Third Annual Semoball Awards get underway Saturday evening

The time has finally arrived for the Third Annual Semoball Awards.

More than 150 of the top student-athletes from 57 high schools across Southeast Missouri will gather Saturday evening at the Bedell Performance Hall on Southeast Missouri State's River Campus for the event's third installment, which is presented by SoutheastHEALTH.

A bevy of awards will be distributed for each sport among the pool of finalists, whom were selected by a panel of sports editors, writers and broadcasters from semoball.com and SEMO ESPN Radio.

Tickets are no longer available online but can be purchased by calling 573-388-3867.

The event will feature a keynote speech from ESPN contributor Mark Schlereth, a former Super Bowl champion offensive lineman who played 156 games in the NFL before retiring in 2001 after his 29th surgery.

Doors open at 5:30 p.m. with a red-carpet welcome, while the event is slated to begin at 7 p.m.

The Semoball Awards are made possible thanks to a number of sponsors, including official bank sponsor First Midwest Bank, title sponsors Athlon Sports and the St. Louis Cardinals and radio partner SEMO ESPN Radio, along with rustmedia and the area's five newspapers.