Rock Falls boys wrestling started strong and beat Sterling 43-34. Rock Falls and Newman boys basketball had close road wins, Eastland girls basketball is 16-1 and more in Wednesday's Sauk Valley roundup.

Sterling used stifling defense and a 3-point barrage to cover up some deficiencies Tuesday night in a 62-24 win over Rochelle at Musgrove Fieldhouse.

Dixon boys basketball won a third straight game, Carson Bivins led Faith Christian with 21 points, Sterling boys swimming won and more in Tuesday's Sauk Valley roundup.

Newman and Dixon girls basketball won, Eastland beat Oregon, Dixon girls bowling won and more in Monday's Sauk Valley roundup.

Newman boys basketball hit 14 3-pointers in a win over Rockford Christian. Rock Falls boys fell at home, Dixon girls beat Morris and more in Saturday's Sauk Valley roundup.

Polo boys basketball won the LaMoille tournament title as JT Stephenson and Mercer Mumford combined for 39 points. Dixon boys hoops won, Sterling loss and more in Wednesday's Sauk Valley roundup.

Newman boys basketball is 15-0 after winning Erie-Prophetstown's Cliff Warkins Memorial Tournament title. E-P wrestlers Rozlyn Mosher and Michelle Naftzger won titles at Ottawa, and more in Tuesday's Sauk Valley roundup.

Erie-Prophetstown senior wrestler Michelle Naftzger is the Sauk Valley Athlete of the Week. She became E-P's first girls wrestler to reach 100 career wins and hopes to become a four-time state qualifier.

The Duchesses bounced back with a 52-43 win over Stillman Valley to take third at the Dixon Christmas Classic on Monday night.

Newman boys basketball advanced to the E-P tournament title after a 49-46 overtime win over Galena. Xavian Prather scored 25 points in a Sterling win, Rock Falls and Dixon fell and more in Monday's Sauk Valley roundup.

Newman's Garret Matznick scored 25 points in a win over Forreston. Rock Falls boys basketball fell, Eastland won in 3OT, Dixon's Maddie Kirby won the Geneseo bowling title and more in Saturday's Sauk Valley roundup.

Newman nailed its first three 3-pointers to take an early lead, but Lincoln used a huge run to take control in a 61-27 victory in their Silver Bracket semifinal Saturday at the Dixon Christmas Classic.

Rock Falls boys basketball handed second-seeded Aurora Christian its first loss of the season with a first-round upset at the State Farm Classic on Friday. The Rockets will face Fieldcrest, which upset Eastland, at 7 p.m. on Saturday.

Dixon started off hot from the perimeter and never looked back Friday to advance to the semifinals of the Dixon Christmas Classic, building a double-digit lead by the end of the first quarter in a 67-27 win over Aurora Central Catholic in their final pool-play game on Day 1.

The Bears and Cubs made returns to the playoffs. NIU football announced it was leaving the MAC. The football playoffs were expanded for the first time in a quarter century. And flag football's popularity soared. Here are sports moments that had everyone talking in 2025.

Newman girls basketball won, Dixon boys fell at Harlem, Sterling girls bowling is 6-0 and more in Monday's Sauk Valley roundup.

Sterling's Denver Sandrock was named swimmer of the meet after two wins. Newman's Blair Grennan won her weight class at Hampshire, Sterling girls basketball split two games and more in Saturday's Sauk Valley roundup.

A shootout between Dixon and Sycamore essentially came down to one quarter Saturday night, and it was the Duchesses’ big run in the second period that sunk the Spartans in a 55-47 victory at Lancaster Gym.

Fulton's Landen Leu scored 22 points in a win over Bureau Valley, Sterling boys fell at Rock Island, Oregon boys bowling is 6-2 and more in Friday's Sauk Valley roundup.

Newman boys basketball advanced to Friday's Forreston tournament championship against Byron. Eastland boys and girls also won tournament titles, Morrison boys wrestling beat Newman and more in Thursday's Sauk Valley roundup.

Dixon beat Rockford Christian in BNC action as Brody Nicklaus scored 18 points. Milledgeville, Oregon and Forreston boys picked up wins, Sterling girls bowling is 5-0 and more in Wednesday's Sauk Valley roundup.

Sterling boys wrestling beat Fulton 40-39, Newman boys basketball won, Dixon boys bowling is 3-0 and more in Tuesday's Sauk Valley roundup.

IHSA Proposal 19 was passed by a majority of member schools in an IHSA schoolwide vote. Its implementation will increase the number of playoff qualifiers from 256 teams to 384 teams.

Z'Viyon Martin's 3-pointer with two seconds left completed Rock Falls' 15-point comeback against Mendota on Monday.

Dixon's Ahmyrie McGowan scored 20 points in a 43-32 loss to 7-0 Morton. Oregon and Rock Falls girls won, Oregon boys basketball fell to Byron and more in Monday's Sauk Valley roundup.

Sterling graduate Grace Egan had nine kills, two aces and a block as the Wisconsin volleyball team beat Texas to advance to Thursday's NCAA Final Four.

Dixon's Riley Paredes won his weight class as the Dukes were third at Mount Prospect. Rock Falls' Logan Thome and Sterling's Cael Lyons took first at the Riverdale invite, Newman boys basketball won, Eastland and Polo girls went 2-0 and more in Saturday's Sauk Valley roundup.

Sterling freshman DeAndre Maas scored a career-high 25 points in a win at Quincy. Newman wrestler Blair Grennan went 4-0 in Pontiac, Oregon boys basketball is 6-0 and more in Friday's Sauk Valley roundup.

Newman boys basketball hit 14 3-pointers against Amboy to improve to 6-0. Sterling boys swimming won, Dixon girls bowling won and more in Thursday's Sauk Valley roundup.

Sterling never trailed in its Western Big 6 game against rival Geneseo on Thursday at Musgrove Fieldhouse, using big runs in the first and third quarter to pull away for a 61-40 victory.

Column: With only a few short days to prepare for the championship games, which were rescheduled for Wednesday, Dec. 3, the DeKalb County Convention and Visitors Bureau team stepped up to assist

Sterling wrestling split a triangular as Cael Lyons had two pins. E-P boys wrestling beat Polo, Morrison had two wins, Forreston and Polo girls basketball had wins and more in Wednesday's Sauk Valley roundup.

Dixon scored the first 21 points of the game and used a suffocating defense to defeat Kaneland 35-16 on Wednesday night at Lancaster Gym.

Proposal 19 is on the ballot with a submission that proposes that the playoff field be expanded by 16 teams in each classification with a total of 384 teams qualifying for the postseason. Steve Soucie's uses 2025 data to project what the format could look like.

The CCL/ESCC announced its new alignment for the 2026 and 2027 seasons with many of the league's 24 teams finding themselves in different division than before.

Sterling girls wrestling beat Galesburg 33-24 as Viviana Torres won an 8-7 decision. Sterling boys basketball fell at Moline, Oregon boys wrestling beat E-P and more in Tuesday's Sauk Valley roundup.

Rock Falls beat Putnam County 62-43 as Cole Heald scored 14 points. Dixon boys basketball fell 96-75 to Rochelle, Dixon girls are 7-0 and more in Monday's Sauk Valley roundup.

Dixon boys wrestling won Sterling's Carson DeJarnatt Invitational behind four first-place finishes. Sterling's Sarah Doughty won the Oregon bowling invite for the third straight year and more in Saturday's Sauk Valley roundup.

Sterling used big runs to close the first half and start the second half to break open a close game and pull away from Geneseo for a 77-47 win in their Western Big 6 opener Friday at Musgrove Fieldhouse.

Oregon's Aniyah Sarver scored 24 points in a win over Polo. Easltand girls basketball beat Amboy, Sterling girls bowling beat Dixon, Oregon wrestling had two wins and more in Thursday's Sauk Valley roundup.

Join hosts Matt Rodewald and Steve Soucie as they recap the Illinois high school football state championship games for Class 8A-5A

Newman basketball beat Bureau Valley 59-48 as John Rowzee led the way with 18 points. Sterling wrestling and Dixon boys bowling also had wins in Wednesday's Sauk Valley roundup.

Kewanee overcame an aggressive Dixon defense to pull out a 66-62 road win in Tuesday night's nonconference game at Lancaster Gym.

Fenwick defeated East St. Louis 38-28 on Tuesday, Dec. 2, 2025 in Hancock Stadium at Illinois State University in Normal.

Polo's Elsa Monaco scored 15 points in a 44-43 win over Amboy. Newman girls fell, Dixon girls bowling won and more in Tuesday's Sauk Valley roundup.

Wheaton St. Francis defeated Providence Catholic 39-35 to win the Class 5A State championship on Tuesday, Dec. 2, 2025 in Hancock Stadium at Illinois State University in Normal.

The loss of back-to-back impactful senior classes the last two seasons means the Dixon Dukes are looking for a lot of new players to step up this season.

Eastland boys basketball beat Forreston 46-44 in overtime as Parker Krogman scored 16 points. Sterling's Sarah Doughty bowled a 722 and more in Monday's Sauk Valley roundup.

The Class 7A/8A state football title games have been rescheduled for Wednesday afternoon and evening at Northern Illinois University

Dixon, Newman and Rock Falls boys basketball all won in Friday's Sauk Valley roundup.