Courtney Molton, East St. Louis
File photo by Jim Owens
Ohio has not been kind to Illinois’ top-ranked East St. Louis football team.
The Flyers lost their third consecutive game in the state, and their second this year in Ohio, with Saturday night’s 27-16 loss to Middletown.
The Middies built a 13-point lead and then held off the Flyers, who lost to Elder the week before in Cincinnati.
East St. Louis (0-2) led 7-6 after its first possession, an 80-yard drive that was capped by a 28-yard scoring pass from Detchauz Wray to Keante Minor. But Middletown (2-0) reclaimed the lead with an 85-yard drive, and the Middies never trailed again.
Broken thumb sets Book down
Breese Central quarterback Brandon Book will be lost for 4-6 weeks after hitting a Dupo player's helmet following through on a pass Friday night.
The 6-foot-5 sophomore suffered the injury on Central’s first possession, but Central went on to beat the Tigers 21-0 in a Cahokia Conference game.
“He dropped back to pass and followed through and brought it down on a (defender’s) helmet,” coach Brian Short told the St. Louis Post-Dispatch. “We’ll be all right. We’ve got a pretty good running game. I’m pretty optimistic that we’ll be OK. My backup quarterback is a senior, and I’m pretty sure we’re going to be all right.”
Central, 2-0 overall and 1-0 in the conference, is No. 5 in the Post-Dispatch small-schools rankings. For the season, Book is 10-of-16 passing for 185 yards and one touchdown with one interception.
Veteran coach hangs up whistle
Bob Wharton, the only coach Springfield’s girls soccer program has known, retired recently.
Wharton helped start the program in 1989 and never had a losing season, amassing a 360-94-31 record at the school.
“Twenty-one years is a long time to do anything,” the 46-year-old Springfield teacher and graduate told the Springfield Journal-Register. “I think I need a little break.”
Wharton’s career victories rank third in Illinois, according to the Illinois High School Association Web site.
Busch duplicates big win
Freeburg's Kristen Busch beat eventual 2008 Class 2A state champion Margo Richardson at the Olney Invitational last year, and there were those who felt it was an anomaly. No such luck.
Busch recently turned a muddy track into her own private course, besting Mount Vernon’s Richardson again -- this time by three seconds -- and setting a Granite City Park record along the way. Her 17-minute, 32-second time over the three-mile trek was 11 seconds faster then a mark set by Richardson last year.
Lancers chop down titan
Belleville East, fleet afoot all day, used that speed to fell a giant recently. The Lancers, behind junior forward Travis Hoguet, whipped 2008 state runner-up Edwardsville 2-0 to keep their record spotless on the young soccer season.
The Lancers (4-0) opened the year winning their own tourney before putting the clamps on Edwardsville last week. Hoguet and Neal Szewczyk each scored a goal, and junior keeper Alex Taylor remained unscored-upon with the shutout.
“We've got some kids who can flat-out fly,“' Lancers coach Mark Lasley told the Belleville News-Democrat. “Hoguet is a playmaker, and with his speed he's able to create chances for himself and his teammates. That second goal was something because he (Hoguet) crossed it quickly and just as fast, Neal (Szewcayk) headed the ball past the goalie.
“You can't really teach speed. You can teach defense and you can teach technique, but speed is something you either have or you don't. Fortunately, we do.“
Troy Hayes covers central and southern Illinois for MaxPreps. He may be reached at sportsgopher@yahoo.com.
