Intercity rivalry kicks off Week 1 of high school football

Posted on August 26, 2021
Normal Community at Bloomington will be our feature game Week 1 on AM 1230 WJBC, FM 102.1 and WJBC.com. Pregame coverage starts at 6:10 p.m. (Twitter/Bloomington Raider Football)

By Neil Doyle

BLOOMINGTON – The Friday night lights are back as a fall high school football season returns for the first time in two years.

Week 1 features a long time Intercity rivalry as Normal Community visits the Purple Raiders of Bloomington. It will be our main game on AM 1230 WJBC, FM 102.1 and WJBC.com with pregame coverage staring at 6:10 and kickoff at 7 p.m.

“Here in Bloomington-Normal there is nothing bigger than the Intercity games,” said Bloomington head coach Scott Godfrey. “We want our guys excited, we want a packed house, we want a loud crowd. We are embracing that and looking forward to it.”

Preparing for the first week can be a challenge, according to Ironmen head coach Jason Drengwitz.

“But I think the excitement of playing your crosstown rival in a normal season definitely outweighs some of the uncertainty about the week one opponent,” Drengwitz said.

Normal West starts the season at home against O’Fallon. The Pioneers of U-High are on the road against Decatur MacArthur with first year head coach Brody Walworth.

Central Catholic hosts Pontiac and that game will be on our sister station, Classic Hits 98.9 WJEZ in Livingston County.

Other games around the area:

  • Dee-Mack vs. Ridgeview
  • Tri-County vs. Heyworth
  • Central A&M vs. LeRoy
  • Arthur vs. Tri-Valley
  • Villa Grove vs. Fisher
  • El Paso-Gridley vs. Macon Meridian
  • Rantoul vs. Olympia
  • Clinton vs. Lincoln
  • Prairie Central vs. Tolono Unity

You can find scoring updates throughout the night on Twitter @SportsWjbc. Other scores can be found on our WJBC Sports Scoreboard page here.

Neil Doyle can be reached at [email protected]

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