Girls soccer

Class 1A Manteno Regional championship

(3)Peotone 2, (2)Beecher 1: After dropping a 3-2 contest to the Bobcats (16-7-1) earlier in the season, it was the Blue Devils (14-4) that picked up a postseason win to claim their fifth straight regional title.

Beecher’s Grace Durante gave the Bobcats an early lead Friday, but reigning Daily Journal Player of the Year Allie Werner soon knotted things up. The game went to halftime in that 1-1 tie, but Werner scored again early in the second half and the Peotone defense held up to advance the Blue Devils to the Class 1A Lisle Sectional semifinals on May 27, where they will play the host Lions.

Immediately after the win, Werner and her fellow seniors had to head back home to get ready for graduation, where they completed a busy and memorable day.

“They chose to put themselves out here, continue to be part of this program and fight for this knowing they might be late for their graduation,” head coach Ryan Murray said. “It’s incredible to have athletes that care so much about this team and this program.

“...Going into it, we knew it was going to be a hard-fought game. We played them earlier in the year, and they won by one goal, so we did a lot of tactical changeups and had some outstanding performances.”

For Beecher’s Durante, who finishes her career with the third-most goals in IHSA history, and her 10 fellow seniors, things came to an end a bit earlier than they’d hoped.

Despite this, head coach Jon Kypuros said that this group should be proud of everything they achieved, including winning the program’s first regional title in 2024.

“They can hold their head high knowing they left everything on the field, but came up a little short today,” he said. “Beecher girls soccer, prior to this group of seniors coming in, had never won a regional championship. I think they had only played in one regional championship in 20-something years. These girls added a spark back to this program.”

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Girls Soccer - Class 1A Manteno Regional championship: Peotone vs. Beecher Peotone's Allie Werner, left, leaps in the air with teammate Peyton Bisping in celebration of Werner's tying goal in the first half during Peotone's 2-1 victory over Beecher in the Class 1A Manteno Regional championship on Friday, May 22, 2026. (Tiffany Blanchette)

Class 1A Reed-Custer Regional championship

(1)Herscher 3, (4)Reed-Custer 1: All three goals for the Tigers (20-2) came from Gianni Jaime as the senior led her team to its 10th regional title in a row. Sophie Venckauskas and Gianna High each assisted one of Jaime’s goals. Goalkeeper Addie Wilkins made 10 saves in a game that was much closer than Herscher’s 7-0 win in the previous matchup between these teams on April 2.

No individual stats were immediately available for the Comets, who ended the season at 9-7-1. They won nine games for the second year in a row after going 2-12-1 in 2024.

Girls track and field

IHSA Class 2A and 3A State Prelims: Both Kankakee’s 4x200 relay and 4x100 relay qualified for Saturday’s state finals after running in Friday’s preliminary round. The 4x200 team of Jemya Williams, Trinity Noble, Amiyah Anderson and Essence Bell ran a season best time of 1:38.59 to finish third. The 4x100 team of Williams, Bell, Jasiah Hawkins and Noble placed eighth with a time of 47.30 seconds. Bell also qualified as an individual for the Kays, running a personal best 24.37 in the 200 meters to place seventh.

Manteno will have three athletes competing on Saturday. Freshman Olivia McElroy qualified in the high jump (1.55 meters) while Sophia Most is in second in the discus (39.34). Klarke Goranson qualified for the finals in two events by placing sixth in the 1,600 meters (5:05.31) and seventh in the 800 meters (2:16.56).

Coal City’s Marina Figge is in sixth in qualifying for the long jump (5.33) to advance to the finals.

Softball

Class 1A Iroquois West Regional championship

(2)Heyworth 15, (6)Iroquois West 5 (6 inn.): The Raiders (11-14) led 5-2 entering the fifth inning but came up short of their first-ever regional title after the Hornets scored four runs in the bottom of the fifth and nine in the sixth. Peyton Clark was 1 for 3 with two RBIs and a run, Amelia Scharp was 1 for 3 with a double and two RBIs and Jordyn Meents was 1 for 3 with an RBI and a run.

Boys volleyball

Kankakee Regional quarterfinals

(7)Tinley Park d. (9)Kankakee 25-12, 25-12: The Kays (11-13) had their winningest season as a varsity program come to an end on their home floor. No individual stats were immediately available.

Andrew Regional quarterfinals

(1)Lincoln-Way Central d. (16)Bishop McNamara 25-7, 25-13: In their first season as a varsity program, the Fightin’ Irish (0-12) fell in their IHSA postseason debut. No individual stats were immediately available.

(4)Homewood-Flossmoor d. (13)Bradley-Bourbonnais 25-10, 25-14: Playing the Vikings for the second time in three days, the Boilermakers (5-23) had their season come to an end against their conference rivals. No individual stats were immediately available.

Baseball

Beecher 14, Gardner-South Wilmington 6: In a nonconference matchup between these River Valley Conference opponents, the Bobcats (20-10) picked up their third win of the season over the Panthers (17-11). Santino Imhof was 3 for 3 with a double, three RBIs and two runs while Ryan Murphy and Nicholas Fox had two RBIs apiece. Easton Lane had eight strikeouts in four innings, allowing just two hits and one earned run.

The Panthers had Reed Millette go 3 for 4 with an RBI and a run. Case Christensen pitched 3 ⅓ innings, allowing two hits and two unearned runs with eight strikeouts.

Wilmington 10, Plainfield South 4: Ryan Kettman went 4 for 5 with three runs and two steals while Colin Strong went 4 for 4 with three RBIs to lead the Wildcats (22-6-1) to a win in their regular season finale. Zach Ohlund was 3 for 3 with a pair of doubles and three RBIs while Brysen Meents was 2 for 4 with an RBI and a run.

Plainfield North 8, Manteno 5: The Panthers (21-9) had a four-game winning streak snapped on the road. Moises Garcia was 1 for 2 with two RBIs while Jake Stevens and Connor Harrod each went 1 for 4 with an RBI. Quinn Campbell allowed two hits in two shutout relief innings.

Champaign Central Charlie Due Wood Bat Invite

Urbana 13, Kankakee 2: The Kays headed down to Champaign to wrap the regular season and dropped the first of two games on the day. Devin Arbour and Jaden Villafuerte each went 2 for 3 white Bryce Arceneaux was 1 for 1 with two RBIs.

Taylorville 13, Kankakee 0: The Kays (10-25) fell in the second of their two games Friday. Colton Kearney had the team’s lone hit while Jaden Villafuerte and Jonathan Hernandez each walked.