By Greg Halbleib
The Illinois High School Association football playoffs are underway with most area squads squaring off Saturday afternoon.
Four games can be heard on WJBC.com. Click here to listen.
Normal Community hosts Downers Grove North in a Class 7A opener at 1 p.m. Ironmen coach Wes Temples has been readying his squad for an aggressive defense.
“They sit in a 3-3 and play it unbelievably aggressively,” Temples said. “We’ve told our kids we’ve got to be prepared for the speed they’re going to play at because I’m not sure we’ve seen that yet.”
Normal West is also home on Saturday with a 2 p.m. kickoff against Blue Island Eisenhower in a Class 6A opener.
“They don’t have tremendous size but they run the ball really well,” Wildcats coach Darren Hess said about the visitors. “We’re going to have to be pretty balanced to keep them off-balance.”
Central Catholic hosts Beardstown in a Class 3A first round affair. Saints coach Mike Moews said Beardstown runs a classic offense.
“They’re kind of a wing-style, predominantly run offense,” Moews said. “They have good size up front and really come at you. They don’t have a whole bunch of blazers or a lot of speed, but they just try to pound on you.”
Tri-Valley hosts South Macoupin at 3 p.m. in a Class 2A battle that can also be heard on WJBC.com.
In other Saturday match-ups:
Class 2A:
Deer Creek-Mackinaw (5-4) at Westville (9-0), 1 p.m.
Eastland-Pearl City (5-4) at Gibson City-Melvin-Sibley (9-0), 2 p.m.
West Carroll (6-3) at Fieldcrest (7-2), 2 p.m.
El Paso-Gridley (5-4) at Taylor Ridge Rockridge (8-1), 2 p.m.
Class 4A:
Pontiac (6-3) at Tolono Unity (8-1), 1:30 p.m.
Friday results:
Class 3A: Byron 28, Eureka 7
Peotone 41, Paxton-Buckley-Loda 20
Class 4A; Rochester 42, Prairie Central 6
Class 5A: Country Club Hills Hillcrest 31, Peoria 12
Dunlap 64, Streator 20
Richwoods 15, Troy Triad 13
Greg Halbleib can be reached at [email protected].
