If you’re a high school football fan, you love the tension and anticipation that builds each week as the playoff season progresses. This Saturday afternoon, our Illinois National Bank Red Zone game of the week presented by OSF Healthcare goes to one of the quintessential high school football hubs, Metamora’s Malone Field, for the 7-3 Redbirds second round Class 5A game with 9-1, 2nd-seeded Highland.
Nothing beats the smell of the grills cooking tenderloins at Malone on a Saturday in November. Longtime Peoria Pirates coach Bruce Cowdrey and I will be at Metamora for the 2 pm kickoff. Metamora is the lower seeded team in this matchup. The Redbirds defense gave up just 165 yards in a road win at Kankakee last weekend to advance to face the 9-1 Bulldogs from the Mississippi Valley Conference in Southern Illinois. Metamora QB Jon Brunton scored both TD’s for the winners, while Kankakee’s lone score came on a long punt return.
We traveled to Southern Illinois in 2013 for a Red Zone playoff game that saw the host Bulldogs knock Limestone out of the second round of the playoffs. Highland had one of the biggest high school offensive lines Bruce and I had ever seen, yet did not win a state championship that year.
Tom Meredith will head to Babcook Field for a second rounder featuring two 8-2 teams: Centralia at Washington, which kicks at 3 O’clock. Washington eliminated Peoria Notre Dame last week, powering past the Irish with a strong running game, mixed with efficient passing from sophomore QB Caleb Fisher.
Our presenting sponsors have helped keep our sixth year of high school football coverage going strong: Starcrest Cleaners, Rocket Tire Service and Heartland Apartments. Join us Saturday, with the pregame at 1:30 pm, for second round playoff action on the Illinois National Bank Red Zone presented by OSF Healthcare on your home for classic rock and football, 95.5, GLO.
Doc Watson
