Praise be to the football gods! Week 1 is finally here! Time for the town to shut down, the lights to be bright, and memories to be made. Good luck to all the teams this season!
Metamora at Sterling: Last year Sterling blew a halftime lead to lose 28-17. In the second half, Metamora would move the ball, chucks at a time and stonewall Sterling’s offense. To start the season, Sterling will be a bit of an unknow coming into the season but I imagine they will want the ball in the hands of Senior Kaedon Phillips who should be an all everything athlete for the Warriors. Metamora will have their own all everything athlete in junior Jaiduan Cranford who has blink and you miss it speed. Both these teams are traditionally the punch you in the mouth type so I could see this being a moderate scoring affair as both offense attempt to slog their way down the field. I think it will be a close game, but I’m giving the edge to Metamora’s experience and size.
Prediction: Metamora by 1.
Galesburg as Dunlap: Last year this game started close until Galesburg fell apart and Dunlap raced out to a 53-14 win. This year, Galesburg has to travel to Dunlap to start the season. Galesburg had a rough summer, having to replace their head coach and is trying to establish who their playmakers are. Dunlap is always a solid team and I don’t think this game will see a large change from last years games as I expect Dunlap to wear down the Silver Streaks and pull away after halftime.
Prediction: Dunlap by 28
Fenton Rockwood Summit at Moline: First time match up! Moline starts the season off with out of state Fenton which is right outside of St. Louis. Fenton has been a super solid program the past three season with double digit wins and wins in the playoffs. Moline starts the season a very experienced squad with many starters back from last year. Big key to this game will be if Moline can get its physical Wing-T offense going and control the game clock as it looks like Fenton is a team that can score and score quickly. Playing on the grass surface of Browning Field should help the home team so I seen them winning a close, physical game.
Prediction: Moline by 3
Quincy at Quincy Notre Dame: Last year this one wasn’t even close as Bradyn Little threw for 300 yards and 5 TD’s in a 55-12 route of their intercity rival. Sorry Raiders’ fans, Little and all of his friends are back for one more year so I don’t see this game being any closer than it was last year.
Prediction: Quincy by running clock
Minooka at Rock Island: Last year this was a 41-7 beating delivered by Minooka. At the end of last season, Rock Island was starting to put everything together and returns a lot of experience in year two of coach Fritz Dieudonne’s playbook. I still think Minooka will win this football game, but I expect the Rock’s to give Minooka a much stronger test than last year. A good showing here will be a good spring board for the Rocks.
Prediction: Minooka by two scores.
United Township at LaSalle-Peru: Last year LP dominated on both offense and defense in route to a 34-14 win. This year, both teams come into this match up more green than they want to be. UT has to replace 3 year starter Matthew Kelley and LP will start Freshman Marion Persich. LP does return some experience on defense which could be the game breaker Friday night. I can see a low scoring affair as both teams attempt to figure out moving the football, but in the end LP’s defense will see them through.
Prediction: LP by 7
Chicago Comer at Geneseo: Last year this was a 56-0 tune up game for the Leafs and I expect much of the same here. Geneseo has a new head coach and it looks like they are returning to their under center way on offense. Geneseo has a lot of new kids to break into Friday night football and this will serve a good way for them to do that. I think the game will start slow for Geneseo as they figure out their varsity legs but once they start clicking, I see a rout starting.
Prediction: Geneseo by running clock
