By Greg Halbleib

Normal Community remained unbeaten and Normal West pulled away from Bloomington as Week 6 of the high school football season unfolded on Friday night.

PODCASTS: Listen here to all of the post-game coaches interviews.

Normal West 40, Bloomington 20

Normal West raced out to a 20-0 first quarter lead and survived a second half rally to defeat Bloomington at Fred Carlton Field.

Adriel Fussell’s first of two touchdowns gave  the Wildcats a 20-0 lead before Colton Sandage’s two rushing touchdowns trimmed the West lead to 20-14. West added another score before the half on Fussell’s 1-yard run.

Sandage left the game in the third quarter with a leg injury after throwing for 128 yards on 11 of 20 attempts.

Armani Forrest took the pitch on a reverse and raced 50 yards for a score in the fourth quarter to put the game out of reach in the forth quarter.

Malik Tucker led a balanced running attack for the Wildcats (5-1) with 79 yards on nine carries.

Sandage led BHS (3-3) with 31 rushing yards.

Normal Community 47, Bradley-Bourbonnais 7

The Ironmen improve to 6-0 with a decisive home victory. The visitors scored first on their opening drive, but NCHS answered with 21 poitns in the first quarter, increased the lead to 34-7 at halftime and coasted home.

Varshaun Dixon rushed for 188 yards on 11 carries with two scores, including a 78-yard run. Daylon Boddie passed for 100 yards including a 25-yard strike to C.J. Christian and ran for two scores. Nick Hesse rushed for 75 yards on eight carries and capped the scoring with a two-yard run. Dalton Tevis picked off a pass for a 17-yard score as the Iron defense held Bradley-Bourbonnais to under 100 yards rushing and 14 yards passing.

Central Catholic 55, St. Thomas More 7

The Saints (5-1) bounced back from last week’s loss to Monticello with an offensive onslaught, leading 49-0 at halftime.

Da’Mond Davis rushed seven times for 60 yards and four touchdowns for the Saints, who also received 138 yards rushing from Reece Seidl including an 80-yard score and 5-of-5 passing for 101 yards and a touchdown from Max Moews.

The Saints defense intercepted three passes and recorded five sacks.

U-High 38, Jacksonville 20

The Pioneers (2-4) benefitted from another solid night from quarterback Doug Holmes, who recorded 227 yards in the air and 87 yards on the ground with three touchdowns.

Jake Hileman ran for 27 yards and Ty Ziebarth dented the end zone with a 35-yard reception.

Jacksonville remains winless in their six games.

Tri-Valley 49, El Paso-Gridley 13

Zach Woodring led Tri-Valley (5-1, 3-0 Heart of Illinois Conference Large) with 250 yards and two scores on the ground. Cameron Elam and Jake Resser each scored a pair of rushing touchdowns.

EPG (2-4, 0-3 HOIC Large) was led by 171 yards and one touchdown on the ground from Ryne Faulk.

Fieldcrest 29, Deer Creek-Mackinaw 28

Fieldcrest (5-1, 2-1 HOIC Large) scored on a Cam Grandy one-yard sneak and took the lead for good on a two-point conversion pass from Grandy to Derek May with 1:16 remaining in the game.

Grandy was 16-of-24 passing with 108 yards and one touchdown, plus 140 rushing yards with two scores.

Dee-Mack (4-2, 2-1 HOIC Large) suffered a second straight one-point loss. The Chiefs were led by Levi Scheurmann with 82 yards passing with one touchdown and 70 yards rushing from Connor Craig.

Week 6 scoreboard:

Big Twelve:
Danville 51, Champaign Centennial 7
Peoria Notre Dame 61, Richwoods 27

Illini Prairie:
Tolono Unity 30, Monticello 13
Prairie Central 30, St. Joseph-Ogden 22
Pontiac 32, Olympia 7
IVC 33, Rantoul 28

Central State Eight:
Chatham Glenwood 35, Decatur Eisenhower 7
Rochester 56, Decatur MacArthur 14
Springfield 52, Springfield Lanphier 0
Springfield Sacred Heart-Griffin 56, Springfield Southeast 7

Central Illinois:
Clinton 40, Sullivan-Okaw Valley 0

Apollo:
Lincoln 40, Charleston 14

Independent:
Blue Ridge 20, Edwardsville Metro East Lutheran 0

Greg Halbleib can be reached at [email protected].