Probably my longest post on the WB6 this year. Football starts tomorrow here in Montana so life is about to get busy for me. Should be another entertaining year in the northwestern part of the start with really only 1 team being a known quantity. Also as an interesting note, this must be travel out of state year for the conference as Sterling goes to Beliot, WI, UT goes to Eau Claire, WI, Geneseo goes to Clinton, WI, Moline goes to Fenton, MO, Quincy goes to Jefferson City, MO, Rocky stays in state lines, as does Galesburg (but they host Morrison who the Streak's faithful might have thought was from out of state).
Rock Island Alleman: No varsity schedule this season, but they are playing a freshmen and JV schedule. Numbers are up in the 40’s so things are looking up for a program who used to be a perennial power in the small class level. Alleman will also scrimmage with Riverdale week 0 which could be considered its one “varsity” tilt for the season. Hopefully they will rejoin the varsity ranks next season.
Galesburg: 2-7 (1-5 WB6) The Silver Streaks start the season with an interim head coach. Don’t know the story about what happened with the head coach and what caused him to leave partway through the summer. Galesburg returns a decent number of starters from last year and has a solid group of seniors who have been the main leaders of the team. Giving up 39.8 points a game last year, the Streaks need to figure out how to get stops on defense if they want to take the next step forward.
Key game: Cheating here a bit with two games. Week 2 vs Limestone and Week 3 vs Morrison. Being able to pick up two wins before starting WB6 play would be a huge start.
Prediction: 3-6
Moline: 4-5 (2-4) The Maroons return a lot of members who got valuable experience last year, including 7 starters on the offense. Coach Morrissey has been around the block a few times with this Moline crew and knows how to get things turned around. He did it when he first came in, he did it after a rough covid season, now can he do it again? If the team can find consistency on both sides of the ball (when it’s clicking, Moline punishes with its Wing-T offense), then the Maroons can push to the upper part of the WB6
Key game: Week 4 vs Quincy. Moline starts with two very tough games out of the gate, but if they want to top the conference then Moline will need to get past an explosive Quincy team and that test comes early in the conference run.
Prediction: 6-3
Geneseo: 6-4 (3-3) The Leafs are a bit of an unknow going into this season with new head coach Matt Furlong (coming from Cary-Grove). Also, Geneseo graduated A LOT from last years team (zero returning starters). So with a lot of new faces in the starting rotation and a new offensive and defensive playbook, really not sure what we will see….other than probably trying to run the ball down your throat. At the end of the game, this is Geneseo and Geneseo does football.
Key game: Week 3 vs Moline. After two ho-hum opponents to start the season, the Leaf’s start conference play against another team looking to climb back to the top of the hill. A win here sets the tone for the rest of the Geneseo season.
Prediction: 6-3
Quincy: 11-1 (6-0) Unlike Geneseo, the reigning WB6 champs have a lot of well known going into this season. Starting with QB Bradyn Little, Quincy brings back all the main pieces of an offense that averaged 42 points a game and broke the 50 point mark 4 times. The question mark will be on the Oline as they are breaking in 4 new linemen. They also bring back 7 defensive starters, but this unit was up and down over the season. If the line and the defense put it all together, then look out.
Key game: Week 4 vs Moline. Yeah, the Sterling game looms large later in the season, but the Blue Devils play Sterling at home. Week 4, they have to make the long trip to Moline to face a team looking to knock the current king off.
Prediction: 9-0
Rock Island: 3-6 (3-3) Rock Island was a young team with a new head coach last year and it showed early as they dropped 5 straight. At the end of the season, they turned it around and won 3 of their last 4. Now with a year of the system under their belts and bringing back 7 starters on offense and 8 on defense, the Rocks will be looking to get to the playoffs. The schedule starts rough with games against Minooka, Dunlap, and going to Quincy week 1,2, and 3.
Key game: Week 5 vs Moline. The Rocks want to show they mean business? Then they need to take back control of their rivalry with Moline.
Prediction: 5-4
United Township: 4-5 (2-4) UT has a very up and down season with a mix of blowout wins, blowout losses, and heartbreaking losses. The big question going into the season is who will be the team leaders as only 5 starters combined return. It will start at the quarterback position as multi-year starter Matthew Kelley has moved on to college. The schedule starts with a couple of winnable match ups (La-Salle Peru and Muchin College Prep) before the conference grind starts with a trip to Wisconsin towards the end of the season.
Key game: Week 3 vs Sterling. A very young defense has 2 weeks to grow up before the power run game of Sterling comes to town. This game will be a good measuring stick for the Panthers.
Prediction: 3-6
Sterling: 5-6 (4-2) Sterling had one of the weirdest seasons I have ever seen them have. Started off 0-2 before getting a few wins, then getting blasted by 3A Princeton, then bursting Geneseo’s bubble, taking Quincy to the wire, dropping a head scratcher to Rocky, and then getting past Moline. To top it all off? Making the playoffs with 4 wins as a 16 seed and smashing the 1 seed Chicago Payton (yes, I know it was a CPL team). Sterling losses a good amount of production from last season’s team, but Sterling has been a solid program for a long time and there are always talented kids wanting to wear the Blue and Gold.
Key game: Week 1 vs Metamora. For the Warriors, getting off to a strong start will really help the season. Last year, Sterling lead Metamora at the half but did nothing in the 2nd half leading to a 11 point loss.
Prediction: 6-3
Rock Island Alleman: No varsity schedule this season, but they are playing a freshmen and JV schedule. Numbers are up in the 40’s so things are looking up for a program who used to be a perennial power in the small class level. Alleman will also scrimmage with Riverdale week 0 which could be considered its one “varsity” tilt for the season. Hopefully they will rejoin the varsity ranks next season.
Galesburg: 2-7 (1-5 WB6) The Silver Streaks start the season with an interim head coach. Don’t know the story about what happened with the head coach and what caused him to leave partway through the summer. Galesburg returns a decent number of starters from last year and has a solid group of seniors who have been the main leaders of the team. Giving up 39.8 points a game last year, the Streaks need to figure out how to get stops on defense if they want to take the next step forward.
Key game: Cheating here a bit with two games. Week 2 vs Limestone and Week 3 vs Morrison. Being able to pick up two wins before starting WB6 play would be a huge start.
Prediction: 3-6
Moline: 4-5 (2-4) The Maroons return a lot of members who got valuable experience last year, including 7 starters on the offense. Coach Morrissey has been around the block a few times with this Moline crew and knows how to get things turned around. He did it when he first came in, he did it after a rough covid season, now can he do it again? If the team can find consistency on both sides of the ball (when it’s clicking, Moline punishes with its Wing-T offense), then the Maroons can push to the upper part of the WB6
Key game: Week 4 vs Quincy. Moline starts with two very tough games out of the gate, but if they want to top the conference then Moline will need to get past an explosive Quincy team and that test comes early in the conference run.
Prediction: 6-3
Geneseo: 6-4 (3-3) The Leafs are a bit of an unknow going into this season with new head coach Matt Furlong (coming from Cary-Grove). Also, Geneseo graduated A LOT from last years team (zero returning starters). So with a lot of new faces in the starting rotation and a new offensive and defensive playbook, really not sure what we will see….other than probably trying to run the ball down your throat. At the end of the game, this is Geneseo and Geneseo does football.
Key game: Week 3 vs Moline. After two ho-hum opponents to start the season, the Leaf’s start conference play against another team looking to climb back to the top of the hill. A win here sets the tone for the rest of the Geneseo season.
Prediction: 6-3
Quincy: 11-1 (6-0) Unlike Geneseo, the reigning WB6 champs have a lot of well known going into this season. Starting with QB Bradyn Little, Quincy brings back all the main pieces of an offense that averaged 42 points a game and broke the 50 point mark 4 times. The question mark will be on the Oline as they are breaking in 4 new linemen. They also bring back 7 defensive starters, but this unit was up and down over the season. If the line and the defense put it all together, then look out.
Key game: Week 4 vs Moline. Yeah, the Sterling game looms large later in the season, but the Blue Devils play Sterling at home. Week 4, they have to make the long trip to Moline to face a team looking to knock the current king off.
Prediction: 9-0
Rock Island: 3-6 (3-3) Rock Island was a young team with a new head coach last year and it showed early as they dropped 5 straight. At the end of the season, they turned it around and won 3 of their last 4. Now with a year of the system under their belts and bringing back 7 starters on offense and 8 on defense, the Rocks will be looking to get to the playoffs. The schedule starts rough with games against Minooka, Dunlap, and going to Quincy week 1,2, and 3.
Key game: Week 5 vs Moline. The Rocks want to show they mean business? Then they need to take back control of their rivalry with Moline.
Prediction: 5-4
United Township: 4-5 (2-4) UT has a very up and down season with a mix of blowout wins, blowout losses, and heartbreaking losses. The big question going into the season is who will be the team leaders as only 5 starters combined return. It will start at the quarterback position as multi-year starter Matthew Kelley has moved on to college. The schedule starts with a couple of winnable match ups (La-Salle Peru and Muchin College Prep) before the conference grind starts with a trip to Wisconsin towards the end of the season.
Key game: Week 3 vs Sterling. A very young defense has 2 weeks to grow up before the power run game of Sterling comes to town. This game will be a good measuring stick for the Panthers.
Prediction: 3-6
Sterling: 5-6 (4-2) Sterling had one of the weirdest seasons I have ever seen them have. Started off 0-2 before getting a few wins, then getting blasted by 3A Princeton, then bursting Geneseo’s bubble, taking Quincy to the wire, dropping a head scratcher to Rocky, and then getting past Moline. To top it all off? Making the playoffs with 4 wins as a 16 seed and smashing the 1 seed Chicago Payton (yes, I know it was a CPL team). Sterling losses a good amount of production from last season’s team, but Sterling has been a solid program for a long time and there are always talented kids wanting to wear the Blue and Gold.
Key game: Week 1 vs Metamora. For the Warriors, getting off to a strong start will really help the season. Last year, Sterling lead Metamora at the half but did nothing in the 2nd half leading to a 11 point loss.
Prediction: 6-3
