This upcoming Saturday, the JHS Crimson football team will travel to Tommy Stewart Field in Champaign to take on the Central High School Maroons in the first round of the IHSA playoffs.

This is the first time in a while that the Crimsons have faced a team from the Big 12 conference. The Maroons finished the season with a record of 8-1, defeating the likes of Urbana, Marion, Danville, and crosstown rival Centennial, but avoiding other Big 12 powerhouses like Normal Community, Bloomington, and Normal West. Central appears to be a run-based team. Against Centennial, their tailback ran for 167 yards and a couple of touchdowns. To me, the Big 12 Conference is itself a good conference, and Central is a good team; however, they don’t play the competition that the Crimsons play. Thus, it should be a good game. Also, the lone loss for Central came in a 27-21 contest against a decent Peoria Notre Dame team. The other Peoria teams…Central just walked over, defeating 0-9 Manual High School 55-6 and 3-6 Richwoods 63-18.  If their schedule would replace Manual and Richwoods with Normal Community and Normal West, it could’ve been a 6-3 Champaign Central team.

To me, Central runs the same offense that Lincoln High School runs; however, they have athletes similar to Decatur Eisenhower. The Crimsons easily handled Lincoln’s offense. If JHS can contain Central’s fullback Matt Brown, they should be fine. From what I have seen from Central, they give up long passes which could be in our favor.

My Prediction: Central gives up long bombs. The Crimsons defeat the Central Maroons 35-28. JHS moves on to face 9-1 Highland next week at Kraushaar-Rosenberger Field.