Savoy Rec Center to host health seminar

UI volleyball coach Kevin Hambly set to speak at event

SAVOY — The Savoy Recreation Center will host a health and wellness seminar and potluck at 6 p.m. this Tuesday, March 2, at the rec center in Savoy.

The seminar will start with 25 to 30 minutes of discussion on different health and wellness topics, and is a great way to meet others in your community over a hot meal.

Each participant should bring a  dish to share. The Savoy Rec Center will supply the drinks and utensils.

The event is open to all ages, and UI volleyball coach Kevin Hambly will be one of the scheduled speakers at the event. Cost is $2 for non-Savoy residents and members, and free to those in the community or rec center members.

Please sign up by Friday to reserve a seat at the event.

Photos from St. Joseph eighth-grade state finals game

Daly rolls in state opener

CHAMPAIGN — The first match of the IHSA Class 1A state tournament went down pretty easily for Unity's Buddy Daly.

Daly went up 5-0 in the opening period and nearly won by fall on multiple occasions in rolling to a 16-1 tech fall victory over Rockridge's Kadmiel Smith. The victory moves Daly into the quarterfinals at 140 pounds where he will wrestle top-ranked and undefeated Guy Kirby (37-0) of GCMS. 

The match will be held during tonight's 6 p.m. quarterfinal round. Daly said he'll need to bring his best to beat Kirby.

"I'm going to try as hard as I can and do everything," Daly said. "I'm going to go all out."

The Unity junior didn't need to do much more than be aggressive in beating Smith to improve to 33-7. Daly was up 5-0 within the first minute of the match, and nearly tapped out Smith twice before the end of the opening round. Up 14-0 in the third round, Daly gave up his only point on an intentional escape to finish off the tech fall with another takedown.

"I think I did everything I could to win it," Daly said. "I could have used some more stamina, but I wrestled well."

Daly had a five-hour window from the completion of his first match to Friday's quarterfinals. He planned to use that time for preparation.

"I just have to work on all the moves I can do what I need to be ready," he said.

Daly getting ready for state finals

TOLONO — In two days, Unity junior Buddy Daly will wrestle for the first time at the IHSA Class 1A state finals in Champaign. Between now and then, the 140-pounder has a lot of preparation to do.

The runner-up at the LeRoy Regional and Clinton Sectional, Daly drew Rockridge sophomore Kadmiel Smith in the first round of Friday’s meet. Unity coach Bob Case doesn’t know much about Smith outside of what he’s read online, so he said it’s important that Daly work on everything.

“We have to put together pretty much a flawless match,” Case said. “We have to be mentally ready to go for six minutes without making a mistake.

“Our skills are where we can beat some kids at the state tournament and place if we avoid a mistake, but it’s only going to take one. If you make one mistake and give up two points, that could be the match.”

Daly is pretty comfortable with how he’s wrestled in recent weeks (both postseason losses are to No. 2 seed Kris Powars of Argenta-Oreana), though he cites any extra stamina he can gain between now and Friday would be huge.

“I’ve got to be sure I can wrestle a whole match,” Daly said. “I got kind of tired at the end of sectionals and I can’t have that happen again.”

The 140-pound Class 1A bracket is a competitive one. Undefeated and top-ranked Guy Kirby of GCMS looms for Daly in the second round, and seven of the 12 qualifying wrestlers have at least 30 wins. At 32-7, Daly is tied with Clinton’s Jacob Bateston for the sixth-best winning percentage in the field.

Whether Daly beats Kirby or not, Case likes his chances.

“We really have to be that man going against Kirby, because then win or lose you get to come back,” Case said, referring to Daly’s opening match. “Some people may think wrestling the No. 1 kid in the state isn’t a good draw. Well, technically it is.

“If you upset him, you’re in the semis ... and even if you lose you have to think that kid will be wrestling in the finals and you’ll get to go down to the wrestle-backs and wrestle again (for third place).”

If Daly’s going to reach the medal stand, he needs to wrestle as many matches as possible. That means the Rockets’ junior hopes to avoid any nerves during his first match at the Assembly Hall.

“I’m trying not to think about it, I’m just thinking about what I have to do and taking everything one match at a time,” he said. “My older brother Johnny wrestled there and he said when you get there and weigh in and look up at the stands it’s pretty breathtaking.”

The Class 1A opening round begins at 11 a.m. Friday on two of the six mats at the Assembly Hall. Daly expects to wrestle between 11 a.m. and noon.

Unity wrestling club raffle winners

The Unity Youth Wrestling Club held its annual raffle drawing on Friday Feb 5th @ The Last Chance Saloon.  The wrestling club would like to thank everyone who bought raffle tickets along with all who donated to make the raffle possible.

Raffle winners:

$500 Cash from Unity Youth Wrestling Club, Karson Richardson

$50 Cash from Doug LeCrone, Tina Lisanby

$50 Cash from Mr.  Rooter, Josh Didier (donated back to the club)

$40 Cash from Freese Funeral Home, Aaron Richardson

$20 Gift Certificate to Maggio Foods, Sara Richardson

2 Free Dinners @ Chili’s, Chris Wrobel

2 Free Dinners @ Chili’s, Sheppy

$15 Gift Certificate to Foudini’s, Leah Miller

$15 Gift Certificate to Foudini’s, Angela Mitsdarffer

$15 Gift Card to Old Orchard, Kristina Toney

$15 Gift Card to Old Orchard, Anita Wright

1 Free Family Pleaser to Monical’s, Quentin Cler

1 Free Family Pleaser to Monical’s, Ferrell Strack

1 large 1 topping Pizza from Zelma’s, JR Walsh

1 large 1 topping Pizza from Zelma’s, Maria Yfantis

$10 Gift Certificate to O’Charley’s, Mary Shelton

$10  Gift Certificate to Old Chicago, Briget Toney

$10 Gift Certificate to Old Chicago, Danny Groh

$10 Gift Certificate to Red Lobster, Danny Groh

2 Free appetizers @ Cheddar’s, Joyce Ahrens

2 Free appetizers @ Cheddar’s, Sara Richardson

3 Free desserts @ TGIFriday’s, Angela Kamradt

2 free meals @ McAllister’s, Denny

3 free 6in subs from Subway, Julie Corley

12 free video rentals @ Hollywood Video, George LeFaivre

2 free concessions @ Savoy 16, Jim Shelton

2 free concessions @ Savoy 16, Sara Richards

50 free wings from Hooters, Josh Didier

1 large 1 topping for a 1 year @ Casey’s, Janet Nelson

1 dozen donuts for a year  per month @ Casey’s, Andy Luben

2 Tickets for Jackson Taylor @ Radmacher’s, Jarred Abrahamson

$20 Gift Certificate to Radmacher’s, Maria Valkanos

1 Dozen Cinnamon Rolls @ Taco Shack, Tom Foster

Matrix/Biolage Haircare Products from Sears, Logan Wilson

Unity and SJ-O to meet in girls' regionals

CHAMPAIGN — Tonight is the final day of the regular season action for the Unity and SJ-O girls' basketball teams. The next time they hit the floor it will be a regional game, and it will be against one another.

Unity and SJ-O are the second and third seeds at the IHSA Class 2A Bismarck-Henning Regional, set to begin this upcoming Monday in Bismarck. The host Blue Devils are the top seed with a 28-0 record, while the fourth and fifth seeds are Oakwood and Georgetown-Ridge Farm. Bismarck-Henning will play the winner of the play in game in the first semifinal at 6 p.m. next Wednesday, while the Spartans and Rockets will square off in the second semifinal at 8 p.m.

The Rockets are Spartans are incredibly even, both on the court and on paper. Unity recently took third place in the Okaw Valley Conference Tournament and is 17-9 entering its season finale tonight against Shelbyville. The Spartans also took third place in their conference tournament, the SVC, and are 18-8 heading into tonight's showdown against St. Thomas More. In their only action against each other this year, Unity rallied late to beat SJ-O 49-46 in St. Joseph in December.

Here is a look at the Bismarck-Henning Regional:

Mon., Feb. 8

Game 1 at 7:30 pm: (4) Oakwood vs. (5) Georgetown-Ridge Farm

Wed., Feb. 10

Game 2 at 6:00 pm: (1) Bismarck-Henning vs. Winner Game 1

Game 3 at 8:00 pm: (2) Unity vs. (3) St. Joseph-Ogden

Thu., Feb. 11

Game 4 at 7:30 pm: Winner Game 2 vs. Winner Game 3

Unity advances to OVC title game

CHAMPAIGN — It didn't take long.

In just their third season in the new Okaw Valley Conference, the Unity Rockets' boys' basketball team has advanced to the conference tournament finals. Unity did so yesterday by rolling past Warrensburg-Latham 54-32 in the tournament semfinals at Decatur, sending the team into Saturday's 7:30 p.m. championship against the host St. Teresa Bulldogs.

St. Teresa has won 19 straight games, rising to the No. 7 spot in the recent IHSA Class 2A state rankings earlier this week. The Bulldogs beat Maroa-Forsyth 47-43 in Tuesday's other tournament semifinal.

The Rockets (14-6, 5-2 OVC) will be looking for revenge in Saturday's final after falling 75-62 at home to St. Teresa late last month. Unity avenged its only other conference regular season loss when it beat Warrensburg yesterday.

St. Joseph-Ogden can't stop Sabers

MOMENCE — Roth Vowels had 13 points in the first half and SJ-O was within four as late as the three-minute mark of the third quarter before falling 40-26 to St. Thomas More in the Sangamon Valley tournament quarterfinals Tuesday. 

The Spartans will play Clifton Central at 6 p.m. Thursday in Watseka in the play-in game to the tournament consolation bracket. With a win Thursday, the Spartans (2-19) would move on to the consolation semifinals at 7:30 p.m. Friday in Momence against the Redskins.  Back-to-back wins would put SJ-O in the consolation finals, set for 4:30 p.m. Saturday at Parkland. 

IHSA Regionals upcoming

Both the Spartans and Rockets will play in the Unity Regional when postseason play begins later this month. The five teams assigned to the Unity Regional are the Rockets, Spartans, Monticello Sages, St. Thomas More Sabres and Urbana Uni High Illineks.  A quick glance at the teams:

Unity (14-6): Beat SJ-O 64-39 (12/8), beat STM 65-45 (12/22).

St. Thomas More (18-5): Lost to Unity 65-45 (12/22), beat Monticello 55-48 (12/29), beat Monticello 63-37 (1/5), beat SJ-O 40-26 (2/2).

Uni High (16-4): No common opponents.

Monticello (12-7): Lost to STM 55-48 (12/29), lost to STM 63-37 (1/5).

St. Joseph-Ogden (2-19): Lost to Unity 64-39 (12/8), lost to STM 40-26 (2/2).