With football teams around the state opening official practices for the 2025 season Monday, here are five storylines to watch in the NewsTribune/BCR area this fall.

Leading ladies from Bureau Valley, Princeton and St. Bede's golf teams heading into the 2025 season.

A-L-O, Bureau Valey, Hall, Princeton and St. Bede will huddle up for the first fall practices of the 2025 football season on Monday. Here’s a rundown of when each team they will be practicing during the first week.

Featuring golfers from Bureau Valley, Hall, St. Bede and Princeton

When Princeton coach Ryan Pearson takes a timeout from football, he is likely attending card shows with his oldest sons, Rhett and Reese. It’s a tradition he started as a child with his dad, Tom.

Princeton’s Avah Oertel (Heartland Havoc 16U Premier Maraden) and LaSalle-Peru’s Taylor Vescogni (Beverly Bandits 16U Otto) wrapped up their summer travel softball season at the national level.

The Princeton cross country team will resume its summer running schedule with six remaining sessions for the week of July 28-Aug. 1. The PHS runners will meet at 8:30 a.m. and 7p.m. at Zearing Park on Wednesday and at 8:30 a.m. and 7 p.m. at the high school on Thursday and Friday

Teegan Davis and Bennett Williams each have had their share of adversity. The former Princeton standouts took in the Tigers’ summer scrimmage July 24 to check in on their former teammates while mapping their way back to the gridiron this fall.

It was hot and humid. There was some hitting. The play was getting a little chippy at times on the field. It felt like football. The Princeton Tigers welcomed the East Peoria Red Raiders to Little Siberia Field for a controlled scrimmage Thursday morning.

Patrick Smith won’t be taking a different position on the field next spring, but he will have a new title. The Tiger assistant has been named as Princeton’s new head baseball coach, succeeding Wick Warren, who retired after nine seasons.

In a celebration of athletic legacy, the Princeton High School cross country teams of 1979 and 1980 will be inducted into the Bureau County Sports Hall of Fame, recognizing their remarkable journey to state runner-up finishes and forging lifelong friendships.

Princeton cross country coach Pat Hodge has made a change to this week’s summer training runs. Runners will meet at 8:30 a.m. Wednesday at Zearing Park with the 7 p.m. session now meeting in front of PHS.

A look at the top games to watch in the NewsTribune/BCR area for the 2025 football season.

Girls from around the Illinois Valley teamed up on the Lions Jrs Starved Rock 16 Red club team to a fifth-place finish out of 151 teams in the prestigious AAU Nationals Volleyball Tournament recently in Orlando, Fla.

Princeton will invite 16 teams to participate in Saturday’s 7-on-7 and Linemen’s Challenge at Bryant Field and Little Siberia, including Dixon, EPC, Ottawa, LaSalle-Peru and Sandwich.

Sherrard won its third BCR Three Rivers Conference All-Sports Championship with 83 points followed by Princeton (77.5), Riverdale (73), Mercer County (63) and Erie-Prophetstown (59).

The summer football offseason heats up after the Fourth of July. Three of the four Bureau County teams will be under new direction with Patrick Elder taking over as head coach at Bureau Valley, Nick Sterling as new head coach at Hall and Jack Brady the new head coach at St. Bede.

Princeton junior Casey Etheridge helped the football team reach the quarterfinals, placed fourth in Class 1A at 165 pounds in wrestling and qualified for state in the 300-meter hurdles in track and field.

Athletes of the Year and finalists are chosen by a points system for receiving all-conference, all-area, Player of the Year and All-State honors. They are Lily Bosnich, Keighley Davis, Camryn Driscoll, Libby Endress, Caroline Keutzer and Lili McClain.

Noah LaPorte’s legacy speaks for itself. The BCR Athlete of the Year had an encore year to remember, named All-State and unanimous Three Rivers East All-Conference honors in two sports and Player of the Year for the second straight year. He was First-Team All-BCR in three sports.

A look at the top boys track and field athletes in the NewsTribune area for the 2025 season.

The University of Dubuque junior-to-be from Princeton has been selected to the USA D-3 Basketball Team for its 2025 Brazil Tour from July 7-16. The USA team is made up of talented men’s basketball players from NCAA Division 3 colleges and universities across the United States.

Bureau County had a state track finals this spring like none other when it produced not one but two state champions in the same event. Landon Hulsing won the 1A title and Ian Morris won the 2A crown. They are the 2025 co-NewsTribune Boys Track & Field Athletes of the Year.

Bureau County had a state track finals this spring like none other when it produced not one but two state champions in the same event. Landon Hulsing won the 1A title and Ian Morris won the 2A crown. They are the 2025 co-BCR Boys Track & Field Athletes of the Year.

Here’s a look at the Finals Bureau County area boys track & field athletes representing ALO, Bureau Valley, Hall, Princeton and St. Bede

Princeton has made five straight Class 3A quarterfinal appearances, six in the past seven years along with six Three Rivers Mississippi championships. Here’s an early look at their 2025 season, which will find the Tigers playing at home five times with four road trips.

A look at the best girls track and field athletes in the NewsTribune area for the 2025 season.

The 2025 Princeton Tigresses Volleyball Camp drew a total of 144 campers last week, including 65 in the junior high session, 47 in the high school session and 32 in the elementary camp for grades 3-5.

A look at the best boys tennis players in the NewsTribune area for the 2025 season.

After falling short of state last season, Princeton's Asa Gartin and Jackson Mason came back motivated this spring. The Tiger tandem went 25-5, qualified for state and went 1-2 at the state tournament.

The offseason has been a busy one for some Princeton Tiger football players are preparing for the upcoming 2025 fall season with an eye toward the future. Two incoming seniors, Rhett Pearson and Common Green, have received their first college offers.

A look at the final area boys baseball standings for the 2025 season with three Bureau County teams - St. Bede (27-5), Bureau Valley (22-10) and Hall (20-11) winning 20 or more games.

Due to the warmer temperatures forecasted for next week, the Princeton High School summer cross country conditioning will be switching to morning runs for the week.

Evan Holschbach lost his dad, Leon, to ALS in 2022, just shy of one year after his diagnosis. Holschbach and his wife, Lindsey, volunteered for the Walnut 5K Run/Walk for ALS last year and are giving continued support to raise funds to help find a cure.

Here’s a look at Bureau County baseball leaders for the 2025 season, including players from Bureau Valley, Hall, Princeton and St. Bede

Three of the four Bureau County baseball teams had 20-win seasons this year, topped by St. Bede at 27-5. Here's look at the 2025 leaders on the area baseball diamonds for Bureau Valley, Hall, Princeton and St. Bede

A look at the best baseball players in the NewsTribune area for the 2025 season.

A look at the NewsTribune area's baseball stat leaders for the 2025 season.

Willowbrook graduate Chris Roycroft pitched to Princeton’s Jett Wedekind at Aurora University in 2018 and 2019, both named Northern Athletics Collegiate Conference All-Conference for the Spartans. Five years later, Roycroft broke in with the St. Louis Cardinals.

A look at the top softball players in the NewsTribune area for the 2025 season.

A look at the top softball players in the NewsTribune area for the 2025 season.

Shaw Media’s Illinois Valley Sports Hall of Fame banquet always comes with a lot of laughs and smiles and fun remembrances each year. This year’s sixth annual event also came with sorrow and sadness Thursday at the Auditorium Ballroom in downtown LaSalle.

The Princeton High School cross country program will hold conditioning runs, open to any PHS student interested in cross country in particular or conditioning in general, at 7 p.m. on June 7, June 19, June 23, June 25 and June 27

Princeton named its winners of its track and field awards earlier this week.

A look at the best girls soccer players in the NewsTribune area for the 2025 season.

If Avah Oertel's boyfriend, Daniel Sousa, showed up wearing his good-luck “Nike Tech” shirt, she hit a home run. If he didn’t wear it, Oertel didn’t hit as well. That sweatshirt superstition paid off with 12 home runs, 43 RBIS and a .474 average, all area highs

Henry's Lauren Harbison was named Class 1A First-Team All State in softball, other players from St. Bede, Princeton, Earlville, Henry and Fieldcreset also earned all-state honors and the Three Rivers announced its all-conference baseball team.

The Princeton Tigresses had a turnaround season, finishing 14-12 after going 6-13-2 a year ago. They reached the regional finals, falling to host Mendota 1-0.

L-P junior Taylor Vescogni was named the Interstate 8 Conference Player of the Year and the Three Rivers East, Lincoln Trail and Little Ten also released all-conference teams.

Bureau Valley's Landon Hulsing not only won the discus state championship, he set a school record in the process. His throw of 187 feet, 7 inches at Saturday's IHSA Class 1A Boys Track and Field State Meet finals eclipsed the previous school record by 18 feet.