Alan Look (aka - Chimper) is the Best Look in Sports Action Photography. Stock photos include Nature, Autos, Industry, Travel and more.
Sports coverage includes Illini, Ridgeview Mustangs, Tri-Valley Vikings, El Paso - Gridley Titans, Lexington Minutemen, Normal Community Ironmen, Normal West Wildcats, University High Pioneers, Prairie Central Hawks, Heyworth Hornets, and other varsity sports in McLean County and the 309 Area Code. https://alanlookphotograhy.zenfoliosite.com
Friday Night September 25, the Heyworth High School Hornets hosted the Tremont Turks for the Hornets homecoming football game. As we drove to the game, it was kind of deja vu of the 2nd week of the season when we also covered the Hornets in Heyworth at clouds started backing in from the Northeast. The resulting sunset was nearly the same as week two - vivid brilliant colors providing back light for silhouettes of some houses and birds flying just west of the field. The playing conditions were night and day. The clouds cleared off to reveal a brilliant moon and there was no precipitation or lightning in the area to prevent any action on the field.
Our star of the night was the Homecoming King, Cole Sinn who seemed to have about twice as much will and fire as the next Hornet on the field. The Queen this year was Lydia Martens.
In McLean County Illinois, the granddaddy of local basketball tournaments has been held for 103 times in 104 years. It's changed a lot over the years as school districts grew larger or small and many consolidated. The current day tournament is a coed tournament including boys and girls brackets. The schools filling those brackets are from the county or from the Heart of Illinois Conference (HOIC). County proper teams have dwindled over the years as consolidation erupted. Schools that currently have a McLean County presence are Heyworth, LeRoy, Ridgeview, Lexington, El Paso - Gridley, and Tri Valley. The only non-Bloomington-Normal school I can think of that has students from the county but isn't included in the tournament is Olympia.
This year, the Ridgeview Mustangs entered the tournament undefeated and with Coach Rodney Kellar looking for his 500th win. He got that win as Ridgeview defeated El Paso Gridley in the semi-final. Ridgeview stood up against the Blue Ridge Knights in the final. The game was an epic battle that tied at 49 in regulation. The Knights managed a score with 6 seconds left in OT that went unanswered leaving them ahead by one point as the buzzer sounded.
In the girls brackets, El Paso - Gridley's Lady Titans took home the 1st place brass for the 4th straight year. Watching Codee Schlipf, The Ehresman girls and the rest of the team is a real treat. It wasn't all roses during the championship game for the girls. They faced off against HOIC foe - Tremont Turks. It was a back and forth battle with both sides sharing lead changes.
Images from all games can be found at Alan Look Photography, and a few presentation and other small video links can be found there as well.
