Benton football coach Jeremy Clodfelder carried a ruler around all week.
“It was a reminder of how close we were to having a chance to beat a good program last week,” he said. “It’s frustrating when I think about how close we were to being 1-0.”
Benton failed on a big fourth down play when it needed just about a foot of turf to keep a key drive alive in a 10-3 loss to Carterville.
Now, it opens its home season against Sparta Friday night at Tabor Field.
Dylan Hartley and Kaitlyn Schutt won the individual Class A titles at the Murphysboro Invite Wednesday afternoon, leading the Benton boys to a fourth place finish and girls to a seventh place finish in the team standings.
Hartley ran a 16;23 to edge Sparta’s Wade Reeves (16:25) for the title. Hartley’s teammate Justin Massey pulled off a Top 5 finish, taking fifth in 16:56.
Schutt ran a 19:51 to easily defeat Carterville’s Joanna Bean, who was second with a time of 20:03. Chelsea Tabor finished in the Top 20, taking 17th place in 24:56.
Benton went 1-1 at Murphysboro Wednesday, as the host Red Devils shot 151 to top the Rangers by six strokes behind match medalist Drew Novara, who shot a 3-under 32.
“They had a 5-shot swing in that first group with Novara shooting a 32,” Benton coach Scott Simpson said. “That was enough to win the match, really. Novara is playing as well as anybody in southern Illinois right now and he had good match.”
Ben Roethlisberger's six-game suspension likely will be shortened to four games by NFL commissioner Roger Goodell after the two meet in New York on Friday.
Goodell has said he will make his decision after the preseason concludes. The Steelers play Carolina on Thursday night. Although the NFL has not confirmed the exact location or time for the meeting, Roethlisberger is expected to meet Goodell at league headquarters.
Roethlisberger was suspended in April under the league's personal conduct policy and the quarterback is not eligible to return until Oct. 31 at New Orleans. However, Goodell stipulated in the suspension that it could be reduced if Roethlisberger behaves well and undergoes counseling. The commissioner indicated when he met with Roethlisberger earlier in August that Roethlisberger was on the right track.
Benton junior Thomas Simpson medaled for the third straight match, but a consistent round by the Massac County Patriots gave them a 1-stroke win over the Rangers at Benton Country Club.
The Pats shot 150, Benton 151 and Pinckneyville 212 on the afternoon.
“We knew going in that it was going to be a one or two stroke match,” Benton golf coach Scott Simpson said. “It’s going to be the same today and tomorrow, too.
“Everybody made a mistake or two today and left a shot out there,” he added. “But a 151 is a good score ... we had three good scores, it just wasn’t enough.”
Benton had no problems with visiting Carmi-White County Tuesday night, starting the night with a dominating 25-6 win and closing with a 25-14 win in game two to improve to 6-2 on the season.
“The girls played pretty well,” Benton coach Tony Phelps said. “A lot of times a team will play down to its competition and we didn’t do that tonight. We played our game.”
Benton held a slim 3-2 lead in the first game before reeling off seven straight points to lead 10-3. Megan Conner started the run with a kill, with Morgan Corn picking up two kills and a block as well.
“Morgan played well,’ Phelps said. “She started well and had good numbers, and she only played in one game.”
Ahead 14-5, a 10-point run had the Rangerettes quickly on the verge of the win, leading 24-5.
John McEnroe wants a hand in reviving American tennis. He wants to do it his way.
Neither of these statements should come as a surprise to anyone who has followed McEnroe's career over the last four decades — either on the court or in "retirement," where he has remained every bit as fiery and unapologetic behind a microphone as he is with a tennis racquet in hand.
The day after the U.S. Open ends, McEnroe's new journey will begin in full — a journey with the ultimate goal of making sure the headline that appeared this summer is never seen again: "No American in top 10 for first time since rankings began in 1973."
Marion swept the boys and girls team titles at the Benton Cross Country Quads Monday afternoon, but host Benton swept the individual titles.
Marion won the girls team title handily with 25 points, easily outdistancing Herrin, which was second at 66. The Wildcat boys tied for the boys team title with 38 points, but edged Herrin for the outright title with a better sixth-man finish.
Benton was fifth as a team in the girls race and third in the boys race.
Kaitlyn Schutt and Dylan Hartley continued their good early-season running, taking the individual wins in the race.
Benton sophomore quarterback Cole Forby threw for 224 yards and ran for 105 more, but it wasn’t enough for the Rangers to knock off visiting Carterville, which took a 40-18 win at Tabor Field Monday night.
The Rangers opened with a good defensive stand, Frank Kulich and Dakota Cali stuffing Carterville on a third down to force a punt.
Benton then went on a long, 13-play drive that had it on the verge of a go-ahead score. But, on 3rd-and-goal at the 1, Forby was sacked for a 9-yard loss. Forby was stopped at the C-4 on fourth down to end the drive.
Benton junior Thomas Simpson sure didn’t play up to par in his round at the Champaign Central golf tournament on Friday.
And that was just fine with him.
Simpson made three birdies and an eagle to finish 5-under par for the tournament to shoot 67 and take the individual title.
“Thomas played pretty well,” Benton coach Scott Simpson said. “I saw most of his round and he just played well. He only had one bad tee shot and he ended up with a birdie on the hole.”
Wearing the same No. 13 he wore so well as an Ohio State freshman eight years ago, Maurice Clarett began his bid to return to football Monday night on a high school field where the minor-league Omaha Nighthawks practiced before a handful of onlookers.
Clarett signed a one-year contract with the United Football League team earlier in the day after meeting with team officials and UFL commissioner Michael Huyghue, who gave his blessing.
It was Clarett's first football activity since he was a bust with the Denver Broncos and spent 3½ years in prison for having a hidden gun and holding up two people outside a Columbus, Ohio, bar, in 2006.
This was one of those weekends that I knew was going to upset me. I’ve been heading west down I-64 most weekends lately, but I knew this time my trip wasn’t going to be all fun and games.
I was headed to the hospital.
I was going to visit a good friend who shares my profession and is hurting right now.
Not a task I looked forward to at all.
Dylan Hartley and Kaitlyn Schutt picked up right where they left off last season, leading the Benton cross country teams at the Metro East Lutheran Invite Saturday.
Hartley was second overall in the boys race, while Schutt was seventh. Benton’s Justin Massey was also a Top 10 finisher for the boys, taking seventh overall.
“Our kids did a pretty good job,” Benton coach Rod Shurtz said. “This was a very big field, a strong meet, and a tough course to kick off the season.This is also the site of the IHSA Sectional that we will run in late October.”
Benton took second at the Southern Illinois River to River Conference volleyball tournament on Saturday in Herrin, dropping a close, 25-19, 25-20 match to Nashville in the title tilt.
“We right there with them,” Benton coach Tony Phelps said. “We led for most of the second game, but they had some strong, tall kids.”
Sydney Potts led the net effort, going 16 for 18 with seven kills, Lindsay Hathcoat going 14 of 15 with six kills.
Seven-time Cy Young award winner Roger Clemens arrived at the courthouse nearly four hours early for a hearing to face charges of lying to Congress about whether he used steroids or human growth hormone.
The 48-year-old ex-major leaguer was set to be arraigned later Monday on three counts of making false statements, two counts of perjury and one count of obstruction of Congress.
He entered the courthouse well before his hearing, which was scheduled for a ceremonial courtroom that seats about 300 people.
The Christopher-Zeigler-Royalton Bearcats opened the 2010 season at Eldorado Friday night, falling 32-14 to the host Eagles.
The Eagles started the game off strong on their opening drive. Senior running back Caid Griffin ran four times for 26 yards and Eldorado quarterback Joe Blair connected with Derek Miller for a 39-yard touchdown pass to put the Eagles up 6-0 three minutes into the game.
J.R. Myers gave the Bearcats good field position on their opening drive after he returned the Eldorado kick 23 yards. The Bearcats were unable to get a first down and were forced to punt the ball back to the Eagles.
Forget about one drive or one big play, Carterville's 10-3 win over Benton Friday night came down to one foot.
With the Rangers driving deep in Lions territory with 6:13 left in the third quarter, Carterville came up with the defensive play of the game.
Facing 4th down and a foot, Benton gave the ball to Trey Garrett, but the Lions were able to get penetration and stuff the junior for no gain, turning the ball over on downs.
Just under five minutes later, Lions quarterback Jeff Aldridge scored on an 11-yard run to break a 3-3 tie. The extra point gave Carterville the final 10-3 margin.
Friday Night Scores
Carterville 10, Benton 3
Anna-Jonesboro 34, West Frankfort 7
Chester 18, Sesser-Valier 14
It’s funny how many popular expressions I hear when I go out to a game or to eat, or anywhere, really.
Sometimes you can count on the meaning of these expressions, but sometimes there are exceptions to these solid rules of life.
Just this week I heard ‘absence makes the heart grow fonder,’ ‘I don’t want to add insult to injury,’ ‘it’s all over but the shouting,’ and ‘I have a bone to pick with him.’
Benton’s volleyball win at Marion Thursday night was brought to the Rangerettes by the letter “P.”
As in pass.
“If you can pass, you can win,” Benton coach Tony Phelps said.
And the Rangerettes did just that in a 25-22, 25-15 win over the Lady Wildcats.
