The Rochelle football team may not be eligible for the postseason anymore, but the Hubs still have plenty to play for including Friday evening’s Senior Night showdown against the Plano Reapers in the Interstate 8 Conference.
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ROCHELLE — The Rochelle football team may not be eligible for the postseason anymore, but the Hubs still have plenty to play for including Friday evening’s Senior Night showdown against the Plano Reapers in the Interstate 8 Conference.
Rochelle (2-5) saw its playoff hopes dashed after a 42-6 home loss to the Sycamore Spartans this past week. The Hubs have a chance to start a new winning streak this week, as the team will recognize its senior players for their contributions to the Rochelle football program.
“It’s a very small senior class which is atypical of what we see at Rochelle,” head coach Kyle Kissack. “It’s one of the smallest senior classes since 1997 when there were only four seniors… They’ve hung together through some adverse conditions over the course of their high school careers and they’ve lost a lot of teammates. They’ve done everything we’ve asked of them and they’ve done a great job of finding ways to get better.”
Plano (2-5) will arrive in Rochelle with the same record as the Hubs after falling 36-7 against Sandwich at home this past week. The Reapers have struggled to score recently, totaling only 15 points over their last four contests including two shutouts at the hands of Kaneland and Morris. Plano has been outscored 229-62 this season.
“They definitely have some good skill players and they’ll try getting the ball into their hands,” Kissack said. “Any time we’re playing a team that moves the football out of the spread, it presents a challenge in that we have to cover from sideline to sideline. Defensively, I think they do a nice job of rallying to the football.”
Both teams are also 1-4 in the Interstate 8 Conference this season, with the winner of Friday’s game moving into sole possession of fifth place. With only two weeks remaining in their season, the Hubs will be looking to extract as many positives as they can before closing the 2019 campaign out against Ottawa next week.
“We want to get a win Friday night for our senior class,” Kissack said. “I think that’s important for us and I think our younger kids have embraced that.”
