By Tom Reck
The high school football season has ended in the Valley.
Marshall was the last team still playing games last week and the Lions closed a banner season by losing to Maroa -Forsyth 31-14 in the semifinals of the Illinois Class 2A playoffs.
This team lost to Casey in the season opener, then won 11 in a row before losing to the Trojans. They became the second team in school history to reach the Final Four.
Other teams concluded nice seasons earlier.
Casey again was undefeated in the regular season and won two playoff games by big margins before losing to the Lions in overtime 14-13.
In Indiana, Northview had another great record and won another Western Indiana Conference title.
Linton avenged two regular-season defeats in the postseason before losing to Fountain Central. Rockville was another big winner and lost to the Mustangs twice with the second defeat coming in the tournament.
South Vermillion had one of its best seasons and finished second in the WIC while North Putnam, just outside the area, lost by the slimmest of margins to powerful Monrovia which will go for a state championship this week.
Sullivan had victories over some of its long-time rivals and South Putnam had another fine season.
And so it went.
• College clips — The college football season ended for most teams last week and in more than one ways than one for one of them.
Northeastern officials announced Monday that it will drop football after competing for 74 years. It finished 3-8 for its sixth consecutive losing season.
Indiana and Michigan tied for last in the Big Ten, each finishing 1-7.
The Hoosiers were picked to finish last in most preseason publications and came close to doing better, losing some close games in the conference.
Michigan, meanwhile, is in last place for the first time since 1962.
Three Indiana State opponents are in the FCS playoffs. Two of them will meet in the first round with Ohio Valley Conference champ Eastern Illinois (9-3) playing at Missouri Valley champ Southern Illinois, 11-1; the Salukis lost to Marshall 31-28 in the season opener.
South Dakota State is 8-3 and is at 11-0 Montana.
In NCAA men's soccer, Drake is in the third round after defeating Western Illinois and besting Ohio State 1-0 in overtime. Missouri State lost in the first round to St. Louis, which lost to Tulsa 4-3 in the second round, while Indiana edged Butler in the second round.
In basketball, Tom Izzo won his 340th game at Michigan State to tie Jud Heathcote as the winningest coaches at the school.
• Tom-Cattin’ It — Former ISU All-American Larry Bird was inducted into the NCAA Hall of Fame.
Others taken in were Magic Johnson, Wayman Tisdale, Gene Bartow and Heathcote.
• Former Rose-Hulman women’s basketball coach Tony Hill is coaching again. He is coach of the Lambuth women’s team.
• ISU soccer recruit Megan Hardesty had a great season at Edgewood, scoring 31 goals with 13 assists.
• Former Lawrence North players now in prep schools have signed to play college basketball. Dominique Ferguson signed with Florida International and Justin Martin with Xavier.
• Bob Bartolomeo has been named head football coach at the University of Indianapolis. He formerly coached Butler and was defensive coordinator at Indy the past six seasons.
Tom Reck may be contacted by telephone at (812) 232-3231, by email at tm_reck@yahoo.com or by mail at 4284 South 5th Street, Apt. 3, Terre Haute, IN 47802.
