JERSEYVILLE - Fans packed the stands for one of the most anticipated games of the football season at Jersey Community High School’s sports complex for Friday’s face off against the Civic Memorial High School Eagles.
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The Eagles, who were 3-0 for the season prior to Friday’s game against their rivals from Jersey, have been a force to be reckoned with during their past four weeks of play. They have scored an average of 46 points in their past three games against Marquette Catholic, Mattoon and Effingham High Schools.
As the first conference match up of the season went underway at the sports complex located in Jerseyville, the Eagles had no problem getting on the board quickly.
“We wanted to get a fast start and we’ve kind of had that philosophy all week,” CM Head Coach Justin Winslow said.
“Last week, we struggled throwing the ball, and I don’t know why,” Winslow said, “We wanted to play a little bit faster than we did last week.”
And quickly they did score. Before halftime, the Civic Memorial High School Eagles had scored 27 points to the Panthers zero.
Jersey struggled offensively throughout the entire game, scoring their first and only touchdown in the second half.
The Eagles were not finished showing the Panthers what they were made of after the start of the third quarter, as they scored their final touchdown and two-point conversion, bringing the score to 42-6.
“We just got dominated,” JCHS Coach Dave Jacobs said, “We got beat on both sides of the ball.”
Coach Jacobs went on to say that Civic Memorial was a great team to play against and they bested them during the game.
Civic Memorial is celebrating their victory and Coach Winslow is earning some accolades of his own. Since the game was featured by the St. Louis Rams football organization as the Rams Game of the Week, the winning coach of the night received a $1,000 grant for their team and the title of Rams Coach of the Week.
“It can’t start off any better,” Coach Winslow said, “We’re excited about that, but you know what, we haven’t qualified for playoffs, we didn’t win a conference title, so all of our goals are still in front of us.”
As for Jersey, Coach Jacobs is determined to move on from the night’s loss and prepare for next week’s game against Triad High School.
“We don’t have time to feel sorry for ourselves,” Jacobs said, “We’re going to go back to work and try to beat Triad.”
