Brendan Donovan hit a solo homer in the third and followed it up with an RBI single two innings later and Alec Burleson drove in three runs, leading the St. Louis Cardinals past the San Francisco Giants 6-1 on Sunday.

José Fermín hit an RBI single in the sixth as the Cardinals backed rookie righty Michael McGreevy (3-0), who stuck out six with no walks while allowing one run on five hits over eight impressive innings.

Manager Oliver Marmol considered giving the ninth to McGreevy, but he had reached 91 pitches.

Elly De La Cruz hit two-run triple in the 10th inning to break a scoreless tie and the Cincinnati Reds ended their season with a 3-0 shutout of the Chicago Cubs on Sunday.

De La Cruz tagged Ethan Roberts (1-1) for the go-ahead hit down the right field line on an 0-2 count after Luke Maile singled and Jonathan India walked. Tyler Stephenson came up next and drove in De La Cruz with a single to center to help the Reds end a five-game skid.

The Cubs, seeking a sweep of the Reds, managed just three hits as Cody Bellinger and Dansby Swanson got the day off.

Lenyn Sosa hit a three-run homer in the third inning to give the record-breaking Chicago White Sox a five-run lead as they went on to beat the playoff-bound Detroit Tigers 9-5 on Sunday.

Kerry Carpenter's grand slam in the fifth inning pulled Detroit within a run, but it couldn't get closer. Bryan Ramos' two-run single in a four-run seventh inning restored Chicago's comfortable cushion.

Detroit earned an American League wild card with a win over the White Sox on Friday night to end a decade-long playoff drought and will play at Houston on Tuesday in a best-of-three series, with the winner facing Cleveland in the AL Division Series.

The White Sox wrapped up with 121 losses, breaking the post-1900 record of most losses held for more than a half-century by the 1962 New York Mets. The overall record for setbacks was set in 1899 by the Cleveland Spiders with a 20-134 record.

White Sox owner Jerry Reinsdorf called the season "embarrassing" and a "failure" and took responsibility in a letter issued to fans during the game.

Ross Chastain finally got to smash a watermelon for the first time this season Sunday at Kansas Speedway.

Smashed the hopes of a bunch of playoff drivers trying to earn an automatic berth in the next round, too.

The seventh-generation watermelon farmer took the lead from Martin Truex Jr. on a restart with 20 laps to go, then held off title contender William Byron the rest of the way to the finish line. It was the first win for Chastain since last year’s finale at Phoenix, when he also played a bit of a spoiler on the day that the NASCAR Cup Series crowned its champion.

The retiring Truex, who was eliminated from the playoffs last week, finished third in what was likely his final Kansas race.

Sam Darnold and the Minnesota Vikings keep proving skeptics wrong while maintaining early control of the NFC North race.

Darnold threw three touchdown passes and Jordan Addison scored twice as the undefeated Vikings built an early 28-point lead and hung on down the stretch to beat the Green Bay Packers 31-29 on Sunday.

Picked by many to finish last in the NFC North, the Vikings (4-0) are off to their best start since 2016, when they won their first five games before slumping to an 8-8 finish. They've trailed for less than 3 1/2 minutes all season.

Once Caleb Williams and the Bears' offense found their rhythm, they started stringing together the sort of possessions the team and its fans envision on a regular basis.

Williams led four scoring drives, D'Andre Swift had 165 yards from scrimmage and a touchdown, and Chicago held off the Los Angeles Rams 24-18 on Sunday.

The Bears (2-2) scored touchdowns on back-to-back possessions in the second half after struggling early. Jaquan Brisker intercepted Matthew Stafford with about a minute remaining following a punt on the previous play.

Williams threw for 157 yards and a touchdown after setting a Bears rookie record by passing for 363 yards on 52 attempts in a loss at Indianapolis last week. He said this performance was a step forward.
 

Monticello scored four touchdowns out of the half and rolled Pontiac 49-0 in Illini Prairie Conference high school football Friday night at Homecoming in Monticello.

Leading 21-0, Monticello went three-and-out to start the second half but Pontiac also went three-and-out and misplayed the snap on the punt. Monticello was able to recovered then senior quarterback Ike Young ran in a touchdown from 18 yards out to put Monticello ahead 28-0. 

Monticello forced Pontiac to a three-and-out on the next possesion. The Indians botched the punt when Monticello recovered inside the ten yard line. 

Senior tailback Quan Nguyen (knew-en) scored his first varsity touchdown from five yards out to put the Sages ahead 35-0. 

On Pontiac's next possession, the Indians dropped back on third down and quarterback Santi Pina was being sacked and fumbled the football into the end zone where interior defensive lineman Carter Koopman picked it up for a touchdown.

On Pontiac's next possession, backup quarterback Hayden Romano scored from 12 yards out to conclude the Sages scoring.

Junior tailback Koyie Williams scored his first varsity touchdown Friday night from three yards out.

Young finished 124 yards rushing on 13 carries and three touchdowns. He also was 15-of-21 for 107 yards.

Both teams battled a consistent wind of 30 MPH plus throughout the night blowing north to south across the field. 

Nguyen was the ServPro of Piatt/DeWitt Counties Player of the Game. 

Monticello will take on Rantoul next week at 7 pm. Hear the action on 95.9 FM WEZC and online at dewittdailynews.com. 

As heard on WHOW, the Eureka Hornets defeated the Clinton Maroons by a score of 19-14. The Maroons were led by Keaton Graves who didn't pass very much due to the wind but rushed for over 80 yards. He passed for 74 yards with two passes over 20 yards. 

The Hornets were led by running back Ben Lapp who rushed for over 70 yards in the run-heavy game. 

Clinton falls to 4-1 while Eureka improves to 5-0 on the season.

Tune in next week as Clinton travels to Tri-Valley at 7 PM on WHOW and all our digital platforms

Last week, the Clinton Maroons won 23-14 against the Ridgeview-Lexington Mustangs. 

This is their smallest margin of victory all season as the schedule gets tougher head coach Ron Bass says this week the team will need to work on taking care of the football against an impressive Eureka team after five turnovers last week. 

Wide receiver Anthony Westbrooks separated his shoulder and will be out this week. Coach Bass is confident in the players that will be stepping into that position calling it the next-man-up mindset. 

Coach Bass notes Eureka does a good job of changing up their offensive formations and matchups. The undefeated Hornets have not given up a point in the last two weeks, so the Maroons may have their work cut out for them. 

Catch all the action as the Clinton Maroons take on the Eureka Hornets at home at 7 PM right here on WHOW and all our digital platforms. 

Heart of Central Illinois Conference

Tri-Valley at El Paso-Gridley
Shelbyville at Dee-Mack
Tremont at Ridgeview-Lexington 
Heyworth at Gibson City-Melvin-Sibley
Meridian at Central A & M
Tuscola at LeRoy
Warrensburg-Latham at Fieldcrest

Coming off an emotional and thrilling 28-24 win over Bloomington Central Catholic, Monticello welcomes Pontiac to town for an Illini Prairie Conference tilt.

Coach Welter was pleased with his team's resiliency in its victory over the Saints. While not entirely pleased with how his team played, he was glad his team never gave up.

Film review has changed quite a bit over the years and Coach Welter indicates they are able to get kids their film notes over the weekend rather than having to spend a day doing it during the week. 

Pontiac enters play winless in four games this season but Coach Welter points out they have battled injuries for much of the season. However, they have good size and could present a challenge for the Sages.

It's Homecoming Week at Monticello High School.

Hear tonight's action on 95.9 FM WEZC and online at dewittdailynews.com. Kickoff is 7 pm.

Illini Prairie Conference

Bloomington Central Catholic at Tolono Unity

Illinois Valley Central at Prairie Central

Rantoul at Paxton-Buckley-Loda

Carterville at St. Joseph-Ogden

Apollo

Charleston at Effingham 

Mahomet-Seymour at Taylorville

Mt. Zion at Mattoon

Big Twelve

Bloomington at Urbana 

Champaign Central at Peoria Richwoods

Normal Community at Peoria Manual

Peoria at Normal West

Peoria Notre Dame at Champaign Centennial

Central State Eight 

Chatham-Glenwood at Decatur MacArthur

Decatur Eisenhower at Lincoln

Normal U-High at Rochester

Quincy Notre Dame at Springfield 

Springfield Lanphier at Springfield Sacred Heart-Griffin

Springfield Southeast at Jacksonville 

Lincoln Prairie

Arcola at Villa Grove

Argenta-Oreana at Sangamon Valley

Cerro Gordo-Bement at Sullivan-Okaw Valley 

Nokomis at Oakland Tri-County (Sat.)

Toledo-Cumberland at Arthur-Lovington-Atwood-Hammond

Mid-Illini

Limestone at Washington

Canton at Metamora

East Peoria at Dunlap

Pekin at Morton

Sangamo

Athens at Auburn

Petersburg PORTA at Pleasant Plains

Pittsfield at New Berlin 

Olympia at Williamsville

Non-Conference games tonight

Crete-Monee at Danville

Decatur St. Teresa at St. Charles Duchesne, MO

Maroa-Forsyth at Dwight-Gardner-South Wilmington

8-Man Football 

Champaign St. Thomas More at Decatur Unity Christian (Sat.)

Blue Ridge at Danville Schlarman (Sat.)

Milford at St. Anne

Flanagan-Cornell-Woodland at Bushnell-Prairie City)

Galva at Peoria Heights

No. 19 Illinois will have its biggest test yet when the Fighting Illini visit No. 9 Penn State in a showdown of ranked Big Ten teams Saturday night in Happy Valley. 

This is the best of Bret Bielema’s four Illinois teams, and it’s motivated to knock off a third-ranked opponent. Last Friday’s visit to Nebraska was good preparation for what awaits in Happy Valley.

QB Luke Altmeyer is playing with confidence with 10 touchdown passes and no interceptions. Through four games last year, Altmeyer had four TD passes and seven interceptions, including four picks in a loss to Penn State.

Penn State is coming off two wins over Mid-American Conference opponents. A week after struggling with Bowling Green deep into the second half, the Nittany Lions set a school record with 718 total yards in a 56-0 win over Kent State.

Drew Allar has the second-highest passer rating in the Bowl Subdivision. He’ll be going against a ball-hawking defense that already has 10 takeaways.

In 2014, Illinois State and North Dakota State played in one of the most

memorable FCS Championship games in history to end the season in Frisco, Texas - ten years later, the No. 15 ranked Redbirds (3-1) will host the No. 2 ranked Bison (3-1) in a pivotal FCS Top 25 matchup as part of Homecoming celebrations at ISU.

The Bison are currently ranked No. 2 in both of the FCS national polls, behind only rival and defending national champion South Dakota State with a 3-1 overall record. Their lone loss came in the season opener at FBS Colorado by just five points, 31-26, in Boulder, Colorado. They have since rolled off three-straight wins against Tennessee State, East Tennessee State and last week over Towson.

Running back CharMar Brown rushed for a career-high 126 yards and three touchdowns to lead the Bison to the  41-24 homecoming win over the Tigers and Cam Miller finished 17 of 19 for 219 yards with a touchdown for the Bison.

Brown and Jackson Williams both earned MVFC player of the week for their performances in the win over victory over Towson. 

Three times in 2023, the Redbirds offense eclipsed 500 yards or more of total offense in a resurgent year on that side of the football. It took four games in 2024, but the Redbirds recorded their first 500-plus yards offensive performance of the season with 518 in their 31-7 win over in-state rival Eastern Illinois.

Quarterback Tommy Rittenhouse had a near perfect performance in Illinois State's dominating 31-7 win over rival Eastern Illinois. The Geneva native completed 17-for-22 passes and recorded season bests in passing yards and touchdowns in the victory over the Panthers. Rittenhouse threw for a season-high 228 yards and a career-best three touchdowns in the win, while also rushing for 47 yards, which included a long run of 30 yards.

Daniel Sobkowicz and Xavier Loyd. Sobkowicz combined for 168 yards receiving in the win against Eastern Illinois, with Sobkowicz leading the way with 93 yards on seve

Game time is 2 pm Saturday. 

Eastern Illinois hosts Lindenwood as the Panthers open their Ohio Valley Conference member/Big South Football Association schedule.

MJ Flowers finished with 117 yards and one touchdown on the ground on Saturday at Illinois State. It was his fourth career 100 yard rushing game.  Flowers has 255 yards rushing this season which ranks 58th in the FCS and second in the Big South / OVC. 

Eastern Illinois defense forced two turnovers on Saturday at Illinois State giving the Panthers six turnovers gained this season.  That total leads the Big South / OVC and ranks 28th in the FCS despite the Panthers playing two games against Big Ten opponents without a takeaway.

Nicholas Oliveira-Chace continues to be a force on the Panthers defensive line.  On Saturday he added four tackles and a half sack to his season totals.  Oliveira-Chace enters the conference opener as the Big South / OVC leader in sacks with 3.5 (36th in FCS) and third in tackles for loss with five (46th in FCS). 

 Lindenwood enters the conference opener also with a 1-3 record but is coming off a 64-0 win over Pioneer League member St. Thomas (Minn.).

Game time is 2 pm Saturday. Hear the action starting at 1:30 pm with pregame on WHOW and all its digitial platforms. 

Rookie QB Caleb Williams knows he can learn a few things from a quarterback such as Matthew Stafford, and he'll get an up-close look when the Chicago Bears host the Los Angeles Rams on Sunday in a game matching this year's No. 1 draft pick against a two-time Pro Bowl selection with a Super Bowl ring.

Chicago (1-2) tries to get back to winning after losing two in a row, while the Rams hope to build on last week's thriller over San Francisco.

Coming off a 31-point loss at Arizona, Los Angeles (1-2) rallied from 14 down in the second half and trailing by 10 in the fourth quarter before squeezing out a 27-24 win.

The Bears, meanwhile, have not won since they beat Tennessee in the opener at Soldier Field. Their revamped offense has not performed the way they envisioned, though Williams at least showed progress last week in a 21-16 loss at Indianapolis.

The former Heisman Trophy winner out of Southern California set a Bears rookie record with 363 yards passing and his first two touchdown throws.

Now, he'll go against a quarterback who has thrown for nearly 57,000 yards over 16 seasons with Detroit and Los Angeles. Stafford's resume includes a Super Bowl championship in 2021, his first season in Los Angeles.

The Bears could take some of the load off Williams by getting their run game going.

Chicago had 63 yards on 28 carries against Indianapolis. That's down from 71 at Houston the previous week and 84 against Tennessee in Week 1.

Chicago is averaging 72.7 yards rushing, second-lowest in the NFL, after finishing second a year ago. Their leading rusher against the Colts was Roschon Johnson, with 30 yards after missing the first two games with an injury. D’Andre Swift, signed to a three-year deal, has just 68 yards and is averaging 1.8 per attempt in his first season in Chicago.

The Rams are feeling good about their offense after an upset victory over San Francisco without their top two receivers, Cooper Kupp and Puka Nacua.

Stafford completed only 16 passes against the Niners, and no receiver had more catches than Tutu Atwell’s four. Los Angeles will attempt to get Demarcus Robinson more involved after he had just one catch. Kyren Williams could be more involved as a receiver out of the backfield after his three-TD day against San Francisco.

Williams has been sacked 13 times already this season behind a struggling line, and the Rams have a pair of budding pass rushers eager to add to that total while chasing a quarterback renowned at USC for his ability to extend plays.

Byron Young has two sacks and four tackles for loss so far in his sophomore NFL season, while rookie Jared Verse has four tackles for loss and one sack - and he would have a few more if he had finished a handful of plays after breaking through to apply pressure. For all the promise of that pass-rushing duo, the Rams have only four sacks as a team this season, fewer than all but two teams.

Williams could have all his top targets available with receiver Keenan Allen returning to practice this week.

The six-time Pro Bowler has been sidelined since the opener because of a heel injury. He caught four passes for 29 yards in his Chicago debut.

Allen is part of a potentially dangerous trio with DJ Moore and rookie Rome Odunze, who had his first 100-yard game last week with six catches for 112 yards and a TD.

The Rams have won three straight against Chicago - all in Los Angeles since a loss at Soldier Field in 2018. In 2021, Stafford made a triumphant Rams debut against the Bears, throwing for 321 yards and three touchdowns.

Game time is noon Sunday.

The Minnesota Vikings already have emerged as one of the NFL’s biggest surprises by winning their first three games after being a consensus pick to finish last in the NFC North.

They can make their biggest statement of the young season Sunday by winning at Green Bay in a divisional showdown.

The Vikings (3-0) have trailed for less than 3½ minutes so far this season while beating the New York Giants, defending NFC champion San Francisco 49ers and Houston Texans.

Now the Vikings open their NFC North schedule against the Packers (2-1), who have won two straight games without quarterback Jordan Love as he recovers from a knee injury. Love is practicing on a limited basis for a second straight week as he attempts to return for the Vikings game.

Whether Love plays or Malik Willis fills in for a third consecutive week, the Packers understand the challenge they’ll face from a Minnesota defense that has an NFL-leading 16 sacks.

Aaron Jones spent his first seven seasons with the Green Bay Packers and became one of the team’s most popular players while rushing for 5,940 yards and 45 touchdowns.

After running for over 100 yards in each of his last five games with the Packers, Jones was asked to take a pay cut for a second straight year. Jones instead left Green Bay and signed with Minnesota.

Sunday marks his first game at Lambeau Field as a visiting player. 

The Vikings have outscored their first three opponents 85-30. That represents the second-highest point margin through their first three games in franchise history, behind the 1975 team that outscored its first three opponents by 67 points.

That 1975 team went on to win its first 10 games and finished the regular season at 12-2 before losing to Dallas in the NFC divisional playoffs.

With Green Bay’s Brayden Narveson and Minnesota’s Will Reichard, the game could be decided by a rookie kicker.

Reichard, a sixth-round draft pick who became the all-time leading scorer in college football history over his career at Alabama, is perfect so far for the Vikings: 5 for 5 on field goals and 10 for 10 on extra points. He made a 58-yarder, the second-longest in Vikings history, last week against the Texans.

Narveson has 11 field-goal attempts already to tie Pittsburgh’s Chris Boswell for the NFL lead. He has made nine of them, with the misses coming from 43 and 45 yards away.

The Packers have intercepted seven passes and have nine total takeaways to lead the NFL in both categories. They now face Minnesota’s Sam Darnold, who has rejuvenated his career by throwing eight touchdown passes with only two interceptions in Minnesota’s first two games.

The Packers have an NFL-leading 204 yards rushing per game. Minnesota is allowing just 71.3 yards per game and is tied for second in the league in run defense.

Green Bay averages 5.5 yards per carry to rank second in the NFL, behind only the Baltimore Ravens. Minnesota allows just 3.6 yards per rush to rank third in the league.

Game time is noon Sunday.

The Chicago White Sox averted a record-breaking loss for the third straight day, beating the Los Angeles Angels 7-0 on Thursday behind Chris Flexen's sharp pitching performance.

Wednesday's game was the last on WHOW for the 2024 season. 

Charlie Blackmon had three RBIs and three runs in one of the final games of his professional career, Michael Toglia had three hits and two RBIs, and the Colorado Rockies avoided a sweep with a come-from-behind 10-8 victory over the St. Louis Cardinals on Thursday.

A two-run, game-tying double from Ezequiel Tovar was the catalyst of a five-run eighth inning for the Rockies, who had lost five of their previous six games. The double was Tovar’s NL-leading 45th of the season. Ryan McMahon’s double to right field in the next at-bat brought home Tovar for the eventual winning run.

Lars Nootbaar had two hits and two RBIs, including his 11th home run of the season, for St. Louis. Paul Goldschmidt hit his 22nd home run of the season, a 457-foot solo shot to center field in the first inning that snapped a 19-game drought without a homer.

Pedro Pagés and Ivan Herrera also homered for the Cardinals.

Cardinals RHP Miles Mikolas (9-11, 5.35 ERA) will take the mound against host San Francisco and RHP Landen Roupp (1-1, 2.70).

Kyle Larson owned the Bass Pro Shops Night Race at Bristol Motor Speedway on Saturday, winning both stages and rolling to his series-best fifth victory this season by more than 7 seconds. 

The 2021 Cup champion started second in a Hendrick Motorsports Chevy and led 462 laps, including the final 167 in a career performance that also marked the most dominant in team history and will look to use the cushion he's built to move on to the Round of Eight when the second leg of the NASCAR playoffs opens Sunday at Kansas. 

Chase Elliott was second in a Chevy, followed by the Toyotas of Bubba Wallace, Denny Hamlin and Joe Gibbs Racing teammate Christopher Bell. Wallace, Ryan Preece (seventh) and Ross Chastain (10th) were the only non-playoff drivers in the top 10.

Larson took a big step toward his second title and leads 12 drivers into the second round with 3,047 points, ahead of Bell (-15), Reddick (-19), William Byron (-25) and defending champion Ryan Blaney (-28). 

The remaining contenders: Hamlin (3,015), Elliott (3,014), Logano (3,012), Austin Cindric (3,008), Daniel Suárez (3,006), Alex Bowman (3,005) and Chase Briscoe (3,005). Ty Gibbs, Martin Truex Jr., Brad Keselowski and Harrison Burton were eliminated.

Larson won the spring race at Kansas in the Cup Series’ closest finish ever, nipping Chris Buescher at the line by one one-thousandth of a second, leading 64 laps after starting fourth. He has five top-five finishes in his past six starts there.

Practice and qualifying is noon Saturday and race time is 2 pm Sunday. 

In a game heard right here on WHOW, The Chicago White Sox avoided a record-breaking 121st loss for the second straight game, beating the Los Angeles Angels 4-3 on Wednesday night on Andrew Benintendi's 10th-inning single.

Chicago is tied with the 1962 New York Mets for the modern major league record for losses in a season. It plays Los Angeles again on Thursday before finishing its schedule with three games at Detroit.

Benintendi delivered the go-ahead hit for the second time in as many games when he lined a one-out single to left-center against José Quijada (2-1), helping the White Sox (38-120) put off infamy for the second night in a row. Designated runner Miguel Vargas scored from second.

The White Sox emptied a cooler on Benintendi after he came through with another winning hit. On Tuesday, Benintendi had a tiebreaking single in the eighth inning of Chicago's 3-2 win.

Unfortunately, last nights game was the final game this season to be heard on WHOW.

Chicago Bears rookie quarterback Caleb Williams feels he took a big step forward in last week’s 21-16 loss at Indianapolis to the Colts.

It’s possible he’ll have a greater opportunity to advance the passing game Sunday against the Los Angeles Rams at home because he could be operating with a full wide receiver group again.

Keenan Allen returned to Bears practice Wednesday on a limited basis and could play for the first time since the opener.

Nick Castellanos, Trea Turner and Kody Clemens homered, and the Philadelphia Phillies beat the Chicago Cubs 9-6 on Wednesday night and clinched a first-round bye in the playoffs.

Castellanos had three hits and scored three times. Bryson Stott also had three hits and Brandon Marsh drove in three runs for the Phillies, who claimed their first NL East title in 13 years on Monday night.

Coupled with Milwaukee’s 2-1 loss to Pittsburgh, Philadelphia secured the bye and home-field advantage in the NLDS. The Phillies owned the tiebreaker with the Brewers after winning the season series against the NL Central champions.

Philadelphia will host Game 1 of the NLDS on Oct. 5.

Iván Herrera had two hits and two runs scored, Masyn Winn tripled and doubled and Erick Fedde struck out 10 as the St. Louis Cardinals beat the Colorado Rockies 5-2 on Wednesday night.

Pedro Pagés had two RBI singles and Thomas Saggese added a pair of hits for the Cardinals, who have won four straight and will try to complete a series sweep in Thursday’s finale.

Brenton Doyle homered leading off the bottom of the ninth against Matthew Liberatore, who was relieved by Ryan Helsley after issuing a one-out walk to Michael Toglia. Sam Hilliard then grounded into a game-ending double play on the first pitch he saw from Helsley, who earned his 48th save in 52 chances.

Helsley tied the club record for saves in a season by Trevor Rosenthal, who also had 48 saves in 2015.

Green Bay Packers quarterback Jordan Love says he is practicing with fewer limits and moving better this week as he continues to recover from a knee injury.

Whether that means Love will be ready to play Sunday in their NFC North opener against the undefeated Minnesota Vikings remains uncertain.

Love has missed two games since injuring his left medial collateral ligament in the final series of the Packers’ 34-29 season-opening loss to the Philadelphia Eagles in Brazil. This is the second straight week he has practiced on a limited basis.

Malik Willis has thrived while filling in for Love, helping the Packers (2-1) beat the Indianapolis Colts and Tennessee Titans.

Clinton was able to overcome five turnovers in a 23-14 win over Ridgeview-Lexington last Friday night.

Maroons coach Ron Bass was pleased his team was not able able to face some adversity for perhaps the first time this season but also to overcome it. He explains the Mustangs forced them into a new defense they hadn't used yet.

Coach Bass felt there was a good lesson in Friday's win that things may not go your way but if you keep battling, good things can still happen.

Coach Bass anticipates a good matchup with undefeated Eureka this week at home. 

The Maroons face teams at or above .500 the rest of the way - a win away from their second straight playoff appearance.

Game time on Friday from Clinton High School is 7 pm. Hear all the action on WHOW and all our digital platforms. 

When Ike Young hit Nolan Buehnerkemper in the end zone for the go-ahead and game-winning score, Coach Cully Welter was elated and then realized the crazy game Monticello played with Bloomington Central Catholic could still provide some surprises.

The Hall of Fame coach told his team while he wasn't very happy with how his kids played, he was proud of their resiliency to pull out the thrilling 28-25 victory.

Monticello senior Carter Foran went for over 100 yards receiving again Friday night and provided a pivotal 90-yard interception return for a touchdown that put the Sages up 21-10 early in the third quarter.

Off to its best start since winning the first six in the fall of 2021, Coach Welter says there's still some frustration as they enter week and still having to clean things up.

Monticello will host Pontiac for its Homecoming matchup this Friday night. Game time is 7 pm. Hear all the action on 95.9 FM WEZC and online at dewittdailynews.com. 

Kyle Schwarber and J.T. Realmuto homered, and Aaron Nola struck out seven to help the Philadelphia Phillies clinch their first NL East title since 2011 with a 6-2 win over the Chicago Cubs on Monday night.

Carlos Estévez retired Michael Busch on a flyball to end it, and the Phillies swarmed each other in excitement on the infield. The Phillie Phanatic stormed the celebration waving a 2024 flag as fans stood and filmed it all.

With a postseason berth already clinched last week, the Phillies won their 12th division championship - and have their sights set on the No. 1 seed and home-field advantage throughout the National League playoffs.
 

Max Verstappen said a bad word — it started with an F — in a formal news conference to describe how his race car was performing. The man who called for Verstappen to be punished also drew sharp criticism for his own choice of words.

Verstappen’s sanction for his egregious behavior? The three-time Formula 1 champion was ordered by the sport’s governing body to complete a day of community service because the FIA has apparently banned cursing.

The crackdown had been foreshadowed — Ferrari team principal Fred Vasseur and Mercedes boss Toto Wolff were both summoned to speak to the stewards last November about their language at a news conference in Las Vegas — and FIA President Mohammed Ben Sulayem publicly rebuked cursing earlier this month.

Motorsport.com reported that the FIA had asked Formula One Management to better limit the naughty language broadcast during races. While the curse words — said on team radio that is accessible to the public — are bleeped out on television, Ben Sulayem found the frequency of the poor language unsettling.

Illinois quarterback Luke Altmyer was named the co-Big Ten Offensive Player of the Week, the conference office announced Monday. 

Altmyer led then-#24 Illinois to a 31-24 (OT) win at #22 Nebraska by throwing for four touchdowns on 21-of-27 passing and amassing 236 total yards of offense. Altmyer tied the game with a touchdown pass to 335-pound offensive lineman Brandon Henderson on a fourth-down play in the fourth quarter, then threw the game-winner to Pat Bryant in overtime. 

Altmyer is the first Illinois quarterback to throw for four touchdowns on the road against a top-25 team since 1999 (Kurt Kittner at Michigan). The only quarterback in the nation to throw 10+ touchdowns and zero interceptions this season, Altmyer has guided Illinois to two ranked wins and the program's second 4-0 start since 1951.

Illinois is up to #19 in the AP Top 25. The Fighting Illini travel to #9 Penn State on Saturday for a 6:30 p.m. CT matchup on NBC. 

Jonathan Taylor scored twice and topped the 100-yard mark for the second straight week and Anthony Richardson helped Trey Sermon get across the goal line as the Colts held on for a 21-16 victory over the Chicago Bears.

The 2021 NFL rushing champ finished with 23 carries for 110 yards, giving Indy a 7-0 lead on his nifty 29-yard scoring run against a usually stingy defense before sealing it with a 1-yard TD run with 5:21 left.

On a day Richardson struggled again, the Colts' much maligned defense managed to limit Chicago to just 63 yards rushing, forced three turnovers, sacked rookie Caleb Williams four times and made a crucial goal-line stand late in the first half.

For the Bears' offense, it was another tough day for Williams, the No. 1 overall draft pick.

While he threw the first two TD passes of his NFL career, giving Chicago's offense one more TD score than it had through the first weeks, Williams was again under constant duress.

He finished 33 of 52 with 363 - all career bests - but threw two interceptions and lost a fumble on a strip-sack that led to Taylor's 1-yard TD run, which essentially sealed the game. And he was running again when a 2-point conversion pass that could have cut the deficit to three fell incomplete midway through the fourth quarter.

Chicago and Indy combined for just 71 total yards in the first quarter, five turnovers overall, and the league’s two youngest starting quarterbacks each wound up with passer ratings below 81. Richardson was 10 of 20 passes for 167 yards with two more interceptions.

And even though Indy had only 15 first downs, Richardson and the Colts still did enough to win.

Taylor's 29-yard second-quarter burst produced the game's only first-half points, before Chicago finally broke through with a 53-yard field goal to open the second half.

The Colts extended the lead to 14-3 when Richardson and his offensive linemen shoved Sermon across the goal line with 21 seconds left in the third quarter.

Williams' 1-yard TD pass to Rome Odunze cut the deficit to 14-9.

But rookie defensive end Laiatu Latu jarred the ball loose from Williams on a sack, which led to Taylor's powerful run to close it out.

All the Bears could muster after that was Williams' 6-yard TD pass to Kmet with 2:01 left.

Odunze, taken eight picks after Williams, finished with six catches and a season-high 112 yards.

Williams nearly got his first TD pass on the final play of the first half when his heave to the end zone was batted by Colts cornerback Jaylon Jones. DJ Moore alertly caught the pass near the goal line.

But Colts safety Julian Blackmon and linebacker E.J. Speed tackled Moore at the 1 to preserve the 7-0 lead.

Bears guard Nate Davis (groin) and receiver Keenan Allen (heel) were not active and Chicago suffered a brief scare when left tackle Braxton Jones (right leg) left briefly in the first half. He later returned. CB Terell Smith (hip) did not return and WR DJ Moore appeared to get hurt during a late-game collision with Colts CB Kenny Moore II.

The Bears host the Los Angeles Rams next Sunday, the first of back-to-back home games.

Malik Willis ran for a touchdown and threw for a score in his best performance as a pro, leading the Packers to a 30-14 rout of the Tennessee Titans on Sunday.

Willis not only won his second straight start subbing for Jordan Love, he got a sweet measure of revenge against the team that traded him to Green Bay (2-1). Willis accounted for 134 of the Packers' 137 yards in the first quarter. He finished with 202 yards passing and 73 rushing.

He started three games as a rookie for Tennessee in 2022 after being a third-round pick out of Liberty by a general manager who was fired that December. 

Willis not only won his second straight start subbing for Jordan Love, he got a sweet measure of revenge against the team that traded him to Green Bay (2-1). Willis accounted for 134 of the Packers' 137 yards in the first quarter. He finished with 202 yards passing and 73 rushing.

He started three games as a rookie for Tennessee in 2022 after being a third-round pick out of Liberty by a general manager who was fired that December. 

The Packers gave Willis plenty of help to improve to 3-2 as a starting quarterback.

Two-time Pro Bowl cornerback Jaire Alexander scored a touchdown on his first career pick-6 late in the first quarter, helping Green Bay lead 17-7 after 15 minutes and 20-7 at halftime. The Packers ultimately scored 20 straight points for a 27-7 advantage midway through the third, prompting a loud chant of “Go, Pack, Go!”

The Packers had eight sacks, their most since getting eight at Chicago on Jan. 2, 2005. They also forced three turnovers.

Levis threw two TD passes, one to Nick Vannett and the other to DeAndre Hopkins.

The 33rd pick overall in 2023 out of Kentucky has eight turnovers in three games, including two interceptions returned for TDs. When Callahan took a timeout and sent the offense back in for the punt team, Levis was stopped for no gain on fourth-and-2 to start the third quarter.

Tennessee's defense forced its first three-and-out after Hopkins' TD pulled the Titans within 27-14. Levis drove the Titans to the Green Bay 31 but was sacked two plays later by Kingsley Enagbare. Lukas Van Ness recovered the fumble near midfield.

Packers TE Tucker Kraft aggravated the shoulder injury that had him limited in practice.

The Packers host Minnesota next Sunday.

The Chicago White Sox tied the post-1900 MLB record of 120 losses by the 1962 expansion New York Mets on Sunday when the San Diego Padres won 4-2 by rallying for three runs in the eighth inning, capped by Fernando Tatis Jr.'s towering home run.

Hear the Sox Tuesday on WHOW.

Lars Nootbaar scored the go-ahead run from second base on a wild pitch and Andre Pallante allowed one hit in seven innings as the St. Louis Cardinals beat the Cleveland Guardians 2-1 on Sunday.

Myles Straw’s single in the sixth inning was the only hit Pallante (8-8) allowed in seven innings. Pallante walked two and struck out three.

Andrew Kittredge pitched a scoreless eighth inning, and Ryan Helsley pitched the ninth to earn his major league leading 47th save, breaking a tie with Guardians reliever Emmanuel Clase.

Gavin Williams allowed one run on four hits and two walks in 5 2/3 innings for the Guardians, who clinched the American League Central Division title Saturday night. Williams has received just 18 runs of support in 16 starts this season.

Nolan Arenado blooped a two-out RBI single that dropped in front of Guardians right fielder Jhonkensy Noel to score Winn from first to tie the game at 1-all.

Cardinals RHP Michael McGreevy (2-0, 0.90) will make his second major league start when he opposes Colorado Rockies RHP Ryan Feltner (3-10, 4.73) ERA) to open a three-game series in Denver Tuesday night.

Kyle Larson dominated the first elimination race of NASCAR’s 10-race playoff portion of the season by leading all but 38 of the 500 laps at the track in Bristol, Tennessee — the most laps led ever in a race by a Hendrick driver. 

It easily moved him into the second round of the playoffs, while former NASCAR champions Brad Keselowski and Martin Truex Jr., as well as Ty Gibbs and Harrison Burton, were eliminated from the 16-driver field.

Truex was penalized for speeding on pit road, taking him out of contention to advance, and Keselowski just didn’t have the pace. Joe Gibbs Racing had two of its four cars eliminated from the playoffs as Ty Gibbs was also penalized for speeding.

Keselowski finished 26th and lamented the lack of speed in his RFK Racing Ford.

Truex is retiring from full-time racing at the end of the season.

Larson, meanwhile, led 462 of 500 laps, the most since Cale Yarborough led 495 laps in 1977. Larson’s laps led is the most ever by a Hendrick driver and marked the fifth win of the season for the driver of the No. 5 Chevrolet.

Daniel Suarez, who finished four laps down in 31st, squeezed out the final spot into the second round of the playoffs by 11 points over Gibbs.

Also advancing were Chase Elliott, who finished second, Christopher Bell, who finished fifth, regular-season champion Tyler Reddick, Ryan Blaney, Joey Logano, Chase Briscoe, William Byron, Austin Cindric and Alex Bowman.

Hendrick’s entire four-car Chevrolet lineup advanced, as did all three Ford drivers from Team Penske. But Toyota lost a pair of JGR entries, and Ford lost two cars in Keselowski and Burton.

NASCAR opens the second round of the playoffs at Kansas Speedway, where Reddick won last fall and Larson won in May. Bell takes a six-point lead over Larson into Kansas.

Shota Imanaga pitched seven crisp innings in his sixth consecutive win, and the Chicago Cubs beat the Washington Nationals 5-0 on Sunday.

Imanaga (15-3) was backed by home runs from Mike Tauchman, Michael Busch and Miguel Amaya. The Japanese left-hander allowed six hits, struck out four and walked none, continuing his strong finish to his first season in the majors.

The start of the game was delayed for 2 hours, 20 minutes because of rain. The Wrigley Field crowd of 30,086 passed the time by watching much of the Bears' 21-16 loss at Indianapolis on the massive videoboard in left-center.

The Cubs (80-76), who were eliminated from playoff contention on Saturday, took three of four in the series. They went 6-1 against the Nationals this season.

James Wood and José Tena each had two of Washington's eight hits. Jake Irvin (10-13) allowed five runs and four hits in four innings.

The Nationals (69-87) closed out a 1-6 trip. They finished their road schedule with a 33-48 record.

Tauchman got Chicago off to a fast start when he drove a 2-0 fastball from Irvin off the bottom of the scoreboard in right for a leadoff drive in the first inning. It was Tauchman's seventh homer of the season.

The Cubs broke it open with three runs in the fourth. Busch led off with his 21st homer, a drive to right on a 2-1 fastball. With Pete Crow-Armstrong aboard after a two-out walk, Amaya went deep for his eighth on the year.

Irvin was coming off a pair of impressive starts, allowing a total of two runs and six hits in 13 1/3 innings.

Washington had its best scoring opportunity in the eighth against Ethan Roberts. With runners on the corners and one out, Joey Gallo sent a pinch-hit liner down the right field line. Umpire Tripp Gibson originally said it was foul, but then changed his mind and ruled it was a ground-rule double.

The Cubs challenged the call and it was overturned. Gallo then struck out swinging and Luis García Jr. bounced to shortstop, ending the inning.

Cubs RHP Nate Pearson (2-2, 4.71 ERA) takes the mound on Monday night for the opener of a three-game set at Philadelphia. Pearson is making his first start of the season.

In a game heard on WEZC and online at dewittdailynews.com, Ike Young found Nolan Buehnerkemper from 22 yards out to put Monticello in front 28-25 with 25 seconds left as Monticello escaped with a win over Central Catholic in Illini Prairie Conference action Friday in Bloomington.

BCC led 25-21 and looked like they would put the game away with junior quarterback Valshun Powe picking up yardage in chunks on the final drive. But a penalty on second down and a bad snap on third down forced the Saints to punt with 45 seconds left.

Carter Foran finished the game of his career with a 47-yard return on the punt return to set up the game-winning score.

Foran had an interception returned 90 yards at the 7:30 mark of the third quarter to put Monticello ahead 21-10. 

He also had a 20-yard reception for a touchdown in the second quarter that put Monticello ahead for the first time 7-3. 

The senior finished with seven receptions for 140 yards and a touchdown. He was the ServPro of Piatt/DeWitt Counties player of the game. 

Buehnerkemper finished with four receptions for 35 yards with the game-winning touchdown.

Young was 13 of 17 through the air for 226 yards and had a rushing touchdown on eight carries with eight yards.

The Saints drop to 2-2 overall.

Monticello goes to 3-1 and hosts Pontiac for Homecoming next Friday night. Game time is 7 pm. Hear it on 95.9 FM WEZC and online at dewittdailynews.com. 

As heard on WHOW, the Clinton Maroons defeated the Ridgeview-Lextington Mustangs by a score of 23-14.

The Maroons were led by Keaton Graves who struggled early with two interceptions in the first half, but made up for it with a 68 yard touchdown run. He had over 60 passing yards and an impressive 111 rushing yards. The Maroons defensive line had a great night as well with multiple sacks from Dawson Thayer and Logan Thoms. 

The Mustangs were led by quarterback Drake Powell who had 91 passing yards. His most targeted reciever was Karder Cross who had a 58 yard play for a touchdown. 

Clinton improves to 4-0 while Ridgeview-Lexington falls to 1-3. 

Tune in next week as Clinton takes on Eureka at home, at 7 PM on WHOW and all our digital platforms. 

Tonight, Clinton makes the trip up to Lexington for their week 4 matchup against Ridgeview-Lexington High School. 

Last week, Clinton had another big victory for their Homecoming game against Tremont bringing their record to 3-0, and they hope to keep that streak going. Head Coach Ron Bass says their goal this week is to shut down the Mustangs quarterback in the pocket. 

Coach Bass feels as a team they are on track, and he was not surprised by the outcomes of the previous three games. He plans to keep introducing new plays as the season goes on.

Bass explains a head coach is only as good as the people he surrounds himself with, and he has a lot of confidence in his coordinators and assistant coaches. 

Tonight, the Clinton Maroons travel to Ridgeview-Lexington for a Heart of Central Illinois matchup. Gametime is 7 pm and with pregame coverage on WHOW and all our digital platforms at 6:45 pm. 

Heart of Central Illinois Conference

El Paso-Gridley at Eureka
Dee-Mack at Tri-Valley
Shelbyville at Tremont
Fisher at Warrensburg-Latham
LeRoy at Heyworth
Meridian at Gibson City-Melvin-Sibley
Central A & M at Tuscola

Montiecllo football coach Cully Welter says his team showing improvement as it comes off a 40-14 victory over Mattoon in week 3 to improve to 2-1.

He was pleased with some of the things his team did to take control of last week's game. With Mattoon getting back in the game with a big play in the second quarter, his team settled down and scored a touchdown late in the half and started the second half with a score.

With the first third of the football season in the books, Coach Welter believes the best football for his team is still ahead.

The Sages will have their hands full tonight with Bloomington Central Catholic. The Saints don't offer the bruising style of play they have played with over the last three years, but instead, they will have a lot of speed to contend with.

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

Illini Prairie

Prairie Central at Rantoul

Paxton-Buckley-Loda at Pontiac

St. Joseph-Ogden at Illinois Valley Central

Belleville Althoff Catholic at Tolono Unity

Week 4 

Apollo

Charleston at Mahomet-Seymour

Mattoon at Effingham 

Taylorville at Mt. Zion

Big Twelve

Bloomington at Normal West

Champaign Centennial at Danville 

Peoria Manual at Peoria 

Peoria Notre Dame at Peoria Richwoods

Urbana at Champaign Central

Normal Community at Kankakee

Central State Eight

Decatur Eisenhower at Decatur MacArthur

Lincoln at Normal U-High

Rochester at Chatham-Glenwood

Springfield at Springfield Southeast

Springfield Lanphier at Jacksonville

Springfield Sacred Heart-Griffin at Quincy Notre Dame

Lincoln Prairie

Arcola at Oakland Tri-County

Arthur-Lovington-Atwood-Hammond at Sangamon Valley

Cerro Gordo-Bement at Nokomis

Sullivan-Okaw Valley at Argenta-Oreana

Villa Grove at Toledo-Cumberland

Mid-Illini

Dunlap at Limestone

East Peoria at Canton

Morton at Metamora

Washington at Pekin

Sangamo

Maroa-Forsyth at Petersburg PORTA

New Berlin at Riverton

Pleasant Plains at Auburn

Olympia at Athens

Williamsville at Pittsfield

Non-Conference

Elmwood-Brimfield at Decatur St. Teresa

8-Player Football

Decatur Unity Christian at Blue Ridge

Milford at Champaign St. Thomas More (Sat.)

For the first time since October 2011, No. 22 Nebraska and No. 24 Illinois find themselves listed in the same Associated Press Top 25 poll. They'll meet in a Big Ten opener Friday night in Lincoln, Neb., to decide which team gets to stay there.

The Cornhuskers (3-0) are off to their best start since 2016 -- their most recent bowl season -- while the Illini are 3-0 for the first time since 2011.

After cruising through their respective non-conference schedules, both teams will get a much better picture of their might while they clash in front of Nebraska's 400th consecutive home sellout.

The Illini enter Friday's game tied for second nationally in turnover margin (+8) and tied for fifth in turnovers forced (9). Defensive back Xavier Scott is one of four FBS players with at least 3 interceptions through three games, and he has forced four turnovers overall.

But Scott and company haven't faced a passer like Nebraska's Dylan Raiola. Even on the rare occasions when the pass rush has forced him to improvise, the five-star freshman has appeared unflappable while completing 73.8 percent of his passes for 670 yards, five touchdowns and just one interception.

Bielema wants to see his rushing attack be more reliable. The Illini's quartet of backs have been satisfactory (153.3 yards per game), but Illinois hasn't faced anything like the Huskers' defense, which surrenders just 2.5 yards per carry and 70.3 rushing yards per game.

Caleb Williams and Anthony Richardson find themselves in similar predicaments.

Both left college early carrying the label of strong-armed quarterbacks, capable of making big plays with their feet.

Both were drafted by teams seeking long-term stability at a position that had become a revolving door. Now, both are trying to show they can match the hype by becoming the faces of their respective franchises.

Two games into this season, though, both are already hearing the critics complain about low completion percentages, missed throws and blown opportunities.

So Sunday, when Williams and the Chicago Bears visit Richardson and the Indianapolis Colts, both will have another chance to get their seasons back on track.

The biggest questions about Richardson in the 2023 draft were whether he could be accurate enough to succeed in the NFL and his lack of starting experience. He hasn't had much of a chance to answer.

Last season, Richardson started four games and finished one before suffering a season-ending shoulder injury. He's already started and finished two this season, but his completion rate, 49.1%, is the lowest of any starting quarterback in the NFL. He also threw three interceptions and fumbled twice in last week's loss at Green Bay.

And although the Colts (0-2) have used big plays to keep scores close, they've been unable to sustain drives. Opponents have kept the ball nearly 40 minutes per game.

Accuracy also has been an issue for Williams. Only five quarterbacks, including Richardson, have lower completion rates (56.1%) than this year's No. 1 overall draft pick and only one starter, the recently benched Bryce Young, averages fewer yards per game than Williams (133.5).

He's also thrown two interceptions and is still looking for his NFL score.

The bigger problem: Staying upright. Williams has been sacked nine times, tied for most in the league, and he was hit so much last week at Houston he was still sore Wednesday.

The Bears rushing average ranks 27th (77.5 yards per game), 28th in yards per carry (3.5) and they're one of five teams heading into Week 3 with just one offensive TD.

Michael Pittman Jr. and DJ Moore are the No. 1 receivers for the Colts and Bears. Last weekend, they also shared a common frustration, too.

Pittman had a similar experience last season, apologizing three days after speaking up. He then responded by catching 53 passes over the next six games, four of which Indy won.

Eberflus knows all about Indianapolis. Heck, he spent four years working at Colts headquarters as the team's defensive coordinator before taking the Chicago job.

But he also brought his team to the Colts training camp last year for a preseason game and two days of joint practices at Indy's training camp site in Westfield, Indiana, a suburb on the northwest side of Indianapolis - a short drive down I-65 from Chicago.

Three-time Pro Bowl defensive tackle DeForest Buckner has been a model player for the Colts. Not only has he performed at a consistently high level, he's been a game-day fixture, missing only one game, in November 2020 when he was put on the COVID-19 list.

He won't be there to help Sunday, though. Buckner went on injured reserve Tuesday and will miss at least the next four games. It's yet another blow for the league's worst run defense.

Game time is noon Sunday.

One of the longest rivalry series in the FCS continues on Saturday, as Eastern Illinois travels to Normal to take on No. 15/17 Illinois State in the playing of the 112th Mid-America Classic at Hancock Stadium, with kickoff slated for 6 p.m. 

The teams will be playing for the coveted traveling trophy, which currently resides in Charleston after EIU's win last season.

The Panthers are off to a 1-2 start to the season, with both losses coming to in-state FBS opponents. Last weekend, EIU dropped a 31-7 decision to Northwestern on the lakefront in Evanston and the Panthers were shutout in the season opener in Champaign by the Illini 45-0.

Wenkers Wright finished the game with 106 yards on 16 carries with a score for Illinois State - it was his second-straight game with over 100 yards rushing in a 51-34 win over Western Illinois. Transfer wide receiver Xavier Loyd has his biggest game as a Redbird with four catches for 85 yards including the 59-yard touchdown catch from Rittenhouse.

Game time is 6 pm. Hear the action on WHOW. 

The Tennessee Titans see their stingy defense and early leads as proof they easily could be undefeated. Untimely mistakes, including second-year quarterback Will Levis turning the ball over too much, are why they are winless with Green Bay visiting Sunday.

What the Titans don't know is whether they'll face Jordan Love or recent teammate Malik Willis at quarterback. Green Bay coach Matt LaFleur, who spent the 2018 season as Tennessee's offensive coordinator under Mike Vrabel, said Love's status will be decided Sunday when the Packers (1-1) have to hand in their list of inactive players.

The Packers ran their way to a 16-10 win over Indianapolis to ease Willis into his first start with a team he joined at the end of August. Love is testing a brace to protect his injured left medial collateral ligament injured in the Packers' opening loss. He said the brace affects his mobility, which is a huge part of his game.

The Titans have lost their first two games by the exact 24-17 score, the most recent to the Jets. Two-time Pro Bowl defensive lineman Jeffery Simmons said it doesn't matter who Green Bay starts at quarterback with Tennessee preparing to face both Love and Willis.

The Packers lead the NFL with 21 “explosive plays” of a run of at least 12 yards or a pass of 16 yards or more. That won't be as easy against the Titans, who have allowed a league-low 413 total yards and an average of 114 yards passing. The Titans aren't as easy to prepare for with new defensive coordinator Dennard Wilson with only two games on tape.

Green Bay leads the league in averaging 212 yards rushing after using that run-heavy approach last week for 261 yards on the ground.

The Packers have several Tennessee ties in addition to Willis and LaFleur. Green Bay claimed rookie kicker Brayden Narveson off waivers from the Titans after he went 6 of 7 in the preseason with a long field goal of 59 yards. Narveson is 6 of 8 for the Packers, though he has missed a kick in each of the first two games.

As for Willis, he has no hard feelings toward the Titans, who traded him once deciding Mason Rudolph would back up Levis. Willis started three games as a rookie for the Titans after they traded up in the third round to draft him out of Liberty in 2022.

Josh Jacobs has 48 carries to tie San Francisco’s Jordan Mason for the NFL lead. Jacobs had 32 of those against the Colts, just one off his career high. But he is the only Packer with more than nine rushes so far even as Green Bay has mixed in rushing attempts by wide receivers Jayden Reed and Bo Melton.

The Packers have AJ Dillon and rookie MarShawn Lloyd on injured reserve, which has forced them to rely more on Jacobs. Dillon is out for the entire season with a neck issue, while Lloyd will miss at least Green Bay’s next four games with an ankle injury.

The Packers have five interceptions and six total takeaways this season to lead the NFL in both categories. The Titans have committed five turnovers already to match the Denver Broncos for the most of any NFL team - all by Levis, which the Packers have noticed.

Chris Buescher led five non-playoff drivers for an overtime win at Watkins Glen, a wild road race that will be remembered for the high number of championship contenders enduring wrecks, torn tires and aggressive driving. 

Just two playoff drivers finished in the top 10, while 10 others were dotted among the bottom 21 in the results. Buescher held off Shane van Gisbergen for his sixth career win, followed by Carson Hocevar, Ross Chastain and Zane Smith.

Several drivers will need a good run this weekend at Bristol Motorspeedway as the NASCAR playoffs hit the first cutoff race of the playoffs. 

Christopher Bell was 14th at The Glen and leads Austin Cindric by three points in the standings with Alex Bowman five back. Joey Logano’s Atlanta win earned entry in the second round. Bristol marks the first-round cutoff with four drivers eliminated. Hamlin is 13th, six points below JGR teammate Ty Gibbs on the cutoff line. Brad Keselowski is 12 points behind, with Truex 14 back and Burton 20 back.

Last year, Denny Hamlin started second in the No. 11 Joe Gibbs Racing Toyota and led three times for 147 laps, including the final 135, to earn his third and final victory of 2023 on the way to finishing fifth in the standings. 

Kyle Larson was second in a Chevy and Christopher Bell third for JGR, which claimed three of the top five spots. Ryan Blaney was 22nd in a Penske Ford before recovering from that awful run and 28th the next race at Texas to win two of the final seven races and claim the title.

Practice and qualifying is this afternoon at 3 pm. Race time is 6:30 pm Saturday night.

Eighteen-year-old Connor Zilisch won his Xfinity Series debut at Watkins Glen, taking the JR Motorsports Chevy owned by Dale Earnhardt Jr. to the checkered flag from the pole with a Stage 1 win and leading three times for 45 laps on the road course. 

Zilisch had to save fuel in a wreck-marred ending. Sheldon Creed was second in a Toyota and A.J. Allmendinger third in a Chevy.

Fast facts: Bristol marks the regular-season finale before the 12-team playoff field is set. 

Xfinity’s postseason starts at Kansas on Sept. 28 with Talladega and the Charlotte Roval making up the rest of the first round. The field will be cut to eight drivers after those three races. 

Justin Allgaier holds the regular-season lead by 34 points over defending Xfinity champion Cole Custer. 

NASCAR Hall of Famer and two-time series champ Dale Earnhardt Jr. will race for the second consecutive year in the No. 88 Chevy for JR Motorsports. Nephew Jeffrey Earnhardt will drive the No. 26 Toyota for Sam Hunt Racing.

Last year, Allgaier passed Daniel Hemric late and led the final 13 laps for the victory. Allgaier led three times for a race-high 110 laps in his Chevy. Hemric was next in a Chevy, followed by John H. Nemechek (Toyota), pole-sitter Cole Custer (Ford, 109 laps led) and Chandler Smith (Chevy).

Practice and qualifying is this afternoon at 1 pm. Race time is 6:30 pm tonight.

Eric Wagaman scored with one out in the 13th inning when Jordyn Adams' grounder deflected off the glove of third baseman Miguel Vargas, and the Los Angeles Angels dealt the Chicago White Sox their 117th loss, rallying for a 4-3 victory on Wednesday.

The White Sox return to the WHOW airwaves on Sunday afternoon.

Jordan Walker hit a bases-loaded double to highlight a six-run seventh inning, lifting the St. Louis Cardinals to a 10-5 victory over the Pittsburgh Pirates on Wednesday night in the third game of a four-game series.

Brendan Donovan hit a two-run homer and Masyn Winn added a solo homer. Nolan Arenado drove in a run, scored twice, had three hits and walked twice.

Billy Cook, who was called up Sept. 8, hit his first big league homer - a three-run blast - for the Pirates, who acquired him from the Orioles at the trade deadline.

Rookie Michael McGreevy (2-0) pitched the final three innings without allowing a run. He struck out four and gave up only two hits. It was first time throwing in relief since 2019 when he was in college at UC Santa Barbara.

David Bednar (3-8) took the loss. He gave up three runs, two earned, in 1/3 inning in relief.

Pittsburgh starter Jake Woodford faced his former team for the first time and went 4 2/3 innings. He allowed four runs on eight hits with five strikeouts and no walks.

Cardinals starter Sonny Gray pitched 5 2/3 innings, allowing four runs on nine hits. He struck out eight and passed the 200-strikeout mark for the second time in his career. Gray had 205 strikeouts as a member of the Reds in 2019.

Winn got the seventh inning started with a homer to tie the game at 5-5. Bednar left with one out and two men on base. Iván Herrera, who had three hits, and Lars Nootbaar each drove in a run with bases-loaded singles. Walker cleared the bases with a double down the third-base line, extending the lead to 10-5.

The Pirates took a 5-4 lead in the sixth when they chased Gray. After striking out the first two batters, Gray gave up back-to-back singles to Nick Yorke and Jared Triolo. Matthew Liberatore came in and gave up a three-run home run on the first pitch to Cook for the first RBIs of his career.

St. Louis jumped out to a 2-0 lead in the second inning when Donovan hit a two-run homer into the right field seats after Arenado led off with a single.

The Cardinals added two runs in the third inning. Paul Goldschmidt tripled to right field with two outs, scoring Alec Burleson. The triple, his first since Aug. 27, 2021, snapped an 0 for 10 slump. Goldschmidt then came home on a bloop single by Arenado.

Pittsburgh struck for two runs on four hits and a sacrifice fly in the fourth to cut the St. Louis lead in half to 4-2.

St. Louis manager Oliver Marmol was ejected in the bottom of the fourth inning for arguing balls and strikes. It was his National League-leading sixth early exit this season and 15th in his career. Hitting coach Turner Ward also was ejected.

Cardinals RHP Erick Fedde (8-9, 3.45) has had two starts against Pittsburgh with both coming in 2022 while he was pitching for the Washington Nationals. He won both games.

Green Bay Packers quarterback Jordan Love is practicing again for the first time since injuring his left medial collateral ligament, but the team remained circumspect about his chances of playing Sunday at Tennessee.

Love worked out on a limited basis Wednesday, and the Packers weren’t providing details on how much he did. When he was asked on multiple occasions on Love’s workload, coach Matt LaFleur simply repeated that “he was limited.”

Love hadn’t practiced at all last week and didn’t play Sunday in a 16-10 victory over the Indianapolis Colts, which marked the first game he had missed since taking over as Green Bay’s starting quarterback last season.

He hurt his knee on the third-to-last play of the Packers’ season-opening 34-29 loss to the Philadelphia Eagles on Sept. 6 in Brazil. Love was being pressured by Jalen Carter and Josh Sweat as he threw a backward pass to Josh Jacobs. Carter was lying down and had a hold of Love’s left leg when Sweat pushed the quarterback to the ground.

Love acknowledged feeling concerned about the severity of his injury on the flight back to the United States.

One of the challenges facing Love is the likelihood that he will be playing with a brace on his knee. Love noted that he’s done it before, when he had the meniscus injury during his college career at Utah State.

If Love isn’t able to play Sunday, Willis would take the field to face his former team. The Packers acquired Willis from Tennessee (0-2) for a 2025 seventh-round draft pick in a trade that was announced Aug. 27.

Willis went 12 of 14 for 122 yards with his first career touchdown pass and no turnovers against Indianapolis while also running for 41 yards on six carries as the Packers used a run-heavy approach in Love’s absence.

The Packers ran 53 times for 261 yards, getting their highest output in rushing yards since 2003 and their largest total in carries since 1978.

Other injury news for Green Bay - OL Elgton Jenkins (illness/glute), OL Jordan Morgan (shoulder), WR Jayden Reed (calf) and CB Carrington Valentine (ankle) didn’t practice Wednesday. 

In addition to Love, DL Kenny Clark (toe), DL Kingsley Enagbare (groin), RB Josh Jacobs (back), TE Tucker Kraft (shoulder), C Josh Myers (ankle), OT Zach Tom (quadriceps) and OT Rasheed Walker (shoulder) practiced on a limited basis. 

The Packers signed WR Cornelius Johnson to their practice squad. The Los Angeles Chargers had selected Johnson out of Michigan in the seventh round of this year’s draft.

Tyler Soderstrom homered and Zack Gelof hit a tiebreaking double in the eighth inning as the Oakland Athletics beat the Chicago Cubs 5-3 on Wednesday, putting the Milwaukee Brewers in the playoffs.

Chicago’s loss clinched the NL Central title for the Brewers, their third in four years. Milwaukee became the first major league team to reach the 2024 postseason.

The 22-year-old Soderstrom drove in two runs and scored two more to help Oakland to its first series victory over the Cubs since 2013. Brent Rooker was 2 for 3 with an RBI and two walks.

Tyler Ferguson (4-2) threw a hitless seventh for the win, and Michel Otañez struck out two in the eighth. Mason Miller earned his 27th save, setting a franchise rookie record.

Oakland (67-86) has the third-worst record in the American League. But a 5-4 trip against the Astros, White Sox and Cubs, along with a 30-25 mark since the All-Star break, has given the A's confidence as they look to finish the season strong and build momentum for 2025.

Playing his fourth game since returning from a left wrist injury, Soderstrom hit a home run in the fourth for his first longball since June 28 to give Oakland a 1-0 lead.

The Cubs were held to two hits through four innings, but finally broke through in the fifth. With the bases loaded, Dansby Swanson and Seiya Suzuki hit RBI singles, and Cody Bellinger’s sacrifice fly made it 3-1.

The outburst ended rookie starter Brady Basso’s day after 4 2/3 innings. He gave up three runs on six hits and two walks with five strikeouts.

Soderstrom and Tyler Nevin each singled in the seventh, and Lawrence Butler and Rooker brought them home to tie it.

Gelof’s run-scoring double in the eighth regained the lead for Oakland. Gelof advanced to third on the throw, putting him in position to score on a hard-hit grounder to second by Soderstrom that gave the A's a 5-3 advantage.

Cubs starter Justin Steele had a short return to action in his first game back from elbow tendinitis, going just 2 2/3 innings. He allowed two hits and three walks to go along with a strikeout, then was taken out after loading the bases in the third.

Ethan Roberts took over for the final out of the inning, and zero earned runs were attached to Steele. Cubs manager Craig Counsell said before the game that he expected Steele’s start to be short.

Nate Pearson (2-2) took the loss after giving up two runs in 1 1/3 innings.

Cubs RHP Javier Assad (7-5, 3.27 ERA) starts Thursday’s series opener against Washington.

Second-generation NASCAR driver Layne Riggs, 22, was the surprise winner of the playoff opener at the Milwaukee Mile on Aug. 25 as the Craftsman Truck Series will run at Bristol Motorspeedway tonight. 

The son of former Cup regular and five-time trucks winner Scott Riggs held off championship contender Ty Majeski for his first career victory - impressive considering he wasn’t part of the 10-team playoff field. Riggs dislocated his shoulder celebrating his landmark victory before the team popped it back into place.

Christian Eckes leads Ty Majeski by 16 points, Corey Heim by 19 and Nicholas Sanchez by 26 in the standings. Ben Rhodes and Rajah Caruth are behind the cut line, ninth and 10th in the standings. 

The Truck Series kicks off Bristol’s tripleheader weekend of same-day practice, qualifying and night racing for each national touring series. 

The entries include IndyCar Series driver Marco Andretti, who will make his seventh career Trucks start in the No. 04 Chevrolet for Roper Racing. Sprint car rising star Corey Day will debut in the first of four scheduled starts this fall for McAnally-Hilgemann Racing in the No. 81 Chevrolet. Connor Zilisch, 18, is coming off a debut win in the Xfinity Series at Watkins Glen and will make his third Truck series in the Spire Motorsports No. 7 Chevrolet. 

The playoff field will be cut from 10 to eight after Bristol and Kansas.

The XFinity Series races tomorrow night and the Cup Series is under the lights Saturday for the cutoff race in the round of 16. 

Bubba Wallace signed a multi-year contract extension with 23XI Racing, the team announced Wednesday.

Wallace, who failed to make the Cup Series playoffs this season, heads to Bristol Motor Speedway winless on the year and ranked 19th in the standings for Saturday night’s elimination race.

Wallace has driven for 23XI since its inception when Denny Hamlin saw a rumor on social media that he and Michael Jordan were partnering to start a NASCAR team centered around Wallace. Hamlin thought the idea seemed strong — Wallace at the time was landing multiple major sponsorship deals after calling on NASCAR to ban the display of the Confederate Flag at its events — and called Michael Jordan about the rumor.

The team was up and running in 2021 and Wallace has won two races, but none since 2022. He did, however, qualify for the playoffs for the first time in his career last season and finished a career-high 10th in the final standings. Wallace is the only Black driver at NASCAR’s top level.

23XI Racing won the regular-season title this year with driver Tyler Reddick, who is ranked sixth in the 16-driver playoff field. Four drivers will be eliminated from title contention Saturday night at Bristol with team co-owner Hamlin, who drives for Joe Gibbs Racing, among those in danger of being cut.

Unlike anything he's ever seen is how Clinton High School football coach Ron Bass describes a shocking trend by his defense through the first third of the high school football season.

The Maroons have a dozen takeaways through the air on defense and Coach Bass says it is unlike anything he's ever seen.

The Maroons anticipate a step up in competition this week when they travel to Lexington to take on Ridgeview-Lexington. Coach Bass knows the Mustangs will have a lot of kids hungry to make good on a subpar year last year.

Ridgeview-Lexington enters play at 1-2. 

Game time Friday night is 7 pm. Hear all the action right here on WHOW and all our digital platforms.
 

Monticello football coach Cully Welter believes there's still more for his football team to achieve this year.

After Monticello handled 5A Mattoon 40-14, Coach Welter felt his team is getting closer to playing a complete, four quarter game. 

Coming into the Sages matchup with Mattoon, Coach Welter was looking for more from his lines and felt they did a lot of things well in the win.

With the score 20-7, Monticello executed a flawless drive down the late in the second quarter with under a minute left and then came out and scored on the opening possession of the second half. Coach Welter felt that was a huge moment in the game.

Monticello battles Bloomington Central Catholic Friday night in Bloomington. The Saints are 2-1 on the season.

Hear the action starting at 7 pm on 95.9 FM WEZC and online at dewittdailynews.com. 

In a game heard on WHOW, Rookie Eric Wagaman homered for the second straight game, Griffin Canning threw six innings of three-hit ball, and the Los Angeles Angels dealt the Chicago White Sox their 116th loss with a 5-0 victory on Tuesday night.

The White Sox return to the WHOW airwaves on Sunday.

Lance Lynn threw six strong innings in his 100th appearance at Busch Stadium, Jordan Walker homered and the St. Louis Cardinals beat the Pittsburgh Pirates 3-1 on Tuesday night.

Lynn (7-4) allowed one run on four hits and struck out five.

The Cardinals (76-75) are seven games out of the final NL wild card spot with 11 games remaining.

Bryan De La Cruz hit his 20th homer of the season, taking Lynn deep in the second inning. De La Cruz’s drive to the left-center bleachers traveled 431 feet and was his second for Pittsburgh after being acquired from Miami.

Ryan Fernandez pitched a scoreless seventh inning, and Matthew Liberatore retired three straight batters after surrendering a double to Nick Gonzales and a single to Bryan Reynolds to lead off the eighth.

Ryan Helsley pitched a scoreless ninth for his NL-leading 45th save in 49 chances.

Bailey Falter (8-8) allowed two runs on four hits and two walks in 5 2/3 innings. Nick Yorke got his first career hit, a single in the fifth, and finished 3 for 4 for the Pirates after making his major league debut a night earlier.

Luken Baker had an RBI triple for the Cardinals in the third, and Walker put St. Louis ahead 2-1 in the fourth when he hit a 3-2 pitch from Falter into the left-field bleachers. Walker has four homers this season, all since he was recalled from Triple-A Memphis on Aug. 30.

Nolan Arenado had a sacrifice fly in the eighth for St. Louis.

Sonny Gray (13-9, 3.75 ERA) was set to start for the Cardinals Wednesday night in the third game of the four-game series. The Pirates had not named a starter.

Shea Langeliers homered twice, including a towering solo drive that cleared the Wrigley Field bleachers in left, and the Oakland Athletics beat the Chicago Cubs 4-3 on Tuesday night.

Langeliers’ third multihomer game of the season and No. 5 for his career upped his season total to 28, extending his career best.

Lawrence Butler also went deep for Oakland, which stopped a three-game losing streak. The skid included back-to-back losses to the MLB-worst White Sox.

Ian Happ hit two solo homers for the Cubs (77-74), who fell six games behind the New York Mets for the final NL wild card with 11 games left.

Happ's 25th homer, a one-out drive to left on a 103.2 mph fastball from All-Star closer Mason Miller, got Chicago within one in the ninth. But Miller retired Dansby Swanson on a grounder to first before striking out Seiya Suzuki for his 26th save.

Nico Hoerner hit three singles for Chicago, and Michael Busch drove in a run.  Jordan Wicks (2-4) allowed four runs and seven hits in five innings.

Oakland rookie Mitch Spence (8-9) pitched five effective innings for his first win since July 27. He permitted two runs and seven hits.

With Brent Rooker aboard after a one-out single in the first, Langeliers drove a 1-0 fastball deep to left-center. Butler gave Oakland a 3-0 lead when he hit his 22nd homer into the basket in the third.

The Cubs responded with two runs in the bottom half on Happ's drive to right and Busch’s bloop RBI single.

Langeliers’ second homer of the night sailed 418 feet, reaching Waveland Avenue in the fifth.

Oakland LHP Brady Basso (1-0, 1.23 ERA) faces Steele (5-5, 3.09 ERA) in the series finale on Wednesday afternoon. Basso earned his first major league win against the White Sox on Friday.

In a game heard on WEZC, Monticello made quick work of Clinton in two sets 25-20 and 25-15 in non-conference high volleyball action at the Sievers Center in Monticello Monday.

Clinton controlled the early part of the first set and led 12-11 but Monticello would rally and finish out the first set on a 14-9 run to go up 1-0. 

In the second set, the Lady Maroons never found any momentum as the Lady Sages gradually pulled away to the 25-15, two-set win.

It was a balanced attack for Monticello. Standout Sierrah Downey had 13 assists, six digs, and five kills. Emerson Snook at five kills while Addison Finet had 14 assists. 

Cassidee Stoffel added six kills, eight digs, and an assist. Libero Mady Melton had 16 digs with an ace. Alice Swanson recorded six kills. 

Clinton falls to 3-8 overall. Monticello moves to 9-4. 

Clinton hosts Decatur Eisenhower Wednesday. 

Monticello travels to Mt. Zion on Thursday.

Shota Imanaga struck out a career-high 11 in winning his fifth straight start, Dansby Swanson hit a three-run homer while tying his season high with four RBIs and Chicago Cubs defeated the Oakland Athletics 9-2 on Monday night.

Chicago (77-73) remained five games behind the New York Mets (82-68) for the final NL wild card with 12 games remaining.

Imanaga (14-3) allowed five hits over six innings, including Brent Rooker’s 38th homer, a two run-drive in the third. The 31-year-old left-hander walked three and reached 14 wins for the first time as a professional in his first year in the majors after eight previous seasons in Japan.

Rooker went deep for the second straight game and added a single as Oakland lost its third straight. The previous two were at the White Sox, who had not won back-to-back games in nearly three months.

Isaac Paredes and Miguel Amaya each had three hits and drove in two runs in an 18-hit attack. Paredes is 14 for his last 29 (.483) with seven RBIs in his last eight games.

Seiya Suzuki had three hits, among seven Cubs starters with multi-hit games.

Trey Wingenter followed Imanaga with two scoreless innings and Jack Neely worked around a pair of singles in the ninth.

Joey Estes (7-8) gave up six runs and nine hits. He was chased after the first six Cubs batters in second hit safely.

Paredes hit two-out RBI single in the first and Chicago blew open the game with a five-run second. Amaya and Ian Happ had RBI singles and Swanson followed with his 15th homer, a drive into the basket in left.

Oakland RHP Mitch Spence (7-9, 4.33) faced Chicago LHP Jordan Wicks (2-3, 5.27) on Tuesday night.

In a game heard on WHOW, Andrew Benintendi homered twice for the third time this season and drove in four runs, and the Chicago White Sox beat the Los Angeles Angels 8-4 Monday night for their first three-game winning streak in nearly three months.

It is only the fourth time the White Sox have won at least three in a row - and the first since June 27-29, when they beat Atlanta and Colorado. Chicago took two of three from Oakland over the weekend to snap a string of 20 consecutive series losses.

On Tuesday night, Chicago will try to match its season-high winning streak of four, which happened May 8-11 against Tampa Bay and Cleveland.

The White Sox took a 3-0 first-inning lead in a matchup of teams with the worst records in the American League. Benintendi hit a two-run shot to right field off Angels starter Reid Detmers (4-7). 

Two pitches later, Vaughn drove a fastball over the wall in left-center.

It was the fifth time the White Sox hit back-to-back homers, but it was the first since June 13 in Seattle.

Vaugh added an RBI triple in the third.

In the second inning, Benintendi's grounder drove in Zach DeLoach to make it 5-0. The left fielder hit his team-leading 19th home run in the seventh inning on a solo shot to right-center.

Lenyn Sosa also went deep for the White Sox as his homer to lead off the third inning extended their lead to 7-1.

Rookie Jonathan Cannon (4-10) went 6 2/3 innings and picked up his second win in three September starts. The right-hander tied a season-high with seven strikeouts and allowed four runs and three hits.

White Sox RHP Davis Martin (0-4, 4.14 ERA) makes his ninth start and 10th appearance of the season. Angels RHP Griffin Canning (5-13, 5.35 ERA) looks to bounce back after allowing 10 runs (nine earned) in 5 2/3 innings on Sept. 10 at Minnesota. Hear tonight's action on WHOW. 

Andre Pallante outdueled rookie Paul Skenes, striking out a career-high nine over seven innings to lead the St. Louis Cardinals over the Pittsburgh Pirates 4-0 on Monday night.

Pallante (7-8) allowed four hits and one walk. Andrew Kittredge and Ryan Fernandez each pitched a perfect inning, finishing a four-hitter and the ninth shutout for the Cardinals this season.

Skenes (10-3) gave up one run and four hits in six innings with seven strikeouts and one walk, falling to 0-2 in three starts against St. Louis.

Nolan Arenado hit an RBI single in the fourth after Alec Burleson reached on a grounder to shortstop Isiah Kiner-Falefa that was originally ruled an error and then was changed to a hit.

Pedro Pagés greeted Colin Holderman with an RBI single in the seventh. Brendan Donovan had an RBI double in the ninth and Lars Nootbaar followed with a sacrifice fly.

Nick Yorke started at second base for Pittsburgh and went 0 for 3 with a stolen base in his major league debut. Yorke's contract was selected from Indianapolis and the Pirates optioned Alika Williams to their Triple-A farm team.

Yorke, 22, was the 17th overall pick by Boston in the 2020 amateur draft and was acquired from the Red Sox on July 30 for right-hander Quinn Priester. Yorke hit .355 with two home runs and 26 RBIs in 40 games for Indianapolis.

Cardinals C Willson Contreras (fractured right middle finger) will miss the remainder of the regular season.

Pirates LHP Bailey Falter (8-7, 4.20 ERA) will face Cardinals RHP Lance Lynn (6-4, 3.96 ERA) Tuesday night.

Monticello will host Clinton tonight in non-conference high school volleyball action at the Sievers Center in Monticello.

Hear tonight's action on 95.9 FM WEZC and online at dewittdailynews.com. Game time is 7 pm. 

The Illinois football program is back in the top 25, coming in at #24 in Sunday's AP Top 25. 

Illinois is in the top 25 for the first time since 2022, when the Illini reached as high as #14 and were ranked for four consecutive weeks in October and November. 

Illinois was one spot outside of this week's Coaches Poll, coming in at #26. Nebraska is #22 in this week's Coaches Poll.

The Fighting Illini have knocked off Eastern Illinois, #19 Kansas, and Central Michigan to start the season 3-0 for the first time since 2011. Illinois is off to 3-0 start with a top-20 win for the first time in 50 years (1974). 

#24 Illinois is back in action on Friday night at #22 Nebraska for a 7 p.m. CT kickoff on FOX. It will be the Illini's first ranked vs. ranked game since 2008 when #21 Illinois fell 38-24 at #12 Penn State.

Malik Willis acknowledges he wasn’t ready the last time he had to start an NFL game. The Green Bay Packers quarterback knew he’d be more prepared the next time an opportunity arose.

With plenty of help from his new teammates, Willis went out and proved it Sunday by helping the Packers beat the Indianapolis Colts 16-10 on Sunday.

Acquired by Green Bay on Aug. 27 in trade from Tennessee, Willis threw his first career touchdown pass to help the Packers withstand the absence of the injured Jordan Love.

Love didn’t play after injuring his left medial collateral ligament during the final series of a 34-29 season-opening loss to the Philadelphia Eagles on Sept. 6 in Brazil. It was the first game Love missed since taking over as Green Bay’s starting quarterback last year.

The Packers (1-1) relied on an all-around effort to win without Love. Josh Jacobs ran for 151 yards on 32 carries to lead Green Bay's 261-yard rushing attack. The defense hounded Anthony Richardson into three interceptions.

But the Packers might not have won without Willis' steadiness.

Willis had made three previous career starts – all in 2022 – and hadn’t thrown for as many as 100 yards in any of them. Tennessee dealt Willis for a seventh-round pick after he couldn't beat out Mason Rudolph for the right to back up Titans starter Will Levis.

Willis played efficiently and went 12 of 14 for 122 yards, including a 14-yard touchdown pass to Dontayvion Wicks. Brayden Narveson went 3 of 4 on field-goal attempts to account for Green Bay’s other points.

Indianapolis' Jonathan Taylor rushed for 103 yards on 12 carries, but didn't touch the ball in the fourth quarter. Richardson was 17 of 34 for 204 yards with one touchdown to go along with his three interceptions. Richardson also ran for 37 yards on four carries.

The Packers didn’t need Willis to throw the ball much early because they were running wild against the Colts’ porous defense, enabling them to take a 10-0 advantage in the first quarter. That lead would reach 13-0 early in the third.

Green Bay ended up running the ball on 53 of its 67 snaps. It was the Packers' most running plays since they had 54 in a 10-10 tie with Minnesota in 1978.

The Packers gained 164 yards rushing in the first quarter alone, the highest first-quarter total for any NFL team since the Denver Broncos had 167 in the opening period of a 41-23 loss to the New England Patriots on Dec. 18, 2011. By halftime, the Packers had 237 yards rushing on 34 carries.

The Packers continued to run the ball on a hot day that challenged their own offensive linemen. The temperature at kickoff was 85 degrees, tied for the second-warmest home game in franchise history (since 1959) behind only an 89-degree game vs. Cincinnati on Sept. 24, 2017.

Indianapolis (0-2) was coming off a 29-27 loss to the Houston Texans in which they had allowed 213 yards rushing, the highest total any team had given up in the season’s opening week.

Green Bay blew a chance to break the game open early in the second quarter when Jacobs fumbled on first-and-goal from the 4. Zaire Franklin forced the fumble that Laiatu Latu recovered in the end zone.

The Colts' run defense stiffened in the second half, but they couldn’t come all the way back because their offense failed to capitalize on opportunities. The Colts failed to score on three separate trips into Packers territory.

Indianapolis cut the Packers' lead to 16-10 on Richardson's 4-yard touchdown pass to Alec Pierce with 1:47 left, but Green Bay's Evan Williams recovered the ensuing onside kick.

The Colts got the ball back at their own 5-yard line with 43 seconds left, but Williams intercepted a Hail Mary attempt from the Indianapolis 41 to end the game.

Packers: G Jordan Morgan didn't play the second half due to a shoulder injury and RB MarShawn Lloyd hurt his ankle.

The Colts host the Chicago Bears next Sunday.

The Packers visit the Tennessee Titans next Sunday.

In a second half where C.J. Stroud and the Houston offense struggled to move the ball, the Texans' defense stepped up Sunday night to secure a win over the Chicago Bears.

Houston picked off rookie Caleb Williams twice after halftime and the Texans held on for a 19-13 victory.

Stroud threw for 260 yards and a touchdown and Ka′imi Fairbairn kicked four field goals to help the Houston to the win.

Fairbairn connected from 56, 47, 59 and 53 yards, and Houston's defense put heavy pressure on Williams for much of the game.

Stroud’s 28-yard scoring pass to Nico Collins put Houston up 10-3 early in the second quarter, and the Texans led 16-10 at halftime.

Houston (2-0) managed only a field goal after halftime, but the defense made it hold up.

Williams, the No. 1 overall pick in the NFL draft, was 23 of 37 for 174 yards. He was sacked seven times.

Houston’s Cam Akers fumbled on the Chicago 4 with about 6 1/2 minutes left, and the Bears (1-1) recovered. Cairo Santos made a 54-yard field goal to make it 19-13 with 2:51 left.

The Texans couldn’t get anything going on their next drive and punted with about 90 seconds left. But Williams was sacked by Danielle Hunter on second down and his fourth-down pass fell incomplete to allow Houston to run out the clock.

Collins had 135 yards receiving for a second straight 100-yard game to power the offense in a game where Joe Mixon left briefly with an ankle injury. He managed just 25 yards rushing after he led the NFL with 159 yards rushing last weekend in his Houston debut.

Neither team scored in the second half until Houston extended the lead to 19-10 with a 53-yard field goal early in the fourth quarter. That score was set up when Williams was hit as he threw and was intercepted by Derek Stingley.

On Chicago’s second play of the next drive Williams escaped a sack only to throw another interception. This time he was picked off by rookie Kamari Lassiter, a second-round pick from Georgia.

The Texans went in front for good on Collins' TD reception on the first play of the second quarter. That play came after he was flagged for unsportsmanlike conduct on the previous play for pushing his hand into Tyrique Stevenson’s face after the cornerback back put his hands in Collins’ face.

The Texans made it 13-3 with a 47-yard field goal on their next possession. Stroud had a stellar throw on the drive, finding Collins for an 18-yard gain on the run despite taking a hit as he threw.

A 2-yard scoring run by Khalil Herbert just before halftime cut Houston's lead to 13-10. It was the first touchdown on offense for the Bears this season after they failed to score any last week. The score was set up by a pass interference call on rookie Calen Bullock that gave the Bears a first down at the 6.

A 59-yard field goal by Fairbairn made it 16-10 at halftime.

Bears: DL Zacch Pickens left in the second half with a groin injury. … WR Keenan Allen was inactive with a heel injury.

Fairbairn, who had three field goals 50 yards or longer last week, became the first player in NFL history with five or more field goals of at least 50 yards in a two-game span.

The Bears visit Indianapolis next Sunday.

In a game heard on WHOW, the White Sox won back-to-back games for the first time in nearly three months, beating the Oakland Athletics 4-3 on Sunday behind home runs from Gavin Sheets and Bryan Ramos to end a streak of 20 consecutive series losses.

A day after scoring in the ninth to win 7-6 and stop a 16-game home losing streak, the White Sox took a 3-0 first-inning lead and strung together wins for the first time since three in a row against Atlanta and Colorado from June 27-29. Chicago, which won two of three against the A's. hadn't won a series since taking two of three from the Rockies.

Ramos and Lenyn Sosa had two hits apiece for the White Sox.

Brent Rooker and Shea Langeliers homered for the Athletics (65-85). JJ Bleday and Nick Allen each had two hits.

JP Sears (11-11) gave up four runs and seven hits in six innings.

Andrew Vaughn's RBI single and Sheets' two-run homer built the early lead. Sheets has 10 homers after going deep in consecutive games.

Sean Burke struck out five in five innings of two-run ball.

Rooker hit his 37th homer, a two-run drive in the fifth, but Ramos boosted the lead with his sixth-inning homer.

Chicago is 35-115 with 12 games left and is trying to avoid the post-1900 record of 120 losses by the 1962 expansion New York Mets. The White Sox are 20-58 at home, one shy of the post-1900 mark for home losses shared by the 1939 St. Louis Browns and 2019 Detroit Tigers.

White Sox RHP Jonathan Cannon (3-10, 4.56) is scheduled to pitch Monday night at the Los Angeles Angels, who start LHP Reid Detmers (4-6, 5.64). Hear tonight's action on WHOW. 

Michael Busch had his first big league multi-homer game, helping the Chicago Cubs beat the Colorado Rockies 6-2 Sunday to stop a three-game losing streak.

Chicago went 3 for 14 with runners in scoring position and stranded 16 runners, tying the major league high for a nine-inning game this season.

Chicago (76-73), which had lost seven of 11, began the day six games behind Atlanta and the New York Mets for the final NL wild card. The Mets lost at Philadelphia.

Busch had a go-ahead RBI single in the third, then hit solo homers in the seventh inning off Jake Bird and the ninth against Justin Lawrence, increasing the rookie’s season total to 20. He was 6 for 10 with three homers and seven RBIs in the series.

Busch's first homer traveled 438 feet and the second a career-long 468 feet, both into the right field second deck,

Kyle Hendricks (4-11) allowed one run and two hits in six innings with seven strikeouts. Hendricks became the first pitcher in Cubs history to throw at least six innings while allowing two or fewer hits and one or fewer runs in a start at Coors Field, which opened in 1995.

Colorado pitchers walked 12 for the first time since a 12-11 win over Milwaukee on June 5, 1999.

Cal Quantrill (8-10) gave up two runs, four hits and six walks in 2 1/3 innings, throwing 69 pitches. He made his first appearance since recovering from right triceps inflammation, which had sidelined him since Aug. 27.

Nico Hoerner had an RBI single in the third as Chicago took a 2-0 lead.

Jacob Stallings hit his career-best ninth homer in the bottom half.

Pete Crow-Armstrong hit a two-run homer in the ninth, his 10th home run this season. He has 21 RBIs in his past 22 games.

Colorado loaded the bases with no outs in the ninth and got an RBI grounder from Nolan Jones. Tyson Miller then struck out Brendan Rodgers and Ezequiel Tovar for his first career save in four big league seasons.

Cubs LHP Shota Imanaga (13-3, 3.03 ERA) starts Monday night at Wrigley Field against Oakland RHP Joey Estes (7-7, 4.36) and visiting Oakland.

With championship contenders succumbing to late wrecks, shredded tires, and aggressive driving, Chris Buescher played spoiler and won Sunday at Watkins Glen International, leading a string of five non-playoff drivers to the finish.

William Byron’s Chevy skidded down the track and came to rest tilted against the wall with a tire jammed into Brad Keselowski’s driver-side window in a late fight for position between two NASCAR playoff drivers.

Ryan Blaney never got so lucky to remain in the second playoff race long enough to gobble playoff points. The 2023 NASCAR champion was knocked out at Watkins Glen International on the opening lap Sunday, his Ford towed to the garage against his wishes.

Denny Hamlin, Martin Truex Jr., Harrison Burton. The list of playoff drivers that took a beating on the track — and in the standings — dwarfed the ones that escaped the road course unscathed.

Already set to retire from full-time racing at the end of the season, Truex had seen enough of the demolition derby that sabotaged his championship push.

The chaos on the 2.45-mile course at The Glen — in the playoffs for the first time before it returns to an August date next year — shook up the playoff standings heading into the cutoff race.

Buescher held off Shane van Gisbergen in the thrilling two final overtime laps and won for the first time this season for RFK Racing. The 31-year-old Texan, who started 24th, has six career victories.

Chase Briscoe, who entered 16th in the playoff standings and 21 points behind the cutline, was sixth and the highest-finishing playoff driver in the field in the second race in NASCAR’s postseason. Four drivers will be cut from the field Saturday night at Bristol Motor Speedway.

Briscoe shot to 11th in the standings, six points above the cutline. Hamlin, Brad Keselowski, Truex, and Burton are the bottom four drivers.

Austin Cindric was 10th, only the second playoff driver in the top 10. Want to find the contenders? Look all the way to the bottom of the race results. Ten playoff drivers were dumped in the bottom 21 finishers.

The race was bedlam for the contenders from the start, when a wreck on the opening lap that knocked out Blaney also slowed fellow playoff drivers and Joe Gibbs Racing teammates Hamlin and Christopher Bell.

At least 11 playoff drivers ran into some sort of issue, including a rough scene late in the race where Keselowski and Byron crashed battling for position. Byron’s Chevrolet landed on top of Keselowski’s Ford with six laps left in the scheduled 90-lap race.

There was no way this thriller wasn’t going to end in regulation.

One by one, playoff drivers took a beating on the track — and in the standings.

Joey Logano raced his way into the second round of NASCAR’s playoffs by winning the opener last week at Atlanta Motor Speedway. He finished 15th There was no automatic qualifier at The Glen into the second round.

Bell finished 14th and holds a 46-point lead in the standings.

Kyle Larson, Byron, Briscoe and Ty Gibbs are the final four drivers above the cutline. Hamlin is six points out, Keselowski 12, Truex 14 and Burton is 20 points out of the final spot.

Blaney, the 2023 Cup champion, had his race ended on the opening lap after he was collected in a wreck that also involved playoff drivers Hamlin and Bell.

Blaney went from 45 points above the cutline to 29.

NASCAR rules dictated the No. 12 Ford must be towed to the garage, while Blaney argued his team should have been allowed to try and repair the car on pit road, giving him a shot at staying in the race.

NASCAR heads to its playoff cutoff race at Bristol where Hamlin is the defending race winner.

Nathan Lukes drove in the winning run with a double in the eighth inning as the Toronto Blue Jays beat the St. Louis Cardinals 3-2 on Sunday to complete a three-game sweep.

Pinch hitter George Springer singled off right-hander Andrew Kittredge (4-5) with one out in the eighth and Lukes followed with an RBI double into the left field corner.

Lukes and Kittredge were teammates with Tampa Bay’s Triple-A team in Durham in 2019, which Lukes felt gave him an edge in their late-game matchup.

Kittredge came in with an NL-leading 33 holds. He hadn’t allowed a run since Aug. 21 against Milwaukee.

Davis Schneider added a two-run home run, his second homer in two games, to help the Blue Jays sweep their fifth series of the season.

Right-hander Zach Pop (2-4) retired Nolan Arenado, the only batter he faced, for the final out of the eighth. Righty Chad Green stranded two runners in the ninth to earn his 17th save in 20 chances.

Lars Nootbaar homered for the Cardinals, who have lost six of nine to fall below .500 at 74-75. St. Louis was swept for the sixth time.

Blue Jays second baseman Leo Jiménez turned in the defensive play of the game in the sixth, diving to stop a hard grounder from Luken Baker and flipping to shortstop Ernie Clement to start an inning-ending 6-4-3 double play.

St. Louis outfielder Jordan Walker opened the scoring and chased Toronto starter Yariel Rodríguez with an RBI double in the fifth.

The Blue Jays answered in the bottom half when Schneider hit a two-run drive to center off Cardinals right-hander Miles Mikolas.

Before his solo home run Saturday, Schneider hadn’t homered since June 22. Sunday’s homer was his 12th of 2024.

St. Louis tied it when Nootbaar connected off left-hander Ryan Yarbrough to begin the seventh. The homer was Nootbaar’s 10th.

Rodríguez allowed one run and three hits in 4 1/3 innings while walking one and striking out two.

Mikolas was charged with two runs and three hits in five innings. He walked none and struck out four.

Cardinals RHP Andre Pallante (6-8, 4.13 ERA) is scheduled to start Monday in the opener of a three-game series against Pittsburgh. RHP Paul Skenes (10-2, 2.10) goes for the Pirates.

Heart of Central Illinois Conference games tonight

Ridgeview-Lexington 6

El Paso-Gridley 28

Tri-Valley 52 

Shelbyville 13

Eureka 47 

Dee-Mack 0

Gibson City-Melvin-Sibley 37 

Fisher 8

Fieldcrest 0 

LeRoy 49

Tuscola 24 

Meridian 6

Warrensburg-Latham 35 

Heyworth 12

Illini Prairie Conference 

Bloomington Central Catholic 21 

Paxton-Buckley-Loda 22 OT

Illinois Valley Central 6

Tolono Unity 48

Pontiac 15

Rantoul 21

St. Joseph-Ogden 49 

Prairie Central 20

Big Twelve

Champaign Central 15 

Peoria Notre Dame 54

Normal West 28 

Danville 14

Peoria Manual 8 

Bloomington 41

Peoria Richwoods 0

Champaign Centennial 32

Urbana 0

 Normal Community 56

Central State Eight 

Chatham-Glenwood 56

Decatur Eisenhower 14

Decatur MacArthur 7 

Normal U-High 48

Rochester 63

Lincoln 7

Jacksonville 10

 Springfield Sacred Heart-Griffin 35

Lincoln Prairie

Argenta-Oreana 14 

Arcola 33

Sangamon Valley 30

Cerro Gordo-Bement 0

Oakland Tri-County 14

Arthur-Lovington-Atwood-Hammond    49

Toledo-Cumberland 6

Sullivan-Okaw Valley 42

Mid-Illini

Limestone 28

East Peoria 47

Canton 7

Morton 53

Metamora 7 

Washington 37

Sangamo

Auburn 7

Maroa-Forsyth 57

Petersburg PORTA 16

New Berlin 59

Pittsfield 34 

Olympia 43

Pleasant Plains 21

Athens 26

Non-conference

Columbia 35

Taylorville 27

Decatur St. Teresa 42

Farmington 18

Mt. Zion 34

Salem 14

Peoria 58

Morris 52

Sparta 14

Central A & M 40

Sycamore 21

Mahomet-Seymour 13

As heard on WHOW, the Clinton Maroons defeated the Tremont Turks by a score of 49-8 at Clinton High School in Heart of Central Illinois high school football action. 

The Maroons were led by Keaton Graves, who had over 70 passing yards. Colton Walker had a big game on both sides of the ball, racking up 2 interceptions and 2 touchdowns. Kristian Hibbard also stood out, with over 50 rushing yards. Anthony Westbrook also had a touchdown. 

The Turks were led by quarterback Brett Bane, who had a passing touchdown and then ran it in for a two-point conversion.

Clinton improves to 3-0 while the Turks fall to 0-3.

Tune in next week as Clinton takes on Ridgeview-Lexington in Colfax at 7 pm. Hear the action on The Big 1520 AM/ 92.3 FM/ 106.5 FM and all its digital platforms. 

In a game heard on WHOW, Monticello used stifling defense and steady offense to roll past Mattoon 40-14 in non-conference high school football action Friday night in Monticello.

Senior quarterback, Ike Young accounted for five of the Sages' six touchdowns Friday. He completed 22-of-27 passes for 197 yards with three touchdowns and an interception and ran it 12 times for 78 yards and two scores.

After forcing Mattoon to punt on the opening possession, Young led a methodical drive down the field and Hunter Romano scored his first of two touchdowns with a five yard run to put the Sages up 6-0.

The Monticello defense continued to excellent play with a three-and-out and then Young hit Carter Foran over the middle from 19 yards out for the first of two touchdown receptions for the senior receiver, putting the Sages up 13-0.

Cale Kimrbo raced in a 79-yard touchdown on a short shovel pass for the Green Wave that cut the Monticello lead to 13-7. After a Young interception on the next possession, Monticello go the ball back and Young scored from six yards out for his first of two rushing touchdowns to make it 20-7. 

Puzzling clock management late by Mattoon gave the Sages the ball one more chance with 59 seconds remaining in the second half and Monticello scored again as Young found Romano from a yard out with 13 seconds to play for the half to make the score 26-7.

Romano was the ServPro of Piatt/DeWitt County Player of the Game. 

The Sages started the second half with the football and marched down the field where Young hit Foran for a 15-yard touchdown to put Monticello up 40-7. 

The final Sages score was a Young three-yard touchdown in the fourth quarter. 

While he didn't reach the end zone, Nolan Buehnerkemper paced Monticello receivers with eight receptions for 117 yards. 

Foran hauled in five catches for 48 yards with two touchdowns. 

The Green Wave drops to 0-3 overall.

Monticello improves to 2-1. They travel to Bloomington Central Catholic next Friday night. Hear the action on 95.9 FM WEZC and online at dewittdailynews.com. Game time is 7 pm. 

It's Homecoming Week at Clitnon High School and the Maroons football team is putting the distraction of the week aside and focusing on Tremont tonight. 

Last week, the Maroons won on the road against Alton Marquette 35-7. Head coach Ron Bass says they are taking on an improved Tremont team this week. 

Coach Bass notes they are still cleaning up some plays and working on missing assignments on the field. Meanwhile, he expects Colton Walker and Keaton Graves to continue their high level of play.

There was some frustration from players last week when things weren't going their way, so they have been working on patience and keeping their heads in the game.

It's Homecoming Week at Clinton. Game time is 7 pm, and you can catch all the action right here on WHOW and all our digital platforms. 

Heart of Central Illinois Conference games tonight

Ridgeview-Lexington at El Paso-Gridley
Tri-Valley at Shelbyville
Eureka at Dee-Mack
Gibson City-Melvin-Sibley at Fisher
Fieldcrest at LeRoy
Tuscola at Meridian
Warrensburg-Latham at Heyworth

While the Mattoon Green Wave has experienced its share of struggles this year, Monticello Coach Cully Welter knows the 5A Apollo Conference team won't be a pushover.

The 1-1 Sages battle the 1-1 Mattoon Green Wave tonight at Monticello High School. Because of the strength of the Illini Prairie Conference this year, Coach Welter knows this is a big game for his team.

Coming out of a 52-14 win over IVC, Coach Welter would like to his line play improve. He feels those are two units that should have a lot of success and feels they've underachieved so far.

Game time tonight is 7 pm. Hear the action starting with the pregame around 6:45 on 95.9 FM WEZC and online at dewittdailynews.com. 

Illini Prairie Conference 

Bloomington Central Catholic at Paxton-Buckley-Loda

Illinois Valley Central at Tolono Unity

Pontiac at Rantoul

St. Joseph-Ogden at Prairie Central

Big Twelve

Champaign Central at Peoria Notre Dame

Normal West at Danville 

Peoria Manual at Bloomington 

Peoria Richwoods at Champaign Centennial

Urbana at Normal Community

Central State Eight 

Chatham-Glenwood at Decatur Eisenhower

Decatur MacArthur at Normal U-High

Rochester at Lincoln

Jacksonville at Springfield Sacred Heart-Griffin

Springfield at Springfield Lanphier

Springfield Southeast at Quincy Notre Dame

Lincoln Prairie

Argenta-Oreana at Arcola

Sangamon Valley at Cerro Gordo-Bement

Nokomis at Villa Grove

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

Toledo-Cumberland at Sullivan-Okaw Valley

Mid-Illini

Limestone at East Peoria

Canton at Morton

Metamora at Washington

Pekin at Dunlap

Sangamo

Auburn at Maroa-Forsyth

Petersburg PORTA at New Berlin 

Pittsfield at Olympia

Pleasant Plains at Athens

Non-conference

Columbia at Taylorville

Decatur St. Teresa at Farmington

Mt. Zion at Salem

Peoria at Morris

Sparta at Central A & M

Sycamore at Mahomet-Seymour

8-Man football

Blue Ridge at Milford

Illinois coach Bret Bielema said he isn't worried about his players and a possible letdown heading into Saturday's home game against Central Michigan.

The Illini are coming off a 23-17 home win last Saturday over Kansas, which entered the game ranked No. 19 and left with the program's first defeat of a ranked non-conference opponent since 2011. Bielema said his team is mature enough to understand the importance of quickly turning the page after a huge win and focusing on the next game.

Off to a 2-0 start, Illinois has had good quarterback play from Luke Altmyer, who has completed 71.4 percent his passes and thrown for 405 yards and four touchdowns in the first two games.

The defense has forced eight turnovers already, including four against Kansas.

This will be the last of three non-conference home games for Illinois before it opens Big Ten play at Nebraska on Sept. 20.

Central Michigan comes in at 1-1 following a 52-16 loss at Florida International last week.

It was a strange game statistically because the Chippewas outgained FIU, 369-309 yards, despite losing by 36 points.

The biggest issue for Central Michigan was that it turned the ball over six times, including five interceptions thrown by starting quarterback Joe Labas, to give FIU a series of short fields to work with.

The Chippewas were picked to finish eighth in the Mid-American Conference preseason poll.

Even though the teams are in the same geographic region, this will be the first-ever meeting between them. Illinois is 20-6 all-time against current Mid-American Conference teams.

Game time is 11 am Saturday.

With two road games to start the season under its belt, No. 18 Illinois State will host its home openers on Saturday against longtime in-state rival Western Illinois.

Quarterback Tommy Rittenhouse did it all for the Redbirds in their road win at North Alabama. The junior quarterback from Geneva, Illinois, rushed for a career-high 94 yards and accounted for 236 yards of total offense in the Redbirds' win over the Lions. Rittenhouse was also responsible for three touchdowns in the win, two coming on the ground and one through the air. 

Despite not having the services of preseason All-American and 2023 MVFC Newcomer of the Year Mason King due to injury, the Redbirds still managed to control the game on the ground in their 24-17 road win at North Alabama. ISU racked up 325 yards on the ground, its most since rushing for 345 yards in a win against Murray State late last season. 

The rushing attack was led by senior Wenkers Wright, who racked up 153 yards on the ground including a big 54 yard run late in the fourth quarter that helped put the game away. 

Rittenhouse also rushed for a career-best 94 yards in the contest, with two rushing scores including a 71-yard dash. 

Newcomer Seth Glatz also had a solid game with 51 yards and Josh Robinson added 37. Wide receiver Xavier Loyd also got in on the mix, picking up nine yards and a first down on an end-around run.

Coming off a week one tough assignment against the Iowa Hawkeyes, the Redbird defense looked to get back to its standard of stopping the run against North Alabama. The usually stout rushing defense for the Redbirds was apparent once again, as they held the Lions to just 83 yards on the ground and racked up nine TFLs in the 24-17 victory. 

Joe Davis (Adrian, 2002) is in his first season as the head coach at Western Illinois (0-2). Davis became the 32nd Head Football Coach at Western Illinois in December 2023 after serving the last two years as the Offensive Coordinator and Quarterback Coach at Eastern Illinois. Prior to EIU, Davis spent 2018-2021 as the Associate Head Coach, Offensive Coordinator and Quarterbacks Coach at UAlbany.

Western is off to an 0-2 start to the season, after dropping games to a pair of FBS foes in Northern Illinois (54-15) and Indiana (77-3). The Leathernecks come into the game looking to snap a 26-game losing streak. The last Western Illinois victory came on Saturday, October 30, 2021, against Illinois State. The last Leatherneck road win was at Youngstown State on September 25, 2021.

Game time is noon on Saturday.

The Indianapolis Colts (0-1) will try to be a little more patient Sunday when they visit Green Bay in a game that could depend on how well each team runs the ball.

Anthony Richardson says the Colts may have been a little too eager on offense as they kept throwing deep in a season-opening loss to the Houston Texans.

Green Bay (0-1) likely will be playing without quarterback Jordan Love, who hasn't been practicing this week after injuring his left medial collateral ligament on the third-to-last play of the Packers’ 34-29 loss to the Philadelphia Eagles in Brazil.

If Love is unable to play, Malik Willis will be starting for the Packers less than three weeks after Green Bay acquired him in a trade with the Tennessee Titans. The 2022 third-round draft pick’s only three career starts so far came in his rookie season, and he didn’t throw for as many as 100 yards in any of them.

Both teams are trying to avoid digging themselves an early hole after losing their openers.

Green Bay gained 414 yards - the third-highest total by any NFL team in the opening week - but hurt itself against Philadelphia by committing 10 penalties and squandering red zone opportunities. The Colts lost 29-27 to the Texans and allowed 213 yards rushing.

Indianapolis’ run defense will have to perform much better Sunday to have a realistic chance of beating the Packers, who ran for 163 yards on just 21 carries against the Eagles. Josh Jacobs, the 2022 NFL rushing leader with Las Vegas, ran for 84 yards in his Packers debut.

Colts cornerback JuJu Brents went on injured reserve Tuesday after he hurt his knee against the Texans.

Indy remains hopeful Brents returns this season. Brents’ replacement Sunday will probably be Dallis Flowers, who missed all of last season with a torn Achilles tendon. The Colts could move Pro Bowl slot cornerback Kenny Moore II outside, pairing him with Jaylon Jones.

Packers wide receiver Jayden Reed is coming off a brilliant performance in which he scored on a 70-yard catch and a 33-yard run.

Reed was just the fifth player since the 1970 AFL-NFL merger to score on a catch of at least 70 yards and a run of at least 30 yards in the same game. Reed also had a 38-yard touchdown catch nullified due to offsetting penalties.

In the Texans game, Richardson became the first Colts quarterback to complete three passes of at least 50 yards in one game. He threw TD passes of 60 yards to Alec Pierce and 54 yards to Ashton Dulin, and added a 57-yarder to Pierce that set up another score.

But on Richardson’s other 16 attempts, he had only six completions totaling 41 yards with one interception. The bigger problem: Indy had the ball for exactly 20 minutes and ran only 43 plays, not nearly enough to help the team's defense stay fresh - and it showed late in the game.

This game marks Colts running back Jonathan Taylor’s return to the state of Wisconsin. The 2021 NFL rushing leader attended college at Wisconsin and was a two-time winner of the Doak Walker Award, given annually to the nation’s top college running back.

Taylor had 14 carries for 48 yards and one touchdown last weekend, extending his league-high streak of consecutive games with a TD to seven.

The Packers must try to slow down a mobile quarterback and a dynamic running back from Indianapolis. The challenge is comparable to the task they faced against the Eagles, who had Jalen Hurts and Saquon Barkley in the backfield.

owns (two rushing, one receiving) and ran for 109 yards against the Packers. The Eagles totaled 144 yards rushing.

Game time is noon on Sunday.

Eastern Illinois plays its second Big Ten opponent of the season on Saturday night when the Panthers travel to Northwestern.  

Eastern improved to 1-1 on the season following a 27-20 win over Indiana State in the Panthers home opener on Saturday.  The win came on the heels of a season opening loss at Illinois on Aug. 29.  

Terrance Gipson opened his EIU career battling for the starting quarterback position in the spring of 2023.  On Saturday against Indiana State he broke through for the Panthers at another position hauling in six passes for 100 yards as a wide receiver.  Gipson also returned one kickoff for 14 yards. 

Moses Alexander picked up a loose fumble and returned it 60 yards for a touchdown as part of Eastern Illinois home opening win over Indiana State.  Alexander picked up the fumble forced by Nick Coates.

The fumble return touchdown was part of Alexander's solid defensive day which included seven solo tackles. 

NiJhay Burt picked off two passes against Indiana State while recording another pass break-up leading EIU's defense in the home win.  Burt finished with nine tackles (six solo) including one tackle for loss. 

Northwestern also enters at 1-1 with NU's three opening games at home this year.  

Game time is 6:40 pm on Saturday night. Hear the action starting at 6 pm with the pregame on WHOW and all its digital platforms. 

The Houston Texans had the most yards rushing in the NFL with 213 in a Week 1 win over Indianapolis and their 417 total yards ranked second.

Not bad, the Texans say, but they’re certain they can do much more as they prepare for this week’s “Sunday Night Football” matchup with the Chicago Bears.

For the Bears, the best way to describe their offensive performance in the opener against Tennessee would be forgettable. No. 1 overall pick Caleb Williams completed just 14 of 29 passes for 93 yards and Chicago did not score a touchdown on offense. But the Bears rallied from a 17-point deficit for the win thanks to a touchdown on defense and a special teams score.

There’s a lot of things Williams would like to do better, but he’s encouraged that the team still managed to get a win despite his struggles. He’s the first No. 1 pick to win his first start since David Carr helped Houston to a victory over Dallas in the first game in franchise history in 2002.

Williams could be down a wide receiver or two with rookie Rome Odunze and six-time Pro Bowler Keenan Allen dealing with injuries.

The Bears were at least breathing a little easier this week after an MRI on Odunze’s knee showed no major structural damage. Drafted ninth overall, he sprained an MCL blocking late in the Tennessee game and hopped off the field on the next play.

Allen, acquired in a trade with the Los Angeles Chargers, has been dealing with a heel issue for a few weeks. He sat out practice on Wednesday.

Allen and Odunze were two of the biggest additions behind Williams in an offseason overhaul to the offense. With DJ Moore in his second season in Chicago, the Bears might have one of the deepest wide receiver groups.

The injuries could mean Tyler Scott - a healthy inactive last week - starts.

What they have this year is a powerful running game, led by former Bengals star Mixon, that has bolstered an offense run by Stroud and which added star receiver Stefon Diggs this offseason.

Mixon had a career-high 30 carries for 159 yards and a touchdown in his Houston debut to earn AFC Offensive Player of the Week honors. Early indications are that he will give the Texans a steady presence at running back after years of struggles at the position.

Coach DeMeco Ryans gave Mixon and the running game credit for carrying the team Sunday.

Stroud didn’t waste any time getting things going with Diggs in their first game together last week after his blockbuster trade from Buffalo. Stroud threw two touchdown passes against the Colts and both were to Diggs.

Diggs joined Tampa Bay’s Mike Evans and Allen Lazard of the New York Jets as the only players to have two TD receptions last week.

Bears cornerback Tyrique Stevenson is off to a good start after finishing last season on a strong note.

The second-year pro was NFC Defensive Player of the Week for the second time in three games going back to last season, after returning an interception 43 yards for the go-ahead touchdown against Tennessee and his first career score.

Stevenson also took those honors for his performance in Week 17 last year, when he had two interceptions in a win over Atlanta. And with Pro Bowler Jaylon Johnson at the other cornerback spot, quarterbacks will have a tough time finding openings.

Game time is 7:30 pm. 

Two-time Cup Series champion Joey Logano began his try for a third title in strong fashion with a win in Atlanta and advanced him into the round of 12 as the next leg of the postseason goes north to Watkins Glen, New York. 

Logano got a push from Team Penske teammate and defending champion Ryan Blaney on a final restart and took the checkered flag in overtime when a crash on the last lap ended the race with Logano out front. Daniel Suarez was second, Blaney third and Christopher Bell fourth.

Blaney’s strong showing put him atop the driver standings after Atlanta. Bell is second with regular-season champion Tyler Reddick third. 

2022 Cup Series champion Kyle Larson led in playoff points entering Atlanta, but he was involved in an early wreck with another playoff participant, Chase Briscoe, and finished 35th in the race. Larson is 10th in the playoff standings, 15 points above the cut line. 

Those on the wrong side of the bubble include past champions Brad Keselowski and Martin Truex Jr. Keselowski is one point in back of 12th-place Ty Gibbs. Truex, retiring after this season, is 19 points behind Gibbs.

Practice and qualifying is at 10:30 am Saturday and race time is 2 pm Sunday afternoon.

Two races remain in the regular season, with Bristol following Watkins Glen to set the 12-team playoffs and the Xfinity Series' postseason starts in Kansas on Sept. 28 with Talladega and the Charlotte Roval making up the rest of the first round. 

Justin Allgaier hold the regular-season points lead by 34 points over defending Xfinity champ Cole Custer. Chandler Smith is third and Austin Hill fourth. Sammy Smith has the 12th and final playoff spot, leading Ryan Sieg by 44 points. A pair of first time winners, though, in the final two regular-season races could push Smith outside the postseason.

Hill grabbed the lead 11 laps from the end to sweep both Xfinity races in Atlanta this season. It was his fourth Xfinity win at Atlanta Motor Speedway, his home track. 

Hill received a push on the final lap from Corey Heim, who was making his first superspeedway start in the Xfinity Series. Chandler Smith tried to pass Hill low on the last lap and nosed in front of Hill’s bumper. But Heim stayed high behind Hill and both cleared Smith. Heim tried a pass of his own before brushing the wall to lose momentum.

Practice and qualifying is 8:30 am on Saturday and race time is 2 pm Saturday afternoon. 

The Craftsman Truck Series returns next week when they race at Bristol Motorspeedway Thursday night, Sept. 19. 

Masyn Winn and Brendan Donovan each homered to help the St. Louis Cardinals beat the Cincinnati Reds 6-1 on Thursday.

Cardinals starting pitcher Sonny Gray (13-9) was perfect through five innings before Jake Fraley singled to leadoff the sixth. He finished the day allowing one run on two hits and two walks while striking out nine batters in six innings.

Andrew Kittredge pitched 1 2/3 innings of scoreless relief before JoJo Romero got the final four outs for his first save of the season.

Thomas Saggese singled to center to drive in Lars Nootbaar for his first career RBI in the eighth inning after getting his first major league hit in the sixth.

Cardinals RHP Erick Fedde (8-9, 3.39 ERA) will face Blue Jays RHP Kevin Gausman (12-11, 4.09 ERA) to start a three-game series in Toronto on Friday night.

Paul Goldschmidt's double in the eighth inning scored Michael Siani with the tiebreaking run, and the St. Louis Cardinals beat the Cincinnati Reds 2-1 on Wednesday night.

Siani led off the eighth with a single and stole second despite the Reds pitching out on the play.

With out one, pinch-hitter Alec Burleson was hit by a pitch. Goldschmidt, who had singled in the first inning, doubled to center off pitcher Buck Farmer (3-1), scoring Siani.

JoJo Romero (7-2) got the final two outs in the eighth inning and earned the win. Ryan Helsley needed just eight pitches for a 1-2-3 ninth inning and earned his MLB-leading 44th save in 48 opportunities.

St. Louis starter Lance Lynn tied his career high with seven strikeouts in five innings.

Cincinnati starter Brandon Williamson, who has missed much of this season after having surgery for a Bennett lesion on his shoulder, pitched five innings. He allowed one run on three hits and two walks, striking out five.

The Reds took a 1-0 lead in the fourth on a two-out single by Santiago Espinal. He drove in Spencer Steer, who led off with a double and stole third.

St. Louis tied it 1-1 in fourth when Nolan Arenado hit his 16th homer, barely clearing the wall in left-center. An official review confirmed the home run call.

In the finale of the three-game series, the Cardinals will send RHP Sonny Gray (12-9, 3.84 ERA) to the mound against LHP Brandon Williamson (0-0, 2.08).

Lane Thomas had four RBIs and the Cleveland Guardians held on behind their bullpen to beat the Chicago White Sox 6-4 on Wednesday for a three-game series sweep.

Austin Hedges added a solo home run for the AL Central-leading Guardians, who moved 4 1/2 games ahead of second-place Kansas City when the Royals lost 4-3 in 11 innings at Yankee Stadium. Cleveland and New York are tied for the best record in the American League.

The Guardians finished 6-3 on a three-city trip that included stops in Kansas City and at Dodger Stadium in Los Angeles.

Chicago dropped a franchise-record 15th straight at home, lost its 17th in 19 overall and was swept for the 24th time. At 33-114, the White Sox are closing in on the post-1900 record for losses - 120 by the 1962 New York Mets in their inaugural season.

Thomas drove in his four runs on a pair of infield singles with two outs when Cleveland runners on second and third were in motion and able to race home. He beat out a tapper to third, then a hard bouncer that second baseman Lenyn Sosa ranged to corral at the edge of the outfield grass. He had three hits overall.

The White Sox cut their deficit to 5-4 in the third inning, scoring three of four runs unearned following Andrés Giménez's throwing error. They loaded the bases with none out, then scored on Sosa’s single, Boyd’s balk, Vargas’ groundout and Dominic Fletcher’s infield hit.

Cleveland tacked on an insurance run in the eighth.

Garrett Crochet (6-11, 3.83) starts on Friday against Oakland. The Athletics hadn't named a starter for the opener of their six-game visit to Chicago - with three against the White Sox followed by three at the Cubs. The White Sox are back on the WHOW airwaves on Sunday afternoon.

Gavin Lux singled in the go-ahead run with two outs in the seventh inning and the Los Angeles Dodgers rallied after blowing a 7-3 lead to beat the Chicago Cubs 10-8 on Wednesday night and avoid a series sweep.

Shohei Ohtani hit his 47th home run and stole his 48th base while three other Dodgers went deep in the first inning for the NL West leaders, whose magic number to clinch the division dropped to 11 after San Diego lost at Seattle.

The Dodgers walked 10 batters, including four by starter Bobby Miller.

Switch hitting Tommy Edman homered for the fourth time in 24 hours. His two-out, two-run shot off Trey Wingenter in the eighth extended the Dodgers' lead to 10-7. He also went deep in the first from the right side and later from the left, the first time he's homered from both sides in the same game.

Trailing by three, the Cubs threatened in the ninth. Michael Kopech loaded the bases on consecutive walks to Dansby Swanson, Seiya Suzuki and former Dodger Cody Bellinger.

Kopech was called for a pitch-clock violation, giving an automatic ball to Isaac Paredes, whose sacrifice fly cut Chicago's deficit to 10-8. Suzuki was thrown out trying to steal third and former Dodger Michael Busch struck out swinging to end the game as Kopech eked out his 13th save.

Alex Vesia (3-4) got the win with one inning of relief.

The Cubs outscored the Dodgers 16-7 in winning the first two games. They took the season series, 4-2.

The Dodgers blew a lead for the second straight game. They were ahead 3-1 on Tuesday and lost 6-3. After their big first inning Wednesday, they eventually led 7-3 only to watch the Cubs tie it in the fifth.

Will Smith doubled off Shawn Armstrong (3-3) in the seventh and scored on Lux’s single to center, putting the Dodgers back in front, 8-7.

Miller put the Dodgers in a 2-0 hole in the first. He gave up back-to-back, two-out walks before Paredes and Busch drove in runs.

The Dodgers answered with four homers in the bottom of the inning to take a 5-2 lead.

Ohtani moved closer to becoming the first player in Major League history with 50 homers and 50 stolen bases in a season. He led off with a 405-foot shot to center and then walked and stole second in the second.

After two outs, Teoscar Hernández singled and scored on Edman’s homer into the left-field pavilion on the first pitch. Edman homered twice on two pitches against the Cubs on Tuesday.

Smith followed with a 404-foot shot to nearly the same spot in left. Muncy came up next and sent a towering 401-foot blast to right field on his bobblehead night.

Bellinger hit a three-run shot in the fifth that chased Miller and left Chicago trailing 7-6. The Cubs loaded the bases on two walks by Daniel Hudson and an error by second baseman Chris Taylor before Pete Crow-Armstrong's RBI single tied it 7-7.

Trying to make his case for a postseason roster spot, Miller gave up six runs, including his 16th homer, and five hits in 4 1/3 innings. The right-hander's ERA ballooned to 8.17. He struck out two and walked four, including three with two outs.

Cubs RHP Javier Assad (7-5, 3.14 ERA) starts Friday at Colorado.

If you're going to be a playoff football team, you're going to have to travel and take care of the details.

Coach Ron Bass says his Clinton Maroons football team was not ready to play Friday night in its 35-7 win over Alton Marquette on the road in non-conference high school football action. Despite that, he notes the kids buckled down and were able to come out with the win.

Coach Bass credited Alton Marquette for their game plan and the ability to slow the Maroons' offense but also praised his team's ability to respond to adversity.

Keaton Graves and Colton Walker continue to pace the Maroons offense. Coach Bass points out Graves did a good job leading the team when they needed a score and Walker continues to make an impact on both sides of the ball.

It's Homecoming Week at Clinton High School. The Maroons host Tremont Friday night. Hear all the action on WHOW and all its digital platforms starting at 7 pm.

Coming into Monticello's week two matchup at IVC, head coach Cully Welter wanted his team to be more physical and more ready at the snap.

The Hall of Fame football coach thought his team showed improvement in those areas despite a slow start to the second half where the Sages allowed the Grey Ghosts to march down the field on the opening possession for a score and then a special teams miscue that led to another score by IVC.

Ike Young had a monster game for Monticello at the quarterback position with nearly 400 total yards of offense. Top receiver Carter Foran also had another 100 yard receiving game. Coach Welter says it is nice to have Young's ability to improvise when things break down and Foran's steady presence down the field. 

Monticello welcomes Mattoon to Monticello this Friday night. Hear the action starting with the pre-game around 6:45 pm on 95.9 FM WEZC and online at dewittdailynews.com.

Nils Pfaff scored four goals and Blue Ridge blanked Champaign Judah Christian 4-0 in high school soccer action Tuesday in Farmer City.

Josh Berlker, Indra Nolan and Ben Clevenger had assists on Pfaff's goals. Goalie Devin Wrestler added and assist and four saves in net for the Knights. 

The Clinton Lady Maroons varsity volleyball squad dropped its match to Heyworth in two sets Monday night at Heyworth High School in non-conference high school volleyball action.

The Lady Maroons JV squad earned its first victory of the season with a 2-0 win.

The freshman dropped its match.

The Lady Maroons are at Tolono Unity this evening.

In a game heard on WHOW, Joey Cantillo pitched seven sparkling innings for his first major league win, and the Cleveland Guardians beat the Chicago White Sox 5-3 on Monday night.

Hear tonight's action on WHOW. 

Michael Busch went 4 for 5 with a homer and scored three runs, Cody Bellinger had three RBIs including a two-run homer, and the Chicago Cubs beat the NL West-leading Los Angeles Dodgers 10-4 on Monday night.

The Cubs' offense broke out for 16 hits - with every player getting at least one - coming off a series loss to the AL East-leading New York Yankees in which they had a combined seven hits and two runs in three games.

Bellinger and Busch gave the Cubs a 3-0 lead with two outs in the first inning against their old team.

Bellinger slugged a first-pitch, two-run homer off Walker Buehler (1-5) that also scored Ian Happ, who singled leading off. The ball traveled 430 feet - halfway up the right-field pavilion - for his longest homer of the season and drew cheers from Chicago fans in the crowd of 50,495. Busch added an RBI single.

Busch went deep down the left-field line with two strikes in the fourth, extending Chicago’s lead to 4-0.

Hendricks walked the bases loaded with two outs in the third - when Shohei Ohtani stole his 47th base of the season - but Max Muncy lined out to Busch at first base on the first pitch to end the threat.

Hendricks allowed two runs and four hits in 4 1/3 innings. Keegan Thompson (2-1) worked 1 2/3 scoreless innings in relief for the win.

Buehler gave up five runs and nine hits in five innings. He struck out four and walked one.

The Dodgers scored twice in the fifth on Mookie Betts ’ RBI single and Muncy’s bases-loaded sacrifice fly to trail 4-2. Hendricks left after loading the bases for the second time.

The Cubs extended their lead to 7-2 in the sixth on Busch's RBI single and Miguel Amaya's two-run single off reliever Anthony Banda with two outs. Busch, like Bellinger, finished with three RBIs.

The Dodgers closed to 7-4 in the seventh on Betts' two-run homer and had the potential tying run at the plate before Shawn Armstrong struck out Gavin Lux to end the inning.

Busch scored on Pete Crow-Armstrong's sacrifice fly in the eighth, and Bellinger added an RBI single in a two-run ninth.

Cubs LHP Shota Imanaga (12-3, 2.99 ERA) combined with two relievers on the 18th no-hitter in franchise history last week against Pittsburgh.

Dodgers RHP Yoshinobu Yamamoto (6-2, 2.92) starts Tuesday after missing nearly three months with a rotator cuff strain. He's expected to throw three innings.

Jameson Taillon allowed only one run in six innings and the Chicago Cubs beat the New York Yankees 2-1 on Sunday to avoid a series sweep.

Taillon (10-8) struck out six against his former team. He gave up Anthony Volpe's second-inning, RBI sacrifice fly and allowed six hits.

New York remained a half-game ahead of second-place Baltimore in the AL East.

Chicago won 10 of 13 games in late August, but had dropped four of five to the Pirates and Yankees during its homestand entering Sunday.

Randy Arozarena and Jorge Polanco hit two-run home runs and the Seattle Mariners scored five times in the first inning on their way to a 10-4 victory over the St. Louis Cardinals on Sunday.

After getting shut out for the ninth time this season, Seattle started the game with five straight hits and all five batters came around to score.

Julio Rodríguez led off with a double to left field and scored on Cal Raleigh’s single. Luke Raley followed Arozarena’s single with a two-run double. He and Justin Turner would eventually score on Mitch Garner’s two-out single that made it 5-0.

Dominic Fletcher's RBI double sparked a five-run ninth inning and the Chicago White Sox avoided a three-game sweep with a 7-2 victory over the Boston Red Sox on Sunday.

Chicago starter Chris Flexen's winless streak extended to 21 straight starts - the longest in team history - after he was pulled with the game tied in the seventh inning. The 30-year-old right-hander gave up two runs on six hits, striking out six and walking one.

Chicago (33-111) had lost 14 of its last 15 games before rallying against Boston reliever Zack Kelly (6-3). Zach DeLoach added a two-run single in the ninth inning.

The MLB-worst White Sox are nine losses away from tying the 1962 New York Mets for the most losses since 1900, and are on pace to finish 37-125. The 1899 Cleveland Spiders hold the MLB loss record at 20-134.

This wasn't exactly the debut Caleb Williams envisioned. Good thing for him, his defense made just enough plays.

Tyrique Stevenson returned an interception 43 yards for the go-ahead touchdown, part of a defensive performance that bailed out Williams, and the Chicago Bears beat the Tennessee Titans 24-17 on Sunday.

The Bears, who have their sights set on a playoff spot after going 10-24 over the previous two seasons, rallied from a 17-0 first-half deficit, and they did it without a touchdown from their revamped offense. They shut down the Titans over the final two quarters and spoiled the debut of Tennessee coach Brian Callahan.

Williams, the No. 1 overall pick, finished 14 of 29 for 93 yards with a 55.7 passer rating. The former Heisman Trophy winner at Southern California still became the first quarterback drafted first overall to win his initial start since 2002, when David Carr led Houston past Dallas. The past 15 No. 1 picks were a combined 0-14-1 in first starts, beginning with Cincinnati’s Carson Palmer in 2003.

Illinois made quite an impression nationally on Saturday. Following a 23-17 win over No. 19 Kansas in front of a sold-out crowd at Memorial Stadium, Illinois finished just one spot outside of the AP Top 25 just behind No. 25 Northern Illinois, which upset Notre Dame in South Bend on Saturday.

Illinois received 101 points from AP voters, putting them just behind No. 24 Boston College (116 points) and No. 25 Northern Illinois (114 points).

Saquon Barkley has been practicing the art of positive thinking since switching teams for the first time in his career.

Yet he probably couldn’t have imagined making such a spectacular debut for the Philadelphia Eagles.

Barkley scored three touchdowns Friday night in the first NFL game in South America and led the Eagles to a 34-29 victory over the Green Bay Packers, who lost quarterback Jordan Love to an injury in the closing seconds.

Now it's the Packers who will try to get negative thoughts out of their minds as they worry about the future of Love, who signed a four-year, $220 million extension this summer. Love limped off the field with assistance after getting injured with 6 seconds left.

Packers coach Matt LaFleur had no update on Love's condition after the game.

As heard on WHOW, the Clinton Maroons defeated the Marquette Catholic High School Explorers by a score of 35-7. The Maroons were led by Keaton Graves, who is a threat in many ways on the field. He showed off his ability to pass the ball last night with multiple 20-yard passes, and his ability to rush with a couple of 30-yard runs and a rushing touchdown.

Colton Walker also had a great night, with two touchdowns and an interception. 

The Explorers wer led by running back Alex McCloud who came out of the game 3 times for injury, and returned all 3 times. He had the ball more than anyone player on either team during the game. 

Clinton improves to 2-0 and Alton Marquette falls to 0-2.

Tune in next week as Clinton takes on Tremont at 7 PM on the Big 1520 AM/92.3 FM/ 106.5 FM and on all our digital platforms.

In a game heard on WEZC and online at dewittdailynews.com, Ike Young accounted for 401 yards of total offense and Carter Foran broke the 200 receiving yards threshold as Monticello rolled past IVC 52-14 in Illini Prairie Conference high school football action Friday in Chillicothe.

Young was a cool 19-for-24 through the air with 342 passing yards and two touchdowns. He also had nine carries for 52 yards and four touchdowns.

He hit Foran for nine receptions and 231 yards and both touchdowns. 

The seniors connected on touchdowns of 53 yards and 39 yards. 

Monticello led 36-0 at the half and held the Grey Ghosts to 37 yards of total offense in the first half. 

But IVC started the second half inspired and marched right down the field when senior quarterback Bryce Radcliffe hit Brynden Coventry for an 11-yard touchdown.

On the ensuing kickoff, the ball bounced off the hands of a frontline Monticello special teams player and IVC jumped on the loose ball setting up the second score of the quarter when Radcliffe ran in a score from eight yards out to make it 36-14.

Monticello senior Matt Swartz scored from five yards out on the next possession on an option play for his first touchdown of the season.

Swartz also recorded a sack on defense.

Nolan Beuhnerkemper hauled in six receptions for 81 yards Friday.

Radcliffe finished 11 for 18 and threw for 122 yards with a touchdown. 

Coventry had four receptions for 44 yards with a touchdown. Senior Micah Hall paced the Grey Ghosts receivers with three catches for 60 yards.

IVC falls to 0-2 on the season. 

Monticello is now 1-1 on the season. They will host Mattoon next Friday night at 7 p.m. Hear the action on 95.9 FM WEZC and online at dewittdailynews.com. 

Last week, The Clinton Maroons showed up and showed out in a blow out victory against East Alton Wood River at home. 

They lead the game 40-0 at half time against a team that went 0-9 in the 23-24 season. They were able to put up another 17 points with a running clock in the second half to finish the game 57-0 and begin the season with a record of 1-0. 

Quarterback Keaton Graves and Wide Receiver Colton Walker were two stand-out players, leading the offense to victory. Kristian Hibbard also had quite the night on the defensive line, causing stop after stop and forcing multiple sacks.

This week, the Maroons travel to Alton to take on Marquette Catholic High School, who went 1-8 in the 23-24 season. Last week, they fell to Civic Memorial High School 43-2, only scoring on a safety. 

Catch all the unstoppable Maroons action right here on the big 1520 AM/92.3 FM/106.5 FM and all our digital platforms tonight at 7 PM. 

Heart of Central Illinois Conference

Gibson City-Melvin-Sibley at Warrensburg-Latham
Heyworth at Meridian
Central A & M at Fieldcrest
Tuscola at Fisher
Casey-Westfield at El Paso-Gridley
Tri-Valley at LeRoy
Eureka at Peru St. Bede
Dee-Mack at Trenton-Wesclin
Tremont at Carlyle (Sat.)
Bureau Valley vs. Ridgeview-Lexington
Shelbyville at Marshall

Sharpening up is how Monticello football coach Cully Welter described his team's goals this week as the Sages try to put an opening week loss to St. Joseph-Ogden behind them and rebound tonight when they travel to Illinois Valley Central for an Illini Prairie Conference tilt.

The Sages fell behind 27-0 early but outscored St. Joe 28-13 the rest of the way falling short in its season opener for the third straight year. Coach Welter says the focus this week was sharpening some things they saw on film.

Coach Welter says sometimes the cliche holds true, you're never as bad as you think you are and you're never as good as you think you are when you watch film but he didn't think that was true after going back to watch film last week.

Monticello makes the nearly two-hour trip north of Peoria to visit IVC in Chillicothe this week. Coach Welter says the Grey Ghosts are a balanced team that will provide a good challenge for his team this week.

The Sages will hope to utilize the screen game to neutralize the pressure from IVC. Against St. Joe, Coach Welter thought his team's screen game was close to be really effective and hopes it takes a step forward this week.

Game time in Chillicothe tonight is 7 pm. Hear the action on 95.9 FM WEZC and online at dewittdailynews.com. 

Illini Prairie Conference action

Prairie Central at Pontiac

Rantoul at Bloomington Central Catholic

Tolono Unity at St. Joseph-Ogden

Big Twelve

Champaign Central at Champaign Centennial

Danville at Urbana

Normal West at Normal Community

Peoria at Peoria Notre Dame

Peoria Richwoods at Peoria Manual

Lincoln Prairie

Arthur-Lovington-Atwood-Hammond at Villa Grove

Cerro Gordo-Bement at Oakland Tri-County

Sangamon Valley at Toledo-Cumberland

Nokomis at Argenta-Oreana

Sullivan-Okaw Valley at Arcola

Sangamo

Athens at Pittsfield

Maroa-Forsyth at Pleasant Plains

New Berlin at Auburn

Olympia at Riverton

Williamsville at Petersburg-PORTA

Eight man football

Peoria Heights at Flanagan-Cornell-Woodland

Champaign St. Thomas More at Edwardsville Metro-East Lutheran

Decatur Unity Christian at South Fork

Blue Ridge at Pawnee (Sat.)

Non-conference football

Limestone at Galesburg 

Belleville Althoff Catholic at Decatur St. Teresa

Chatham-Glenwood at Bonne Terre North County (MO)

Decatur Eisenhower at Jacksonville

Dunlap at Rock Island

East Peoria at Springfield Lanphier

LaSalle-Peru at Metamora

Lincoln at Springfield Southeast (Sat.)

Mahomet-Seymour at Highland

Mascoutah at Springfield Sacred Heart-Griffin

Mt. Zion at Troy Triad

Normal U-High at Bloomington

Paxton-Buckley-Loda at Newton

Springfield at Decatur MacArthur

Taylorville at Robinson

Washington at Kankakee

Last year, Kansas quarterback Jalon Daniels got to play just three games before he suffered what developed into a season-ending back injury.

Illinois was one of the unfortunate three foes to face him.

Daniels threw for two touchdowns in the first quarter last Sept. 8 - and wound up 21 of 29 for 277 yards - as the Jayhawks rolled to a 34-7 lead that wound up as a 34-23 non-conference win. No. 19 Kansas (1-0) visits Illinois (1-0) for a rematch Saturday night at Champaign, Ill., with a healthy Daniels at the controls.

Since head coach Lance Leipold arrived at Kansas prior to the 2022 season, the Jayhawks have produced a 9-4 record when Daniels starts - but only 7-7 when he has been too hurt to play.

To preserve the fifth-year junior's health, there was speculation Daniels would sit out last week's opener against Lindenwood. Instead, he threw 15 times, completing nine passes, for 148 yards and a score. He also threw an interception (but did not carry the ball) before taking a seat in the Jayhawks' 48-3 victory last Thursday.

The danger for Illinois is focusing too heavily on Daniels. In last year's game, running backs Devin Neal and Daniel Hishaw Jr. combined for 218 yards and two touchdowns in just 22 rushes.

Both guys are back and Neal (3,189 yards, 35 TDs) remains on pace to break June Henley's school records for career rushing yards (3,841) and touchdowns (41). Hishaw, who owns 16 career touchdowns, could start at most schools. Leipold suggested earlier this week that Kansas' rushing game, which features seniors at left tackle (Bryce Cabeldue/39 career starts) and left guard (Michael Ford/32 starts), will be crucial to the Jayhawks' efforts to sweep the home-and-home series.

Coincidentally, Illinois opened its 2024 season just like Kansas - with a 45-point win over a Football Championship Subdivision foe on Aug. 29.

Another coincidence that developed during the Illini's 45-0 victory over Eastern Illinois? They believe they have multiple threats at running back in sophomores Aidan Laughery and Kaden Feagin to take some pressure off junior quarterback Luke Altmyer.

The 245-pound Feagin earned more opportunities last year (95 carries and nine receptions compared to 16 carries and two catches), but Laughery started Thursday's win over EIU and used his sprinter's speed to produce 79 yards in 10 carries. Feagin entered later and finished with 16 carries for 108 yards and a touchdown.

Game time is 6 pm local time Saturday evening.

Eastern Illinois hosts Indiana State for the Panthers home opener at O'Brien Field on Saturday night.  

Both teams enter the game 0-1 after shutout losses to Big Ten teams on the opening weekend (EIU at Illinois / Indiana State at Purdue).

Last season EIU led the FCS in turnover margin as the Panthers turned the ball over just ten times for the entire year leading to 17 points scored off turnovers by EIU opponents.  In the season opener EIU turned the ball over four times including three times in the opening half which Illinois converted into 17 points.

Game time Saturday is 6 pm from Charleston. Hear the action starting with the pre-game at 5:30 on WHOW and all its digital platforms.

Coming off its opener at No. 25 Iowa, No. 21/22 ranked Illinois State (0-1) begins the FCS portion of its schedule on Saturday when the Redbirds travel to Florence, Alabama, for a non-conference match up against the North Alabama Lions (0-2) in the first match up ever between the two programs.

Brent Dearmon is in his second season as the head coach at North Alabama (3-10). In his first season at UNA, the Lions showed growth with a 3-8 record against the second-hardest schedule in FCS football. Prior to UNA, Dearmon was head coach at Bethel and served as offensive coordinator at Arkansas Tech, Kansas, Middle Tennessee State and Florida Atlantic.

The Lions are off to an 0-2 start to the 2024 campaign, after suffering losses to FCS foe Southeast Missouri State in Week 0 and to FBS foe Memphis last week on the road.

ISU lost to No. 25 Iowa 40-0 last week in its season opener.

Game time Saturday in Florence, Alabama is 6 pm.

The Philadelphia Eagles face the Green Bay Packers on Friday night in Sao Paulo, Brazil - the first NFL game in South America.

The Packers are hoping they learned from their last international trip two years ago.

Green Bay had won three of its four games that season, and coach Matt LaFleur made it apparent at the time that he wasn’t looking forward to playing in London. The Packers fell to the New York Giants at Tottenham Hotspur Stadium and went on to lose five straight.

So the Packers haven’t been griping about the travel. They’re optimistic there won’t be a similar hangover effect from this trip because they aren’t crossing over as many time zones.

These teams ended last season heading in opposite directions.

The Packers want to build on the momentum they established during a late-season surge last year that enabled them to reach the NFC divisional playoffs with the league’s youngest team.

Philadelphia started out 10-1 last year but won only once more the rest of the season and lost to Tampa Bay in the wild-card round of the playoffs. This game offers the Eagles a chance to put the collapse behind them.

Philadelphia’s late collapse prompted Nick Sirianni to fire offensive coordinator Brian Johnson and defensive coordinator Sean Desai. Philadelphia’s new coordinators are Kellen Moore on offense and Vic Fangio on defense.

Fangio spent last season with Miami in the same role. He finished 2022 as a consultant for the Eagles. Moore previously was offensive coordinator for the Dallas Cowboys (2019-22) and Los Angeles Chargers (2023).

The Packers have a new defensive coordinator. They fired Joe Barry and replaced him with former Boston College coach Jeff Hafley.

Both teams have new running backs.

Saquon Barkley joined the Eagles after spending six years with the New York Giants. The Packers added Josh Jacobs, who had played five seasons with the Raiders.

Barkley is a two-time Pro Bowl selection with 5,211 career yards rushing. 

Jacobs earned All-Pro honors in 2022 when he rushed for an NFL-leading 1,653 yards, but he ran for just 805 yards while gaining 3.5 yards per carry last year.

Packers kicker Brayden Narveson will be making his NFL debut just a week after Green Bay claimed him off waivers from the Tennessee Titans.

Philadelphia’s Jake Elliott set a franchise record by hitting 93.8% of his field-goal attempts last season. Elliott ranks second among kickers with 80 or more attempts with a 90.9% field-goal rate since 2021.

Jordan Morgan, the Packers’ first-round pick from Arizona, was working out as Green Bay’s starting right guard until a shoulder injury kept him from playing in the preseason. Sean Rhyan filled that role while Morgan was out.

Morgan is healthy again, and LaFleur hasn’t named a starting right guard. One possibility is to have Morgan and Rhyan share time. The Packers had a similar rotation system last year when Rhyan backed up Jon Runyan Jr., who is now with the New York Giants.

The Eagles won’t have linebacker Devin White because of an ankle injury. Green Bay will be missing running back AJ Dillon, who was placed on injured reserve last week with a neck issue.

Game time is 7:15 tonight. 

Chase Briscoe’s three-wide, late-race pass over Kyle Larson and Ross Chastain won Sunday’s Southern 500 at Darlington to qualify for the playoffs. 

NASCAR’s playoffs begin just south of Atlanta at one of its fastest tracks, a 1.54-mile quadoval with superspeedway qualities like Daytona and Talladega and a similar rules package to boot. 

Turns feature 28-degree banking and are tighter than its larger, longer counterparts, and lap speeds under 30 seconds are common. 

Atlanta starts the Cup playoffs this year because of the Olympic break and was moved from July after several years. Kyle Larson (four wins) tops the 16-driver playoff field with Christopher Bell seeded second and Tyler Reddick third. 

Daniel Suárez earned his way into the playoffs with his thrilling three-wide, photo-finish victory in the February spring race, edging Ryan Blaney by .003 seconds and Kyle Busch by .007. Suárez is seeded 11th in the playoff field.

Briscoe's win also allowed Stewart-Haas Racing to pursue a third and final championship before shutting down after the season. Briscoe held off Busch with Bell third. Reddick’s 10th-place finish clinched the regular-season championship by a point over Larson, who led 263 laps before Briscoe passed him.

The NASCAR 16-driver playoff opens Sunday when the series heads to Atlanta Motor Speedway.

Practice and qualifying is 11:30 am Saturday. Race time is 2 pm Sunday afternoon.

Three races remain in the regular season in the XFinity Series - including this weekend's race in Atlanta - followed by Watkins Glen and Bristol ahead of the 12-team playoffs. 

Riverton-native Justin Algaier remains the points leader with Chandler Smith second, Austin Hill third and defending champion Cole Custer fourth. Shane Van Gisbergen leads with three victories this season.

Practice and qualifying is 10 am Saturday morning. Race time is 2 pm Saturday afternoon.

The Craftsman Truck Series is off until Bristol in two weeks. 

The playoff field will be cut from 10 to eight after races at Bristol and Kansas. 

Christian Eckes, who finished third behind Riggs, leads the playoff standings. After one race, Ben Rhodes and Rajah Caruth are behind the cut line, ninth and 10th in the standings. 

Layne Riggs, the son of former NASCAR driver Scott Riggs, dislocated his shoulder celebrating his landmark victory. The team popped it back in place.

Shota Imanaga wasn’t disappointed when he was removed after seven hitless innings and 95 pitches.

Nate Pearson and Porter Hodge each followed with a perfect inning to finish a 12-0 victory over the Pittsburgh Pirates on Wednesday night, the Cubs’ first no-hitter at Wrigley Field since 1972.

Imanaga (12-3) struck out seven and walked two, throwing 66 pitches for strikes.

A 31-year-old left-hander in his first season with the Cubs after pitching in Japan for eight seasons, Imanaga has not gotten an out in the eighth inning this season and has thrown a high of 103 pitches.

He needed 25 pitches to get through the second inning. He complimented catcher Miguel Amaya, who posed for photos with the three pitchers after the final out.

Cubs players celebrated when shortstop Dansby Swanson threw to first baseman Michael Busch for the final out on Oneil Cruz's grounder, but were more muted than during celebrations after individual no-hitters.

Nico Hoerner, Pete Crow-Armstrong and Swanson each had three of Chicago's 17 hits, with Swanson and Crow-Armstrong both finishing a triple shy of the cycle.

Domingo Germán (0-1), who pitched a perfect game last year for the New York Yankees against Oakland, allowed seven runs - six earned - and nine hits in three innings.

Seiya Suzuki hit an RBI single in the first, and Chicago opened a 4-0 lead in the second when Crow-Armstrong had a run-scoring double and Happ hit a two-run single.

Swanson's two-run homer and Crow-Armstrong's solo shot boosted the lead to 7-0 in the third. Cody Bellinger hit a two-run homer in the sixth against Kyle Nicolas.

Pittsburgh’s Rowdy Tellez allowed Miles Mastrobuoni’s RBI single in the eighth, the first baseman’s third mound outing this season.

Cubs RHP Javier Assad (7-4, 3.21) was scheduled to start Friday in the series opener at home against the Yankees. New York RHP Luis Gil (12-6) will come off the injured list after recovering from a lower back strain.

Luken Baker singled home the go-ahead run with two outs in the 10th inning to give the St. Louis Cardinals a 3-2 victory over the Milwaukee Brewers on Wednesday night.

The Cardinals won two of three from the NL Central-leading Brewers, with extra-inning victories each of the last two nights. St. Louis won 7-4 in 12 innings on Tuesday.

Milwaukee went 0 for 15 with runners in scoring position.

St. Louis had a runner at third with two outs in the 10th when Joel Payamps (3-7) intentionally walked Nolan Arenado. Milner, who was promoted from Triple-A Nashville on Tuesday, came out of the bullpen to make his first major league appearance since Aug. 8.

Baker came in as a pinch-hitter, got ahead 3-1 in the count and sent a grounder up the middle to drive in Masyn Winn. Baker, who has spent most of this season in the minor leagues, has an RBI in each of his last six games.

With usual closer Ryan Helsley unavailable one night after pitching two innings, Ryan Fernandez worked the 10th to earn his second save in four opportunities. Fernandez struck out two batters, intentionally walked Jackson Chourio to put the potential winning run on base and then struck out Rhys Hoskins to earn his second save in four opportunities.

Andrew Kittredge (3-4) got the win with 1 2/3 innings of scoreless relief.

The Cardinals took a 2-0 lead in the first inning on a pair of bases-loaded walks from Colin Rea, and the score stayed that way until the Brewers scored single runs in the seventh and eighth.

Milwaukee’s Garrett Mitchell hit a leadoff triple in the seventh and scored when Joey Ortiz grounded out to third. That was the only run allowed by St. Louis’ Sonny Gray, who struck out seven and gave up four hits and one walk in seven innings.

JoJo Romero took over for Gray in the eighth, and Eric Haase sent the left-hander’s first pitch way over the wall in left center for his fourth homer of the season. Haase's tying, 438-foot blast marked the first time he’d gone deep since a two-homer game at Minnesota on July 21.

The Brewers nearly took the lead later in the inning.

Brice Turang doubled to left and advanced to third when Chourio grounded out. Romero then was removed in favor of Kittredge.

With the go-ahead run at third, Kittredge struck out pinch-hitter William Contreras, intentionally walked Willy Adames and struck out Mitchell.

The Cardinals pulled ahead early by capitalizing on Rea’s uncharacteristic control problems.

Rea hadn’t walked anybody in four straight starts and had issued just one walk the entire month of August, but he issued bases-loaded walks to Iván Herrera and Lars Nootbaar in the first inning.

The Cardinals did no more damage against Rea in his four-inning stint. Milwaukee’s DL Hall struck out six in four innings of scoreless relief.

The Cardinals are off Thursday before beginning a three-game home series with the Seattle Mariners on Friday. The scheduled starting pitchers Friday are RHP Erick Fedde (8-8, 3.43) for the Cardinals and RHP Bryce Miller (10-8, 3.30) for the Mariners.

In a game heard on WHOW, Jonathan Cannon pitched into the sixth inning and the Chicago White Sox homered three times, snapping their 12-game losing streak with an 8-1 victory over the Baltimore Orioles on Wednesday night.

Nicky Lopez, Andrew Vaughn and Dominic Fletcher went deep for the White Sox, who improved to 32-109 this season. They need to go 11-10 the rest of the way to avoid matching the post-1900 record of 120 losses by the 1962 New York Mets.

This was their third losing streak of at least 12 games this season - no team had ever done that since 1900 - but Lopez led off the game with a homer and the White Sox looked a lot sharper than they did while losing the first two games of this series by a combined 22-3.

Cannon (3-9) allowed a run and five hits in 5 2/3 innings.

Gunnar Henderson led off the bottom of the first with a homer that tied the game at 1, but the Orioles didn't score again.

Chicago took the lead for good when Vaughn hit a solo shot in the fourth and Fletcher added a two-run shot later in the inning.

Luis Robert Jr. hit an RBI double and Lenyn Sosa contributed a sacrifice fly in the fifth. Sosa hit an RBI single in the ninth and Fletcher brought home a run on a groundout.

Robert robbed a home run in the fifth inning before exiting in the sixth with right hamstring tightness.

The White Sox play at Boston on Friday night, with Davis Martin (0-3) starting for Chicago. The White Sox return to the WHOW airwaves Sunday because of Clinton Maroons football on Friday night and EIU football on Saturday. 

The Clinton Maroons had little difficulty dispatching East Alton-Wood River in a 57-0 route in week 1 of the high school football season. 

Coming into the season, the big question for Clinton was at the quarterback position. Coach Ron Bass liked both of his options and says in week 1, you saw what junior Keaton Graves could offer leading the offense.

The Maroons dominated at the point of attack and Coach Bass says the quickness of his defensive line was clearly a tough assignment. He notes week 1 can be such a wild card so it was good to see his team play well against an experienced group.

The Maroons travel to Alton Marquette this week. Kickoff time is 7 pm. Hear it on WHOW and all our digital platforms. 

For the third straight year, Monticello starts the football season 0-1 after a season-opening loss to St. Joseph-Ogden.

The Spartans jumped out to a quick 27-0 lead on Monticello and while the Sages battled back to make a game of it late - ultimately falling 40-28 - Coach Cully Welter believes his team's tough start isn't indicative of the kind of team he has this year. He credits St. Joe's playmakers for making things happen in the first half.

Monticello will lean on the playmaking ability of first-year senior quarterback Ike Young. Coach Welter liked a lot of things he saw from his dynamic playmaker.

Young is on the roster with younger brother Zeke Young who drew a couple of tough red zone assignments against what Coach Welter described before Week 1s matchup as one of the best receiving groups in 3A. The elder Young is showing great leadership early, says Coach Welter.

Coach Welter likes the fight his team showed and believes there is still potential for his team this year.

Coach Welter says the schedule doesn't get any easier for his team. The Sages visit IVC in Chillicothe this week but from what he's seen of the rest of the conference, there are not any teams you can overlook.

Game time on Friday is 7 pm. Hear the action on 95.9 FM WEZC and online at dewittdailynews.com. 

The Clinton Lady Maroons fell in two sets to El Paso-Gridley in non-conference high school volleyball action Tuesday night.

The Varsity fell in two sets, 2-0. The JV was able to take the match to a third set but fell 2-1. 

The freshman Lady Maroons fell 0-2. 

Clinton is 1-1 on the season. They travel to take on Olympia on Thursday night. 

In a game heard on WHOW, Cade Povich struck out 10 while pitching into the eighth inning, and the Baltimore Orioles took a big early lead on their way to a 9-0 victory over the White Sox on Tuesday night, sending Chicago to its 12th consecutive loss.

Hear tonight's action on WHOW.

Michael Siani hit a tiebreaking two-run single in the 12th inning, and the St. Louis Cardinals beat the Milwaukee Brewers 7-4 on Tuesday night.

Siani came to the plate after a wild pitch by Elvis Peguero (7-4) put runners on second and third. He lined an opposite-field single into left field to give the Cardinals a 6-4 lead.

Siani then stole second and advanced to third on catcher William Contreras' throwing error, setting up a sacrifice fly by Alec Burleson.

Ryan Helsley (7-4) pitched two innings for the win, striking out four. The All-Star closer was going for his 43rd save before Willy Adames hit a two-out RBI double in the 11th for Milwaukee.

Siani nearly made an outstanding diving catch on Adames' liner to center, but the ball squirted out of his glove as his right arm got twisted in the outfield grass. The Cardinals challenged the call and the ruling was upheld.

The replay official “definitively determined” that Siani “failed to maintain firm and secure possession of the ball throughout the catch,” Major League Baseball said in a statement.

Siani was playing in his second game since missing nearly a month with a right oblique strain.

Paul Goldschmidt homered for St. Louis, which won for the third time in four games to move back over .500 at 70-69. Goldschmidt, who finished with three hits and three RBIs, has a 10-game hitting streak.

Jackson Chourio and Joey Ortiz connected for the NL Central-leading Brewers (81-58), who had won six of seven. Aaron Civale struck out seven while pitching five innings of three-run ball..

Nolan Arenado hit a sacrifice fly and Goldschmidt doubled home Brendan Donovan, giving St. Louis a 2-0 lead in the first.

But Ortiz hit a leadoff drive in the third for his 10th homer. After Brice Turang grounded out, Chourio tied it at 2 with his 19th on the season.

Steven Matz pitched 4 2/3 innings for the Cardinals in his first big league game since April 30. He was charged with three runs and three hits. The left-hander had been sidelined by a lower back strain.

Marmol and third base coach Daniel Descalso were ejected in the fourth by home plate umpire Lance Barrett for arguing balls and strikes. Pedro Pagés was batting for the Cardinals when they were thrown out.

The three-game series concludes with Cardinals RHP Sonny Gray (12-9, 3.96 ERA) facing Brewers RHP Colin Rea (12-4, 3.70 ERA) on Wednesday night.

Paul Skenes pitched five effective innings while struggling with his location, and the Pittsburgh Pirates handed the Chicago Cubs another tough loss with a 5-0 victory on Tuesday night.

Skenes worked out of bases-loaded jams in the first two innings. The rookie right-hander allowed four hits and walked four - matching his season high - but the No. 1 overall pick in last year's amateur draft struck out six.

After Skenes (9-2) departed, Colin Holderman, Carmen Mlodzinski and David Bednar combined for four innings of one-hit ball.

Chicago had won six in a row - all on the road - before losing the first two in its three-game series against Pittsburgh at Wrigley Field. The Cubs are 4 1/2 games back in the race for the final NL wild card after Atlanta beat Colorado 3-0 on Tuesday night.

Chicago right-hander Kyle Hendricks (3-11) struck out five while pitching five innings of two-run ball. He got the start after Justin Steele was scratched because of elbow soreness.

Pittsburgh RHP Domingo Germán (0-0, 6.11 ERA) makes his second start of the season against LHP Shota Imanaga (11-3, 3.14 ERA) on Wednesday night. The winning team takes the season series, which is knotted at 6-6.

The Clinton Lady Maroons made quick work of Cerro Gordo in non-conference high schoool girl's volleyball action Monday night in Clinton. 

The Maroons won in two sets, 2-0 at the varsity level.

The JV dropped two sets, 2-0 while the freshman won 2-0.

Monday's action was the season opener for Clinton as they go to 1-0. They will be back in action tonight hosting El Paso-Gridley.

Gunnar Henderson tied a franchise record for shortstops with his 34th home run, and the Baltimore Orioles extended Chicago's losing streak to 11 with a 13-3 rout of the White Sox on Monday.

Hear tonight's action on WHOW.

Willy Adames tied the major league record with his 13th three-run homer of the season, going deep on his 29th birthday to lift the NL Central-leading Milwaukee Brewers over the St. Louis Cardinals 9-3 Monday for their sixth win in seven games.

Adames homered for the fifth consecutive game, matching the Brewers record shared by Jeromy Burnitz (1997) and Eric Thames (2017).

Rookie Jackson Chourio hit a grand slam and Rhys Hoskins also homered for the Brewers (81-57), who began Labor Day with a nine-game division lead.

Adames put the Brewers ahead 3-0 in the first with his 29th home run of the season, a drive off Andre Pallante (6-7).

St. Louis, which entered five games back for the final NL wild card, dropped back to .500 at 69-69.

Freddy Peralta (10-7) won his third consecutive decision, allowing three runs and six hits in 5 1/3 innings. He had pitched 11 scoreless innings over his previous two starts.

Pallante (6-7) gave up five runs, five hits and a season-high five walks in five innings.

Pedro Pagés hit a pair of solo home runs off Peralta, increasing his season home run total to five.

Hoskins hit a two-run homer in the fourth and Chourio hit his second slam of the season in the sixth off Riley O’Brien. The 20-year-old Chourio, who has 18 homers, walked a season-high three times.

Cardinals LHP Steven Matz (1-2, 6.18 ERA), who last appeared April 30, will take the mound Tuesday after completing his rehab from a back injury. Brewers RHP Aaron Civale (5-8, 4.59) has gone 3-2 cwith a 3.72 ERA in nine starts since being acquired from Tampa Bay on July 3.

Bryan Reynolds and Andrew McCutchen homered during Pittsburgh's four-run eighth inning, and the Pirates cooled off the Chicago Cubs with a 5-3 victory on Monday night.

Chicago returned home after closing out an 8-1 trip with six consecutive victories. It was hoping to add to its push for the third NL wild card against Pittsburgh, but it blew a 3-0 lead in the opener of a three-game series.

The Pirates began the eighth with three straight hits against Jorge López (2-3). Pinch-hitter Isiah Kiner-Falefa reached on a bloop single and Nick Gonzales had an infield hit before Reynolds connected for his 22nd homer, tying it at 3 with a drive to the bleachers in left-center.

After Oneil Cruz struck out swinging, McCutchen launched his 18th homer to left-center. McCutchen also extended his hitting streak to 14 games.

Jalen Beeks (7-4) got two outs for Pittsburgh, and Dennis Santana pitched a 1-2-3 ninth for his third save.

Gonzales singled in an insurance run in the ninth as the Pirates won for just the second time in seven games and avenged a three-game sweep by the Cubs in Pittsburgh last week.

Dansby Swanson homered for Chicago, and Ian Happ drove in two runs with a triple. But the Cubs fell 3 1/2 games behind idle Atlanta for the final NL wild card.

Chicago wasted a terrific start for Jameson Taillon, who pitched seven innings of three-hit ball.

Pirates rookie Jared Jones permitted three runs and six hits in 6 1/3 innings in his second start after missing nearly two months with a right lat strain.

Swanson’s 13th homer, and third in seven games, followed the two-time Gold Glove shortstop’s four-hit game at Washington on Sunday.

With two runners aboard, Happ tripled down the right-field line with two outs in the fifth to make it 3-0.

The inning was prolonged by rookie Pete Crow-Armstrong’s speed on the bases.

He was on first and Swanson at second when Miguel Amaya hit a bouncer to shortstop. Swanson momentarily screened Pittsburgh’s Alika Williams on the play and Crow-Armstrong reached second just before Williams' toss to second baseman Gonzales, preventing an inning-ending double play.

Pirates rookie RHP Paul Skenes (8-2, 2.23 ERA) faces Cubs RHP Kyle Hendricks (3-10, 6.75 ERA) on Tuesday night. Justin Steele was slated to start for Chicago, but the left-hander was scratched because of elbow soreness.

Chase Briscoe knew he carried the full weight of everyone at Stewart-Haas Racing into the final laps Sunday night at Darlington Raceway. And he couldn’t have been happier.

He made a dramatic, three-wide, late-race pass and held on to win the Southern 500 and qualify for the playoffs, giving Stewart-Haas Racing a final chance to add to its championship legacy before it shuts down after the season.

Briscoe and his team head to the postseason reveling in that pressure in the final days of the program that won NASCAR titles with Tony Stewart in 2011 and Kevin Harvick in 2014.

Briscoe got a call from Stewart, his owner, and drivers came up to congratulate him on the win.

Briscoe took the lead with the three-wide pass over Kyle Larson and Ross Chastain for the lead, then outran two-time series champion Kyle Busch at the end.

Jordan Walker went 5 for 5, Lars Nootbaar hit a bases-clearing two-strike double in the seventh and added a two-run homer in the ninth, and the St. Louis Cardinals beat the New York Yankees 14-7 on Sunday.

New York's lead in the American League East over Baltimore was trimmed to a half-game.

Walker hit a long two-run homer in the fifth and drove in three runs. Walker had the first five-hit game by a Cardinal since teammate Matt Carpenter in 2018 after going 1 for 8 in his first two games following his recall from Triple-A Memphis.

At 22 years, 102 days, the former first-round pick became the third-youngest Cardinal to get five hits in a game, trailing Frank Snyder (21 years, 86 days on Sept. 21, 1915) and Rogers Hornsby (20 years, 62 days on June 28, 2016).

Nootbaar followed Walker’s fourth hit by lifting a fly ball to right field. New York’s Juan Soto appeared to struggle getting a read on the ball and it went over his head as the Cardinals took a 10-7 lead.

Nootbaar set a career high with five RBIs and had his fourth hit to give the Cardinals a lead in the seventh or later this season.

Victor Scott II hit an RBI double and scored on a throwing error by reliever Phil Bickford as the Cardinals set season highs for runs and hits (21) and were 8 for 18 with runners in scoring position.

St. Louis had double-digit hits for the sixth time and seven games and finished with at least 20 hits for the first time since totaling 23 at Cincinnati Sept. 1, 2020.

Nootbaar blasted his ninth homer after Walker opened the ninth with his fourth single.

Anthony Rizzo hit an RBI double to start a three-run fifth ahead of run-scoring singles by Alex Verdugo and Gleyber Torres. Anthony Volpe hit an RBI single and Torres lifted a tying sacrifice fly in the sixth but the Yankees lost for the fourth time in six games and gave up their most hits since allowing 24 to Cleveland on Aug. 15, 2019.

JoJo Romero (6-2) retired Soto to end the sixth and set up the big inning for the Cardinals.

Walker hit his first homer since Sept. 17 to push the St. Louis lead to 7-2. He also had an RBI single in the second to give the Cardinals a 1-0 advantage.

Rookie Masyn Wynn hit a two-run double and Luken Baker hit a two-run homer in a four-run fourth off Nestor Cortes for the Cardinals, who were 0-7 in the regular season at Yankee Stadium before winning the final two games of the series.

Giancarlo Stanton homered and Jazz Chisholm Jr. scored on an error in the second. Aaron Judge remained at 51 homers, going homerless for the sixth straight game.

St. Louis starter Miles Mikolas allowed five runs (three earned) and seven hits in four-plus innings.

Cortes allowed five runs and nine hits in four innings.

Cardinals RHP Andre Pallante (6-6, 3.80 ERA) opposes RHP Freddy Peralta (9-8, 3.70) in the opener of a three-game series Monday in Milwaukee.

Dansby Swanson had four hits, Jordan Wicks pitched five solid innings and the Chicago Cubs beat the Washington Nationals 14-1 on Sunday for their season-high sixth consecutive win.

Isaac Paredes had three RBIs for the Cubs, who finished with 18 hits. Cody Bellinger, Nico Hoerner and Miguel Amaya each drove in two runs.

Chicago closed out an 8-1 road trip that also included stops in Miami and Pittsburgh. The Cubs (71-66), who are looking to rally into an NL wild-card slot, improved to 20-8 since July 31.

Chicago has scored 99 runs in its last 10 games.

Pitching on his 25th birthday, Wicks (2-2) permitted one run and four hits in his first big league appearance since June 14. The left-hander was activated from the 60-day injured list after he missed more than two months with a right oblique strain.

Washington (61-76) dropped a season-high 15 games under .500. The Nationals were swept for the eighth time this season.

Darren Baker, the son of former big league manager Dusty Baker, made his big league debut as a pinch hitter for the Nationals in the ninth. He singled to center on the first pitch he saw.

The 25-year-old Baker was brought up from Triple-A Rochester as active rosters expanded to 28 players.

Washington left-hander Mitchell Parker (7-9) struck out eight in six innings, but he was charged with four runs, three earned, and seven hits.

The only significant threat for the Nationals against Wicks occurred in the second, when they loaded the bases with none out. Keibert Ruiz grounded into a double play to score a run, and Luis García Jr. flew out to end the inning.

The Cubs responded with three runs in the third. Ian Happ tied it at 1 with a one-out RBI single. After giving up a double and a walk, Parker struck out Bellinger before Paredes hit a two-run single to right.

Chicago made it 4-1 in the fourth. Hoerner scored from first when Washington third baseman José Tena’s attempt to throw out the bunting Pete Crow-Armstrong sailed down the right-field line.

The Nationals committed three errors.

The Cubs padded the lead with a seven-run ninth against rookie relievers Zack Brzykcy and Orlando Ribalta. Chicago’s seven hits during the rally were its most in any inning this season.

Cubs RHP Jameson Taillon (9-8, 3.85 ERA) starts as Chicago returns home Monday to open a three-game series against Pittsburgh.

In a game heard on WHOW, Sean Manaea pitched two-hit ball over seven innings, Francisco Lindor belted his 29th home run and the New York Mets beat Chicago 2-0 on Sunday to hand the White Sox their franchise-record 107th loss.

Chicago (31-107) broke the club mark for losses set by the 1970 team. The White Sox also completed the first 0-10 homestand in franchise history, becoming the first team since the 1965 Mets to have three 10-game losing streaks in one season.

Lindor gave New York a 1-0 lead when he connected leading off the fourth against Garrett Crochet. Starling Marte drove an RBI double off the center-field wall against Justin Anderson in the ninth, and the Mets squeezed out their fourth straight win and ninth in 13 games to finish a 7-3 trip. They began the day trailing Atlanta by two games for the final NL wild card.

Manaea (11-5) struck out five, walked two, and hit a batter with a pitch. The left-hander is 3-0 in his last four outings, and New York has won 12 of his past 15 starts.

Manaea retired his first 11 batters before walking Lenyn Sosa but then picked off Sosa at first base to end the fourth. The White Sox didn't get a hit until Miguel Vargas lined a single to left with two outs in the fifth.

Chicago threatened to score in the seventh, only to come away empty.

Luis Robert Jr. got hit by a pitch leading off but was thrown out trying to steal second. Andrew Vaughn walked with two outs and Gavin Sheets singled in front of sliding left fielder Jesse Winker, putting runners on the corners. Manaea then retired Vargas on a fly to left to escape that jam.

Reed Garrett retired all three batters in the eighth. Edwin Díaz struck out the side in the ninth for his 16th save in 22 chances as the Mets completed their sixth shutout of the season - all since July 11.

The White Sox were shut out for the 15th time. They've been on the wrong end of 22 series sweeps - tops in the majors by a wide margin. Miami is second with 10.

Chicago is 4-36 since the All-Star break and 3-18 under interim manager Grady Sizemore. The worst White Sox homestand prior to this one was when they went 0-7 from May 23-29. They've lost 12 straight games at Guaranteed Rate Field, equaling a season high.

Crochet (6-10), one of Chicago's few bright spots, tied an American League record by striking out the first seven batters and whiffed eight in all over 3 1/3 innings. The All-Star left-hander gave up one run and three hits without a walk.

The White Sox are limiting Crochet's workload because he missed most of the past two seasons following Tommy John surgery and was a reliever before that.

The White Sox begin a three-game series at Baltimore, with RHP Chris Flexen (2-13, 5.29 ERA) pitching for Chicago against RHP Corbin Burnes (12-7, 3.23). Flexen is 0-10 in 20 starts since beating Tampa Bay on May 8