Published: October 26, 2009 11:59 pm         

Ramblin' Reck: Competition intensifies for surviving Valley fall sports teams

TERRE HAUTE — The season has ended for most of the high school fall sports teams in the area, but postseason competition intensifies for the survivors this week with another major event to be contested in Terre Haute.

Qualified teams and individuals will be at the Lavern Gibson Championship Course for the Indiana state finals in cross country. Terre Haute North’s boys and girls teams will be in the field along with Drew Gambill of Shakamak.

Both North teams have excellent chances for top finishes on Saturday as well as Gambill, making his third trip to the finals.

The football tournament continues in Indiana with second-round games on the docket and the playoffs begin in Illinois with three teams in the area in the lineup.

Five teams from the greater Valley area are left in the football tournament in Indiana and two of them play each other Friday.

South Putnam will face undefeated Monrovia in Class 2A while Rockville meets North Vermillion, Riverton Parke takes on Fountain Central and Linton meets North Knox in Class A games. Monrovia had six shutouts in the regular season and blanked Cloverdale 53-0 in its first sectional game.

In Illinois, 5-4 Robinson faces is at 9-0 Tolono Unity is in the upper 3A bracket while 9-0 Casey takes on 5-4 Alton Marquette and 8-1 Marshall plays 6-3 Westville in home games in the Class 2A upper bracket.

Casey is the No. 1 seed in the upper bracket and Marshall is the No. 4 seed, losing to Casey in the season opener and finishing with eight straight victories. Robinson is seeded 14th.

Taylor Duncan is the quarterback for the Lions and, according to media reports, apparently has decided to play college football at Eastern Illinois.

The standout senior athlete, of course, was a key member of Marshall’s state-finalist basketball team and will be on the court again this year.

Volleyball regional games will be played in Indiana on Saturday.

In Class 4A, Northview meets Floyd Central at Seymour. In Class 3A, Sullivan faces Boonville at Jasper. In Class A, Shakamak plays Edinburgh — the schools also met in baseball — at South Decatur while Rockville takes on Randolph Southern at Wes-Del.

Good luck to all of the teams and athletes this week.

• Tom-Cattin’ It — Rob Adamson of Terre Haute has been named the boys golf coach at Evansville North. North was second in the state last year and has its top players back.

Adamson is teaching at Evansville Bosse and coached the girls golf team.

• Kyle Murdock, a sophomore point guard in Ohio, says he will play college basketball at Purdue. Raphael Davis of Fort Wayne South was the first player to commit for the 2012 class.

• Butler is a near-unanimous pick to win the men’s title in the Horizon League with all starters back from last year. Wright State is tabbed second and Cleveland State third.

Butler coach Brad Stevens turned 33 last week.

Missouri Valley coaches will meet with the media today.

Northview grad Julia Whitted, now playing basketball at IUPUI, is a preseason first-team all-conference pick in the Summit League. She averaged 13.2 points and 8.4 rebounds last season.

Purdue’s E’Twaun Moore is on the preseason list for the John Wooden Award.

• Tony LaRussa apparently has decided to return as manager of the St. Louis Cardinals and has tabbed Mark McGwire as hitting coach.

• Tim Tebow of Florida scored his 49th touchdown by rushing last week, tying Herschel Walker for first in SEC career totals.

Iowa State won in football at Lincoln, Neb., for the first time since 1977, beating the Cornhuskers 9-7.

Tom Reck may be contacted by telephone at (812) 232-3231, by e-mail at tm_reck@yahoo.com or by mail at 4284 South 5th Street, Terre Haute, IN 47802.