Mac On Sports

      Back in late August/early September I got a lot of laughs and not so kind jokes about my prediction that Illinois and Lovie Smith would go bowling. I was the only scribe at the time who forecasted without fear that Illinois would go bowling. Well, he who laughs last laughs best and…

  Someone once said, “Don’t confuse me with the facts, my mind’s made up!”      That came to mind when I received the straw votes from last week’s first Illinois High School Association’s Legislative Committee meeting that took place Monday, Nov. 4.      The vote for Proposal 6 which is the Cooperative Team proposal that St. Teresa…

  Farmington–St. Teresa lost the first set, 25-19, to Orion at the Farmington super-sectional, but came back to win the match for a berth in Friday afternoon’s Class 2A semi-finals in Illinois High School Association volleyball state tournament. Brad Dalton’s Bulldogs won the second set by the same score that they lost the first one,…

         At the time this week’s print edition of the Decatur Tribune went to press, the time for the Mount Zion at Joliet Catholic second round playoff game had not been set.      It has now with the Braves and Joliet Catholic kicking off at 2:00 p.m. Saturday.      Other kickoff times for Decatur and Macon County…

By J. Thomas McNamara Photos by Kyle Osborne      It was a game for the ages and one that will be talked about for years. Last Saturday’s first round playoff game between MacArthur and Mount Zion was one for the history books which is where it will go. The game had everything, big play after big…

       The Decatur Tribune begins its prep football season reviews with coaches in next week’s print edition.      I have interviewed Eisenhower’s Steve Thompson, Cerro Gordo/Bement’s Nick Walker, Warrensburg-Latham’s Aaron Fricke, Sangamon Valley’s Michael Lee, Decatur LSA’s Jordan Hopman and Meridian’s Micah Sheppard for their thoughts on their respective seasons. The other six teams–Argenta-Oreana, Central A&M,…

       Illinois football head coach Lovie Smith reacted, “I’m in favor for the players getting as much as they possibly can, all of us. It’s America, right? I’m in favor of everybody getting as much as they possibly can.”      Smith was commenting after the NCAA Board of Governors took the first step Tuesday toward allowing…

       There’s so many angles and story lines to Saturday afternoon’s Class 5A first round play off game between top-seed Mount Zion and 16-seed Decatur MacArthur. There’s an angle that they haven’t played football against each other for 25 years, going back to 1994. Another is the Apollo Conference and the Central State 8 which…

  By Sports Editor J. Thomas McNamara Game times for Saturday’s Illinois High School Association playoff games have been announced. Four of the five Decatur and Macon County games kickoff at 1 with the other 30 minutes later at 1:30. In Class 5A, the MacArthur at Mount Zion contest is drawing considerable interest because they…

  Champaign–James McCourt’s 39-yard field goal as time expired gave Illinois a 24-23 Big Ten win over previously unbeaten and top 10 ranked Wisconsin, sending the Illini Homecoming crowd into a wild celebration. It is the first time all season that Wisconsin has trailed. Illinois’ last-second win just sent shock waves through college football and…