The high school basketball season ends this weekend with boys’ games in Peoria. So we’re making a quick change to spring sports and there’s nothing wrong with that. I’m looking for some good things, coupled with bright times. Think sun.

No doubt, the weather will improve. If you don’t believe me, hang around the River Bend for another day. The forecast will shift dramatically. Yet the focus on prep achievement likely will remain the same in many corners.

Carlinville’s Kelsey Card, coming off hip surgery, will be shooting for her fourth consecutive IHSA state track titles in the shot put and discus. No female state thrower has ever accomplished that feat and Card, heading to Wisconsin, is on track to land in a class of her own.

Marquette Catholic softball, riding the strong arm of left-hander Alexis Silkwood, is thinking state again. The Explorers finished fourth last season and intend to make an annual appearance at the IHSA finals. Stay tuned.

Baseball, soccer and tennis also will have their share of success stories. By next week, players will be playing and we’ll be springing in action. All we need to do is roll away those clouds.

The boys basketball season is over for both Alton High and Marquette Catholic, but the Redbirds and the Explorers are far from finished.

They are looking ahead to next year — and with good reason.

Marquette brings back everybody from a team that went 25-8 and advanced to a Class 2A sectional championship game. With junior Derrik Starrett, sophomore Sam Scheiter and a good group of freshmen returning, the Explorers are poised for bigger and better things in 2011-12.

The Redbirds will be angling to improve on their 18-13 record, which included a regional championship. Do-it-all senior center Tony Bradley will depart and possible play for Southwestern Illinois College in Belleville. He won’t be easy to replace.

Devon “Vo” Hart, Vonte and B.J. Campbell, Dorian Scruggs and Eric Weaver also played their final games as Redbirds.

Nevertheless, there’s ample talent returning, including JaQuail Townser, Shane Mathews, Tyler McLemore, A’basa Brown, Christopher Lawrence, James Charles,, Jon Golley, Ayinde Perry and others.

The first thing the Redbirds need to do is take the interim tag off first-year coach William Gordon and give him the full title. He earned his stripes.

So did first-year Marquette coach Steve Medford. He guided Marquette to its fifth regional title in school history.

All figured, the Redbirds and Explorers accounted for 43 victories and two regional championship this season. That’s something to celebrate.

Now, they need to be as prosperous next season. The goal is the same — to play in Peoria.

If you go from Columbia to Carlinville to Carrollton tonight, you’ll find it’s a big night for boys high school basketball.

Regional championships are on the line at those three venues. Metro East Lutheran is cast in the Columbia 2A Regional. Marquette Catholic and Staunton are in the 2A one at Carlinville. And Carrollton is home for its Class 1A regional.

East Alton-Wood River (Class 2A) and Calhoun (Class 1A) are sectional venues next week, so expect local teams to land there.

Class 3A/4A regionals don’t get going next week, but Friday is also a big night for Southwestern Illinois teams in those categories.

Triad entertains Highland tonight for the Mississippi Valley Conference title and the Bulldogs can clinch it outright with a victory. The Knights are seeking a share of the Valley spoils.

O’Fallon and Belleville West appear headed toward a co-championship in the Southwestern Conference, yet everything hinges on Friday’s games. The Panthers entertain East St. Louis and the Maroons travel to Collinsville. O’Fallon and West both are 11-2 in the conference. West hasn’t won it since the 2003-04 season.

Let’s not forget the Alton at Edwardsville game in the SWC. It’s not for a championship, but the rivalry is alive and well. Friday’s game could set the stage for next week’s Collinsville 4A Regional.

There’s a possibility the Redbirds and Tigers could play in the title game at Vergil Fletcher Gym, though the host Kahoks and Granite City will have something to say about that.

For now, let’s follow the bouncing basketball and see where it guides us. Be assured that all roads lead to Peoria and the four-class state finals. Somebody from these parts should get there.

I’ll leave the guessing game to you.

Alton’s Redbirds and the Jersey High Panthers have something in common. Both have new football coaches.

The Panthers went outside their district to land Dave Jacobs, formerly at Champaign Central, Rochester and New Berlin. The Redbirds stayed closer to home, landing ex-assistant Dwight Tungett, who spent last season at Southwestern Conference rival Belleville West.

Jacobs helped start the Rochester program in 1996 and the Rockets have been firing on all cylinders since then. They were Class 4A state champs the past fall.

So the Panthers got an experienced coach and one that likes a high-powered attack. We’ll see how it works. Jersey hasn’t had a winning season since 2003.

Tungett is seeking the same kind of offensive explosion from the Redbirds, who have gone through four straight losing campaigns.

He certainly knows the landscape, having served as an assistant coach at AHS for 10 seasons. Tungett will stress a wide-open style, though not strictly throwing. Speedball figures to be his game.

Now that Alton and Jersey have settled on their new head coaches, East Alton-Wood River appears to be next in making its move.

Need we say Travis Williams?

And then there’s Civic Memorial, since Scott Tonsor, a Jersey High graduate, is returning to his hometown. We’ll see which direction the Eagles decide to go.

Stay tuned.

It’s time for state wrestling and that’s the best time of the season for prep grapplers. Just ask the nine matmen representing The Telegraph area this weekend at the University of Illinois in Champaign.

Chris Williams (135 pounds) and David Pearce (130) of Civic Memorial are striving for their first state titles in Class 2A. Williams is 42-1 and Pearce is 41-1, so their prospects are promising.

Both are angling to follow in the foosteps of former champs Kip Kristoff, Mark Kristoff and Jason Christeson of the Eagles. Kip Kristoff is a three-winner winner and possibly the best matman to come out of Southwestern Illinois.

Roxana’s Tyler Floyd (152) and Nolan Logan (171), plus Mount Olive’s Erick Tiller (145) are cast in Class 1A competition, while Alton’s Black Novack (171) and Taylor McGiffen (189), along with Edwardsville’s Sam Andresen (103) and Blake Blair (215) are Class 3A hopefuls.

Friday’s preliminaries set the stage for Saturday’s 74th annual finals, which are highlighted by the Grand March of the finalists. Four grand marshals will ensure that the festivities are grandiose. Then it’s on to championship wrestling.

Who knows? We may get a state champion this year. It wouldn’t be surprising. It’d be fitting.

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