Looking ahead to opening night of high school football in the 815
· Yahoo Sports
ROCKFORD, Ill. (WTVO/WQRF) — Our local high school football coaches and players have been working hard for months preparing for the season. Friday night they’ll start to see that work pay off. Friday is opening night.
Our Game of the Week happens in the NIC-10. The Harlem Huskies will host Belvidere North. The Blue Thunder won the conference outright last season. Two years ago, they shared the conference championship. Can they get a three-peat?
The Huskies have their hearts set on winning the NIC-10 championship. Their last conference title was in the COVID shortened spring season in 2021.
“They’re pretty locked-in,” said head coach Jim Morrow of his Huskies. “They come to work every day. We haven’t set any lofty goals for ourselves or anything. We’re just going to come out here and do the best we can.”
Guilford also wants the NIC-10 championship. The Vikings came up one loss short of that last year. With Keysan Taylor and Greyson Weber returning the Vikings should be set for a very big year.
Guilford will open at Boylan Friday night. Jefferson will play at Auburn. Hononegah opens at Belvidere. Freeport will play Saturday at noon at East on East’s practice field.
In the Big Northern Conference, the Du-Pec Rivermen will play their first game as a member of the conference. They’ll travel to Oregon to face the Hawks. These two teams aren’t strangers.
“We’re the first ones with them. They’re a real good program,” said Oregon head coach Broc Kundrt. “Actually, every year since I’ve been at Freeport and even at Aquin, and here we’ve done a joint practice with them. So, we’ve stayed real tight. Real close. We’ve been trash taking all summer, so we’re excited to get them.”
In the other Big Northern Games Friday, North Boone travels to Byron. Dixon plays at Genoa-Kingston. Lutheran plays Rock Falls, and Winnebago takes on Stillman Valley.
All of the NUIC teams have non-conference games. Sandwich plays at EPC
Dwight plays at Forreston. Fulton takes on Peru St. Bede. Lisle Benet Academy plays at Le-Win.
Stockton travels to El Paso Gridley for a big showdown. Fulton plays at Peru-St. Bede. Rushville-Industry takes on Galena, and Clinton play at Dakota Saturday evening.
Other games include: |
Normal University at Rochelle.
Sycamore at DeKalb
South Beloit at West Carroll
Amboy at Alden-Hebron
Bushnell Prairie City at Polo
AFC at St. Anne
Galva at Milledgeville.
Christian Life at Kankakee Trinity
And Hiawatha at Milford Saturday evening.
For highlights, scores and feature stories all season long, watch ‘Overtime’ Friday nights on FOX 39 in Rockford following Packers preseason football and following FOX’s national prime time coverage of college football. “Overtime” is also available on the MyStateline+ app and on all of our digital media at WTVO 17 and FOX 39.
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