The All-Western Big 6 Conference teams for football, volleyball and boys soccer were recently announced. Sterling had multiple athletes earn all-conference in each sport.

The Mendota boys soccer team beat Quincy Notre Dame 2-1 on Monday in the Class 1A Mendota Supersectional to punch its ticket back to the state tournament.

La Salle-Peru senior Emma Jereb was voted NewsTribune Athlete of the Week after helping the Cavaliers to two victories to earn a share of the Interstate 8 Conference title.

Oregon freshman Anya Anaya is the Sauk Valley Athlete of the Week. She placed 11th at the regional and wrapped up the season strong with a personal record at the sectional.

Chris Chang returned the opening kick for a touchdown, intercepted two passes and caught a 70-yard TD to lead Lake Zurich to a 46-13 win over Grant in the first round of the Class 6A playoffs.

The Sandwich girls cross country team - led by sectional champion Sunny Weber - advanced to next weekend's state meet in Peoria, while Somonauk's Landin Stillwell also earned a trip to Detweiller Park for the boys event. That and more in The Times Saturday Roundup.

St. Patrick used a big second quarter to take control in a 49-28 win over Wauconda in a Class 5A first-round playoff game Saturday.

Coal City's Logan Natyshok rushed for 272 yards and five touchdowns while the Coalers defense allowed Sterling just 100 total yards in a 49-7 victory in Saturday's Class 4A playoff first-round game in Coal City.

Dixon boys cross country advanced to state as a team after four top-15 finishes and a sectional title. Dixon's Daniela Lovett took third, Milledgeville and West Carroll football won and more in Saturday's Sauk Valley roundup.

Princeton's Payton Frueh and Amboy's Henry Nichols qualified for state cross country and more in Saturday's NewsTribune roundup.

Amboy began its quest for a third straight Illinois 8-Man state championship with a 68-8 win over Milford-Cissna Park on Saturday.

Polo grabbed momentum early, then Hiawatha fought back. But the Marcos had the answers in the second half and went on to defeat the Hawks 36-14 in their Illinois 8-Man Football Association first-round playoff game Saturday in Polo.

Landon Knigge rushed for 238 yards and three touchdowns, and Dixon scored points on seven of its 11 drives while pitching a shutout to defeat Woodstock North 45-0 in their Class 4A first-round playoff game Friday night at A.C. Bowers Field.

The Mendota boys soccer team won its second consecutive sectional championship with a 6-0 win over Harvest Westminster Christian on Friday.

Trailing 22-20 and facing the end of its season, Morris scored the final five points of the match to pull out a 21-25, 25-9, 25-22 victory over Sterling in the Class 3A Sterling Regional final and earn its first regional title since 2015.

The Putnam County volleyball team pulled out the first set Thursday, but Orion bounced back to beat the Panthers 26-28, 25-11, 25-10 in the Class 1A Putnam County Regional championship.

The Fieldcrest volleyball team lost to Cissna Park in the Class 1A Woodland Regional championship, plus more in Thursday's NewsTribune roundup.

The Manteno girls volleyball team - led by junior Maddie Gesky - was solid throughout a 25-15, 25-21 victory over host Seneca in Thursday's Class 2A regional championship match. It's the first postseason title for the Panthers since 2017.

The Dwight girls volleyball team captured the program's first regional championship since 2009 on Thursday, while Sandwich and Fieldcrest had seasons come to a close in regional finals.

Down five points in the first set, Drew Depenbrock gave L-P a spark with four big blocks to help the Cavaliers beat Geneseo 27-25, 25-20 in the Class 3A Galesburg Regional championship Thursday.

The Newark and Serena girls volleyball teams will meet for the Class 1A Yorkville Christian Regional title after semifinal wins on Wednesday, while Earlville, Somonauk and Flanagan-Cornell had their season end. Plus, more results from around the Times area.

Eastland volleyball topped Milledgeville 23-25, 25-12, 25-19 in a regional semifinal matchup. Fulton also won and Polo fell to Serena in Wednesday's Sauk Valley roundup.

The Fieldcrest volleyball team advanced to the 1A Woodland Regional final, plus more volleyball results in Wednesday's NewsTribune roundup.

Ottawa's girls volleyball team lost a three-set regional semifinal, while elsewhere Seneca, Sandwich, Dwight, Serena and Somonauk all won regional matches in The Times Tuesday Roundup.

Dixon volleyball finished strong in a 3-set postseason win over Ottawa. Fulton won, Polo won and Eastland and Milledgeville wins set up a regional matchup at West Carroll in Tuesday's Sauk Valley roundup.

Woodland's girls volleyball team came out with more energy, but it was Fieldcrest – led by Pru Mangan's 11 kills and four aces – that left with the victory in the team's 1A regional opener.

Sterling seized control and never let go against Freeport in their Class 3A Sterling Regional semifinal collecting a 25-10, 25-16 win to advance to Thursday's regional final

The St. Bede, Fieldcrest and Bureau Valley volleyball teams won regional matches, plus more results in Tuesday's NewsTribune roundup.

The L-P volleyball team escaped a tight first set then won big in the second set to beat Galesburg 26-24, 25-10 in a Class 3A Galesburg Regional semifinal Tuesday. The Cavs play Geneseo for the title Thursday.

Newark girls volleyball won its regional opener, while Streator and Marquette both fell, all in The Times Monday Roundup.

The Earlville volleyball team defeated Leland 22-25, 25-20, 25-10 in Monday's Class 1A Somonauk Regional quarterfinal match.

The Putnam County volleyball team advanced in regional play, plus more postseason results in Monday's NewsTribune roundup.

The Newman and Oregon volleyball teams each won their postseason openers in Monday's Sauk Valley sports roundup.

Henry-Senachwine senior Harper Schrock was voted NewsTribune Athlete of the Week after helping the Mallards repeat as Tri-County Conference Tournament champions.

Aubrey Clark finished first at the Southwest Suburban Conference Meet with a time of 18:09.69 to earn Athlete of the Week honors.

Dixon boys cross country won the Sterling regional title and Dixon's Daniela Lovett was runner-up in the girls race as area runners advanced to the sectional round. Sterling girls swimming took third at the Big 6 meet and more in Saturday's SVM sports roundup.

Here are the 2025 IHSA football playoff pairings for Times area teams.

A look at the first-round playoff games for Princeton and Amboy.

The Ottawa boys cross country team advanced to next week's sectional at Saturday's regional in Metamora, while Somonauk’s Landin Stillwell, Sandwich’s Sunny Weber ran to regional titles. Plus more results from around the Times area.

The Bureau Valley boys cross country team was second and Princeton girls were third at the Class 1A Seneca Regional, plus more results in Saturday's NewsTribune roundup.

The Mendota boys soccer team beat Schaumburg Christian 4-0 on Saturday to win its seventh consecutive regional championship.

The No. 3-seeded Kankakee boys soccer team defeated No. 2 La Salle-Peru 6-0 on Saturday in the Class 2A Ottawa Regional championship.

The St. Bede, Mendota, Fieldcrest and Bureau Valley football teams lost their finales, while Amboy improved to 8-1.

The playoff bound Marquette and Seneca football teams both finished up the regular season strong with decisive victories on Friday, while the Ottawa’s girls tennis team of Zulee Moreland and Yaquelin Hernandez-Solis finish 3-2 at 1A state. Plus, more from around the Times area.

La Salle-Peru committed four turnovers that led to 17 points for O'Fallon as a seven-point game at halftime turned into a 34-0 loss for the Cavaliers.

Princeton scored on all five of its first-half drives - two set up by interceptions - and the Tigers rolled to a 48-0 rout of playoff-bound Erie-Prophetstown.

The Ottawa football team rushed for 445 yards, scored touchdowns on their first three possessions and put up points eight of the 10 times they had the ball against Granite City in a dominating 52-0 triumph on Friday night at King Field in Ottawa.

Senior Landon Knigge rushed for a single-game school-record 447 yards and scored five touchdowns to lead Dixon to a 58-20 win over Genoa-Kingston in the regular-season finale Friday night at A.C. Bowers Field.

Early turnovers led to a three-touchdown deficit that Hall-Putnam County couldn't overcome in a 48-21 loss to 2A No. 1 Rockridge on Friday.

Serena and Somonauk's girls volleyball squads were among the winners in The Times Thursday Roundup.