By Greg Halbleib
Central Catholic has come up just short in the first two weeks of the season, a trend the Saints hope ends with a Week 3 visit to St. Joseph-Ogden in the featured game of the WJBC Friday Night High School Football Extravaganza.
Saints coach Kevin Braucht said he’s seen progress after a winless 2018 but losing two heartbreakers still stings.
“We had a chance to win Week 1 and Week 2 with the ball at the end of the game,” Braucht said. “I think I would have taken that in February if you told me that in the first two weeks we’d have a chance to win in the fourth quarter with the ball in your possession. It’s bittersweet now because I feel we could have gotten both of those.”
The first-year Saints coach hopes that progress continues against the 2-0 Spartans.
“If we make the same improvement that we made from Week 1 to Week 2 from 2 to 3, I think we’ll be in the same position where in the fourth quarter we’ll have an opportunity to win the ball game,” Braucht said.
In the other games on the Extravaganza, Normal West (1-1) tries to bounce back after a Chili Bowl loss to rival Normal Community with the Intercity’s lone home game of the week against Danville (1-1). Bloomington (1-1) faces Manual Academy (0-2) at Peoria Stadium, Normal Community (2-0) rides Interstate 74 east to Urbana (0-2) and U-High (0-2) travels south to Decatur to face MacArthur (1-1).
The Extravaganza pre-game begins at 6:05 p.m. on AM 1230 WJBC and WJBC.com with updates from all reporters every quarter hour and post-game coverage until 11 p.m. Scores can be found on Twitter (@SportsWJBC) throughout the night.
Week 3 high school football schedule (all kickoffs 7 p.m.)
Big Twelve:
Danville at Normal West
Normal Community at Urbana
Bloomington at Peoria Manual
Peoria Notre Dame at Champaign Central
Champaign Centennial at Peoria Richwoods (Sat. 1 p.m., Peoria Stadium)
Illini Prairie:
Central Catholic at St. Joseph-Ogden
St. Thomas More at Monticello
Illinois Valley Central at Pontiac (live WJEZ-FM 98.9 & WJEZ.com–click here to listen )
Rantoul at Olympia
Tolono Unity at Prairie Central
Central State Eight:
U-High at Decatur MacArthur
Decatur Eisenhower at Springfield Southeast
Rochester at Jacksonville
Springfield at Chatham Glenwood
Sacred Heart-Griffin at Springfield Lanphier
Apollo:
Lincoln at Taylorville
Central Illinois:
Clinton at Shelbyville
Lincoln Prairie:
Blue Ridge at Oakland
Sangamon Valley:
Seneca at Dwight
Non-Conference:
Ridgeview-Lexington at El Paso-Gridley
Tri-Valley at Fisher
Gibson City-Melvin-Sibley at Heyworth
Deer Creek-Mackinaw at LeRoy
Tremont at Fieldcrest
Eight-Man:
Jacksonville Illinois School for the Deaf at Flanagan-Cornell-Woodland (at Woodland)
Sports Director Greg Halbleib can be reached at [email protected].
