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Fred's Blog

Notes from the sidelines

Posted by: Fred Kroner

Saturday, January 10, 2009 12:47 AM

Congratulations to veteran Cerro Gordo football coach Paul Workman. He will be enshrined in the Illinois Football Coaches Association Hall of Fame in April.

It's a well-deserved honor.

He will be recognized by his school at halftime of an upcoming varsity boys' basketball game on Jan.. 23 against Arcola. Word is that a number of former players will return that night.

In 24 years at Cerro Gordo, Workman has guided the Broncos into the playoffs 17 times and has won nearly two-thirds of all games. His cumulative record is 161-86 (65.2 percent).

Also on the football front, the deadline for applying for the vacant Monticello position is Feb. 1, so no announcement will be forthcoming from that school.

At Schlarman, 14 applicants showed an interest in the vacant job and six will be interviewed one day next week. Among them will be Jeff Willaman, who finished the season as the interim head coach after his brother, Jay, resigned.

The other announced area football head coaching openings are at Urbana and East Central, which is a coop between Shiloh and Heritage.

In basketball, it's great to see how well the top boys' area teams are faring.

As the second full week of January beckons, Centennial (15-1), Paxton-Buckley-Loda (12-1), Monticello (8-1) and Unity (8-1) have just lost once apiece. And, Salt Fork and Ridgeview each sport 13-2 records.

Milford's Ryan Kunce passed the 1,000-point mark earlier this week and Unity's Zebo Zebe could join the club today, if he scores 12 points against Bloomington Central Catholic. The Unity game is part of the day-long Kessler's Shootout at the Rocket Center, in Tolono.

There's plenty to cheer about on the girls' basketball front as well. Shiloh, Prairie Central and Salt Fork all show just one loss with a month left in the regular season and Shiloh reached the 20-win mark on Thursday, defeating Arthur-Lovington.

Two-loss Bismarck-Henning and Ridgeview are others among the area elite.

Speaking of Salt Fork and Bismarck-Henning, they earned the top two seeds in the upcoming Vermilion County Tournament, but Oakwood was a surprise No. 4 seed, giving the potential for a semifinal upset. The Comets, led by junior Amy Martin, will be a tough test for the Storm.

Meanwhile, Milford received the No. 3 seed even though it recently lost to Oakwood, to even their season series at 1-1.

Check out the Saturday News-Gazette for an updated area Wrestling Honor Roll. There are still some unbeaten area standouts.

Team-wise, Mahomet-Seymour and Champaign Central are state-ranked in Class 2A, while Gibson City-Melvin-Sibley, LeRoy and Oakwood are all rated among the top 20 in Class A by The Illinois Best Weekly, which has a quarter of a century of tradition behind its rankings.