LeROY – Tri-Valley High School’s football team demonstrated precision, practically from the opening kickoff, against LeRoy, perhaps showing why they have their rank of 9th in Illinois High School Association Class 2A, defeating the LeRoy Panthers, 49-0, before roughly 400 people at McKean Field Friday night.

That precision in this Heart of Illinois Conference matchup was evident, literally from the opening kickoff, as Vikings senior wide receiver Mason Cagley took the game’s opening kickoff 85  yards for his team’s first score, followed by sophomore kicker Bryce Bedillion’s extra point, putting Tri-Valley (2-1) up, 7-0

Following LeRoy turning the ball over on downs to end their first possession, junior running back Zach Woodring’s 2 yard touchdown run at 6:10 in the same quarter, followed by Bedillion’s extra point, pushed the Vikings ahead, 14-0. The Vikings increased their first quarter scoring at the 3:38 mark courtesy of a 43 yard pass from junior quarterback Jake Reeser to senior wide receiver Casey Hamilton, followed by another Bedillion extra point, giving the Vikings a 21-0 advantage going into the second quarter.

LeRoy (1-2) fumbled to close out its first drive of the second quarter, turning the ball over to Tri-Valley on the Vikings’ 41 yard line. Seven plays later Reeser connected with senior tight end Clayton Leipold on an 18 yard touchdown strike followed by another Bedillion extra point, increasing the Vikings’ advantage, 28-0.at the 6:56 mark.

LeRoy had its next possession end in a punt and Tri-Valley went back to work scoring on a 6 yard run by Woodring at the 1:52 mark before halftime. Bedillion’s extra point pushed the Vikings’ advantage further, 35-0, going into the half.

LeRoy received the second half kickoff but punted after getting nowhere in three plays. The Vikings returned the punt to LeRoy’s 32 yard line, and three plays later, Hamilton scored again, from 3 yards out for a touchdown run followed by Bedillion’s extra point, pushed Tri-Valley further, 42-0. As a result of the 40-point difference, game officials employed IHSA’s “Mercy Rule,” using a continuously running clock, stopping it only for team timeouts or injury timeouts.

LeRoy’s next possession ended in a fumble, giving the Vikings the ball at LeRoy’s 39 yard line. Nine plays later, freshman lineman-turned-running back Jake Fatima’s 7 yard touchdown run at 1:02 in the third quarter, followed by Bedillion’s last extra point on the night, led to the final score.

“I was really happy with the way we executed, and our offensive did very, very well tonight,” Tri-Valley head coach Josh Roop said.

“Obviously, when you play a team of that caliber, you can’t give them points,” said LeRoy head coach B. J. Zeleznik. “We gave them free points right off the bat. That was it. We knew it was going to be an uphill battle and that didn’t help things.”

Gibson City-Melvin-Sibley brings its 3-0 record to McKean Field when they take on the Panthers here on Sept. 15.

BLOOMINGTON – Tremont High’s girls basketball team entered the finals of the 99th Annual McLean County Tournament Thursday night at Illinois Wesleyan’s Shirk Center, with relative ease, defeating Downs Tri-Valley, 44-20.

The victory puts the Lady Turks in the finals against Ridgeview, who defeated LeRoy, 65-42. The two teams will meet for the girls’ championship Saturday at Shirk Center, starting with a 6:30p.m. tip-off.

Tremont trailed early in the contest, down 3-0 following a trey by Madison Roberts to get the game started. Dori Dudley’s deuce one minute into the game cut the Vikings’ lead, 3-2. Tanna Hinthorne scored a deuce 30 seconds later, giving Tri-Valley a 5-2 lead.

But Kiley Bugaieski answered with a three of her own – in her 20th straight game where she has scored a trey this season — to tie the game at 5-all with 5:21 left in the quarter. And Nichole Wagenbach sinking one of two free throws after that set the Turks on course toward an 8-0 run to close out the first quarter with a 13-5 lead.

In fact, the streak didn’t end until after Dudley sank the opening basket of the second quarter, giving the Lady Turks a 15-5 lead with 7:14 until halftime.

Hannah Sanidas scored six points in the second quarter for Tri-Valley, whose defense struggled to keep up with the streaking Turks, as Tremont pressed on to a 24-13 lead.

Wegenbach starred in Tremont’s third quarter, scoring 6 points, including a layup that began for her as a steal off a Tri-Valley opponent. The junior forward led all players on the night with 15 points. She was followed in double figures by Dudley’s 11. No Tri-Valley players reached double-digits on the night, as the Lady Turks led the Vikings 34-20 going into the fourth quarter. But Tri-Valley lost its fight in the fourth quarter, as Tremont outscored them, 10-0, en route to the final score.

“Our girls knew we could beat them,” said Tremont head coach Michelle Williams, referencing an overtime loss Tri-Valley handed them earlier this month. “Tonight, we changed up what we were going to do against them. Tonight, we changed up (and) played a slowed-down zone defense rather than our usual man-on-man.

“We had some big things happen tonight,” Williams added. “We had some nice blocked shots tonight.

“(Our) team likes to play zone defense (so) I challenged them,” Williams said. “I told them that so long as we can control them (and) get our hands in the passing lane, we’ll see if (Tri-Valley) can shoot from outside tonight.”

“(Tremont) did everything we thought they were going to,” said Tri-Valley head coach Brad Harmon. “In the fourth quarter, I just couldn’t hardly get energy out of anybody. (Tremont) came out in the third quarter and gained some energy, and we got down and lost energy (going into the fourth quarter).”