By Eric Stock
BLOOMINGTON – Despite reach the highest ranking in school history in this week’s American Football Coaches Association Division III poll (number 11), Illinois Wesleyan football coach Norm Eash is far from satisfied.
“We’ve had some great wins,” Eash said of his 5-1 club. “The (Wisconsin) Whitewater win was good, (beating) Wheaton, but both of those games were close games and nailbiters and you are on the edge of your seat. A ‘wow’ game is different from that. That’s just us playing up to our capabilities.”
Eash figures Saturday’s homecoming game against Carroll is the perfect time to play a complete game.
“We should take advantage of that,” Eash said. “We talk to our players about having a breakout game.”
Eash will bring back captains from his College Conference of Illinois and Wisconsin-champion teams from 1996 and 2001 to speak his players before the game. Otherwise he expects his players to tune out all the other noise.
“Football is the most important thing right now,” senior defensive lineman John Nolan said. “Homecoming I think can be for the rest of the campus, but we really have to focus on this game and what’s at hand.”
Senior offensive lineman Chris Collins isn’t likely to take any game or play for granted. He has overcome two ACL tears in his right knee during his IWU career and has returned to anchor a line which has paved the way for the CCIW’s leading rusher, Morgan Alexander, who has 664 yards on the ground and three touchdowns.
“I was really upset for a while but I turned that into a motivation,” Collins recalled. “Now, I’ve given up a lot just to be where I’m at. That makes it a lot harder now (to quit). I can be as tired as I want in a game, but I’m not going to let that affect me.”
WJBC.com will have the play-by-play starting at 12:45 p.m.
Eric Stock can be reached at [email protected].
