East Alton-Wood River, Jersey ride excitement into home contests

WOOD RIVER - East Alton-Wood River High School's football team is riding a wave of excitement and success after shutting out Dupo last week. Tonight, the Oilers hope to have another strong outing against Taylorville.

Game time is 7 p.m. for the East Alton-Wood River matchup.

Head coach Gary Herron said he couldn’t be happier than starting with a win last week.

“The kids put in the work over the summer and it has paid off,” he said. “It was pretty awesome last Friday; everything all came together.“

Taylorville was a playoff team last year and defeated Mt. Vernon 30-0 last week, Herron said.

“They lost a lot of seniors, but they have 80 some guys on their roster and they are athletic,” he said. “They have some speed and a little size on the line. The main thing for us is to be aggressive. Our kids are going to have to be amped up and ready to go.”

Jersey hosts Effingham

Jersey, 1-0, will host Effingham tonight.

The Panthers recorded an opening week win last week over Granite City and new head coach Jon Adkins hopes to keep the Panthers fired up again this week for another difficult contest.

Southwestern plays at home

Southwestern, 0-1, met a top-notch Hillsboro team and lost last week, and this week is back at home against Greenville.

Coach Aaron Fricke said Greenville is always a tough opponent and he knows his team will have to be on top of their game tonight.

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