Journal Gazette from Mattoon, Illinois • Page 18

C4 Tuejday, 2008 SPORTS www.g-tccom Panthers looking to add balance to shooting EIU Football rough enough, without internal fights State quarterback Antonio Heffner. After missing games against EIU the past two seasons with injuries, Heffner also was out last week when the Tigers beat Tennessee Tech 41-14. The South Carolina transfer was listed on Tennessee State's depth chart released Monday but also as a day-today decision. Heffner leads the Ohio Valley Conference averaging 2224.4 yards per game passing and 272.4 yards per game in total offense. His Tennessee State team is ranked 22nd in the NCAA Football Championship Subdivision by both Sports Network while UT Martin is fJ MARK NPPER Continued from C1 We're really looking forward to a big season from him." Certainly, Lake Land players are getting looks.

The Lakers could have players to going to three different Easterns. Spencer Perrin has announced his commitment to Eastern Kentucky and Stevie Hedrick recently visited Eastern Washington. Plus, Huzie Hambrite has committed to Ball State. As Eastern Illinois basketball fans await Saturday's 7 p.m. exhibition game against Illinois College at Lantz Arena as the first chance to see four junior college transfers and four freshmen, football fans are waiting to see whether coach Bob Spoo's Panthers can again dodge Tennessee CHARLESTON Indications from practice that Eastern Illinois could be a much Improved perimeter shooting men's basketball team were reiterated Saturday.

A closed scrimmage at Illinois-Chicago also showed trie Panthers' Inside game needed work. That was the report from EIU coach Mike Miller from a preseason competition with no score announced but the purpose being served when taking his Panthers to the scrimmage at UIC. "I think It was great for us," Miller said. "After 13 days of practice I don't think we could have done anything that could have helped us more to see where are strengths are and see where we need to work. "They have a good team and have challenged us In a lot of ways.

We worked on things Sunday we felt needed work and did that again (Monday)." Fans get the chance to see the Panthers in a 7 p.m. exhibition game against Illinois College at TSN FCS POLL FCS COACHES POLL SPARTANBURG, S.C. (AP) The top 25 teams in the Coaches Football Championship Subdivision poll, with first place votes in paren- PHILADELPHIA (AP) The top 25 teams in The Sports Network Football Championship Subdivision poll, with first place votes in parentheses, records through Nov. 2 and previous ranking: Record Pts Pvs Record Pts Pvs 1. James Madison (28) 8-1 700 1 1.

James Madison (91) 8-1 2,707 1 2. Appalachian State 7-2 669 2 2. Appalachian State (17) 7-2 2,617 2 3. Cal Poly 6-1 635 3 3.CalPoly(1) 6-1 2,373 4 4. Northern Iowa 7-2 611 4 4.

Northern Iowa 7 2 2,296 5 5. Montana 8-1 585 6 S.Montana 8-1 2,233 6 6. Richmond 6 3 548 7 6. Villanova 6-2 2,110 7 7. New Hampshire 7-1 .513 8 7.

Richmond 6-3 1,984 8 8. Villanova 6-2 482 10 8. New Hampshire 7-1 1,874 9 9. Southern Illinois 6-2 455. 11 9.

Weber State 8-2 1,767 13 10. Weber State 8-2 433 13 10. Wofford 6 2 1,747 3 11. Eton 7-2 411 12 11. Elon 7-2 1,690 10 12.

Wofford 6-2 396 5 12. Southern Illinois 6-2 1,650 14 13. Massachusetts 6-3 378 15 13. Massachusetts 6-3 1,262 15 14. Central Arkansas 7 2 300 9 14.

William Mary 6-2 1,202 16 15. McNeese State 5-3 283 16 15. Furman 7-3 1,081 18 16. William and Mary 6 2 267 19 16. Central Arkansas 7-2 887 11 17.

Furman 7-3 243 21 17. Western Illinois 5-3 824 12 18. South Carolina State 7 2 206 20 18. McNeese State 5-3 789 20 19. Western Illinois 5-3 191 14 19.

South Carolina State 7-2 750 22 20. Tennessee Martin 7-2 137 23 20. Tennessee Martin 7 2 527 24 21. Harvard 6-1 97 t24 21. Harvard 463 23 22.

Tennessee State 7 2 90 22. Tennessee State 7-2 425 25 23. North Dakota State 5-4 84 t24 23. Northern Arizona 6-3 395 19 24. Northern Arizona 6-3 70 18 24.

Colgate 7-2 207 NR 25. Liberty 7-2 60 17 25. Liberty 7-2 195 17 CHAMPAIGN IUinl safety Donsay Hardeman's vicious hit that sprawled Iowa tight end Tony Moeakl was so wicked it already has its own place on youtube.com. Even though Hardeman was flagged for "helmet-to-helmet" contact, Illini coach Ron Zook said his review of the play showed a completely legal hit that was administered by Hardeman's shoulder pad. Either way, it was a violent collision.

In the seecond quarter, Illini defensive tackle Josh Brent flattened Iowa back Shonn Greene for a one-yard loss. That hit from the 320-pound Brent absolutely flattened Greene. Linebacker Brit Miller, who was on the field for nearly 80 defense and special teams plays Saturday, emerged from the locker room with an ice bag taped to his shoulder. "My body still feels it," said Miller, who was in the middle of many big collisions. Yes, bruising hits were the rule in a very physical game Illinois won 27-24 Saturday.

But now comes the disturbing news that the biggest hit of the weekend was apparently delivered from one Illini player to another. The unfortunate result is that freshman running back Mikel Leshoure of Champaign has suffered a broken jaw, knocking him out of this week's game against Western Michigan and, presumably, well beyond that. The incident prompted only a brief comment from Zook, who issued this statement through the school's sports information office: "I am very disappointed that something like this has occurred," Zook said. "We have investigated the incident and will deal with internally." Leshoure's broken jaw is the first shoe to fall. The other will come when it is revealed which teammate is responsible for breaking it.

There is more than one way to break a jaw, but when the coach expresses disappointment and says an investigation will merit some internal action, we presume two teammates had a fight. The details will come out in time, but for now we know one valuable Illini player is nursing a painful injury created by someone who is supposed to be a brother in arms, while another player will likely be disciplined with some kind of suspension. From a purely football standpoint, it comes at a very bad time, considering that Illinois' situation at running Others receiving votes: Maine 181, South Dakota State 136, Northwestern State 114, North Dakota State 97, Jacksonville State 95, Lafayette 89, Georgia Southern 81 Prairie View 78, Eastern Kentucky 63, Grambling 54, Holy Cross 41, Morgan State 34, UC Davis 26, Albany 25, Brown 14, Hampton 13, Sacred Heart 12, Dayton 10, Texas State 9, Florida 7, San Diego 6, Nicholls State 5, Montana State 4, Monmouth 2, Penn 2, Jacksonville 1. Other receiving votes: Colgate 47, Jacksonville State 38, Gram-bling State 31, Prairie View 27, Maine 24, Georgia Southern 20, Lafayette 14, South Dakota State 12, Dayton 11, Brown 9, Holy Cross 7, Hampton 5, Morgan State 4, UC Davis 3, Northwestern State 3, Albany 1 LantzArena That marks the Lantz debut for South Trinity valley Community College Jay Smith, who has shown Miller both In practices and the scrimmage at UIC to be an outside shooting threat The addition of Smith and the fact that sophomore Tyler Laser Is no longer so hindered by last season's shoulder Injury should mean opposing defenses can no longer be so focused on Junior guard Romain Martin, who has led East-em in scoring the past two seasons. "Our guard3 that we felt could shoot It shot it pretty wed," Miller said.

Tb put it together we need that balance." That bianco has been an emphasis since returning from Chicago. "We came back and really three areas we went to work on," Miller said. "One was overall rebounding, secondly our post defense, our interior, and the third thing was to establish an interior game" Brian Nielsen time. They are working together. They worked out some drama they had earlier in the year and they are now realizing they can do it.

Last year they hoped they could do it (lost in regional to Neoga) and this year we were not expected to do win the regional. Anything is icing on the cake." Brandenburg has been pleased with the teams' improvement, especially in passing. "We have two sophomores (Cole and Maxwell) that really hit hard," said Brandenburg. "We have really picked up on our defense and our passing is much better. I am always concerned about passing.

They have worked hard and we have run the same offense for a long time. We worked hard on improving our passing game and they get the ball to the setter who puts it up to there for the big girls." Being the No. 3 seed doesn't bother Brandenburg. "We are coming in with a lot of confidence," said Brandenburg. "No one has got in our heads yet.

I don't know if it matters that we are playing the second match of the night. It is nice to only be playing one match instead of the two we played in the regional semifinals." The winner is to play the winner of the Tuscola-War-rensburg-Latham match at 7 p.m. Thursday in the sectional championship. Contact Mike Monahan at or 238-6854. of defeats Eighth grade Mattoon 0 10 43-l7 Paris 10 7 48-29 MATTOON: Shelby Tate Mel Sparks Kacey Starwalt 1 Asia Morrison 10 Monday gam Seventh grade Taylorville 7 2 '420 Mattoon 0 3 20-j MATTOON: Shelby Cox Kadie Gentry 2 Eighth gradt Taylorville 4 2 2614 Mattoon 4 2 10 7 Mattoon: Uxl Rainwater I Jamie Packer Gabby Garcia 3 back is a bit unstable anyhow, and because with three games to go, Illinois has to win at least two to be certain of a bowl invitation.

Daniel Dufrene had been Illinois' lead tailback for most of the season but had lost playing time to fast-rising freshman Jason Ford. Then Dufrene told the coaching staff he needed some time to sort through a personal issue, which reduced him to the role of observer for the Iowa game. Zook says Dufrene should be back in the fold this week, and that becomes a significant matter because with Leshoure out, other than Ford, only Troy Pollard would be available if Dufrene did not return. And Pollard has carried the ball exactly five times all season. I was participating in the weekly Illini player teleconference Monday afternoon when Miller was asked about the incident.

He answered with all the diplomacy of a senior captain. "I don't think I'm really in a position to talk about it now," Miller said. "We still have meetings to go through. That's where we're at. "Nobody really knows what went down.

If I was going to tell you stuff, it could come back on me. I'll probably have to decline that one." Leshoure has not had a spectacular freshman year, but it's been promising. He has good size (6-feet, 240 pounds) and decent speed. Against Iowa, he had four carries for 16 yards until his fifth and final carry resulted in a five-yard loss, setting the stage for Matt Eller's game-winning 46-yard field goal. This is one of those deals where you want to know the details, but expect to cringe when you actually hear them.

I can think or worse transgressions, but not many that seem more needless. As the Iowa game proved, football is a violent enough game without having to inflict more pain teammate to teammate. Contact Mark Tupperat or 421-7983 commonly known as BCS, that is based on computer rankings. McCain said he would "take significant action to prevent the spread and use of performance-enhancing substances. I think it's a game we're going to be in for a long time.

What I mean by that is there is somebody in a laboratory right now trying to develop some type of substance that can't be detected and we've got to stay ahead of it. It's not good for the athletes. It's not good for the sports. It's very bad for those who don't do it, and I think it can attack the very integrity of all sports going all the way down to high school." Not lost on the candidates, who have spent millions on campaign advertising, is the ratings for Monday Night Football. ESPN said this year's Philadelphia Eagles-Dallas Cowboys telecast on Sept.

15 attracted cable's largest audience ever 13 million homes and 18.6 million viewers. 20t' tn Brian Nielsen is sports editor of the Journal GazetteTime s-Couri-er. Contact him at or 238-6856. championship before losing, finisliing 25-11) and LSA. Jessica Knackmuhs, a senior, led the team in kills last year (3.9 per game) and Melinda Jones (a senior) averaged 3.3 kills per game.

The setter, Clare Whitehead is back. She averaged 10.3 assists per game last year, while Sara Greathouse, a junior, averaged a team-high 1.4 blocks per game. "For us, more than any other year, we learned every time we lost," said Robertson. "Against Shelbyville we figured out we have to play hard from start to finish. Every time we had a set back we took two steps forward by figuring things out about ourselves and that is not always the case.

In the long run we are a better team than maybe even we would have been had we won those matches. We are excited to show our A game and hopefully come away with a win." Tuscola Sectional The first time these two teams played Windsor trailed 8-0 and 10-2 in the first game before coming back to win. Haley Maxwell had a team-high eight kills and five blocks, while Amber Groves had 10 digs and Barbara Blackburn had eight assists. "We got off to a very slow start," said Windsor coach JoAnn Brandenburg. "We have to make sure and get started fast." Central coached by Brianne Marrow, won its own regional, downing Pawnee 25-23, 25-15.

It is the second-ever regional title for the Lady Raiders, who won a regional lorville on Monday. Seventh grader Kaitlyn Bath led A team with eight points and Shelby Cox had three points for the seventh grade team. Asia Morrison was the leading scorer for the eighth grade A team with 10 points and Gabby Garcia had three points for the eighth grade team. VOLLEYBALL Continued from C1 each us a lesson on how we need to prepare mentally for big games. I don't think our play was great, but it wasn't bad either and we certainly gave 100 percent.

Edwards County was just better that night." Cumberland is led in kills by Macy Shupe and Brittany Brandt who average 3.2 and three kills per game, while Casey Sowers is tops in digs with an average of 4.3 per contest. Kate Titus is the setter, averaging 6.2 per contest, while Brandt averages 0.8 blocks per game and Kennedy Gabel is tops in aces with an average of 0.7 per game. "More than anything the girls are just excited to get Edwards County and be on the big stage and have everyone talking about volleyball," said Robertson. "Sectionals are need in that random fans, fans you never in any other places, are going to be there. It is a different atmosphere especially for our kids who have not been in a sectional before (only one of the senior's was on the team the last time in 2005).

We are going in as the underdog and don't have anything to lose, but we knew if we play our best we can play with anybody." The only other Cumberland losses were to Shelbyville (30-5) and Lutheran School Association (LSA) of Decatur (29-5), while Edwards County lost to O'Fallon (a Class 4A team that reached the regional Obama, McCain talk changes in sports on MNF title in 1998, finishing 27-7. Windsor has two seniors, five juniors, four sophomores and two freshmen. Maxwell, a six-foot middle hitter, leads the team in averages kills and blocks per game with 3.4 and 1.3 respectively. Amber Groves, a junior, averages 4.5 digs per contest, while Barbara Blackburn averages 2.8 assists per contest. Sophomore Hanna Cole leads the team in aces per game at 0.5.

The Lady Blue Devils won the Areola regional with a thrilling 25-10, 19-25, 25-23 victory over Arthur. "We were escorted mto town by a fire truck and then each class took turns getting on the fire truck and they all got on it at once also," said Brandenburg. "We had a good time after the win." Central is in the Okaw Valley Conference, where the other two semifinal teams are from in Warrensburg-Latham, who finished second in the conference and Tuscola, a team coached by former Eastern Illinois University player Aja Kohlbecker. In addition Unity and Decatur St. Teresa won Class 2A regional titles.

Brandenburg said a pep session is planned for today. "People have put decorations on the players' lockers," said Brandenburg. "I know they will be up for the match. I think they will have nervous excitement and some of that comes from the fact we have played them before. They know a little bit about them and know what to expect from them." Brandenburg said, "The girls are peaking at the right The Mattoon seventh grade A team is 10-4 and the team is 1-3.

The eighth grade A team is 9-5 and the team is 2-2. Mattoon is to play host to Charleston in an A game on Friday beginning at 6 p.m. Saturday A gam Mattoon 2 I 317-25 Paris 4 4 11726 MATTOON: Jaden Patterson Jessie Taylor I Maddi Thomason I Emma Olltz Kaitlyn Batti Riley Phipps 4 WASHINGTON (AP) -Democrat Barack Obama tells ESPN's "Monday Night Football" it's time for college football to pick a champion with a playoff system while Republican John McCain wants to put an end to performance-enhancing substances. On the eve of the election, the two presidential candidates were interviewed via satellite by ESPN's Chris Berman. The taped interviews were to air during half time of game between the Washington Redskins and the Pittsburgh Steelers.

Both candidates were asked to name one thing they would change in sports. "I think it is about time that we had playoffs in college football. I'm fed up with these computer rankings and this and that and the other. Get eight teams the top eight teams right at the end. You got a playoff.

Decide on a National Champion," Obama said. College football uses a Bowl Championship Series system, LOCAL SCHEDULES MMS basketball teams suffer pair MATTOON The Mattoon Middle School seventh and eighth grade suffered A and team losses. The seventh grade A team lost 26-25 and the eighth grade A team lost 29-17 to. Paris Mayo on Saturday and the seventh grade team dropped 20-5 and the eighth grade fell 14-7 to Tay- Judge agonizing over Clemens defamation lawsuit LAKE LAND COLLEGE Wednesday 6 p.m. Men's basketball team at Spoon River EASTERN ILLINOIS UNIVERSITY Today 6 p.m.

Women's soccer team at Morehead State in Ohio VaJley Conference tournament Wedneday 6 p.m. Women's rugby team at Oemson 7 p.m. Women's basketbal team plays host to St Joseph's college at LantzArena said during a court hearing Monday that he's studying whether the lawsuit should be thrown out. A dismissal would come on the grounds that Brian McNamee's claims against Clemens were' protected because he made them as a part of his cooperation with federal HOUSTON (AP) A federal judge says he's agonizing over the status of a defamation lawsuit Roger Clemens filed against his former personal trainer, who accused the pitcher of using performance-enhancing drugs. U.S.

District Judge Keith P. Ellison authorities investigating the player. Clemens sued McNamee in January after his former trainer told baseball investigator George Mitchell that the seven-time Cy Young Award winner used steroids and human growth hormone.