McLean County Tournament concludes for 2019

We shot 12 games in 6 days - kind of a condensed week due to the weather here in McLean County - at the 2019 108th version of the McLean County Tournament.  The tournament is still the longest running basketball tournament in Illinois.

This year, the Eureka Hornets beat out El Paso Titans for the girls title and GCMS (Gibson City Melvin Sibley) Falcons beat out the El Paso Titan boys in a thriller that will be remembered for many years for the boys title.

Click to view all the images from the games we covered.

108th McLean County Tournament gets underway at EP-G Monday 1-21-2019

The 108th McLean County Tournament kicked off a couple days late this year due to the weather.  The original brackets and places of play are fairly skewed.  The actual brackets being used are located at www.hoiconference.com if you need to find them.

Alan Look Photography is again covering as much of this historic basketball tournament as possible.  Their work can be found at McLean County Tournament photos and galleries. There should be plenty of images to view and purchase.

Coach Norm Eash winningest CCIW coach in History

Wheaton Thunder rumbled into Bloomington Illinois on Saturday September 12th ranked at #12 in D3 football schools.  They never rumbled much the first half of the game, but came out in the 2nd half with a long kickoff return that left them just short of the goal and scored on the next play.  Illinois Wesleyan Titans got the ball back only to give it up on a fumble due to a pretty hard hit and the Thunder rumbled back into the end zone.  That was the last of the rumbles from the Thunder as the Titans muscled their way back up to their feet to push them out of Tucci Stadium.  Final score put the Titans on top.  The win was a good one for IWU and an even better one for Coach Norm Eash.  The win made Coach Eash the winningest football coach in the history of the College Conference of Illinois and Wisconsin (CCIW).

Congrats to the Titans and Coach Eash.

Game Photos by Alan Look Photography and Best Look Magazine!

Redbirds tackle Panthers at 107th Mid-America Classic football game

The Illinois State Redbirds defeated the Eastern Illinois Panthers on September 8, 2018 at the 107th playing of the Mid-America Classic held at Hancock Stadium in Normal Illinois.  The combination of Brady Davis at quarterback coupled with runners and receivers Spencer Schnell, Markel Smith and James Robinson provided many of the highlights.  The Panthers used 3 or more players at the quarterback position and couldn't seem to get started against the Redbird defense.

Click for Photo Gallery

Images are available for licensing from the Best Look in Sports Action Photography in Bloomington-Normal, Alan Look Photography.

Fisher ruins Tri-Valley's winning streak

All good things come to an end, they say.  Tri-Valley has been the HOIC football champs the past 3 years and hasn't lost a regular season game in probably as long.  It all ended last night in Downs.  Rain fell steadily during most of the game making the ball difficult to hang on to.  A fumble late in the game seemed to seal the Vikings fate.

Game Photos!  More coverage in the LeRoy Leader 9-13 edition!

Ironmen topple undefeated Richwoods Knights

In a game riddled with technical fouls against the Knights, the Ironmen topple the Knights undefeated season by a score of 68-51.  In the first half, a technical foul was levelled against the Knights bench that effectively took the bench out of the rest of the game fearing that 2nd foul that would have prevented someone on that bench from participating in the next game.  To more technicals came in the 4th quarter.  The second on in the 4th quarter was called while the shots were being taken for the first!

Lady Redbirds tackle the Eastern Michigan Eagles

The 3-4 Lady Redbirds moved to 4 and 4 on the season today after hosting and defeating the 2-6 (now 2-7) Lady Eagles of Eastern Michigan.  The game started out with the Redbirds taking the lead, a lead they never relinquished.  Quarterly scores were: 13-3, 26-12, 44-28, and the final 65-56.  Officiating crew for todays game was LaSha Hopson, Andrew Bills and Todd Moistner.