Journal Gazette from Mattoon, Illinois • Page 9

i i -ass-- INSIDE: B2 Report: Cubs after Morgan B2 Bonds next to go? B3 Area prep basketball roundups December 4, 1C31 Mattoon Journal Gazette 500tha laugher B3 p-r juuu'l 0TfD3lrDUD(Q)rQ High, Welch and Beeler reap top team honors T- I 1 Welch Phillips Johnson Beeler I. 1 "Kevin Trimble obviously has a great deal of natural talent and needs only to work and refine his pass-catching talents to become one of the best around. "Travis Howell is 160 pounds of mean on the football field. He plays very aggressive and along with his brother Troy (at the linebacker spots) gave us some hardnosed linebacking play. "Roger Maulding is another player with a lot of potential.

He goes hard all the time and many times ran across the field to make a tackle and that's something for a 300-pounder. "Gabby Landrum was a great punter especially in the conference games. He burned Central twice inside the 10-yard line which was a key factor in the outcome of that game." Butcher also announced some other honors. The Big 12 Conference instituted an all-academic team this year and Mattoon had 10 players earn a berth on that special squad: Jason Sullivan, Matt Beeler, Robert High, Ryan Whitlock, Eric McCoskey, Drew Ronchetti, Travis Spencer, Jason Robertson, Mark Phillips and Alan Hill. "A player must have earned a varsity letter and listed on his school honor roll to be eligible for the all-academic team," Butcher said.

"It may be a bigger honor than the other (all-Big 12). After-all, scholastics are the primary reason for these kids attending school." snaps. And, considering a lot of the inclement weather we played in that was not always an easy job." "Mark Phillips got hurt late in the season and missed four games, but when he was in there he did an outstanding job both offensively and defensively. And, gave us some fine leadership as one of our team captains. "Robert High has the potential to be a big-time player.

When he got some blocking he really had some great games (seven 100-yard plus outings) this season. As defensive safety it was his job to take half of the field on pass coverage and he didn't get burned once all season. "Jamie Johnson was a very aggressive young man who played very hard and often time played hurt. The noseguard position calls for aggressiveness and quickness and he had the whole package. "Ryan Whitlock did an outstanding job as a defensive end.

He led the team in tackles behind the line and came up with a couple of key fumble recoveries. 210 senior center Jason Welch while 5-9, 210-pound senior noseguard Jamie Johnson was a first-team defensive pick. High and Welch, by the way, were also honored at a recent team banquet as Mattoon's most valuable offensive back and senior lineman, respectively, according to Mattoon varsity coach Brad Butcher. And, sophomore Matt Beeler was presented the Ed Welton Memorial Trophy awarded to a deserving member of the Wave special teams. Five Wave players received all-Big 12 honorable mention four defensively, 5-11, 168-pound senior end Ryan Whitlock; 5-8, 160 junior linebacker Travis Howell; 6-3, 303 junior lineman Roger Maulding; 6-1, 185 junior punter Gabby Landrum and one offensively, 6-2, 185 sophomore wide receiver Kevin Trimble.

Butcher commented on each of the selections: "Jason Welch was an outstanding blocker and did a great job all year year handling the long MHS' Robert High honored both offensively and defensively BY JIM KIMBALL JG Sports Editor URBANA Mattoon had 10 football players gain all-Big 12 Conference East Division recognition following a recent vote of the six loop coaches. Four of the ten earned first team honors led by Robert High. The star Green Wave back was a two-way choice. The versatile junior athlete was named first team both offensively (runningback) and defensively (safety). High led the 7-4 Mattoon team, which advanced to the quarterfinals round of the Illinois State Class 4A Playoffs, in rushing with 1 ,079 yards (4.9 ypc) and scoring with 78 points off 13 touchdowns.

The 1,079 total ranks as sixth best on Mattoon's all-time single season list behind Mack Morris Charlie Moss Rick Moss brother Willie High (1,153) and Rick Moss Robert High currently stands fifth on the career rushing list with a two-year total of 1,902 yards and is in position to overtake all-time leader Bill Tate (2,839) with a 900-plus season in 1992. High's 13-touchdown total this past fall is the seventh best single season total in school history. Brother Willie established an MHS record total of 26 in 1990. Joining High on the all-Big 12 East offensive team were teammates Mark Phillips, a 6-foot-l, 230-pound senior tackle and 6-1, oatelhieE1 Mattoon varsity football coach Brad Butcher plans to be a carpet salesman next fall. He will be trying to sell his players on a nice green outdoor type found in Normal at Illinois State's Hancock Field home of the state high school football playoff finals.

"I'm very optimistic about Butcher next year, said Butcher, who directed the Green Wave to a 7-4 record and state playoffs berth in his first season last fall. "A lot of people may think I'm crazy, but I told my wife the other day I plan on us playing on carpet (state title game at ISU) next year. "I seriously believe we've got the potential to get there. If Bloomington hadn't been in 4A I "think we would have wound up at Normal this year." Bloomington derailed Mattoon 23-6 in a quarterfinals game and went ahead to finish second in state. "We've got lots of potential back, but it's just potential I realize," Butcher says in looking to 1992.

"However, if they (the returning players) are willing to get in the weight room and work hard during the off-season the sky is v. pansIhiDirQ) cacpeti 2)2)2 i i me. A Photo by Jay Klnfall Mattoon 82 27 15 124 Opponents 88 28 11 127 Penalties Team No. Yards Mattoon 66 541 Opponents 60 607 Team Scoring by Quarters Team 1 2 3 4 TP Ave. Mattoon 38 65 13 59 175 15.9 Opponents 22 54 20 21 117 10.6 CAREER RUSHING Player, Year Total Bill Tate, 1946-48 2,839 Charlie Moss, 1979-80 2,544 Willie High, 1988-90 2,463 Rick Moss, 1973-74 2,193 ROBERT HIGH, 1990-61 1,902 SINGLE SEASON RUSHING Player, Year Total Mack Morris, 1969 1,364 Charlie Moss, 1979 1,225 1,170 Willie High, 1990 1,153 Rick Moss, 1973 1,123 ROBERTHIGH, 1991 1,079 Bill Tate, 1947 1,003 Bill Tate, 1948 974 Jamie Pilson, 1985 974 SINGLE GAME RUSHING Player, Year Total Jim Lawrence, 1 972 232 yds CAREER SCORING Player, Yr.

Total Willie High, 1990 250 Bill Tate, 1948 242 173 Charlie Moss, 1980 172 ROBERTHIGH, 1991 150 SINGLE SEASON TDS Player, Year Total Willie High, 1990 26 Bill Tate, 1947 18 Bill Tate, 1948 16 Jim Proffitt, 1960 15 Charlie Moss, 1979 15 Rick Moss, 1973 14 ROBERTHIGH, 1991 13 11 SINGLE GAME TDs 5 shared by Bill Tate, Rick Moss, Greg Browne and Jamie Pilson. INDIVIDUAL STATISTICS Rushing Player Att Yds Ave. Robert High 220 1079 4.9 Doug Allen 68 205 3.1 Jason Robertson 37 127 3.4 Kasey Alexander 24 94 3.9 Matt Beeler 11 79 7.1 Kevin Trimble 4 61 15.2 MattStuttle 14 60 4.3 Jason Sullivan 3 0 0.0 Bobby McGee 1 0 0 Gabby Landrum 3 '(-4) 0.0 Passing 1 Player Clnt Yds TO Doug Allen 134 42 9 707 6 Jason Sullivan 9 3 0 40 0 Pass-Receiving Player Rec Yds. TD Kevin Trimble 13 288 4 Gabby Landrum 12 183 2 AjayeMeeks 8 130 0 Robert High 6 50 0 Scott Dixon 3 47 0 Bobby McGee 3 49 0 Scoring Player TD PAT TP Robert High 13 0 78 Kevin Trimble 5 0 30 MattStuttle 2 9 21 DougAllen 2 2pt 14 Gabby Landrum 2 0 12 Bobby McGee 10 6 Matt Beeler 1 0 6 Kasey Alexander 1 0 6 AjayeMeeks 0 2pt 2 TEAM TOTALS Rushing Team Arts Yards Ave. Mattoon 385 1701 4.4 Opponents 418 1730 4.1 Passing Team Att.

C. Int Yards Ave. Mattoon 143 45 9 747 67.9 Opponents 133 47 12 793 72.1 Total Offense Per Team Run Pass Total Game Mattoon 1701 747 2448 222.5 Opponents 1730 793 2523 229.3 First Downs Team Rush Pass Pen Total EAST DIVISION Team, overall Urbana(8-2) GREEN WAVE (7-4) Champaign Central (3-6) Champaign Centennial (2-7) Rantoul(4-5) Danville (3-6) "I pulled Pete Stanley in an effort to get some kids a chance to wrestle," the coach said. "And it pretty much worked out to the way we wanted." Mattoon, now 3-0 in dual meet competition, travels to Decatur Saturday for a quadangular with Decatur MacArthur, Stephen Decatur and Springfield. Mattoon 69, Rantoul 3 103-Toby Ferris (M) pinned -1 12-Steven Stanley (M) pinned Wheelock :39 1 1 9-Mike French (M) pinned Castillo 1 :03 125-Eric Davis (M) pinned Stropes 2:23 130-Ron Bateman (M) tech fall Shields wis? two MJHS will host a seven-team invitational starting Thursday.

The host Wildcats face Teutopolis at 8:15 p.m. in their opening game. Meanwhile, MJHS' Wildcats battle Flora at 3:30 Thursday in their opening game of the Effingham Central Invite. Seventh Grade Mattoon 8 14 10 16-48 W-L 5-0 4-1 2-3 2-3 1-4 1-4 Returning to spearhead the will be brothers Troy and Travis Howell, probably the best pair of linebackers in the Big 12, while up front 300-pound Roger -4 Maulding, 250-pound Travis Spencer, 231-pound Eric Winn, 240-pound Jack Cline, 190-pound Don Daniels and 206-pound Ronchetti won't leave Green Wave fans wondering "where's the And, Butcher is going to know and understand his personnel better after a full year on the scene which will be another plus heading into 1992. "When we went into last season I didn't know the capabilities of these kids he said.

"I knew we had some ability, but I didn't know how our quickness would match up with the other teams "I think the key to our season was we were quicker than any team we played," he said. "Throw in the intangibles and once we got to rolling these kids felt like they couldn't lose." Butcher, his chief assistant" Ron Davis and remaining staff deserve a tip of the hat for molding the Green Wave into a team to be reckoned with after the rocky 1-3 start. MATTOON: Smith 0-0-0, Nichols 1-0-2, Hortenstine 4-1-9, Strong 1-1-3, Sanders 6-2-1 5, Hopgood 54-1 3, Waggoner 2-0-4, Bartels 6-1 -1 3. Totals 25-8-59. CENTENNIAL: Williams 0-2-2, Klaus 0-0-0, Washington 4-1-9, Walker 5-2-12, Hes-sel 1 -2-4, Oliver 6-2-14, Taylor 2-0-4, Jones 1 -0-2.

Totals 1 9-9-47. Three-point goals: Mattoon 1 (Sanders). JVswin Heather Whalin scored 11 and Shelly Strong 10 as Mattoon's junior varsity team beat Centennial 67-27. The Lady Wave shot 25-58 1 from the floor to win their first junior varsity game of the season. The junior varsity plays Thursday night.

Mattoon' 15 23 17 12 67 Centennial 6 8 6 7 27 MATTOON: Hortentine 0-0-0, Nichols 0-2- 2, Bell 1-0-2, Birdsong 0-0-0, Strong 5-0 10, Ghere 2-0-4, Horn 3-2-8, Dean 1-2-4, Niemeyer 1 -0-2, Whalin 4-3-11, Kruse 3-1 7, Beck 3-0-6, Peterson 1 -5-7, Cabbott 1 -0- 2. Brown 1 -0-2, Totals 25-1 5-67. the limit. "We've got a lot of skilled people (17 lettermen) back. The whole key to our offense will be to build a line to match the people we have return- ing in the back-field.

If we do, I se- riouslyfeelwecan Jim have a devastating offensive KilTlball team. Back to ramrod the ground attack Kimball Is sports will be flashy tail- editor of the backRobertHigh, Gazette who has a golden opportunity to mhbmm wind up as Mattoon's all-time leading ground-gainer and scorer. However, the speedy and powerfully-built 5-foot-10, 180-pound junior won't be the whole show. As Butcher points out, "Doug Allen (quarterback) threw for over 700 yards (707 to be exact) and easily could have gone over 1,000 with the passes which were dropped." And, then there's Kevin Trimble with major college talent at wide receiver, along with Gabby Landrum, another potential (there's that word again) standout pass-catcher. And, speedy, multi-talented Bobby McGee plus hard-running backs Matt Beeler and Kasey Alexander add to the rosy offensive picture.

Defensively, Butcher says, "We've got to find some ends. And, a noseguard is a must." Jody Sanders scored 15 points, had nine rebounds, four steals and six assists. "I felt Jody Sanders had a pretty complete game," Reed said. "It's easy to play well when things are going well. The kids came through shen they had to come back and that shows what kind of character they have.

"All we know is that we're going to play better." Reed figures Centennial is a Big 12 contender. "It's a pretty tough game to start with and on the road," Reed said. "We think they are going to be one of the better teams in the Big 12." The Lady Wave play Saturday as part of a doubleheader with Mattoon's boys' team at Decatur Eisenhower. The girls start play at 6 p.m. Mattoon 14 17 11 17 59 Centennial 9 12 16 10 47 A well-coached, conditioned Mattoon team was practically unstoppable down the stretch.

The Wave won six straight games before being derailed by No. 1 state-ranked Bloomington in a quarter-finals contest of the Class 4A playoffs to finish 7-4. "It took time to adjust to each other, but I certainly couldn't fault the effort of the kids in those first four games," Butcher said. "We meshed after that and I think a big key was the offensive line started believing they could get the job done." When the line started performing up to snuff it opened the door for talented Robert High and he responded with seven 100-yard plus games. The defense was there like Old Man River.

"We had some breakdowns, but the defense was outstanding all year," Butcher pinpointed. "We couldn't have asked for more. We had 27 takeaways which is quite a few in 1 1 games." Butcher felt the secret to Mattoon's defensive success was, "The kids did exactly what we wanted done they strived for perfection and even though they weren't perfect a lot of good comes along in trying for that (perfection)." Mattoon will also get a big scheduling break next fall. Big 12 West powers Bloomington and Normal will be replaced on the Wave slate by MacArthur and Eisenhower. RANTOUL Mattoon's wrestling team continued its impressive roll Tuesday night, bombing Rantoul 69-3.

"I was pleased that everybody who hasn't had a match until now, got one in," said Green Wave coach Dave McDowell. That, however, had the Eagles wishing the ice and snow were a wee bit stronger to keep Mattoon at home. The Wave recorded nine pins, in an average of 1:28, and two technical falls in the varsity match. MeOcatis ARTHUR Mattoon's two Wildcat teams warmed up for invitational play later this week with a pair of wins over Arthur Tuesday. The unbeasten seventh graders (6-0) rolled to an easy 48-14 decision before the 5-1 eighth graders escaped with a 36-33 decision behind Tommy Beals' big 28-point performance.

WEST DIVISION Team, overall W-L Bloomington (12-1) 5-0 Normal (6-4) 4-1 Decatur Eisenhower (5-4) 3-2 Decatur MacArthur (5-4) 2-3 Lincoln (3-6) 1-4 S.Decatur (0-9) 0-5 Lady Wave overcome early problems to post 59-47 win CHAMPAIGN Mattoon's girls' basketball team struggled early, but came through to top Champaign Centennial 59-47 Tuesday. 24-7 135 Keith Atchison (M) pinned Fuentes 1:35 140-Kasey Alexander (M) pinned Medlin 10d 1 45-Chris Sterling (M) tech fall Sarvey 23-7 i 52-Ajay Meeks (M) lost to Turner 7-6 1 60-Troy Howell (M) pinned Ramm 1 :01 1 71 -Brian McDowell (M) def Man 9-4 1 Taylor (M) pinned Johnson 1 :05 Hwt-Jason Robertson (M) pinned Leon 21 Exhibition bouts 1 1 2 Will Engle won by pin 2:43 1 30-Brock Key won by pin 2:30 1 60-Matt Beeler won by pin 1:48 1 25-Matt Matthews won by pin :42 1 40-Rob Lane won by pin 1 :07 Hwt-Marty Rappe won by pin :49 1 1 9 Will Engle won by techfall. att MEw Arthur 5 4 2 314 MJHS: Diepholz 4-0-8; Virostko 1-0-4; Collins 4-0-8; Carey 3-2-8; Bergfeld 1-0-2; Warren 1-0-2; Dunn 1-2-4; Math-erty 1-0-2; Nelson 1-0-2; Orr 1-0-2; Peterson 3-0-6; Kirk 0-0-0; Stephen 0-0-0. TOTALS: 22-4-48 Eighth Grade Mattoon 6 10 8 1236 Arthur 8 8 9 833 MJHS: Beals 14-0-28; Paulson 2-0-4; Ingle 2-0-4; Knifeley, Kearney, Hardin and Gillespie played but failed to score. TOTALS: 18-0-36.

The Lady Wave are now 4-0 overall and 1-0 in the Big -12, where they are defending champions. "We had trouble run- Vy ning our of- fense," Mat- toon coach George Reed said. "But we banaers know we'll do that better in the future. I was very pleased with the play of Shelly Strong and Allison Waggoner came off the bench to play very well.".