Wilmington Week 1
- Thread starter Coalertown44
- Start date
I’m taking full credit we talked about this with Jeff Reents one week on Pigskin Preview and we’ll….we definitely touches a nerve.
Yeah I suppose that's the one potential positive for them.
I was more looking at it from the point that Morris should handle a 2A team, so if they win it is meh. But... if they struggle or actually lose, it looks bad for them.
I'm also surprised that they dropped the Coalers to pick up Wilmo. I had assumed they wanted to drop CC to "beef up" their NC schedule. Going with Wilmo is basically a lateral move. This is under the assumption that the split was mutual.
I get that this isn't a great matchup in some people's eyes, but there a lot of reasons to like this game.
A few off the top of my head....
1. The kids all know each other very well
2. They play in every other sport throughout the school year
3. Reents coming back home is important to some
4. Morris' entire schedule is against schools with larger enrollments and already has 6-7 playoff teams on it. Every week with exception of maybe 1 or 2 games will be a battle again (see 5-4 regular season record last year)
5. Wilmington knows they are going to have a cake walk through their schedule- why not challenge yourself with a tough non-con?
6. Morris is losing a majority of their offensive starters (4 WR, 1 RB, 3 OL)
7. Wilmo is bringing back a lot (from what I'm told)
8. Playoff points for both
9. Crowd will be great- kids and fans are excited to finally see this matchup- one of the more intriguing week 1 games!
***Coal City dropped Morris. Now their conference rival Wilmo picks them up. Credit to Wilmo... not a good look CC coaching staff
A few off the top of my head....
1. The kids all know each other very well
2. They play in every other sport throughout the school year
3. Reents coming back home is important to some
4. Morris' entire schedule is against schools with larger enrollments and already has 6-7 playoff teams on it. Every week with exception of maybe 1 or 2 games will be a battle again (see 5-4 regular season record last year)
5. Wilmington knows they are going to have a cake walk through their schedule- why not challenge yourself with a tough non-con?
6. Morris is losing a majority of their offensive starters (4 WR, 1 RB, 3 OL)
7. Wilmo is bringing back a lot (from what I'm told)
8. Playoff points for both
9. Crowd will be great- kids and fans are excited to finally see this matchup- one of the more intriguing week 1 games!
***Coal City dropped Morris. Now their conference rival Wilmo picks them up. Credit to Wilmo... not a good look CC coaching staff
All very good points. To your last one though, CC made the state semi finals. I don’t think they care how this looks. They played them for what, 5 years???
I also know they picked up Richmond Burton for non con. Certainly no easy task.
Love this from Wilmo.
To win 3A they need to get better. Playing Morris gets you better.
Wish more schools would do this.
👏
To win 3A they need to get better. Playing Morris gets you better.
Wish more schools would do this.
👏
Not a good look for CC? They replaced Morris with Richmond Burton. I don't see a cut back in strength of schedule
The top teams in the ICE have to schedule at least one good Non Conference game. The ICE is so weak that it would only hurt you by playing two bad teams off the bat
If it’s a lateral move and they are not looking for a lesser opponent, why would they not just continue to play the team 10 minutes down the road? Why add over an hour of travel time? Just doesn’t make much sense. Not positive, but I think the last time Morris played RB they handled them fairly easily.
Who do you consider top teams in the conference besides the obvious top 2? (If anyone)
Pretty much those two. Occasionally Peotone puts a quality team in the mix but lately its just been the two. I thought maybe Manteno was going to push those two last year but that obviously didn't happen
Right now, it's just those two.
As far as the rest of the league:
Braidwood had their once in a lifetime class go through a couple years ago, and now they are back towards the basement.
Manteno and Peotone are good enough to beat the other bad teams, but typically don't do much in the postseason. Peotone has never made it out of the 2nd round, and Manteno has only made it to the quarters once. Lisle and Herscher both used to be in a somewhat similar boat as Peotone and Manteno, but have fallen off - Lisle in particular. Streator is just not a football school.
how are the youth programs with these towns?
are Wilmo and CC way ahead here as well?
I’m not really in the loop on that. I’ll have to defer to someone with more knowledge on the subject.
I don't think the connection between the kids is as tight as you think it is. I don't remember being around any kids from Wilmington in school. Coal City was different because it's closer and there was the possibility of having a class with them at GAVC.
I also don't know many who have been clamoring for this matchup.
Looks good for Wilmo, but I see no upside to this game for Morris.
Good to see Mr. Positivity is back with his terrible Morris football hot takes.
I’ll be nice this time and just say this comment shows just how far removed you are from the program and the town.
Shows how little time you have spent around the program or town. Next time I see the AD I'll ask what the thought process was behind this and let you know.
Please, enlighten me as to how this matchup benefits Morris? How does a borderline 4A/5A team benefit from playing a borderline 2A/3A team? How will it be different than the games against Coal City, which were rarely competitive.
There is the connection with Reents, but outside of that what is there? The two towns are 25 miles apart which is the same distance between Morris and Yorkville or Ottawa. Not exactly the neighborhood rivalry you think it's going to be.
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