By Greg Halbleib

The second of three regular season Intercity match-ups takes center stage on Friday night in Week 4 of high school football.

The WJBC Friday Night High School Football Extravaganza features Bloomington (3-0) at Normal West (2-1). West coach Nathan Fincham said his Wildcats face a solid Bloomington quarterback in Griffin Moore as part of a solid core.

“I think we have to slow down their athletes,” Fincham said. “They’re probably the most athletic Bloomington has been in a long time. Defensively, they do a great job of running to the ball. They get multiple hats to the ball carrier every time and they seem to know exactly what they’re doing.”

Normal Community (3-0) steps out of Big Twelve Conference play to host perennial Class 8A power Neuqua Valley of Naperville. Ironmen coach Jason Drengwitz cautioned against taking Neuqua Valley’s 1-2 record lightly.

“Their two losses are to 3-0 Stevenson High School, who’s an 8A powerhouse, and 3-0 Waubonsee Valley,” Drengwitz said. “We’re excited about the challenge but know we’re going to have to play some of our best football to date to win the game.”

U-High (0-3) makes the 90-minute trip to Jacksonville (1-2) in Central State Eight Conference play, while in the Illini Prairie, neighbors Central Catholic and Olympia go for their first win of the season in rural Stanford.

A pair of Heart of Illinois Conference Large Division games round out the Extravaganza as El Paso-Gridley (2-1) visits Tri-Valley (1-2) and Eureka travels to Deer Creek-Mackinaw in a game between 2-1 squads.

The Extravaganza begins at 6:10 p.m. Friday with scene-setters, followed by updates every quarter hour and post-game coverage including interviews and analysis until 11 p.m. Updates can be found on the WJBC Sports Twitter feed (@SportsWJBC).

Week 4 high school football schedule:

Big Twelve:

Bloomington at Normal West

Champaign (Centennial) at Danville (H.S.)

Peoria (Manual) at Peoria (H.S.)

Peoria (Notre Dame) at Peoria (Richwoods)

Urbana (H.S.) at Champaign (Central)

Illini Prairie:

Central Catholic at Olympia
Chillicothe Illinois Valley Central at Champaign St. Thomas More)
Pontiac at Prairie Central (live WJEZ 98.9 and WJEZ.com)
Rantoul at Monticello
Tolono (Unity) at St. Joseph-Ogden

Central State Eight:

Decatur Eisenhower) at Chatham Glenwood
U-High at Jacksonville
Rochester at Decatur MacArthur
Springfield at Springfield Lanphier
Springfield Sacred Heart-Griffin at Springfield Southeast

Heart of Illinois Large:

Eureka at Deer Creek-Mackinaw
El Paso-Gridley at Tri-Valley
Fieldcrest at Gibson City-Melvin-Sibley

Heart of Illinois Small:

Fisher at Flanagan-Cornell-Woodland (at Flanagan)
Heyworth at Ridgeview-Lexington (at Colfax)
LeRoy at Tremont

Apollo:

Effingham at Lincoln

Sangamon Valley:

Clifton Central at Dwight

Central Illinois:

Clinton at Macon Meridian

Non-Conference:

Neuqua Valley at Normal Community
Milledgeville at Blue Ridge

Greg Halbleib can be reached at [email protected].