Wrestlers prepare for conference tourney

Conference supremacy is on the line Saturday at New Madrid County Central when the SEMO wrestling conference tournament gets under way.

Considered one of the toughest conferences in the state, the 10-team tournament will begin at 9 a.m. Jackson will likely enter as one of the favorites along with Farmington. Other teams include Central, NMCC, North County, Dexter, Poplar Bluff, Park Hills Central, Sikeston and Ste. Genevieve.

"What makes it good is you have high quality out of Class 1, Class 2 and Class 3," Central coach Josh Crowell said.

Boys Scott-Mississippi tournament kicks off today

Scott City enters the Scott-Mississippi Conference tournament as the favorite after a rout of Scott-Mississippi foe Delta on Tuesday.

The Rams are 9-3 entering the tournament, which will be hosted by Kelly. Scott County Central drew the second seed and is coming off a near-upset of Charleston.

Kelly is No. 3, followed by the Southeast Missourian Christmas Tournament consolation championship Delta. Oran, East Prairie and Chaffee round out the seven teams, respectively.

First-round action gets under way today with Kelly facing East Prairie at 6 p.m. The championship game will take place Friday.

Jackson faces Visitation in MLK Tournament

Jackson will face a tough Visitation team today in the King Classic Shootout held at Maryville University in St. Louis.

Jackson (11-2) is coming off win over rival Central on Thursday. The Indians will have their hands full with Visitation star center Katie Dierdorf, daughter of NFL great Dan Dierdorf. Katie Dierdorf signed with the University of Michigan during the fall signing period.

Visitation is currently ranked No. 4 in the Post Dispatch small schools poll, while Jackson tops the SEMO top 10 poll.

Sikeston gets new head football coach

Sikeston ended its search for a new head football coach on Wednesday with the hiring of former Central coach and current Sikeston assistant Jerry Dement.

Dement will replace Charlie Vickery, who led the Bulldogs for 26 years. Vickery stepped down in the fall after accruing a 156-104 record during his tenure at Sikeston. Dement has served as an assistant to Vickery since 1999, and had previously been an assistant under Vickery from 1979-1988.

Dement served as head coach at Central for six years and head coach at Malden four years before that. Dement finished with a 30-12 record at Malden and a 31-29 record at Central.

College notes

Notre Dame graduate Ashley Millham, a freshman at Central Missouri State University, scored a career-high 17 points in a win over Missouri Western State College on Saturday. Millham also dished out five assists and was a perfect 3-for-3 from 3-point range. Ashley's sister Lisa added eight points for the Jennies, who improved to 9-4.