BETHALTO - For the Civic Memorial High School Eagles football team, this Friday’s match against the Triad High School Knights is the most important game of the season.
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The opportunity to knock the Knights out of their top position in the Mississippi Valley Conference standings could change the course of the rest of the season for the Eagles, who have acquired an overall record of 6-1.
CM Head Coach Justin Winslow’s team has truly shined over the past seven weeks of the 2015 season. Offensively, the team has done an excellent job making it into their competitor’s end zones, scoring an average of nearly 42 points per game. Their defense has only allowed an average of around 22 points to be scored by their opponents; a great number for some of the difficult teams that CM has faced this season.
"There are a lot of things on the line Friday," Winslow said. "Overall, we are ready, prepared and excited to play this game. Gaining win number seven would be awesome."
Triad is certainly a force to be reckoned with. Their defense rarely gave their opponents throughout the season the opportunity to score within the endzone. Collinsville High School and Mount Vernon High School are the only two teams that has gotten even close to beating the Knights, only losing by one or two points respectively. In every other match of the season, excluding the two previous games mentioned and their game against Highland, the Knights have won by near landslide victories.
However, so many variables stand in the way of CM grasping that number one spot. If the Eagles win their game against Triad this Friday, they would only solidify that first place position if their 3-1 competitors at Highland High School, who CM is tied for currently tied for second place with, lose against the 1-3 and third place players at Jersey Community High School the same night.
A win for both CM and Highland this week would mean that the two teams will be tied for first place in the MVC, knocking Triad out of the first place spot and sharing the title.
"This would be a great opportunity to potentially earn a home playoff game," Winslow said. "We have to play physically and run a good defense all game."
The Highland Bulldogs bested the Eagles in early October by only eight points, earning CM their one and only loss of the season with a 35-27 score.
On the other hand, the Bulldogs know from first hand experience that the Triad Knights can be an extremely difficult team to play. Last Friday, the Knights defeated the Bulldogs 13-3, breaking the first place tie in the MVC.
