In Episode 8 of the B4G Talk Show, Grady Furlow joins the show to break down Southern Illinois high school boys basketball, with a heavy focus on holiday tournament action across the region. We recap key matchups, highlight standout performances, and discuss what these tournaments reveal about teams heading into the heart of the season. As always, the conversation also centers on faith and how God continues to play a role in sports, leadership, and everyday life.Below are the boys basketball holiday tournament champions discussed in this episode:Holiday Tournament Champions:Appleknocker Holiday Tournament at CobdenCobden defeated Cairo 53–50Kyler White was named tournament MVP82nd Centralia Holiday Tournament:Chicago Marist defeated Centralia 50–42Collinsville Prairie Farms Holiday Classic:Decatur MacArthur defeated Mt. Vernon 61–32Duster Thomas Hoops Classic at Pinckneyville:Woodlawn defeated Sparta 48–46Kyle Cooper was named tournament MVP61st Eldorado Holiday Tournament:Carterville beat Anna-Jonesboro 59-2844th Sesser Valier Holiday Tournament:Goreville defeated Waltonville 40–3964th Mater Dei Christmas Tournament:Nashville defeated Orchard Farm 49–46

Merry Christmas to you all.We filmed the Christmas Special this week, featuring five different segments and thirteen total guests. We kicked things off with Rob Blondi and Bobby Blondi, then brought on the Wheeler clan with Tom Wheeler, Hunter Wheeler, and Dhana Wheeler. From there, we sat down with Bob Pankey, the new lead pastor at Whittington Church who is heavily involved in FCA.We also featured the Benton Rangerettes, joined by girls basketball head coach Dave Brown and his two players, cousins Kinley Glover and Madelyn Roundcount. We wrapped things up with the Sloans. Andy Sloan is the current head girls track and field coach for the Rangerettes and an assistant boys basketball coach at Benton. Bob Sloan is a longtime coach. Sandler Sloan is an eighth grade multi sport athlete who has also been involved in sports media and radio broadcasting since sixth grade.

Timestamps:

00:00 - Intro

04:19 - The Blondis

46:48 - The Wheelers

1:33:31 - Bob Pankey

2:04:47 - Benton Girls Basketball

2:36:49 - The Sloans

3:17:27 - Outro

We filmed Episode 6 of the Ballin4God Talk Show, sponsored by Rend Lake Cabins In The Woods. In this episode we had three guests on.SIU Head Football Coach Nick Hill from DuQuoin came on and shared his journey. Hill was an all-state basketball and football player in high school. Played basketball at Western Kentucky for a year, then came back and played football for the Salukis. He chased the pro route and tried out for the NFL. Now he’s been the head coach at SIU the last 10 seasons. Our second guest was Rend Lake Warriors basketball coach Tim Wills. Wills is a Benton grad and played for Coach Rich Herrin. He hooped at Rend Lake and SIU-Edwardsville. He talks about how college ball changed his life and shaped who he is today. Our final guest was Gage Peterson, senior at Waltonville. Gage talks about his time as a Spartan, some rivalries, and teammates from over the years. We apologize for the camera issues in this episode. We believe we found the problem and will have it fully fixed for the next episode, The Christmas Special. Please stay tuned and listen to Coach Wills and Gage Peterson. Both were amazing guests and super understanding. The rest of this episode is audio-only, so make sure to still listen.You can find the full episode on YouTube or Spotify.

Timestamps:

00:00 - Intro

04:02 - Nick Hill

47:38 - Tim Wills

1:31:57 - Gage Peterson

1:58:29 - Outro

We filmed Episode 5 of the Big Show brought to you by Rend Lake Cabins In The Woods. In this episode of the Ballin4God Talk Show, we had an all Ryan lineup with Ryan Goodisky from Zeigler Royalton who is now the athletic director at Marion, Ryan Algrim the SIU longsnapper, and Ryan Zeigler who takes photos for The Southern Illinoisan and also runs Field Focus. All three guys had great stories and a lot of insight on sports in southern Illinois, their journeys, and what keeps them going.

Timestamps:

00:00 - Intro

04:40 - Ryan Goodisky

51:32 - Ryan Algrim

1:20:34 - Ryan Ziegler

2:12:24 - Outro

We had three really good guests on our fourth episode of the podcast.First up was Darren Kinnard, who’s had a bunch of different stops in the sports media world. He started at WSIL, where he spent 26 years and served as Sports Director for 13 of those. After that, he went to Withers Broadcasting for four years running Section618.com, and now he’s at River Radio running RiverRadioSportsCentral.com, which covers high school and college sports.Our second guest was Brad Wilson, who has pretty much done everything. Most people around here know him from something — his playing days at Benton, coaching, refereeing, and about a dozen other roles he’s taken on in the community.Our final guest was Cale Maurer, a Mount Vernon basketball and baseball player. He’s in his senior year, and he talked about the expectations on him and just trying to take it all in.All three guests also talked about their relationship with God in one way or another, which was awesome to hear.You can check us out here every Thursday at 4 PM on YouTube or Spotify.

Timestamps:

00:00 - Intro

07:42 - Darren Kinnard

1:19:10 - Brad Wilson

2:14:53 - Cale Maurer

2:46:25 - Outro

Welcome to episode three of the Ballin4God Talk Show. This one fit perfect for a Thanksgiving special. We had Kyle Cooper and Luke Cooper on, the Cooper brothers from Woodlawn. They got to reunite for Kyle’s senior year since Luke is in his fourth year of coaching at Woodlawn. Kyle transferred in from Waltonville after playing there for three years, and now for his senior year he gets to play for his brother and also for his uncle Rob Flanagan, who is honestly a legend in himself. Rob had head coaching gigs at Carterville and Richland County in Olney. He won 489 games at Richland County with 313 losses and had a lot of successful teams, including a third place finish in 2008.The Woodlawn Cardinals have high expectations this year and Luke talks about how they are handling it and the success the team has had so far.We also had a couple all time great coaches from the Southern Illinois area in Mike Chamness from Anna Jonesboro and Ron Winemiller from the Benton Rangers. Ron has a 324-171 career record at Benton with six regional titles and a state runner up finish in 2024. They talk about the importance of family, their Thanksgiving feels, the big games they have been a part of, and what it is like seeing their old players grow into the men they are today.

Timestamps:

00:00 - Intro

14:50 - Kyle & Luke Cooper

39:07- Mike & Ron

1:39:45 - Outro

We are back with Episode 2 of the Ballin4God Talk Show and this one has a lot of Benton representation in it.We announced who won last week’s trivia question and we shared the new one which is How many South Seven Conference Championships did Rich Herrin win while he was the head coach of Benton? You can win by being the first person to comment on Facebook, Instagram, TikTok, or YouTube.Our first guest was Shane Garner who is well known around the area. He is the athletic director for the Benton Rangers at Benton Consolidated High School. Before coming to Benton he grew up in Sesser and graduated from Sesser Valier High School. He talked about his time at Rend Lake College and the impact a couple of coaches had on him while he was at Southern Illinois University in Carbondale.Our second guest was the Voice of the Benton Rangers Danny Czerwenski. Danny shared all of his stops as a radio broadcaster and he talked about his time as a grade school teacher at Woodlawn. He has been the radio broadcaster for Benton for the last nine years and has spent a total of sixteen years connected to Benton.Our final guest was my favorite teacher Matt Wynn. Most people know him as Coach Wynn or Mr Wynn and many know him as Matt. He recently retired as a teacher from Benton after thirty three years in education including twenty three years at BCHS. He coached the Rangers basketball team for seven years and he graduated from BCHS in 1987. He went on to play for Southern Illinois under Rich Herrin at SIU. He later wrote a book about Rich Herrin titled Rich Herrin A Head Coach Ahead of His Time where he interviewed many of Coach Herrins players from 1960 to 1985 during his years at Benton.

Timestamps:

00:00 - Intro

05:54 - Shane Garner

29:15 - Danny Czerwinski

1:00:41 - Matt Wynn

2:16:29 - Outro

Welcome to the brand new Ballin4God Talk Show, your spot for everything Southern Illinois Sports.We kicked off Episode 1 with three special guests.Guest 1: Aaron WrightFirst up was Aaron Wright, a Du Quoin native who now serves as the athletic director and head boys basketball coach at Elverado High School. Wright has been involved in officiating for decades with 34 years of experience. He no longer referees basketball since he is coaching, but he is still a white cap in football. He also made three trips to officiate the IHSA State Championship in basketball earlier in his career. His background and reputation speak for themselves.Guest 2: Callahan RoperOur second guest was Callahan Roper, this year's Ballin4God Player of the Year. He had an incredible senior season. His family is already well known in Southern Illinois sports with his uncles Jason and Jeff Roper being long time football coaches and several members of his family being standout athletes at Harrisburg.Roper is a Marion guy, and he completely took over his senior year. He broke almost all of Matt Brown’s major school passing records. Brown was Marion’s quarterback from 2005-2007 and led the Wildcats to their first semifinal appearance in school history.A few of Roper’s new records includecareer passing yards: 6,236career passing touchdowns: 69passing yards in a season: 3,040passing touchdowns in a season: 37passing yards in a game: 435passing touchdowns in a game: 7Guest 3: Coach Mike RudeOur final guest was someone many consider the greatest football coach Southern Illinois has ever seen. Coach Mike Rude wrapped up his 56th year coaching football at the age of 77. He is currently the head coach for Christopher, Zeigler Royalton, and Elverado, known together as CZRE.Rude has been a head coach at Wyanet, Anna Jonesboro, Marion, Johnston City, Vienna and Goreville, Sesser Valier and Waltonville, and now CZRE. Christopher is his alma mater, which makes this season a full circle moment for him.In his first year he snapped the program’s 20 game losing streak by beating Eldorado 35-30 after trailing 30-22 going into the fourth quarter. He also led the Bearcats to their first playoff appearance since 2008. He has already changed the entire culture of the program in one season.Trivia QuestionWhen was Mike Rude’s first ever playoff appearance as a head coach, and which team was he coaching at the time?If you answer correctly, and you are the first to message the correct answer and follow the Instagram page, you will win free Ballin4God gear.

Timestamps:(00:00) - Intro(08:10) - Aaron Wright(29:01) - Callahan Roper(45:07) - Mike Rude(1:20:07) - Outro

Make sure to give Episode 7 a listen, featuring BJFL President TJ Spencer. TJ is married to Kassie Spencer and they have three kids, including two high schoolers: Riley, a senior, and Aurorah, a junior.In this episode, TJ and I reflect on our past experiences in the BJFL. He also discusses the current state of the league and highlights all the people who help keep it running. We take a look back at some of the top players TJ has had the chance to coach over the years, as well as some of his favorite memories.If you haven’t already, be sure to check out our previous episode with Dez Malone, Jonah Ruffino, and Talan Alexander—better known as “The Offense.”

In this episode, host Russell Conwell is joined by “The Offense” — Jonah Ruffino, Dez Malone, and Talan Alexander, three 2024 graduates from Sesser-Valier High School. Together, we dive into a wide-ranging conversation about sports, life, and faith.