Published: September 15, 2008 10:39 pm            

Ramblin' Reck

5 Valley prep football teams stand undefeated

TERRE HAUTE — High school football teams in the area have enjoyed success on various levels and five of them sport unbeaten marks.

Casey is 3-0 in Illinois and has won all its games by two touchdowns or more. That was expected of the Warriors, and Keith Sinclair’s team very well could finish with another undefeated mark and win another Little Illini Conference crown.

Linton and Rockville are two of the undefeated teams in Indiana and that too is not unexpected. Both teams are ranked high in the Class A polls and likely will meet in the postseason again.

Rockville had a close call against South Putnam earlier and Linton passed a big test in defeating West Vigo last week. Mickey Tosti is a scoring leader for the Miners with eight touchdowns.

Union and South Vermillion are the other teams that have yet to lose a game. That is a little more surprising after both teams won big games on the road last week.

Union took on a Monrovia team that also had not lost and came home a 13-8 winner while South Vermillion bested Brown County 21-14 to go 4-0 for the first time since 1998. The Wildcats lost to Brown County last year 35-14.

Andy Walsh has passed for six touchdowns in the last two games for the Wildcats. They meet West Vigo this week and then take on Rockvlle, while Union has a good North Daviess team next — the Cougars beat Washington 26-10 last week — and then will face North Knox, also still unbeaten.

Martinsville is not undefeated in Illinois but is 2-1 after beating Lawrenceville, which had beaten Cumberland the previous week for its first victory in 14 games. Good start for the Bluestreaks, who have lost one close game.

In one of the interesting games played last week, Bloomington South bested Bloomington North 69-41 to go to 4-0. This one took nearly five hours to play — not good for newspaper deadlines — and the two teams combined for 1,092 yards in offense.

Forest Park scored 50 points for the second time and won its second game in its first official year of football, beating Eastern 51-14.

I I I

n Tom-Cattin’ It — Indiana got a major commitment in men’s basketball last week when 6-foot-8 Christian Watford of Birmingham, Ala., said he will sign with the Hoosiers.

He is ranked high on the recruiting lists and averaged 22 points and 12 rebounds last season.

n Former Terre Haute North standout Nate Blank had a stellar season as a freshman last year at Gardner-Webb.

He will be sidelined for some early games this year after undergoing surgery on his right hand, according to brother Luke. He likely will miss contests against Oklahoma and South Carolina.

n New Orleans coach Sean Payton, former Eastern Illinois quarterback and former Indiana State assistant, apparently has been given a nice contract extension by the owner of the New Orleans Saints.

n Emily Lahay and John David Lisman were winners of the Spike Kelly Award at Sullivan High School.

n Big Ten and Big East baseball teams will begin a challenge series in their sport next year with 27 games being played in Florida.

n Jasper High School recently named its football field for Jerry Brewer, coach of the Wildcats for 44 seasons. The Wildcats were impressive in beating Heritage Hills 18-0 last week.

n A big-time golf event, the Ryder Cup, will be played this week at Valhalla at Louisville.

Chad Collins of Cloverdale is in his first year on the PGA Tour and is slated to play in the next tour event and then will be in the field for six of the next seven events.

n Purdue was ranked 15th in the collegiate volleyball poll last week and is off to a 7-0 start.

Illinois State bested Louisville last week. Wichita State is ranked in the poll.

n The Big Ten went 11-0 in football games played two weeks ago and did okay last week, with Wisconsin beating a good Fresno State team on the road 13-10 and Penn State thumping Syracuse 55-13. Purdue lost in double overtime to Oregon.

Ohio State, of course, lost to Southern Cal in the game of the year and that’s the only one anybody thought about as the Buckeyes slipped to 13 and 14 in the two polls.

FYI: five SEC teams are in the Top 10 in the AP poll.



Tom Reck may be contacted by telephone at (812) 232-3231, by email at tm_reck@yahoo.com or by mail at 4284 South 5th Street, Apt. 3, Terre Haute, IN 47802

        

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