MAC ON SPORTS: MOUNT ZION FINDS A NEW THANKSGIVING TOURNAMENT IN WHICH TO COMPETE

J. Thomas McNamara

It didn’t take Mount Zion long to find a new Thanksgiving Tournament in which to compete.
The Braves become the 12th team of the recently expanded Cerro Gordo Turkey week tournament, Broncos athletic director and basketball head coach, Brandon Willard, put together.
     A sports editor, who shall remain anonymous except to say that he comes into our subscribers home every week, advised Mount Zion Athletic Director Ben Davis that Willard was seeking a 12th team to complete this November’s field. After hanging up from speaking with Davis, I emailed Willard of what I had done.
     He reached out to Davis and they came to an agreement that the Braves will be playing in Cerro Gordo for their 2020 Thanksgiving tournament basketball.
          “I am really excited to have them,” wrote Willard this afternoon (Monday, April 20). “I didn’t think I’d get a chance to coach against Dale (Mount Zion’s head coach Dale Schuring, who used to coach Arthur-Lovington/Atwood-Hammond) again, so that will be fun.
     “Hopefully, it can be a good fit for them this year,” concluded Willard.
     The other 11 teams are LSA, Downs Tri-Valley, Villa Grove/Heritage, LeRoy, Heyworth, Windsor/Stewardson-Strasburg, Blue Ridge, Urbana University High, Arthur Christian, Shelbvyille and the Broncos.
     I will have more on this developing story in a future print edition of the Decatur Tribune. There’s an earlier story in this week’s edition where Caterpillar Decatur Thanksgiving Tournament Coordinator Mel Roustio is announcing that East St. Louis is replacing the Braves for this year’s tournament per Mount Zion’s wishes.
     Mount Zion Athletic Director Ben Davis advised Roustio at last year’s tournament they would like to be released from this year’s event if he could find someone to replace them which Roustio did with the Flyers of East St. Louis.