On the 11/7/09 Saturday Morning Sports Show, host Tom Conn chatted with former Kankakee resident Bill Bellman, age 56, about his 47-day bike ride, from Oregon to New Hampshire.  You can view his blog, along with photos from his amazing trip of some 3,600 miles, at www.bammi83.com

SATURDAY, OCT. 31
Class 2A playoffs
Knoxville 30, Milford 6
Tom Conn recaps Annawan-Wethersfield’s 23-21 win over the Central Comets 10-31centralkewanee wrap

Class 7A playoffs
East St. Louis 51, Bradley-Bourbonnais 43
Class 4A playoffs
Bishop McNamara 32, IVC 0
Coal City 30, Dunlap 7
Herscher 32, Dyett 6
Class 5A playoffs
Chatham Glenwood 14, Kankakee 0

FRIDAY, OCT. 30
Herb Glasgow recaps Caston’s 14-7 win over the South Newton Rebels SNewton WRAP 10 30

Wilmington 33, Reed-Custer 7
Richmond-Burton 40, Peotone 7

Mike Harris had the Play By Play action live on WGFA…

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Central 39, Watseka 15
WGFA’s Mike Harris discusses the Comet victory with Coach Brian Spooner 10-16brianspoonerpost

Barry Bauer talks with Warrior coach Tom Stark after the game 10-16tomstarkpost

Tom Conn recaps the Central-Watseka games and others in the area 10-16FBALL RECAP

Other Scores:
Herscher 38, Peotone 7
Coal City 21, Reed-Custer 19
Paxton-Buckley-Loda 36, Momence 28
Sandwich 20, Manteno 12
Dwight 46, Seneca 40
St. Thomas More 62, Iroquois West 6
Milford-Cissna Park 27, Fithian- Oakwood 12
Brother Rice 28, Bishop McNamara 6
Andrew 21, Bradley-Bourbonnais 0
South Newton (IN) 40, Clinton Central (IN) 37
Wilmington 49, Plano 22
Kankakee 28, Rich East 7 (Sat. afternoon)

Our First Trust and Savings Bank & FTH Insurance in Watseka, Clifton and Paxton Player of the Week is senior JORDAN PURDY, wide receiver for the South Newton Rebels.  In Friday’s wild 40-37 South Newton win over Clinton Central, Purdy had 7 catches for 131 yards, 4 of them for TDs (22, 2, 54, and 12 yards).  Purdy has come on as a solid contributor on offense & defense in the Rebels’ 5-game win streak that concluded their regular season at 7-2 as they begin Sectional play Friday at home vs. Carroll Flora.

Darryl Focken recaps Watseka’s 21-14 loss to Stanford-Olympia WRAP Watseka 10 2 2009

Tom Conn recaps Momence’s 26-14 Homecoming win vs. Iroquois West 10-2momence-iw recap

Tom Conn recaps other area games:  10-2 football recap

Other scores:

Reed-Custer 20, Herscher 6

Kankakee 28, Rich Central 8

De La Salle 50, Bishop McNamara 6

Peotone 28, Manteno 21

Sandwich 34, Coal City 27

Dwight 37, Lisle 26

Wilmington 42, Seneca 14

Central 47, PBL 12

Milford-Cissna Park 28, Georgetown-Ridge Farm 20

Bradley-Bourbonnais 28, Thornwood 6 ( Sat. )

South Newton (IN) 26, Caston (IN) 8

Our First Trust & Savings Bank & FTH Insurance in Watseka, Clifton, and Paxton Player of the Week is KYLE FRAKE, junior of the Central Comets.  A key contributor on both sides of the ball in last year’s successful Comet season as a sophomore, Kyle continues to be one of the area’s leading receivers, and has had fine rushing numbers this year, too.  After 2 rough Comet losses, Kyle had a big hand in re-igniting the Comet offense with 131 yards on only 7 carries, with 3 TD runs, in addition to 4 catches for 56 yards, one of them for a TD, as Central won an important conference game over PBL 47-12 to improve to 4-2.

Mike Harris recaps Watseka’s 41-32 win at Momence 9-26recapwatseka momence

Tom Conn recaps St. Joseph-Ogden’s 33-0 win at Iroquois West 9-25-09 stjoe iroq west recap

Recaps of those games and others in the area 9-25-09 football recap

Other scores – Crete-Monee 19, Kankakee 12

Bradley-Bourbonnais 40, Thornridge 18

Manteno 39, Herscher 38

Peotone 21, Coal City 7

Reed-Custer 22, Sandwich 7

Wilmington 44, Dwight 0

St. Thomas More 13, Clifton Central 9

Westville 40, Milford-Cissna Park 14

South Newton (IN) 14, Tri-County 0

The First Trust & Savings Bank and FTH Insurance in Watseka, Clifton, and Paxton Player of the Week award goes to senior KATIE COWAN of WATSEKA.  Katie finished the week with 19 kills, 10 blocks in wins over Fisher and Momence this week.  But all season long, she has been at or near the top of several volleyball categories (including total points, kills, blocks and serving percentage) for area players.   Katie has been a key component in many of the Warriors victories this season, leading them to a red-hot 18-4 start.

Darryl Focken recaps Milford-Cissna Park’s 42-33 upset win over Salt Fork….9-19-09saltforkmilfordrecap

Mike Harris recaps Watseka’s 55-20 win at Paxton-Buckley-Loda….9-19-09 watseka-pbl recap

Other recaps: 9-18-09 fball recap

Other scores:

Kankakee 32, Bloom 0

Peotone 34, Reed-Custer 14

Wilmington 47, Westmont 12

Coal City 47, Manteno 18

Herscher 21, Sandwich 7

St. Thomas More 49, Momence 0

St. Joseph-Ogden 37, Clifton Central 9

Iroquois West 32, Ridgeview 12

Plano 26, Dwight 0

South Newton (IN) 42, West Central (IN) 8

(Sat. 9/19) Bradley-Bourbonnais 27,  Midland Dow(Michigan) 20

(Sun. 9/20) Bishop McNamara 27, Chicago Leo 6

Our First Trust and Savings Bank & FTH Insurance in Watseka, Clifton and Paxton Player of the week is SAWYER HARRIS, senior at Watseka.  The Warriors had a rough loss at home to St. Thomas More the week before, but still Sawyer rushed for 85 total yards including returning the 2nd half kickoff 88 yards for a TD in the losing cause.  Sawyer helped Watseka recover from that loss, with a 55-20 win at PBL the following game.  In that, Sawyer passed for 175 yards with 2 TD passes, and also rushed for 70 yards with 1 TD run.

Mike Harris recaps Watseka’s 49-19 loss to St. Thomas More

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Tom Conn recaps Iroquois West’s 14-6 loss to Paxton-Buckley-Loda.

9-11-09 pbl-iw recap

Our First Trust and Savings Bank & FTH Insurance in Watseka, Clifton, and Paxton Player of the Week is KYLE POPHAM of the MILFORD-CISSNA PARK BEARCATS.  In a Saturday afternoon (9/5) game at Broadlands/Heritage, Popham led in rushing with 115 yards on just 9 carries.  Then in Friday’s (9/11) game, he followed up with 51 yards rushing and scored the game-winning TD with :16 left to give MCP a thrilling 26-24 home win over Bismarck-Henning.

Other scores:

BBCHS 35, Lincoln-Way West 3

Chicago Hubbard 14, Kankakee 12 in OT

Bishop McNamara 56, Lake Forest Academy 28

Dwight 16, Manteno 14

Lisley 27, Peotone 20

Herscher 32, Seneca 21

Coal City 48, Westmont 0

Wilmington 45, Reed-Custer 14

St. Joseph-Ogden 47, Momence 0

Milford 26, Bismarck-Henning 24

Winamac (IN) 41, South Newton (IN) 27

Central 43,  Lawrenceville 0

Darryl Focken recaps Watseka’s 41-7 win over Hoopeston on Fri. Sep. 4 – WatsekaHoopestonWRap

Tom Conn recaps Central’s 42-13 win over Oakwood-Armstrong Potomac on Fri. Sep. 4 –  oak-central recap

Central Comet junior DAVID PAYNE is our First Trust & Savings Bank and FTH Insurance in Watseka, Clifton and Paxton PLAYER OF THE WEEK winner for the week ending Sept. 4, 2009.  David was a key contributor to Central’s success last year as a sophomore, and began his junior year in fine fashion–157 yards rushing & 3 touchdowns in a 35-10 at Paris, and followed it up Friday night vs. Oakwood with 101 yards rushing & a TD on just 8 carries.  He also was one of the team leaders in tackles–several which resulted in a loss of yardage for OAP.

Watseka wins over Hoopeston 41-7.  Darryl Focken talks with Head Coach of Watseka Tom Stark…

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Danville 46 Mattoon 3

Bradley-Bourbonnais 38, Al Raby 0

Bishop McNamara 41, Gordon Tech 12

Kankakee 33, Oak Lawn 7

Herscher 36, Plano 8

Wilmington 37, Peotone 8

Genoa-Kingston 41, Iroquois West 0

Westville 34, Momence 28

Coal City 28, Lisle 0

Manteno 45, Westmont 14

Reed-Custer 21, Seneca 12

Sandwich 21, Dwight 13

Georgetown 31 Arthur Lovington 14

Pioneer 69 , South Newton 7

Salt Fork 34 South Piatt 0

St. Thomas Moore 49, Schlarmann 0

Central 42 Oakwood 13

North Vermillion 28 Covington 14

Seegur 30 Attica 14

Milford Cissna Park Head Football Coach Nate Albaugh talks with Darryl Focken about this seasons start to the football season…

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Former Donovan Wildcats and Kankakee Coummunity College basketball coach Justin Lareau moves on to coach at South Alabama…  Interview by Darryl Focken.

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Carl Gerdovich talked with John Paul about Red Grange.  John Paul is the host/moderator of Red Grange Remembers on WILL TV.

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WILL-TV (PBS) is preparing to air a new documentary on September 8, called “Red Grange Remembers.”

In the hour long television program, the viewer will hear straight from Illini football legend, Harold “Red” Grange in one of his last interviews. Red is considered America’s first football superstar. He talks about his superstar days in college and pro football, the early days of the Bears with George Halas, hanging with legends like Babe Ruth, Ty Cobb, Jack Dempsey.

As you probably know, Red was the “Wheaton Iceman” who came to Illinois in the early 1920s and put college football on the map October 18, 1924 when he scored five touchdowns and threw for a sixth in the dedication game at Memorial Stadium. His performance in that game earned him the nickname “The Galloping Ghost.”

In 1925, this young superstar was signed by a young professional football team called the Chicago Bears (formerly Decatur Staleys) and George Halas (who also played football at Illinois) to go on a 19 game barnstorming tour which eventually led to creation of the NFL.

BTW

For those of us who are St. Louis Cardinals fans, think of the Stan Musial statue outside Busch…only BIGGER.

Or for Chicago Bulls fans, the Michael Jordan statue outside the United Center.

—The University of Illinois is preparing to erect a giant statue of “Red” on the west side of Memorial Stadium in Champaign.

WGFA’s Prep football season kicks off tonight. The Watseka Warriors host UCCS Woodlawn in Dralle’s game of the week. Pre-game at 6:45 and kick-off at 7 pm. WGFA also provides updates from the Martinsville at Milford game.

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It’s also Warrior Fan Appreciation night at Blake Field in Watseka. Join the Warrior Booster Club prior to the game at 7 pm and receive a free T-shirt. The Boosters are also selling pork chop sandwiches.

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Other area games tonight…Westville at Iroquois West; Central (Clifton) at Paris; Hoopeston Area at East Central; Momence at Wheaton Academy; PBL at GCMS; Kankakee at Bradley-Bourbonnais; St. Ignatius at Bishop McNamara; Herscher at Dwight; Manteno at Wilmington; Peotone at Plano; In Indiana: Frontier at South Newton; Rensellaer Central at North Newton, Benton Central at Lafayette Central Catholic.

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WGFA will be on hand this Friday night to cover Watseka Football. Pregame coverage is at 6:45. We’ll also have updates from the Milford game. Friday night is Watseka Warrior football fan appreciation night. Join us at Blake Field for the 2009 season opener vs. UCCS (Woodlawn) at 7pm. Come early and receive a free t-shirt from the boosters. The athletic boosters will also be selling pork chop sandwiches.

Tom Conn chats with Central coach Brian Spooner

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Tom Conn chats with Iroquois West coach DJ Harris

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Tom Conn chats with Watseka coach Tom Stark

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SR. QUARTERBACK TYLER LOWE OF SOUTH NEWTON REBELS Tyler Lowe had a fine season last year, with just over 2000 passing yards, and began the 2009 season in fine fashion on Fri. Aug. 21, leading the Rebels to a 43-27 win over rival N. Newton. The Spartans gave S. Newton a scare in the first half, but Lowe kept his cool, passing for 3 touchdowns, 10 of 19 for 178 yds passing. Expect more good numbers from him all season long for Coach Chris Bell’s Rebels.

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Watseka High School Athletic Booster Club will host its annual pork burger scrimmage night on Friday August 21st. The schedule of events is as follows:

5:00 p.m. – Varsity and Junior Varsity Volleyball Scrimmage (High School Gym)
5:00 p.m. – Varsity Soccer (High School)
5:15 p.m. – Girls Tennis Scrimmage (High School Tennis Courts)
6:00 p.m. – Freshman Football Scrimmage (Blake Field)
6:40 p.m. – Sophomore Football Scrimmage (Blake Field)
7:15 p.m. – Varsity Football Scrimmage (Blake Field)

Introductions of Volleyball and Football teams will take place five minutes prior to their scrimmage. Tennis, Golf, and Soccer teams will be introduced at 5:45 p.m. on the football field. Cheerleaders will be introduced with the Varsity Football team.

The Athletic Booster Club will also be selling football season tickets at a price of $9 each. That’s 4 games for the price of 3!