Shawn Blakeman is used to making plays that never show up in a boxscore, more often than not because he puts himself in the right spot at the right time.

That’s why he laughed at his good fortune Wednesday night.

Blakeman was in the wrong place at the right time to help the Quincy High School boys basketball team pick off a regional semifinal victory against Pekin.

A missed 3-pointer by the Dragons’ Tyler Ruschmeyer with 10 seconds remaining in regulation wound up caroming along the right baseline and into the hands of Pekin’s Shane McCafferty.

Blakeman just happened to be behind McCafferty, reaching in to poke the ball loose before McCafferty ever got possession. The ball popped directly to Quincy’s Mitchel Rein, who was fouled and hit two free throws to seal a 36-32 victory.

“I actually forgot to go and get the rebound,” Blakeman said. “So I got lucky.”

So did Rein.

“Shawn saved me,” Rein said. “I missed the box out and it was my guy who had the rebound. He tipped it out of his hands and right to me. That made me look really good, so I want to give him credit for it.”

The Quincy High School boys basketball team gets a rematch with Pekin in the opening round of the Class 4A East Moline Regional at 7:30 p.m. Wednesday. The Dragons won the initial meeting 54-45 in the final game of the Pekin Insurance Holiday Tournament.

Since then, the teams have gone different paths. Pekin has won 11 of its last 12 games, while Quincy lost three of its final four regular-season matchups. To turn things around, the Blue Devils need to follow some trends that have led to success.

This season, the Blue Devils are …

… 4-0 when shooting 50 percent or better from the field.

… 5-1 when making at least five 3-pointers in a game.

… 6-0 when scoring 55 or more points.

… 6-3 when holding opponents to three or fewer 3-pointers made.

… 6-4 when committing 10 or fewer turnovers.

… 8-0 when shooting a higher field-goal percentage than their opponents.

… 8-5 when forcing 15 or more turnovers.

… 9-5 when outrebounding an opponent.

… 9-6 when trailing after the first quarter.

… 13-4 when at least two players scoring in double figures.

The moment lasted less than a minute, but B.J. Kroeger has a memory to treasure for a lifetime.

And he has a place in Blue Devil history.

Kroeger played in his first and only game with the Quincy High School boys basketball team Saturday night, sporting a No. 33 jersey and knowing his 15 minutes of fame were going to be more like 15 seconds. But that was enough.

A three-year varsity manager, Kroeger had done anything and everything Quincy coach Sean Taylor had asked of him. He was an invaluable behind-the-scenes part of the QHS program, taking care of game films, laundry and equipment. He ran the clock during practice, helped monitor drills and made himself every bit as recognizable as the players.

Yet, he was always one of the guys. He had his own locker and was always part of the post-practice and post-game banter. In fact, after Friday’s victory over Galesburg, the other seniors were still politicking for Kroeger to be in uniform against Springfield Sacred Heart-Griffin.

Taylor ultimately agreed. And when the varsity emerged for warm-ups, Kroeger led them onto the court, the first to burst through the paper sign the cheerleaders held up in front of the tunnel. At that time, though, there was no guarantee he would see the court.

That changed in the locker room five minutes before pregame introductions. Gathered for final instructions, Taylor told Kroeger he was in the starting lineup. He was the first player public address announcer Ron Rush introduced, standing alone in the spotlight.

And after SHG won the opening tip, Kroeger took his spot at the top of Quincy’s 1-3-1 zone. His only instruction? Foul.

So when the ball went to the wing, Kroeger ran down SHG guard Adrian Cave and fouled him. Immediately, Kroeger started toward the bench. His night and his career were through, but the moment wasn’t. Taylor was there to greet him, slapping high-fives. The student section, seated behind the QHS bench, went wild. And the rest of the Blue Devil Gym crowd stood and applauded.

Those are cheers he’ll hear forever.

Although the door to Sean Taylor’s office was shut tight, you couldn’t mistake the music pounding through the speakers inside the Quincy High School boys basketball team’s locker room Friday night. It was Nelly’s “Heart of a Champion,” a perfect accompaniment for a team where heart means so much more than talent.

Unlike the teams it battled for conference supremacy, Quincy didn’t have an NCAA Division I recruit or a player capable of posting 20 points per night. The Blue Devils didn’t have three starters standing 6-foot-5 or taller. They didn’t have high expectations.

And after a season-opening 65-54 loss to Centralia in which the Blue Devils shot 30.6 percent from the field, there were no expectations at all.

Yet, this group refused to settle for second best.

So players who were told they weren’t good enough to be part of the “A” team in junior high or found themselves buried on the end of the bench at Christmas with little hope of seeing the court find themselves being mentioned in the same breath as all-time greats like Bruce Douglas and Michael Payne.

They are Western Big Six Conference champions.

“This team will always be special to me,” said Taylor, in his fifth season at QHS and 18th season as a head coach. “We’re not overly talented, but we have as big of a heart as any team I’ve ever coached.”

In the months I spent conducting interviews and doing research for the book "Stand Up and Cheer," Chuck Brady’s name continually cropped up in conversations.

It reaffirmed how much he had touched this community’s heart and soul.

Brady spent nearly 40 years chronicling local sports for The Herald-Whig, retiring in 1991. By then, his Hall of Fame resume was filled with countless honors, but it’s not the awards for which he is remembered. It’s the way he delivered the news. As one person said when Brady was inducted into the Quincy High School Blue Devil Sports Hall of Fame, "a Chuck Brady column was like a comfortable pair of shoes you just couldn’t do without."

Sunday mornings were incomplete if you didn’t read "Chuck’s Clipboard."

hodge-podge of information, the Clipboard was essential reading. It was a look behind-the-scenes, a glance beyond the boxscore, a conversation that took place in a coffee shop or sitting on a barstool. The Clipboard gave readers something extra. It gave them insight. It made them feel knowledgable. It made them anxious to pick up the paper every Sunday.

I’ll try to honor that tradition here.

You’ll get news. You’ll get stories. You’ll get opinion. And hopefully, you’ll get some nuggets that spark a conversation or a debate.

Chuck’s Clipboard was always good for that.