I did not see that coming in week one of the high school football season.
The defending Class 5A state champion Peoria Lions lost their opener at Peoria Stadium to Normal West last Friday night. It was an upset, for sure, but not the end of the world for Peoria High, which had to replace four of five offensive lineman from the highest-scoring unit in IHSA history, but return Illini recruit QB Coran Taylor, RB Geno Hess and got 2,000 yard rusher Fred Dixson in a transfer from Peoria Notre Dame.
Meanwhile, former perennial city power Richwoods, coming off a 2-win season (just 5 in the last 2 years) and two straight missed playoff appearances, went on the road at Champaign Central and blew out the host team. The Knight are no longer the ground and pound, belly option team they’d been successfully for over a half century. The spread it out now, with talented senior QB Keenan Streitmatter at the controls, after coming over in a transfer from Peoria Notre Dame after his sophomore season.
So it’s 0-1 Peoria High at 1-0 Richwoods in our main Red Zone game of the week presented by Illinois National Bank on Friday night. Peoria High has dominated the series lately, winning the last three games.
Pregame show begins at 6:30p with coach’s interviews from Tim Thornton and Roland Brown. Kickoff’s at 7. Former Peoria Pirates longtime assistant coach and former Illinois starting lineman Tony Johnson and I have the call. Hard to know what to expect from improved Richwoods. And will Peoria High bounce back to their dominant selves?
Our secondary game could be a state quarterfinal game just about any year: Washington hosting Morris. Tom Meredith will be at Babcook Field for some live play by play and score updates. Veteran Red Zone producer Jason Glick runs the show from the studio and tracks the scores of all the other area games.
It’s the Red Zone game of the week presented by Illinois National Bank week two Friday night on Peoria’s home for classic rock and football, 95.5, GLO.
Doc Watson
