Coalers claim conference title

Coal City won the battle for the Illinois Central Eight football conference Friday night, upending Wilmington 29-14.
Both teams were undefeated and state ranked entering the contest.
The Coalers held the visiting Wildcats scoreless the first half while building a 21-0 lead off a pair of touchdown runs from Daniel Jezik (20 and 5 yards) and a 60-yard scoring pass from Payton Hutchings to Connor Burch.
Wilmington scored 8:21 into the third quarter when Trey Shaw punched one in from one yard out. But Jezik dealt the death blow to start the fourth quarter when he scampered 19 yards to pull ahead 29-7.
The Wildcats scored a final time with 9:11 left when Jezik fumbled near the end zone and Wilmington's Jake Rodawold recovered it for a score.
Coal City (8-0, 6-0) becomes the first team to win the new ICE conference title and will host Reed-Custer on Friday. Wilmington (7-1, 5-1) will host Peotone on Friday and hope for a good seed in the 3A playoffs on Saturday.

REED-CUSTER FALLS
The Comets put up a good fight during the first half against visiting Herscher before falling 33-14.
Reed-Custer scored first and led 14-13 at half-time before giving up a pair of touchdowns in the third quarter while being held scoreless the entire second half.
The Comets fall to 1-7 overall.