1. Quincy: 2023 8-3 Lost in Round 2. Quincy might be the most explosive team in the WB6 and the crazy thing is, a lot of that explosiveness is juniors. Offense will sling the ball all over the field and score points in bunches. Defense will be a little sterner than it was last year, but will still need to figure out how to not struggle against some of the better schools. This team will go as far as its offense takes it. Schedule wise, they host 3 of their 4 toughest games (Moline, Geneseo, Mahomet-Seymour), but have to make the very long bus ride to Sterling.
2023 Prediction 8-1
2. Geneseo: 2022 5-5 Lost in Round 1. Geneseo might be the most experienced team in the WB6 this season and is very senior heavy with a slew of 3 year starters. Offense has tons of experience on the field running their spread look (still very weird to say that about Geneseo) and should put up points. Defense is the same way in bringing back a lot of on field experience. This could be the year the Maple Leafs remind the state (and rival Sterling) that they can still be a force to be reckoned with. Schedule wise, Their 3 tough tests will be away games at Quincy and Moline, and then hosting Sterling for homecoming.
2023 Prediction 7-2
3. Sterling: 2022 9-3 Lost in the Quarterfinals. Sterling will have a lot of new faces on both side of the ball this year, graduating most of their production from a year ago. Offense will be breaking in a new QB, RB, and most of the OL. Defense will be the strong point of the team starting off the year, and a Sterling defense is always very well coached. One of Sterling’s strengths over the years has been that it is a well build program that is able to reload instead of rebuild, but with the new faces and tough schedule, winning will very much have to be earned. Schedule wise, Sterling picked up 3 tough non-cons (Metamora, St. Francis, and Princeton), plus a good group of strong WB6 teams.
2023 Prediction 6-3
4. Moline: 2022 9-2 Lost in the Round 2. Moline is the Reigning WB6 champions, but has a lot of inexperienced kids starting this season. Offense will run their usual Wing-T and use size to bully people around, but has to gel together. The Defense will be asked to keep the team in games until the Offence works the kinks out of the system. Moline has also built itself into more of a program over the past few years with a very good coaching staff running things. Schedule wise, they face a tough first 4 weeks (Glenbard North, Benet, Geneseo, and going to Quincy), but the second half gets a lot lighter with an open date and the lower end of the WB6 til their end of the year trip to Sterling.
2023 Prediction 6-3
5. Rock Island: 2022 4-5. Rock Island has a new head coach this season with a new system. Offense has some experience coming back at QB and OL and Rocky always finds athletes. Defense will be the same story as it has been the past few seasons…can they get enough stops to win games? With a new coach, there are more unknowns with Rock Island. They always find ways to score, but many times they get scored on a lot more. Schedule wise, non-cons will be tough (going to Minooka and Dunlap, as well as a interesting game versus Sterling Newman), but the conference schedule is more spread out which gives Rocky a shot at 5 wins and the playoffs.
2023 Prediction 4-5
6. Galesburg: 2022 3-6. Galesburg is on the younger side this season, but has just enough experience coming back to give the Silver Streaks a decent foundation. Offense would move the ball and score against the weaker teams on its schedule, but heavily struggled against the stronger teams. The same on the defensive side of the ball. If Galesburg wants to take the next step, they need to figure out how to be more consistent against the stronger competition they see. Schedule wise, they start with their 3 non-cons (Dunlap, Limestone, Indian Creek in Indiana) probably start 2-1 and then have to figure out how to get through a tough conference line up.
2023 Prediction 3-6
7. United Township: 2022 1-8. UT brings back some piece on offense, including a 3 year starter at QB. Defense needs to find a way to get opponents stopped as they were pretty poor on that side of the ball last season. Offense has the weapons to score, but needs to fine consistency. Schedule wise, UT could start 2-0 (LaSalle-Peru and Munchin College Prep), but then they face all the WB6 heavy hitters til Week 8 (open date) and Week 9 (Galesburg).
2023 Prediction: 3-6
