Normal Community and Central Catholic are the two remaining Intercity teams active in Saturday’s second round of the Illinois High School Association football playoffs. (Photo by You Name It Sports)
By Greg Halbleib
The second round of the Illinois high school football playoffs features seven local teams and two broadcasts on WJBC.com on Saturday.
Play-by-play of Central Catholic at Paxton-Buckley-Loda and Maine South at Normal Community can be found here. Pre-game is at 12:45 with kickoff at 1:00 for both contests.
Central Catholic travels to PBL in Class 3A in a match-up of teams with 9-1 records. The visiting Saints controlled DuQuoin 27-0 while PBL eliminated Williamsville 28-23 in opening round play.
“They’re a spread-shotgun team but they still run the ball 70 percent of the time,” Saints coach Mike Moews said about host PBL. “They’ve got a nice running back with nice wheels and good size. Their quarterback’s a little undersized and doesn’t throw great, but he’s got really quick feet and runs really well, so they try to get the ball out.”
The Central Catholic-PBL winner faces either Carlinville or St. Joseph-Ogden in the quarterfinals.
Normal Community (9-1) remains at home for the second straight week as they face Maine South (8-2). The Ironmen held off Schaumburg 34-28 last week as Maine South tripped Plainfield North 35-20.
Ironmen coach Wes Temples wants his team to control the ball. “The last three games we’ve turned the ball over seven times, and you can’t do that and win games,” said Temples. “We’ve been fortunate to win games doing it, but at this time of year and especially playing a program like Maine South you can’t turn the ball over to give ourselves a chance. If we don’t turn the ball over I like where we’re at and the opportunity we have.”
The Ironmen-Hawks winner moves into the quarterfinals against either Lincoln-Way East or Libertyville.
The complete area second round playoff schedule for Saturday follows:
Class 1A:
Tuscola (10-0) at LeRoy (7-3), 2:00
Gibson City-Melvin-Sibley (10-0) at Winchester (West Central Coop) (7-3), 2:00
Class 2A:
Tri-Valley (10-0) at Taylor Ridge Rockridge (7-3), 2:00
Mendon Unity (8-2) at Deer Creek-Mackinaw (8-2), 1:00
Fieldcrest (8-2) at Annawan-Wethersfield (9-1) (at Kewanee Wethersfield), 1:30
Class 3A:
Central Catholic (9-1) at Paxton-Buckley-Loda (9-1), 1:00 (WJBC.com 12:45)
Class 7A:
Park Ridge Maine South (8-2) at Normal Community (9-1), 1:00 (WJBC.com 12:45)
Saturday sports on the WJBC family also includes #2 Illinois State football at #11 South Dakota State in a key Missouri Valley Football Conference tilt with a 2 p.m. kickoff and 1 p.m. Redbird Preview on WJBC-AM 1230 and WJBC.com.
Senior Day at Tucci Stadium features #22 Illinois Wesleyan hosting #4 Wheaton in a critical College Conference of Illinois and Wisconsin game at 1 p.m. with a 12:45 pre-game on WJBC.com.
Bloomington Thunder hockey hosts the Muskegon Lumberjacks in a 7:05 p.m. face-off at U.S. Cellular Coliseum with a 6:45 pre-game on WJBC.com.
Click here to listen to Illinois State football and volleyball.
Click here to listen to Illinois Wesleyan football, high school football and Thunder hockey.
