Here are this week's candidates for the Antonio's Pizza Prime Time Performer. You can vote once every 12 hours until the polls close on Friday at 5pm. The winner will receive a $20 gift card to Antonio's Pizza!
Joe Brannan (Jacksonville Guard) In the absence of junior guard Brady Hays, Brannan’s role as a facilitator has grown on the Crimsons squad this season. Brannan who’s headed to Northwest Missouri State to play quarterback next season, seems to be quite comfortable in the role of running Jacksonville’s offense and finding the bigs like Brandon McCombs and Tyler Rose or the shooters and slashers like James White and Riley Dugan. Brannan scored 17 points on Saturday, including a perfect nine for nine from the free throw line, eight of those coming in the fourth quarter to put their win over Rochester on ice.
Gage Hamill (Springfield High Swimmer) The list of accomplishments for the Springfield High swimmer is long one. The Senator is headed to state after setting multiple school records at sectionals on Saturday. Hamill broke his own school record in 100 yard butterfly time of 51.1 good for first place at the meet, he took first in the 200 yard freestyle with a time of 1:42.72, which broke Jim Kramer’s school record that was in place since 1979 and he was part of the 400 yard freestyle relay team that set a new school record (3:14.28) and the 200 yard freestyle relay team that set a pool record at the Chuck Fruit Aquatic Center in Edwardsville as well as the new school record.
Trey Hild (PORTA wrestler) The sophomore grappler was the only wrestler from our coverage area in a title match on the mats at the State Farm Center on Saturday evening. Hild had been there a year ago and came up short of his goal of a state title. This year, he took on Bryon’s Nolan Baker who had pinned every single opponent he faced his season and had not been scored on all year. Not a single point scored against him. While Hild didn’t return home to PORTA High School with a first place finish, he did ruin Baker’s perfect season by scoring three points and not getting pinned. Hild finished second at state again with an 11-3 decision loss, but he has two more years to get to the very top of that podium.
Peyton Hudspeth (Auburn wrestler) The Trojans continue to bring home hardware from state this school year. Hudspeth became the first ever wrestler in school history to medal at the state tournament on Saturday. The junior 195 pounder won his fifth place match on Saturday at the State Farm Center by a score of 7-4. Hudspeth will have one more chance to wrestle this season when the Trojans travel to Litchfield to take on Vandalia in the team sectionals on Tuesday night.
Kaelyn Froebe (Lincoln Guard) The Railsplitters brought home their first regional title last Thursday since Froebe was in elementary school. The sophomore scored twenty of her game high 28 points in the first half to lead Lincoln to a huge victory in the 3A Decatur MacArthur regional championship against Mahomet-Seymour. Froebe had more points at intermission than the entire Bulldog squad.
Matt Bahlmann (Glenwood Guard) Glenwood had a one point lead over Southeast at home on Friday night with under 15 seconds to play. Sophomore guard Bahlmann went straight to the ball to get it and hold on while being fouled for a chance to push the Titans’ lead to three. The sophomore stepped up and knocked them both down to put the game out of reach and give Glenwood a huge win over the Spartans to keep them in the hunt for a second straight CS8 title.
Lyric Boone (Rochester Forward) The Rockets are soaring into sectionals again and they needed contributions from everybody on Friday night to escape with a regional championship. Angela Perry scored 19 points and Meagan McNichols added ten, but a 12 point performance from Boone is exactly what Rochester needed to squeak out a one point win over Charleston in the 3A Mattoon regional title game. Perry and McNicholas are the focal points of the offense, so when girls like Boone can step up and produce a double digit point total, the Rockets are a scary team to see this time of year.
Cole Greer & Daulton Nibbe (Plains Guards) The Fro Gang said after Saturday’s win that they want to give Cliff Cameron as much as they can in his final season as head coach of the Cardinals. Greer and Nibbe combined for 34 points and 11 assists to put the finishing touches on a perfect Sangamo season to give their coach the outright conference title. Nibbe scored 18 and Greer had 16 against Riverton to shoot down the Hawks’ upset bid. On Tuesday night, Greer was resting that sore ankle, but Nibbe put on a display for senior night, dishing out 11 assists against the Pretzels.
Aundrae Williams (Lanphier Guard) Sometimes it’s hard to give credit to other guys on the Lions when Xavier Bishop is putting up the kind of numbers that he does week in and week out. Well, Williams deserves some love in Prime Time Performer. Typically the guy who guards the opposition’s best player, Williams is such an important piece of the puzzle that Blake Turner is trying to put together for a deep postseason run. Williams showed he can put the ball in the bucket this past week also. He scored ten points and had three steals against Lincoln, including a 6 for 7 performance from the free throw line. On Friday night, Williams scored a team high 15 points in just 17 minutes of playing time, going 4 for 4 from the line and shooting 50 percent from the floor.
Ashley Robinson (Springfield High Guard) This Springfield High team has so many pieces it’s hard to choose just one each week. Robinson wins our vote from the Senators squad based on a couple different things. On Tuesday night, she got the start and put up 13 points in the Solons win over Southeast. On Thursday night, she hit a three pointer just before halftime that gave the Senators an eight point advantage which Coach Brad Scheffler said after the game was a huge momentum boost.
Kyle Ballweg (SHG Hockey) Sure the Decatur Flames scored four goals against SHG on Wednesday night, but the Cyclones still won the Cup. Ballweg stood on his head most of the night, making thirty saves including some ridiculous one handed snags that certainly frustrated the opposition. SHG won their school’s second ever LLHSH Cup and Ballweg between the pipes was a big reason why.
Jake Pennell (Williamsville Guard) The two headed monster of Harrison Creswell and Matt Watson are the offensive leaders for the Bullets, but if they want to make a deep postseason run, they need a third scorer. Last week, Jake Pennell proved to be that guy for Nick Beard. Pennell scored 14 against Riverton on Tuesday and then added ten on Friday night at Auburn. Williamsville’s defense keeps them in games and if Pennell can be a scoring threat from behind the arc, these guys can make a run in the next couple weeks.
