Vandalia grad has memorable senior season at Illinois College

By Editor | December 28, 2011 |

During his college career, Brock Doehring has been through a lot. But as he exits Illinois College, he leaves a team that is on the rise. This year, the IC Blueboys finished second in the Midwest Conference and qualified for the NCAA Division III playoffs for the first time in school history. ‘It is truly a great feeling to know that you were one of the players that helped build that team into what it was,’ said the tight end. ‘Making the playoffs was the greatest experience of my college career. I think this is going to help them for years to come. It will not only help with recruiting, but it will help with the attitude. Those underclassmen know now that it can be done.’ Doehring and Illinois College had one big thing in common. The 2011 football season was the best ever for IC. It was also the best year of Doehring’s career. The former Vandalia player, who had to redshirt the 2008 year because of a torn ulnar collateral ligament in his elbow, caught 25 passes for 214 yards in his final year. He had one touchdown catch. ‘Tearing that UCL off the bone was the worst moment of my career,’ Doehring said. ‘I tore the nerves as well, so I did not feel much pain. When I came back from it, I learned to trust it again pretty quickly.’ For his career, he finished with 51 catches for 472 yards and three touchdowns. For his play on the football field, he was named to the All-Midwest Conference team once. The Blueboys were .500 or better in three of the four seasons that Doehring played. In the MWC, they 5-4 in 2009 and 2010, before finishing 8-1 in 2011. They were 9-2 overall in 2011. ‘It has not hit me yet that my football career is over,’ he said. ‘It will probably be the worst next fall, when my friends start practicing again.’ The son of Kirk and Cindy Doehring of Vandalia earned his degree in biology earlier this month. He also has a chemistry minor. His immediate plans are to take the next semester off and enter graduate school in the fall of 2012. He was named to the MWC All-Academic team for four years, and he also made the dean’s list during one semester. *** The Greenville College Lady Panthers will be looking for their first win in the St. Louis Intercollegiate Athletic Conference, when the 2012 calendar year starts. Greenville is 3-7 overall and 0-2 in the SLIAC. In the first 10 games, Laura Hobbie (Vandalia), who has played in all the games and started nine, is averaging 26.2 minutes per game. The Panther junior has scored 121 points and pulled down 49 rebounds. In addition to her 12.1 points and 4.9 rebounds per game, she also has 17 steals, 12 assists and two blocked shots. Hobbie has nailed 47-of-105 field goals and 14-of-21 free throws. She is also shooting better than 40 percent from the three-point line as well, hitting 13-of-28 treys for 46.4 percent from beyond the arc. Illinois College traveled to California to take on Whittier College in their final game before the new year. The IC Blueboys got eight points and four rebounds from Isaac Grapperhaus (South Central) as they lost to Whittier, 88-82. Grapperhaus started and played 20 minutes Through the first eight games, Grapperhaus, who played in all eight games and made six starts, averages 23 minutes per game. He has scored 49 points and pulled down 47 rebounds. Besides his 6.1 points and 5.9 rebounds per game, he also has four assists and four blocked shots. Grapperhaus has scored his points by hitting 18-of-48 field goals and 11-of-16 free throws. He has struck twice from beyond the arc. Illinois College is 3-5 overall and 1-2 in the Midwest Conference. Audrey Matheny (South Central) has played in nine games for Lake Land College thus far. Matheny has scored 23 points and pulled down 32 rebounds, respective averages of 2.6 and 3.6 per game. She has scored her points by hitting 8-of-16 field goals and 7-of-10 free throws. Lake Land is 7-4. The Vanderbilt University women’s bowling team, which counts Jessica Earnest (Vandalia) among its members, is currently ranked sixth in the NCAA bowling poll posted by the National Tenpin Coaches Association (NTCA). Valparaiso University is currently the No. 1 team in the country. Vanderbilt, which has built a record of 30-13, resumes its season on Jan. 13 at the Mid-Winter Invitational in Jonesboro, Ark.