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Published on December 2, 2025 8:29 am
Last Updated on December 2, 2025 8:29 am
Illinois High School Association
Football Playoffs
CLASS 1A
Championship
Game 31 — Lena-Winslow 58, Mt. Sterling Brown County 13
CLASS 2A
Championship
Game 31 — Wilmington 42, Maroa-Forsyth 6
CLASS 3A
Championship
Game 31 — Byron 56, Tolono Unity 50
CLASS 4A
Championship
Game 31 — Lombard Montini 47, Rochester 33
CLASS 5A
Championship
Game 31 — Wheaton St. Francis (10-3) vs. New Lenox Providence Catholic (10-3) at Normal (Hancock Stadium), Tue., Dec. 2, 3 p.m.
CLASS 6A
Championship
Game 31 — Oak Park Fenwick (10-3) vs. East St. Louis Sr. (10-3) at Normal (Hancock Stadium), Tue., Dec. 2, 6 p.m.
CLASS 7A
Championship
Game 31 — Chicago St. Rita (9-4) vs. Chicago Brother Rice (12-1) at DeKalb (Huskie Stadium), Wed., Dec. 3, 3 p.m.
CLASS 8A
Championship
Game 31 — Chicago (Mt. Carmel) (13-0) vs. Oswego (11-2) at DeKalb (Huskie Stadium), Wed., Dec. 3, 6 p.m.
View Full Calendar
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A look at athletic events taking place involving Polk County teams for the week of Dec. 2-6.
Tuesday, Dec. 2
Wrestling: Polk County Middle at Apple Valley Middle, 4:30 p.m.
Wrestling: Polk County at North Lincoln, 5:30 p.m.
Wrestling: Polk County vs. Trinity at North Lincoln, 6:30 p.m.
Wrestling: Polk County vs. Chase at North Lincoln, 7:30 p.m.
Wednesday, Dec. 3
Track and Field: Polk County at Polar Bear 1, G.M. Tennant Stadium, 4 p.m.
Girls Basketball: Apple Valley Middle at Polk County Middle, 4:30 p.m.
Boys Basketball: Apple Valley Middle at Polk County Middle, 5:30 p.m.
Thursday, Dec. 4
Wrestling: Flat Rock Middle at Polk County Middle, 4:30 p.m.
Girls Basketball: Polk County Middle at Flat Rock Middle, 4:30 p.m.
Boys Basketball: Polk County Middle at Flat Rock Middle, 5:30 p.m.
Friday, Dec. 5
Wrestling: Polk County at Hilltopper Havoc at R-S Central, 3 p.m.
Boys Basketball: Polk County JV at East Rutherford JV, 4:30 p.m.
Girls Basketball: Polk County at East Rutherford, 6 p.m.
Boys Basketball: Polk County at East Rutherford, 8 p.m.
© Polk County Schools · news@polksports.com · About Us · PolkSports.com, founded in 2013, covers all sports in Polk County, N.C.

NFL
The Baltimore Ravens have myriad issues offensively, but any turnaround hinges on two-time MVP Lamar Jackson playing better down the stretch. Aaron M. Sprecher / Associated Press
OWINGS MILLS, Md. — It was supposed to represent a seamless continuation of last year, when the Baltimore Ravens had arguably the top offense in football. For three-plus quarters in their regular-season opener, the Ravens moved up and down the field against the Buffalo Bills.
They came away with points on seven of their first eight drives, scoring touchdowns on five of them. Lamar Jackson threw the ball with accuracy and confidence. Both Jackson and Derrick Henry were chewing up yards on the ground. Zay Flowers and DeAndre Hopkins were making big plays through the air.
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The Ravens racked up 40 points and 432 yards in a frustrating loss that was pinned almost entirely on the defense. Yet that offensive performance was the Ravens’ zenith, not a sign of things to come.
In 11 games since, they haven’t really come close to replicating that showing. In the 32-14 loss to the Cincinnati Bengals on Thanksgiving night, the offense looked broken. The Ravens turned the ball over five times, went 3-of-10 on third downs and possessed the ball for just over 21 minutes against a defense that was on pace to be one of the worst statistically in NFL history.
There have been other dispiriting performances this year for Baltimore, but Thursday had to be rock bottom for Jackson, coordinator Todd Monken and the rest of the offense. If it’s not, the Ravens won’t be in the AFC playoff mix for much longer — and some tough decisions will have to be made this offseason.
“It was not a precise offensive performance in any way,” Ravens coach John Harbaugh said Monday. “There was nothing precise about it. It was imprecise in every way. We all know that. We’re all not happy with it. We’re very disappointed by it, but you can’t live in it. You have to move on.”
Harbaugh said the players were in the building for a full day on Friday, and the coaches worked into the mini bye weekend. With the AFC North division lead on the line Sunday in a matchup with the also-struggling and 6-6 Pittsburgh Steelers, the Ravens are running out of time to fix an offense that is currently underachieving.
Baltimore has had good stretches offensively since the loss to Buffalo, but it hasn’t put together a full game or sustained momentum. In fact, its most complete performance over the last month-plus probably came in Week 8, when the Ravens beat the Chicago Bears 30-16 behind backup quarterback Tyler Huntley.
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There’s been no obvious signs of improvement, either. In fact, the offense’s last two outings against the New York Jets and Bengals may have been its worst all season.
“How frustrating is it?” Henry said last Thursday, repeating the question. “I think it’s self-explanatory. We need to be better. We all know that.”
The Ravens have myriad issues offensively, but any turnaround hinges on Jackson playing better. The two-time league MVP has gone three consecutive games without throwing or running for a touchdown. He’s also gone four straight games without completing at least 60 percent of his passes for the first time in his career. As a runner, he’s averaged just over 3.0 yards per carry since returning from a hamstring injury in Week 9, and he hasn’t had a run for more than 20 yards all year.
“I do think you’re going to have an off day sometimes,” Harbaugh said Monday. “That’s not something that you take lightly for sure. Listen, Lamar doesn’t take it lightly more than anybody. No player on this team takes it lightly. That’s what you do, you go back to work. You get in there, and you practice, and you study it, and you work together to be as precise as you can.”
The silver lining from Thursday’s game is that Jackson, who has battled hamstring, knee, ankle and toe injuries, looked more comfortable moving around, and now he’s had a few extra days off to get healthier. But everything else is a concern, from his accuracy to his decision-making to his ball security.
Asked after last week’s loss what he needed to do to be more consistent, Jackson said, “Just be me. Be Lamar.”
The Ravens hope it’s that simple, but there’s mounting evidence that it isn’t.
Left tackle Ronnie Stanley raised some eyebrows when he said the Ravens need to keep the run game going and “make sure that’s our identity.” That came after a game in which they ran it just 22 times — several were Jackson scrambles — and didn’t get the ball to Henry once in the second quarter, although he had five carries for 33 yards and a touchdown in the first quarter.
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Stanley isn’t wrong, and Harbaugh reiterated Stanley’s point Monday. The Ravens are always better when they establish and stick to the run game. It’s even more imperative when Jackson is struggling as a passer. There’s no doubt that Monken should have mixed in a few more runs Thursday, but the criticism was a little overblown.
The Ravens showed nice balance on their game-opening touchdown drive. On their second possession, they had the ball on their own 14 and Henry was held to no gain on first down. You’re not going to make a living running the ball on second- and third-and-long. The third drive started on their own 2, and Henry again got no yards on a first-down carry. You need to try and get the first down, and running the ball into a stacked box on second-and-long isn’t a great option.
There were opportunities to run on their first full drive of the second quarter, but it’s hard to gripe too much when that possession would have ended with a touchdown had Isaiah Likely not fumbled the ball as he was going in for the score. The Ravens were then in their two-minute offense for the rest of the second quarter.
To start the third, Henry got the ball twice, gained 5 total yards and the Ravens went three-and-out. Despite trailing by 12 points midway through the third quarter, Baltimore stuck with the run, and the result was a touchdown drive, culminating in an 18-yard scamper by Keaton Mitchell. Then, for much of the fourth quarter, the Ravens trailed by two scores and were in hurry-up offense.
So you’re talking about maybe one or two drives where you could question why they didn’t mix in a few runs. Notable, yes. But hardly the reason the Ravens lost that game.
• The talk all week will obviously be about how the winner of Sunday’s Ravens-Steelers game, along with the Week 18 rematch between the teams, will go a long way toward deciding the AFC North. With all due respect to the Bengals (4-8), who are still in the mix but probably need to win out, the game means even more because it certainly looks like there will be no wild-card spot available for the second-place team in the division.
You have two two-loss teams in the AFC, four four-loss teams and one five-loss team. Then, you have the six-loss Ravens, Steelers and Kansas City Chiefs. It certainly is possible that a team or two comes back to the pack, but it won’t help the Ravens’ cause in the case of a potential two-team wild-card tiebreaker that they’ve already lost to the Bills (8-4), Houston Texans (7-5) and Chiefs. While 10-7 might be good enough to win the AFC North, there’s no certainty that it will be good enough to get a wild-card spot.
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• The Ravens had two open 53-man spots that they didn’t fill when they put running back Justice Hill (neck) and defensive lineman Taven Bryan (knee) on injured reserve last week. One of those spots seemed likely to be taken by practice squad rookie inside linebacker Chandler Martin, who used his third and final practice squad elevation against the Bengals. Martin, however, sustained a season-ending knee injury on the opening kickoff, leaving the Ravens with no obvious internal additions to their 53-man roster.
With Nate Wiggins potentially missing some time, the Ravens could turn to practice squad cornerback Amani Oruwariye, who has only one elevation remaining. Otherwise, every other practice squad member has at least two free elevations remaining. The Ravens also could hold a spot for the return of outside linebacker Tavius Robinson, whose return from a foot fracture isn’t believed to be far off. Harbaugh said Monday there’s a “good chance” Robinson and defensive back Ar’Darius Washington return to practice this week. Harbaugh said that Hill, who has a disc issue in his neck, will miss at least three or four weeks.
• Rookie LaJohntay Wester has looked like a totally different returner since muffing a punt deep in Ravens territory in their Week 11 victory in Cleveland. He’s been passive and seems reluctant to field the ball in traffic, which is a complete departure from the aggressiveness he showed for much of the season. Against the Bengals, he didn’t come forward to field a Ryan Rehkow punt in the first quarter, and the ball bounced all the way inside the Ravens’ 14.
As it gets windier and colder and the fields get chewed up, it makes sense to be a bit more conservative with when to field punts. However, with the way the offense is struggling, the Ravens can’t afford to give away valuable yards and field position. If Wester has lost confidence, Baltimore needs him to regain it — and fast.
• Harbaugh’s analysis of rookie third-round offensive lineman Emery Jones Jr.’s first NFL snaps against the Bengals was that he played hard and showed his athleticism, but he also played “like a rookie in a lot of ways.” He was noncommittal about whether Jones would continue to rotate at left guard with Andrew Vorhees going forward, but he acknowledged that Jones simply needs to play game snaps to make the necessary improvements.
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Jeff Zrebiec is a senior writer for The Athletic covering the Baltimore Ravens. Before joining The Athletic in 2018, he spent the previous 18 years as a writer for The Baltimore Sun, 13 of them on the Orioles or Ravens beats. The New Jersey native is a graduate of Loyola University in Baltimore. Follow Jeff on Twitter @jeffzrebiec

Dec 2, 2025
Fort Frye’s Ella Dowler (32) goes up for a layup against Marietta during Monday’s game at Sutton Gym. (Photo by Mike Morrison)
Fort Frye freshman Raelann Morgenstern came off the bench to score a team-high 16 points Monday night to lead the Cadets to a 48-30 win over the Marietta Tigers at Sutton Gymnasium.
The visitors actually trailed Marietta by a point at halftime before out-pointing the Tigers 18-4 in the third quarter and then pulling away to their second victory in as many tries in the young 2025-2026 season.
The Cadets threatened to run away from the Tigers in the opening half as they forced Marietta into 13 turnovers but their inability to hit shots from the perimeter allowed Marietta to stay in the game.
Fort Frye made just 1-of-11 shots from behind the arc in the opening half a number that would improve dramatically in the second.
First-year Cadet head coach Cathy Borich felt like patience on her team’s part was the difference in the shots falling in the second half.
Fort Frye’s Elle Casto, right, defends Marietta’s Braxtyn Kroft in the paint during Monday’s game at Sutton Gym. (Photo by Mike Morrison)
“In the second half we did a much better job against their two-three zone moving the ball inside and out,” said Borich, whose team made 4-of-10 shots from behind the arc in the final half. “I think in the second half our three-point shots weren’t rushed as much and they were much better shots.”
The Cadets ended the first eight minutes with four points in a row by Morgenstern to take an 11-7 lead and then increased it to nine thanks to a triple by Morgenstern and a two-pointer by junior Ava Huffman early in the second quarter.
Those would be the only two buckets of the second quarter for the Cadets as Marietta ended the half with a 10-0 run to take a 17-16 lead into the break.
Tiger senior Hayleigh Chidester scored six of those ten points while sophomore Maya Diki added the other four to send the Tigers to the intermission with momentum clearly on their side.
That momentum wouldn’t last long at all as the Cadets came out like a different team in the second half.
Huffman’s two-pointer opened the quarter for the Cadets before Tiger senior Lauren Elliott knocked down a triple to put Marietta back on top.
That lead would be short lived as the Cadets got two-pointers from Khoen Courson, Huffman and Morgenstern and a triple by junior Ella Dowler to take an eight-point lead.
A Chidester free throw briefly stopped the bleeding for the Tigers but Morgenstern and Courson would ring the bell from long distance as Fort Frye out-scored Marietta 18-4 in the third period to turn the one-point deficit into a 13-point lead.
First-year Tiger head coach Ally Shane has seen her team struggle out of the gate in the second half more than once in the early part of the season.
“I told our kids whoever wins the first three minutes of the third quarter is going to win the ball game,” said Shane. “We let Athens go on a big run the other day in that loss and did so again tonight….The third quarter is crucial and we’ve got to figure out how to come out stronger or it’s going to be a long season for us.”
Tiger freshman Blaire Reed opened up the final quarter with a two-pointer but Fort Frye continued to add on as they pushed their lead to 20 at one time before settling for the 18-point win.
With four of the five starters returning this year from last years team that made it all the way to the final four the Cadets were already a sound basketball team but the spark that Morgenstern has provided off the bench over the first two games adds a whole new dimension to their team.
“She (Morgernstern) does a really nice job for us,” said Borich. “She is the first one off of the bench and it’s nice having someone that can add that spark and energy and her on the ball defense is very good too.”
In addition to her 16 points, Morgenstern also came up with five steals and dished out three assists.
Huffman finished the game with 11 points while Dowler added nine for The Fort.
While the Cadet offense was kind of off and on the defense was solid all game long.
“I thought our defense was pretty good all night,” said Borich. “We were able to force all of those turnovers early on and then were able to hold them to the four points in the third quarter which was big.”
Keeping the ball out of the hands of Chidester was another big key for the Cadets
Chidester took just nine shots from the floor but made the most of them as she finished with a team-high 16 points.
The Cadets improved to 2-0 with the win after beating Federal Hocking on Saturday and will now pay a visit to Belpre on Wednesday.
The Tigers slipped to 2-2 with the loss with a rivalry match upcoming on Thursday back at Sutton Gym when the Warren Warriors come calling.
“That’s an important league game for us so we have got to get back to work and come out ready to play,” said Shane. “We’ve got several games in a row here at home and we want to get back on track.”
CINCINNATI — The Marietta College women’s basketball team traveled to Mount St. Joseph University for a …
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Jarden has set its rating on Accent’s stock (ASX: AX1) to neutral following its trading update on August 22, with a 12-month target price of $1.46. The group’s share price is currently at $1.41. This is down from its recent peak of $1.66 immediately prior to its FY25 trading update, where the share price plunged to as low as $1.37 in one day.
In a note to investors, Jarden analysts confirmed it is waiting for improving operating conditions or signs of success in the company’s Sports Direct rollout after signing a ten-year deal with the sporting retailer’s UK-based parent company Frasers Group. The company also manages 30 other brands, including Platypus, Hoka and The Athlete’s Foot.
This comes after Accent Group reported a soft total sales lift of 0.2 per cent to $1.62 billion in FY25, with its earnings before interest and tax (EBIT) down by around $200,000 to $110.2 million.
According to Jarden analysts, Accent’s guidance for FY26 – where it is currently targeting high single-digit EBIT growth for this financial year – supports their view that the company continues to face a challenging promotional environment.
The analysts told investors that industry feedback and comparative read-throughs have led to its stance, highlighting that Nike flagged significant promotional intensity in March 2025 and ongoing clearance activity in June 2025, while JD Sports downgraded guidance in January 2025 and in May 2025 noted there was more product in outlet channels and some retailers were discounting online.
“We now wait for the core business of AX1 to see an improvement in operating environment as interest rate cuts start to flow through and the sustained promotional intensity begins to normalise,” the analysts wrote.
“While we still consider AX1 to be a high quality retailer with strong management, long-term growth opportunities, and potential upside from Sports Direct, we wait for more evidence that AX1 can execute efficiently on Sports Direct or interest rate cuts can improve the demand and/or promotional environment (in which case there may be significant potential upside risk given the derating AX1 has recently experienced).”
But not all industry reviewers are this rigid. Analysts at investment bank Petra Capital recently upgraded their rating on Accent Group stock to ‘buy’ following its results.
In its note to investors, Petra Capital analysts noted five key reasons why they have a more positive outlook for the apparel and footwear conglomerate. This includes an improvement in like-for-like trend in lifestyle footwear, with Accent’s lifestyle banners recording a 0.8 per cent LFL lift for the first seven weeks of FY26. This was cycling a “tough” comp of 3.5 per cent in the same time last year.
In its trading update late last week, Accent reported some early signs that its lifestyle banners, including Platypus and Skechers, are back to growth, with sports and performance banners continuing to grow. “We have a strong pipeline of committed wholesale orders,” the company reported.
The analysts also noted there should be better comps emerging post-AGM for Accent, particularly on like-for-like sales and gross margin percentage. According to Petra Capital, this bodes well for momentum into Christmas.
The third reason for a more positive outlook is the rebasing down of market expectations, with analysts claiming consensus for FY26e EBIT was too high.
According to the footwear group, its FY26 EBIT target of a “high single digit” rise is based on achieving low single digit LFL sales growth, as well as growth from new and annualising stores, incremental profit from The Athlete’s Foot franchise acquisition program, new distributed brands and continued growth in Hoka and Nude Lucy.
Accent added that gross margin percentage and cost-of-doing-business percentage are planned to be broadly flat to FY25, and noted that the full projection includes the impact of start-up costs for Sports Direct.
“It is unusual for AX1 to provide guidance this early in the new year, but we believe they felt obliged to reset market expectations,” Petra analysts noted. The analysts added that this guidance implies Accent’s first half FY26 EBIT of $80 million, and FY26 EBIT in the region of $118 million.
“Whilst this was above PCe, consensus was sitting too high at ~$126m. We believe the key delta was consensus did not adequately account for the upfront investment needed to launch Sports Direct.”
Petra analysts also noted the share price pull-back in Accent stock off the back of its announcement also gives a positive outlook. AX1’s share price dropped from a recent high of $1.66 to $1.40 on the morning of its trading update on Friday, August 22. The group’s share price dipped further to a low of $1.37 by Friday afternoon.
Petra’s target price is set at $1.65, with Accent’s share price nudging up to $1.49 on Monday afternoon.
The icing on the cake for Accent is that the Sports Direct rollout is on track, with at least four stores set to open in FY26. The first store is set to open at Fountain Gate, Victoria in November. All this matches Petra’s forecasts.
“AX1’s decision to provide this guidance early in FY26 lifts our confidence management has a good line of sight of new sites (extending into 1H27) secured/in advance negotiations.”
Jarden analysts swooped back in to say that while Accent Group delivered a “robust” trading update, they noted that the group’s EBIT for FY25 was down 0.5 per cent when taking into account $3.3 million of non-recurring items.
According to Accent’s annual report, this relates to the reversal of a historical impairment of the Hype DC brand carrying value of $9.7 million, the impairment of a number of underperforming Vans stores of $3.8 million and one-off costs and trading losses of $2.6 million relating to the discontinuation of the CAT brand distribution and the divestment of The Trybe.
Jarden analysts also noted that Accent’s FY26 EBIT guidance implies downgrades to Visual Alpha consensus, which expects Accent’s FY26 earnings to hit around $122.1 million. This would require around 11 per cent growth.
“Compositionally, [the guidance] was broadly in line with JARDe/VA Cons, with FY25 GPMs (54.9%) a key talking point, -85bps as AX1 continues to be impacted by the ongoing promotional environment,” Jarden analysts noted.
“AX1 guided for GPMs and CODB as a percentage of sales (inc. Sports Direct investment) to remain flat y/y, while factoring in (among other areas) low single digit LFLs growth on a comp base that gets easier over the course of the year relative to the trading update.”
Moreover, the analysts also spotlighted Accent’s store rollout, which hit 892 stores at the end of FY25. This is below the consensus of 909.
Jarden analysts note this makes the FY26 consensus of 945 harder to achieve, given AX1 guided to at least 30 gross new stores.
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Dec 1, 2025
Staff photo by Ari Selvey Minnesota Valley Lutheran’s Blake Sexton blows by a Janesville-Waldorf-Pemberton defender during a nonconference boys basketball game Monday at MVL High School.
NEW ULM — Minnesota Valley Lutheran opened up the boys basketball season with a tough loss against a strong team, falling 78-48 to Janesville-Waldorf-Pemberton Monday.
“The Bauer brothers [Daulton and Gavin] are unbelievable,” MVL head coach Kory Kettner said. “They’re just so, so well coached. Nick James is one of the best coaches in southern Minnesota. It was going to be tough coming into it, I knew it was going to be.”
Gavin Bauer led the Bulldogs with 28 points, while Dalton Bauer had 22 points.
Owen Birkholz led the Chargers with 16 points, while Pierson Brau had 15
JWP made it tough for MVL to move the ball effectively, disrupting the passing lanes to the tune of 30 turnovers for the Chargers.
Staff photo by Ari Selvey Minnesota Valley Lutheran’s Pierson Brau puts up a layup during a nonconference boys basketball game against Janesville-Waldorf-Pemberton Monday at MVL High School.
MVL started off the game well, taking a 9-4 lead, with Birkholz making a layup and a 3-pointer early on. JWP tied the game at 12, but another Birkholz 3 gave the Chargers a 15-12 lead.
“We were knocking shots early,” Kettner said. “But unfortunately when the ball doesn’t move they way it should move, it gets tough. We just didn’t move the ball well enough, period. Everything seemed to be off the bounce and one-on-one, and you can’t beat good teams when you play that way.”
However, JWP took control of the game with a 12-0 run to go up 32-17. Blake Sexton broke the scoring drought with a layup, and Birkholz made another 3 and Brau made two free throws to make it a 39-24 game, but the Bulldogs went on a 9-2 run to close out the half with a 47-26 lead.
Brau scored 5 points quickly in the second half to make it a 49-31 game, but another 16-2 run by JWP put the game out of reach for good.
Reserves entered with 7:40 to play as the Bulldogs held a 74-43 advantage as the game wound down.
MVL (0-1) will look to have a better showing Friday as they host Springfield.
“We’ve got film, so we can go back and watch it and we can see the things that worked,” Kettner said. “Which wasn’t a lot, but there’s things that you can learn from when you get beat like this too and I think it just gets everybody’s attention that we’re not there yet. That’s fine, it’s a long season and we’re going to get better.”
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BIG WINS ON THE ROAD IN THE SPORTS DIRECT PREMIERSHIP NI Football League
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