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Monday Scores-Tuesday Basketball

Last night in boys action, Routt hammered Carlinville 73-43, North Mac stopped Pittsfield 49-40, Payson dropped Beardstown in overtime 58-52, and GNW hammered Western 63-29.

In CS8 action, Springfield ripped Cahokia 96-44, Lincoln dropped Bloomington 54-28, and MacArthur downed Lanphier 47-34.

In girls’ action, Triopia stopped North Greene 43-33, South County-New Berlin bumped by Nokomis 45-29, West Central rolled South Fulton 69-50, Pittsfield thumped GNW 65-36, Carrollton downed Calhoun 52-46, Auburn lost to Maroa Forsyth 60-50, Pleasant Plains blasted Riverton 64-10, Beardstown held off Williamsville 44-33, Porta/AC beat Athens 49-33, Pana stopped North Mac 59-55, and Brown County held off Mendon Unity 72-57.

West Central 8th grade boys’ team beat Calhoun 39-34 to win the sectional. The next stop is the state tournament.

Tonight, we have one game for you on WEAI. North Greene hosts Triopia. Our pregame show starts about 7:20.

Elsewhere, West Central plays at Payson, South County will be at Griggsville, New Berlin stays home for Auburn, Carrollton will be at Jersey High, North Mac is at Hillsboro, Pittsfield is on the road at Beardstown, Calhoun welcomes Pleasant Hill, Brown County heads for Barry, and Rushville Industry invites in West Prairie.

Around the CS8, Glenwood hosts Bloomington, Manual plays at Southeast, and SHG welcomes Lincoln.

In girls’ action, JHS welcomes Eisenhower at the Bowl for Senior Night. In other action Triopia welcomes Calvary, GNW is home to play Tri City, Triopia invites over Pawnee, North Mac welcomes in Nokomis, and Pleasant Hill welcomes in Payson.

Illinois College hosts Grinnell later today in basketball.

January Weather

Temperatures were down, and snowfall up in January.

Normal snowfall for January hits around 5 and three quarter inches. But, the snow totaled 11 and 3 tenths inches last month. That’s close to six inches more than normal.

It was fueled by the 8 inch snowfall on the 5th and 6th. And, we were snow-less over the last 18 days until a dusting of snow on the 31st. Snow was measurable on 7 of the 31 days in January.

It was the snowiest January since we had over 11 inches in 2019.

The snow was dry. The total precipitation from rain and melted snow reached just over a half an inch. That’s a full inch below normal.

Temperatures were down in January. The average reading was 23-point-3 degrees. That is 3 degrees colder than normal.

We topped out at 54 on the 30th, and hit 7-below as our coldest reading on the 22nd. We fell below zero on three of the 31 nights in January.

WLDS-WEAI is an official reporting station for the National Weather Service.

North Greene has a new head Football Coach

The North Greene school board has voted to hire a new football coach.

He is Nicholas Mellenthin. Mellenthin is a 2011 graduate of Bunker Hill, where he began his coaching career.

Mellenthin has spent the last two years as offensive coordinator for Casey Westfield. The Warriors went 19-4 during that span, including two Class 1A quarterfinals appearances. Mellenthin also has coaching experience at Staunton and Edwardsville.

Mellenthin replaces Brian Van Meter, who stepped down after three years at the North Greene post last fall. His teams amassed a record of 1-26.

Huffman and Flowers in the Hall

A retired area coach and a long time assistant coach are headed to the Illinois Football Coaches Association Hall of Fame.

Retired Carrollton head football coach Nick Flowers has been named to the Hall, and Routt assistant football coach Jim Huffman is headed to the Hall.

Huffman has been an assistant coach for 33 years.

Flowers was head coach at Carrollton for 18 years. He led the team to 2 second place finishes and ended with a career record of 134-58.

North Greene Looks for a new FB Coach

North Greene is looking for a new head football coach.

Brian VanMeter has resigned as head football coach at North Greene, according to a release from the North Greene Athletic Department.

Principal Brett Berry says the resignation was by VanMeter’s choosing.

VanMeter just finished his third season as head coach. North Greene downed Beardstown in the 8th game of the season this year. It was North Greene’s first win under VanMeter in three seasons.

It also snapped a 36 game losing streak for the school.

Berry says the board has begun the search for a new coach. He says any interested candidates can submit an application to northgreene.com.

Byers to the IBCA Hall of Fame

A long overdue recognition has finally come to a former local sports editor.

Bob Byers was nominated early last year, and was named this week to the Illinois Basketball

coaches Association Hall of Fame.

Byers passed away last month, and the news of the honor was announced, ironically this week, the week of his birthday.

Byers is recognized for his many years of service with the Jacksonville Journal Courier, both as a reporter and as sports editor. He continued to help with the sports teams locally even after he left the paper.

Also selected was Jack Hull, who has done sports broadcasting for WLDS-WEAI, WBBA and now Central Illinois Sports.

Named as friends of basketball were long time Winchester head boys and girls basketball coach Bob Moore, and Bob Kaaz of New Berlin.

The induction will occur May 3rd of next year at the CEFCU Arena on the campus of Illinois State University.

Two Crimsons FB All Staters

Two players from Jacksonville have been named first team all state in football.

The list includes Jacksonville High School senior Ryan McCombs as a lineman in 5A, and Routt senior quarterback Kellen Creviston in 1A.

Others named to the 1A all state first team are West Central senior linebacker Carson Brown, Brown County senior running back Tyce Fullerton, Camp Point senior linebacker Elijah Genenbacher, and Cahoun senior running back Conner Longnecker.

The 2A first team all state list includes North Mac senior running back Roark Lewis, and the 6A team has Glenwood junior quarterback Colton Knoedler on it.

Senior JHS kicker Brandon Sims was named honorable mention in 5A.

Honorable mentions for 1A players include Calhoun senior lineman Luke Brannan, senior tight end Garrett Costello of GNW, Brown County junior running back Trey Fullerton, and Camp Point junior lineman and running back Kadin Niekamp.

South County needs a new head boys’ basketball coach

South County is looking for a new head boys’ basketball coach.

Bryon Graven told his players this past weekend that he was leaving the coaching and teaching position to accept a job in the private sector. He says it was for financial and family reasons.

Graven says he does not plan to return to coaching.

Graven took over the South County program five years ago, and finished 73-63 there.

His 25 wins last season was a record for a South County team.

Graven was in the coaching profession for 16 years. His father, Doug Graven, was a long time coach with Auburn.

Bryon Graven served as the south squad coach for the Country Financial West Central Illinois Boys’ All Star Classic last month.

November Weather

It was a warmer than normal November, but very dry.

The precipitation total came to just 3-quarters of an inch. Normal rainfall for November is 3 and two thirds inches. The driest November Jacksonville has ever had was 23 hundredths in 1933.

The wettest day was just a half inch of rain on the 21st. We did get a half an inch of snow. Normal snowfall is a little over an inch. There were just four days of measurable precipitation in November.

The temperatures last month were only slightly warmer than normal. The average reading was 42-point-7 degrees. That’s just 2 tenths a degree higher than normal.

A typical day last month saw a high of 55, and a low of 31.

Readings ranged from 78 on the 9th, to 14 on the 28th. The 78 degree reading was just 2 degrees from the record high for that date.

There were 12 days of 60 or better readings. One of the stretches saw the mercury reach 70 or better three straight days, starting on the 7th. And, just one night below 20.

WLDS-WEAI is an official reporting station for the National Weather Service.

Mitchell-All State-CP and GNW has Two Each

For the second year in a row, Jacksonville has a player on the Illinois Football Coaches all state first team.

A year ago, it was Elijah Owens. This year, it is senior running back Cam Ron Mitchell.

Mitchell had an outstanding year with JHS, rushing for 1433 yards. He also finished with 12 touchdowns, averaged 8 point 8 yards a carry and 159 yards a game. He was the only all state player on the 5A all state team from the Central State Eight.

JHS finished 4 and 5, missing the playoffs by one point.

In Class 1A football, the list includes two from Greenfield Northwestern and Camp Point.

Running back Kohen Vetter and quarterback Dylan Pembrook were named from the Tigers, and running backs Elijah Genebacher and Drew Paben were named from Camp Point.

Camp Point hosts Greenfield Northwestern in the Class 1A semi final game on Saturday.