Beardstown junior wrestler Garrett “Chunk” Dailey will join an impressive list of Tiger grapplers who have earned the right to wrestle on the grandest of stages, the Illinois High School State Wrestling Tournament.
Dailey placed fourth in the Olympia Sectional at 285 to punch his ticket to the big dance at the State Farm Center on the campus of the University of Illinois starting Thursday, February 15.
The best season in twenty years for the BHS girls’ basketball team came to an end in the first round of regional play on the road at West Hancock.
The Lady Tigers finished the year with a record of 12-19 which is the most wins in a season since they won 17 in 2003-2004. After winning a maximum of seven games for six years running, Beardstown has won twelve, nine and eleven the last three and Coach Jimmy Maltby will return a very solid core of players for next year. Having joined the West Central Conference, BHS was obligated to make up a snowed-out game against West Hancock, meaning they would face the Titans twice in the final week of the season. A loss to West Central in the middle meant a three-game skid to end the season.
A strategic defensive adjustment by coach Eric Anderson and an increase in intensity for the Beardstown boys’ basketball team turned a five-point halftime deficit into a 72 to 52 runaway home win over the Western Wildcats in the Tigers only game last week.
The Beardstown Lady Tigers picked up a conference win and a nice momentum builder heading to regionals with a 46 to 43 road win last Thursday over the Mendon Unity Mustangs. The Mustangs were 15-11 prior to the loss and had beaten the Tigers 43 to 27 on November 18 and 42 to 29 in the Lady Tiger Classic. Beardstown opened the week with a tough 55 to 54 conference road loss to Liberty on Tuesday.
The Beardstown Tiger Varsity wrestling team will be sending four wrestlers on to the boys’ sectional meet at Olympia High School on February 9th and 10th. The top three finishers at each weight class in Regionals advance to the Sectional Meet.
The schedule maker was not very kind to the Beardstown Tiger varsity boys’ basketball team last week sending them on the road to two very tough to win at venues. Both games were conference games for the Tigers, who are the newest members of the West Central Conference, at Hamilton against West Hancock and at Quincy Notre Dame. Both places are historically tough to win at and although Beardstown played tough, they could not pick up a win.
The Beardstown Lady Tigers won twice last week against familiar foes to improve to 11-12 on the season. They knocked off Pleasant Hill for the second time this year last Thursday at home on senior night, 31 to 26, as both teams were as cold as the weather. On Saturday they opened play in the Carrollton Lady Hawks Invitational with a convincing 65 to 38 pounding of Payson-Seymour, their third victory over the Indians this season.
It was a very busy week for a Beardstown Tiger varsity wrestling team that is battling through a recent rash of illness and injury. The Tigers took on Lanphier and Riverton in a make up contest held in the high school commons on Wednesday. They were right back at it on Thursday, traveling to Auburn to battle the Trojans who are honorably mentioned in the state rankings along with Shelbyville and Hillsboro. On Saturday, Beardstown was in Petersburg to take on the 8th ranked PORTA-AC Bluejays, Vandalia, and Monticello.
The 2023-2024 version of the Beardstown Tigers did former Coach Bob Hembrough proud, pounding arch-rival Rushville-Industry in the newly minted Bob Hembrough Tiger Den Gymnasium.
With the winter storm cancelling meets for both teams last Tuesday, the Beardstown High School and Junior High School wrestling teams each competed just once last week.