• Honoring approximately 100 Afghanistan veterans of the Illinois Army National Guard on Saturday, Guard Commander Dennis L. Celletti thanked family members for their sacrifice as well and the community for its “outpouring of support” when Charley Company returned home in August.

• The Beecher High School boys’ cross-country team had a third-place trophy in its hands. Then, with just one unfortunate move, it was gone. The team’s No. 3 runner, Jordan Joaquin, was disqualified after interfering with another runner, pushing the team — the favorite to win the state championship
— from a disappointing third-place finish all the way down to sixth at the Illinois High School Association Class 1A state finals on Saturday at Detweiller Park in Peoria.

• It’s only a patch of grass. But that small piece of turn on Memorial Field has been unkind to the Bishop McNamara Catholic High School football team over the last two years.