Basketball News & Updates will be posted to this page as they occur...the plan is to have all stories stay on this page throughout the season, with the most recent posted at the top.

Thursday, December 17th: Gift idea...for our baseball boys. Coach picked up 4 rawlings bat bags on super special sale last week and now has them at school. They were originally $38 and cost only $17 with no shipping. If you want one for you son, contact Coach M by phone or email, and you'll be a Christmas hero

Thursday, December 17th: The Northwestern game schedule for Monday is definitely being played, there had been at least some confusion...it is hereby resolved, we ARE playing Northwestern on Monday. There will not be a 6th grade quarter that night, so the 6th graders will not be required to attend.

Wednesday, December 16th: Tomorrow's game vs Sorento will feature the 6th grade players in a game that will be played BEFORE the 7th grade game. We will try for at least one quarter, and possibly two. The actual game time is set for 6:00 and the bus departure time is set for 4:00. This will be another very late night, we will plan on stopping to eat at the McDonalds in Hillsboro on our way home.

Friday, December 4th: Virden has released the brackets for their 7th and 8th grade Tournament scheduled in January. This will be the last year as the Virden Tournament, because Virden & Girard will be consolidating at the conclusion of this school year. The current brackets can be accessed by the following links:

Friday, December 4th: The 8th Grade Lady Tomahawks claimed the school's first ever IESA Regional Girls Basketball Title and the first regional title for any Morrisonville Jr High since 1995. The girls defeated Pana St Pats in overtime, 28-26. The girls move on to a sectional game on Wednesday, December 9th, at Calvary Academy in Springfield where they meet Springfield Christian at 6:00. Congrats to the Lady Tomahawks and Good Luck in the Sectional.

Wednesday, December 2nd: Two small changes to our practice schedule, as mentioned below we have an earlier bus time for the Sorento game. The following day, Friday the 18th, we will start practice at 2:30 rather than the 3:30...we have an early dismissal that day due to finals scheduled for that day. Both changes are reflected on the practice schedule.

Tuesday, December 1st: The final 6th grade quarter has been added to the schedule, please note that Sorento bus time has been moved up by 25 minutes. While most added quarters are at half-time of the 7th grade game, the Sorento game will include at least one quarter BEFORE the start of the 7th grade, hence an earlier departure time. The Sorento game has an early start time anyway (6:00), so it looks like the 6th graders will be on the floor at about 5:10.

Tuesday, December 1st: With the celebration of Mark & Lela's wedding this weekend, we will have no practice on Friday or Saturday (there were none on the schedule so this is not a change, just a reminder). However, come next Monday things are going to get very busy as the Tomahawks are scheduled to play 7 games in a 15 day span (over a third of our games will be played during that time). Throw in the Winter concert on one Wednesday and the JH Fall Athletic awards the next, and our boys will be a harried bunch by December 21st. We recognize that this will pose a challenge for family scheduling and homework, please make it a point to keep the coaches informed of emergencies.

Tuesday, December 1st: We generally expect the boys to stay for both games. The 8th grade players are expected to be at the gym prior to the start of the 7th grade game and help with towels and water. The 6th grade boys should stay for the entire 8th grade game and help with towels and water. Things are going to get VERY hectic over the two weeks prior Christmas though, and if circumstances require your son to not stay for the 2nd game, please let us know...this is especially true if you, as parents, are taking them home to insure completion of homework.

Tuesday, December 1st: Because of scheduling conflicts created by the Elementary Winter Concert being held in the HS Gym, the Tomahawks got bumped from gym time. That means we will NOT practice this evening. We will have practice tomorrow as scheduled.

Monday, November 23rd: Please note a change concerning the game directions page. We originally had directions for Sangamon Valley as being played in Niantic. Sangamon Valley JH plays their games in Illiopolis. Our map pages now shows the correct location and should provide the correct directions.

Monday, November 23rd: Mrs Henderson.

As most of you are now aware, former Morrisonville teacher, Elaine Henderson, or affectionately know as "H" on the Morrisonville campus, passed away Sunday. Arrangements are now in place for visitation and the funeral, both of which will be held in the Morrisonville gymnasium; with visitation being held on Tuesday from 5:00-7:00 (undoubtably later), and the funeral services at 1:00 on Wednesday. All students will be dismissed at 3:00 on Tuesday to clear the facilities for preparation, which means that the Tomahawk Tuesday practice has been cancelled. School has been cancelled on Wednesday. The Tomahawks will have their next practice on Saturday morning, from 10 AM until 12.

Saturday, November 21st: Team pictures were handed out at Tip-Off, if your son did not get their photos, please see Coach Ferrill.

Thursday, November 19th: Rae Anne has delivered the digital copies of the team pictures for posting on the website, and they have now been linked with the roster page. Please note, these photos are for the webpage only and are not to be reprinted, Rae Anne maintains copyright on all photos. They have been shared as a courtesy and she asks that you respect her copyright priviledges. The images have been reduced in quality for the web and will not make good print copies anyway. Thanks to Rae Anne for the pics! You can access the pictures by going to the roster page and clicking on a player's name.

Wednesday, November 18th: Fall Jr High Sports Awards. Since many of our players also played baseball, this change will be important to most Tomahawks. There will be an awards night for Jr High Fall sports on Wednesday night, December 16th. This will be for those who participated in Jr High BASEBALL. The girls who participated in JH Softball and/or JH Basketball will also receive their awards that evening. Awards for the Tomahawk Basketball season will be presented in the Spring.

Wednesday, November 18th: Please make sure to sign out your son if he is not riding the bus home on away games. This is extremely important to insure we don't leave anyone behind. Please note as well that the sign-out sheet will be on a clipboard somewhere near the team bench following the game. The scorekeeper WILL NOT have the sheet, so please do not go to the scorer's table following the game. As a matter of courtesy to our opponents please be sure to walk around their gym floor rather than across it. We had two teams whose parents rushed directly across the floor and crowded around the scorer's table following games during the tournament. This created unnecessary foot traffic on the floor, interfered with Susan's attempts to sweep and complicated the work of those working at the scorer's table.

Wednesday, November 18th: Tip-Off & Chili Supper on Friday. The annual Chili Supper & Tip-Off will be held this Friday. Chili Supper runs from 5:00-7:00 in the HS Multi-purpose room with adult tickets @ $6 and children @ $4. Tip-Off will begin at 7:00. The Jr High team will be announced by Coach Ferrill. Players should wear game dress clothing for the evening. Admission for Tip-Off is $1 this year. The evening will include performances by all Cheerleading and Pom squads as well as the unveiling of the Mohawks 09-10 squad under the direction of Coaches John Odle and Rod Smith. THERE WILL NOT BE PRACTICE on Friday, please note the change!

Wednesday, November 18th: Sports Booster's Trivia Night. The annual Booster's Trivia Night will be held this Saturday @ the Morrisonville Legion. The Boosters support all Mohawk-Tomahawk athletics and need as much parental support as possible (they also have a meeting on Thursday night in the HS Library). Entry fees are $10 per person with a minimum of 5 participants per team. Doors open at 6:00 and the festivities begin at 7:00. It promises to be an evening of great fun, with proceeds directly benefiting Morrisonville athletes.

Saturday, November 14th: Special thanks to those who handled so much of the responsibility for the tournament. Susan Moomey worked on two "off" days to handle the custodial duties. Tootie Fleigle managed the hospitality room to rave reviews as she has for nearly half of the history of the tournament. Denny Daugherty handled the book for every game of the tourney and got bench help on the clock from Ed Voorhees all week and Rod Smith on Saturday. Megan McWard did a stellar job managing her first Tomahawk with some supervision help from HS Principal Ann Little. Our parents did a great job handling admissions and nearly all players delivered on the request for cookies! Morrisonville Athletics runs on voluteer energy and the 2009 Tomahawk was a superb example of Tomahawk volunteers at their best. Thanks from all the Tomahawks!

Saturday, November 14th: Five Tomahawks, including 3 who played male leads, starred in Friday's performance of the Brothers Grimm. There seemed to be some definite type casting for at least a couple of the roles, with Clayton Cina playing a real charmer, and Leyton Brown angling for more blood and guts in each scene. We're not sure about our "fairies" just yet, but with their high-kicking they may well find themselves among the Rockettes for their Christmas show. "Coach" Brockamp directed stage traffic in much the same way he will handle floor traffic for the Tomahawk's offense. Great job boys. Link to Play Photo Gallery.

Friday, November 13th: The boys have done an excellent job with their apparel for ballgames. This is NOT meant to be a hardship, so if there are extenuating circumstances on why your son could not be "dressed up" for a game, we would like parents to contact one of the coaches to let us know. Players not wearing appropriate dress will lose playing time, so if something happens beyond their control, we want to know.

Friday, November 13th: Mohawks in Tomahawk Championship game...note time change! The 7th grade Mohawks moved into the championship of the Tomahawk Tournament for the first time in over a decade with their win over Meridian. The boys will play Edinburg in the Championship Game @ 1:45. This is a CHANGE from the original bracket (made to accomodate the Pana team so they could attend the Pana football playoff game).

Friday, November 13th: The Tomahawks have games on Monday & Tuesday next week and BOTH games will have the additional 6th grade quarter. Response has been generally positive from the teams on our regular schedule, so we'll see how it works.

Wednesday, November 11th: Eligibility Reminder. The IESA "no pass-no play" states that any student who is failing any course during the current grading period is ineligible to participate in Jr High Activities. Megan will check for eligibility on Thursday and generally lets coaches and players know on Friday that they will not be eligible for the following week (Monday - Saturday). There is NO flexibility here. The District has a policy that any student who is ineligible for 3 weeks during the season is removed from the team. Again, we have NO flexibility on this one. With the number of days missed for illness during the beginning of the season, we have a number of students with work that has to be made up. The faculty has been willing to work with these students, but ultimately the responsibility rests with the student.

Wednesday, November 11th: 6th Grade Playing Time. With 22 players on the roster this fall, playing time for each of the boys is going to be more challenging than in the last couple of years. Here's the immediate plan to get court time for our youngest players. Each team that we compete against during regular season games is being asked to play an additional quarter during the half-time of the 7th grade game. We have seven 6th graders, and this will be time dedicated to their chance to play. At present we are looking at an 8 minute, running clock quarter every time our opponent is willing to play. There will be some opponents who won't have enough players, or simply won't want to play, but the goal will be to play as often as possible utilizing existing regular scheduled games. Due to budget concerns we have been directed to add NO games to the schedule, so this is the proposed work-around. This does not mean the 6th graders will not play during the 7th grade games. Illness, injury & eligibility will shape our pool of players, and we'll make an effort to get productive time on the floor as often as we can, the extra quarter is intended to provide an additional opportunity for floor experience.

Tuesday, November 10th: Picture proofs have been posted and are now accessible by CLICKING HERE! Raeanne will provide a copy of each individual for use on the website, these will not be suitable for print and carry her copyright. These will be posted later this week.

Wednesday, November 4th: JH Play Stars

Five Tomahawks are headlining in the Jr High Play on Friday, November 13th. Clayton Cina, Leyton Brown & Alex Brockamp have major speaking roles. While Logan Pennock and Carl Goebel will be special baskeball "fairies." The performance will be held in the Grade School Multipurpose room. It appears Alex is the only one who gets the girl.

Wednesday, November 3rd: The boys are receiving an extra special gift from Coach M today during practice. Specially chosen game towels will go to each of the players for use at games. We will discourage sharing of towels, so each players will be responsible to make sure they bring the towel along with them to each game. Coach would like to blame Sears Bath Associate Zach for the choice of the cute appliques, but it really came down to price. Players that get one of the full-size towels are welcome to cut them down in size, but the cut end unravel if it isn't seemed.

Monday, November 2nd: Game Day Dress: without placing a hardship on families, we'd really like to set some minimum standards of dress for our games. Players should have a shirt with a collar and buttons, pants that are not jeans, a pair of dress shoes, non-white socks and a belt. We realize this is short notice, so there will be some leniency here. These guys are growing (or at least we hope) and we're not looking to force a wasted purchase, but we would like to see dress up at least a little. If this is a problem, please call one of the coaches and we'll work something out.

Monday, November 2nd: Important note concerning the uniform color we wear during tournaments. For this week we are scheduled to be the visiting team on Monday & Tuesday, and the home team for Thursday. The home team wears white, the visiting team wears dark. As a policy, and this is important, the boys are to bring BOTH uniforms to ALL tournament games.

Tuesday, November 2nd: Tootie Fleigle is volunteering to handle the Tomahawk Tournament Hospitality room again for this year (more than 15 years of service!). Each player is asked to donate 1 dozen cookies during the week. These may be homemade or store purchased and should be delivered to the Ag room sometime next week. A note with the details will be sent home during practice on Wednesday. A donation sign-off sheet will be in the Ag Room, be sure to sign off when dropping off cookies.

Monday, November 2nd: We have been provided with coupons for discounts from Dick's Sporting Goods at the White Oaks Mall. This IS NOT an endorsement of the store, but if you're considering the purchase of athletic apparrel or shoes, the coupons are good for 20% off on apparrel and $10 off shoes. There is also a $10 off of any $50 purchase, and 10% off any team sports accessory item. These are available from the Coaches or AD Megan McWard...just ask!

Monday, November 2nd: This ends up being a really slow week for the 6th graders, with practice on Wednesday and Friday and no games. The 6th graders are WELCOME to attend the tournament games, they may have to pay admission, but they are certainly welcome to ride the bus.

Thursday, October 29th: We have one slot to fill on gate volunteers, it is during the Tomahawk on Thursday, November 12th at 6:45. Parents and players did an absolutely fantastic job with the volunteer sheets, thanks!!! We're still needing volunteers for the scorebook and scoreboard...if you are interested, let Coach Ferrill or Coach Montgomery know. Email is a great way to communicate with Coach M, coachm@mohawks.net will work very well.

Thursday, October 29th: Team picture date has been set for Monday, November 9th @ 5:00. That date is the Monday of the Tomahawk...we do not play that night, but we couldn't get gym time after-school so we'll take the pic. Picture packets will be distributed early next week. Raeanne will give us a link for the pictures and orders as well.

Tuesday, October 27th: The printable GAME schedule is now available as well. The link will remain on the schedule page. Printing the webpages generally does not produce a good result, so a link is provided to print a clean copy. Remember...there will likely be changes, so if there is a conflict, go with the online schedule. Link to printable game schedule.

Tuesday, October 27th: A printable schedule of games and practices for the entire season is now online and should print nicely. The link to the schedule will remain permanently on the practice schedule page but can be accessed by clicking here. The schedule is likely to undergo changes throughout the season, but this schedule should be very close.

Tuesday, October 27th: A team picture is now posted on the roster page. Our practices have the same feel as the old TJ Maxx gingle "it's never, ever, the same place twice," with some many players missing for the flu...and we're missing 4 players from the shot. This is NOT the "real" team picture, Reanne will schedule this later, but this one will have to do until then. The players did an incredible job of remembering uniforms...nice job players and parents.

Tuesday, October 27th: Springfield Christian added to schedule! Coaches asked AD Megan McWard to look for a couple of additional games, and she came through immediately. We have added a Tuesday, December 8th game which is presently scheduled at Mville. The date is not a first choice (it makes 3 in one week & have none in the last week of the regular season) but they are a team in our regional. This also means we'll need a volunteer for the gate that night...contact Coach M if you're willing to take the date.

Monday, October 27th: Update on the Virden Tournament. The Tournament is for BOTH the 7th and the 8th teams and will be played during the week of January 11th-15th. We will play at least two games with both teams. All Tournament games will be played in the back gym and may have VERY early start times (ie 4:00). We'll get the bracket sometime in December.

Friday, October 22nd: Practice schedule for next week is now posted on the practice schedule page. The goal is to have an entire month scheduled with Megan sometime early next week so parents have more of a target to plan around.

Thursday, October 21st: Apologies for the late release from practice this evening. Here’s the lowdown (or if you prefer, excuses). We needed to hand the uniforms out early for a couple of reasons, the biggest was that we had to have our roster to Edinburg for the 8th Tournament by Monday. The tournament program includes numbers and we needed to have uniforms assigned to have the numbers available for the program.

We have been scrambling to recover just enough uniforms (3 sets were returned today), to fit the entire squad. The 22 boys out for this year’s team is the most in several years, so this is the first time in a long time that the Tomahawk uniform situation has been this tight. Coach M was not going to be available to help Mark on Friday and Saturday, so with the uniforms available, a post-practice distribution became the best option. We truly want to be respectful of your time and will work hard not to leave parents hanging by going over practice time…tonite’s distribution was nearly unavoidable.

We were equal opportunity disappointers in regards to the uniforms. We worked to get the best fit possible for ALL players, which likely means none will be truly happy. We have NO EXTRA uniforms, so we can’t do much with the condition of an individual uniform at this point, and players must understand that if they misplace their uniform, we have nothing to replace it with this season.

Also, please understand that the uniform (4 pieces: red top, red shorts, white top, white shorts) and the practice reversible, are the property of the school. They are not to be worn at any time except practice (reversibles should be worn for every practice), or games in the case of the uniform. If a player decides to stop participating with the team, the first action should be to return the equipment and notify one of the coaches. The equipment must be returned immediately following our final game in January or early February.

Wednesday, October 21st: Schedule updates: The schedule page has been updated with information concerning the two season openning tournaments. The 8th grade will open the season with the Edinburg Tournament, playing Kincaid @ 6:15 on 11/2, Edinburg @ 7:30 on 11/3, and Tri-City @ 6:15 on 11/5 (all dates are on the schedule). The 7th grade opens the following week at our Tomahawk Classic. We open vs Pana Sacred Heart on Tuesday 11/10 @ 7:30. We'll play on Thursday and Saturday, with playing times depending on game results. LINK TO TOURNAMENT BRACKET.

Wednesday, October 21st: Athletic Director, Megan McWard, has released the admission gate volunteer sign-up form and it will be distributed to players at tonite's practice. All players need to return the form on Thursday, even if you do not intend to volunteer for a date. Volunteers are the key to success for every Morrisonville Athletic Team. Thanks for your continuing support. Link To Gate Volunteers.

Thursday, October 22nd: Updates to the game directions have been completed and you are encouraged to play with the Google Map links. Get over your inhibitions and get "geeky," you'll be glad you did.

Wednesday, October 21st: Shoes are in! Oh you neighsayers and non-believers...Coach Ferrill and Coach M & Kesslers come through right on time, and you thought they wouldn't arrive until the end of the season :-) Players must have made payment prior to receiving their shoes.... Kesslers came through and they can be picked up at tonite's practice if payment has been received. Players must make sure they fit prior to practicing in them...they cannot be returned for poor fit if they have been used. Reminder..players DO NOT have to have this shoe, but they do need a shoe that is white and red for games.

Friday, October 16th: The details of the basketball practice schedule are still being worked out, but the boys can make their plans around a 5:30-8:00 practice time each evening next week. Monday and Tuesday practice WILL definitely begin at 5:30 and will likely be done prior to the scheduled 8:00 time. We'll get a school reach message out this weekend. Players must have a physical on file in the office prior to participating in practice.

Thursday, October 15th: Shoe orders were placed and all 17 boys who had forms in should have their shoes next week. Expectations are that the shoe order will go better than the baseball hat order. Parents and players please note...the shoes should NOT be worn to practice until everyone is happy with the fit. Kesslers will exchange shoes that have NOT been worn, so if a player wears them to practice, there will not be an exchane for poor fit. Playes should try them out at home to make sure they fit well and parents have a chance to confirm they are going to work.

Wednesday, October 14th: The new JH Basketball School Reach phone list maybe a little patched together. If you need a number added or removed, contact Coach M. It is not expected that the call system will be used as frequently as it was with baseball, the game and practice schedule should be a bit more predictable. If you missed part of the original message, or just like the sound of Coach M's voice, you can hear it again by CLICKING HERE!

Wednesday, October 14th:
Shoe Order Wednesday October 14th. View shoe in detail CLICK HERE.

Wednesday, October 14th: Jr High players were sized for shoes and sent home with a shoe order permission note. ALL players should return the note to Coach M on Thursday. An order will be placed Thursday AM with all the confirmed orders at that time...we can add orders later. Checks should be made payable to Morrisonville HS and CAN be post dated (we can hold the checks for a while if necessary). Players will not receive their shoes until payment has been received. Players should NOT practice in their shoes until they are sure they fit...once they have been worn in practice, we will not be able to return them because of poor fit. Any questions...call the Man (Mark Ferrill @ 565-0407)r

Wednesday, October 14th: Kesslers will be in Coach M's room @ 3:15 to fit players for shoes. Purchase from Kesslers IS NOT required, but they will be provided shoes at a substantial discount and has a good track record of standing behind their shoes. We will have several styles to choose from, but the targeted shoe will be the Nike Blue Chip which will run $65..

October 13th..Preseason Conditioning: Coach Ferrill will be supervising preseason conditioning during the week of October 13th thru 16th after school. Players are to meet near the gym lobby. To keep peace in the Montgomery household, all players who are involved in the play should attend play practice.

September 24th: Mark Ferrill named Tomahawk Basketball Coach for 2009-2010 Season. The school board approved Mark Ferrill as coach for this year's Tomahawk campaign after accepting the resignation of Paul Millburg. Mark is the veteran Tomahawk Baseball coach, having served in that capacity for the past 10 seasons, and served as assistant coach to Corey McQueen for two seasons of Tomahawk basketball. Mark's first words of encouragement and advice to this year's squad is..."Grow!"