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School Sports

  • Senior Spotlight: Jeff Lucken

    At just 5-foot-11 and 225 pounds, Vandalia senior Jeff Lucken isn’t a typical football lineman.

    But he doesn’t care.

    The list of successful football players of Asian decent is short.

    But he doesn’t care.

    Some of the biggest rivals in the South Central Conference will bring offensive linemen with much more girth.

    But, again, he doesn’t care.

    And why should he?

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  • Despite fumbles, Vandals win for homecoming

    The Vandals scored on their first offensive play of the game, and despite losing seven fumbles after that, Vandalia still came away with a big 47-6 win against Litchfield last Friday in front a large homecoming crowd.

    Senior Alex Newsom rushed nearly untouched for 49 yards on the first play. It was the third time he has gained more than 30 yards on Vandalia's first play this season.

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  • Football notes: Vandals can become playoff eligible

    Following this Friday’s game against Hillsboro, the Vandals hope to be playoff eligible.

    Carrying a 4-1 record into the game, Vandalia will be in search of its fifth win to put a check mark next to the season’s first big goal.

    “That is one of our goals, and then we start working for seeding after that,” said coach John Stout. “It’s a big game for us on Friday night.”

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  • Seniors Swofford, Leiken are conference champs

    Senior Blake Swofford was the individual champion and the Vandals placed a surprising second as a team at the South Central Conference boys golf tournament at The Rail in Springfield on Monday.

    A day later, senior RaeChelle Leiken shot an 82 to take the title at the girls SCC meet at Litchfield.

    She birdied the 17th hole and eagled the 18th to win by 11 strokes.

    Roxana was the team champion.

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  • Lady Vandals take first loss, but big season still looms

    PANA – The Lady Vandals’ perfect season is over, but a dream season is still in the works despite a tough loss at Pana last Thursday.

    Vandalia struggled on both sides of the ball in that non-conference game, falling to the Lady Panthers, 10-25, 19-25.

    “Offensively, we struggled. Defensively, we struggled,” said Lady Vandals coach Allison Smith. “We didn’t play our ball, and made too many errors.

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  • Vandalia holds Athletic Hall of Fame inductions

    Three individuals and one team were inducted into Vandalia Community High School’s Athletic Hall of Fame in a ceremony prior to last Friday’s football game against Litchfield.

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    During his 14-year stay as coach of Vandalia’s wrestling team, Glenn Exton brought the program to prominence, advancing the team to state in his third season and going back eight more times.

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  • Warriors win EIC Tournament

    VANDALIA – Patoka played as a cohesive unit last Thursday, winning the Egyptian-Illini Conference Tournament by beating fourth-seeded Beecher City.

    The No. 2 Warriors got big hits from several players along with a near pefect game from junior Clinton Hood to help lead them to a 7-2 victory.

    “The goal all along was to win the conference tournament,” said coach Joe Eddy said. “And we didn’t play our best game tonight, but we got a couple of bigs hits.”

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  • Cougars earn at least share of NTC

    South Central’s baseball team  remained perfect in its first season of play in the National Trail Conference, clinching at least a share of the conference championship with a 5-4 win against Neoga last Thursday.

    Noah Powless homered  during a five-run third inning – his three-run blast being his fifth of the season for the Cougars (13-3-1, 8-0 NTC).

    Neoga scored twice in each the second and fifth innings.

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  • Prep Roundup (Sept. 27)

    Lady Cougars take fourth at Herrin Tournament
    South Central’s volleyball team went 3-2 to finish fourth at Saturday’s Herrin Tournament.

    After winning the first three games in pool by defeating Marissa, 25-14, 25-20, Johnston City, 25-17, 25-14, and Crab Orchard, 25-9, 23-25, 15-9, the Lady Cougars ran in to trouble against Carterville in the final game of pool play and Herrin in the third-place match.

    Carterville beat South Central (15-5), 26-24, 25-21, and Herrin won a close match, 21-25, 25-16, 15-11.

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  • Soccer team beginning to score more goals

    The offense has been picking up for Vandalia’s soccer team, as the Vandals scored three goals in the past week, but still weren’t able to come away with any victories.

    Vandalia (0-13-1) secured one goal against each Carlyle on Monday, Altamont last Thursday and East Alton-Wood River last Wednesday, but lost those games 4-1, 2-1 and 5-1, respectively.

    Senior A.J. Gaylord now leads the team with two goals, after scoring against Altamont, and Jussi Craycroft leads in assists with three.

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