When the high school basketball season ends in March, last week's Thanksgiving tournaments will be little more than an afterthought. However, it never hurts to get off to a good start, and three area teams are hoping to use their early-season success as a springboard to bigger and better things down the road.

If you're the least bit tempted to see some boys high school basketball this season, tonight offers a perfect opportunity to get a jump-start on the process. Bolingbrook, which is state ranked and the top team in the area in eyes of most observers, will visit Joliet Township at the Joliet Central gym.

I didn’t hear a better perspective about champions, those that won football games here this weekend and those that didn’t — than the words of Dave Villarreal, whose son Dustin, a classmate and teammate of Geneva’s seniors, tragically died on May 5, 2006 of a heart ailment after collapsing while out with friends.

Four and a half minutes were left in Saturday night's Class 7A state championship game at Memorial Stadium when East St. Louis quarterback Detchauz Wray took off to his right toward the Geneva sideline from the Vikings' 9-yard line.