By Ben Cox
The boys high school basketball season gets underway this week. Many Thanksgiving holiday tournaments will mark the occasion around the state this week. Locally, the Crimson Classic will be held November 28-29 at the JHS Bowl. Elsewhere, many smaller schools will gather at the Gene Bergschneider Turkey Tournament starting on November 24 and wrap up on November 29. Some other area teams stay out of tournament play early and wait until Christmas break to get full swing into the heavy competition. Let’s look at the season with what information we have so far.
Jacksonville High School
Head Coach Michael Cameron is entering his third season at the helm for the Crimsons. Last year, the Crimsons finished 11-19 overall with a Central State 8 conference record of 4-7. Coach Cameron will have a pretty good cast of returning starters this year, but they are mostly in the front court. Senior guard Masen Johnson (5.9 ppg) and senior forward Troy DeFrates (6.9 ppg) were the heaviest contributors returning to the hardcourt this year. Sophomore Jeremiah Jackson will also factor into the front court. Considering he just had an exemplary football season, Jackson is athletic and should provide more than the 1.8 ppg that he did over brief varsity minutes as a freshman last year. Senior guard Latrell Hemphill (3.4 ppg) will be relied upon for much more this year in the front court mix. The Crimsons will have some heavy lifting to do, as they will look to replace the nearly 19 points per game provided by Amaree Burries last year. They will also need to find someone to replicate the size down low lost by the graduation of forward Ryan McCombs. Some new names you may hear called this year are the 6’8” Westfair Academy transfer Greyson Prevett, Darren Henry, Jack Calmese, Chris Mulamba, Jace Taylor, and Troy Holmes. “We want to maximize our team’s potential by improving daily,” said Coach Cameron, “and compete for a conference championship.” The CS8 is loaded with athletes so this is a pretty formidable task. With a mixture of speed and good ball-handling, they could navigate themselves well around taller teams if they control the ball and the clock. The Crimsons kick off their season against Marion in the Crimson Classic on November 28.
Routt Catholic High School
Head Coach Will Whalen enters his 11th season. Last year, the Rockets went 29-5 and won the WIVC Conference. They fell short of their 3rd regional title during Whalen’s tenure with a loss to Brown County in the regional final last year. The 29 wins were a new school record. Coach Whalen was unable to get back to me about his lineup prior to press time. The Rockets will kick off their season at the Bergschneider Turkey Tournament in New Berlin on November 24 against Springfield-Lutheran.
South County co-op
Head Coach Josh Krumweide is in his second season at the helm at South County. The Vipers finished 19-14 last season and 7-2 in the MSM Conference, good enough for second place in the conference. They lost in the first round of the regional tournament to Pawnee/Calvary co-op last season. This year’s squad is very-senior heavy with a lot of returning scorers. Senior guard Caden Colwell (11.6 ppg), senior Owen Paluska (10.4 ppg) and senior small forward Chase Doughtery (4.1 ppg) will be in the mix to replace the departing talents of Clark Nelson, Bishop McDannald, Gabe Lyons and Noah Ribble. The Vipers are known for a gritty, physical style of basketball that doesn’t score a lot of points. Coach Krumweide says this year won’t be much of a departure from that approach, “We will be one of the smallest teams in the area, but we hope to make up for our lack of size with speed and athleticism. We will look to play with a little more pace this year on offense. We should have solid guard play and limited turnovers.” Krumweide says they also hope to improve over last year’s 37% team field goal percentage and 60% team free throw percentage. South County dropped out of the Bergschneider Turkey Tournament this year and has replaced them with the Spartan Classic and the Winchester Invitational Tournament later on in the season. The Vipers start their season on November 28 with a non-conference match-up with Macon-Meridian at home.
Triopia High School
Head Coach Hunter Stockton will be on his maiden voyage at the helm for the Trojans. He replaced Rich Thompson who retired at the end of last season after six years. Stockton, a former Illinois College player, was an assistant with the Trojans’ program the previous two seasons. The Trojans went 15-15 last season and finished second-to-last in the WIVC with a 2-7 conference record. The Trojans ended last season by losing to eventual regional champion Brown County in the first round. Triopia luckily will come back with some experience and size. Potential starters looking for minutes include seniors Bronc Bogner, Grant Fricke, Jacob Cook, Jack Parlier and Andrew Hobrock. Junior Sam Miller and Sophomore Avery Neathery will also likely be in the mix. Coach Stockton did not respond to inquiries prior to press time. The Trojans start their season at the Bergschneider Turkey Tournament on Day Two on November 25 against host New Berlin in the late game.
West Central co-op
Head Coach Ryan Sichting is in his eighth season in Winchester. Sichting’s teams have only failed to reach 20 wins just once, and that was the Covid-shortened 2020-2021 season in which many suspected the Cougars would at least compete for the 1A state title. As we all know, the Cougars ended up winning it all in the 2023-2024 season. The expectations remain high after last year’s 27-8 overall finish. It was the disappointing 7-2, third place WIVC conference finish that is likely sticking in the returning seniors’ craws this year. The Cougars have some returning size and athleticism for this season. Ryker Ford, Nick Hamilton, Carson Clevenger and Charlie Smith should provide the majority of the mix. Juniors Blayne Sidwell and Gabe Howard will also be in the mix. Coach Sichting has shown a knack for finding a good rotation from a deep bench, using load management well and combining the right players at the right time. The Cougars lost to Greenfield-Northwestern in the Sectional semifinals last year. They are looking to get back there once again. West Central generally has stayed out of the early tournaments ahead of their own host tournament, the legendary Winchester Invitational after Christmas. The Cougars start their season on November 24 on the road at Rushville-Industry.
Sports notes
West Central Head Football Coach Matt Coultas resigned from the post after 7 seasons. He went 34-30 overall with 3 quarterfinal state tournament appearances. The 3 state quarterfinal appearances are the most in the co-op’s history.
The Illinois College football team’s season came to an end last week. Aurora took an early lead in the SmileyCookie.com Lakefront Bowl in Wauwotosa, Wisconsin and they never looked back, beating the Blue Boys 49-14. IC concludes its season with an 8-3 overall record.
The Illinois College dance team punched its ticket to the National Championships with a strong showing on November 16. The Lady Blues finished in second place in the Pom and Team Performance categories and earned third place in the Jazz category. In addition to the third-place showing in Jazz, IC received a specialty “Be Bold” award for the artistry and energy in its routine. The National competition will be held April 10-12, 2026, in Orlando, Florida. In preparation for the national championships, IC will host its annual showcase on March 29 at 2 p.m. in Sherman Gymnasium.
In what is likely going to be talked about for ages, a goal-line stand by the Brown County Hornets last weekend led them to take down WIVC opponent Calhoun on their home field 14-13 to advance to the Class 1A state football championship. It’s the first time that the Hornets have gone to the state title game in program history. The Hornets will play the formidable northern Illinois program Lena-Winslow for the title on Black Friday at Hancock Stadium in Normal at 10 a.m.The boys high school basketball season gets underway this week. Many Thanksgiving holiday tournaments will mark the occasion around the state this week. Locally, the Crimson Classic will be held November 28-29 at The JHS Bowl.
Elsewhere, many smaller schools will gather at the Gene Bergschneider Turkey Tournament starting on November 24 and wrap up on November 29. Some other area teams stay out of tournament play early and wait until Christmas break to get full swing into the heavy competition. Let’s look at the season with what information we have so far.
Jacksonville High School
Head Coach Michael Cameron is entering his third season at the helm for the Crimsons. Last year, the Crimsons finished 11-19 overall with a Central State 8 conference record of 4-7. Coach Cameron will have a pretty good cast of returning starters this year, but they are mostly in the front court. Senior guard Masen Johnson (5.9 ppg) and senior forward Troy DeFrates (6.9 ppg) were the heaviest contributors returning to the hard court this year.
Sophomore Jeremiah Jackson will also factor into the front court. Considering he just had an exemplary football season, Jackson is athletic and should provide more than the 1.8 ppg that he did over brief varsity minutes as a freshman last year. Senior guard Latrell Hemphill (3.4 ppg) will be relied upon for much more this year in the front court mix.
The Crimsons will have some heavy lifting to do, as they will look to replace the nearly 19 points per game provided by Amaree Burries last year. They will also need to find someone to replicate the size down low lost by the graduation of forward Ryan McCombs.
Some new names you may hear called this year are the 6’8” Westfair Academy transfer Greyson Prevett, Darren Henry, Jack Calmese, Chris Mulamba, Jace Taylor, and Troy Holmes. “We want to maximize our team’s potential by improving daily,” said Coach Cameron, “and compete for a conference championship.” The CS8 is loaded with athletes so this is a pretty formidable task. With a mixture of speed and good ball-handling, they could navigate themselves well around taller teams if they control the ball and the clock.
The Crimsons kick off their season against Marion in the Crimson Classic on November 28.
Routt Catholic High School
Head Coach Will Whalen enters his 11th season. Last year, the Rockets went 29-5 and won the WIVC Conference. They fell short of their 3rd regional title during Whalen’s tenure with a loss to Brown County in the regional final last year. The 29 wins were a new school record.
Coach Whalen was unable to get back to me about his lineup prior to press time. The Rockets will kick off their season at the Bergschneider Turkey Tournament in New Berlin on November 24 against Springfield-Lutheran.
South County co-op
Head Coach Josh Krumweide is in his second season at the helm at South County. The Vipers finished 19-14 last season and 7-2 in the MSM Conference, good enough for second place in the conference. They lost in the first round of the regional tournament to Pawnee/Calvary co-op last season.
This year’s squad is senior heavy with a lot of returning scorers. Senior guard Caden Colwell (11.6 ppg), senior Owen Paluska (10.4 ppg) and senior small forward Chase Doughtery (4.1 ppg) will be in the mix to replace the departing of Clark Nelson, Bishop McDannald, Gabe Lyons and Noah Ribble.
The Vipers are known for a gritty, physical style of basketball that doesn’t score a lot of points. Coach Krumweide says this year won’t be much of a departure from that approach, “We will be one of the smallest teams in the area, but we hope to make up for our lack of size with speed and athleticism. We will look to play with a little more pace this year on offense. We should have solid guard play and limited turnovers.”
Krumweide says they also hope to improve over last year’s 37% team field goal percentage and 60% team free throw percentage. South County dropped out of the Bergschneider Turkey Tournament this year and has replaced them with the Spartan Classic and the Winchester Invitational Tournament later on in the season.
The Vipers start their season on November 28 with a non-conference match-up with Macon-Meridian at home.
Triopia High School
Head Coach Hunter Stockton will be on his maiden voyage at the helm for the Trojans. He replaced Rich Thompson who retired at the end of last season after six years.
Stockton, a former Illinois College player, was an assistant with the Trojans’ program the previous two seasons. The Trojans went 15-15 last season and finished second-to-last in the WIVC with a 2-7 conference record. The Trojans ended last season by losing to eventual regional champion Brown County in the first round. Triopia luckily will come back with some experience and size.
Potential starters looking for minutes include seniors Bronc Bogner, Grant Fricke, Jacob Cook, Jack Parlier and Andrew Hobrock. Junior Sam Miller and Sophomore Avery Neathery will also likely be in the mix.
The Trojans start their season at the Bergschneider Turkey Tournament on Day Two on November 25 against host New Berlin in the late game.
West Central co-op
Head Coach Ryan Sichting is in his eighth season in Winchester. Sichting’s teams have only failed to reach 20 wins just once, and that was the Covid-shortened 2020-2021 season in which many suspected the Cougars would at least compete for the 1A state title.
As we all know, the Cougars ended up winning it all in the 2023-2024 season. The expectations remain high after last year’s 27-8 overall finish. It was the disappointing 7-2, third place WIVC conference finish that is likely sticking in the returning seniors’ craws this year.
The Cougars have some returning size and athleticism for this season. Ryker Ford, Nick Hamilton, Carson Clevenger and Charlie Smith should provide the majority of the mix. Juniors Blayne Sidwell and Gabe Howard will also be in the mix. Coach Sichting has shown a knack for finding a good rotation from a deep bench, using load management well and combining the right players at the right time.
The Cougars lost to Greenfield-Northwestern in the Sectional semifinals last year. They are looking to get back there once again. West Central generally has stayed out of the early tournaments ahead of their own host tournament, the legendary Winchester Invitational after Christmas.
The Cougars start their season on November 24 on the road at Rushville-Industry.
Sports notes
West Central Head Football Coach Matt Coultas resigned from the post after 7 seasons. He went 34-30 overall with 3 quarterfinal state tournament appearances. The 3 state quarterfinal appearances are the most in the co-op’s history.
The Illinois College football team’s season came to an end last week. Aurora took an early lead in the SmileyCookie.com Lakefront Bowl in Wauwotosa, Wisconsin and they never looked back, beating the Blue Boys 49-14. IC concludes its season with an 8-3 overall record.
The Illinois College dance team punched its ticket to the National Championships with a strong showing on November 16. The Lady Blues finished in second place in the Pom and Team Performance categories and earned third place in the Jazz category. In addition to the third-place showing in Jazz, IC received a specialty “Be Bold” award for the artistry and energy in its routine. The National competition will be held April 10-12, 2026, in Orlando, Florida. In preparation for the national championships, IC will host its annual showcase on March 29 at 2 p.m. in Sherman Gymnasium.
In what is likely going to be talked about for ages, a goal-line stand by the Brown County Hornets last weekend led them to take down WIVC opponent Calhoun on their home field 14-13 to advance to the Class 1A state football championship. It’s the first time that the Hornets have gone to the state title game in program history. The Hornets will play the formidable northern Illinois program Lena-Winslow for the title on Black Friday at Hancock Stadium in Normal at 10 a.m.
