The Score High School Football: Bettendorf, Galesburg, Davenport Central, Geneseo and more

The countdown to kick off continues on the high school gridiron tonight. Our score previews continue with a stop in the Lincoln Trail and on Weathersfield is ready to hit the ground running this fall. Jenna Miner stopped by and tells us what to expect from the Titans. When you think of Anna on Weathersfield football the past few years, a strong Russian game expect a strong run game for sure, fast and physical. You think of their ground game. Well, it helps when you have an Allstate running back. So, um, obviously we'll hang our hat on the run game like we have the last few years um with Zeb coming back and Brody is a really really talented runner as well. All state running back. Zeb Rashid excited for his senior year says he owes part of his success to one main group on his team. They did really good last year and I can't this year, they're going to be good. Our linemen, they're going to be really good. I mean, it's all sorts of them. I couldn't be more grateful to have them. I mean, they're what gets the whole play going. Everybody sees me run down the field. But if it wasn't for them, I wouldn't, we wouldn't be doing that at all. So all the credit should go to them. The Titans return all five starting linemen when I'm passing, I've got to have those guys up front blocking and, uh, even when I'm running me and Zeb, uh, they've got to be the ones pulling and, uh, they've got to be the ones up front to do the job. So, and I know they will 100% trust in them. And that's not the only thing. Staying the same head coach Tony Grip has a motto when it comes to his titans. If it's not broke, don't fix it. Um, and really just focusing on us and getting better uh competing every single day. Um and, you know, with the guys that we have coming back, they, they know the system by now. So it's kind of just fine tuning all those things and getting better every day. There are some key differences for this season. The titans welcome in over 20 freshmen that make up a third of the team and Brodie Childs will take over as starting quarterback for the first time. I looked up to Dylan Hoy. He was a three year starter and he helped me out a lot and, uh, and I've, I've got a lot of good receivers, Zab obviously and a good line to go with it. So I'm excited and I think we've got what it takes last year, Anna on Weathersfield made it to the state quarterfinals. The seniors pushing to make it back to that point makes all of us hunger. We all talk about it. How, I mean, yeah, we had a tough, tough quarterfinal game for sure. They were good. But we know this year we're gonna be, we're gonna be better than last year. We got, we have a chance to make it further. We've got a lot of guys coming back. We made a deep run last year and with all these guys coming back, we're excited and we're looking to make another deep run this year in Kiwa, Jenna Minor WQ ad news Eight Sports Ana Juan Weathersfield will host South Fulton in their season opener coming up in just about 10 days tonight at 10. We'll head over to Rock Island and check in on the rocks in year two under Fritz Steve Don and don't forget the score goes 45 minutes every Friday night. This year it returns guest grillers and all coming up Friday, August 30th at 1015. The wait continues but we are eagerly awaiting the score to finally kick off this year. We kick off our first score preview of 2024 tonight with a trip to assumption high school the Knights will have a brand new look this fall and it starts at the top right. Boom left. Ok, here we go. There's a new head football coach. At assumption high school for the first time in over two decades, Nate Gil takes the handoff from long time. Head coach Wade King was always like, kind of weird with changes, but I think sometimes change is good. I think this is a, like a good experience for us. Yeah, it's a lot different. Coach King was more strict, more like on everybody, but he likes to have energy at practice. A lot more fun, like making it, making us challenge each other tempo. You go a little faster. Coach Gilreath is eager to tackle his first head coaching challenge and has plenty of energy to prove. He's always yelling, always trying to get us to get stuff going, you know, get excited, have fun with stuff, I think with coach Gilbert, he's ready to get straight to it, but he'll let you know he's ready to get straight to it with his energy and his voice. He's loud in the morning. He's always ready to get up and try to a little bit harder. They were all pretty serious, like, uh hard personalities to break down at first. But after being with them since February, uh all the way through summer lifting and now I've been chipping away at them, getting them a smile. Have some personalities come out as the Knights get to know their new head coach. It's Gilreath who's also getting used to his new role. The Alman Grad has spent the last decade as an assistant coach at three different schools. As a head coach, you don't get to really coach. It's a lot of administrative work. But when I get out here in the field, it's like two hours apiece. I get to know my phone, I get to interact with the kids build relationships, call plays, get to yell at some kids, get to yell some coaches. But overall it's what I want to be doing, the nights will look different on the sidelines and on the field in 2024 assumption must replace 17 starters from a year ago, but boast plenty of talent to do it. I think a lot of guys have been working hard in the weight room, putting up a lot of new numbers, the work and I think everyone's gonna step up and fill the spot that they need to fill. Yeah, they're excited. We got 17 missing starters from last year. So it's pretty fun. Everybody's excited to get their chance to play on the varsity field and at the end of the day, the goals remain the same at assumption both on and off the field at the end of it all. It's the same goal. We wanna do things the right way. We wanna build better human beings, send them out and be successful citizens after playing football here at subject high school. The bonus is that we have some nice successful seasons and playoff runs and district titles. But, uh, making them better people from when they were freshman to now as seniors is the end goal, eight days and counting from the start of the high school football season. Our score preview stump at Bettendorf tonight. The Bulldogs had a nice bounce back season last year going eight and three and making it to the second round of the playoffs. Corey Kuffler shows us how the dogs are hungry for even more. This fall expectations are always high at Bettendorf. The Bulldogs have plenty of experience on the field. Once again this year, you lead your guys that have played and have been through it and hope they can kind of help the young kids out. And that's, it's been nice so far with that. The seniors on this year's team have been instrumental in keeping the Bulldogs tradition alive on the field. I feel like the, our class played a big role in last year's, um, eight and three season. Of course, we lost a lot of talent with the seniors leaving like filling the quarterback spot. But, um, I feel like, uh, I mean, we're just adding fuel to the flame with key pieces back on both sides of the ball D line. We got a lot of returners coming from the D line, uh, and then I'd say our wide receivers, our corners and, uh, our linebackers as well. Sam Beacher is our leading tackler the last two years. He's back for third year at middle linebacker um, you know, you got our tail back back and Jacob Whipple, um, you got an Allstate kicker, uh, you know, Jackson Laver was an Allstate defensive back, he's back. Um, and then you got a bunch of guys that played up front. Bettendorf will have a new quarterback this year, but he will have plenty of weapons to help make this offense. Effective receivers are about the same offensive line, just our center we had to replace. I mean, it's basically the same, it's basically the same thing we know what we're doing. So it helps him also know and get to know what to do the right thing. After returning to the second round of the state playoffs, Bettendorf is ready for more. Hopefully getting back to the dome for the first time since 2019. We, we wanna focus on getting better every day and it's cliche, but that's, that's really, you know, uh, the goal, uh, is November to be still playing and playing well. And, uh, but before you get to that, you gotta take care of one step at a time here in, in game one. I wanna, I wanna take care of this place. I wanna leave it better than I found it. Um, when I became, when I was going, my sophomore year, we had a three and six season, uh, and then we turn it around eight and three and then we're just striving for better every time in Bettendorf, Corey Ker WQ ad news eight sports. It's a seasonal change for central to wit the Sabers have a new coach, but it's someone that is very familiar with the program. Clay Waterbury has been an assistant for eight years now. He's leading the charge as the Sabers look to get back in the playoffs. It's just like the players on this year's central to wit football team. Their head coach, Clay Waterbury is learning on the job. A lot of the behind the scenes work that you don't think about when you're a position coach really. But it's been a lot of fun. Clay has been with the Sabers for the last eight years, but as the offensive coordinator, that's one thing that's made it an easy transition, I think for our program in general is because since I was already in the building, you know, I got the job in November, December, the transition has been smooth for the players as well. We all knew you'd be a great head coach just from what he's done in the past couple of years. But I mean, he's proved himself he's bringing us together and helping us be, uh, one unit. That's it. The Sabers will look to replace several three year starters on both sides of the ball, probably lose at least nine starters. Uh, but, you know, we, we're really excited about what we have coming back to. So we've, we've lost some great players, but the guys we have, are hungry and, and have put in the time this summer in the weight room especially, and those open positions have led to some good team battles making everyone better. It's pushing me for sure because I don't have my spot secured at running back. I have to keep fighting every rep. I take serious, uh try to improve myself a lot more, more competitive this year in the weight room classroom and on the field last year, a lot of guys knew that they were gonna be starting and they kind of maybe eased up a little bit this year. It's not like that. Central De Witt was just one win shy of making the playoffs. Something that has motivated this team even more. Hopefully, we're going to be the first team in over 20 years to end up playing in the dome this year. Just trying to create a foundation that can last a long haul and, and help develop young men that are going to be great members of our community. It's officially game week on the high school football fields. We continue our score previews with a stamp in Clinton. It's a new year for Clinton. And as Jenna Minor tells us, the River Kings are focused on the future. The Clinton River Kings have plenty of energy and motivation for the upcoming season. As much as we have old guys, we have young guys that really want. I thought we were really hungry. This year, especially after last year was disappointing. Nobody wanted to not win a game. So I think we're a lot hungrier than we were last year. I think we're gonna really show it out on the field. This year. Clinton went zero and nine last fall. The River Kings using that winless season as ammunition for this year. We just wanna stick together as a team. Obviously, we wanna, we wanna get more wins in the win column than we did last year. And you know, we wanna finish a lot of ball games and we want to be a very physical sound football team. You know, we, we, we might not win every ball game, but we wanna know that people when they get done, they, they played a Clinton football team that was a hard nosed football team that, that came to play every Friday. We wanna move winning from a goal to an expectation and for years to come have people fear Clinton and not be like, man, these guys aren't really a threat to us anymore. The River Kings think they have the right squad to stack some Ws in the win column. I think we're going to rely on our offensive line, especially with those guys. We got two seniors that anchored it last year. We got some guys that played some minutes as sophomores for us as well. We have some depth at quarterback as well. Jackson Spooner and, and Jordan Coleman and Connor. Schrader is a junior. So, you know, those spots offensively, our linebacker core is, has been very, been a bright spot for us. They played some lot of snaps for us last year. So we're going to rely on those guys heavily again this year to get the job done. Not only are the River Kings confident in their team's athleticism, but their closeness and willingness to learn as well. Well, everyone wants to be here this year. I feel like practices have been tougher and a lot less complaints about it. I feel like everyone wants to be tough and everyone wants to win. We're not, you know, just putting in some work, we want to put it all in and we're all invested this year. Our team dynamic to this point has been awesome. You know, it's been a very cohesive unit. These guys hang out together, they, they, they sent me a picture last night of them watching our practice film at one of their buddy's house. They enjoy hanging out with each other, they enjoy being around each other. So that leads to a lot of great team cohesiveness. We hang out in the morning, we'll sometimes we'll go, we hang out after go over the film, go over what we need to do better, what we need to work on, what looked good. I thought we're really close this year in Clinton, Jenna Minor WQ ad news Eight sports. Our score previews continue tonight with a stop at Brady Street Stadium. The Blue Devils enter the fall with plenty of new talent. And as Matt Randazzo tells us, Central hopes to rush to the next level. In 2024 there's plenty of energy at Davenport Central and for very good reason, everybody wants to be here. So I think just the energy is contagious and when it takes one dude, then the next dude, it's just, it's just a trickling effect and we all bring it. Alex Beg begins year three and his alma mater and he's got plenty of familiar faces by his side. It's just the, the continent of the staff that we have. You know, I mean, we, we knew what we were trying to build and we knew it was gonna take time and like just continuing to be together and like we all are here for the right reasons, right? We enjoy the sport, but we're also here to mold men. They just care about our players a lot. If somebody needs a ride, they'll go pick them up even if we can't. And they just, they just care a lot and the they're hard on us, but that means that they really care about you. The central coaching has plenty to be excited about in 2024. Despite just 10 total seniors, the blue devils boast plenty of talent knowing that like you don't just have one playmaker, but you have multiple dudes that can make plays when they have the ball in their hands. I mean, it's so exciting because it's something, you know, in the past we've some seasons we have it some season we don't. And like knowing that all of them are underclassmen is even more exciting. The Blue Devils expect to run the football this fall central brings back three seniors on a very good offensive line and an explosive backfield to take advantage. I'm in love running the ball. So I mean, just put a nose to a hat and just run them. That's why I like running the ball a lot. I feel that this old line has been very mature, a lot bigger than usual. So I feel like the athleticism from our running backs coming off, this kind of blocking, I feel like can be unstoppable for our run game. The central rebuilding process continues to move forward but the Blue Devils have a chance to take a giant step forward in 2024. We went from one win to two wins from year one to year two, right? So obviously an ultimate goal, three wins is a, is a victory, right? It's going in the right direction, but our guys and our coaching staff expect so much more. I really think like if our goal is above 500 love to win the city but continue to stay competitive in games. Our score football preview takes us inside the Davenport North huddle. The Wildcats are coming off a tough two and seven season. But with some big time players back, the Wildcats have their sights set high and want to be back in the playoff picture this year. 26 dark, look around the Davenport North huddle and you'll see plenty of familiar players a lot of experience back, especially at the skill position. Um, really would have been able to capitalize, uh, just our momentum going from last year. So confidence headed into the 2024 season is right high. You know, that what they can do and I think they've, they saw what last year did and how close we were to winning offensively. The Wildcats have a returning quarterback in Kzr Bark, a Northern Iowa recruit leading the way we've been playing with these guys since we've been little 10 years old. So, uh we definitely have those connections. Definitely a lot of chemistry on this team and uh we just, we wanna win games and he'll have plenty of options to distribute the ball to this fall. Yeah, definitely makes it easy. Um Definitely got a big old line, so big boys up front, they definitely do a good job. Um And then got a lot of, got a lot of talent out at the receiver position and running back. Yeah, way more explosive because I mean, like you said, the experience and it's just helping us out defensively. The Wildcats have done a few things differently on that side. We've done a lot more, uh, live tackling than we have in the past years. You know, I'm not a big tackle guy just because of our numbers, but last year I just felt like our tackling wasn't there. So we've done a lot more, uh, live tackling segments this year. Some other guys trying out new positions, uh, sophomores coming up to play varsity, that'll be a big step for them. But I know with all the experience this summer, all the coaching, all the other players helping them through that they'll get through it. In the past North has focused on winning the city championship, but this year they know there is more out there for them. I think that starts with making the playoffs. We know what we're capable of this year. Main focus is definitely playoffs though because city championship, you win a game, you lose a game. It's, it doesn't matter once you get to the playoffs, it's your own and o let's just make it to the playoffs, you know, whatever we gotta do to get in the playoffs, whether it's five and 49 and 07 and 26 and three, whatever we have to do to get in. We want to get into the playoffs. We are just eight days and counting to the start of the high school football season. Our score previews stop at Davenport West tonight. The Falcons have stacked back to back winning seasons and they're hungry for even more this fall. There's a new mindset when it comes to Davenport West football these days. But it's nice for us at Davenport West to be thinking, play off or bus, so to speak. The Falcons have taken flight in recent years. West has piled up 12 victories in the last two seasons making the playoffs two years ago and narrowly missing out last fall. It meant a lot, but it was also kind of heartbreaking because we're only like a point or two for making playoffs again. It was nice to have five, but we're looking for, uh, to go deep in the playoffs and to go move further. The days of winless seasons and 20 game losing streaks are a thing of the past coming in as freshmen, we always talked about make change in the program, making it better and finally doing it. People have been sleeping on us and people are finally waking up now and realize these past few years have been a lot better for this program. A lot of new players, we've all been hard working, you know, trying our best to make it to the next level. Dominic Nunn begins his second season at the helm of West after a late start a year ago, the Falcons have hit the ground running this fall. I'm enjoying practices a whole lot more, you know, it's, it's getting back to the essence of, you know, the and Os and the execution and the small things and the detail, like all the things that you know, that you enjoy when you were a player, just his attitude and his dedication to the program and he all wants us to be better. And so he's doing pretty good at that West must replace a talented senior class from a year ago. But the Falcons feel they have all the pieces in place for more success in 2024. We're going to look for Jordan Tate to take on a heavier leadership role. We're going to look for Landon pillar to step up and take on a leadership role. We're going to look for Brady Bells to step in the quarterback and kind of be that calm we need in the huddle for. So I'm looking forward and excited to what this senior group can do, just going out and doing our jobs, everyone's supposed to do doing what we practice all, all season and all summer and just executing our place to go to playoffs. That's a big thing for us to go out and win games and once officially game week in the high school football fields, we continue our score previews with a stop tonight in Fulton. The Steamers returning a veteran group and are looking to extend their playoff streak of seven years to eight. Jenna Minor caught up with Fulton ahead of their season opener. The Fulton football team has a lot of one thing experience. We've got kind of a veteran group coming back, a lot of guys that played last year on last year's playoff team, a large group returning not just on offense but defense as well. We've got four of our five linemen are back this year. We've got our quarterback for, for another year. Um, and then we've got, uh, one of our running backs is back and, and our tight end is back and all those guys play defense as well. So we've got 66 or seven guys on each side of the ball that, that played. Either they did, either they started or they played significantly on last year's team Fulton reaping the benefits from the veteran group already. We haven't had to reteach a lot of stuff. We just kind of say some things that kids know it. And we also have found that some of these kids are teaching and coaching the younger kids as well and that's kind of neat to see them, you know, spit back out what we've been talking to them and preaching to them about the steamers take pride in their winning culture making the playoffs for seven years in a row, featuring two quarterfinal appearances. And we've become, uh, kind of a team that, you know, we not, not that we expect to win, but we, we feel like we're prepared each and every week to compete each and every week and that's what we try to do and, and hopefully, uh, the wins and losses take care of themselves. Is what we always preach is, is, this is on this practice field is where you win your football games and, and we try to not only, you know, teach them uh football, but I actually tell them why they have to do things. Coach Patrick loa happy about the leadership on the team and the group's connection as a whole. It's kind of that mindset of, of team and, you know, there's no I in team and I know it's kind of a cliche, but, you know, our kids are, are really working through that uh and helping each other out and you can really see it on the practice field with a big group of seniors. We all have that special connection because we've been playing for four years together. We win together, we lose together and that closeness as a team is translating out on the field, there's better communication on the field. I just, I feel more confident in all of our plays and all of our, our skills in general in Fulton Jenna Minor WQ ad news sports. We are now less than 48 hours away from the first Friday night of the high school football season tonight, we make our final score preview stop in Galesburg where it's an off season of change for the silver streaks. Sean H Hickey takes the reins this summer, but he's far from the new guy in town, Corey Kuffler has more from Galesburg when Sean Hickey took over as the Galesburg football coach, he knew there would be some ground to make up over the summer break on it. Come on, it's on us to make sure that we're game ready, you know. So we have to make sure it doesn't matter if I came in late June or if I was there from January on, uh, our job is to get them ready. Week one, the players were also, I need to make sure this year was different from previous seasons. We wanna win. So we're not letting anyone get away with something easy. So we're pushing everybody. Gils returns about 12 seniors. But within those 12, there are some experienced players leading the way our running back Jamal range. He had a couple of carries last year behind Amari. He's more of like a power back. He's not very elusive, but he's fast, he's strong, he hits the holes really strong. Uh, we got some couple of good outside linebackers like Kenny Ward. I mean, they step up to the ball, you know, we force them out on the D line, they get the tackles because they're faster and the streaks will be tough on the front lines. Three good linemen that we're really happy with Asher Whitcomb as a senior, Celeste Matala as a senior. And then we have later Randolph as a senior while the players and coaches will be judged by the results on the field coach Hickey is looking at a bigger picture. We've got to build up our numbers. We got to make kids feel that they're empowered to come out and play. And, and one of the things that we talked about was if we take care of the kids, the wins and losses will take care of themselves. I always wanted to be a reason why a kid plays football, getting that winning spirit and get more people out here to come in. Galesburg, Corey Kuffler WQ ad news eight sports. Hey, Gene of football will look a little different at the top. This year, the Maple Leafs have a new head coach. I was nervous to see how he attack all these new faces, new environments, but he seems like he has a strict plan. He really knows what he wants to do. I like it. I mean, the old coach was great, but uh new things are great too and it's just the intensity. I feel like there's good energy. I feel happy, optimistic is what I'd say. I'm really optimistic how the season, Matt Furlong, taking the reins and he's just as happy as the players are very excited for the opportunity, you know. So Gene has been a traditional program that's had a lot of support and backing throughout the community. Uh One growing up in the quad cities I knew about. And um you know, this is certainly a place that when the opportunity came to get back closer to home and, and be able to be here. It was, uh, one night I want to pass up the opportunity on this new era of genes of football has players excited for the clean slate as the Maple leafs return. No starters while having experience is always nice at the same time when you're starting new and, um, putting in a new offense, putting in a new defense, you know, it didn't really matter who we had or what that experience was going to look like. Things are going to be new for him. It's just a new team and everyone's proving themselves. So I think that's really great uh with how the team is shaping out and everything and to be a leader, it's great to see that where it's not these preconceived notions of what you are. And it has helped the Maple Leafs grow closer as a team this year. I feel like our seniors, juniors, sophomores, freshmen are all really well connected and overall that builds better teamwork and better bonding. So we better understand each other and how we play. So I think that can motivate us in end game situations so we can really pull through as a team to get the win, of course, is known for its tradition. And coach furlong is making sure to keep the history there while implementing new ideas. He wants us to really stick back to our roots and I feel like he's done his research and he's connected with all of our other coaches. And so he's really bringing back an old tradition of hard core football and it's awesome. I enjoy it a lot. And I think coach has done a great job incorporating that into his new game plan. So it's just going back to, we got to play hard physical, play fast and just everything the tradition rooted in here he's using to get us to the best we can be offensively. We're, we're looking to kind of uh get back to kind of a traditional Geno seal look um and kind of blending that in with what we had done at Carry Grove when I was there. Um And, and really, it's about what we think is best for the kids within this community. Uh and what's gonna give us sustained success, not only this year, but as we continue to try and build the program and, and have that lasting success in JCOJ Mor WQ ad News Eight Sports.