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Sports Editor Matt Daniels with a look at what’s going on around the area:
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The Rantoul St. Malachy eighth-grade girls’ basketball team will play Carrollton St. John at 11:30 a.m. on Saturday in a Class 1A state quarterfinal game at Clinton Junior High School.
Three reasons we love sports today
➜ 1. Congrats to Marco Casillas of the Mahomet-Seymour boys’ wrestling team and Madi Spesard of the Georgetown-Ridge Farm girls’ basketball team. The duo is our latest high school Athletes of the Week, powered by Copper Creek Contractors. Read more about the pair in Tuesday’s News-Gazette.
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The Salt Fork eighth-grade girls’ basketball team will play Springfield Christian at 11:30 a.m. Saturday in a Class 2A state quarterfinal game at Havana Junior High School.
➜ 2. Three area eighth-grade girls’ basketball teams — Salt Fork, Oakland Lake Crest and Rantoul St. Malachy — have reached the IESA state tournament.
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The Oakland Lake Crest eighth-grade girls’ basketball team will play Springfield Christ the King in a Class 1A state quarterfinal game at 10 a.m. Saturday at Clinton Junior High School.
➜ 3. Salt Fork (19-4) plays Springfield Christian (19-3) at 11:30 a.m. on Saturday in a Class 2A state quarterfinal game in Havana. In 1A, Oakland Lake Crest (19-5) plays Springfield Christ the King (20-7) at 10 a.m. and St. Malachy (18-3) plays Carrollton St. John (15-8) at 11:30 a.m. in state quarterfinal games in Clinton.
Former Illini Isaiah Williams directs his blockers as he returns a punt 78 yard for a touchdown with the New York Jets last Sunday against the Miami Dolphins at MetLife Stadium in East Rutherford, N.J.
Numbers game: 387
punt return yards by former Illini Isaiah Williams with the New York Jets this season. That ranks second in the NFL, only behind the 394 punt return yards by Marvin Mims of the Broncos. Williams has two punt returns for a touchdown this month, and gets another chance to do so on Sunday when the Jets (3-10) play a road game against the Jaguars (9-4) at noon on Sunday.
Kylan Boswell and the Illinois men’s basketball team is back at State Farm Center in Champaign this weekend for its first home game since playing UT Rio Grande Valley on Nov. 24. The No. 13 Illini host Nebraska at 3 p.m. on Saturday.
Crowd control
Three events I’m paying attention to
➜ 1. Nebraska at No. 13 Illinois men’s basketball. The Cornhuskers (10-0, 1-0 Big Ten) shouldn’t sneak up on the Illini (8-2), 1-0) before Saturday’s 3 p.m. tip at State Farm Center in Champaign. Especially after Nebraska routed Wisconsin 90-60 on Wednesday night in Lincoln, Neb.
➜ 2. The Maroon Duals. The Champaign Central boys’ wrestling team welcomes Charleston, Danville, Decatur MacArthur, Peoria Manual and Peoria Richwoods into its North Gym for a six-team event that starts at 9 a.m. Saturday.
➜ 3. No. 10 Parkland at No. 1 Johnson County women’s basketball. The Cobras (7-1) try to take down the top-ranked Cavaliers (14-0) at 6 p.m. Friday in Kansas.
Salt Fork sophomore Lucy DeAth plays basketball for the Storm.
Ask an athlete
Three questions with Salt Fork sophomore girls’ basketball player Lucy DeAth:
➜ 1. Three athletes I’d like to have dinner with are … Caitlin Clark, Zach Edey and Braden Smith.
➜ 2. The TV show I most like to binge-watch is … “The Dukes of Hazzard.”
➜ 3. My biggest pet peeve is … nails on a chalkboard.
