ANNA — The Anna-Jonesboro football team is coming off a Mississippi Division championship in the River-to-River, but they are also looking to replace 22 seniors from that championship team. A-J coach Brett Detering says whether he had 2 or 22 seniors, every year, every team has to rebuild with what they have. Detering says he
CARTERVILLE — The Carterville Lions are under new leadership for the first time since 2002, as Carterville alum and current A.D. at the school Brett Diel takes over as football coach for the retired Dennis Drust. Diel says he knows the expectations in the community is playing football into November, but he also says he
MT. VERNON — The Mt. Vernon cross country teams has been preparing all summer for the rigors of a hard cross country season to come this fall. Mt. Vernon boys’ cross country coach Clint Turner says all teams have to look to get as much out of their runners while also doing what they can
WEST FRANKFORT — For West Frankfort football, coach Brian Beery says the foundation has been built after the team’s third straight winning season in 2018. Now, he says it’s time to go deeper into the playoffs. Beery says there a lot of seniors from last year to replace, but he believes the new faces will
DU QUOIN — The Du Quoin Lady Indians cross country team is looking for continued success after a good 2018 season and a 2019 spring track season that led to a girl’s Class 1A state championship. Du Quoin cross country coach Eric Kirkpatrick says many of his girls were on that state championship team, and
BENTON — The Benton Rangers are entering year two under head coach Justin Groves, and expectations are higher for a team that went 1-8 in 2018. Groves believes the groundwork has been laid for a brighter future for Ranger Football. Benton opens up 2019 with Carterville at home on August 30th.
CARLYLE — The Carlyle Lady Indians volleyball squad are looking to build on a run to the sectional championship in 2018. Carlyle is looking to replace just three seniors from the squad that fell to the Nashville Hornettes in the sectional final. Carlyle volleyball coach Loni Smith says they play the toughest competition to prepare
CENTRALIA — The Centralia Boys’ Soccer team is looking to replace a lot of scoring production from the 2018 season this year, but Orphans coach Travis Sanders says his guys are buying into a more team approach going into the fall. Sanders says the first few games of the year are crucial to see where
NASHVILLE — Nashville volleyball powered through the gauntlet of Southern Illinois volleyball competition last year to earn a spot in the Class 2A State Semifinals. This year, Josh Konkel’s Hornettes have many of their players from last year’s team returning. Konkel says he has nine seniors this year, and he will rely on all of
