WRMJ Sports

On Sportsline this week, the program's focus takes a rare shift to focusing on collegiate athletics as Ty Taylor and Jim Taylor open the show discussing the magnitude of Illinois and Iowa meeting in the Elite 8 on Saturday night. Then, they hit on some of the local spring sports headlines from the week.Fighting Illini Sports Network play-by-play voice Brian Barnhart joins the show from Houston this week to preview Illinois-Iowa. (40:45)

On Sportsline this week, Ty Taylor and Jim Taylor open the show discussing the local spring sports season and recapping last week's IHSA Basketball State Finals.Then, Ty talks with the following local high school baseball coaches:Rockridge's Justin Chisolm (45:42)Mercer County's Jake Harrison (52:35)Sherrard's Nick Basala (1:03:19)

On Sportsline this week, Ty Taylor and Jim Taylor broadcast live from the State Farm Center during the final day of the 2025-26 IHSA boys basketball season.They are joined by IHSA Assistant Executive Director and Boys Basketball Administrator Chris Schwarz (10:42) and IHSA Associate Executive Director Matt Troha (42:16).Schwarz and Troha discuss the IHSA basketball state finals schedule, the future of the 3rd place games, potential changes to postseason seeding procedures, and more.

On Sportsline this week, Ty Taylor and Jim Taylor open the show discussing the statewide results from Friday's sectional championship boys basketball games and touch on the IHSA Girls Basketball State Finals.Then, Ty speaks with local softball coaches to preview the upcoming season:Mercer County head coach Dustin Murray (47:33)Sherrard head coach Josh Starkweather (59:56)Rockridge head coach Josh Bognar (1:10:46)

On Sportsline this week, Ty Taylor and Jim Taylor recap Sherrard and Orion's season-ending regional championship losses from Friday and look back at the season as WRMJ's basketball coverage has come to a close.Then, former Sherrard High School boys basketball Brian Hutton joins the show to discuss the Tigers' 2001 upset of Alleman 25 years later. (40:30)

On Sportsline this week, Ty Taylor and Jim Taylor open the show discussing the IHSA wrestling state finals, recapping the regional week of IHSA girls basketball, and looking ahead to the IHSA boys basketball postseason, which tips off on Monday.Then, Monte Smith joins the program from Champaign to recap the first two days of the IHSA Wrestling State Finals and set the table for the final day of competition. (44:15)New Orion football coach Matt McClean is also a guest on the show this week. (1:00:07)

On Sportsline this week, Ty Taylor and Jim Taylor open the show reacting to the vote from IHSA member schools that approved moving the start of football practice up to Aug. 5. They also discussed the newly released IHSA boys basketball pairings, preview the girls basketball postseason, and recap Friday's TRAC West boys basketball games.Then, IHSA Executive Director Craig Anderson joins the show to speak about the start of football practice moving up, SMAC's role, the IHSA using an RPI ranking system for boys volleyball postseason seeds this spring, if that could happen in other sports, the potential use of replay reviews at the IHSA State Finals, IHSA transfer rules, and more. (46:40)

On Sportsline this week, Ty Taylor and Jim Taylor open the show discussing Friday night's TRAC West boys basketball results and reacting to the local IHSA girls basketball regional brackets that were released this week.Then, they dive into the current by-law amendment IHSA member schools are voting on that aims to push the start of football practice up to Aug. 5, which adds on to a proposal that passed in December that expanded the playoffs and moved Week 1 of the season up one week. (23:30)Camp Point Central football Brad Dixon (32:17), who opposed the original proposal, and Paxton-Buckley-Loda football coach Josh Pritchard (1:04:43), who supported the original proposal both join the show. Ty and Jim close the show by giving a seeding projection for the local 2A boys basketball sub-sectional, which will be released this week. (1:28:26)

On Sportsline this week, Ty Taylor and Jim Taylor open the show reacting to Friday's 61-51 Sherrard win over Orion in boys basketball to take control of the TRAC West race. Then, they discuss the voting process that's ongoing for IHSA member schools to decide whether or not to move the official start of football practice up to Aug. 5.IHSA Assistant Executive Director Sam Knox joins the program, in a conversation recorded last month, to talk about the changes coming to the 2026 IHSA football season. (1:00:46)Ty and Jim close the show reacting to the local girls basketball results this week and give a seeding projection for the local IHSA girls basketball 2A sub-sectional. (1:04:24)

On Sportsline this week, Ty Taylor and Jim Taylor open the show reacting to some of the noteworthy results from the past week.Then, Aaron Britton (@NestoHoops on X) joins the program to talk about some of his top observations from 1A and 2A basketball so far this season. (52:40)

On Sportsline this week, Ty Taylor and Jim Taylor open the show reacting to Friday's battle between Sherrard and Mercer County and the rest of the TRAC West basketball results from the week. They also touch on WRMJ's wrestling broadcast from Thursday.Then, Scott Verstraete joins the program to discuss this weekend's Brickhouse Shootout (47:39).In the final segment, Ty and Jim react to the upcoming vote to move the start of the IHSA football calendar to Aug. 5.

On Sportsline this week, Ty Taylor and Jim Taylor open the program reacting to a big week in the TRAC West girls and boys basketball conference races.Then, Riverdale girls basketball coach Jay Hatch joins the show to discuss reaching the 600 career win milestone this week and his career that has spanned more than three decades as a varsity girls basketball coach. (54:19)

On Sportsline this week, Ty Taylor and Jim Taylor are joined in studio by former Orion High School football Chip Filler, who looks back at his career.

On Sportsline this week, Ty Taylor and Jim Taylor are joined by Glen Cook and Bill Breeden for our annual holiday show.Happy holidays!

Ty Taylor is joined by IHSA Assistant Executive Director Sam Knox, who oversees football, to discuss this week's announcement of the IHSA football playoffs expanding and the season moving up a week.They discuss what the addition of 128 teams to the postseason aims to fix, if it will be successful in doing so, why the proposal passed, the feedback the IHSA has initially received, the impact the Sports Advisory Committee (SMAC's) non-endorsement had on the propsal still being able to be voted on, if this is a step to all schools qualifying for the playoffs in the future, the possibility of doing away with a north/south split in the playoff brackets, if there will be change to the postseason seeding procedure, and more.

On Sportsline this week, Ty Taylor and Jim Taylor were joined in-studio by Sherrard boys basketball coach Alex Johnson and Mike Hutchins Holiday Classic Tournament Director Eric Hutchins to preview this year's field and reveal the bracket for the 2025 event.Then, Ty talks with Byron boys basketball coach Matt Huels (44:23), Princeton boys basketball coach Jason Smith (55;19), and Annawan boys basketball coach Alex Coppejans (1:02:50).Ty and Jim close the show by looking ahead to the tournament and reacting to the local boys and girls basketball sub-sectional assignments, which were released this week. (1:15:16)

On Sportsline this week, Ty Taylor and Jim Taylor (appearing from Chicago), opened the show recapping the first night of TRAC West boys basketball on Friday and discussed longtime Orion High School football coach Chip Filler's decision to step away from the program.Then, Filler joins the show in a conversation recorded Friday night just a few hours after he made the decision to resign (30:52).Later in the program, Ty looks ahead at the 2025-26 wrestling season with Rockridge head coach Lucas Smith (43:05), Sherrard head coach Jeff Garrett (58:50), and Mercer County head coach Jeremy Finch (1:09:19).

On Sportsline this week Ty Taylor and Jim Taylor open the show recapping the 1A-4A IHSA football state championship games and the opening week of local boys high school basketball.Then, talk through the 12 by-law amendment proposals that IHSA member schools will be voting on this month (49:46).Orion High School assistant boys basketball coach Travis Anderson, a 2011 graduate of the school, joins the show this week to speak about the meaning of the 10 & 32 Tip-Off Classic, which is named after his late teammates and friends Danny DeBacker and Andy Adams. (1:32:44).

On Sportsline this week, Ty Taylor and Jim Taylor open the show discussing the IHSA football semifinals and react to the first week of the local girls basketball season.Then, they dive into a preview of the TRAC West boys basketball season.Guests this week:Orion boys basketball coach Larry Anderson (1:04:52)Rockridge boys basketball coach Jordan Harris (1:22:28)Mercer County boys basketball coach Tim Sedam (1:36:34)Sherrard boys basketball coach Alex Johnson (1:48:22)

On Sportsline this week, Ty Taylor and Jim Taylor open the show by looking back at Rockridge's season-ending second-round playoff loss to Tri-Valley last week and previewing the Class 1A-3A quarterfinals.Then, they discuss Sherrard football coach Dan McGuire retiring and Sherrard girls track and field coach Todd Volkert earning a selection into the ITCCCA Hall of Fame.Ty and Jim close the opening segment by previewing the local girls basketball season.This week, Rockridge girls basketball coach Kyle Chandler (47:10), Sherrard girls basketball coach Doug Swanson (56:54), Mercer County girls basketball coach (1:09:48) join the show.

On Sportsline this week, Ty Taylor and Jim Taylor open the show by previewing Saturday's IHSA 2A second-round playoff match-up between Rockridge and Tri-Valley, before looking around at the rest of the 2A and local matchups.They then discuss Riverdale's wild sectional championship volleyball win on Thursday, which saw the Rams win the second and third sets after two coaches were ejected. They close the opening segment by covering Annawan's decision to cancel its 2025-26 girls basketball season.Then, El Paso-Gridley football coach Tanner Benedict joins the show to help preview the Rockridge-Tri-Valley game. (1:02:27)

WRMJ's play-by-play broadcast of Rockridge's 56-12 win over Illini West in the first round of the 2025 Class 2A playoffs.

On Sportsline this week, Ty Taylor and Jim Taylor preview Rockridge vs Illini West in the first round of the Class 2A IHSA football playoffs.Then, Mercer County High School Athletic Director Dustin Murray joined the program to discuss Roxana High School's proposal to regionalize football scheduling and expand the football postseason. (28:40)

Ty Taylor, Jim Taylor and Monte Smith break down the IHSA football brackets and speak with local coaches on the 2025 WRMJ Pigskin Playoff Preview.Ty talks with the following local coaches:Rockridge's Sam GravesIllini West's Jacob CalvinMonmouth-Roseville's Jeremy AdolphsonNewman's Mike LeMayFarmington's Toby VallasErie-Prophetstown's Tyler WhitebreadRiverdale's Guy DierikxPrinceton's Ryan Pearson

On Sportsline this week, Ty Taylor and Jim Taylor open the show discussing Week 9 of the high school football season in the TRAC and look ahead to the playoffs.Then, Friday Night Drive's Steve Soucie joins the show to give the latest bracket projection breakdown in the 1A, 2A and 3A fields. (39:49)

In a special Sportsline interview, Ty Taylor speaks with Roxana High School Athletic Director Mark Briggs and Assistant Principal Adam Miller about a proposal they authored to the IHSA that would expand the high school football playoffs from 256 qualifiers to 384 qualifers and alter regular season scheduling to a "flexed regional" format.For an overview of the proposal, click here.

On Sportsline this week, Ty Taylor and Jim Taylor open the show recapping Rockridge's 48-12 win over Monmouth-Roseville this week.Later in the show, they discuss the rest of the games around the conference and look ahead to the playoff picture. (33:42)At the end of the show this week, they talk about a proposal that will likely be voted on this year that would change IHSA football to a regional-based schedule and expand the playoffs from 256 qualifiers to 384 next season, and discuss Alleman football's recent forfeits and future in the Western Big 6. (1:44:15)Guests this week:Mercer County head coach Fred Lucas (19:34)Rockridge head coach Sam Graves (55:48)Sherrard head coach Dan McGuire (1:09:14)Orion head coach Chip Filler (1:21:31)Riverdale head coach Guy Dierikx (1:34:55)

On Sportsline this week, Ty Taylor recaps Week 7 of the high school football season around the TRAC.Guests on the show this week:Mercer County head coach Fred Lucas (22:59)Rockridge head coach Sam Graves (35:30)Monmouth-Roseville head coach Jeremy Adolphson (46:40)Sherrard head coach Dan McGuire (59:15)Orion head coach Chip Filler (1:10:57)

On Sportsline this week, Ty Taylor recaps Week 6 of the high school football season around the TRAC.Guests on the show this week:Rockridge head coach Sam Graves (21:28)Orion head coach Chip Filler (32:42)Erie-Prophetstown head coach Tyler Whitebread (43:57)Sherrard head coach Dan McGuire (52:58)

On Sportsline this week, Ty Taylor recaps Week 5 of the high school football season around the TRAC.Guests on the show this week:Rockridge head coach Sam Graves (26:50)Sherrard head coach Dan McGuire (41:01)Orion head coach Chip Filler (51:27)Monmouth-Roseville head coach Jeremy Adolphson (1:02:37)Mercer County head coach Fred Lucas (1:15:34)

On Sportsline this week, Ty Taylor recaps Week 4 of the high school football season, which marked the first week of divisional games in the TRAC.Guests on the show this week:Mercer County head coach Fred Lucas (23:22)Rockridge head coach Sam Graves (33:26)Newman head coach Mike LeMay (44:09)Sherrard head coach Dan McGuire (54:46)Orion head coach Chip Filler (1:04:30)

On Sportsline this week, Ty Taylor recaps Week 3 of the high school football season, which marked the first week of divisional games in the TRAC.Guests on the show this week:Mercer County head coach Fred Lucas (25:34)Orion head coach Chip Filler (37:57)Monmouth-Roseville coach Jeremy Adolphson (50:29)Rockridge head coach Sam Graves (1:01:14)Sherrard head coach Dan McGuire (1:15:15)

On Sportsline this week, Ty Taylor recaps Week 2 of the high school football season around the TRAC.Guests on the show this week:Mercer County head coach Fred Lucas (23:37)Rockridge head coach Sam Graves (37:55)Riverdale head coach Guy Dierikx (52:13)Sherrard head coach Dan McGuire (1:05:20)Orion head coach Chip Filler (1:17:19)

On Sportsline this week, Ty Taylor recaps Week 1 of the high school football season around the TRAC.Guests on the show this week:Mercer County head coach Fred Lucas (21:22)Sherrard head coach Dan McGuire (34:47)Rockridge head coach Sam Graves (43:18)Newman head coach Mike LeMay (57:00)Orion head coach Chip Filler (1:08:07)

On the first Sportsline of the 2025-26 school year, Ty Taylor opens the show previewing the upcoming season in the Three Rivers Athletic Conference, which is expected to be extremely competitive.Then, Ty talks with Orion head coach Chip Filler (28:00), Sherrard head coach Dan McGuire (43:22), Rockridge head coach Sam Graves (57:07), and Mercer County head coach Fred Lucas (1:14:24) to preview their respective seasons.

On the final Sportsline of 2024-25, Ty Taylor opens the show reacting to Sherrard naming Dan McGuire its next varsity football coach, recaps the season-ending losses for Sherrard in the softball and baseball sectional semifinals this week, and touches on results from the IHSA State Boys Track and Field Meet.New Sherrard football coach Dan McGuire joins the show to discuss taking over the program (18:53).Then, Ty counts down his favorite five games out of the 134 the station covered during the 2024-25 school year with highlights from each of the selections (50:21).Thanks for following along in 2024-25!Sportsline returns Aug. 23.

WRMJ's play-by-play broadcast of Sherrard's 5-4 walk-off win over Rockridge in the championship game of the 2A Monmouth-Rosevilel Regional on May 24, 2025

On Sportsline this week, Ty Taylor opens the show recapping Sherrard's 2-1 thrilling regional championship softball win from Friday and looks ahead to Saturday's Sherrard-Rockridge regional championship baseball match-up on Saturday.Sherrard baseball coach Nick Basala (23:57) and Rockridge baseball coach Justin Chisholm (34:01) join the show to preview the game.Then, Ty speaks with new Mercer County High School principal Joel Zaiser, who was hired earlier in the week (43:30).

WRMJ's play-by-play broadcast of Sherrard's 2-1 win in eight innings over Rockridge in the championship game of the 2A Farmington Regional on May 23, 2025.

On Sportsline this week, Ty Taylor opens the show looking back at Riverdale clinching the TRAC West softball championship with a win over Rockridge, local girls track and field sectional results and state qualifiers, Orion winning the TRAC boys track and field title, and providing a brief update on Sherrard's football coaching search.Then, Mercer County girls track and field coach Lara Swanson joins the show to discuss the Golden Eagles' sectional championship win from earlier in the week (16:28).Ty previews the local softball postseason by talking with Sherrard head coach Josh Starkweather (26:26), Rockridge head coach Scott Durbin (37:14), and Mercer County head coach Dustin Murray (48:34).

On Sportsline this week, Ty Taylor opens the show discussing results from the TRAC girls track and field meet and recapping the local IHSA 2A postseason brackets for baseball and softball, which were released earlier in the week.Then, Ty is joined by a trio of Sherrard coaches who won conference championships this week...Sherrard girls track and field coach Todd Volkert (24:22)Orion-Sherrard-Cambridge girls soccer coach Rick Cline (40:07)Sherrard baseball coach Nick Basala (58:48)

On Sportsline this week, Ty Taylor opens the show discussing Sherrard's football coaching search, the past week's important results, and previews and projects this week's postseason seed for the local baseball and softball sub-sectionals.Mercer County boys' track and field coach Emily Voller joins the show to discuss the program's strong start to the season and its win at the Mick Louck Invitational on Tuesday (24:36).Then, Ty talks with new Bureau Valley football Pat Elder about making the move from Ridgewood, what he thinks he can take from 8-man football and apply to 11-man football, and more (40:09).

On Sportsline this week, Jim Taylor & Ty Taylor discuss the week in local sports and look ahead at what's to come in the second half of the local spring sports season - after opening the show looking forward to Tess Taylor (Jim's daughter & Ty's sister) and Zac Anderson's wedding later in the day.Then, 2020 Mercer County High School grad and current Amoby baseball coach Cade Sharp joins the show to discuss his transition to coaching varsity baseball in his first year out of college, growing up around baseball in his family, and much more. (34:56)WCCI's Brian Reusch speaks with Jim this week about Sports Illustrated's bracket of best high school mascots in the country (1:01:35).

On Sportsline this week, Jim Taylor and Ty Taylor are joined by retiring Rockridge School District educators Tom and Katy Hasson to discuss their 33-year careers.Then, Jim and Ty close the show discussing local sports results from the past week (1:06:15).