Mac On Sports

     Subscribers often have read here about how coaches have long-term effects on the athletes, who play for them. Here’s another proof positive of that as former St. Teresa graduate Michael Copeland described in his hometown Chesapeake, Va. publication that his very proud sister, Renee (Copeland) Saunches, shared with the Decatur Tribune.      A quick read…

       Bethalto Civic Memorial turned back a strong challenge from Michael Williams’ MacArthur lady Generals, 61-49, to advance to Thursday night’s sectional championship game.      The Generals finished their outstanding season with a won-loss record of 24-9.      I’ll have more on their year in a future print edition of the Decatur Tribune.

  By Sports Editor J. Thomas McNamara      MacArthur’s lady Generals could make school history next week as the school has never won a sectional championship.      Michael Williams’ MacArthur Generals plays Bethalto Civic Memorial Monday night in the first round of the Taylorville sectional after defeating Paris, 69-38, Thursday night for the Mount Zion regional championship.…

  “It ain’t over, til it’s over!” That famous quote from the late baseball Hall of Fame New York Yankees catcher and manager Yogi Berra comes to mind with all the post-mortems being written and said in the print and electronic media about the end of the Forsyth Classic. I caution my colleagues it may…

  By J. Thomas McNamara, Sports Editor      “Nobody cares how much you know, until they know how much you care…”      That’s one of Jordan Hopman’s philosophies, who is about to embark on taking over the LSA football program from retired head coach Craig Bundy.      Hopman brings 13 years of prep and college coaching experience as…

  By J. Thomas McNamara Whoever first said one can’t return home obviously didn’t know Jack and Barbara McCoy and their love for St. Teresa High School for what it has achieved in producing outstanding students, who graduated from there and who went on to become successes in business, in medicine, in coaching, and in…

  With the polar vortex striking the Midwest, including Decatur and central Illinois, Warrensburg-Latham officials have advised changes in the boys tournament have been made.      Tonight’s (Tuesday) semi-final games have been moved up an hour with start times at 5 and 6:30 instead of 6 and 7:30. Warrensburg-Latham meets St. Teresa in the 6:30 nightcap…

  Last Friday night was a great time to be in Macon when the Meridian district honored its 2009 Hawks state championship boys basketball team, the majority of whom returned for the celebration which brought smiles from them, their family and friends, who gathered in the cafetorium for the reception and later in the gym…

    By J. Thomas McNamara, Tribune Sports Editor      “It’s about us (the Panthers football team, coaches and school), I may have the title, but it’s not about me. “It’s about our kids, it’s about us showing them we care, it’s about their families knowing we have their kids best interests at heart, it’s about…

       Steve Thompson is the new Eisenhower Panthers football head coach following Decatur school board approval at their meeting tonight (Tuesday).      Thompson brings over 16 years of football coaching experience to the Panthers program, including four seasons as an assistant to retired LSA head coach Craig Bundy. He also coached four years at Oakland High…