By Eric Stock
BLOOMINGTON – Illinois Wesleyan football coach Norm Eash said his team is well aware it controls its own destiny for a College Conference of Illinois and Wisconsin championship with two games left.
“We’ve been talking to our players about we are two heartbeats away from a conference championship, and by winning our next game, which is Elmhurst, we would be one step closer,” Eash said. “Our players know that. Our players also know that as their coach I am not going to allow them to get comfortable.”
The Titans (7-1, 5-1 in the CCIW), North Central and Milling (both 4-1 in league play) are each in contention for the automatic NCAA tournament bid as the No. 11 Titans visit Elmhurst on Saturday.
Sophomore receiver Zach Walsh says the Titans don’t plan to let up against the 2-5 Bluejays.
“Definitely we pride ourselves on playing hard coach,” Walsh said. “Eash talks about all the time about how hard we play, how hard we want to play.
“I don’t think we necessarily look at a team’s record and think we are going to walk into a game and win it.”
Walsh has had a knack for big plays in his first year of game action. He has caught game-winning touchdown passes against Wheaton and Carthage.
Eash said the ski is the limit with his sophomore receiving core which includes Walsh, Jack Healy, Liam Keffer and Dean Zigulich.
“This big thing with this group is they can’t set back after this year and say we all got on the field as sophomores,” Eash said. “It’s going to come down to how hard they want to work to really determine how great they really want to be.”
Junior safety Trevor Staley, named CCIW Defensive Player of the Week for the second time this season following his game-sealing interception against Carthage, said the biggest weapon for the Titans defense is speed.
“All our linebackers are really fast, all our defensive backs are really fast,” Staley said. “I think a lot of the bigger teams have trouble blocking us because of our speed, not only in our secondary, but up front too.”
The Titans have the league’s best scoring defense at 10.9 points per game.
WJBC.com will have the game Saturday at 12:45 p.m.
Eric Stock can be reached at [email protected].
