After a couple of weeks of non-conference games to get the season started, Riverbender area teams largely begin their conference schedules in Week 3; Friday's schedule includes the start of the Southwestern Conference, Prairie State Conference and WIVC South seasons. As always, kickoffs are set for 7 p.m. unless otherwise indicated.
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A rivalry game highlights the WIVC South slate as 2-0 Carrollton hits the road to meet 2-0 Hardin-Calhoun; the Hawks defeated Concord Triopia in Week 1 and Beardstown in Week 2 in pair of WIVC inter-divisional games, while the Warriors downed Camp Point Central in Week 1 and Jacksonville Routt in Week 2. The Calhoun-Carrollton game is Riverbender.com's live telecast Friday night from Hardin.
Greenfield-Northwestern hosts Winchester West Central, the Tigers going into the game at 0-2 after losses to Mendon Unity and Brown County while the Cougars are 0-2 after falling to Brown County and Mendon the opening two weeks and North Greene hosts Pleasant Hill, the Spartans standing at 0-2 after losses to Jacksonville Routt and Camp Point while is 0-2 after falling to Beardstown and Triopia the opening two weeks.
Alton hosts Collinsville at Public School Stadium, with the 1-1 Redbirds coming off 48-21 win at home last week over Quincy after dropping a Week 1 decision to the Mississippi Valley Conference's Highland; Collinsville, on the other hand, enters tonight's game at 0-2 on the year, having fallen to Belleville Althoff 41-6 in Week 1 and to Triad 44-7 at Kahok Stadium last week.
Granite City hosts Belleville East at Memorial Stadium/Kevin Greene Field at 2-0, having won a pair of shootouts the opening two weeks, 52-41 over Jersey and 55-30 over Carbondale, both at home. The Lancers go into tonight's clash at 0-2, having fallen to Chaminade, like CBC one of the top programs in the St. Louis area 40-13 in Week 1 and to Highland 63-33 last week.
The MVC season doesn't begin until next week; this week, 0-2 Civic Memorial has its home opener against Olney Richland County of the Little Illini Conference, with the Eagles having dropped 21-7 decisions to backyard rivals Marquette Catholic and East Alton-Wood River; Richland County heads into the game at 1-1, defeating Lawrenceville on opening night but falling to Bridgeport Red Hill last week. Jersey, 1-1 after a Week 1 loss to Granite City but defeating Metamora at home in Week 2, heads to Centralia this week for a clash with the 1-1 Orphans in their home opener. Centralia defeated Salem in Week 1, but lost to Morton last week.
Triad heads to Mount Vernon for a clash with the South Seven's Rams at 2-0 following wins over Mattoon in Week 1 at home and Collinsville in Week 2; the Rams are 0-2 going into the game, having lost to Taylorville and Woodstock in the opening two weeks.
The PSC schedule begins as Marquette Catholic heads to Nokomis at 2-0 with wins over Civic Memorial and Breese Mater Dei, the Explorer defense throwing a shutout over the Knights last week; the Redskins are 1-1 on the season having shut out Famer City Blue Ridge in Week 1 but having been shut out by Decatur St. Teresa last week; Bunker Hill, who are co-oping this year with Mount Olive, heads into their league opener at home against Pawnee at 1-1, dropping a three-point decision to Trenton Wesclin on the road in Week 1 while upending Blue Ridge in their home opener last week.
Pawnee is 0-2 going into the clash having dropped decisions to Shelbyville in Week 1 and Fithian Oakwood in Week 2. EAWR has a league bye this week in the seven-team PSC, but will take on Madison – fielding a team on its own for the first time in 25 years after co-oping with Metro East Lutheran the past two years after having dropped football in 1992 – at Memorial Stadium at 1-1, having upended CM last week but falling to Breese Central in a Week 1 shootout. The Trojans are 2-0, having defeated Rockford Sacred Heart in Week 1 and former co-op partner MEL in Week 2 at Sam Dymas Field in Madison.
The South Central Conference's Week 3 slate features 0-2 Roxana taking on Hillsboro at Charlie Raich Field, the Shells having fallen to Piasa Southwestern in a Week 1 game that wasn't decided until the late going and Pana on the road last week; the Hilltoppers are also 0-2 on the year, having fallen to Carlinville in Week 1 and Vandalia in Week 2, both at home. Piasa Southwestern is 2-0 going into its game with Staunton at home, with wins over Roxana and Litchfield under the Piasa Birds' belt. The Bulldogs are 1-1 heading into the game, with a win over Litchfield and a loss to Greenville the opening two weeks.
MEL is 0-2 going into its road game in Polo, who certainly is on the list of unusual high school nicknames – they're called the Marcos. The Knights fell in Week 1 to Fisher and to Madison last week, both games on the road; the Marcos of the Northwest Upstate Illini Conference's Northwest Division are 1-1 on the year, having knocked off Orangeville in Week 1 but falling to Millidgeville in Week 2.
