Football
The undefeated Knoxville Blue Bullets had no trouble with Rockford (Christian) in their Class 2A first rounder. The Blue Bullets scored touchdowns on all nine of their offensive possessions on the way to a 66-13 victory. Knoxville scored the first 45 points of the game to get out to a 52-6 halftime lead. Jimmy Upson rushed for 138 yards on 12 carries, scoring four touchdowns to lead the Blue Bullets. Zack Dean was also over 100 yards, getting 110 on 10 carries. He also scored a pair of touchdowns. All of those totals came in the first half. Knoxville ran for 418 total yards on 54 carries. The Blue Bullets, now (10-0), will host (7-3) Watseka (7-3), who defeated Tremont 19-8 on Saturday, in a second-round game next weekend.
The Abingdon-Avon Tornadoes lost to the Hiawatha Hawks 44-6 in Kirkland, Illinois on Saturday. A-Town ends the season with a record of (6-4).
The Ridgewood Spartans were making their first foray into the playoffs as a co-op. The Alwood-Cambridge collaboration lost to a very good Morrison ballclub 58-6. Ridgewood ends the year with an overall record of (6-4).
Other area teams in action on Saturday included, Annawan-Wethersfield remaining unbeaten on the season after beating Lewistown 52-0. Mercer County shutout Chicago Christian 40-0. It was Kewanee all over Chicago Ag Science 50-0 and Princeville lost to Stockton 20-7.
Cross Country
IHSA Sectional cross-country meets took place around the state of Illinois on Saturday. Many of our local schools were in Elmwood, where the Class 1A sectional meet happened.
The United Red Storm girls placed 15th out of 19 teams, with Macomb placing 16th. Anne Gregory of United and Breena Shreeves of Knoxville, both seniors, advanced to the state finals as individuls in Peoria on Saturday. Gregory placed 10th overall to lead the Red Storm. Bridget Brokaw was 97th out of 146 total runners for United as well. Monmouth-Roseville’s Stella Narkiewicz was 49th and Macomb was led by Khyleigh Diggs with a 35th place finish. On the boy’s side, Macomb was 11th out of 21 teams and Knoxville was 20th. Macomb junior Stan Melkumian will run in the state finals after placing 16th. Knoxville was led by Christian Hensley in 55th and Monmouth-Roseville’s Carlos Serratos was 68th.
In the 2A meet in Bloomington, Galesburg’s girls were 11th in the team standings. They were led by senior Emma St. George in 41st and freshman Breanna Admire in 48th. Galesburg’s Ben Vasquez placed 19th in the boys race and just missed qualifying as an individual by nine seconds.
Swimming and Diving
The Galesburg Silver Streak girls swimming and diving team took 2nd place in the Western Big Six Conference championship meet on Saturday at Galesburg High School. The Streaks were runners up to conference champ, Moline. Galesburg’s 200 medley relay team of Hailey Glasnovich, Sophie Lotz, Kylie Tapper and Abby Cermak placed first. Glasnovich had a great day. Besides that victory, she also touched the wall first in the 100 backstroke and was 2nd in the 100 freestyle events. Tapper was 2nd in the 100 butterfly and Molly Pettit was 2nd in the 1 meter diving competition.
