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!
Gage Hamill (Springfield Swimmer) Another weekend spent in the pool and another Springfield High record broken. In his last weekend swimming as a junior for the Senators, Hamill needed a swim off to qualify for the consolation final in the 200 yard freestyle at the state swim meet in Evanston on Saturday. Hamill broke the school record Friday when he qualified for that consolation final with a time of 1:42.19. Springfield High head coach Mary Beth Stevens sure is glad that she’ll have Hamill back next season.
Matt Wendling (Athens Forward) In regional action, Wendling averaged over 27 points per game. How will he follow that up in sectional action? The Warriors will no doubt need a big performance from him to beat Plains but the senior is showing that he’s not ready for his career in green and white to end. Wendling scored 26 against Stanford Olympia on Wednesday and then netted 29 against Farmington on Friday to secure Athens’ first regional title in 22 years.
Trevyon Williams (Southeast Guard) “This is our City” were the words spoken from the mouth of Williams a month ago when his Spartans beat Lanphier at #City2016. Was there any doubt that Williams would show out again on Friday night when those same Lions came into Scheffler with a chance to win the CS8 outright? Now Southeast and Lanphier have to share the CS8 crown with Glenwood and Jacksonville as well, thanks to some help from Lincoln and Williams’ 24 points on a 10 of 15 shooting on Friday night.
Isaac Collins (Pleasant Plains Guard) Two junior Sangamo players surpassed the 1,000 career point mark last week. Is there anyone in the area surprised that one of them was Isaac Collins? There’s likely not a three-point record at Plains that Collins won’t hold by the end of his career and he just added to his legend last week to start the postseason. In the regional title game he led his team with 23 points including a 5-of-9 effort from downtown. That brings his high school career total up to 1050 points. He’s also made 115 three-pointers this season, which is a new school record and continues to add to his 283 total three’s in his career. Collins became the 12th player in school history to hit the 1000 point mark on Tuesday against Beardstown when he scored 29 points including 9-of-14 from three point range, six of those coming in the third quarter.
Matt Watson & Jake Pennell (Williamsville Guards) Before Friday, Watson would’ve been alone on the list, but Pennell had to make it a combo from Williamsville this week. Both Watson and Pennell hit game winning shots last week in the Eureka regional and the Bullets are still alive because of it. Pennell’s game winner came on Friday night against PORTA with 1.4 to play from the top of the key to get Coach Nick Beard his first regional championship in three tries against PORTA. But the Bullets wouldn’t have been there without Watson’s steal and three at the buzzer against Peoria Christian on Wednesday night.
Kaelyn Froebe (Lincoln Guard) Yeah, she was on the list last week, but with the stage a little bigger, the sophomore star from Lincoln elevated her game a little more in Clinton last week and the Lady Railsplitters are still alive in postseason play. Froebe has Lincoln in the Elite Eight on Monday night thanks to 22 points against Rochester last Tuesday in the sectional semifinal and then 19 points against St. Thomas More in the sectional title game on Thursday. Best part about Froebe is…Railer Nation still gets to watch her grow for the next two seasons.
Tyler Rose (Jacksonville Forward) In his final regular season game at the Bowl, Rose showed why he’s happy to be a Crimson this season. Not only were his 21 points critical in a triple overtime win over MacArthur, but his size down low and rebounding proved to be the difference in a game that was final decided by just one point. Rose’s performance in a marathon game that ultimately proved to pull Jacksonville into a four way tie for the CS8 crown this season put the rest of the area on notice…getting to host a regional this week with Rose, McCombs, Brannan and the rest of the Crimsons, watch out for Jacksonville.
Parker Allen (Glenwood Guard) There’s a four way tie atop the Central State Eight standings and Glenwood junior Parker Allen is a big reason why the Titans can call it back to back for head coach Todd Blakeman. Allen posted a double-double on the road at Lober Nika last week with 20 points and 11 rebounds as Glenwood handed Lanphier their first of two losses last week. We’ve seen all year long that Allen is the offensive leader for Glenwood and the good news is he’ll be back next season to show us even more of his growing arsenal.
