More than half of the football regular season is in the rearview mirror and games will only get more crucial until the end of October. Week 6 of the IHSA football season features a hearty helping of good games as teams head into the home stretch either trying to qualify for the playoffs or solidify their seeding.
This week features key games in the Big 12 (Normal Community at Bloomington), Mid-Illini (Metamora at Pekin), Lincoln Trail/Prairieland (Macomb at Farmington), the Heart of Illinois (St. Joseph-Ogden at BCC) and more. The Normal Community/Bloomington and Macomb/Farmington matchups pit two teams who haven't lost a conference game yet against each other.
Tune in to watch our WMBD Game of the Week featuring Normal Community at Bloomington ciproud.com on Friday with pregame coverage at 6:40 p.m. and kickoff at 7. Our Small Town Throwdown audio broadcast features Bloomington Central Catholic hosting St. Joseph-Ogden; listen to that game on Friday at 7 p.m. on clutchsportsil.com.
The latest AP rankings: Eleven area football teams included in Oct. 2 AP statewide poll
Our staff has made their picks and comments for 10 of the best games in the Central Illinois area this week, along with their season records listed below. Broadcasters for our broadcasted games are ineligible to pick winners for the games that they are broadcasting and will pick the winner of an 11th game instead.