've won four straight and six of seven to vault into the second NL wild-card slot by a half-game over Cincinnati, which lost 6-5 in Pittsburgh.

Demoted closer Alex Reyes (8-8) got Francisco Lindor to ground into an inning-ending double play with runners at the corners in the 10th, firing up the Cardinals. First baseman Paul Goldschmidt stepped on the bag and threw home, trapping Kevin Pillar in a rundown.

Then the Cardinals got three singles in the 11th off rookie Jake Reed (0-1), just activated from the injured list.

Both teams used eight pitchers. O'Neill put St. Louis ahead 4-3 with a two-run homer in the eighth against reliever Jeurys Familia, who was booed off the mound.

Baez tied it with a leadoff drive in the ninth, sending the first pitch from Giovanny Gallegos to left field beyond a leaping O'Neill and over the orange home run line on the blue wall.

It was the first time Baez tied a big-league game with a homer in the ninth inning or later. He came out of the dugout for a curtain call as the Citi Field crowd of 21,825 chanted his name.

Jon Lester (5-6, 4.75 ERA) pitches Wednesday night in the series finale. The 37-year-old lefty has won six straight decisions versus the Mets and is 8-1 with a 3.18 ERA in 11 career regular-season starts against them. He is 2-1 with a 4.30 ERA in eight outings for St. Louis since his July 30 trade from Washington. Last time out, Lester allowed two runs and three hits over seven innings in a no-decision against Cincinnati.

Tylor Megill (3-4, 4.06) struck out 10 over seven innings, both career bests, in a 10-3 win last Friday against the Yankees.

Rookie Gavin Sheets hit a long three-run homer and had four RBIs in his first three-hit game, and the White Sox beat the Los Angeles Angels 9-3 on Tuesday night.

Sheets hit a go-ahead single in the second inning off Packy Naughton (0-2) and made it 6-1 with a three-run homer in the third. He narrowly missed a second home run when he doubled to the right-field wall in the fifth.

Luis Robert had a solo homer and a double as the AL Central-leading White Sox expanded their margin over second-place Cleveland to 12 1/2 games.

Leury Garcia and Cesar Hernandez each had two hits and an RBI for the White Sox (83-61), who reduced their magic number for clinching the division to seven.

Chicago starter Lucas Giolito lasted four innings in his return from a strained left hamstring. He allowed three runs, on homers by Phil Gosselin in the first and Jared Walsh, in the fourth, Giolito walked two and struck out eight, including five in a row swinging.

All-Star shortstop Tim Anderson went 1 for 5 in his return from a strained left hamstring after missing 12 games.

Janson Junk (0-1, 2.45 ERA) faces struggling White Sox LHP Dallas Keuchel (8-9, 5.33 ERA) on Wednesday night. Keuchel is 0-3 with a 12.89 ERA in his last four starts.

NASCAR will open the 2022 season inside Los Angeles Memorial Coliseum in one of the biggest shakeups to its schedule in years.

The annual exhibition Clash, held at Daytona International Speedway since 1979, will shift to Los Angeles next year. The invitation-only race was always the kickoff to competitive NASCAR racing and held the week before the season-opening Daytona 500.

The 2022 race will be held Feb. 6, one week before the Super Bowl and two weeks before the Daytona 500. The race will be inside the stadium on a temporary, quarter-mile, asphalt track. The historic Coliseum is home of the University of Southern California football team and seats 77,500.

The announcement made Tuesday night on Fox Sports precedes the release of the full 2022 schedule.

NASCAR has run inside stadiums before, including regional events at Bowman Gray Stadium in Winston-Salem and a Cup race at Soldier Field in Chicago in 1956.

Eligibility for The Clash has not been announced, but the drivers will be using the Next Gen cars that are set to debut in 2022.

NASCAR will return to the Los Angeles area after The Clash for its traditional stop at Auto Club Speedway. NASCAR did not race in Los Angeles in 2021 because of the pandemic.

Patrick Wisdom and Alfonso Rivas hit back-to-back homers for the Chicago Cubs in a 6-3 win over a Philadelphia team running out of time to make a serious run in the NL playoff race.

The Phillies lost again to another team long out of the postseason hunt. The Phillies just dropped three of four at home to Colorado, which is 21-51 on the road.

The Phillies remained 4 1/2 games behind first-place Atlanta in the NL East and 2 1/2 games behind Cincinnati in the wild-card race. San Diego and St. Louis are ahead of the Phillies for the second wild card.

Bryce Harper had an RBI double in the sixth, continuing continued his torrid pace, and scored in the inning to make it 4-3. He entered with an MLB-best 1.032 OPS, which would have made the star outfielder a more serious MVP candidate had the Phillies truly been in a pennant race. Harper may see his chances wane with each September loss.

Wilson Contreras led off the fifth with a single, Wisdom hit his 26th homer of the season and Rivas followed with the first of his big-league career. It was 3-1 in 12 pitches.

Rafael Ortega added an RBI double for a 4-1 lead. He added an RBI double in the seventh to make it 5-3 and scored on Ian Happ's double.

Adrian Sampson (1-2) gave up two runs in five innings.

The Phillies send LHP Ranger Suarez (6-4, 1.38 ERA) to the mound against Chicago RHP Alec Mills (6-6, 4.35).

Football teams across Illinois are dealing with the challenges of COVID as the season has now passed the one-third mark heading into week 4.

Clinton High School football Coach Ron Bass recently offered a word of caution to his players and the community as the Maroons get set for a match-up at Central A&M Saturday afternoon.

Friday night, Warrensburg-Latham will be looking for a game, however, it will be one of the few that is not due to COVID. The Sullivan Redskins recently announced they are canceling their varsity schedule due to participation. 

Argenta-Oreana, Maroa-Forsyth, and Rochester among other central Illinois schools have seen games forfeited due to COVID issues. 

Adam Wainwright won his fifth straight start in a rare matchup of 40-year-old pitchers, and the St. Louis Cardinals blanked the New York Mets 7-0 on Monday night.

Paul Goldschmidt homered and had two RBIs for the surging Cardinals, who have won five of six. St. Louis is tied with San Diego at 74-69, a half-game behind Cincinnati for the second NL wild card.

New York is 3 1/2 games behind the Reds, with three teams in between.

The 40-year-old Wainwright, a thorn in the Mets' side since he saved Game 7 of the 2006 NL Championship Series by freezing Carlos Beltran with a curveball to escape a bases-loaded jam, allowed four hits in six innings. He walked three and struck out four as he outpitched Hill.

Wainwright (16-7) had just one 1-2-3 inning but worked out of trouble by stranding seven runners - including the bases loaded in the first, when he struck out Jeff McNeil on three pitches.

Dylan Carlson laced an RBI double in the second and Goldschmidt delivered a run-scoring single in the third before homering leading off the fifth.

The Mets threatened against Alex Reyes in the eighth before he struck out Pete Alonso, Javier Baez and McNeil - the 4-5-6 hitters.

Nolan Arenado, Yadier Molina, Edmundo Sosa and Harrison Bader all had RBI singles in the ninth.

Hill (6-7) allowed three runs and six hits in five innings.

Jake Woodford (2-3, 4.38 ERA) gave up one run in four innings against the Dodgers last Thursday in his return to the rotation.

Marcus Stroman (9-12, 2.87) is slated to make his major league-leading 31st start.

As heard on WHOW, Leury Garcia hit a game-ending home run with two outs in the ninth inning to lift the Chicago White Sox over the Boston Red Sox 2-1 Sunday.

After Boston reliever Garrett Whitlock (8-4) struck out Eloy Jimenez and Yasmani Grandal to begin the inning, Garcia fell behind 0-2 before hitting a 98 mph fastball over the center-field fence. It was the fifth homer of the season for Garcia, who is filling in at shortstop with starter Tim Anderson on the injured list.

Chicago took a 1-0 lead and a three-hit shutout into the ninth before Craig Kimbrel (4-4) struggled with his control and blew the save.

Kike Hernandez led off with a double to center. After Kyle Schwarber struck out, Kimbrel walked Hunter Renfroe and Rafael Devers to load the bases. Alex Verdugo followed with a tying sacrifice fly to left.

The teams combined for just eight hits, and the game developed into a pitcher's duel despite the fact both starters were making their first appearances since August.

Chicago's Lance Lynn allowed two hits over five scoreless innings in his return from a stint on the 10-day IL with right knee inflammation. The veteran right-hander walked none, struck out nine and lowered his ERA to 2.50 in his first outing since Aug. 28.

Boston's Nick Pivetta allowed one unearned on three hits in 5 1/3 innings after being activated from the COVID-19 IL. Pivetta entered having allowed 12 runs in 10 2/3 innings over his previous three starts.

Pivetta, who started Sunday after Chris Sale went on the COVID-19 list at the start of the series, said he was asymptomatic but struggled to keep prepared during his absence.

The White Sox broke through against Pivetta in the sixth inning with an unearned run. Cesar Hernandez led off and reached on a throwing error by second baseman Kike Hernandez. Cesar Hernandez was sacrificed to second and scored on a single by Luis Robert to make it 1-0.

The White Sox haven't named a starter for Tuesday night in the opener of a three-game series with the Angels. LHP Packy Naughton (0-1, 2.57 ERA) will pitch for Los Angeles.

Jameis Winston passed for five touchdowns, New Orleans intercepted reigning NFL MVP Aaron Rodgers twice, and the Saints kicked off the post-Drew Brees era with a strikingly dominant 38-3 victory over the Green Bay Packers on Sunday.

Winston, who led the NFL with 30 interceptions in his last season as a starter with Tampa Bay in 2019, was largely judicious and accurate in going an efficient 14 of 20 for 148 yards without an interception. New Orleans also rushed for 171 yards.

Aaron Rodgers finished 15 of 28 for 133 yards and no TDs.

Packers host Detroit in next Monday night.

Matthew Stafford passed for 321 yards and three touchdowns in one of the most prolific quarterback debuts with a new team in NFL history, leading the Rams past Andy Dalton and the Bears for a 34-14 victory on Sunday night.

Stafford found Jefferson for a 67-yard touchdown on his second pass for the Rams, who swung a blockbuster offseason trade to acquire the 13-year veteran from Detroit.

Stafford then hit a wide-open Cooper Kupp for a 56-yard TD to open the third quarter, and he found Robert Woods for a clinching score with 3:17 to play.

The first regular season crowd at SoFi Stadium roared throughout the night for Stafford, who immediately looked comfortable in his new home.

Dalton passed for 206 yards in his Bears debut, and rookie quarterback Justin Fields rushed for a 3-yard score while getting a handful of snaps in his NFL debut. Chicago moved the ball steadily all night, but David Long Jr. intercepted a tipped pass in the end zone on the Bears' opening drive, leaving them playing from behind all night.

David Montgomery rushed for 108 yards and a touchdown for the Bears, who dropped to 1-3 in season openers under coach Matt Nagy.

Montgomery finally scored Chicago's first points 34 seconds before halftime, but Kupp - who finished with seven catches for 108 yards - put the Rams up 20-7 early in the third when Chicago's secondary left him completely unguarded 10 yards behind its safeties.

Chicago kept it close with a 16-play, 81-yard drive capped by Fields' TD run, but Darrell Henderson punched in another TD for the Rams late in the third.

The Bears home opener will be against the Cincinnati Bengals on Sunday.

JA Happ threw 5 1/3 shutout innings in the St. Louis Cardinals' 2-0 victory over the Cincinnati Reds on Sunday.

Nolan Arenado homered for the second game in a row and Happ combined with four other hurlers on a five-hit shutout.

St. Louis has won four of six. The Cardinals began the day two games behind Cincinnati and San Diego for the final NL wild-card spot. Cincinnati, which won the first game of the series, has lost five of seven.

Happ lasted just one inning and gave up seven runs on eight hits in a career-worst outing of a 12-2 loss at Cincinnati on Sept. 1.

Arenado hit a two-run homer in the first off Sonny Gray (7-7), who then retired the next 14 hitters. Arenado, who has 31 homers, also homered in the eighth inning of the Cardinals' 6-4 victory Saturday night.

Adam Wainwright (15-7, 2.98) will face New York Mets LHP Rich Hill (6-6, 3.82) on Monday in the first of a three game series in New York. Wainwright is 6-6 with a 4.95 ERA in 13 career starts against the Mets.

Wilmer Flores homered and drove in three runs, Kris Bryant scored two against his former team, and the San Francisco Giants hung on to beat the Chicago Cubs 6-5 on Sunday for their season-high seventh straight win.

Owners of the best record in the majors, the Giants matched their longest streak since a seven-game run in August 2020.

They were rolling along with a 6-3 lead in the seventh before the Cubs scored two while chasing Logan Webb (10-3). Chicago had the bases loaded with one out when submarining right-hander Tyler Rogers caught Willson Contreras looking at an 84 mph fastball on a 3-2 count. He then struck out Alfonso Rivas swinging at a 3-2 pitch with the crowd on its feet.

The Cubs had the tying run on in the ninth after Jake McGee gave up a one-out double to pinch hitter Patrick Wisdom. But Frank Schwindel and Ian Happ grounded to first to end the game.

Flores hit an RBI single in the second and singled and scored in the fourth as the Giants went up 3-0. He matched a career-high with his 18th homer when he launched a two-run shot to left against Justin Steele (3-3) in the fifth to stretch the lead to 5-2.

Bryant was 4 for 12 with five runs in an emotional first series against Chicago since being traded prior to the July 30 deadline.

Happ hit his eighth homer in 16 games, capping a two-run fourth with a solo shot. But Chicago lost for the fourth time in five games after winning seven in a row.

The Cubs open a three-game series at Philadelphia on Tuesday, with RHP Adrian Sampson (0-2, 2.20) starting for Chicago and RHP Kyle Gibson (10-6, 3.38) pitching for the Phillies.

Jack Cook passed for one touchdown and ran for another on back-to-back possessions in a turnaround third quarter, lifting Dayton to a 17-10 victory Saturday against Eastern Illinois.

The touchdowns helped the Flyers reach an NCAA all-division record of scoring in 488 straight games.

Dayton’s (1-0) season opener against Robert Morris was canceled due to COVID concerns, so Saturday’s game was being called the season re-opener. It was Dayton’s first game in 658 days.

Eastern Illinois (0-3) took a 3-0 lead into halftime on Stone Galloway’s 36-yard field goal, but the Panthers ran only five offensive plays in Dayton’s dominating 17-point third quarter.

Cook, who passed for 134 yards, drove the Flyers 71 yards on the opening drive of the second half, eating up 7:24 and taking the lead with a 10-yard pass to Jake Chisholm. The Flyers then forced an Eastern Illinois fumble and Cook ran it in from the 1-yard line three minutes later. Dayton ended the quarter with a Sam Webster 31-yard field goal.

Otto Kuhns cut the gap with a 7-yard touchdown pass to Robbie Lofton with 19 seconds left. Kuhns had replaced Chris Katrenick, who passed for 129 yards with an interception.

Brennan Armstrong threw for five touchdowns and became the third quarterback in program history to pass for over 400 yards as Virginia beat Illinois 42-14 on Saturday.

Armstrong threw for 171 yards and two touchdowns in the opening quarter, connecting with tight end Jelani Woods for a 32-yard score and wide receiver Dontayvion Wicks from 28-yards out, for a 14-0 lead.

Armstrong went 27 for 36 for 405 yards.

Wicks finished with a pair of touchdown catches for Virginia (2-0).

Virginia’s defense sacked quarterback Artur Sitkowski three times.

Wide receiver Deuce Spann caught a 33-yard touchdown pass in the first quarter for the Illini (1-2), and running back Chase Brown capped the opening drive of the second half with a 21-yard scoring run.

Joey Sprinkle ran for 44-yards to the end zone as time expired in the first half helping Monticello separate for 46-22 win over Olympia in Illini Prairie Conference high school football action Friday night outside Stanford.

With 20 seconds left, the Sages started from the 28 yard line. Sprinkle hit Tristan Foran for a designed hook-and-ladder. Foran faked the lateral pass and ran for 28 yards to the 44-yard line. With 9-seconds left, Sprinkle dropped back for a last play for the end zone, instead scrambled out of trouble to his left and beat a pair of defenders the final 14-yards for a score that gave Monticello a 27-14 halftime advantage.

Sprinkle’s 44-yard touchdown was a part of a 108 yards on the ground on seven carries and two touchdowns. He also threw for 249 yards and a touchdown. 

Sprinkle’s touchdown was a 29-yarder to Jacob Tackett. Tackett recorded five total touchdowns. Four on the ground where he ran for 102 yards on 15 carries. He also had two catches for 36 yards.

Foran had four catches for 90 yards Friday. Spencer Mitze (mitts) had two catches for 73 yards. 

Aston Wassom and Kaleb Reid were the Piatt/DeWitt County ServPro Co-Players of the Game with strong defensive performances against the Spartans wing-sets. 

The Sages improve to 3-0 overall and will host Bloomington Central Catholic. Game time is 7 pm and can be heard on 95.9 FM WEZC and online at dewittdailynews.com.

Central Illinois Conference:

Meridian 18, Warrensburg-Latham 45, F

Central A&M 0, Decatur St. Teresa 34, F

Illini Prairie:

Prairie Central 34, St. Joseph-Ogden 28, F

Paxton-Buckley-Loda 12, Bloomington Central Catholic 13, F

Rantoul 14, Pontiac 20, F

Tolono Unity 55, Illinois Valley Central 21, F

As heard on WHOW, the Clinton Maroons fell to the Shelbyville Rams by a score of 40-29 on Friday night. The Maroons were led by the DeWitt/Piatt Counties ServPro Player of the Game Wyatt Martin. Martin had 3 catches for 62 yards and a touchdown and had two kickoff returns for a touchdown. Maroons quarterback Ethan Boyer was 17 of 20 passing for 139 yards with 2 touchdowns and 2 interceptions. Aiden Schlesinger had 2 catches for 40 yards and a touchdown.

Shelbyville was led by senior Holden Schmidt with 2 catches for 58 yards and a touchdown. Schmidt also had 9 carries for 62 yards and a touchdown.

With the loss, the Maroons fall to 1-2 on the season and 0-1 in Central Illinois Conference action. Shelbyville improves to 2-1 overall and 1-0 in CIC play.

Tune in next Saturday afternoon, September 18, as the Maroons travel to Mowequa to take on the Central A&M Raiders. You can hear the game live on the Big 1520 AM/92.3 FM/106.5 FM WHOW, online at dewittdailynews.com, on the WHOW mobile app, and on Amazon Alexa. Kickoff is set for 1 pm with the broadcast beginning shortly before then.

The Clinton Maroons will get a good test tonight when they play host to the Shelbyville Rams in its Central Illinois Conference opener in high school football action.

The Maroons rolled Argenta-Oreana 37-0 last Friday. Coach Ron Bass feels his team imposed its will on both sides of the ball in its first win of the season last week.

While new to the Central Illinois Conference, Coach Bass says he is somewhat familiar with Shelbyville as they were an opponent when he coached at Tri-Valley and credits the Rams with being a well-coached offensive team.

Tonight's action kicks at 7 pm. Hear all the action on The Big 1520 AM/92.3 FM/106.5 FM WHOW, online at dewittdailynews.com, at the WHOW mobile app and via Amazon Alexa.

The third-ranked Monticello Sages football team will look to keep rolling tonight when they head to Stanford to take on Olympia in Illini Prairie Conference high school football action.

The Sages are coming off a 29-6 win over IVC last week while Olympia is coming off a 38-8 loss to PBL on the road last week. The Spartans edged Rantoul 28-26 in week 1.

Monticello remained at its preseason spot of No. 3 in the latest 3A high school football rankings. The Illini Prairie Conference had three teams in the top ten this week.

Game time from Olympia High School is 7 pm. Hear all the action on 95. 9 FM WEZC and online at dewittdailynews.com.

Illini Prairie matchups tonight

Prairie Central at St. Joseph-Ogden
Paxton-Buckley-Loda at Bloomington Central Catholic
Rantoul at Pontiac
Tolono Unity at Illinois Valley Central

8-Man Football 

Ashton-Franklin Center at Peoria Heights
Flanagan-Cornell-Woodland at South Beloit
Champaign St. Thomas More at Blue Ridge
Decatur LSA at Pawnee (Sat.)

Apollo

Effingham at Charleston
Mt. Zion at Mahomet-Seymour
Taylorville at Mattoon

Big Twelve

Bloomington at Peoria Manual
Normal West at Champaign Centennial
Peoria at Danville 
Peoria Notre Dame at Urbana
Peoria Richwoods at Normal Community

Central State Eight

Chatham Glenwood at Jacksonville 
Decatur Eisenhower at Springfield (Sat.)
Normal U-High at Springfield Lanphier
Springfield Sacred Heart-Griffin at Rochester
Springfield Southeast at Decatur MacArthur

Lincoln Prairie

Cerro Gordo-Bement at Villa Grove
Niantic Sangamon Valley at Argenta-Oreana
Oakland Tri-County at Arcola
Toledo-Cumberland at Arthur-Lovington-Atwood-Hammond

Mid-Illini

Limestone at Washington
Dunlap at Pekin
East Peoria at Metamora
Morton at Canton

Sangamo

New Berlin at Maroa-Forsyth

Non-Conference football action

Champaign Central at Edwardsville
Tri-Valley vs. Ridgeview
El Paso-Gridley at G.C.M.S.
Eureka at Heyworth
Fisher at Fieldcrest
LeRoy at Tremont
Lincoln at Jerseyville 
Ottawa Marquette at Dee-Mack

First-year Fighting Illini coach Bret Bielema is hoping his team’s routine also aligns well with the early start, but he laments that that’s not the only similarity he finds Saturday when Illinois faces Virginia with a rare 11 a.m. eastern time start to the game.

Virginia coach Bronco Mendenhall hopes that his team’s practices early in the morning will help.

Bielema’s team won its opener, 30-22 over Nebraska, but lost 37-30 last week to UTSA, also an FCS program. This will be its first road game of the season.

Bielema isn’t sure how his team will respond, but said “the greatest crime we can ever commit was to have that loss not to amount to learning forward,” and that film study has been key to that learning process. 

The Fighting Illini may have starting quarterback Brandon Peters back, but Bielema said Artur Sitkowski, a transfer from Rutgers, will start. Peters hurt his non-throwing shoulder against the Cornhuskers. Sitkowski was 22 for 42 for 266 yards with three touchdown passes against UTSA.

The Cavaliers and Illinois have played twice previously, both times in bowl games, and the Illini won both. This game marks Illinois’ first road game against a non-conference Power Five team since it faced North Carolina in 2015.

The last two times Illinois State has faced off against an FBS foe, the Redbirds have come away with a victory. ISU (1-0) will be looking to extend that streak to three on Saturday, when it travels to Kalamazoo, Michigan, to take on the Western Michigan Broncos (0-1) at Waldo Stadium.

Illinois State's season-opening win over Butler was a memorable one for head coach Brock Spack, who improved to 86-53 in his career at ISU and is now tied with Edwin Struck for the most wins in program history. 

Braden Price was all over the field for the Redbirds in their win over Butler in the season opener. The Wheeling, West Virginia, native recorded a pair of interceptions and tied for the team lead with seven tackles against the Bulldogs. The interceptions were the first two for Price in his time as a Redbird and he was also credited with a sack in the contest. His second interception of the night came in the endzone as the Bulldogs were threatening and on the next play from scrimmage after the touchback, Cole Mueller ripped off an 80-yard touchdown run. 

Quarterback Bryce Jefferson accounted for four touchdowns (two passing, two rushing) in Illinois State's season-opening 49-7 win over Butler Saturday night, as the Redbird offense racked up 491 yards of total offense against the Bulldogs. Jefferson threw for 193 yards, including a 44-yard touchdown strike to Austin Nagel, and rushed for 37 yards on the ground with scores of 5 and 14 yards, respectively. 

Game time is 4 pm central time from Waldo Stadium.

Eastern Illinois plays its third game of the season this week as the Panthers head to Dayton, Ohio to face the Flyers for the first time.  EIU is 0-2 on the season following a Week Zero loss at Indiana State and Labor Day weekend loss at South Carolina.

Kaelin Drakeford picked up the Panthers' first sack of the season and created EIU's first turnover gained with a sack and forced fumble on Saturday at South Carolina.  The fumble was recovered by Blake Ruffin.  EIU had its streak of 16 consecutive games with forcing at least one turnover snapped in the Week Zero game at Indiana State.  In the shortened 2021 spring season EIU had ten turnovers gained (five interceptions / five fumble recoveries).

Safety Jordan Vincent led the Panthers in tackles on Saturday night at South Carolina as the second-year player finished with nine tackles including a half tackle for loss. 

Vincent is currently tied for the team lead for tackles with 12 stops (seven solo).  He has added one pass breakup and one quarterback hurry to his season totals.

Game time is noon on Saturday with pregame at 11:30 am. Hear all the action on The Big 1520 AM/92.3 FM/106.5 FM WHOW.

Sean Manaea struck out nine in seven dominant innings, and the Oakland Athletics beat the Chicago White Sox 3-1 on Thursday.

Manaea (9-9) allowed one run and five hits in his first win since July 28. The left-hander went 0-3 with an 8.00 ERA in his previous six starts.

Tony Kemp and Matt Chapman each drove in a run for Oakland, which took two of three games in the series.

Jose Abreu had two hits and drove in a run for the AL Central-leading White Sox, who have lost 10 of their last 11 regular-season games at the Oakland Coliseum.

Reynaldo Lopez was charged with one earned run and six hits in five innings.

Carlos Rodon (11-5, 2.41 ERA) is expected to start Friday night when Chicago returns home to open a three-game series against Boston.

Tyler O'Neill hit a tiebreaking homer, Cardinals relievers combined for five scoreless innings, and St. Louis salvaged a split of its four-game series against the Los Angeles Dodgers with a 2-1 win on Thursday.

The Cardinals climbed within three games of the San Diego Padres for the final NL wild-card spot, while the Dodgers fell 2 1/2 games behind the NL West-leading San Francisco Giants.

O'Neill's fifth-inning drive off Phil Bickford (3-2), his 25th homer this season, barely cleared the left field wall, inching past the outstretched glove of Steven Souza Jr.

The homer made a winner out of Alex Reyes (6-8), who pitched two scoreless innings in his fifth appearance since being demoted from the closer's role.

T.J. McFarland and Luis Garcia combined for two scoreless innings to bridge the gap to Giovanny Gallegos, who earned his sixth save with a perfect ninth.

Jon Lester (5-6, 4.89) will start the opener of a pivotal three-game home series against the wild card-contending Cincinnati Reds and RHP Tyler Mahle (11-5, 3.76) on Friday night.

Matt Chapman homered early, Frankie Montas won his third straight start and the A's beat the Chicago White Sox 5-1 to snap a four-game losing streak.

Montas (12-9) allowed one run and six hits with seven strikeouts and two walks in seven sparkling innings. He had lost his only previous regular-season appearance against the White Sox last month.

Chad Pinder drove in a run with a sixth-inning triple. Yan Gomes and Elvis Andrus each had an RBI single for the A's, who drew a crowd of 8,147 as they try to stay in the playoff race.

Oakland got to Dallas Keuchel (8-9) early, and the Chicago lefty saw his losing streak reach three games during a four-start winless stretch since he beat Montas on Aug. 16. Keuchel allowed five runs on eight hits over 5 2/3 innings with three strikeouts and a walk.

Eloy Jimenez severely bruised his right knee when he was hit by a foul ball while sitting in the dugout during the second inning Tuesday night and is day to day. Jimenez stayed in the game initially before a slide into home plate in the fifth increased his knee pain and he exited.

Reynaldo Lopez (3-1, 2.08 ERA) pitches for the White Sox seeking his first win in the last three starts. Oakland LHP Sean Manaea (8-9, 3.91) is 0-3 with an 8.00 ERA and nine home runs allowed over his past six starts.

The Monticello Sages football team remained steady at No. 3 in the latest Class 3A high school football AP rankings, as the Illini Prairie Conference dominated this week's rankings.

The Sages lead a top-10 that features Tolono Unity at No. 4 and Paxton-Buckley-Loda enters this week's rankings at No. 10.

Wilmington and Princeton split the eight first-place votes with Wilmington at No. 1 and Princeton at No. 2. Williamsville rounds out the top 5. Montini, Byron, Farmington and Mt. Carmel with PBL at No. 10 round the 3A poll.

Decatur St. Teresa holds steady at No. 1 in 2A with five first-place votes. IC Catholic received the remaining three first-place votes in 2A as they swap places with Maroa-Forsyth for second in this week's polling. Breese Mater Dei checks in at No. 4 while Tri-Valley is No. 5. Bismarck-Henning and Rockridge tied for sixth. Pana, Sterling Newman and Rushville-Industry round out the top 10 in 2A.

Despite receiving only three of the eight first-place votes and Lena-Winslow receiving five votes, the Central A&M Raiders edged out Panthers by two points for first place in this week's 1A poll. The two schools had tied for first last week. Brown County comes in at No. 3 this week while Fulton and Kewanee-Weathersfield tied for fourth this week. Cumberland, Aurora Christian, Camp Point Central, Carrollton, and St. Bede round the 1A top 10.

Joliet Catholic was the unanimous No. 1 in 4A with Springfield Sacred Heart-Griffin coming in at No. 2 in this week's polling. Mt. Zion moved up a spot to No. 7 in the 4A poll. 

East St. Louis received seven votes to stay at No. 1 in the 5A poll. Rochester received the other first place vote and is No.2 again this week. Fenwick moved up three spots to No. 3 this week. With a week 2 loss, Peoria dropped from third to seventh and Metamora checks into this week's poll at No. 10, tied with Glenbard South.

Springfield High moved up two spots to No. 5 in this week's 6A poll. After a week 2 loss, Washington dropped to No. 8. Cary-Grove is the unanimous No. 1 in 6A.

Pekin moved into this week's 7A poll, coming in at No. 10. Loyola received eight of nine first-place votes and swapped places with Chicago Mt. Carmel for first in 7A. Normal Community just missed out on this week's top 10. 

The 8A poll saw quite the shake-up. Naperville Central moved up to No. 1 from No. 4 last week and received three of eight first-place votes. Maine South moves up to No. 2 from No. 5 last week and also received three first-place votes. Chicago Marist stayed at No. 3 and received the remaining two first-place votes. After a week 2 loss, Gurnee Warren dropped to No. 4 after being No. 1 in last week's poll. 

Jason Heyward hit a three-run homer in the bottom of the 10th inning to give the Chicago Cubs a 4-1 win over the Cincinnati Reds on Wednesday night for their eighth victory in nine games.

Ian Happ homered for the third straight game, extending his hitting streak to a career-high nine games to help the new-look Cubs win their third consecutive series.

Joey Votto launched his 29th homer of the season, but his fourth-inning solo shot was all the offense Cincinnati could muster.

The Reds have lost four of six as they fight for a playoff spot. They entered the day tied with San Diego for the second NL wild card.

Automatic runner Willson Contreras advanced from second to third in the 10th on a single by Patrick Wisdom. Heyward then sent a drive to right field off Brad Brach (1-2).

Chicago was boosted by yet another stellar start from Alec Mills, who allowed one run and four hits over six innings. He's given up just three earned runs over his last three starts.

Rowan Wick provided two shutout innings in relief, and Codi Heuer (7-2) worked two hitless innings for the win. Heuer hasn't allowed an earned run in his last 12 outings.

Happ's first-inning solo shot off Vladimir Gutierrez nearly left Wrigley Field, but Chicago's offense went quiet afterward. The Cubs were held scoreless over the next eight innings, with just one hit.

Gutierrez gave Cincinnati five solid innings on the mound, allowing two hits and one run. Happ's homer was the lone blemish for the rookie right-hander, who struck out six.

The Cubs are off on Thursday before hosting NL West-leading San Francisco on Friday. Kyle Hendricks (14-6, 4.65 ERA) takes the mound for the Cubs, while the Giants had not yet announced their starter.

Adam Wainwright pitched into the ninth inning and Yadier Molina homered, helping the St. Louis Cardinals top the Los Angeles Dodgers 5-4 on Wednesday night.

Led by Wainwright and Molina once again, St. Louis stopped a four-game slide. Tyler O'Neill also connected for the Cardinals, and Edmundo Sosa had an RBI single.

St. Louis is trying to move into position for an NL wild card.

The Dodgers dropped two games back of NL West-leading San Francisco, which rallied for a 7-4 victory at Colorado.

Wainwright (15-7) sailed into the ninth, but he was replaced by Giovanny Gallegos after Corey Seager's RBI single got the Dodgers within two. Will Smith then hit a sacrifice fly before Gallegos struck out Chris Taylor for his fifth save.

Wainwright allowed seven hits, struck out four and walked none. The 40-year-old right-hander improved to 8-1 in his last nine starts.

Max Muncy hit his 31st homer for Los Angeles, which had won three of four. Mitch White (1-3) permitted four runs and five hits in five innings.

The Dodgers will activate RHP Tony Gonsolin (2-1, 2.78 ERA) off the injured list to start Thursday after Roberts decided to push the rest of the starting rotation back a day. The Cardinals will start RHP Jake Woodford (2-3, 4.47 ERA) after he tossed 5 1/3 shutout innings in relief Saturday in Milwaukee.

The Clinton Lady Maroons lost to the Tolono Unity Rockets in two sets 25-19 and 25-12 Tuesday night in high school girl's volleyball action from Clinton High School.

The Lady Maroons drop to 1-5 overall and will host Rantoul Thursday night.

Gavin Sheets hit a go-ahead RBI single in the fifth to back Jimmy Lambert, Cesar Hernandez added a two-run single in the same inning, and the AL Central-leading White Sox beat the stumbling Oakland Athletics 6-3 on Tuesday night.

Lambert (1-1) allowed three hits over five solid innings to win in his third career start and six appearances as Chicago matched its season-high of 22 games above .500 (80-58).

Brian Goodwin added a two-run single in the eighth for Chicago, which lost two of three at Kansas City over the weekend, including getting shut out 6-0 in Sunday's series finale.

This marked La Russa's return to the place he managed the A's from 1986-95, winning a championship in the 1989 earthquake World Series and losing the World Series in 1988 and '90.

Elvis Andrus and Starling Marte hit RBI singles in the eighth for the A's. They have reached three straight playoffs, but are suddenly searching for answers in September to stay in the chase, losing their fourth straight game following a weekend sweep in Toronto.

Yasmani Grandal drew a bases-loaded walk in the first to put Chicago ahead before the A's tied it on Olson's sacrifice fly in the bottom half.

James Kaprielian was done after four innings and 92 pitches. It marked the 15th time in the last 23 games Oakland's starters have pitched fewer than five innings.

A.J. Puk (0-3) relieved, gave up three straight singles and took the loss.

Frakie Montas (11-9, 3.68 ERA) pitches Wednesday night having lost his only regular-season appearance against the White Sox last month. LHP Dallas Keuchel (8-8, 5.22) pitches for Chicago looking to snap a three-start winless stretch in which he's 0-2.

Albert Pujols rewarded an adoring crowd by hitting a home run in his return to Busch Stadium, sending the Los Angeles Dodgers toward a 7-2 win over the St. Louis Cardinals on Tuesday night.

Justin Turner homered twice and Will Smith also homered for the playoff-contending Dodgers, who won for the sixth time in eight games. St. Louis has lost four in a row.

A star slugger who led the Cardinals to a pair of World Series championships, the 41-year-old Pujols made his second appearance at Busch Stadium after playing for St. Louis from 2001-2011.

Pujols drew a 40-second standing ovation when his name was announced prior to a first-inning at-bat, with catcher and longtime teammate Yadier Molina stepping in front of the plate to prolong the cheer. They had a short embrace before Pujols stepped in.

Pujols promptly drilled the fourth pitch from J.A. Happ on a line over the wall in left. It was his 679th career home run and 17th of the season.

Alex Vesia (3-1) picked up the win for Los Angeles, which used nine pitchers. He struck out the only man he faced to end the third inning. Corey Knebel started and went one inning as the opener.

Turner recorded the 12th multihomer game of his career and second of the season.

Happ (8-8) allowed four runs on seven hits over five innings.

Turner homered in fifth inning to push the lead to 4-2. Smith, who went 4 for 4, added his 23rd home run in the sixth. Turner pushed the lead to a 7-2 with a two-run shot in the ninth and 23rd of the year.

Tyler O'Neill had three hits for St. Louis, which came into play chasing San Diego for the second NL wild-card spot.

Adam Wainwright (14-7, 2.91 ERA) will start for the Cardinals in the third game of the four-game series, He has pitched at least six innings in his last 12 regular season starts against the Dodgers, who have yet to announce a starter.

Kyle Busch was fined $50,000 by NASCAR on Tuesday for recklessly entering the garage following a crash in the opening race of the playoffs.

Busch was fined for a safety violation, actions detrimental to stock car racing and violating NASCAR member conduct guidelines during Saturday night’s race at Darlington Raceway. Busch had crashed midway through the race and as he pulled into the garage area, Busch ran over several orange safety cones at a considerable amount of speed as spectators hurried out the way of the No. 18 Toyota.

The Joe Gibbs Racing driver finished 35th at Darlington. It dropped the two-time NASCAR champion from fourth to 14th in the playoff standings.

Wade Miley was terrific, and Kyle Farmer made a pair of clutch plays. Jonathan India and Nick Castellanos had a couple of big swings.

Miley pitched seven effective innings, Castellanos homered and the Reds cooled off the Chicago Cubs with a 4-3 victory Tuesday.

Cincinnati had dropped seven of nine to lose ground in the NL playoff race. It began the day one game back of San Diego for the second wild card.

Willson Contreras, Rafael Ortega and Ian Happ homered for Chicago, which had won a season-high seven straight. Happ, who finished with three hits, is batting .367 (33 for 90) in his last 24 games.

The Reds were clinging to a 2-1 lead before they pushed across two runs in the eighth. India, who homered in the first, doubled and scored on Mike Moustakas' two-out single off Manuel Rodriguez. Farmer tacked on another RBI single.

Ortega and Happ connected in the bottom half against Michael Lorenzen, but Mychal Givens worked the ninth for his sixth save.

Right before Happ's 20th homer, Farmer robbed Frank Schwindel of a hit when the shortstop ran back into short center field for a terrific catch.

Vladimir Gutierrez (9-6, 4.17 ERA) and Alec Mills (6-6, 4.25) pitch Wednesday in the series finale. Gutierrez has dropped his last two starts for Cincinnati, allowing eight earned runs in 6 1/3 innings. Mills is 2-2 with a 3.66 ERA over his last six outings for Chicago.

Max Scherzer struck out 13 in his hometown and Chris Taylor hit a two-run homer, leading the Los Angeles Dodgers to a 5-1 victory over the St. Louis Cardinals on Monday.

Scherzer (13-4) permitted one unearned run and six hits in eight innings in his 104th double-digit strikeout game, including six against St. Louis. That ties him for fifth place in MLB history.

The Dodgers have won all seven of Scherzer's starts since the St. Louis native was acquired in a blockbuster trade with Washington.

The Cardinals lost for the fourth time in five games. They dropped 3 1/2 games back of idle San Diego for the second NL wild card.

St. Louis right-hander Miles Mikolas (0-2) was charged with five runs, four earned, and five hits in five innings. Paul Goldschmidt had three hits for the Cardinals, and Tommy Edman scored the team's only run on Austin Barnes' passed ball in the sixth.

Trea Turner doubled and scored on Mookie Betts' single. After Max Muncy scored on a double play, Corey Seager walked before Taylor drove a fastball into the left-field bullpen for his 20th homer.

Taylor entered the game in a 1-for-13 slump.

Los Angeles added an unearned run in the third. Betts walked and went to second on a pickoff throwing error by catcher Andrew Knizner. He scampered home on Seager's two-out single.

Mikolas has not pitched more than five innings in any start this season. He has allowed three or more earned runs in each of his last three starts.

Veteran left-hander J.A. Happ (8-7, 6.20 ERA) pitches Tuesday for St. Louis. He is facing the Dodgers for the first time since 2012. The Dodgers hadn't announced their starter.

Frank Schwindel hit a tiebreaking RBI single in the eighth inning, and the Chicago Cubs topped the Cincinnati Reds 4-3 on Monday for their season-high seventh straight win.

Schwindel's single through the right side scored Alfonso Rivas, who started the rally with a pinch-hit single off Michael Lorenzen (0-2) and advanced to second on a wild pitch.

Schwindel is batting .441 (15 for 34) with six homers and 14 RBIs during his current eight-game hitting streak.

The Reds (73-66) lost for the seventh time in nine games. They dropped to one game back of idle San Diego for the second NL wild card.

Codi Heuer, Scott Effross (2-0) and Adam Morgan combined for four scoreless innings in relief of Justin Steele. Morgan got three outs for his second save.

Chicago's bullpen has allowed two earned runs in its last 35 innings.

Tyler Stephenson reached on an infield hit with one out in the seventh, but Heuer got Nick Castellanos to ground into a double play.

Ian Happ hit a three-run homer in the first for the Cubs. Happ is batting .349 (30 for 86) with eight homers and 20 RBIs in his last 23 games.

Steele sailed into the sixth, but the rookie left-hander departed after he hit Asdrubal Cabrera with a pitch with the bases loaded and none out. Heuer then threw a wild pitch, allowing Castellanos to score, and Max Schrock tied it at 3 with a pinch-hit double down the left-field line.

Heuer then retired pinch-hitter Mike Moustakas on a popup, stranding runners on second and third.

After allowing the homer to Happ, Reds starter Sonny Gray retired 15 of his final 16 batters.

Reds left-hander Wade Miley (11-5, 2.97 ERA) starts Tuesday night. Miley allowed five runs and 12 hits in four innings in a 5-4 loss to the Cardinals on Sept. 1. Right-hander Adrian Sampson (0-1, 1.59 ERA) pitches for the Cubs.

Frank Schwindel hit a go-ahead grand slam, Matt Duffy homered twice, including a grand slam, and the Chicago Cubs outslugged the Pittsburgh Pirates on Sunday for an 11-8 win.

With Chicago trailing 8-7 with two outs and the bases loaded in the seventh inning, Schwindel hit a curveball off reliever Nick Mears to the bleachers in center turn the game around.

Duffy also had three hits and Jason Heyward also went deep as the Cubs won their sixth straight. Duffy had just one homer before Sunday.

Schwindel, who took over at first base in late July after Anthony Rizzo was traded, has gone deep in three straight games and six of seven.

Bryan Reynolds hit a grand slam and had four hits, and Yoshi Tsutsugo also went deep for Pittsburgh, which has dropped sixth straight. 

Adbert Alzolay (5-13) pitched a scoreless 1 2/3 innings and Rowan Wick got the final six outs for his third save. Sam Howard (2-4) allowed two runs in one third of an inning for the loss.

Tsutsugo got the homer barrage started with a solo blast in the first to make it 1-0.

Duffy and Heyward led off the second with back-to-back homers to put the Cubs on top.

Reynolds' grand slam - the first of his career - in the third gave Pittsburgh a 5-2 edge, but Chicago answered with five in the bottom half on an RBI single by Ian Happ and Duffy's slam for a 7-5 lead.

Pittsburgh tied it with two runs in the fifth. Jacob Stallings had a sacrifice fly and Gamel, who was hit by a pitch, scored on a wild pitch by Manny Rodriguez with two outs.

The Pirates took advantage of more Cubs miscues in the sixth to take an 8-7 lead.

Reynolds singled with one out, Colin Moran followed with a walk and both advanced on a passed ball. Reynolds scored on an infield single by Stallings.

Gamel appeared to save the game for the Pirates in the seventh when he made a diving catch on the warning track in left on a liner by pinch hitter Willson Contreras with runners on first and second for the second out. But Howard walked Rafael Ortega to load the bases and bring Schwindel to the plate.

Daniel Vogelbach delivered a pinch-hit grand slam off Alex Reyes to cap a five-run rally in the ninth inning that gave the NL Central-leading Brewers a 6-5 victory over the St. Louis Cardinals.

Reyes (5-8) entered the game after the Brewers had loaded the bases off Giovanny Gallegos. Vogelbach hit a 1-0 pitch high above the outstretched arm of right fielder Dylan Carlson, who made a leaping attempt in front of the wall.

The Brewers trailed 5-1 before starting their comeback against Gallegos, who began the ninth after getting the final two outs in the eighth.

Jackie Bradley Jr. hit a leadoff double and scored on Luke Maile's single to make it 5-2. Jace Peterson's double and Eduardo Escobar's walk loaded the bases with one out.

Then Vogelbach hit his first homer since June 14.

Miguel Sanchez (2-0) pitched a scoreless ninth to earn the victory.

Tyler O'Neill had three hits, including a home run, for the Cardinals. Harrison Bader added a two-run double on a slow roller that got past Brewers third baseman Eduardo Escobar. Starter Jon Lester allowed one run in just 5 1/3 innings to help the Cardinals take the lead over All-Star right-hander Corbin Burnes.

Milwaukee loaded the bases in the eighth, but first baseman Paul Goldschmidt ended the threat by snaring a liner to rob Christian Yelich of an extra-base hit that could have brought home three runs.

As heard on WHOW, Brady Singer tossed seven scoreless innings and Salvador Perez hit another home run as the Kansas City Royals beat the Chicago White Sox 6-0 on Sunday.

Singer (4-9) matched his season high with seven innings and allowed four hits with no walks and struck out six. 

Perez had his third home run of the series, eighth in the last 11 games and 41st of the season. 

Dylan Cease (11-7) took the loss. He gave up four runs and four hits in five innings. He walked three and struck out nine.

Perez left little doubt on his home run in the first, blasting it 448 feet to the opposite field.

Even when Perez grounded out it was productive. With one out and Nicky Lopez on first in the third inning, Perez grounded slowly to third. The throw from Yoan Moncada was low and wasn't handled by first baseman Gavin Sheets. As it rolled past Sheets, Perez inadvertently kicked it down the line, allowing Lopez to score.

Adalberto Mondesi led off the bottom of the sixth with a single. He then stole second and third before scoring on a Hunter Dozier sacrifice fly to right. Whit Merrifield then singled in Edward Olivares for the Royals' sixth run.

Tune in tomorrow at 8pm as the Sox play Oakland. You can hear the game live on all of WHOW's platforms.

South Carolina coach turned quarterback Zeb Noland threw for four touchdowns on 13 completions as the Gamecocks beat Eastern Illinois 46-0 on Saturday night.

The Gamecocks version of Beamer Ball blocked two punts, picked off two passes with one going back for a 61-yard touchdown, ran a successful two-point trick play with the kicking team on the field after their first touchdown, converted all three fourth downs it tried including a fourth-and-goal from the 3, had two sacks and hit hard.

Beamer won his opener with an unusual quarterback. Noland came to Columbia this spring to be a graduate assistant after playing seven games for North Dakota State in a season delayed to spring 2021 because of COVID-19.

Chris Katrenick was 13-for-22 for 78 yards and Tyler Hamilton caught five passes for 32 yards for Eastern Illinois.

UTSA never trailed in its season opener as Frank Harris was 20 of 32 for 280 yards and a touchdown and ran for a second score. Sincere McCormick carried 31 times for 117 yards and Brenden Brady ran 11 times for 67 yards and two touchdowns. Zakhari Franklin caught 10 passes for 155 yards and a touchdown for the Roadrunners.

Artur Sitkowski was 22 of 42 passing for 266 yards and 3 touchdowns for Illinois. Reggie Love III rushed for 39 yards. Sitkowski got his first start for Illinois with Brandon Peters is out with a left, non-throwing shoulder injury.

Quarterback-turned-wide receiver Isaiah Williams caught 8 passes for 101 yards, while Daniel Barker hauled in 5 passes for 74 yards and two touchdowns. Deuce Spann, another converted quarterback, caught a 31-yard pass for a touchdown, his only reception of the game.

Illini Prairie Conference:

Bloomington Central Catholic 34, Rantoul 6, F

Pontiac 2, Prairie Central 20, F

St. Joseph-Ogden 8, Tolono Unity 33, F

Olympia 8, PBL 38, F

8-Man Football:

Blue Ridge 14, Busnell-Prairie City 56, F

Martinsville 22, Decatur LSA 20, F

Apollo:

Charleston 6, Lincoln 14, F

Mahomet-Seymour 37, Effingham 7, F

Mt. Zion 31, Mattoon 7, F

Big Twelve:

Champaign Central 14, Normal West 48, F

Danville 6, Champaign Centennial 13, F

Peoria Manual 22, Normal Community 57, F

Urbana 0, Bloomington 1, F

Central State Eight:

Chatham-Glenwood 42, Decatur Eisenhower 6, F

Decatur MacArthur 0, Rochester 1, F

Jacksonville 35, Normal U-High 14, F

Springfield Lanphier 20, Springfield 66, F

Springfield Southeast 7, Springfield Sacred Heart-Griffin 59, F

Heart of Illinois:

Dee-Mack 8, Tri-Valley 49, F

Fieldcrest 0, El Paso-Gridley 26, F

Tremont 48, Eureka 17, F

G.C.M.S. 26, Fisher 13, F

Heyworth 22, LeRoy 16, F

Non-Conference:

Belleville East 9, Pekin 42, F

Carlyle 0, Cerro Gordo-Bement 1, F

Ridgeview 40, Villa Grove 14, F

Decatur St. Teresa 55, Belleville Althoff Catholic 0, F

East Moline United 52, East Peoria 20, F

Kankakee 28, Washington 14, F

Meridian 40, Arthur-Lovington-Atwood-Hammond 21, F

Metamora 14, LaSalle-Peru 7, F

Sangamon Valley 0, Warrensburg-Latham 49, F

Oblong 0, Shelbyville 66, F

Sullivan-Okaw Valley 6, Newton 50, F

The Monticello Sages used methodical offensive play and stingy defensive stands to hold off the IVC Grey Ghosts 29-6 in Illini Prairie Conference high school football action Friday night at Monticello’s home opener.

The Sages score 11-minutes and 46 seconds into the first quarter when Joey Sprinkle hit Drew Shephard on a crossing route. 

The Sages struck again late in the second quarter when Sprinkle connect with Tristan Foran for a 13-yard touchdown pass to lead 14-0 at the half.

On the second play from scrimmage in the third quarter, Sprinkle aired out a pass to Peyton Scott who had it tipped in the air, split two IVC defenders, corralled the pass and raced for a 68-yard touchdown.

The Grey Ghosts only touchdown came on the ensuing possession when quarterback Nolin Hulett ran a quarterback keeper to his left, fumbled the ball reaching out for the goal line and the Grey Ghosts recovered in the end zone.

After Hulett was sacked in the end zone for a safety to make it 22-6, the Sages scored again when Sprinkle connected with Foran again for an 11-yard score.

Sprinkle, who was the Piatt/DeWitt County ServPro player of the game, finished 14-for-20 for 266 yards and four touchdowns. He also ran 13 times for 73 yards. 

Foran finished with eight catches for 130 yards and two touchdowns.

The Sages improve to 2-0 overall while IVC drops to 0-2. Monticello visits Olympia next week. Hear all the action on 95.9 FM WEZC and online at dewittdailynews.com.

In a game heard on WHOW, the Clinton Maroons defeated the Argenta-Oceana Bombers Friday night by a score of 37-0. The Maroons were led by Tristin Potts, the DeWitt/Piatt Servpro Player of the Game, with 29 carries for 223 yards and 2 touchdowns. As well, Ethan Boyer had 6 carries for 22 yards and a touchdown, and Dawson Graves with 8 carries across 49 yards.

The Bombers were led primarily by Quarterback Garrett White, was 4 of 11 passing for negative 2 yards, and with 2 interceptions.

Clinton improves to 1-1 and Argenta-Oceana falls to 0-2.

Tune in next week, September 10,  as Clinton takes on Shelbyville. You can hear the game live on The Big 1520 AM/92.3 FM/106.5 FM WHOW, on dewittdailynews.com, on the WHOW mobile app, and Amazon Alexa.

The Clinton Maroons will play at home for the first time this season when they host Argenta-Oreana in non-conference high school football action Friday night.

The Maroons were defeated handily by Lincoln 58-6 last week. Aiden Schlesinger had four catches for 49 yards. Tristin Potts had 15 carries for 47 yards.

Warrensburg-Latham dominated the Bomber 65-0 last Friday night on the road. 

Tonight's game kicks at 7 pm and can be heard on The Big 1520 AM/92.3 FM/106.5 FM WHOW, online at dewittdailynews.com, at the WHOW mobile app and on Amazon Alexa.

After a slow start, the Monticello Sages offense finished strong, scoring 43 unanswered to roll 43-8 over St. Joseph-Ogden last Friday night in St. Joseph in Illini Prairie Conference high school football action. The conference slate continues tonight when the Sages welcome IVC to Monticello for an Illini Prairie Conference matchup.

The Sages used big plays all night to topple the Spartans. Senior quarterback Joey Sprinkle and senior wideout Tristan Foran connected for touchdowns of 44 yard and 64 yard. Sprinkle set up senior tailback Jacob Tacket for an 82 yard swing pass and then a 91-yard shovel pass. Tackett also broke off a 58-yard run. 

The Grey Ghosts lost 28-8 to PBL last week.

Tonight's game kicks at 7 pm and can be heard on 95.9 FM WEZC and online at dewittdailynews.com. 

Illini Prairie Conference action tonight:

Bloomington Central Catholic at Rantoul
Pontiac at Prairie Central
St. Joseph-Ogden at Tolono Unity
Olympia at PBL

8-Man Football 

Flanagan-Cornell-Woodland at Peoria Heights
Blue Ridge at Bushnell-Prairie City
Martinsville at Decatur LSA
Orangeville at Champaign St. Thomas More (Sat.)

Apollo

Charleston at Lincoln
Mahomet-Seymour at Effingham 
Mt. Zion at Mattoon

Big Twelve

Champaign Central at Normal West
Danville at Champaign Centennial
Peoria Manual at Normal Community
Peoria Richwoods at Peoria Notre Dame
Urbana at Bloomington

Central State Eight

Chatham-Glenwood at Decatur Eisenhower
Decatur MacArthur at Rochester
Jacksonville at Normal U-High
Springfield Lanphier at Springfield
Springfield (Southeast at Springfield Sacred Heart-Griffin

Heart of Illinois

(Dee-Mack at Tri-Valley)
Fieldcrest at El Paso-Gridley
Tremont at Eureka
G.C.M.S at Fisher
Heyworth at LeRoy

Non-Conference action tonight...

Belleville East at Pekin
Carlyle at Cerro Gordo-Bement
Ridgeview at Villa Grove
Decatur St. Teresa at Belleville Althoff Catholic
East Moline United at East Peoria
Kankakee at Washington
Meridian at Arthur-Lovington-Atwood-Hammond
Metamora at LaSalle-Peru
Sangamon Valley at Warrensburg-Latham
Nokomis at Central A & M
Oblong at Shelbyville
Rock Island at Dunlap
Sullivan-Okaw Valley at Newton
Taylorville at Elgin St. Edward (Sat.)
Tuscola at Toledo-Cumberland (Sat.)
Woodstock at Limestone

New coach Bret Bielema took the first step last week toward restoring relevance to a tired Illinois football program by beating favored Nebraska in an early Big Ten conference matchup.

But questions linger in Champaign. Is Illinois as good as it looked in beating the Huskers with its backup quarterback? Is Nebraska really that bad?

Some of those questions may be answered Saturday night when an underrated and dangerous UTSA opens its season at Illinois (1-0, 1-0 Big Ten).

In his first year as coach last year, Jeff Traylor led the Roadrunners to a respectable 7-5 record. UTSA had one of the best running attacks in college football, ranking No. 18 in the nation and gaining 216 yards per game on the ground.

Traylor understands his opponent and was full of praise for Bielema, who coached at Wisconsin before a stint at Arkansas.

UTSA is above all else a running team. The Roadrunners are led on the ground by running back Sincere McCormick, who carried 249 times for 1,467 yards and 11 touchdowns in 2020.

UTSA is known for holding onto the ball. The Roadrunners only averaged 0.9 turnovers per game in 2020, 12th in the nation.

If there is a weakness in the Roadrunners’ offense, it’s the passing game. Last year, UTSA threw for just 193.6 yards per game, which ranked No. 99 in the nation.

Illini starter Brandon Peters went down early in Saturday’s game against Nebraska with an injury to his left (non-throwing) shoulder. While Bielema wouldn’t completely rule him out for the UTSA game, he seemed to indicate that Rutgers transfer Artur Sitkowski, who shined against the Huskers, would be making his first start at Illinois.

In three seasons at Rutgers, Sitkowski threw eight touchdown passes and 20 interceptions. Last week, he was 12 of 15 passing for 124 yards, two touchdowns and no picks.

Much of the buzz early this season has been about the newly configured Illinois receiver corps. Along with several starters returning, former QB Isaiah Williams was converted to receiver to take advantage of his speed and athleticism. The move paid off and Williams made six catches for 41 yards and a touchdown against Nebraska.

Also moving to wideout is speedy defensive back Marquez Beason, who had a summer hamstring injury. Beason began practicing with the team on Tuesday, but Bielema wouldn’t say if he can be ready on Saturday.

Eastern Illinois heads into the second week of its season after the Panthers suffered a tough 26-21 road loss at Indiana State in a Week Zero game when they head to Williams-Brice Stadium to take on the Gamecocks of South Carolina.  

This will be the season opener for South Carolina after the Gamecocks went 2-8 last season.  South Carolina will be under the direction of first-year head coach Shane Beamer. 

Tyler Ringwood had a big start to his Eastern Illinois career as the transfer wide receiver hauled in five passes for 116 yards in the Week Zero opener at Indiana State.  Ringwood's biggest catch of the night covered 61 yards.

Game time Saturday is 6 pm and can be heard on The Big 1520 AM/92.3 FM/106.5 FM WHOW.

A challenging spring season has led to an optimistic outlook this fall for the Illinois State Redbirds, who return to the field on Saturday, September 4, to open the 2021 season against the Butler Bulldogs at Hancock Stadium.

The 2021 spring season was definitely one that will not soon be forgotten for many reasons, but one the Redbirds certainly don't want to look back on fondly. The spring was full of challenges, most notably a rash of injuries to the defensive line for the Redbirds that caused a cancellation to the season after four games, which led to a 1-3 record.

ISU returns 58 letterwinners and 19 starters (10 offense, nine defense) from the spring squad that went 1-3.

The 2021 squad will feature a defense that was one of the best in the MVFC and in the country in several categories last spring. The Redbirds ranked No. 4 in the FCS in pass efficiency defense (97.91), No. 7 in 3rd down conversion percentage defense (.288), and No. 10 in total defense. ISU was also No. 12 in the country in rushing defense (95.00), which also led the league. With nine starters returning on defense for the Redbirds this fall, one should expect that the defense will once again be something fans can count on each and every week.

Game time Saturday is 6:30 pm from Hancock Stadium. 

The NASCAR Cup Series playoffs open Sunday when drivers will take on the Track Too Tough to Tame, Darlington Raceway in South Carolina.

Ryan Blaney won his second race in a row and third of the season on a wild final lap of overtime at Daytona allowing Tyler Reddick, who finished fifth, to claim the 16th and final spot in the playoffs.

Kyle Larson won the regular-season championship with a 28-point edge over Blaney and Martin Truex Jr. Winless Denny Hamlin, who led the points most of the season, will start seventh on the playoff grid and Kevin Harvick, who won a series-high nine races last year but none this season, will start 16th.

William Byron won last year after starting sixth. 

Race time is 6:30 pm Sunday night. 

The X-Finity runs at Darlington Saturday afternoon at 3:30 pm while the Truck Series runs Sunday afternoon at 1:30 pm, the second race of the first leg of its playoffs.

Defending series champion Sheldon Creed dominated the playoff opener, leading 142 of 163 laps and winning in overtime at World Wide Technology Raceway at Gateway, advancing him to the second leg of the playoffs. 

Sergio Alcantara scampered home when second baseman Wilmer Difo mishandled a popup in the 11th inning, and the Chicago Cubs beat the Pittsburgh Pirates 6-5 on Thursday night for their third straight win.

Rafael Ortega and Ian Happ homered for Chicago, and Alcantara logged the first three-hit game of his career. Codi Heuer (6-2) got three outs for the win.

Alcantara began the 11th on second base and advanced on Ortega's sacrifice bunt against Sam Howard (2-3). Happ then sent a high fly to second, where Difo committed the game-ending error.

It's the first three-game win streak for the Cubs since a five-game run from June 8-13.

Pittsburgh's Steven Brault (0-3, 4.57 ERA) takes the mound Friday against Cubs right-hander Alec Mills (6-6, 4.32 ERA).

Rookie Gavin Sheets hit two home runs, leading the Chicago White Sox to a 6-3 win over the Pittsburgh Pirates on Wednesday night.

Sheets, who was promoted from Triple-A Charlotte before the game, hit a three-run homer off Max Kranick (1-3) with two out in the fourth inning to snap a scoreless tie.

After the Pirates left the tying run stranded at first base, Sheets hit a solo shot off reliever Duane Underwood Jr. in the bottom of the eighth for his eighth homer of the season.

The Sox (78-56) won for the fifth time in six games are 22 games above .500 for the first time since Sept. 13, 2006 (84-62). The Pirates (48-85) have dropped four of five.

White Sox starter Carlos Rodon (10-5) pitched five innings of five-hit ball. Rondon has allowed three runs while striking out 19 in his last 15 innings, covering three starts.

Liam Hendriks bailed Ryan Tepera out of a jam in the eighth and earned his 31st save. Hendriks has converted all nine save chances in which he has pitched at least 1 1/3 innings.

White Sox third baseman Yoan Moncada hit an infield single in the fifth to extend his career-high hitting streak to 16 games. 

Dallas Keuchel (8-7, 5.00) will take the mound Friday night at Kansas City. 

Paul Goldschmidt gave St. Louis the lead with his second homer of the game as the Cardinals tightened up the NL wild-card race with a 5-4 win over the Cincinnati Reds in the opener of a doubleheader on Wednesday.

The Reds entered the day tied with San Diego for the second NL wild card, 2 1/2 games of St. Louis and Philadelphia. Goldschmidt is trying not to focus on the playoff chase.

The Cardinals trailed 4-3 before Goldschmidt drove his third homer of the series into the last section of seats in deep right-center with Tommy Edman on first base.

The Cardinals bashed three homers among their 12 hits off Wade Miley (11-5), both season highs for the left-hander. Miley gave up five runs with one walk and two strikeouts in four innings for his first loss in 16 starts since coming off the injured list on May 30.

Reliever Genesis Cabrera (3-5) pitched two scoreless innings for St. Louis. Giovanny Gallegos pitched the seventh for his fourth save and second in the Cardinals' last two games, both against Cincinnati.

St. Louis right-hander Miles Mikolas lasted only three innings in his third start since coming off the injured list on August 20. He allowed five hits and four runs with one walk and three strikeouts.

Nick Castellanos drove in six runs with a grand slam and a two-run shot in the first two innings, and the Cincinnati Reds beat the St. Louis Cardinals 12-2 Wednesday night to split a doubleheader.

Cincinnati rocked starter J.A. Happ (8-7) and regained a half-game lead over San Diego for second in the NL wild-card race. St. Louis slipped into a tie for fourth with Philadelphia.

Reds right-hander Sonny Gray allowed Tommy Edman's leadoff home run, the Cardinals' third first-inning homer of the three-game series. Nolan Arenado added a solo shot.

Those were the only hits and runs allowed in five innings by Gray (7-6), who has won each of his last three starts and is 5-0 over his last seven. He struck out three with no walks.

The Cardinals begin a three-game series at the NL Central-leading Brewers on Friday night with RHP Adam Wainwright (13-7, 2.95 ERA) on the mound. St. Louis has won each of Wainwright's last eight starts at Milwaukee since a 4-3 loss on July 18, 2012.

Frank Schwindel hit a three-run homer and a pair of Chicago Cubs pitchers combined on a two-hitter in a 3-0 victory over the Minnesota Twins on Wednesday night.

Justin Steele (3-2) won for the first time since joining the Cubs' rotation on Aug. 10. The rookie left-hander gave up one hit, walked three and struck out three over five innings, lowering his ERA to 3.48.

Adbert Alzolay, just back from the injured list, worked the final four innings to earn his first career save. He allowed one hit and struck out five.

Schwindel's drive in the third was all the Cubs mustered against U.S. Olympic pitcher Joe Ryan (0-1), making his major league debut for the Twins.

Ryan retired the first six batters he faced, but ran into trouble in the third. After issuing a leadoff walk to Alfonso Rivas, Ryan fanned Sergio Alcantara before Andrew Romine doubled to put runners on second and third. Rafael Ortega flied to short center for the second out, but Schwindel launched a three-run homer to left field.

Ryan retired the Cubs in order in each of his other four innings. He allowed three hits, walked one and struck out five in five innings.

A trio of Twins relievers blanked the Cubs the rest of the way.

Keegan Thompson (3-3, 3.09 ERA) will be on the mound Thursday at Wrigley Field as the Cubs begin a four-game series with the Pirates. Thompson entered the rotation on Aug. 21 but has pitched just six innings over two starts.

The Clinton Lady Maroons fell in three sets, 14-25, 25-17, and 18-25 to El Paso-Gridley in non-conference high school girl's volleyball action Tuesday at El Paso-Gridley High School.

The Lady Maroons freshman swept their match in two sets while the JV lost in two sets.

The Lady Maroons drop to 0-3 overall and will host Heyworth Thursday. 

After a big win in week one of the high school football season, the Monticello Sages varsity football team stayed at no. 3 in the latest Class 3A high school football rankings.

The Sages started slow but came alive to score 43-unanswered points and rolled past St. Joseph-Ogden 43-8, enough to stay at No. 3 in the latest AP rankings. Wilmington received six first-place votes and remained no. 1 followed by Princeton at no. 2 who received three of the nine first-place votes.

Tolono Unity moved up to No. 4 after Williamsville lost in week one, and slipped to No. 5. Byron checks in at No. 6. Farmington, Nashville, Montini and Mt. Carmel round out the top 10 in 3A. PBL and Prairie Central received votes in the 3A poll but did not crack the top-10.

Decatur St. Teresa remains No. 1 in the 2A polls. Maroa-Forsyth moved up to No. 2 while IC Catholic moves up big to No. 3 from No. 7 last week and received two first-place votes. Tri-Valley moved up to No. 6 from No. 9 last week. Pana checks in at No. 10 in this week's poll. Bloomington Central Catholic received votes in this week's poll.

Central A&M is tied this week in the 1A poll with Lena-Winslow. The Raiders received two first-place votes to Lena-Winslow's seven, however, each received 81 overall points to tie in the poll. Tuscola moves into this week's poll at No. 6. Arcola and GCMS received votes this week but did not crack the top-10.

Springfield Sacred Heart-Griffin received a vote for first place this week but comes at No. 2 in this week's 4A poll. Joliet Catholic is this week's No. 1. Mt. Zion is No. 8, up from No. 10 last week.

East St. Louis is this week's No. 1 in 5A. Rochester received a first-place vote and is No. 2 this week while Peoria is No. 3. Decatur MacArthur stayed put at No. 7 in this week's poll. Metamora fell out of this week's 5A poll.

Washington is No. 3 in the 6A poll with Springfield High at No. 7. Cary Grove is the unanimous No. 1 in this week's 6A poll. 

In 7A, Chicago Mt. Carmel is No. 1, Loyola received four first-place votes at No. 2 while Chicago Brother Rice received a vote at No. 3. Normal Community just missed out on the top 10 and Pekin received votes in this week's 6A poll. 

In 8A, Gurnee Warren is No. 1. 

Frank Schwindel homered for the second straight game, Ian Happ added a towering homer into the third deck, and the Chicago Cubs beat the Minnesota Twins 3-1 on Tuesday night.

Manuel Rodriguez (3-2) earned the win for Chicago, working two scoreless innings in relief of starter Zach Davies. Rodriguez, Codi Heuer, Adam Morgan and Rowan Wick combined for 3 2/3 scoreless innings with Wick earning his first save of the season.

Cubs second baseman Matt Duffy ended a threat for Minnesota in the eighth when he tracked down Max Kepler's pop-up into medium right field, spun and threw Luis Arraez out at the plate trying to score from third.

John Gant (4-9) pitched five innings and allowed two runs on three hits in his third start for the Twins since coming over from the St. Louis Cardinals for J.A. Happ at the trade deadline.

The Twins will have RHP Joe Ryan make his major league debut as the starter on Wednesday as the teams wrap up a two-game series. Ryan, 25, was acquired from the Tampa Bay Rays in July in the trade that sent Nelson Cruz to the Rays. Chicago will start LHP Justin Steele (2-2, 4.15 ERA). Steele will be making his fourth-straight start after pitching 11 games out of the bullpen.

As heard on WHOW, Yasmani Grandal and Jose Abreu homered, and five relievers combined for 4 2/3 innings of two-hit ball as the Chicago White Sox beat the Pittsburgh Pirates 4-2 on Tuesday night.

Abreu hit his 28th homer in the third.

The Sox (77-56), who hold a 10-game lead in the AL Central, won for the fourth time in five games. 

White Sox starter Lucas Giolito was pulled with one out in the fifth due to left hamstring tightness. Giolito squatted awkwardly to field Ben Gamel's infield hit and required medical attention.

Giolito then threw a wild pitch to score Hoy Park, cutting Chicago's lead to 2-1. Three pitches later, Giolito was in noticeable discomfort after throwing a ball to Wilmer Difo and was pulled after throwing a warmup pitch. Giolito will be checked Wednesday.

Tepera, Michael Kopech (4-2), Aaron Bummer, Craig Kimbrel and Liam Hendricks blanked the Pirates the rest of the way.

Sox third baseman Yoan Moncada extended his career-best hitting streak to 15 games with a double in the first inning.

Mitch Keller (4-10, 6.75) will face the White Sox on Wednesday night. Carlos Rodon (10-5, 2.43) will take the mound against the Pirates. Rodon allowed two runs on five hits in five innings in a 10-7 win at Toronto on Thursday.

The St. Louis Cardinals-Cincinnati Reds game scheduled for Tuesday night has been postponed because of heavy rain.

The game will be made up Wednesday as part of a split doubleheader. The first game will be the rescheduled one and start at 1:10 p.m. and the second one starts at 6:40 p.m. Both will be seven-inning games.

The Cardinals beat the Reds 3-1 in the series opener on Monday to move within 2 1/2 games of Cincinnati for second place in the NL Central and for the second NL wild-card playoff spot.