Buck and Struck lead Hawks past Cerro Gordo, Burwell and Block lead Blue devils past Sangamon Valley
BY FRED KRONER
fred@mahometnews.com
Heritage Volleyball
Bri Struck and Bree Buck were the catalysts on Thursday as Heritage dispatched visiting Cerro Gordo 25-16, 27-25 in a Lincoln Prairie Conference match.
Struck piled up seven kills, six digs and five aces. Buck’s stat line included six kills, four digs and three blocks.
Olivia Sorensen handed out 14 assists. Anna Sanders contributed seven digs and Malani Smithenry finished with four digs.
Heritage (11-3 overall, 3-1 conference) plays at Chrisman tonight.
Villa Grove Volleyball
Madison Burwell delivered six kills and teammate Kyleigh Block had three kills and three aces on Thursday as the Blue Devils (7-6) topped visiting Sangamon Valley 25-14, 26-24.
VGH Football
Blake Smith accounted for five touchdowns on Friday – three on passes and two on quarterback runs – as Villa Grove/Heritage reached the .500 mark with a 54-14 win over Sangamon Valley in Niantic.
VG/H (2-2) led 27-6 after the first quarter and 40-6 at halftime.
Shirley opened the scoring with a 1-yard TD scamper.
He completed 4 of 4 passes for 73 yards and hooked up with Carson Howard twice for TDs, covering 24 and 32 yards. Lerik Sorenson also had a 15-yard TD reception.
Kehm Shirley, who rushed for a team-high 106 yards, scored one TD. As a team, VG/H rolled up 310 yards o the ground.
Ezra Ely scored one TD and converted six extra-point placements. The Blue Devils’ other TD was by Luke Zimmerman on a 31-yard run.
Villa Grove/Heritage returns to action at home on Friday against Cerro Gordo/Bement (2-2)
VGH Golf
Zach Buesing shot a 39 on Thursday at Tri-City Country Club to lead the Blue Devils in a three-school meet. VG/H did not have enough players to post a team score.
VGH Boys’ cross-country
The Blue Devils placed 19th in Saturday’s 42nd Tuscola Invitational at Wimple Park.
The team-leader, with a 3-mile time of 18:52.88, was freshman Rowan Denmark-Collins.
All five of the VG/H participants are freshmen or sophomores.
Teammates following Denmark-Collins were sophomore Kylee Witte (129th in 22:04.37), sophomore Kaleb Miller (144th in 23:45.5), freshman Fletcher Hannah (158th in 26:17.88) and sophomore Konner Pearman (160th in 26:28.04).
Meet champion Urbana Uni High had a team s core of 26. VG/H’s point total was 497.
The team returns to action on Tuesday against Urbana Uni High at the UI Arboretum.
VGH Girls’ cross-country
Kyleigh Price was the Villa Grove/Heritage leader in Saturday’s 42nd-annual Tuscola Invitational at Wimple Park.
Her 3-mile time was 24 minutes, 31.95 seconds.
Other top teammates were Emma Buesing (80th in 24:41.01), Madison Logan (106th in 27:21.80) and Kate Eisenmenger (114th in 29:07.47).
Price, Buesing and Logan are all freshmen. Eisenmenger is a junior.
The Blue Devils did not have enough runners to be scored as a team. The meet champion was Unity with 32 points.
VG/H returns to action on Tuesday at the UI Arboretum against Urbana Uni High.
