Havens Succeeds at State

The Pleasant Plains Cardinals Varsity Golf Team finished a great regular season with a record of 22-7. The team, led by senior medalist Austin Havens (72) advanced out of the Greenview Regional with a score of 328. Austin is the second regional champion ever at PPHS. Their Sectional Golf Tournament was held in Monmouth, Illinois at Gibson Woods. The Cardinals finished with a team score of 350 and were once again led by senior Austin Havens with a score of 79. The team finished sixth overall and did not advance. On the other hand, Austin Havens placed sixth as an individual and had advanced to the 2011 IHSA state Golf Tournament. The Single A State Golf Tournament is hosted at Prairie Vista Golf Course in Bloomington, Illinois. The first day of the golf tournament was with no surprise a very windy and cold day. The conditions were very typical of a state golf tournament. Austin, this being his third appearance for state golf, was more than used to the horrid weather.
Havens started the day off on the back nine, which was harder in his opinion. He shot a 39 on the back. As he proceeded to the front nine, he knew he had a chance to get it back. Unfortunately, he started off the front with two straight double bogeys and finished the front with a score of 41, for a total of 80 on day one. After all of the scores has came in, Austin was still in the Top 25 and knew he had a chance to get back in contention.
On day two, Havens started on the back again. He finished the back with an even par 36, so he was very pleased considering the conditions were nearly the same, if not worse than the day before. Advancing to the front nine, Havens had great confidence. He fired another even par 36, to total out his round for a 72. This 72 put Austin in third place total for the tournament. His two day score was eight-over-par 152. Austin is the first PPHS Cardinal ever to place in the Top 10 in the IHSA Golf Tournament. This was a very big accomplishment for Austin as well as the program. Congratulations Cardinals on the great year!

Austin Havens
-The Cardinal

2011 Football Recap

This past football season was a huge disappointment to the players, fans, and coaches. This year the cardinals finished their season with a record of 2-7. The players came into camp this year very excited and ready to hit. Plains started off the season with a hard hitting game against Staunton. The game was back and forth, but Plains eventually fell short and lost by a touchdown. The following week Plains faced Auburn. For the first half of the game the cardinals had the biggest lead against Auburn that any other team had all season. The lead wasn’t enough though as Auburn rallied in the 4th quarter putting them up by one point. The final seconds of the game consisted of one of the most heartbreaking moments of the season with a field goal that only missed by inches concluding another loss for Plains football. The Cardinals then lost their next two games against Athens and Williamsville; both games were lost by only a touchdown. The following week the cards got their first win against a tough Riverton team. The game went back and forth all night until the cardinals got the lead and ran out the rest of the clock. Plains’ playoffs hopes were ended in the next week after a loss against Sangamon Valley. The frustrations of the players were shown in the homecoming game when Abe Bruce and Kyle Weller both got ejected from the game for unsportsmanlike conduct. Plains won the following week to get their second win of the season against a 0-9 Petersburg Porta. The season ended with the final game of the season against Nokomis. The cardinals lost once again finishing their season 2-7. Weeks after the season was over Coach Oller announced his resignation along with Coach Sanchez and Coach Debarr. Plains football will be going into the next season with a new coaching staff and hopefully, a lot of enthusiasm for better results of Pleasant Plains Football.

Jake McNamara
-The Cardinal

2011-2012 Basketball Preview

This season the Pleasant Plains basketball team has big expectations. With four returning starters, the team looks set in all positions with experience to follow. The official start of the 2011-2012 season was on November 7th, which is when practices began. The first game will be help on November 21st in the Crimson Classic shootout in Jacksonville. The team hopes to overcome the loss of five seniors and believes that this year’s senior class can step up and lead the team in the right direction. Returning starter and leading scorer, Braxton Lanier, will lead with experience from previous years. Most of the players on the team continued to participate in basketball activities over the course of the summer. Players competed in many tournaments, including one held at SWIC (Southwestern Illinois College) which is one of the best JUCO’s in the nation. The schedule this year is very similar to last year. They are still continuing to compete in the Macomb Holiday Tournament and the County Tournament, where the team hopes to repeat in the championship, but there is no Plains Invite because the team will be competing in the Sports Radio 1450 Shootout. The team is very deep with a lot of talented players that can step up and fulfill their role. Last year the team had a 19-11 record, the season ended with a heartbreaking loss in triple overtime against Pittsfield in the Regional Championship. However, this year their goal is to go further than that. The boys are expected to be one of the top teams in the Sangamo Conference, as well as the state of Illinois. The team is excited and ready for the season to come around so they can begin what is hoped to be a special season of basketball for the Pleasant Plains Cardinals.

Braxton Lanier and Taylor Staff
-The Cardinal

2011 Sangamo Conference Golf Tournament

2010 Cardinals placed 4th at State

Last year in the 2010 Sangamo Conference Boys Golf Tournament, the Pleasant Plains Cardinals took first by 33 strokes. The individual winner that year was Austin Havens, with a score of 72. This year, the 9-5 Cardinals, unfortunately had a different story. The 2011 Conference Tournament was held at Shambolee Golf Course, in Petersburg. For the tournament, the weather was overcast through most of the day, and the temperature stayed in the high seventies to low eighties. Teams from Auburn, Illini Central, Mount Pulaski, PORTA, Riverton, Williamsville, as well as your very own Pleasant Plains Cardinals competed in the tournament.

PORTA entered the tournament ranked 1st and ended the tournament as the overall champions. The team had a total score of 305, led by the top two finishers, Ethan Brue and Will Edge, who shot 70 and 75. Pleasant Plains came in second with a team score of 330, led by their top two finishers, Austin Havens and Matt Nika, who both shot 73. Finishing third, Williamsville shot a 331 and had Curtis Clark finish with the Bullets' best score of 77. Mount Pulaski finished fifth with a team score of 359 and top individual score of 84, while Auburn came in sixxth with a total score of 366 and top individual score of 89. Illini Central finished in last place with a score of 383 and a top individual score of 87 from Justin Onken.

The top ten individual scorers for the tournament were: Scott Painter, Riverton (83); Luke Sinclair, PORTA (82); Marty Pesch, Williamsville (82); Nate Hopper, PORTA (78); Curtis Clark, Williamsville (77); Will Edge, PORTA (75); Austin Havens, Pleasant Plains (73); Matt Nika, Pleasant Plains (73); Ryan Painter, Riverton (73); and Ethan Brue, PORTA (70).

The second, third, and fourth place individual scores were determined by a score card playoff, which is a playoff in which tournament officials select the hole with the lowest handicap and determine the player who finishes better based on the score the player received on that particular hole. If a tie remains, officials proceed to the hole with the second lowest handicap and so forth. In the case of Havens, Nika, and Painter, all tied with a 73, so final placements were determined by scores on hole five. Havens scored a bogey, and Painter and Nika both tallied par. Moving on to hole 11, in which Nika bogeyed and Painter shot par, officials awarded Painter second place, while Nika finished second and Havens third overall.

The Cardinals have a match at Piper Glen tonight and another at Edgewood tomorrow before Regionals begin next Tuesday, October 4.


-Austin Havens
-Braxton Lanier
 The Cardinal

Lady Cardinals Travel to the Mahomet-Seymour Volleyball Tournament

The Pleasant Plains Volleyball team has high expectations for this 2011 season.  So far they have started their season off strongly. They defeated North Mac, and won 3 out of their 3 conference matches against Auburn, Sangamon Valley, and Illini Central. These wins contributed to their undefeated record of 4-0.

            With a record of 4-0, on September 10^th, the team traveled to Mahomet-Seymour to compete in the Bulldog’s tournament.  Plains pool consisted of Urbana, Heritage, and Mahomet-Seymour. The Cardinals faced Heritage in their first match of pool play.  They came out ready to play and defeated Heritage in two games. Game one with scores of 25-13 and 25-17, improving the Cardinal’s record to 5-0.

            The next game in their pool was against Urbana.  The competition and intensity rose during this game, and the Cardinals played very well with strong defense and quick, effective offense. Both games consisted of wins with a score of 25-16, and after a great played match, this put their record at 6-0. 

            The Cardinals kept the energy up as they went straight into the final game of pool play with Mahomet-Seymour.  At this point the Cardinals and Bulldogs were both 2-0 in their pool.  The winner of this match would advance from the pool play into the championship bracket of the tournament play.  Plains started out strong with momentum and energy from their previous victory over Urbana, but Mahomet did not give up and brought the heat.  They beat Plains in the first game with a score of 25-20.  It was very close as both teams were striving for the common goal, which was to enter the championship bracket.  In game two Plains was ready knowing they needed to win the game in order to take it into a third game for a match victory.  The scoreboard was changing rapidly throughout the game and the fans became extremely rowdy.  Mahomet was ahead in game two by nine points, but Plains called a timeout, reset, and came back to be ahead by one point.  This second match was very intense, well played volleyball, and in the end Mahomet ended up defeating Plains.  This sent the Cardinals to the consolation bracket and added their first loss of the season.

            Tournament play followed after all pools had finished competing.  The cardinals faced Wilmington for their first match.  The team seemed to recover from the previous loss in the Mahomet game and won the first game over Wilmington with a score of 25-13. However, Wilmington won the second game 13-25 and then the third 11-15, changing the Cardinals record to 6-2.

            The last game left in this consolation bracket for Pleasant Plains was against St. Anthony.  The Cardinals defeated St. Anthony in two games.  The first game 25-23 and the second game 25-17.  This was a great way to recover from the previous, back to back losses, and to add another win to their record of 7 wins and 2 losses.

            In the tournament, Callie Whetstone led the Cardinals with 36 Kills, while Abby Kulavic had 40 Set Assists and Madison Oschwald had 88 Defensive Digs and 93 Perfect Passes to the setter. Defensive specialist, Jenni Ruggless stated her thoughts of the tournament, “I think we played really well, we were just unlucky in such a hard pool.  I know against Mahomet and Wilmington we were the better team. It was a learning experience.”

            Callie Whetstone, a senior, middle blocker for the Cardinals, said, “Losses are always hard but they are part of the season.  It is a learning experience which teaches us our weaknesses, what we need to fix, and how to progress from there.  As long as we pick each other up, learn, and continue playing as a team; we will have a good, successful season.”


-Emily Baietto
-Megan Wavering
 The Cardinal

Cardinals Lose Another Close One

On Friday, September 9, the Pleasant Plains Cardinals lost another close game to the Athens Warriors. Athens is one of the top ranked teams in the Sangomo Conference, and Plains was hoping for an upset to get their winless season on a roll. The Cardinals entered the game last Friday 0-2 on the season with losses to Staunton, 19-9, and Auburn, 21-20.

 On the opening kickoff, Athens kicked short to Josh Cornett, who recovered the kickoff for a short return, and the Cardinals came out swinging. Plains rushed the ball down the field, pushing deep into Athens’ territory only to turn the ball over on loss of downs.

Athens came out with a spread offense on the first series, and Plains forced them to a three and out on the Warriors’ first drive.  The first quarter was scoreless as both defenses played the run tough.  At the beginning of the 2nd quarter, Kyle Weller intercepted Athens quarterback Brandon Vice’s pass and returned it for a touchdown. The rest of the first half consisted of hard running from both teams, but the defenses held strong and didn’t allow scores from either team.

When the second half started,  Athens received the kick and stepped out of bounds deep in their own territory.  Plains’ offense struggled, turning the ball over. Athens utilized their run game, along with a few drive saving pass plays, to drive all the way down field and score.

The Plains offense came out of the second-half gate trying to run the ball but were stopped by the Athens defense stacking the box with nine players. The defensive strategy was successful in shutting down Plains' run game.

After a good punt and a penalty tacked on the end, Athens had the ball again deep in their own territory. Plains’ defense played tough and stopped them on third down, forcing the Warriors to punt. The Athens center snapped the ball low between the punter’s legs, which resulted in  a safety and Plains retaking the lead, 8 to 7. On Athens next drive, they came out executing well and drove the ball inside Plains’ 20 yard line. Plains played tough, but Vice scored on a quarterback draw, before completing a two point conversion on a pass play to the running back.  Athens went up 15 to 8.

After the kickoff, the Cards came out looking for a big play. Plains got a first down on a 15 yard reception by Ben.  Plains then tried to throw the ball deep the next few plays but were unable to connect and turned the ball over on downs, allowing Athens to run the clock out for the victory.

It was a tough loss once again for Plains, now 0-3. Tomorrow night, the Cardinals go against Williamsville, the top ranked team in the conference. Plains is still looking for the first win of the season and a major upset to generate momentum heading into the latter part of the season and the tough stretch of games that will determine if the Cardinals make the playoffs this year.


-Jake McNamara
The Cardinal

Boys Soccer Looking for Win Tonight

The Cardinals of Pleasant Plains entered Thursday evening's game, on September 8, on a week-long winless streak with a tie to Rochester and loss to Springfield High on the previous Monday and Saturday. The Cardinals started the season with three wins against Litchfield, Carlinville, and Lincoln High Schools. They then went 2-1 in the Riverton Tournament, losing to Springfield in the championship game.

To improve their 5-1-1 record, the Cardinals were looking for a win against the Crimsons of Jacksonville. The Crimsons played strong possession soccer through the midfield and picked apart the Plains defense to score 4 goals on 7 shots. The Cardinals came close to scoring with 4 shots on goal, but the Crimson keeper stayed strong to shut out the Cardinals.

The team's struggle continued until Saturday afternoon, at Raymond-Lincolnwood, where the Cardinals won big, 7-1. The Cardinals then kept their fresh win-streak alive against Riverton, winning 3-0 last Monday as the team recorded their second shut out of the season. The team played the next night against Southeast, playing strong and winning 4-1.

The team is riding a three game winning-streak, entering their next test tonight, against the Williamsville Bullets. The game tonight is at Williamsville. The leading scorers for Plains, over the course of the three game winning-streak, were Kassing with 5 goals, O'Connor and Pavisic with 3 each, Yakel with 2, and Vermeersch and Little each adding 1. The Cardinals are now 8-2-1.


-Chris O'Connor
The Cardinal