Teams from 38 area high schools converged on the Shady Oaks Golf Club east of Amboy for the 52nd Annual Columbus Day Invitational on Monday, Oct. 13, 2025. Johnsburg's Grady Smith finished first in the boys race and Winnebago's Molly Webb was the winner of the girls race.

Eastland-Pearl City defeated Forreston 51-24 in a NUIC conference game in Pearl City on Friday, Oct. 3, 2025.

Byron and Forreston competed at the 1A Pearl City Regional held at Wolf Hollow Golf Course in Lena on Wednesday, Oct. 1, 2025. The Tigers finished third to advance to the sectional as a team. Forreston's Kaden Brown finished third overall.

The 2025 Forreston High School Homecoming celebrated school spirit, creativity, and student leadership with a week of exciting events and impressive class floats.

Local High School teams gather at Hoover Park in Sterling for the Rock River Run, held on Saturday, September 27, 2025.

Forreston beat Fulton 36-28 in NUIC football action on Friday, Sept. 12, 2025.

Sterling opens Western Big 6 Conference play against Moline, Dixon hosts Rock Falls, Newman hosts E-P on Saturday and more, including picks and what to watch for in this week's Sauk Valley football previews.

Sterling girls golf took second at the Geneseo invite, Lucas Porter earned medalist for Rock Falls, Dixon volleyball improved to 7-1 and more in Monday's Sauk Valley roundup.

One hundred and 68 runners took part in the boys varsity race at the Oregon Cross Country Open on Saturday, Sept. 6, 2025 at Oregon Park West.

Dixon's massive game at No. 1 Byron highlights the 15 matchups in the Sauk Valley area in Week 2. Newman heads to Mendota, Sterling has a nonconference home game, Rock Falls hosts North Boone and more this Friday.

Lena-Winslow, ranked #1 in state rankings for 1A schools, downed the Forreston Cardinals 50-12 on the Cardinals' home field on Friday, Aug. 29, 2025.

This year's Club Championship golf tournament at Lake Carroll was especially special for Kaden Brown. The Forreston High School senior had plenty of fun breezing through the Lake Carroll Golf Course to becoming one of the youngest club champions at area courses this year.

The 2025 girls volleyball season starts this week. Here are previews of teams from around the Sauk Valley coverage area.

A look at the Northwest Upstate Illini Conference for the 2025 season, including team-by-team preview capsules, players to watch, six can't miss games and Steve Soucie's predicted order of finish.

The 2025 season begins Friday, Aug. 29, in the Sauk Valley. Here are the game schedules for Oregon, Polo, and Forreston.

Forreston opens the 2025 football season Friday, Aug. 29, with a home game against NUIC rival Lena-Winslow. It is also Senior Night for the Cardinals. Oregon will officially open the season at Genoa-Kingston on Aug. 29. In 8-man action, Polo hosts Bushnell-Prairie City on Aug. 29.

With lots of young players gaining valuable experience last season, the Forreston Cardinals look to return to their high standards this fall.

Who steps up next for Dixon? Will Morrison transfer Rylan Alvarado lead Newman's backfield? Can Sterling revitalize its run game? What is next for Rock Falls under its new coach? Here are six questions in the Sauk Valley area this season as practice kicks off.

Here is a look at the top softball players from the Sauk Valley area for the 2025 season.

Here is a look at the top baseball players from the Sauk Valley area for the 2025 season.

Sprinters Levi Milder and Brady Anderson and two relay wins led Morrison to the Class 1A state title, while Sterling earned medals in three relays in the 2A meet.

4x400 relay team of Brody Schwartz, Hayden Vinnedge, Eli Ferris and Noah Dewey blazed to a 3:27.90 to secure the win.

Freshman Jillian Hammer who placed third in the 100-meters hurdles and fifth in the 300 hurdles

West Carroll senior Emma Randecker prefers sprints. Not 5K races. Saturday, the Northern Iowa commit showed off her speed downstate, winning Class 1A titles in the 100-, 200- and 400-meter dashes in the IHSA Girls Track and Field State Meet. She broke 2 state records.

With a six-run first inning, the Fulton baseball team had enough cushion to hold off a Forreston comeback Saturday in the Class 1A Amboy Regional championship game.

Fulton scored six runs in the first inning en route to a 7-4 win over Forreston to win the 1A Amboy Regional on Saturday, May 24, 2025.

The Forreston-Polo boys track team won the 1A Oregon Sectional on Friday, May 29, 2025 edging Winnebago 120 to 117.5. The Cardinals qualified individuals and relay teams to the state finals at Eastern Illinois University. Preliminaries at the state meet begin Thursday, May 29 in Mattoon.

Here is a look at some of the top athletes and relays to watch from the Sauk Valley area competing in 1A and 2A at this weekend's state track and field meet.

Oregon qualified seven individuals and three relays for this week's state meet at Eastern Illinois University in Charleston.

The Oregon girls track team edged Winnebago to win the 1A Lena-Winslow sectional on Thursday, May 15. 2025.

The Lady Cardinals fell to Lena-Winslow 10-0 in a Monday, May 12, 2025 game at Forreston High School.

Forreston-Polo took second at a competitive field at the Oregon Hall of Fame Hawk Classic on Friday.

Rochelle took top honors at the Hall of Fame Hawk Classic on Friday, May 2, 2025 at Landers-Loomis Field scoring 95 points to Forreston's 76 in the 18-team track & field event, Hubs' pole vaulter Andrew Nuyen set a new meet record clearing 5.03 meters (16'5") shattering the old record of 14'9" set in 2002.

Chris Thiel will be the coach of the high school’s new bass fishing team in 2026. The Forrestville Valley School Board hired Thiel April 16 to head the new program.

The Forreston Cardinals scored four runs in the sixth inning en route to a 13-11 win over conference rival Lena-Winslow on Monday, April 28, 2025 at Forreston High School.

Oregon won the Landers-Loomis Invitational on Friday, April 25, 2025 scoring 104 points to Fulton's 95 and Genoa-Kingston's 91. Forreston finished fifth in the 8-team meet.

Local schools Amboy, Forreston Bureau Valley, Rock Falls and Newman compete with others at the Rock Falls Rocket track invite Friday, April, 25, 2025

Oregon, Erie-Prophetstown, and Forreston were three of 10 teams that competed at the girls Gebhardt-Worley Invitational track meet at Oregon High School on Saturday, April 12, 2025.

Dixon took top honors at the 45th Annual Gebhardt-Worley Invitational at Oregon High School on Saturday, April 12, 2025. Forreston finished second.

Dixon won a quad meet at Oregon High School on Thursday, April 3, 2024 beating Forreston, Oregon, and Dakota.

Forreston downed Warren/Stockton 13-3 on Friday, March 28, 2025 on a very windy day on the Cardinals' home field at Forreston High School.

Forreston saw a 3-0 lead disappear in the fifth inning when River Ridge/Scales Mound scored five runs enroute to an 8-4 over the Cardinals on Monday, March 24, 2025 at Forreston High School.

Annawan outscored Forreston 25-11 in the third quarter and 42-16 in the final period of play en route to a 67-38 win at the 1A Amboy Regional championship on Friday, Feb. 28, 2025. Kendall Erdmann led the Cardinals with 14 points and Brendan Greenfield added 11 in the loss. Annawan was led by Maddux Heitzler’s 16 points.

Forreston downed Peru St. Bede 67-56 on Wednesday, Feb. 26, 2025 at the 1A Amboy Regional. Kendall Erdmann led the Cardinals with 25 points followed by Connor Politsch with 11 and Brendan Greenfield with 10. The Cardinals will play Annawan for the regional championship on Friday. Game time is 7 p.m.

Forreston beat Morrison 70-49 on Saturday, Feb.8, 2025. Mikey Probst led the Cardinals with 28 points followed by Kendall Erdmann with 26. Asher Ernst had 23 for the Mustangs.

A dozen local wrestlers kept their seasons alive Saturday at the Class 2A Dixon Regional at Lancaster Gym, with three taking titles and three more earning runner-up finishes.

Camrynn Jones scored 29 points to lead her Marcos to a 51-40 win over Forreston on Saturday, Feb. 1, 2025 at Polo High School.

Kendall Erdmann scored 35 points in the Forreston Cardinals' 73-50 win over the Oregon Hawks at Forreston High School on Saturday, Jan, 25, 2025. Erdmann hit five three-pointers and dished out six assists in the win.

Lucas Nelson has recorded 100 wins in this high school career and is closing in on the school record for pins.

Oregon won the 17-team Polo Wrestling Invitational with 217.5 points, edging runner-up Fulton (212). West Carroll (104.5) took fourth, Polo (89.5) was eighth and Erie-Prophetstown (65) was 10th among area teams.