By Greg Halbleib
The oldest Intercity rivalry highlights the Week 6 schedule of the WJBC Friday Night High School Football Extravaganza.
Bloomington (3-2, 3-1 Big Twelve) visits Normal Community (4-1, 4-0) meet for the 114th time Friday. Bloomington holds the advantage 63-42 with eight ties in the series dating back to 1897.
Bloomington coach Scott Godfrey says defense will be a huge key.
“We’ve got to stop the run and keep the ball in front of us,” Godfrey said. “We have to limit the big play. That has been in the games we’ve lost what we’ve not been able to do, and most of the big plays have come through the pass. We’ve been on our DBs all week about keeping the ball in front of us, and the rest of them, stopping the run because Normal Community is a run-first team.”
Normal Community coach Jason Drengwitz says consistency with the ball is the biggest key for the Ironmen.
“For us the most important thing is that we get our offense rolling in some way, shape or form,” Drengwitz said. “We need to try to be more explosive and try to not rely only on the defense putting us in good situations but making our own opportunities and putting points on the board.”
The WJBC Friday Night Extravaganza will likely have a later start this week at about 6:30 p.m. after Cardinals baseball. Updates every quarter hour will include U-High (1-4) at Springfield Southeast (1-4), St. Thomas More (1-4) at Central Catholic (1-4), Normal West (4-1) at Indianapolis Bishop Chatard (5-1) and Eureka (4-1, 1-1 Heart of Illinois Large) at El Paso-Gridley (2-3, 0-2). Scores can also be found on the WJBC Sports Twitter feed (@SportsWJBC, #WJBCHSFB).
Week 6 schedule (all Fri. 7 p.m. unless noted):
Big Twelve:
Bloomington at Normal Community
Peoria Notre Dame at Peoria
Champaign Central at Danville
Peoria at Peoria Richwoods (Thurs. 7 p.m.)
Illini Prairie:
St. Thomas More at Central Catholic
Olympia at Pontiac (live WJEZ-FM 98.9 & WJEZ.com–click here to listen)
Monticello at Tolono Unity
Rantoul at Illinois Valley Central
St. Joseph-Ogden at Prairie Central
Central State Eight:
U-High at Springfield Southeast
Decatur MacArthur at Chatham Glenwood
Jacksonville at Springfield Lanphier
Rochester at Decatur Eisenhower
Springfield at Sacred Heart-Griffin
Heart of Illinois Large:
Eureka at El Paso-Gridley
Gibson City-Melvin-Sibley at Tri-Valley
Deer Creek-Mackinaw at Fieldcrest
Heart of Illinois Small:
Ridgeview-Lexington at Tremont
Heyworth at Fisher
Lincoln Prairie:
Decatur Lutheran at Blue Ridge
Central Illinois:
Decatur St. Teresa at Clinton
Apollo:
Lincoln at Mahomet-Seymour
Sangamon Valley:
Momence at Dwight
Non-Conference:
Normal West at Indianapolis Bishop Chatard
South Fulton Coop at LeRoy (Sat. 2 p.m.)
Sports Director Greg Halbleib can be reached at [email protected].
