Saturday's prep highlights: Bumba rumbles, STM stays unbeaten

Oct. 1—In football

➜ St. Thomas More 58, South Beloit 38. A jaw-dropping rushing performance from Peace Bumba allowed St. Thomas More to return home unbeaten, handing South Beloit its first loss of the season in a high-scoring 8-man game. Trailing 14-8 at the end of the first quarter, STM (6-0) went into halftime ahead 38-22 thanks to a strong second quarter that featured two rushing touchdowns apiece from Bumba and Reid Craddock. Bumba scampered his way to 348 rushing yards on 24 carries and five touchdowns, scoring on runs of 25, 38, 5, 65 and 25 yards. Craddock was a solid presence under center for the Sabers, completing 7 of 9 passes for 120 yards and one touchdown — a 48-yard pass to Ben Horn that put STM ahead 46-22 early in the third quarter — while rushing for 61 yards on seven carries. Horn was STM's top receiver with four catches for 78 yards. Peter Samu also contributed to the offensive output by the Sabers with 46 rushing yards on 11 carries and rushed for two of the Sabers' two-point converesions as STM collected 575 yards of total offense.

➜ Milford/Cissna Park 70, St. Anne 21. Milford/Cissna Park (4-2) relied on a prolific offense to give the Bearcats their second straight win at home in 8-man action.

In volleyball

Pekin Invitational

➜ Bulldogs take second. Mahomet-Seymour compiled a 4-1 record on the day, ultimately finishing second at the eight-team tournament. The Bulldogs opened with four straight wins, picking up win against Peoria Notre Dame (25-17, 25-15), Pekin (25-22, 25-16), Eureka (25-11, 25-20) and Chillicothe IVC (21-25, 25-17, 25-16) to advance to the championship match. But Lena-Winslow held on for a 25-23, 25-27, 25-20 win against the Bulldogs. Avery Allen and Ellie Dallas both made the all-tournament team for M-S (21-4).

Belleville East

➜ Chargers falter. Centennial (14-18) went 1-4 at its weekend tournament in southern Illinois, picking up a 25-20, 25-21 win against Cahokia. The Chargers, however, lost matches against against Breese Mater Dei, Normal Community, Waterloo and the Belleville East junior varsity team.

In boys' soccer

➜ Arthur Christian 5, Kankakee Trinity 2. Josh Skowronski was a force near the goal, leading the Conquering Riders to their sixth straight win. Skowronski scored four goals for ACS (9-6-1) in its homecoming win, with Joe Theriault scoring the other goal. Skowronski and Corbin Gingerich each recorded one assist.

➜ Champaign Central 3, Mahomet-Seymour 2. In a matchup of the two top-ranked teams in The News-Gazette's weekly rankings, the host and No. 1 Maroons prevailed despite a comeback attempt by the No. 2 Bulldogs. Central (12-3-2) relied on two goals by Ben Wellens and another goal from Axel Baldwin to build a 3-0 lead in the first half. Diego Zarco assisted on all three of the Maroons' goals. M-S (10-3-4) cut its deficit to 3-1 before halftime on a goal off a free kick by Isaac Warren and then trimmed its deficit to 3-2 in the second half on a goal by Nolan Wheeler, with Kai Jones providing the assist, but couldn't add another one.

➜ Fisher/Gibson City-Melvin-Sibley 5, Reed-Custer 0. After seeing their 13-match win streak end earlier this week, the Bunnies got back in the win column with an impressive road victory. Sid Pfoff scored two goals for Fisher/GCMS (18-2), with David Hull, Jacob Chittick and Mason Doman also adding goals. Graydon Leonard had two assists, with Logan Heath, Isaiah Johnson and Griffin Johnson also distributing an assist.

➜ Oakwood/Salt Fork 5, Judah Christian 0. Oakwood/Salt Fork won its eighth straight match, shutting out the visiting Tribe (1-9-1). Ethan Merritt scored two first-half goals on assists by Macen Phillips to give O/SF a 2-0 halftime lead before Trevor McCall and Cooper Myers each added a goal in the second half. Jacob Taflinger and Thomas Wells each chipped in an assist after halftime.

➜ St. Joseph-Ogden 1, Rantoul 0. In an Illini Prairie Conference match played underneath the lights at Dick Duval Field in St. Joseph, the host Spartans (13-6) held on for the close victory against the Eagles (5-9-1).

In boys' cross-country

➜ At Peoria. Tuscola kept up its prolific season, with the Warriors relying on a solid mix of contributors to win the 43-team Class 1A/2A Peoria Invitational at Detweiller Park. Tuscola compiled 89 points, 32 more than runner-up Normal U-High. Josiah Hortin clocked the best time for Tuscola with a third-place finish in 14 minutes, 41 seconds. Teammate Jackson Barrett was 10 seconds behind Hortin, coming through with a fifth-place finish of 14:51.60. Blake McLeese (15:21.40, 11th place), Will Foltz (15:38.80, 26th place) and Xander Neamtu (15:59.30, 44th place) also factored into the team title for Tuscola. Champaign Central finished 10th, with Caleb Mathias leading the Maroons as he placed seventh with a time of 15:08.80. Jakob Riley (15:58.10, 43rd place) also chipped in for Central with a top-50 finish. Urbana finished 21st, with Hudson Coady pacing the Tigers with a 65th-place finish in 16:21.50.

➜ At Danville. La Salette had the first five runners cross the finish line at Kickapoo Park, leading the Lions to a perfect team score of 15 and a win in the four-team Oakwood/Salt Fork Invitational. Marco Cruz won the race with a time of 17 minutes, 42.60 seconds, while teammates Andrew Gross (17:57.19), Mercel LeFevre (18:04.92), John Reen (18:08.21) and Daniel Sullivan (18:17.32) followed suit to help La Salette to a first-place finish. St. Thomas More finished third, with Phillip Lee leading the Sabers with an eighth-place finish in 18:36.59. Nick Unger also contributed for the Sabers with a 13th-place finish in 19:16.98. Brayden Edwards led Oakwood/Salt Fork — which only had four runners and not enough to account for a team score — with a 14th-place finish in 19:18.73. Bismarck-Henning/Rossville-Alvin took fourth, as Devon Stroud paced the Blue Devils with a time of 19:33.35 to land him in 16th place. Hoopeston Area, which did not have enough runners for a team score, was led by Keenon Anderson's 11th-place finish of 19:03.08.

In girls' cross-country

➜ At Peoria. Kate Foltz continued her superb season at Tuscola, with the sophomore easily winning the Class 1A/2A Peoria Invitational at Detweiller Park. Foltz crossed the finish line first in a field of 267 runners by clocking a time of 16 minutes, 37.40 seconds, almost 18 seconds ahead of runner-up Sundara Weber of Sandwich. Led by Foltz, Tuscola finished 29th in the 39-team field. Champaign Central had the best finish among an area team, with the Maroons placing 11th. Aleigha Garrison paced Central with a time of 18:25.20 that had her place 12th, while Kitty Miller was the next Maroon to finish as she did so in 20:21.40 to place 71st. Urbana had two runners finish in the top 50, helping the Tigers to a 15th-place team finish. Marley Yau led the Tigers with a 29th-place finish in 19:03.20, while teammate Beatrice Ebel posted a time of 19:40.80 to place 45th.

➜ At Danville. Macie Russell of Oakwood/Salt Fork won the Oakwood/Salt Fork Invitational at Kickapoo Park, as Russell set the tone and finished with a winning time of 20 minutes, 47.17 seconds. Oakwood/Salt Fork placed third at the three-team meet, with Callie Richardson the next O/SF runner to cross the finish line, doing so in 22:00.70 to place seventh. St. Thomas More won the meet with 26 points as the Sabers had five runners finish in the top eight. Francie Williamson led STM with a third-place finish in 21:24.98, followed by teammates Paige Stark (21:49.31, fourth place), Alex Anderson (21:56.47, fith place), Claire Klushner ( 21:59.33, sixth place) and Skyler Anderson (22:15.45, eight place) also contributing. Aleah Potter led runner-up Bismarck-Henning/Rossville-Alvin with a second-place finish of 21:11.99. Gabby Moreman also chipped in for BHRA with a ninth-place finish in 22:41.77. Kayla Crull led Armstrong-Potomac with a 10th-place finish in 23:09.84.

In girls' swimming

➜ At Peoria. Mahomet-Seymour received two first-place finishes, helping the Bulldogs finish third at a six-team meet. Talynn O'Donnell won the 50-yard freestyle for the Bulldogs with a time of 25.55 seconds and teammate Lainey Howard also took first in the 100 backstroke with a time of 1:17.86. M-S also received a second-place finish from the 200 freestyle relay quartet of Howard, Claire Waggoner, Caroline Mills and O'Donnell in 1:50.18. O'Donnell added a third-place finish in the 100 butterfly (1:02.97), Mills had the same finish in the 500 freestyle (5:51.68) and the 400 freestyle relay team of Mills, Maddie Logsdon, Howard and O'Donnell also took third in 4:03.88. Danville, which placed fifth, had its best finish from Sam Wagner as she placed fourth in the 200 individual medley in 2:37.90.

➜ At Peoria. Champaign Central won its second invitational of the season, with the Maroons placing first at the Peoria Richwoods Invitational. Babette Bradley shined for the Maroons, winning the 100-yard breaststroke and the 200 individual medley. She also teamed up with Olivia Terry, Stella Asse and Macy Cappa on the winning 200 medley relay team. Terry also placed first in the 100 backstroke, while Laura Taylor won the 200 freestyle.