It’s not every day that a high school football game gets played on the field of a professional baseball park. That’s what makes the Shamrock Classic unique. Add to that, the first two Classics have been just that, giving the game a special electricity.
Friday night, our Red Zone Game of the Week presented by Illinois National Bank goes to Dozer Park, the downtown Peoria home of the Peoria Chiefs, for the Shamrock Classic III, hosted by Notre Dame. This year, it’ll be the North Peoria rivalry game between the Irish and Richwoods Knights.
The first two of these have been great, high-scoring games, with Notre Dame prevailing over Normal West in the inaugural game in 2015 on a last-second touchdown (see celebration below).
Last year, Notre Dame hosted Peoria High in a state-ranked duel on a rain-soaked, weather-delayed evening. The Lions prevailed. (see below.)
This year’s Classic will pit two nearby schools, fighting for their playoff lives in week six. Richwoods, uncharacteristically, missed the playoffs the past two seasons, but have bounced back to a 3-2 start this year with its new, pass-happy offense laden with veteran playmakers. Notre Dame is 2-3, coming off a blowout win over Urbana, on the heels of its historically high-scoring, OT, 82-80 loss to Peoria two weeks ago (see below). PND has won the last four in this series.
Our secondary game of the week will be the battle for first place in the Mid Illini when 4-1, 3-0 Washington hosts 5-0, 3-0 Dunlap, which whipped Pekin last week on our main game of the week to remain perfect.
Former Illinois starting lineman and longtime Peoria Pirates assistant coach Tony Johnson, Tom Meredith and I call the action from these two games, while producer Jason Glick tracks the scores from all the area games.
Tune in at 6:30 pm Friday for the pregame show, featuring coach’s interviews. It’s the Red Zone Game of the Week presented by Illinois National Bank on Peoria’s home for classic rock and football, 95.5, GLO.
Doc Watson
