Seven-game event on tap for Saturday

The inaugural Bank of Missouri 2004 Heartland Hoopfest, set for Saturday at the Perry Park Center in Perryville, will feature seven games with six involving teams with local ties.

Charleston, a Class 3 final four team from last year, will play defending Class 4 state champion Vashon in the feature game at 8 p.m.

Admission is $5 for adults and $3 for high school students and younger. The admission allows fans to see all seven contests. Doors open at 10 a.m. and the first game is scheduled for 11.

Meadow Heights will face Shawnee (Ill.) in the tournament opener.

Jackson (6-0) will take on DuQuoin (Ill.) in the second game of the tournament at 12:30 p.m.

At 2 p.m., Osceola (Ark.) will face Vianney. Oak Ridge plays St. Vincent at 3:30 p.m., St. Piux X meets Saxony Lutheran at 5 p.m., and Notre Dame plays Perryville at 6:30 p.m.

Christmas pairings

A Christmas Tournament title last year and an undefeated record this season helped Jackson grab the top seed in the Southeast Missourian Christmas Tournament, scheduled for Dec. 27 through Dec. 30 at the Show Me Center.

The Indians are 6-0 with notable wins against Dexter, Farmington, Central and Scott City. Jackson will open the tournament 9 a.m. Dec. 27 against No. 16 Chaffee.

Charleston drew the No. 2 seed, followed by Scott City and Central. The top four seeds made up the top four finishers from last year's tournament, with Central losing to Jackson in the finals.

Bell City, last year's Class 1 state champion, took the fifth seed. Bell City (4-2) has rebounded from a 1-2 performance at the Oran Tournament with wins against Advance, Delta and Leopold.

Advance, the Woodland Tournament champion, is seeded sixth, followed by Kelly and Notre Dame.

Scott County Central, off to a 5-1 start, is seeded ninth. Meadow Heights, Delta, Woodland, Leopold, Oran, Oak Ridge and Chaffee round out the seeds. The tournament will conclude Dec. 30 with an 8 p.m. championship game.

Jackson will try to become the first team other than Charleston to win consecutive titles since Central did it in 1980 and 1981.

All-conference soccer team

Central led the SEMO all-conference team with six players making the first team.

Devon Edmonds, Tyson Whiteside, Sam Bornstein, Matt Hellrich, Cody Gaither and Tony Leuckel represented the conference champion Tigers.

Tyler Beussink and Cameron Keller made the first team from Jackson.

Bryce Willen, Dee Goodin and Jacob Dufek made it from Notre Dame.

Second-team members included Lance Altenthal, Cole Crist, Ryan Ponder and Jeff Beard from Central; Frankie Ellis, Jason Delgado and Andrew Beulow from Notre Dame, and Chris Kraust, Brent Balsman and Derrick Biri from Jackson.