By Ben Cox
Photos provided
Football
A pair of area teams became playoff eligible this past week as a few more inched closer to that possibility.
Calhoun remains unbeaten on the season, after they toppled WIVC South opponent West Central this past Friday 49-8. West Central had an 8-0 lead after the first quarter with the help of a 22-yard touchdown run by Eli Crain and a 2-point conversion from Ryker Ford, but Calhoun answered with 14 points in the second quarter and never looked back. West Central fell to 2-3. West Central will look to bounce back against Pleasant Hill-Western-Griggsville-Perry this upcoming week.
The Brown County Hornets rolled by the Triopia Trojans 42-8 on Friday to also become playoff eligible. Triopia scored its only touchdown on a three-yard run by Jakob Browning late in the 4th quarter. The Trojans slipped to 2-3 ahead of next week’s home game against Beardstown. Brown County will meet up with the final area playoff-eligible team Camp Point Central next week to determine the WIVC-North champion.
Routt pitched a shutout and got themselves a 14-0 win for their first victory of the season against Beardstown on Friday. Gavan Sheehan ran for both touchdowns for the Rockets. The Rockets come home on Saturday this week to face Mendon Unity.
Darren Henry scored three touchdowns as Jacksonville trampled Springfield Southeast 49-14 on the road this past week. The Crimsons host Springfield High (4-1) on Friday. This is a crucial game for the Crimsons (3-2) to make their path to the playoffs easier with games against Quincy-Notre Dame (3-2) and Decatur-MacArthur (4-1) on the horizon.
Volleyball
Area volleyball saw a pair of individual milestones this week. South County’s Aliviah Colwell was given honors last Monday for her 1,000th career assist against Edinburg on September 12 at the Montgomery County Invitational Tournament. Colwell is just a junior and may be eyeing school record books before it’s all said and done.
Meanwhile, the Vipers finished the week 1-1 after defeating Greenfield-Northwestern in a three-set thriller and dropping straight sets to conference foe Bunker Hill on September 25. The Vipers are 9-8 and have a tough schedule ahead.
Triopia’s Lucie Dion also surpassed 1,000 career assists this past week in a match at the Routt Dome. The Lady Trojans swept the match against the Rockets and they remain undefeated in WIVC play. The Trojans are 14-6 after going 2-1 this past week, dropping a match to Auburn and winning at Routt and Havana.
West Central had another rough week on the court and currently sit at 2-18 on the season. Routt turned in one of their best weeks on the hardcourt this season with back-to-back wins over Payson-Seymour and Springfield Lutheran. Routt is 8-11 heading into their Volley for the Cure match with Jacksonville to kick off this week. Jacksonville will be looking for a win, as the Lady Crimsons have lost two in a row. They dropped tough matches to Quincy High and Chatham Glenwood this week. The Crimsons are 6-8.
