By FRED KRONER
fred@mahometnews.com
Jordan Veldman and Clay Hubble combined for 200 yards rushing while scoring one touchdown apiece on Friday as Mahomet-Seymour snapped a five-game losing streak with a 14-0 win at Lincoln.
Veldman rushed for 104 yards on 21 carries. Hubble gained 96 yards on seven carries.
Dylan Gates, who led the team in receiving yards (27) also rushed for six yards on five attempts.
Quarterback Dawson Finch eclipsed the 1,000-yard passing mark for the season by completing four passes for 55 yards. Entering Friday’s home finale against Macomb (2-6), Finch has thrown for 1,049 yards as a senior.
Veldman has a team-high 673 rushing yards and leads M-S with 1,426 all-purpose yards.
Defensively, Connor Thomason picked off his team-leading fifth pass. Jacob Anderson also had an interception.
Daunte Roberts totaled a team-high 11 tackles. Harrison LaCour and Zach Travis each had six tackles.
Anderson and Ethan Carlson had four stops apiece. LaCour had a team-high two sacks. Carlson had one sack.
With a 2-4 record in Apollo Conference play, the Bulldogs placed fifth in the seven-team league.
Joah Moore hit 2 of 2 extra-point attempts.
Volleyball
M-S (19-12) is on the verge of its first 20-win season since 2014 after placing fourth in Saturday’s St. Thomas More Tournament.
The Bulldogs swept three pool play matches in consecutive sets, beating Urbana 25-14, 25-10, Princeville 25-14, 25-12 and Mount Pulaski 25-18, 25-14.
In the championship division semifinals, M-S lost to the host Sabers 25-13, 25-19. In the third-place match, Galena beat the Bulldogs 25-23, 25-22.
All-tournament pick Savannah Matthews had 46 kills and 38 digs for the day to lead the Bulldogs.
The other M-S athlete on the 12-player all-tournament team was Lauren Minick. She totaled 28 kills for the day and reached double figures in digs (11) against Mount Pulaski.
Setter Kayin Garner distributed 91 assists for the day and had at least 20 in three separate matches.
Josie Hess had 44 digs for the tourney. Brooklyn Houser had seven blocks overall and Amber Yeakel had six blocks.
Garner served three aces against Urbana.
Ainsley Ranstead had 11 combined kills against Princeville and Galena.
On Thursday, M-S went on the road and scored a three-set victory against an opponent they lost to in two sets at home.
With Matthews having her best match of the season — 24 kills and 17 digs — the Bulldogs rallied past Effingham 25-27, 25-22, 25-20.
Garner handed out 34 assists to go with two aces.
Minick collected 13 kills and 11 digs.
Hess had 18 digs and Chloe Henkel 11 digs for M-S. Yeakel had two blocks.
The Bulldogs, 8-3 in Apollo Conference matches, return to action on Tuesday at home against Charleston in their final league match of the year.
Girls’ tennis
M-S tied for fifth in the 12-school Champaign Central Sectional last weekend at the Lindsay Courts.
The doubles team of Annie Bao and Amalie Fried won twice before losing in the quarterfinals.
Bao-Fried were victorious against Watseka 7-5, 6-1 and against Lincoln 4-6, 7-5, 6-0 before being eliminated by St. Thomas More 6-3, 6-1.
The Bulldogs’ other doubles team of Megan Bostaph and Catherine Tandy lost their only postseason match.
In singles, fourth-seeded Lauren Henderson was 1-1 at sectional, opening with a 6-0, 6-1 victory over an opponent from Bishop McNamara before dropping a 6-2, 6-0 decision.
Henderson was the team-leader in wins for the season, finishing with an 8-4 record.
Mrinali Kesavadas lost her only singles match at sectional.
Boys’ soccer
The Bulldogs’ fifth shutout of the season — Thursday’s 8-0 win at Taylorville — was a milestone one for M-S.
The first goal was scored by senior Graham Kessler. It was the first goal of his high school career.
Another senior, Alec Marsh, scored the next two goals, his first two of the season.
The remaining goals were scored by five different teammates: Austin Carr (his team-leading 23rd), Nate Lundstrom, Ethan Mansfield, Jacob Peterson and Luke Creel.
Seventeen different Bulldogs have scored goals this season.
Kadyn Jones collected three of the assists, raising his team-best total to 13.
Mansfield had the assist on Kessler’s goal.
Other Bulldogs with assists were Joah Moore, Jacob Peterson, Colton Brunner and Logan Woodward.
Heading into a Class 2A regional semifinal match at 6 p.m. on Tuesday at Centennial against the host Chargers, M-S is 14-3-5 overall and 11-1-3 in its past 15 matches. The Bulldogs are the No. 3 seed and Centennial is the No. 7 seed.
When the schools played in August, M-S won 1-0.
The final standings in the Apollo Conference are:
TEAM OVERALL CONF.
[one_half]Mattoon 18-1-3 9-0-2
Mount Zion 13-4-2 9-2-1
Mahomet-Seymour 14-3-5 8-1-3
[/one_half]
[one_half_last] Charleston 10-8-1 4-7-1
Lincoln 12-13 4-8
Effingham 6-11-2 3-7-1
Taylorville 1-21 0-12 [/one_half_last]
