Area Sports

By Daniel Makarewicz Dominant singles play carried the Highland boys’ tennis team to a season-opening 8-1 win over Mount Vernon on March 16. In six singles matches, the Bulldogs did not drop a set and lost 11 games. “I thought the team looked good, especially for the first match of the season,” Highland coach Matt…

By Mark Jurgena It was an up and down week for the Collinsville softball squad with all four of their games ending with a mercy rule. They split games with MVC schools Mascoutah and Bethalto (Civic Memorial) and split a doubleheader with Springfield (Sacred Heart-Griffin) as well. Collinsville 14 Mascoutah 3 Two grand slams in…

By Anthony Jones For the second year in a row, Triad has capped off the Metro Cup with a perfect record. After starting their season and the Cup with a 2-0 win over Rochester on March 14, their next game came two days later when they took on the Springfield Senators at Edwardsville High School.…

By Mark Jurgena Highland’s softball team graduated several seniors from last year’s Class 3A state championship team. But you wouldn’t have known it based on the final four innings of play as they scored all their runs during that time on their way to an 11-3 road win over Collinsville Monday afternoon. It was the…

By Anthony Jones For the first time since 2019, Triad High School is about to see a true spring sports season. One overarching storyline to watch during the return to normal is if Triad will be able to continue their dominance on their somewhat recently installed field. They are currently 59-5 on the artificial surface,…

By Mark Jurgena It was everything we expected and probably more. In the end, it just didn’t go Collinsville’s way. As the seconds ticked away, Quincy sophomore Ralph Wires desperately raced for the basket. He evaded a pair of Kahok defenders to hit a layup at the buzzer and beat Collinsville 34-32 in the semifinals…

By Dan Makarewicz Dropping the opener in the best-of-three Mississippi Valley Conference Hockey Association 1A championship series did not deflate Highland senior forward Jacob Noll inside the post-game dressing room on Feb. 24. “I kept telling everyone, ‘We’ve got this,’” Noll said. His words proved prophetic. Facing two elimination games on back-to-back nights, the Bulldogs…

By Mark Jurgena It was quite a weekend for Collinsville freshman Taylor Dawson at the inaugural IHSA girls wrestling state tournament at Grossinger Motors Arena in Bloomington. Dawson won her first three matches before falling in the title bout to Natasha Markoutsis of Yorkville via pinfall at the 2:47 mark. She completed her weekend at…

By Mark Jurgena Collinsville ended its regular season with 16 straight wins and finished with a 24-5 record overall. They were 9-2 in Southwestern Conference action which put them in second place behind East St. Louis. They opened up regional play last night at Granite City against Belleville (West). If CHS won they play again…