By Greg Halbleib
NORMAL – Normal West coach Nathan Fincham said his team’s first round football playoff opponent was better than they were when the Wildcats defeated them in the season opener.
But Peoria Notre Dame’s improvement still wasn’t enough as Normal West advanced to the Class 6A second round with Friday’s 34-21 win on the Wildcats’ field.
“They came out and played physical. They’ve definitely gotten better,” Fincham said of the visiting Irish, who finish the season at 6-4. “They did a good job on the offensive line of getting off the ball a lot faster. You could tell they were a lot more crisp then they were in Week 1. They did a good job but our guys responded and played a physical style game under the conditions, and did exactly what we wanted them to do.”
The Wildcats never trailed. Davion McQuirter ran wild for West with four touchdowns and 259 yards rushing, 200 of which came in the first half.
Normal West (9-1) will either host Palos Heights Shepard or travel to Springfield next weekend. Those teams play Saturday afternoon in Palos Heights.
Additional high school football playoff play-by-play can be found on Saturday afternoon on WJBC.com by clicking here as Normal Community (8-1) hosts St. Charles North (6-3) at 1 p.m. with pre-game at 12:45, and as Bloomington (7-2) welcomes Crete-Monee (6-3) at 2 p.m. with pre-game at 1:45. WJBC-AM 1230 will join the action at Bloomington in progress after Illinois State football.
Number 9 Illinois State hosts Number 7 South Dakota State on Family Weekend with a noon Saturday kickoff. Pregame on the Redbird Sports Network from Hancock Stadium begins at 11 a.m. on AM 1230 WJBC, 93.7 Nash Icon, WJBC.com, the WJBC app and on the TuneIn app by searching WJBC or Illinois State Redbird Sports Network.
Action continues Saturday evening on AM 1230 WJBC and WJBC.com as Number 17 Illinois Wesleyan makes the short trip to Millikin for a 6 p.m. kickoff. Titan Preview begins at 5:45 p.m. from Frank M. Lindsay Field in Decatur.
Updates can be found on the WJBC Sports Twitter feed (@SportsWJBC).
Friday high school football first round playoff scores:
Class 2A:
Gibson City-Melvin-Sibley 76, Watseka 6
Class 3A:
Lisle 38, Dwight 14
Class 4A:
Taylorville 57, Illinois Valley Central 30
Rochester 53, Breese Central 27
Class 6A:
Normal West 34, Peoria Notre Dame 21
Chatham Glenwood 24, Lemont 21
Saturday high school football first round schedule with broadcast links:
Class 1A:
#12 LeRoy (5-4) vs. #5 Chicago (Orr) (8-1), Sat. 1:00
#9 Toledo (Cumberland) (7-2) at #8 Fisher (7-2), Sat. 2:00
Class 2A:
#16 Watseka (5-4) at #1 Gibson City-Melvin-Sibley (9-0), Fri. 7:00
#15 Fieldcrest (5-4) at #2 Orion (9-0), Sat. 2:00
#12 Tri-Valley (5-4) at #5 Nashville (8-1), Sat. 1:00
Class 3A:
#13 Dwight (6-3) at #4 Lisle (8-1), Fri. 7:00 (LIVE WJEZ-FM 98.9 & WJEZ.com)
#14 Chicago (Urban Prep/Englewood) (5-4) at #3 Eureka (8-1), Sat. 2:00
#16 St. Joseph-Ogden (5-4) at #1 Monticello (9-0), Sat. 2:00
Class 4A:
#16 Illinois Valley Central (5-4) at #1 Taylorville (9-0), Fri. 7:00
#13 Breese (Central) (6-3) at #4 Rochester (8-1), Fri. 7:00
#12 Herrin (7-2) at #5 Pontiac (8-1), Sat. 3:00 (LIVE WJEZ-FM 98.9 & WJEZ.com)
#11 Prairie Central (7-2) at #6 Murphysboro (7-2), Sat. 3:00
Class 5A:
#9 Morton (6-3) at #8 Decatur MacArthur (6-3), Sat. 1:30
Class 6A:
#13 Peoria Notre Dame (6-3) at #4 Normal West (8-1), Fri. 7:00 (LIVE AM 1230 & WJBC.com–click here to listen)
#12 Springfield (6-3) at #5 Palos Heights (Shepard) (7-2), Sat. 1:30
#10 Quincy (7-2) at #7 Springfield (Sacred Heart-Griffin) (7-2), Sat. 1:00
#14 Lemont (5-4) at #3 Chatham Glenwood (8-1), Fri. 7:00
#11 Crete-Monee (6-3) at #6 Bloomington (7-2), Sat. 2:00 (LIVE WJBC.com–click here to listen)
Class 7A:
#22 St. Charles North (6-3) at #11 Normal Community (8-1), Sat. 1:00 (LIVE WJBC.com–click here to listen)
Greg Halbleib can be reached at [email protected].
