SPORTS ROUNDUP
May 22 Wrestling The Hawks traveled to Rochelle to face the Hubs and the Fulton Steamers. Oregon took a 21-0 lead over Fulton with a forfeit to Anthony Bauer, a 9-0 major decision by Seth Stevens, and first period pins by Herbst and Eckerd. Fulton won four by falls and added a forfeit to take a nine point lead, but the Hawks rebounded with a forfeit to Wolford and pins by Stender and Lane Halvorson to give Oregon a 39-30 win. Against the Hubs, the Hawks again took and early lead with forfeits to Dalton McCammon and Herbst, and pins by Bauer and Eckerd. Rochelle won a decision and two forfeits before Adam Glendenning added six
on a takedown to the back. Oregon lost two forfeits and a pin to trail by nine, but finished strong with pins by Stender, Halvorson, and Bauer, and an injury default to Stevens to win the meet 48-33. Baseball Forreston 13, Milledgeville 1, 5 inn.: The Cardinals scored multiple runs in every inning but the fourth and put up 11 hits in a win over the Missiles. Ryan Schoonhoven homered for Forreston Treyton Selman drove in a run for Milledgeville. May 25 Softball Oregon 8, Stockton 0: Oregondefeated Stockton-Warren 8-0. The Trampel Twins, Mia and Lena, dominated on the mound combining for a 2 hit shutout and 10 Ks. OHS was led at the plate by speedster Bella Koertner who had 2 hits and a walk. Forreston 23, AFC 0, 4 inn.: Kara Erdmann tossed a two-hit shutout, and helped her own cause with two home runs, a double and nine RBIs to lead the Cardinals past the Raiders in Forreston. Taylor Greenfield
See ROUNDUP, Page 14
Earleen Hinton/Shaw Media
Polo first baseman Madelyn Jones catches a fly ball for an out during May 22 action against Oregon.
SPORTS COLUMN
Post seasons for spring sports set to begin next week
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elieve it or not, the post season for spring sports begins next week, in what will close out the weirdest high-school sports year ever. Both the Forreston baseball and softball teams enter regionals on a high note, with well-deserved high sub-sectional seeds. They also should end the regular season as NUIC champs. As of press time, the baseball team’s only blemish was a 3-2 loss to Eastland, a team they will likely see in the regional final. However, Forreston has shut out Eastland 6-0. A big plus for the Cardinals is pitching, something smaller schools struggle with. In nine of their first 11 games, opponents only mustered one run or less. As a No. 1 sub-sectional seed, Forreston has a very good chance to advance to the super-sectional. They made it that far in 2018 and have also won three straight regionals. The softball team’s only loss this season has been to defending 3A champ Sterling, but has several NUIC juggernaughts standing in the way in the post-season. Past history has shown how good teams like Orangeville and Dakota are. Add in Pearl City and upstart Durand, and it is a tough gauntlet to navigate. Traditionally, area 1A schools are better than those in 2A. When Forreston broke away from the
COMMENTARY Andy Colbert
Polo coop and dropped down to 1A, things didn’t get much easier. Credit to new Oregon Nate Rogers in leading the softballers to an 8-1 record in the Big Northern. Stillman Valley, North Boone and Oregon have beaten each other with Stillman likely the best of the bunch. The Hawks earned a No. 2 seed behind Stillman in the sub-sectional and have a good shot at winning the regional. The other sub-sectional is a dogfight with Richmond Burton, Johnsburg, NB and Marengo. One of those powers would face the Hawks at the sectional. The girls track and field sectionals will be next Thursday at Winnebago. Oregon has state-ranked throwers in Brenna Noon in the shot put and Jenae Bothe in both shot and discus. Noon would have been the top returning 1A state-placer in the shot for 2020, but we all know how that ill-fated season turned out.
Right now she sits at No. 1 with a mark of nearly 41 feet. The next closest competitor is just a few inches behind. The boys have sectionals the following week and leading the way is Forreston hurdler Bennett Soltow. The returning state placer from two years ago, when Forreston placed seventh as a team with 21 points, is ranked No. 3 in both the 110 high hurdles and 300 intermediates. The Cardinal 400 relay team is also ranked third with a time of 44.40. Running were Matthew Beltran, Jordan Neuschwander, Brock and Bennett Soltow. With Rockford Christian bumped up to 2A, the sectional for the boys is wide open. Oregon is led by senior pole vaulters Nathaniel Schone and Riley Benton, who were ranked No. 10. Both the boys and girls track sectionals will be at Winnebago. Oregon girls soccer team (2-7-1) hosts Monmouth-Roseville on Tuesday in sub-sectional action, with the Hawks eventually hosting the 1A sectional finals the following week. Dixon has crushed everyone in the BNC by a 59-1 scoring margin and ends the year as league champ. Unlike softball, there is a huge difference between 1A and 2A soccer, as the Duchesses only earned a No. 3 seed in 2A, compared to Oregon getting a No. 3 seed in 1A.
OGLE COUNTY NEWS Ogle County Newspapers / oglecountynews.com • Friday, May 28, 2021
May 18 Wrestling The Oregon wrestlers hosted Dakota on the May 18and Caleb Wolford, Grant Stender, and Edwin Estrada took forfeits to give the Hawks an 18-0 lead, but Oregon would only win two matches on the mat and they lost the meet 46-24. Andrew Herbst and Gabe Eckerd both won 5-3 decisions as the powerful Indians pinned seven times and took a major decision to sweep the rest of the Hawk lineup.
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