The Ironmen came away with a 31-29 win over defending 4A State Champions, the Moline Maroons, battling back from a nine-point first-half deficit. Community (25-5) and Moline (23-6) posted season-low scores in what was, at times, a slow to no-tempo game. The Ironmen trailed 8-5 at the end of the...

Welcome to "The Up-Beat," where each week a group of Inkspot reporters take a break from breaking news to share what's been making them smile this week. B.J. Dumas, Lyra Townsend, Terrion Darnell and Bayli Ferris share what is making them happy this week.  

The Ironmen boys basketball team (24-5) hosts defending 4A champions the Moline Maroons Community’s final regular season home game, tipping off Saturday at 3 p.m. in a potential postseason preview. The Moline matchup has morphed into a rivalry in recent years, Iron assistant coach Mr. Matt Schweinberg...

A nine-point scoring differential–in football, that’s a two-score game; in baseball, it’s a team hitting the cover of the ball; and in hockey and soccer, a rather rare feat.   In the realm of high school basketball, where every possession counts and every point can tilt the scale, a box score...

The dance team's annual Guy/Girl Dance performance took place during halftime of the boys basketball game against Danville on Feb. 2. The tradition, where senior members of the dance team teach choreography to a male partner and perform at the first home boys basketball game of February, dates back...

Advancing six wrestlers to sectional competition is just one of the wrestling program’s many accomplishments this season under head coach Mr. Trevor Kaufman. The team won a second-consecutive Big 12 Conference title and second-straight Intercity championship. They went 18-2 as a team at dual meets,...

Six wrestlers advanced from Feb. 2’s Joliet Central Regional, moving on to compete in Friday’s Quincy Sectional, where they will vie for a shot at the IHSA 3A State Wrestling Tournament. Senior Cooper Caraway is looking for a third consecutive trip to the State meet after taking first in the regional’s...

The Ironmen boys basketball team secured the Big 12 Conference championship with a 73-48 win over the Danville Vikings on Feb. 2. With the victory, Community improved to 9-0 in conference play, placing the Big 12 title beyond the reach of the 8-1 Richwoods Knights. Despite one conference contest remaining,...

The boys swim team, after clinching a fourth-straight Intercity title and a third Big 12 championship in as many years, looks poised to compete for a historic third-consecutive Sectional title when Community heads to the Pekin Swimming and Diving Sectional on Feb. 17.  Fueling the team’s late-season...

When Normal High laced up their cleats, preparing to take to the gridiron against Bloomington, the nineteen-man football roster had no idea they’d become a part of local lore, that the annual Intercity contest would one day be the stuff of legend.  On that fall Saturday, October 27, 1934, only...

The Ironmen boys basketball team takes on the Metamora Redbirds in a clash of two state-ranked teams in Saturday’s 2024 Midwest Crossroads Shootout at Normal West. The Redbirds, as of Jan. 31st’s Associated Press rankings, are third in Class 3A and the Ironmen seventh in 4A, with both teams...

Cue the merch sales. The TikToks. The predictions. For weeks every January, thousands of dancers are buzzing about the pinnacle of the collegiate dance season: the Universal Dance Association’s national competition in Orlando, Florida.   Like any other high-profile sporting event, big names...

Is time expiring on the no shot clock era in Illinois high school basketball? Community’s head varsity basketball coaches Mr. Dave Witzig and Mr. Dave Feeney hope so. While the IHSA approved the use a 35-second shot clock for regular season shootouts and tournaments two seasons ago, the shot...

“Another day,” she told herself, pulling into the Community parking lot every morning.  “Another day,” she thought, sitting alone at the back of the classroom.  “Another day,” she said, crying in her bedroom after softball practice.  Stay another day, just one more day. The phrase...