WRMJ Sports

On Sportsline this week, Ty Taylor and Jim Taylor open the show discussing Quincy's historic 88-84 win over Goode in the 6A playoffs on Friday, before diving into a preview of Orion-Stockton and Rockridge-Newman.

Then, Camp Point Central Football Coach and Athletic Director Brad Dixon joins the show to discuss the by-law amendement that he has helped submit that aims to undo the expanded IHSA playoff field and return the postseason to its previous format of 256 qualifiers for next season (38:54).

Ty and Jim close the show by touching on Orion and Riverdale winning volleyball regional championships and Mercer County's season, where the Golden Eagles set a new school record for single-season wins, ending in a regional championship loss to Kewanee during the week. (1:17:26)

WRMJ's play-by-play broadcast of Orion's 21-20 win over LeRoy in the Opening Round of the 2026 IHSA Class 1A Football Playoffs on Oct. 24, 2026

*Rebroadcast excludes pre-game coverage

On Sportsline this week, Ty Taylor and Jim Taylor open the show by reacting to this week's news that the IHSA's competitive balance committee is recommending a policy change to create separate paths in the state series for team-bracketed sports, ensuring that only one non-boundaried school can advance to the semifinal round. Then, they discuss the opening round of the football playoffs.

IHSA Executive Director Craig Anderson joins the program to discuss several topics surrounding the upcoming IHSA legislative session, which runs through December. He covers the separate public/private school postseason path idea, a by-law proposal that aims to return to the previous IHSA football playoff model of 256 qualifiers, potential changes to transfer eligibility, and more (37:47).

Ty and Jim close the show with reaction to the confirmation that a by-law amendment has been submitted to return to the previous postseason football model. (1:15:17)

WRMJ's 35th annual Pigskin Playoff Preview

Guests on the show:

Rockridge head coach Sam Graves

Riverdale head coach Guy Dierikx

Orion head coach Matt McClean

El Paso-Gridley head coach Tanner Benedict

Fulton head coach Patrick Lower

On Sportsline this week, Ty Taylor and Jim Taylor open the show with a recap of Week 9 around the TRAC and discuss what it impact the results could have on the playoff fied.

Then, Friday Night Drive's Steve Soucie joins the show to dive into the latest small school projections, Rockridge's likelihood of being in the 1A field, Mercer County's chances to qualify for the postseason with two wins, the strength of the northern bracket in 2A, if the expanded playoff system will still be in place next year, and more (36:53).

Ty and Jim close the program with a rundown of the results from the state-ranked teams in Week 9 and look ahead to Saturday night's WRMJ Pigskin Playoff Preview, which is live at 8 p.m.

***Note: Due to a technical issue, portions of this week's Sportsline program, which airs live at 9 a.m. each week, were corrupted and could not be recovered for upload to our podcast.

Our live interview with Mercer County head coach Fred Lucas and our closing segment, presented by Boswell Construction, with a rundown of results from the state-ranked teams were unfortunately wiped out. We apologize for any disappointment in not being able to hear the rebroadcast of those two features this week.

On Sportsline this week, Ty Taylor and Jim Taylor open the show recapping a consequential Week 8 in the TRAC, before being joined by Orion head coach Matt McClean (35:50), Rockridge head coach Sam Graves (50:34), and Riverdale head coach Guy Dierikx (1:06:56).

On Sportsline this week, Ty Taylor and Jim Taylor open the show recapping the Friday night portion of the Week 7 TRAC Schedule and briefly preview Saturday afternoon's matchup between Riverdale and Newman.

Mercer County head coach Fred Lucas (29:03), Orion head coach Matt McClean (49:32), and Rockridge head coach Sam Graves (1:04:35) join the program to recap their Week 7 results.

Ty and Jim close the show by taking a deeper look into what the newly expanded IHSA football playoff field could look like in a couple of weeks, if it will still be in place next year, and run down the state ranked scores from 1A-3A (1:22:56).

On Sportsline this week, Ty Taylor and Jim Taylor open the show recapping Week 6 of the high school football season in the TRAC.

Then, Mercer County head coach Fred Lucas, Rockridge head coach Sam Graves, and Kewanee head coach Matt Taylor join the show.

Ty and Jim close the show looking at the final scores from the 1A-3A state-ranked teams and look ahead to Saturday afternoon's matchup between Orion and Newman.

On Sportsline this week, Ty Taylor and Jim Taylor open the show recapping Week 5 in the TRAC, which was highlighted by Riverdale defeating Rockridge in an undefeated state-ranked showdown in Port Byron.

Guests on this week's program include Mercer County head coach Fred Lucas (30:47), Rockridge head coach Sam Graves (47:25), Riverdale head coach Guy Dierikx (1:02:44), and Orion head coach Matt McClean (1:17:58).

Ty and Jim wrap up the show recapping the statewide top 10 results in 1A-3A last night and discuss Camp Point Central football coach/athletic director Brad Dixon announcing he would be authoring a by-law proposal to undo the current IHSA football expanded playoff format (1:29:40).

On Sportsline this week, Ty Taylor and Jim Taylor open the show reacting to another competitive week of games around the TRAC.

They're joined this week by Mercer County head coach Fred Lucas (28:30), Rockridge head coach Sam Graves (52:39), Orion head coach Matt McClean (1:12:30), and Riverdale head coach Guy Dierikx (1:23:06).

At the end of the show, Jim gives his weekly rundown of the 1A-3A state-ranked teams’ results, presented by Boswell Construction.

On Sportsline this week, Ty Taylor and Jim Taylor open the show reacting to another competitive week of games around the TRAC.

Later in the show, Mercer County head coach Fred Lucas (29:53), Rockridge head coach Sam Graves (46:22), Orion head coach Matt McClean (1:03:26), and Fulton head coach Pat Lower (1:17:08), join the program. Lower, an Aledo High School grad, won his 100th career game this week.

At the end of the show, Jim gives his weekly rundown of the 1A-3A state-ranked teams' results, now presented by Boswell Construction.

On Sportsline this week, Ty Taylor and Jim Taylor open the show reacting to Sherrard High School's decision to cancel the remainder of its varsity football season and recap Week 2 results from the TRAC.

Later, Sherrard High School Principal Alex Johnson joined the show to provide insight on the decision. (59:38)

Mercer County head coach Fred Lucas (30:11), Orion head coach Matt McClean (43:41), and Rockridge head coach Sam Graves (1:34:27) also join the program to recap their respective Week 2 games.

On Sportsline this week, Ty Taylor and Jim Taylor react to a long and exciting opening night of the 2026 high school football season in the TRAC.

They are joined by Mercer County head coach Fred Lucas (30:51), Orion head coach Matt McClean (50:35), and Rockridge head coach Sam Graves (1:04:08).

At the end of the show, Ty and Jim look ahead to a couple of Saturday night games in the conference and touch on some of the stories around the state (1:17:32).

On the first Sportsline episode of the 2026-27 school year, Ty Taylor and Jim Taylor preview the upcoming high school football season around the Three Rivers Athletic Conference (TRAC).

They open the show discussing the new expanded playoff format in high school football, before moving into an overview of each team in the conference.

Then, Ty previews the upcoming season with the following local coaches

• Sherrard head coach Zach Weigel (1:33:50)
• Orion head coach Matt McClean (1:45:30)
• Mercer County head coach Fred Lucas (1:59:21)
• Rockridge head coach Sam Graves (2:11:20)

At the end of the program, Ty and Jim give their conference championship predictions for 2026 (2:29:26).

WRMJ's play-by-play broadcast (pre-game excluded) of Rockridge's 13-3 win over IVC in the championship of the 2026 IHSA 2A Mercer County Baseball Regional.

On the final Sportsline of the 2025-26 school year, Ty Taylor and Jim Taylor open the show by previewing Saturday's 2A baseball regional championship between Rockridge and IVC, recapping the local softball sectional championships, and previewing Ty's conversation with Sherrard grad and UIC pitcher Aidan Terronez.

Then, Aidan Terronez joins the show to talk about his freshman season at UIC, qualifying for the NCAA Tournament, and more (45:12).

Ty and Jim close the show discussing some of their favorite broadcasts from the 2025-26 school year and reflecting on their favorite parts of covering interscholastic athletics.

Thank you for following along all year!

A special thank you to our Sportsline sponsors: Dale Jones with Merit Auction, local COUNTRY Financial agents Jason Potter, Tracy Bigham, and Brent Bigham, Diamond Ag, and 6140 Run.

Sportsline returns for the 2026-27 school year on Aug. 15.

On Sportsline this week, Ty Taylor and Jim Taylor open the show discussing the local regional week of high school softball and touch on the local competitors who advanced to the finals at the IHSA Girls State Track and Field Meet.

Then, Friday Night Drive's Steve Soucie joins the show to discuss his expectations for the expanded playoff field in the 2026 high school football season, what more teams means for the cutoff enrollments for each classification, the statewide approval/disapproval of the change, how long he thinks this system will be in place for and more. (30:15)

WRMJ's play-by-play broadcast (pre-game excluded) of Sherrard's 10-8 comeback win over Alleman in the semifinals of the 2026 IHSA 2A Alleman Softball Regional.

On Sportsline this week, Ty Taylor and Jim Taylor open the show recapping the girls sectional and boys TRAC conference track and field results, and previewing the upcoming IHSA softball postseason.

Then, Mercer County High School assistant boys basketball coach Morgan Braucht joins the show to discuss the history of the Mercer County Basketball Tournament, which ran from 1921-1943, and featured high schools from each town in the county (20:44)

On Sportsline this week, Ty Taylor and Jim Taylor open the show discussing conference championships this week, won by Sherrard (girls track), Rockridge (baseball), and Riverdale (softball), react to the postseason softball brackets, touch on Rockridge's classification enrollment for next school year, hit on some local basketball notes, and react to Pat Rangel returning to Alleman to take over the boys basketball program.

Then, Sherrard girls track and field coach Todd Volkert (1:10:45) and Rockridge baseball coach Justin Chisholm (1:22:16) join the program.

Ty and Jim close the show with a local baseball sub-sectional seeding projection and look ahead to the theme for next week's show. (1:32:29)