New coaches got wins, Peoria Notre Dame earned a tough loss, there were plenty of points from Morton — and Richwoods' girls flag football team made a splash.
Here are some takeaways from Week 1 in Illinois high school football around the Peoria area:
IHSA Week 1: All the scores | Live recap | Top performers | Takeaways
How new coaches fared on opening night
Only Peoria High and East Peoria were able to give their new head coaches a season-opening victory.
The Lions, under new boss Aaron Montgomery, went on the road to Big 12 Conference foe Champaign Centennial and came home with a 56-21 win. East Peoria supplied coach Sam Durley with a thrilling 28-26 win over Springfield Southeast, sealed by a late-game interception by Aidin Hindert.
As for the area's other four coaches, they will have to wait until Week 2 to get in the win column. Canton (Nick McCormick), Washington (Todd Stevens), Galesburg (Shawn Hickey) and Hall (Logan Larson) were all the losing side in their respective season openers.
Peoria Notre Dame loses dramatic game at Normal West
The Irish drove down inside the Normal West red zone in the final minute, but a fourth-down pass fell short and allowed Normal West to escape with a 33-27 Big 12 Conference win.
Ben Hafner's 50-yard run just moments before sent up PND in the final moments. The Irish were stopped on three straight run plays, used their final timeouts, and then came up short when a quick pass over the middle was knocked away for Normal West.
'Amazing opportunity': Ex-NFL kicker makes Illinois high school coaching debut against Pekin
106 combined points and a 90-minute delay for Morton
Rain delayed the start of the Morton and Mahomet-Seymour game by 90 minutes, but that doesn't mean there wasn't points. The Bulldogs won 69-37 in a nonconference matchup that featured a combined 34 points in last season's meeting.
In fact, Morton only gave up only 169 total points in 10 games last season. Coach and defensive guru Adam O'Neill will surely have the Potters ready for Week 2's home meeting with Rochelle.
This may have not happened under the Friday night lights, but the Richwoods girls flag football made area history on Thursday. The Knights were the first team to compete in the newly sanctioned Illinois High School Association fall girls sport.
And despite losing to Danville, 12-6, Danayshia Webster made history. She became the first girls athlete from Peoria to score a touchdown, taking an interception back for a score in the defeat.
Wes Huett contributed to this report.
'He's a special talent': Elite Dunlap football recruit puts on show in Week 1 blowout
This article originally appeared on Journal Star: New coaches and historic touchdowns: What we learned about Peoria-area football in Week 1
Most Popular
Comments / 0