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Sports Editor Matt Daniels with a look at what’s going on around the area:
From left, Matt Suaava, Robert Boyd-Meents and Conner Vaughn of the Paxton-Buckley-Loda football team. The unbeaten Panthers, who are ranked eighth in the latest Class 3A Associated Press poll, host Rantoul on Friday night.
Three reasons we love sports today
➜ 1. Eight area high school football teams are in this week’s Associated Press Top 10 statewide polls that came out Wednesday afternoon.
➜ 2. Mahomet-Seymour (2-2) is ranked 10th in Class 5A. In 3A, St. Joseph-Ogden (4-0) is fourth and Paxton-Buckley-Loda (4-0) is eighth. In 2A, Bismarck-Henning/Rossville-Alvin (4-0) is seventh and Arthur-Lovington-Atwood-Hammond (4-0) is ninth. Three area teams are in the 1A poll, with LeRoy (4-0) fifth, Salt Fork (4-0) eighth and Gibson City-Melvin-Sibley (4-0) ranked ninth.
➜ 3. The next News-Gazette’s area high school football Top 10 poll will come out in Friday’s paper, with the area boys’ soccer Top 10 poll in today’s paper.
Illinois linebacker Ryan Meed runs out of the tunnel prior to facing Nebraska on Sept. 20, 2024.
Numbers game: 203
College football players who are semifinalists for the William V. Campbell Trophy, given to the sport’s premier scholar-athlete. Among the 203 announced on Wednesday by the National Football Fonudation and College Hall of Fame? Illinois linebacker Ryan Meed, a four-time Academic All-Big Ten honoree who has already earned a bachelor’s degree in kinesiology and has seven tackles this season for the No. 19 Illini.
Sophia Hill, left, and Shannon Monahan have both been key cogs for the St. Thomas More volleyball team amid a 17-1 start to the season, highlighted by a sweep last week against rival St. Joseph-Ogden on the road.
Crowd control
Three events I’m paying attention to
➜ 1. Illinois at Penn State football. The Nittany Lions, led by running backs Nicholas Singleton and Kaytron Allen, are averaging 255 rushing yards this season. That’s good for second in the Big Ten and 10th in the country. The Illini are giving up an average of 104.2 rushing yards, ranking 10th in the Big Ten and 35th in the country.
➜ 2. Illinois at Nebraska soccer. The Illini (4-4-2) aim to end a three-match Big Ten winless streak when they face the Cornhuskers (3-6) at 7:05 p.m. Thursday.
➜ 3. Monticello at St. Thomas More volleyball. The host Sabers, the N-G’s new No. 1 area team, will try to keep rolling when they welcome in the Sages on Thursday night in Illini Prairie Conference play.
Provided
Paxton-Buckley-Loda volleyball and girls’ track and field coach Tyler Rubarts.
Coach’s corner
Three questions with Tyler Rubarts, the Paxton-Buckley-Loda volleyball coach in the fall and the Panthers’ girls’ track and field coach in the spring. PBL volleyball returns to the court this Saturday in the Watseka Invitational:
➜ 1. My favorite sports team is … the Illinois volleyball team.
➜ 2. Three coaches I’d like to have dinner with are … Tom Stone, Ryan Fitzgerald and Alex Strough.
➜ 3. My biggest pet peeve is … when athletes are not putting forth 100 percent effort in practice. If you do not practice at 100 percent, you cannot expect to play at 100 percent.
