After a back and forth start to the game that saw the score 7-7 through the first few minutes, the Moline Maroons (11-1) used a prolonged 18-0 run that lasted nearly a full quarter to eventually lead 35-13 at the half and go on to win 62-32 over the Plainfield South Cougars in round one of the Pekin Tournament. Trey Taylor (20 points 10-12 FG, 10 rebounds) was magnificent once again as he posted his 4th straight 20 point game punctuated with his highlight coast to coast dunk near the end of the first half. The question on the day would be how the Maroons would respond after a sluggish finish to their win last Thursday over McHenry.  Coach Sean Taylor felt that they responded well. “I thought they played great.” The Maroons’ mentor said during the postgame show. “This is a hard game to play, you get a couple days off…we have lost this game a couple times, I thought the guys came out focused.” Moline was dialed in from the jump. Coach Taylor was proud of the all around effort from Vinny Adjahoungbeta (4 points, 6 rebounds) who didn’t light up the scoreboard but was a presence on defense and all over the offensive glass early. Marcus McQueen had a big 2nd quarter and finished with 14 points on an efficient 5-6 FG and 4-5 from 3FG.

The Maroons will take on a familiar foe Thursday morning – the East St. Louis Flyers.  They knocked off Washington in their first round contest, 51-48. “No matter what happens, we have 2 games and it’s going to be against 2 quality opponents. When you get to the final 8 of this tournament all 8 are good.” Tip off for Thursday’s game is slated for 10:30 a.m.  We will be LIVE at 10:15 for the Crawford Company Pregame show from Dawdy Hawkins Gym.

This is the link to the FULL COURT PRESS live stream.

Tonight’s 7:00 show, live from Riverfront Grille in Rock Island, will include:
* Breaking news about Alleman not playing football in the WB6 in 2024. We’ll read you their letter.
* Former Quad Citian & ESPN anchor Doug Kezirian will join us
* We’ll test the guys’ college football knowledge with a fun twist on Dropout

PRESENTED BY charter sponsors Godfather’s Pizza in Silvis, Crawford Company, Neil Ferrari State Farm Insurance, Wheelan-Pressly, and Hungry Hobo.  Limited additional sponsorship opportunities are available by contacting Ken Jacoby at (309) 912-5135 or ken@qcsportsnet.com.

UPDATE 12/20: In late November, Alleman sent a letter to the other schools in the Western Big 6, letting them know that the Pioneers would NOT be playing in the conference in football in 2024. QCSportsNet has obtained a copy of that letter. It will be read in its entirety, and discussed in detail, on tonight’s Full Court Press, 7:00 p.m. at Riverfront Grille in Rock Island and live on QCSportsNet.com. Alleman Coach Jeff Schmulbach would not comment on whether the Pioneers will seek to play a non-conference schedule in 2024, or remain JV-only for the second straight year. Moline, which would have played Alleman in Week 6, struck an agreement to play that week at Thornton Township, thus avoiding having an 8-game schedule for the third consecutive year.

UPDATE 12/19: Statement from Alleman Coach Jeff Schmulbach:

• The vote was 58% to 42% against
• Moline has scheduled a non-conference game in Alleman’s slot
• Statement from Alleman High School coming later today
• Schools approve pre-season scrimmages vs. other schools as an option instead of intra-squad games

Dec. 19, 2023 – In voting results released today, member high schools of the Illinois High School Association (IHSA) voted 379 to 272 (58.2% to 41.8%) against a proposal to implement District Football, in which every school would be assigned an 8-team district within its classification (1A to 8A) by IHSA and would play seven of its nine games each year within that district, with the top four teams in district play making the playoffs.  79 schools abstained.  The defeat was by a similar margin to 2019, when the proposal went down, 60% to 40%, after initially passing in 2018 before the full extent of the plan was known.

After the announcement, Moline Coach Mike Morrissey told QCSportsNet, “We’re very excited about the results of the voting. It helps keep the traditional games of a great conference with natural rivalries in place. Excited about our schedule for next fall and keeping the Friday Night Lights experience the WB6 provides for our kids and community!”

Perhaps in anticipation of the proposal’s defeat, and with the prospects of Alleman playing varsity football within the Western Big 6 in 2024 uncertain, Moline has already scheduled its Week 6 game to be played at Thornton Township on Oct. 4, in the slot where the Pioneers would have been.  “We couldn’t wait around and miss out on another game for the 3rd straight season,” said Morrissey.  “Had to do what was in the best interest of our kids and program.”  And if Alleman should decide to return to playing in the WB6 in 2024?  “We signed a contract with Thornton and will honor that this fall regardless of any changes Alleman makes at the last minute,” said Morrissey.

United Township Coach Nick Welch told QCSportsNet, “Relieved that it didn’t go through. I know that everyone has their own arguments and vantage points on what’s best for their schools which is completely fair. At the end of the day the “uncertainty” of districts and lack of a clear plan are why I feel this is a good decision.”

Alleman Coach Jeff Schmulbach, Morrissey, and Welch had staked out their positions while appearing on the Nov. 29 edition of Full Court Press, QCSportsNet’s weekly live local sports talk program.  Schmulbach at the time acknowledged that perhaps no school in the state of Illinois would benefit more from District Football than Alleman, where he is hard at work building back the football program to be able to compete at the varsity level after fielding only a JV team this past Fall.

Alleman officials tell QCSN they plan to release a statement sometime today.

Schools did approve a proposal by a margin of 64% to 36% to allow football teams to conduct a pre-season scrimmage with another school.  Scrimmages would use IHSA officials and be limited to four separate 12-play segments, with no special teams play, and there would be no live contact in practice the day before or after.  Such scrimmages would take place Friday or Saturday the weekend before the start of the regular season and – if schools choose to go the scrimmage route – would replace the intra-squad scrimmages currently held, such as Moline’s Maroon & White scrimmage, Rock Island’s Red-Gold Game, and United Township’s Panther Preview.

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This is the link to the FULL COURT PRESS live stream.

We were live from the Quad City Botanical Center for the Western Big 6 Boys Basketball Banquet on Wednesday, talking to four head coaches, followed by the program full of jokes, barbs, and stories the coaches trade with each other and with host Matt Randazzo.

We’re re-running it in its entirety Saturday at 12:30, so it’ll be all finished before the Iowa-Illinois 2:30 kickoff!!

PRESENTED BY charter sponsors Godfather’s Pizza in Silvis, Crawford Company, Neil Ferrari State Farm Insurance, and Hungry Hobo.  Limited additional sponsorship opportunities for Full Court Press are available by contacting Ken Jacoby at (309) 912-5135 or ken@qcsportsnet.com.