Prairieland Football: Farmington @ Rushville-Industry

Last night the Rushville-Industry Rockets opened up their home schedule by hosting a very tough Farmington squad.  This game got out to really a great start for both teams as they were playing well on both sides of the ball and neither was committing penalties. Farmington would strike first as Seth Bales would get a 25 yd field goal to make it 3-0.  Then in the next possession, Mason Plater would find Austin Gardner on a 7 yd pass play to make it a 6-3 score in favor of the Rockets.  With time running down in the 1^st half, Farmington had a long 4^th down play looming near the 50yd line and they come out and run a fake punt that caught Rushville off guard and began the momentum swing in this contest.  Farmington would score before the half and took a 10-6 lead into halftime.  Neither team could score in the 3^rd quarter and Farmington’s offense held onto the ball most of the 2^nd half.  They would pick up one more score and Farmington would claim the victory over the Rockets by a score of 17-6.  Macae Skaggs led the way for the Farmers with 112 yards of rushing on 22 carries.  Skaggs was the workhorse for Farmington in the 2^nd half and the Rockets could never find a way to stop him.  J.R. Boyd led the Rockets on the ground attack with 52 yards while Mason Plater was good for 55 yards of passing.  The Rockets now fall to 1-2 on the season and have a very hard two weeks ahead of them as they go to Elmwood/Brimfield next week and then come home to face Beardstown in week 5. These two games could be huge for the Rockets in terms of playoff aspirations as a win would put them in a much better position and would be a huge momentum swing for this team that is greatly improved.

Meredosia @ South Fulton

Meredosia hit the road tonight and traveled to take on South Fulton in Astoria.  South Fulton would not prove to be too gracious hosts as they took advantage of the holes that the Lady Indians left them.  The Lady Rebels also had some issues throughout the match as they committed 11 service errors.  South Fulton won this matchup 25-16, 25-19 to improve to 6-4 (1-0) on the season while Meredosia falls back bellow the .500 mark to 6-7.  Carlie Sides contributed 3 service points and 3 kills on the night for Meredosia.  Courtney Musson had 12 assists in the match while Destini Bollinger had 10 kills.  Meredosia will be back in action tomorrow night against West Central while South Fulton will travel to Abbingdon.

Praireland Football: SF @ BPCA

Both teams entered tonight’s contest with a record of 0-2 and both facing some very tough opponents in the first two weeks.  BPCA showed last week that they were a team that really likes to attempt to create the big plays and that is exactly what they did tonight.  So many times BPCA took a big risk and found the huge reward as South Fulton was just not able keep up with the speed of the Spartans.  BPCA wins this contest 52-26 on the heels of James Miller’s 171 yds rushing and 2 TD runs.  Spartan QB Seth Tolley was 3-5 passing for 115 yards and 1 TD.  South Fulton did make noise in the second half as QB Seth Kessler finished the night with 138 yards passing, 40 yards rushing, and 2 passing touchdowns.  Braden Wherley also add 66 yards rushing on the night with a Touchdown.  BPCA improves to 1-2 on the season while South Fulton falls to 0-3.  The Rebels will host Lewistown next week at home.

Praireland Volleyball: Abbingdon @ Rushville-Industry

Rushville-Industry opened up their home schedule last night as they took on the Commandos from Abbingdon.  The Lady Rockets have already begun to turn a lot of heads in the area as they are a team that is showing a ton of potential and capitalizing on that potential.  With this being the first game of Praireland Conference action for the Lady Rockets, here was another chance to get things rolling on a great start and that is exactly what they did.  Abbingdon came out strong in game 1 and played neck and neck with Rushville-Industry but they just could not find an answer for the defensive play of Jenna Taber or KJ Haywood.  Those two had a stellar night on defense and at the net.  Taber finished the night with 7 kills while Haywood had 6 kills and 2 blocks.  Abbingdon’s Amanda Sandrock was finally able to find her rhythm in game 2 as she ended the night with 7 kills.  Rebecca Stipp also added 6 assists on the night for the Commandos but it would not be enough as Rushville-Industry picks up the conference victory 25-13, 26-24.  The Lady Rockets improve to 3-4 (1-0) on the season after the stellar effort from Madison Kessler.  Kessler ended the match with 17 service points and 13 assists.  The Lady Rockets will be back in action tomorrow night as they travel to Southeastern.

BPCA vs. Rushville-Industry

When I arrived in Rushville at 5:30 tonight, there was already a nice crowd on filing in to Bob Wixom Field as the Rockets would host the Spartans in Week #2 of the season.  The first quarter showed a lot of promise for BPCA as their offense was executing some excellent plays and slowly starting to wear down the Rocket defense.  But the defense held strong and the Rockets had the ball at the start of the 2nd quarter when someone decided to take charge.  Austin Onion had a 27 yard TD run and a completed PAT to give the Rockets a 7-0 lead with 11:31 to go in the 2nd quarter.  Onion would go on to complete two more TD runs in the ballgame.  BPCA was able to get on the board from the QB sneak by Seth Tolley late in the 3rd quarter.  The Spartans would get another touchdown late in the 4th quarter but it would not be enough as the Rockets held on for their first victory in 24 games, 26-12.  BPCA’s James Miller had a stellar night on the ground as he was able to gain 91 yards on 28 carries.  The Spartans had around 154 yards on the ground and 140 through the air.  Rushville-Industry’s Austin Onion gained 148 yards rushing on 22 carries while the Rockets gained a total of 297 yards on the ground and 40 through the air.  Rushville improves to 1-1 on the season and BPCA falls to 0-2.

Football is BACK! Havana @ South Fulton

Welcome back to another exciting football season and tonight’s opener featured Havana traveling to South Fulton.  South Fulton is a team with a lot of unknowns coming into tonight’s contest and Havana really found a way to expose the unknowns.  Havana held South Fulton to just 4 yards of rushing on the ground, while Havana picked up 167 yards on the ground.  Neither team had much success in the air, but when they did it always seemed to be negated by a Penalty.  This game would end up with a running clock in the majority of the second half as Havana picks up the week 1 win 47-0.

IHSA 2A Regional Baseball: CSE vs. R-I

Regional Baseball action got underway this afternoon as Rushville-Industry hosted Central Southeastern in a regional Quarterfinal match-up.  This game proved to be a flat out pitchers dual as both starting pitchers went the distance and only allowed two hits each. Each team only saw two base runners make it to third base all day with only one being successful in advancing to home.  In the bottom of the 6th inning, Dillon Ingles lead off the inning for the Rockets with a base hit.  He then stole 2nd base and advanced to third on the throwing error when CSE attempted to throw him out.  Standing at third and needing a run, Ingles took off running on a pitch for home plate and by the time the catcher had the ball, Ingles had already touched the plate safely and that one run would be all that R-I would need to advance as they defeated CSE 1-0.  Keaton Dyche pitched a great game for the Rockets as he only surrendered two hits while striking out 11 batters.  The Rockets move to 16-18 on the season and advance to Wednesday night’s regional semifinal match-up with host QND.

Praireland Softball: R-I vs. Knoxville, Beardstown vs. Knoxville

This afternoon Rushville-Industry and Knoxville squared off in Praireland conference matchup in Beardstown.  Michala Swanger was on the mound for the Rockets and started out pitching three great innings by really working the entire strike zone and locating her pitches very well.  But in the fourth inning, Swanger started struggling from the mound and the bats of Knoxville started to come alive and they took the lead and never looked back, as Knoxville defeated Rushville-Industry 8-2.  Kailey Ward lead the afternoon at the plate for Rushville-Industry as she went 2-3 with a single, a double, and a RBI.  Michala Swanger also went 2-3 at the plate for the Rockets with two base hits and a run scored.

Game 2 of the evening turned out to be an amazing performance by Beardstown in their final home game of the year as they were able to defeat Knoxville by a score of 10-2.  This game saw plenty of offensive production by the Tigers as they were able to get 10 runs on 13 hits.  Also the Tigers played some outstanding defense this evening that would rob a few hits from Knoxville.  Kelsie Kuhlman had a great night on the mound as she only allowed three hits and carried a shutout into the bottom of the seventh inning.  Kuhlman also provided plenty of excitement at the plate as she went 3-4 with three base hits and three RBI’s.  Olivia Pate also had a great night at  the plate as she went 2-5 at the plate with two base hits, two RBI’s, and two runs scored.  Also, I received an update from the Knoxville coaches on the status of LF Sandoval and CF Dieak who collided with one another in the top of the second inning.  Sandoval took a knee in her shoulder from Dieak and is doing much better today after receiving medical attention. Dieak was mainly just shaken up and experiencing soreness from the collision.

IHSA Softball: QHS at Rushville-Industry

The Rushville-Industry softball team was back in action this afternoon as they hosted Quincy Senior High in a non-conference matchup.  This game got out to a quick and efficient start as we were scoreless after the completion of three innings.  Though in the 4th inning, QHS brought the bats to life and gained a lead that they would never let go of.  Rushville-Industry created a lot of chances to tie or win this game but they just could not get the hits when they really needed them.  QHS went on to defeat Rushville-Industry by a score of 3-2.  Michala Swanger takes the loss for the Rockets who fall to 5-18 on the season. Hannah Salrin went 1-3 on the afternoon with an RBI and a run scored. But Salrin also made a great defensive play back in the 3rd inning by diving, and tagging out, the QHS runner heading for home to keep the game scoreless.

Praireland Softball: North Fulton @ Rushville-Industry

This afternoon Rushville-Industry hosted North Fulton in a Praireland Conference softball matchup. The game got out to a strong start with both teams plating a run in the first inning. Unfortunately the strong start would not last for Rushville-Industry as they could not keep up with the offensive production of North Fulton. Rushville-Industry attempted to make a comeback in the last two innings but they just were not able to get the runs they needed and ended up being defated by North Fulton 8-3. Michala Swanger takes the loss for Rushville-Industry, though she still had a strong performance on the mound with 9 strikeouts. Rushville-Industry’s Hannah Salrin had a dynomyte afternoon as she wen 3-4 at the plate, scored 2 runs, and also had two great defensive plays out at shortstop. Rushville-Industry falls to 5-17 on the season.