By Greg Halbleib
A Central State Eight Conference road match-up highlights Week 7 of the WJBC Friday Night High School Football Extravaganza.
U-High and Lanphier each carry 2-4 records into Friday’s night’s contest at Memorial Stadium in Springfield.
U-High coach John Johnson said his young squad is gaining confidence but has areas to improve.
“We have to start running the ball better,” Johnson said. “Our line played well against Jacksonville because there were more kids they could compete against. It’s make-or-break time.”
Central Catholic (5-1) visits Rantoul (2-4) in Illini Prairie Conference play. The visiting Saints are coming off of a one-sided win over St. Thomas More while Rantoul is hoping to bounce back from a narrow 33-28 loss to Illinois Valley Central.
Big Twelve Conference leader Normal Community (6-0) welcomes Champaign Centennial (2-4) for the Ironmen homecoming. The Iron clinched another playoff bid with last week’s win, one of two area teams to do so along with GCMS.
NCHS coach Wes Temples said his players are not letting up just because they’re in the post-season.
“Playoffs are always an expectation here,” Temples reminded. “Right now our focus has got to be one game at a time. We’ve got homecoming right now so there’s a lot of distractions, and I think you find out some things out about your team when you deal with those distractions and see how we prepare.”
Bloomington (3-3, 2-3 Big Twelve) travels to Peoria to face the Richwoods Knights (3-3, 3-2). Purple Raiders coach Joe Walters has filled last week’s loss of quarterback Colton Sandage due to an ACL tear with Griffin Moore, who closely battled Sandage for the starting QB job in camp.
“(Moore) was a great tight end, so it’s tough to replace that, and on defense we’ll have to look at how we use him there a little bit more, not saying we won’t,” Walters said. “It changes things a little, for sure.”
Normal West (5-1, 4-1 Big Twelve) can clinch a playoff spot with a home victory over winless Peoria Manual.
A pair of Heart of Illinois Conference games round out the Week 7 Extravaganza as Fisher (4-2, 2-1 HOIC Small) visits Tri-Valley (5-1, 3-0 HOIC Large) as the host Vikings attempt to wrap up a playoff spot, and LeRoy (2-4, 2-1 HOIC Small) travels to Deer Creek-Mackinaw (4-2, 2-1 HOIC Large).
The Extravaganza begins on WJBC-AM 1230 at 6:10 with scene-setters, updates every quarter hour and post-game coverage until 11 p.m. Updates are also found on Twitter (@SportsWJBC, #WJBCHSFB).
WJBC 1230 AM:
6:00 p.m. Football – Extravaganza – U-High at Springfield Lanphier Listen live here
WJEZ.com and 98.9 FM:
6:55 p.m. Football – Prairie Central at Olympia Listen live here
