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WRMJ Sportsline: Week 1 High School Football Recap
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She throws the first three in a row from Oak Ridge. The rockets have won three state titles in a row and some fall. Now from the WRMP studios in downtown, Alito, here's Jim Taylor and Ty Taylor with sports law. It is the WMJ Sportsline on a Saturday morning. I'm Jim Taylor. Good to have you along. A tradition that started back in 1979. I don't want to bury the lead, by the way. Congratulations to John Hoshite. Man, a great broadcasting honor, broadcast pioneer award. He's going to receive next month at the IBA annual convention. And I mean, it's like a steamed select company, big deal. So congratulations to John. He'll be on the airwaves. Next week, broadcasting the Sherard Mercer County game over at Pratt Memorial Field. And I guess we'll begin that way. I'm Jim Taylor, Ty Taylor, alongside. So I was over across the county last night broadcasting the Sherard Rock Ridge game. And I know the score at halftime was 8 to 6. And I kind of lost track of that because I was calling the game over there. And then Eric Hutchins said, during a break, he said, you know what the score is now, Jim? And I said, no. And he said, it's 40-- Wasn't 8'6 anymore. He goes, it's 44 to 8. And he goes, it's the third quarter. And I'm like, holy smokes. What in the heck happened? So I said, man, I felt pretty good at halftime. 8'6. The Eagles were leading. But I guess, you know, I was thinking about many years ago when I was broadcasting the Sherard McComb game. And I hope Coach Jason Kirby is listening right now. And he probably is because he's all like, please tell the Sherard McComb story. And Sherard was leading 21-6 late in the second quarter with like two minutes left. And with like 11 minutes left in the second quarter, they were trailing 28-21, so at 3 o'clock minutes. And Coach Kirby came on the airwaves after the game. And I asked him. I said, well, just give me an assessment. What happened? And he goes, Jim, he goes, that was a high-speed come apart is what he said. And what happened? Man, I just-- like I said, I felt really good at the first half with the score anyway. But man, that's what? Five touchdowns in the third quarter. Give me the-- and Coach Braden, I ran into him last night at Fergs when I got back into town. And he kind of gave me a post-game analysis to like live at Shannon, so on the car-- The second half from Mercer County went about as poorly as 24 minutes a football could go. They got out, scored 44-6. I think turned it over six times in the second half. And just if you were at the game or listened to the game, the Mercer County's kickoff return team was not good. I mean, it was really ugly at times. And for whatever reason, they couldn't catch the ball on the kickoff return. They couldn't return it. They were catching it and dropping it. They were catching it and falling down. They were not picking the ball up. And at one point, letting mama throws will just pick the ball up at the one-yard line. It was-- you hate to use the word, but it was really ugly in the second half. And just we talk about it coming into the season with them is I think there's going to be a learning curve a little bit coming to the track because it's a much better league than what they've played in. And they played one of the best teams in the conference last night and got smoked. And they did hang around in the first half. But Coach Madlet kept saying we said it post game last night and we talked to him this morning earlier, too. Football, it's not 24-minute game. It's a 48-minute game. And the first 24-- I should say the first 24 minutes for Mercer County went well. The final 24 minutes went really poorly. And there's no time to feel sorry for yourself. There were a few bright spots, obviously. But when you give up 44 points and 24 minutes in the second half, there's a lot to work on. And it wasn't all on the defense. I mean, the field position, Mercer County, from the opening kickoff to the final whistle-- I mean, they were behind the eight ball the whole night. They're starting field position. I remember this off the top of my head because I've never seen anything like it really when you talk about-- when we were talking about the kick return team, I mean, their drives last night started at the 6, which was a 94-yard touchdown drive in the first half. And then they started at the 7 twice, the 16, the 17 twice, the 20 twice. That was it. And then one of them they-- like I mentioned earlier, they let mama throws will pick the ball up on the one-yard line on a kickoff. So on the flip side, it felt like probably more than 80% of mama throws will drive started in Mercer County territory or at the 50. And you're just not going to win games that way when you're behind the eight ball that much, like I said. And at halftime, it felt like things weren't going that well for Mercer County, but they were leading. And I thought-- and I said, it's the last time in the broadcast too-- at halftime, I thought, man, they got a chance to win this game because it wasn't like it was a perfect half by any means. And they still had found a way to have the lead at halftime, which I thought was a really good sign. And they got the ball to start the second half. And I was thinking if they could go on a drive and score, I mean, they could potentially-- if they got the two-point conversion, be up two scores in the second half. But they went three and out, gave up a big punt return. Mama throws will took the lead. And then it was just kind of-- it snowballed and snowballed and turned into an avalanche pretty quickly. And the game got away from them very fast in the second half. But like I said, we talked to Coach Malick this morning. There were some positives to take away. They got bit by the injury bug really bad again last night too. So they'll have to wait and see on some of the kids that got hurt. Tannen Whitehall, obviously the headliner, rolled his ankle last night. So hopefully he's OK. He didn't have-- I think he had-- Mama did a good job limiting him last night. I think he ended up 10, three yards on 10 carries. But he's the biggest piece of their offense for sure. So hopefully he's OK. Baldwin went down the quarterback, John Baldwin. So for a while, I think Coach Malick said they were playing their third string quarterback in the season opener who had never taken a rep in practice. So that was kind of a story for them last year. And tonight, or I should say last night, the injury bug hit him again. And hopefully that's not something that anything serious a couple of the kids I think were just cramping up. What was Baldwin's injury? They cramped, I think. He came back into the game later. Did you say six turnovers in the second half? Four interceptions, a fumble. And then if you count the kick off that they didn't cover, that would be six, yes. Well, and that's the issue when you look at early in the season and you're dealing with injuries, not a good sign. There's no question about that. And they're like a lot of programs where you're struggling with numbers. And you see it last night where they have a couple of kids go down and all of a sudden all these kids are playing out of position. They have a receiver coming to play quarterback. They bring another receiver into play running back. And it's hard to have success when kids are playing in varsity games against a very good team at positions they don't play. Did you have a chance when you were leaving? Did you have any interaction with Coach Adolphson? Because I'm wondering what he had to say with the two halves in terms of their first half. And you said-- and that's what it boils down to. Like even in the Sherard Rock Ridge game, if you're the underdog, the way you stay in the game is you have to have one of those drives like you mentioned in a 94-yard drive where you keep their offense off the field. Yeah, and that was a really good drive. And the first half for Baldwin was really good. I mean, he went 9 of 10. He completed his last nine passes, led that 94-yard drive where again, I was thinking this is like best case scenario for how the game has been going because like we touched on with the field position in the first half, it was the same thing where Mercer County, they kept starting deep in their own territory. And they got a couple of nice stops against Monmouth Rosal when the Titans had short fields. And it just felt like there was so much momentum going into the locker room with the lead. But it didn't carry over obviously and credit Coach Adolphson. He's been doing it a long time. And you talk about the first half is 8-6 in the locker room. You go in and make adjustments. And it was 8-6 Mercer County in the first half. And then after the team's adjusted, it was 44-6, Monmouth Roseville in the second half. So you got to tip your cap to Coach Adolphson and his staff. They definitely won halftime for sure. I think that's pretty fair to say. - And I think that's the other thing that I find interesting about the league this year is that's the other thing you're going up against. Because Coach Adolphson's been doing it for 25 years. And then that counts for something in terms of being around. And then you look at next week, even though Sherrod's coming off of Los Coach Johnson has been a head coach for, what, 15 years? He would have Anna on Weathersfield for 12 years. And the one thing that coach, by the way, Coach Cook's headset broke last night. So I was mad about that. - That's a shame. - And then he forgot his binoculars. - No, boy. Well, it could have even added that. - And then he tried to, then we got in this debate about, he thought my glasses were his glasses. - Oh, boy. - So he was having a bad night. No, I'm-- so I felt bad because he had a couple of great things he said. And I really thought it was great what he said last night that he said, you know, I was watching the Sherrod's sideline in the second half. And they were down by a large margin. He said, but I like to watch the opposing coaching staff when they're losing how they act. And he said, they're still coaching their kids. And I thought it was an awesome observation from him. And Shorrod had a little success in the second half. Now, mind you, in the fourth quarter, basically, Brock Rajad, kind of their second team defense out. But, you know, Shorrod could have scored late in the fourth, but Coach Johnson wasn't going to play hurry up offense or whatever. But that's where I-- and you look at-- so he's been there, Coach Graves, what? Nine years, six years, first and three-year, second year. Coach Phil, or how many years he's been-- 16 this year. So you got him. Coach Dierks has been around the block. Man, what a win for them. Yeah, we'll talk about them in a moment when we take a look about the whole conference. I picked them to win. I didn't. Last night, so I was-- I got some static for not picking Mercer County going into that game. I heard about-- they were upset that it was a clean sweep with Monmouth Roseville picks. But, you know-- It's all for Bon Ville. Right, we're just doing our job, man. We were rooting for the gold finals last night. That's why I was almost going to say put a disclaimer on that. Right. It's for fun, calm down. But what can you do, anyway? So, and then last night, you want my assessment of Rock Ridge. Gerard, you got some more things you want to talk about. There's not much more to say, really, about Mercer County. I mean, we knew Monmouth Roseville is very good. And, you know, for the gold nickels, as we're going to talk about, the charade in a moment, that game with the Tigers next week is really big for both teams. Because when you look at the schedule, and when you look at, kind of, some of the results we saw last night in the league, some of the teams, it maybe we thought were a little bit lower on the totem pole and played well and won in some cases. So, we knew it would be a competitive league coming in. And for, you know, Mercer County, that game with charade, you can't understand how big it is. I mean, you really don't want to lose too many games early because the way their schedule shakes out when you have, you know, Newman, Rockridge, and Princeton down the stretch, you don't want to have to win all of those games. So, yeah, next week will be a big one. Mercer County, there were some bright spots, but, you know, the big thing is hopefully Whitehall's okay because if he's not, it's, you know, you wonder where the production will come from offensively. But, you know, long season, it's just one week, there's eight more to go. And I don't think it's time to necessarily push the panic button, but I do think, you know, Owen one start last year is a lot different than the Owen one start this year because they're playing a lot better teams this year, so. - What would you notice about the crowd last night down there? - Great, amazing. It was on both sides, and I talked about this with Coach Matt, like post-gaming with Monty on the broadcast. I mean-- - Welcome aboard Monty Smith, by the way. - Yeah, he did a great job. And, but Mercer County's visiting crowd was case in point why they should be in the Three Rivers. I mean, it was packed, so many people stand packed, lying defenses down the way, and the first half, I mean, the atmosphere in the game was close. I mean, Mercer County regular season games have not sounded like that, they just haven't. And, you know, it was, I was so happy for the kids to get to experience that, and it's too bad that, you know, they weren't able to hang around in the second half for very long. But, you know, that's gonna be the new norm, is they're gonna be able to play in these games with big crowds and games that feel big. And I talked about this with Tanner coming into the game too, is like just pre-game, like, throughout the week, you just felt like this is a game that a lot of the games that they play in the regular season over the years just haven't felt this way. Even, you know, the good teams they would play in the lick and trail or lick and land, there just isn't the level of hype when it's a local school. Right, like playing Monty's throw is different than playing Stark County, for example. And, Stark County had some really good teams, and those were big games, but it just doesn't feel the same when you don't know any of these people. You know, you know people from Monty. That's what I'm saying. The regular average fan knows the history and tradition of all that. And there's no doubt that the regular average fan showed up last night for both schools. I mean, it was a great atmosphere and it should be a good crowd and fun atmosphere at George Pratt Friday for Mercer County and Charade. So that's the one net positive for sure, is just the environment Mercer County, you know, was able to play in was really, really good. So, I'm happy for the kids for that. Can I, thinking about the track, can I, I want to segue off something here, and this is what I, so they're talking about the county line trophy when Rockbridge and Merco play later. And I was thinking about this last night. So, like in the big tent sometimes, the visiting team will bring their band. Yeah, they should do that. So like I was thinking like Charade, I love Charade's marching band, and they play till the very end. Did you know that? Yeah, so does Mama throws you. So, I'm going to offer this up to Rusty Ruggles right now. Is, I'd like to see like when Charade and Merco play, not this year or Charade and Rockridge, that they do a joint, like marching band thing, or that would be fun. That would be, that would be really cool. And I think that the league is set up to do something like that. 'Cause I love marching band stuff and they have such great traditions with some of these music programs in this school. So, going forward, maybe next year, when Merco plays Rockridge or Merco plays Charade, we should have a game where both marching bands are there. And Merco's got the best band. You see what you say. That's what I have to say. So anyway, let's talk about Rockridge and Charade. It was a big win for the Rockets last night, 42, six, kind of similar to the Mercer County Mom and Throsal game, I think, where Rockridge just, you know, too much for the Tigers handle. You were there, what'd you take away? - Well, I'll start with the Rockridge defense again, because holy smokes. - Yeah. - And they're just so fast. And I tell you the kid, and, you know, you had the expectations of Ryan Lower and Jude Finch, and there's no question about that, that they delivered last night, but then the new kid they have planned now more of a primary role, who's a freshman last year played on special teams, Thomas Sowards, Zee Row. - Number zero, Agent Zero, Thomas Sowards. - Yeah, he plays at warp speed, linebacker, and then got a lot of carries in the backfield, and really impressed with them in the Rockridge defense, going to be stout again and so fast. And, you know, I think sloppy second half, a lot of penalties, a lot of stoppages of play, and I know Coach Graves wasn't happy about that. They had the flurry in the first quarter, where they scored 21 points, and I don't have the notes in front of me, but Schweigen had three rushing touchdowns last night, and three passing touchdowns, and like Coach Graves and I were talking, I don't think he had a great game, and he accounted for six touchdowns just because the ceiling is so high for him, but the one thing offensively, and I forgot to ask this about Graves, that was so awesome, is his three touchdown passes were at three different receivers, and Land and Wheatley caught a great pass in the first quarter, and then Owen Steele, and I think we were talking off the air, Owen Steele is brian for a huge number. - Coach Graves did three season, he thought he's like an all state caliber type guy, and he's just a junior, he has strong sophomore year last. - And then I lost my notes, and there was a play in the north end zone at Gerard, and I kind of was screaming, couldn't see, and this kid went up for a huge leaping grab, he caught it, came down, it was Tanner Dye, and I'm like, holy speed, number one of the Dye brothers, I'm like, holy smokes, what a great play that was. So, I mean, they're showing some weapons there, and you take for granted a player like Land and Bull, who's so good on the offensive and defensive line, and I think the other interesting thing too, Jude Finch Place Center, and they didn't have one bad snap, and then Ryan Lower's on the offensive line, so they've had to adjust there, and then I thought it was awesome what Coach Graves said about the Nicholson kid, who was going to be a slot receiver, and he said, if you need help on the offensive line, I'll play offensive line, so he goes from Jersey, I think 27 to 68. - Wow, that's awesome. - So they're small up front, and I think the telling sign is, kids like Ryan Lower and Jude Finch, they're having to play now every snap on both sides of the ball where they really didn't have to do that last year, that's gonna be a bit of an adjustment, and then they're P-A-T-E's man, last night, the Morales kid six or seven or six or six or six, excuse me, perfect. - Wow, that's the good sign. - With the upright, Owen Steele is the holder, so they've kind of picked up where they left out there, 'cause I think the P-A-T is one of the reasons Rockridge to me has developed a winning culture, 'cause when they score, they get the P-A-T, and I think that's a big, that's a huge difference in high school football if you can score on P-A-T's. - We talked about that preseason is special teams, sometimes they get overlooked when you talk about a team coming into the season offense defense, but they're really important, and I think in small school, high school football, they can really decide games. I mean, like we touched on it with the Mercer County game, I mean, their field position, you're never gonna win a game with the field position they had to deal with last night, and like you said, when you have a kicker who can kick a field goal, when you can get three, when you're facing like fourth and 13 from the 20, and you can kick a field goal, I mean, that's a huge, you know, positive for A, because a lot of teams, that's gonna be zero, but you at least get three out of that, so that's good to see for them, and I think Rockridge is, they've become a program that I think is similar to Princeton in this way, I'm not saying, you know, they're like gonna win the three A's, they title, but they have been able to replace really, really good players, and they do that in basketball, too, where you think, okay, you know, like in, you know, a couple of years ago in football, Nate Henry graduates, what are they gonna do, you know, and then last year, at the end of last season, Zarlatanas is gone, and Freer's gone, and you think, okay, well, they'll take a step back now, and you know, I don't think they are, they have, you know, they just fill in so well, and they develop their kids so well, where you look at Schweig, and he's gonna be a really, really good player, and give teams fits for three more years, and land in Wheatley, such a good receiver, and steal like you mentioned, and up front, Bull, you know, linebacker, Ryan Lowe, or Jute Finch you were talking about, I mean, they just have dudes who are-- - And Agent Zero. - And Sauer's, who's become a really good player for them, I mean, they have dudes that are really good football players over there, and I think it's all, kind of a statement type win for them last night, they take care of business over Sharada, a team that, you know, they've had a lot of success over in recent years, of course, but the two, last two seasons, those teams played really, really good games, and last night it looked like Rock Ridge just kind of, you know, put their foot on the gas, and didn't take it off, just able to get out to a quick early lead, and hold on the rest of the way, and so, you know, that will be a fun game next week with Rock Ridge and Princeton, I mean, those are the favorites on either side of the league, so. - Yeah, and it's-- - It's fun that they get to play, and I'm excited to see the result there, so before we talk maybe a little more about that, just your read on Sharada, I know they are dealing with another injury now, which it just seems like, you know, they, it just feels like they're snake bitten almost, it's just, it's unfortunate what happens to them with the injuries and everything, but overall, would you take away from their performance, and then Brown playing quarterback? - Well, and that's, you know, is a double-edged sword for them of, do they have somebody that could play quarterback to get him the ball in space? I don't know what the answer is to that, but, you know, they, I think they were expecting some big things from Brody Bender, he heard his shoulder, so that hurt him. So the way the game started last night, George won the toss, deferred, and immediately got a three, three and out, and got the ball back, but just couldn't get anything going offensively, and I think their three, their first three offensive series, their first four offensive series, were three and outs, and then Rock Ridge kind of got it rolling with, Schweigen, like I said, he had three rushing touchdowns, and then he had three passing touchdowns, so they scored that, they scored 21 points in the first quarter, but then speaking to the strength of the Rock Ridge defense, Schrod had it first in goal from the one, last night in the second quarter, when it was 21, nothing, and didn't score. So Rock Ridge stopped him on first in goal from the one. So up 21, nothing, then 28, nothing at halftime, got up 35, nothing late in the third before Schrod scored to make it 35, six, but they did a little better job of running, I think, north-south in the second half with Woodward, they're running back, but that was about it. I think they finished, well, they were negative, like 12 yards in the first quarter rushing, and then they had a little more success in the second half, I think they had nine second half first downs, but again, some of that was in the fourth quarter when Rock Ridge had their second team, and so, you know, they're, and then coming into the game, they lost the weekly kid who broke his arm on week zero, who's gonna be starting offensive lineman, and the Steckle kid is out, I think, for a couple more weeks, and their starter at center last night, the Baloo kid is a freshman, so he has to take on the Rock Ridge defense as a freshman, making those. - Yeah, that's a tough start. - So, but I think they were a little more pleased with, you know, kind of their production in the second half. - So, well, yeah, that game, like we touched on earlier with Mercer kind of chart next week is just huge. I mean, it's big for both teams, because if you want to talk about like a path to the playoffs about those teams, and it's early to say that, I know, but when you look down the line, the schedule for both Gerard and Mercer County, it feels like this week two games gotta be a win, or you're gonna have to pull off a couple of upsets, the rest of the way to get there. So, that's a big game, a lot of intrigue with the Mercer County Sherard matchup in week two. A lot more intrigue, though, in the week two game with, of course, Rock Ridge and Princeton. It looks like it'll be a top five showdown with Rock Ridge and the top five and two-way Princeton in the top five and three. I think a lot of eyes around the state will be on this game between Rock Ridge and Princeton. So, for you, and by the way, Princeton last night beat Newman Central Catholic 28-14 in this season opener. I think it's always fun when we get to see Rock Ridge stack up with the program that Princeton is. So, that should be a really fun one next week, and luckily, Rock Ridge gets to host it. - Yeah, and what was the spread of halftime of that Princeton Newman game? - I don't know. And that to me, and I know Newman is still the favorite of the whole league, the best team clearly, but-- - Princeton. - Yeah, Princeton, I mean, 20. But Newman has to be pleased with that type of outcome 28-14. So, you just don't know with, you know, the experience of, we're gonna be a completely different game. No question next Friday with the opponent you're playing. And I think that's a big game for Princeton, too, 'cause they know Rock Ridge has always been the team to be on the other side of the league. So, I know there's a lot, Princeton's got the one kid that's a Northwestern commit, is that right? - Yeah, the port, yeah. - Yeah, so, I don't know. I mean, we'll wait and see, you said it's a marquee matchup, but the rest of the scores last night around the league, a Riverdale beat Mendota 23-12. You're reproversed down, as you mentioned, you know, trying to figure out, you know, the identity of this league. I think that was a huge win for Erie Provostown in week one beat. - That's the biggest statement in one of the week on the track, Erie Provostown over Q1A 13-7. Huge win for them. - Yeah, no question. - That's a lot. - And then, happy for Coach Filler and Oriene. I know that, you know, all the attention with them has been numbers, numbers, numbers, and I know Coach Filler has to get sick hearing about that. But, I mean, put 42 on the board, and I think they're gonna be able to score season long. - 30 in the first quarter, 36 at half time. - 30 in the first quarter, holy smokes. - So, we have a, we'll talk with all four of our local head coaches again this week, coming up this morning on Sportsline. But for Oriene, it was a real question of what they were gonna look like, I think, you know, in terms of just playing for a full game with 24 on their roster. Coach Filler told me, though, that, you know, last night they had a few kids come out late, so they didn't have enough practices to be eligible to play. So he said he believes they walked into the game with 19 or 20 in uniform. And he said, you know, Hall had over 40. And he said, you know, it's like one of the more proud, most proud he's ever felt, you know, with the performance they put out there. You know, they're gonna be a team that I think people maybe overlook a little bit, just because of the number of kids they have out. But that's something that I think that they can really rally around, you know. I think that can really build a lot of, you know, I guess momentum if you can start winning games where you're kind of playing like an us against the world mentality and for them. I mean, we know that Kale Filler is really good, right? He's the best passer in the conference and he had a good night last night. I think he threw for over 300 yards. But the biggest thing for them that I liked is I think he only threw for one touchdown. So the rest of them were either, you know, on a kick return they had to open the game and then on the ground and Coach Filler, we talk about it a little bit later too with him. But he said running the ball looked really good last night for them, which was the big mystery is, you know, up front they have three sophomores on the offensive line. So so far, so good for them. And I'm glad for Coach Filler too. I mean, that's a really positive result where you can keep the, you know, good vibes rolling, at least for a week after getting a nice win on the road. Probably a fun, bust right home back from Spring Valley for the Chargers last night. So and they have the Monmouth Roosevelt Titans next week, right? Yeah. Is that game over at Charger Field? That's in Oregon, yeah. Yeah. Couple of old Olympic conference guys, Coach Filler, grew up at a worrying, of course, and then Coach Adolphson and Alito grads. But but they, yeah, I was, you know, like you said, that given up and not scoring, you know, it wasn't surprising that they scored 42, but defensively last night, allowing just 14 and one of those on a kick off return. So they only gave up one touchdown, which is a, you know, you like that too, for them. So it was, you know, last week that I thought one of the wild cards on the other side of the track was Spring Valley, Baldwin. You talk about how many kids they had coming back starters from last year and then, of course, macro setters right at Spring Valley Hall grad, making some, some waves early in the season. Nice power turn for the Allianna, yeah. So awesome. And then by the way, speaking of, of, Allian, congratulations to Logan Lee. Yeah, awesome. Who's playing on Sundays? Playing on Sundays. And that's the other thing. And coach, I don't, I was calling him coach on the air, but, you know, talking to Eric Hutchins last night, we were talking a little bit, you know, on our pregame about, you know, you think a kid that grew up in that town and played in that school not that long ago. 2019 grad. You would think, man, I, there'd be more kids that would wanna play football just because he played there. And he played for coach, Taylor. He loves Coach Miller too, you know. And I'm like, sometimes I don't get it, but I'm not, I don't live over there. And, you know, and that's what Coach Hutchins was saying, our Eric Hutchins was saying last night about, you just, you know, you really would like to have a time where you'd really just ask every kid individually, "Why aren't you playing it?" But you don't like playing football, you want to do something else? That's fine, if there's something else, I mean, you, you, you, they never take a deep dive into finding out why maybe some of those things are the way they are. But, you know, that's just the thing for me. It's like they, they have a NFL football player. You think that would lead to a lot of kids wanting to play, but. - Those 24 kids deserve a lot of respect. - Amen, man. - A lot of credit for them, that is not easy to do. And for them to go on the win, go on the road and get a win like that, good for the Chargers, man. Hopefully they can keep it rolling. - So, and we'll hear, so Coach Filler, I used to tell people about Coach Filler what I like about him, and it's a blessing and a curse with what we do when we do post-game interviews, right? Is, you know, sports, and especially if it's close game or whatever, it can be an emotional game. And you're, you can still be in the heat of a moment, heat of the moment after a game. And sometimes you can say things in the heat of the moment that come off, you know, not too nice or whatever, or people can take it the wrong way. And so, sometimes if you say something that comes across the wrong way in the heat of the moment, I accept responsibility for that too. And the station accepts responsibility for that too, because we're putting these coaches on the air, where they're still amped up maybe about some things, right? So, anyway, but, but worrying with a nice win last night. So you have, well, you talk about some and intriguing matchups now on the airwaves next week with led by Rockridge Princeton, which is a showdown game of top five team and three eight, top five team, and two eight, and then Mercer County and Schrod in, in, in, Eric asked this last night. What was the last time, so Mercer County never played Schrod? No. So it would have been the last year, man, I wonder when the last year Schrod in Alito play. It was either 0.5 or 0.6, I forget what you did, Alito left. Almost 20 years since then. That is just the stupidest thing you've ever heard. So I'm glad that that is not the case anymore. I mean, those schools are what, 20 minutes apart, and the enrollments are basically the same, and they haven't played for 20 years in football. Absolutely bananas. Well, and that'll change next Friday, and, you know, to me, I think it's really going to be neat, and I ran into Chuck Claus, and where did I see him at? It doesn't matter where you saw him. That doesn't add to the story, probably. You can just say what you said to him, man. I just said how cool it's gonna be for him to be back on the airwaves with John. Right, yeah, it will be awesome. I can't wait for that, yeah. I just think that's my W-R-M-J, right? That's my W-R-M-J that I grew up with when I came to town. It was those dudes were on the air on Friday nights, and that was must listen to radio, not only for the product on the field, which was really good at that time, but the product on the airwaves was really good at the time, and then Coach Breen going to be on with him, so radio par excellence next Friday night, and then two rivalry schools going at it with Sherard in Mercer County. Anything else last night, game-wise stand-out? Did you mention Riverdale? Yeah, well, I said I was happy. 23-12, Riverdale over Mendoza. The Rams canceled their season in 2022, if you didn't know, 'cause they had 18 kids out. They've got 50 out this year after going 0-9 last season, and they went on the road and got a win, 23-12. Way to go, Coach Jerick. I texted him this morning. He just texted me back and said, "Thanks, I congratulated him." I'm so happy for them, man. That's gotta be such a rewarding feeling for those kids, and for him to dig yourself out of that hole, because a lot of the times when you see programs cancel a season, that's it, and the program's dead, and it's not coming back, but credit them. He has done a remarkable job turning them around, and now we talked about this preseason. They're a team that if you're not one of the elite teams in the league, you can't look at them and say, "Well, we're definitely gonna beat Riverdale now." I mean, they're gonna give teams games, I think, so credit Coach Jerick's in Riverdale. Awesome result for them getting a win last night, and I'm sure the momentum is rolling high with them. They probably feel on Cloud 9, those kids, and you touched on this last week, too, is a lot of the times, it's just, how's your schedule shake out, where you made the point where if they had to play Princeton Week 1 and get blown out, it's like, "Okay, here we go again," but for them to get to play a program like Mendota, kind of on a similar trajectory as them last year, where, in credit, Riverdale, too, 'cause last year they lost to Mendota by three touchdowns, and they turned that around and do a two possession win this year, so I didn't see any stats or anything on the game, but just the final score, Riverdale wins, and that is awesome that they're wanting to know. Who they got next week, you remember? Kiwani. All right, and so that's, and the other thing, too, that I liked what Riverdale did is they decided last year, they could have had an opportunity where they bring some freshmen and sophomores up, they elect not to do it. They played a few sophomores, but they still played a full JV schedule last year. That's what they decided to do, make a concerted effort to develop the program and play kids where they should play at, at the JV level, and build them up there, and I agree, scheduling is big. You need the breaks early, especially like them, 'cause I think there was momentum in the off season and some excitement with the numbers coming in where they felt pretty good about the attitude and the direction and the participation in the summer, so you got that already, and then you get the win in week one. That adds to it, so-- Those dudes probably can't wait to get to break us on Monday, man. And so that was a, that was one, 'cause I think it was 12-nothing at halftime, I think. Riverdale, I saw one of the-- 12 or 13, yeah, they were of two scores at halftime. So, yeah, that was a nice victory for them, and, yeah, I wanna learn a little bit more about the Princeton Newman game last night, or Princeton wins 28-14. I just wanna know what the, maybe the score wasn't halftime to see what the outcome was there, 'cause-- I was on the view from the West podcast reaction show last night, we were on there very late. It was me and Greg, and then Brian Stocking was on there, and Kyle Campmeyer, and then a couple of WQAD jokers came on later, too. Matt Randazzo was on from his car driving home, which was pretty funny. But Stocking said that from when he followed the game, Princeton never really, I mean, the game was never really in doubt, Princeton was led the whole way, and was in control, and I think the closest that got was, it was a two-score game, and I think Newman had the ball once down 14, and didn't score, so-- They controlled the game. Yeah. But, I mean, Newman, a 14-point loss to Princeton is, you know, moral victories aren't really a thing, especially for that program, but, you know, to hang around with Princeton like that. I mean, that's a tough thing to do, 'cause I think Princeton is really, really good, so I think Newman should be solid, and, you know, they'll have a chance to bounce back in week two. All right, so the funniest thing I saw last night, I don't know if I told you this or not, off the air, that during the Sherard Rock Ridge game last night of the second half, so you know the Sherard, Clifford Kingfield runs north-south. Yeah. So it'd be the southwest kind of corner, there's where that gate where you can walk into the field. So some, like, middle-aged guy takes his shirt off, and he runs across the field without his shirt diagonally, and he leaves the field of play and, like, runs into the woods. And he got away. Yeah. Wow. And, like, nobody, the reaction was like-- They blow the whistle, and the play just keep going. It was like a stoppage of play, but he just ran, and I'm like-- And then you see later a couple of flashlights, I guess, maybe trying to find him. But like a middle-aged guy, didn't look in very good shape, but he had his shirt off, and he's carrying his shirt, and wasn't running very fast. Oh, of course he wasn't. Because he wasn't. And I just thought, man, that was like a bizarre-- I'm curious what would compel you to do that. Yeah, I don't know how you do. Not a high school football game, but-- Because I think most people in the reaction from the stand wasn't much other than, like-- Laughing. The guy's not running really fast, and he's just-- where's he going? Yeah, right. Yeah, he's over the charade. There's not really any we're free to run to. And he goes, he's just going to run into the woods. I need to go back and listen to that. Was that on the air when you said that? Oh, I got to go back and hear that. That is hilarious. So anyway, how much I could have been there for that? So new kid, new scoreboard last night? I didn't have a chance to-- I didn't-- wasn't able to hear either Cole Negan is his name. OK, and then New Orleans broadcast? Ryan did a great job. Coach Filler complimented him for his post-game interview. All right, so anything else about week one here from our head coaches coming up, Brandon Johnston, Sam Graves, Tanner Matlick, and Chip Filler? Not really. I mean, to quote Coach Matlick for last night. I mean, he said in our post-game interview on the air, he said, it's back to the drawing board. And I think that's the same thing for Mercer County and Charade. And luckily for both, they get a kind of matchup with each other where they probably feel pretty similarly after games that didn't go their way and got away from them. So a big opportunity for both of those schools to try to start to write the ship next week. It is obviously in Rock Ridge and Orient. Got to like how they played both offenses put up 42 in a kind of lob-sided wins for them. So Rock Ridge and Orient both have tests, respectively, playing Princeton and Monmouth Roseville next week, looking ahead to that. And also, one other funny thing about last night on view from the West. Brian Stocking made a point. He's like, yeah, if you're all in one, you've got to feel desperate trying to get it win in week two. And Randazzo started. It was so funny. He got so mad at him. He's like, you're acting like somebody's going to die if one of these teams loses a second game. It's not desperation stocking. It's high school football. So that is the key to remember is that if the end of the day, if you win or lose a high school football game, it's a high school football game at the end of the day. And then one other thing I'll say about Sherrod last night that I liked a couple of times in the second half where Carter Brown playing quarterback, what, for the first time since junior high. There were a couple of times in the second half where he was able to extend the play and make a play. And in the first half, Rock Ridge did a good job of really containing him and not letting him get loose. But if you can't contain him and he is able to create some plays and ask time to do it whether running the ball or throwing the ball, I think he's probably going to adapt to that a little bit better as the season progresses. Because there were a couple of moments last night when I'm like, oh, this may work if you can't get a home and all him early in that offensive play. Because the one play he created last night on the touchdown pass, I'm like, man, that's a pretty athletic play there. So if he has time, it'll be an interesting year with his growth development playing as a varsity quarterback. All right, so we can get to our head coaches now. We will hear from Chip Filler, Sam Graves, Brandon Johnson, and then Tanner Mat in that order. So it's the WRMJ sports line. After a week 1 of the 2024 obstacle football season, Saturday, August 31st, we'll come back in here from Oray and head coach Chip Filler. Chargers want to know after a 42-14 win overhaul. The last night, more coming up on WRMJ. Are you ready for your team to get their license? At Country Financial, they know it's scary when you see your kids back out of the driveway for the first time. If you know your young driver has the proper protection from country financial, it's a little easier. Contact your local country financial representative to chat about car insurance today. And Alito, see me, Tracy Bigham. 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And they feature grave-worthy cushioning. So stop in at 614-0 run and pick up a pair of Sockney running shoes for $80, or save on Sockney running apparel and clothing at 25% off at 614-0 run on West Maine across from the library in Galesburg. This is Ty Taylor on WRMJ and WRMJ.com. Talking now with Oray and head coach Chip Filler on SportsCenter, the Chargers won and 0 after a 42-14 win on the road overhaul. So coach Chip Filler, the mighty 24-orient Chargers, so far, so good in week one. I'm sure you had to like the performance your team put out on the field last night. Oh, yeah, they were just tremendous again. I mean, just the things that these kids are able to do with 24 guys going against, I think, Hall dressed 40, standing over on the other sideline and after the game or last night, people are coming up to me. They're like, how are we doing this? They walk out, like, they have numbers three to one. I say, well, they can only play 11. You know, when our 11 is as good as anybody's 11. So as long as nobody gets hurt and we can hold up, we're in good shape. So offensively for you last night, you put up 42, 36 of them in the first half, 30 in the first quarter. So offensively, got off to a really strong start. What were some of the keys you think that were working well offensively, especially early on in the game last night? Well, well, first off, you know, we get the opening kickoff run back 90 yards by Owen Vories. And I'm standing next to Coach Gay. I was our kick-or-turn coach and they're in warmups and they're kicking the ball really well. I mean, this kid's launching it for Hall, but he's kicking it in the air. So I look at Pharaoh and I said, hey, Owen's gonna run this back. And I don't even think we're gonna have to block for him because the field is gonna be too big for him. They want to be able to catch up to him. And sure enough, he did kick it right to him and it started as our season off to just a phenomenal start. I mean, anytime the opening kickoff of your season goes for a touchdown. It's pretty impressive. And then first place from scrimmage we ran, we ran a wheel route to him out of the backfield and he had a 40 yard gain. You know, and then he and Kale were just, were just really dice and people up. They weren't man coverage. They really couldn't, they really couldn't cover us in man. Jay category, first quarter. I mean, it was just off to the races. The thing though that I noticed, Ty, is we score 30 right away in the first quarter. And then, and then you look, we only score 12. We only score two more touchdowns the rest of the, the rest of the game. That's when you can see that the teak set in, like our explosiveness kind of get wears down on us after, you know, about a quarter and a half. We're not quite as explosive right now as what we could be like, if we had some subs going throughout the game, but boy, that first, that first quarter and their first get off when they're, when they're at 100%, man, we were worth tough to stop. - Well, that's something I wanted to ask you too, is with the 24 kids, how did it look, you know, playing for a full four quarters? I'm sure it'll get better as you go on, you'd hope, but how do you think that was handled in week one with a lot of kids I'd assume, playing both offensively and defensively? - It was, it was, it was really good. We didn't cramp, we didn't have any issues like with the teak. You know, we were really smart about how we substituted. You know, watching us offensively, we are in and out of a lot of sets. So I can take Aidan Fisher out for about four, five plays if I need to, we can just, and go empty and not have a running back or even have a, or even have one of our sub running backs come in. So when he comes back in the game, he's semi-fresh. Now the guys that only know, Owen Gore, he doesn't go both ways. He only plays one side of the ball, Kayle only plays one side of the ball. We've got three linemen, or four linemen that only play one side of the ball. Now Jake wears and tears on Jake Bainbridge 'cause he is running routes all the time and then we ask him to play defensive end and so he had another night, he had a really good game defensively and offensively, just an overall game. But we're in and out of those different looks so I can get people rest. So it really doesn't quite affect us. And I'll say this, we brought 24. We had two linemen that didn't have enough practices in so they couldn't play. So we kind of went with about 20 dudes, 19, I guess, yeah, and I have a freshman that came out late so he didn't dress. So 21 guys, you know, went in there and did the yeoman's work, I guess. - And we were talking with you before we went on the air and it sounded like a strong night running the ball too with Aiden Fisher and I know coming into the season, we knew that Ori would be able to pass the ball with about the best of them but running the ball is kind of where the question mark arose offensively at least. So what'd you like on the ground game for you last night? 'Cause like I said, it sounded like it went pretty well. - Well, with him, he's such a different back than what we've had in the past. I mean, you know, if you look back and like the Seth West was really, really fast. I mean, he was super athletic and scab back and not that Aiden's not that athletic but we're talking about Seth West. And then Cole was the same way, Cole Kratzburg. Right now it's like having Mike Allstott in the backfield and he's a big loser but he has some speed and he runs downhill really well. It's just taken me probably our preseason to get used to his running style and what he likes, you know, the play calling that he likes, you know, and he would rather run between the tackles to run you over which is all fine with me 'cause I dig all that stuff. So he's actually added some toughness to what everybody considers a finesse offense. - And when we talked with you heading into week one, one of the things I asked you is about, you know, your offensive line, you have three sophomore starting up there. It sounded like everybody was able to stay healthy. So how did the offensive line unit look in their first outing in a varsity game this week? - Well, so we were sitting at the end of the game or last night after the game in our coaches and we were talking about our run game. And any time that we had a big run or any time it was really like a short yardage or we had to pick it up, we went behind those three sophomores. Not by design, you know, I didn't say, oh, hey, we're just gonna see what these guys can do. I just called the play and, you know, it just happened to be that, hey, we were behind Grayson Weaver and we were behind Kate Cirks and we were behind so many documents and they were picking it up. I don't know that we got stopped on a short yardage play all night long. I mean, our backs ran hard and they really got blue people off the ball for the, I guess Grayson's 200 pounds, but Kate's maybe a buck 60 if you look the other way if you've had a Snickers, you know. We're just, I'm just really impressed with how they've done. And there's a lot of credit goes to Kramer-Mats and our offensive line coach. He's done a phenomenal job just taking this on and knowing he's got seven kids. And he's told him, hey, we're gonna be the best off the ball. We're gonna play side step and we're just gonna do what we do and we're just gonna get people to weigh in and help that works out for us. And man, it's worked out for us in the preseason game. We're out for us last night. - And another positive for me at least from the outside looking in is just 14 points allowed to your opponent, a strong first step for your defensive unit. So what about the defensive effort for your ball club last night to limit Hall to just 14? - Well, it was a scary start time. I'm gonna tell you this, we run back the opening kickoff and they're very first play. They go 80 yards for it, that's down. So it was, I was like, oh boy, here we go. We're gonna score 70, you know. But they settled in, they played really well on, you know, we wore them out, I think more than anything, you know, by the middle, by the middle of the first quarter, obviously they were just, they weren't hitting the holes very hard, they had a good full back. They weren't hitting the holes really hard. We were doing a great job. Our inside linebackers played out standing. Carson Peck was, in his first RC start, was just incredible, incredible, incredible. Aiden Fisher had a fumble recover, tackles for loss, he was just, you know, basically what Aiden Fisher for us, what he does defensively. Our defensive line did extremely well. We hadn't played on, they had some success on the edges because we're playing a defensive back at outside linebacker, but then Jackson Pier really stepped up and he had a really good night. So all in all the effort of those guys was just, was really, really good. You know, we're playing a lot of young guys so early on, you can just see it's like their first RC start or their first RC actions for a long time. So they're a little bit timid, but man, by the middle, they scored right before the half. I don't remember when they scored. It was before the half or right at the third quarter. And then after that, man, it was, I mean, we shut them down, I don't even know if they had first down. - All right, and looking ahead to you, a test coming up on Friday with Monmouth Rose. Well, I saw the Titans last night, they scored 44 points in the second half and a 50 to 14 win over Mercer County. And I know with their personnel, they can be a tough matchup for teams with how big and physical they are up front. So just the early reach you have on your week two opponent in Monmouth Roseville. - Well, you know, they probably do cause a lot of problems for us, you know, physically and what they do philosophy wise. I mean, I'm assuming they're still their triple option midline kind of stuff. So we're going to have to be really be disciplined, which we struggled with the last couple of years. I think we're better at that. We're going to have to win our one-on-one matchups and make sure that we're able to tackle in the hole. Last night, we got a lot of players to the football, which we like defensively. So that kind of worries me a little bit. And then, you know, just the battle of attrition, knowing that how many guys they have over there. And I think this is going to be the common thing that we keep talking about for all season long. You know, when will we wear out? And when we do wear out, you know, can we withstand it or is it just going to be too much? And the way they pound us, the way they're pounding out on people, that's going to be difficult for us. But with us, and this is the kind of the scene for last year, if you remember the game, if we can score with them, and I think that we can, then we can keep ourselves in. And if we can just keep ourselves close and in the game, I think maybe by the end, if we can get kill the ball last, we'll have a chance to win the game. But that's what we're just looking to keep it, make sure we keep it close and give us a, and give proof from week one to week two. - All right, both Oren and Mameth Roso, we'll be looking to get to 2-0 on the season on Friday night. Coach Chip Filler, nice going in week one. We'll talk to you later in the week. - All right, thanks. I appreciate it. - And I'm Ty Taylor, we'll be back with more on WRJ after this. (upbeat music) - Start cross country sees it off right with a stop at 614-0 run in Galesburg. Build your endurance with a pair of Sockney cross country spikes, plus save during the hey dude shoes close out sale. Don't fall for the online fakes, get pairs of hey dude shoes for as low as $40, and boots for as low as $65. This is your sign to get moving, visit 614-0 run in Galesburg today. (upbeat music) - You finally have your dream home. Now you need the right insurance to protect it, because when it comes time to file a claim, you don't want any surprises. Talk to a country financial representative to find out if you have the right protection. They can help you understand your options, and select coverages to meet your needs. - And Alito, see me, Tracy Bigham. - Oh, we're Jason Potter in Edgerton. See me, Brent and Bigham. - Home insurance policies issued by Country Mutual Insurance Company, Country Casualty Insurance Company, or Country Preferred Insurance Companies, Wilmington, Illinois. - Jim Taylor, back on WMJWMJ.com. Friday night, the Rock Ridge Rockets open up the season. 42-6, the finalists. First up, Coach Sam Graves talk about some of the good things you saw. - Yeah, you know, we talked a little bit about before we started here, the defensive play. That's, I think that's one thing that we will look to. Offensively, you know, you want the kids to enjoy a win, but Coach speak here. We're gonna be, you know, looking a lot of film on Monday. We had a lot of blown assignments, missed assignments. You know, it was because of defense, giving us short fields sometimes with big stops and turnovers that allowed us to jump up. I think it was 21, nothing in the first quarter. And, you know, our offense needs to follow along at some point, but we'll get there. But, you know, defensively, pretty happy about that effort. - And speak to offensively, you know, the adjustment with the offensive line tonight in terms of what you saw, you know, with Ryan Lower and Jude Finch now. And I thought Jude Finch did a great job in terms of being a center. And I didn't see really any issue with snaps tonight, but, you know, I think probably the one thing looking at this game tonight coming in, like, hey, can they play with that high mode or every play on both sides of the ball? What did you think just from them tonight and just kind of the new look offensive line? - Well, you're right. I think that was our one thing that made us nervous come into the season. We, you know, we have three guys out of the five who've never played offensive line before their lives. Not just like since junior high or fresh softball, but they've never played O line. We moved Ryan Lower from a skill position down the line. Jude has always just played defense and Brody Nicholson actually to start this year, even week one of practice was a slot. And he volunteered to go down to an offensive lineman. And that tells you his character because, you know, there's not, unfortunately, we're in a day and age now where it's been the other way. We've moved a couple of kids down the line because we thought it would help the team and they've quit. So to volunteer to go down to help the team 'cause you knew that's what would be best in his own terms is it says an incredible thing about his just want to win and what he'll do for the team as a teammate. But yeah, like you said, you can't, you don't question their toughness at all, you know, and that's the thing we talked about too. Hey, Jude's been a monster on defense, but will this limit him? And, you know, those, that's why football coaches like wrestlers, man, Ryan Lower and Jude Finch kids, they have a hardcore mentality and another kid with that mentality used to all step in tonight was Thomas Sowers, an inside linebacker. And those all three guys have that same wrestler mentality who understand leverage and speed and really get after it and are gonna be good, really good players for us. - And I thought the one thing, even though you walk out of here winning 42 to six, you know, a week one victory, you love the outcome, but, and that there was just not a lot of flow in the second half, lot of stoppages, just really not a lot of rhythm. And that's something you probably, when you walk out of here tonight, you say, that's what I'm really frustrated about because we really gotta up it up, you know, heading into next week against Princeton. - Yeah, that's, it's a big change there. You know, it was very disappointing, our offensive production, I think. You know, we came out wanting to hit a big play out of the gate and the first three plays, there were three verbal mistakes. The first play was actually a pass play and we handed the ball off. So, I mean, first game nerves, jitters, but there's definitely a lot to clean up. Like you said, we kind of challenged the guys at halftime that we want to see better effort because they're in the second quarter, we really jumped out to 21-nothing, which you can be happy about. At least we were at 42 to six on the scoreboard, but, you know, we have a lot, we gotta clean up and get better with because when we play Princeton, next week, if we look like we did in the third quarter's night, that could be a flip scoreboard. - The other thing I was impressed with tonight 'cause I know Vanda Geist was automatic. We didn't know, that's a luxury to have that in small school football. Tell me about Bodie Morales, man. He's perfect tonight in P.A.T.s. and you got a new long snapper because you had that great rhythm for the last couple of years, I think, with Mieleur and was on Myers the long snapper and Vanda Geist was automatic. I never remember any hiccups. And tonight, it looks like that same unit was out there, but it's three brand new guys that, I mean, to me, it looked pretty good. - Yeah, Bodie's done a nice job. He's really getting consistent. He's a great athlete too. I know he focuses a lot on kicking and we kind of get on him on practice. We're like, hey man, you're a great athlete. You can actually be a good corner receiver for someday. But, you know, he, he, and that's a mentality thing. That can be nerve wrecking for a young kid. So it's a great job for him stepping into that position. Like you said, Vanda Geist is a kid that shattered our school record for extra points made, just so reliable. As a coach, you'd score a touchdown. And my back would be turned to that unit. You'd be thinking about other stuff walking out of the field 'cause you knew it was automatic. And like you said, the whole unit together, Vaughn's snapping and Reed Mueller holding. It was just automatic. And those guys did a good job. We got to, you know, again, I'll do a little coach talk. We got to speed it up maybe a little bit. We almost had a little trouble off the edge a couple times. But other than that, you know, it was, what a great job by Bodie. And I know coach Nelson does our special teams and he had him do a couple different kickoffs. A couple of them just barely rolled out and he put them in some good spots that he was trying to place the ball. And yeah, he's gonna be a good one for us if he can keep doing this. - Cream of the crop next week in Princeton who has really been on a roll. What about getting kind of that marquee matchup, you know, this early in the season week two? - Well, you know, the funny thing is, is we used to complain because it seemed like every year we used to draw Sterling Newman week one when they were, you know, a powerhouse. And we complained about like, why can't we draw them when we got some more games under our belt? But then you kind of learn to appreciate it a little bit. Like it shows you where you are quick and it gets, we talk about the guys all the time. Let's get stuff on film and we can get better. We can improve. And, you know, they're gonna expose whatever we're not doing right next week, they're gonna expose it in a hurry. So we know that's gonna be a, it's gonna be a different game than tonight. You know, Schrod gave us some spread looks. And, you know, from everything I've heard is now that Tegan Davis has graduated a couple of years ago. Princeton's now more of a double tight wing power eye running power over and over, double tight double wing, running wing, you know, power pitch and wing toss and wing counter. And so they're gonna come at you physically over and over again with those big boys they have up front. So it's definitely gonna get exposed if we're not fundamentally sound. And, you know, there's gonna be things that we'll look at to fix and you're right. It's the cream of the crop and we gotta be ready to go next week. - And I just say, finish up offense. I know there was maybe some sloppy play kind in the second half, but still, you know, you have a sophomore quarterback and what it planned is 13th game, I think, is a varsity quarterback or no, it's 12th game, right? Something like that. And, you know, rush for over 100 yards, three rushing touchdowns and three passing touchdowns today without an interception. I mean, that's another great way to start your sophomore year and, you know, the upside still is, the ceiling is still way up there. And I thought, man, even to, you know, 'cause there were a couple of misses, but then too, I think he put so much velocity on the ball, you gotta be ready to catch that ball, but, you know, there were some really impressive throws with him tonight. So you really gotta like what you see there. - Yeah, of course we do. You know, Colin, the good thing about Colin's, he's a competitor, you know, you could run him 40 times if you wanted to, and he's got a lower shoulder every time and get what he can. And, you know, as a coach, you cringe, 'cause sometimes you want him just to go down, but he's a fighter, he's not gonna do that. So, you know, he's, he's, there's no question about it. He's the kid we want back there leading us and we'll keep getting better. Yeah, and that's why I talked to him after the game. You know, I'm sure he's gonna be frustrated with some stuff that happened out there tonight. I know there was some, you know, missed calls, some things that we wanted that maybe he looked the other way. And, you know, I, I'm sure he's not gonna be happy with some of his throws, but like you said, man, he shows it though. He does have some laser throws and he's got a great arm and we're excited about, we know he's the right guy in the right spot for us to, to take us quite a ways in this offense. - Should be a fun game next week. The Rockets hosting Princeton, Rockridge winning Friday night 42-6 over, and that's your our Jim Taylor-Worm J. - Discover the Diamond Act difference and take your harvest to the next level. Diamond Act offers the top seed brands in the industry, including Midwest, Stein, Brevant, LG, and Zitavo. Their nutritionals and crop protection will keep your fields healthy and resilient all year long. And no one in the Ag retail industry offers a broader selection of fertilizer products and services. Contact seed manager Brian Brooks at 309-58-246-81. Diamond Act with vocations and Alito, Alexis and Knoxville deeply rude and quality people and quality service. - This summer save on Sockney at 614-0-Run. Sockney select running shoes or clearance priced at just $80 plus running apparel and clothing from Sockney is 25% off. Sockney running shoes are built to keep you stable and comfortable and are as reliable as they get. And they feature grave worthy cushioning. So stop in at 614-0-Run and pick up a pair of Sockney running shoes for $80 or save on Sockney running apparel and clothing at 25% off at 614-0-Run on West Maine across from the library in Galesburg. - Jim Taylor, WMMJ, WMMJ.com, let's visit now with the head coach of the Sharara Tigers. Well, I tell you the way Friday night's game started, you win the coin toss, you defer, and you get a three and out. And I thought I have to feel pretty good, but really struggle to try and put something together offensively, just talk a little bit about kind of the challenges maybe that Rock Ridge defense presented to you Friday night. - Yeah, I think that's, we knew coming in, I was gonna be, we thought probably the strength of their team and that's no short to their offense 'cause they're really good too, but we thought they were gonna be pretty elite defensively and we'd have to try to find something that would work. Unfortunately, it took us a half or more before we got too much going. You know, that's a really good team first and foremost, and we kind of knew we were up against it a little short handed tonight and probably for the next few weeks unfortunately, but you know, that's no excuse. They were a heck of a lot better than us tonight and we just couldn't do enough things correctly, often enough. - You talk about injuries, you mentioned short handed coming in, I know the Steckle Kid didn't play and the weekly kid was hurt last week. I say you started a freshman at Saturday night, which is pretty challenging when you know, you have to go against the speed of that defense and then early in the game, you get a kid hit, hurt, the bender kid, shoulder injury, then in the second half, you know, I think you're battling some cramps, so I know it's so tough when you have to deal with injuries early in the season, especially when you're trying to figure some things out. - Yeah, absolutely. I think we're at 39 or 40 on our roster this year anyway, and for various reasons, we had six or seven kids that weren't even dressed, then when we lost bender, and as you said, the cramps and stuff like that, and we have a pretty good size freshman class out of those 39, 40 kids, you know, there's a good chunk of them that are freshmen. So, you know, we feel like we've got some good players, some talented kids, but we're just not very deep until we get some of those young guys more experienced. So, you know, I thought we played a lot better in the second half, but obviously we did that against our subs quite a bit there towards the end, but, you know, just kind of some little things I thought in the first half that, you know, simple day one things for us that we weren't doing, and of course, you can't survive against Rockridge, you know, when you play like that. - Yeah, and they scored 21 in the first quarter, and it looks like you were gonna get out of the second quarter, kind of with the scoreless period there, but a couple of turnovers kind of cost you, and they go in the locker room up 28. Nothing, just a little bit about maybe that second quarter where you maybe saw some positives there a little bit. - Yeah, for sure. Again, we knew that they were a really good team on both sides of the ball, and, you know, what most of that quarter is you said, holding them scoreless, so made a couple of little tweaks defensively that we thought helped us. And it just wasn't enough, and obviously when, again, when you're playing that team, you gotta do a lot of things right, a lot of the time, just to give yourselves a shot, and we just made way too many mistakes tonight. You know, some of that's on us, some of that's, you know, they forced us into those things too. - And just a little bit then defensively tonight for your ball club, would you think? - Some positives at times, not enough, of course. You know, we've got, that's where we thought we would maybe struggle the most week one early in the season, just 'cause we had a lot of new faces on that side of the ball, especially. You know, anytime you've got like Carter and Garrett and some of those guys back offensively, you feel pretty good getting the ball to those guys and see what would happen, but, you know, we got a lot of new faces defensively, so, we need to grow up quick, need to learn things quick, and, you know, get some of those young guys, a lot of experience, like I said. You know, we were better, again, a second half, but, you know, a little bit is, you know, both, I guess. Us, we played better for sure, and, you know, we were going against some of their second team, third team guys, so, you know, we were, we were, you know, not terribly physical at the point of attack, I thought, early in the first half, and kind of challenged the guys to hit the reset button at halftime, and I think they responded pretty well. - So, you need to tell me then, is there a rule change with a personal foul in fraction, because in that second quarter 21 nothing, you had that penalty on, I think it was a third and long situation, I know it was at a third, I thought it was an automatic first down, and instead, it occurred on a third down play, and it was a personal foul dead ball, and it was half the distance to the goal line, but it wasn't an automatic first down, it was a fourth down, no, I know the pass interference penalty is not an automatic first down anymore, but I thought a dead ball personal foul was an automatic first down, but apparently it's not. - The, I mean, you had the same question. The explanation I got was since the throw had gone away, he was no longer considered a passer, and that made the difference in a personal foul or not. - You know, those, well, it was a personal foul, but the fact that he was not considered the passer since the ball had been released, I guess enough time or something like that after the release of the ball had passed, that they considered him not the passer anymore. That was the explanation I got. You know, I don't necessarily have any reason to doubt that. I found after years and years of doing this, those guys are a lot more versed in the rules most of the time than I am, so. But yeah, that was a little strange, I thought as well. And then where do you go from here next week? You play Mercer County, who lead at halftime, but then really in the second half, mine with Roseville, but a whole bunch of points on the board. Injury-wise, do you get some kids back? Do you think Bender, what his situation is, or is the Stecko kid, or where are you at? You think heading and what do you look at next week? - Not sure on Bender yet. I don't anticipate him being back next week, for sure. And kind of some preliminary stuff, it might be a little longer than that. But obviously, just hope the best for that kid. Hope he gets healthy senior year. We want him to experience as much of as normal senior year as he can. We're still probably a couple weeks away from getting too many more guys back from injury. There's question marks still as to how soon a couple of guys can come back. But we're going to be battling, for sure, with injuries and numbers and stuff like that. But the good news is we're getting some kids some reps at the same time that, you know, otherwise maybe wouldn't be getting quite as many reps. So just try to keep learning every week. Try to keep staying positive and taking another step forward next week. - Coach, we'll see you in Alito next Friday. - Sounds good, thanks Jim. - Brandon Johnston with us on WMJ Tigers Fall 42-6 at Clifford Kingfield. - Building relationships, supporting the community and service, these are the things Country Financial stands for. We're neighbors who lend a helping hand and support the fabric of our community, including charitable organizations, sports, financial education and civic organizations. Since we're already neighbors, let's get together and chat to talk about the things that are important to you and how we can help you protect them. See your local country financial representative today. - And Alito, see me, Tracy Bigum. - Or Jason Potter. - In Edginton, see me, Brent Bigum. - Discover the Diamond Ag difference and take your harvest to the next level. Diamond Ag offers the top seed brands in the industry, including Midwest, Stein, Brevant, LG and Zitavo. Their nutritionals and crop protection will keep your fields healthy and resilient all year long. And no one of the Ag retail industry offers a broader selection of fertilizer products and services. Contact seed manager Brian Brooks at 309-58-246-81. Diamond Ag with locations and Alito, Alexis and Knoxville, deeply rooted in quality people and quality service. - And this is tight Taylor on WRMJ and WRMJ.com. Sportsland continues talking now with Mercer County. I'd coach Tanner Matlick talking after Golden Eagles fall in week one last night to monitor Roosevelt 50-14. I know we talked post game last night too, but you've been able to sleep it off, I guess. So just waking up this morning, what's the feeling like for you after a week one lost last night? - Yeah, it was a short night for me. Didn't get much sleep after that one. Took the night to kind of reevaluate our schemes. Watch film on both last night and the upcoming game with Sharar dove into that a little bit. Yeah, last night was tough for us. We played a really, really good first half of football and then in the second half, we just had a few things that didn't go our way around off the bat. I think the team just kind of lost confidence. And that's my job as the head coach of this ball club to keep the confidence in the kids and the kids and let them know to stay positive and keep moving in the right direction. And I talked to you last night, probably about how football is not a linear sport. I just got to do a better job of keeping our heads, our kids' heads on right and the right headspace to go out and continue to execute even when things aren't going our way. - Yeah, that's something I kind of want to expand upon with you. Like you said, you were in the game and leading at halftime and in the second half, it just kind of snowballed, I felt like watching it. But overall after that, I know eight, six at halftime ended up then getting out, scored 44, six in the second half. So what was kind of the reaction from the kids? How do you, what do you think their heads are at after things kind of fell apart in the second half last night? - Yeah, I think the kids are in a decent, decent headspace after I talked to them last night. I told them we just had to flush it and get ready for Charad. We were super competitive. I couldn't have been more proud of how they played in that first half, but you don't win football games playing 24 minutes of football. So I think everybody knows what we have in front of us here on our schedule. And I just told them we got to get the work this week and get better every single day in preparation for Charad. So I think we'll be all right. We got to bounce back. We've been in this position before. We were on one going into week two last year and had a big bounce back game against St. B. So we'll have a good week of practice here and get ready for Charad. - All right, you'd mentioned you've had a chance to review the film from last night, both from your game and then from Charad's matchup with the Rock Ridge. Starting with you, we talked about it last night, obviously, the trouble on the kick return team. Overall, watching it on film, anything stick out that you got to be better at now that you've been able to kind of see it, not just from the field level? - Yeah, we got a field kick, man. Our kick return unit just has to do a better job of fielding those kick-offs and giving our offense a better field to work with. I think we talked last night. I was kind of shocked when you gave me the rundown of field position we started with, to be honest. Inside the 20, most of the night, starting all of our offensive drives and our kick return unit just has to be better. And the kids know that it's not one individual and we have to do a better job as coaches, coaching that unit up. And I think there's a lot of reasons why we lost that game last night, not just special teams. There was some stuff on offense, we didn't do well. There was some stuff on defense, we didn't do well. So it's not like we're going to point the finger at one specific group here, but definitely have to do a better job of touching those kick-offs. - Well, I think a big positive from last night, if you want to touch on some positives here, is Mason Gray looked really good, both at the receiver spot and then he had a shift in running back a little bit. I really liked what he brought to the table last night. We talked about him a little bit with your post game last night too, but I know a positive there. What are some other positives if there were anything you could take away from last night's game? - Yeah, Mason's one of the toughest kids in our program. And to be honest, he's fighting a little bit of, he's dinged up a little bit and was dinged up a little bit going into that game. And looking out there on the field, you would never be able to tell. That kid has tough his nails. He does everything he's coached to do. He does everything we ask of him. We, like you said, we moved him around or had to move him around different positions all over the field last night. He played tail back for us. He played a little bit of A, which is kind of our full backslash slot guy. And then he played our Z receiver, our go-to outside receiver as well. So really proud of how that kid handled last night. I pulled him aside as the clock was winded down in the fourth quarter. And I just told him continue to lead, continue to stick with it, continue to give the effort. He's given us all summer long and all season long. So really proud of that kid. And then I think some highlights for us were high points or positives for us. I think our offense was fairly efficient when we had all of our guys on the field. I know we got into a scenario there in the second half where we were running with a third string quarterback out there who had had zero first team offensive reps in practice and our back field was pretty depleted there just due to cramping and injury. I think when we had all of our guys healthy out there on our first offense, we were very, very efficient. The 96-yard drive to tap off the first half was something that you don't see a lot of high school football teams be successful at, a long field and driving the length of the field and being efficient on first and second down and picking up good conversions on third down. I thought that was a really good drive statement drive for us and just unfortunately couldn't put it together for all four quarters. There were points in the second half where we did some nice things offensively and defensively, but like I said, to open the interview tie, we just kind of lost our confidence there after a couple of plays in the second half in it. To your point, just kind of snowballed on us. - And you talked about there kind of being depleted in the backfield with injuries. We talked about Tan and Whitehall with you last night so if people missed that, looked like he rolled his ankle and I know he'll probably know more about his availability and moving forward this week. Peyton CDM went down and came out of the game last night, another running back for you, linebacker two, of course. And for a while, as you referenced there, quarterback John Baldwin had to miss a few snaps, maybe even a full drive or two with an injury. So for those guys, what's the outlook look like for them? I know it's a quick turnaround to just early Saturday morning, but you think they should be all good to go for Friday against your yard? - Yeah, Peyton and John, they were just cramping issues. Tan is a little bit different story. He got his ankle rolled up on. I told him to keep me posted on it here this morning. I think he's probably gonna go get it looked at. So hoping for the best for that kid. It was like I said last night, I was really excited for him to kick off his junior season and it looks so good over the summer and in our scrimmage games. So I just hope everything checks out there and that he can get back on the field for us in week two. - All right, and your reference earlier too, the week one lost to United a year ago and then you're able to bounce back and kind of get things rolling in the right direction. But looking forward this year, of course, with the move to the track, the schedule, a lot less forgiving when you look down the line at some of the teams you have, especially later in the season. So I mean, is there maybe more of a feel of a sense of urgency to really have to get this win against your yard this week on Friday with some of the teams you have coming up later in the season? - Yeah, I think at this point's high and this is kind of the motto for every football team. You got to take it one week at a time. I think there's always a sense of urgency after you drop a game like we did last night where you played really well in the first half and then don't perform in the second half. I think there's a sense of urgency this morning in our coach's meeting. I'm sure the kids feel that it's to get back out there and get better this week in practice. I know our senior leadership is chomping at the bit for their next opportunity to prove kind of what this group is all about. So you have to answer your question. I think there's a sense of urgency within the team right now. Anytime you lose a ballgame, I think you're doing things wrong. If there's not that sense of urgency there. So no matter who we have on the schedule, if we drop one like this, we're going to be doing everything we can to get better during the week and go out and perform better the following Friday. - All right, in looking ahead to week two, you mentioned earlier, you had a chance to review Shirard's film from last night there coming off of a loss to Rock Ridge last night, 42-6. So two teams that probably feeling a little bit similarly, similarly I should say after the results last night for each. So what it's stuck out about Shirard when we're watching them on film, getting ready for a Friday night. - Yeah, offensively, they rely on the ground kid quite a bit playing quarterback this year. Athletic kid, we have to make sure first and foremost, we contain him. I know if he gets outside of the pocket a little bit, he's going to be an issue. So just number one focus is going to be on him. I think our D line stacks up fairly well against their offensive line this week. It's going to be a big shift going from playing the dudes that Mamma Throwsville has up front to really any other offensive line in the conference. Those guys last night from Mamma were big, they were physical and that little mean streak in them that every offensive lineman needs to have. So I think our D line will stack up well against Shirard, our skill guys, I think are right there with Shirard. So then defensively, they do some nice things as well. Kind of a similar alignment to what we saw last night in the defensive secondary and then a little bit lighter up front across their D line than Mamma was. So looking forward to the matchup, looking forward to the first home game at Pratt this year in the new conference. And like I said, last night to the community, we appreciated the sport last night. And I'm just hoping we get everybody that was there back to this next home game on Friday night. All right, that's Mercer County. Head coach Tanner Matley, joining us this morning. Golden Eagles look to bounce back next week, taking on Shirard at George Pratt Memorial Field on Friday night. Coach, thanks for talking with us and we'll see you later this week. Have a good weekend. All right, thanks guys. And I'm Ty Taylor more coming up on Warmjay. Are you ready for your team to get their license? At Country Financial, they know it's scary when you see your kids back out of the driveway for the first time. If you know your young driver has the proper protection from Country Financial, it's a little easier. Contact your local Country Financial representative to chat about car insurance today. And Alito, see me, Tracy Bigham. Or Jason Potter. In Edgerton, see me, Brent and Bigham. Policies issued by Country Mutual, Country Preferred and Country Casualty Insurance Companies will meet in Illinois. Discover the Diamond Act difference and take your harvest to the next level. Diamond Act offers the top seed brands in the industry, including Mid-West, Stein, Brevant, LG, and Zitavo. Their nutritionals and crop protection will keep your fields healthy and resilient all year long. And no one of the Ag retail industry offers a broader selection of fertilizer products and services. Contact seed manager Brian Brooks at 309-58-246-81. Diamond Act with locations in Alito, Alexis, and Knoxville, deeply rooted in quality people and quality service. - This is Jim Taylor at Warmjay Radio in Alito. He's Brian Rouge at WCCI Radio in Savannah. This is Jim and Brian talking high school sports on the radio. A couple of important milestones here with the new school year underway, the IHSA recognizing 50 years of, IHSA volleyball in Illinois, and then also recognizing 50 years of the IHSA football playoffs. And the IHSA in conjunction with those milestones, they're putting out a list. Top 50, IHSA volleyball programs. Each week, they're releasing a couple of teams leading up to the state championship in volleyball, and then the state championship games in football. And we'll get into the list here momentarily, but I'm just curious, Brian, I know these can be so subjective. Do you like lists like this? - You know, I think I do, Jim. I think it's kind of like what you say about our show. It starts the conversation. And I think that's all this is. It's just kind of a look back at the successful programs in both football and volleyball. But more than anything, I think it just sparks the fans' interest and probably gets some conversations going. And as long as they're civil, I'm okay with it. - Yeah, and it is subjective because, you know, they have a panel that kind of ranks the programs throughout the, you know, their years of success. And sometimes, well, how do you rank? Do you look at the, you know, early years, is that weighted more or the later years or is it body of work? So it can be tough to rank these teams, but so far, volleyball, I'll be honest, I'm not an expert as it relates to volleyball or high school football for that matter. But so far here are the top volleyball programs that they've announced. Number 50 Lane Tech College Prep of Chicago, John Hersey High School out of Arlington Heights, the Trevians of New Tree High School out of Winnetka, Princeton High School out of the, well, formerly the NCIC now the track conference, their number 47, Bloomington Central Catholic 46, Newark High School number 45, Yerika High School 44, and Naperville Central 43. So again, that's what they've released so far in terms of the top 50. And as they approach the state finals for volleyball, again, they release about a couple of teams a week. Now, looking at football so far, when we talk about the top 50, IHSA football programs, and by the way, you can find this at IHSA.org. Tolono Unity number 50, Phillips Academy out of Chicago 49, but week was Central A&M 48, Stockton High School out of the NUIC 47, Daisy Westfield 46, and the last team they released number 45, Batavia, any reaction to the teams they've released so far in volleyball or football? - You know, I'm not real familiar with too many of those programs, other than maybe Princeton and Newark in volleyball. So, you know, so far, I mean, those sound like pretty solid programs. I thought maybe Stockton might come in a little bit, further down the list, but, you know, 47th, that's not bad. And one of those teams that you mentioned on the football side produced an NFL quarterback back in the day. - And that is who? - The Batavia Bulldogs. - Now, and he was in Augustana Viking, is that right? - Yes, yes. - Kenny Anderson, all right. And then, you know, so when we talk about these lists, they're subjective, we know that, and you mentioned there can be some arguments, and a lot of times, right, Brian, it's not, the argument is always not who's on the list. It's what? It's who's not on the list. And then, there's always these debates about, you know, these Hall of Fame's as it relates to high schools. And I know you're involved in a Hall of Fame program up in your part of the state. Sometimes that can be tough, because it's really not who gets the honor sometimes. Somebody gets mad because somebody they know didn't get the honor. How do you deal with that type of stuff? - Well, I have a patent response to that, Jim, that I've kind of crafted over the years. We have nomination forms, and if somebody comes up to me and says, "Hey, this person's not in," I say, "I will send you a form." You put together the information, and then we'll consider it. And if there is, you know, if there is great as what you say, then yes, you know, we'll vote on 'em and put 'em in. - Boom, that's where it always starts at, right? Normally, the question you ask is, "Did you nominate 'em?" And the answer will always likely be, "No, I didn't nominate 'em." And then you can say that's probably why they're not in the Hall of Fame, 'cause you didn't nominate 'em. And then I tell people, too, you know, especially when these new high school Hall of Fame's come out and you induct one class, it's like it's one class, people. So we're doing this thing, moving forward. Eventually, if you're deserving, you're going to get in. So there are some patients involved in these Hall of Fame's, too, I like 'em, I like recognizing great work, not just athletically, but academically, and friends of school districts honoring those type of people. I think it's awesome. So I'm always in support of recognition there. He's Brian Rouge at Double The UCCI Radio in Savannah. I'm Jim Taylor at Double The U.M.J Radio in Alito. And this is Jim and Brian, talking high school sports on the radio. - Start cross-country season off right with a stop at 614-0 run in Galesburg. Build your endurance with a pair of Sockney cross-country spikes, plus save during the Hey Dude shoes close out sale. Don't fall for the online fakes. Get pairs of Hey Dude shoes for as low as $40, and boots for as low as $65. This is your sign to get moving. Visit 614-0 run in Galesburg today. - All right, winding down, our Saturday, Double The U.M.J Sportsline, week two of Sportsline, week one of the high school football season. So we proceed to week two next Friday night. Again, Mercer County at Pratt Memorial Field Home Open, or against the Chirar Tigers. Rock Ridge, big, really the small school showdown game, probably in the state next week, ranked in the top five in two-way, taking on Princeton, top five in three-a, and then a nice test for the Orient Chargers, over at Charger Field next Friday night. They take on the titans of Monmouth, Roseville. And again, the Mercer County coverage next week, on Hoshack's final football broadcast, with Chuck Lawson and Bill Broughton, right? - Yep, and I believe I will be doing our sideline reports next week, so I'm glad I'm going to get to be a part of that. - So that's four people on the broadcast? - Yeah, maybe too many cooks in the kitchen, but we'll see, I suppose. It should be a fun match of the old Mercer County Chirar, as we touched on earlier, both teams need a win in that game, so it should be a fun match up there with likely a very good crowd. And like you said, Rock Ridge in Princeton is the headliner for sure. I mean, that's a game that people have been looking forward to, I think, all off-season, and to get to see how those teams stack up with each other will be great. And then, Orient, trying to get to 2-0, they'll have to try to probably pull an upside over, Monmouth, Roseville, as the titans looked really good last night, but Orient looked good in week 1-2, so it should be another fun week in the Three Rivers Athletic Conference, as we roll on in 2024 to week 2. - All right, well, that'll wrap it up. For Tyler, I'm Jim Taylor, and you're listening to W-R-M-J and W-R-M-J.com. - This has been Sportsline on WRMJ and WRMJ.com. Brought to you by Diamond Ag, your local Ag Retail supplier, built from your local specifications with locations in Lido, Alexis, and Knoxville. By your local country financial representatives, Tracy Bigget, Jason Potter, and Brent Bigget, offering insurance for your life, health, home, auto, farm, or business. And by 614-0 running Galesburg, your spot for custom fitted running and walking shoes, aid-dude shoes, and Birkenstock sandals, plus red-wing and wolverine work boots. The free seating has been a presentation of WRMJ Sports, your high school sports voice in western Illinois. (upbeat music) (upbeat music)