Rock Island Today

The high school football season is in full swing in and around Rock Island.

The Rock Island High School Rocks kicked off their season on Aug. 25 in ugly fashion with a blowout loss to St. Charles East High School, 41-7. The Rocks bounced back with a 14-6 win over Thornwood High School a week later, with a big play from Michail Sudberry, who broke a 36-yard-run that set up Rock Island’s second touchdown of the game.

The Rocks won their second-straight game by defeating the Richwoods Knights 49-38. Junior quarterback Ian Purvis passed for 100 yards and threw one touchdown, while sophomore running back Davion Wilson rushed for 127 yards.

Crosstown rival Alleman High School Pioneers snapped the Rocks' winning streak with a 35-21 victory, leaving the Rocks in fourth place in the Western Big 6 Conference.

The Alleman Pioneers started the year strong and at the time of publishing have a 3-1 record. They opened by scoring 23 first-half points against Peoria Notre Dame and held on to win 23-6.

The Pioneers then beat Quincy Notre Dame 29-13 victory before losing for the first time this year against Sterling High, who overwhelmed Allman on the way to a 56-7 win. Allman is ranked second in the Western Big 6 Football Conference, behind Moline High School.

Rockridge High School (RHS) also started the year strong, going 4-0. 

The Rockets' first game, against Monmouth-Roseville High School, started out balanced, with each team scoring a touchdown in the first quarter before the Rockets put up 20 unanswered points to beat the Titans 27-7.

The Rockets then hosted Erie-Prophetstown and ran away with a 43-12 victory. RHS put up 43 points in the first two quarters of the game and cruised to victory.

RHS then knocked off Riverdale High School, 48-12, and squeaked by Fulton High, 40-39 victory. Rockridge finished with 336 total rushing yards.

Rockridge is currently in third place in the Three Rivers Conference.

Moline High School is in first place in the Western Big 6 Conference with a 3-2 record. The Maroons didn't start on top, though, losing 49-21 to DeKalb High School and 24-7 to Fenwick High School. 

But Moline bounced back with an emphatic 40-20 win against Rich South High School and continued its winning ways the next two weeks, knocking off East Moline United High School 49-0 and Galesburg High School 35-7.

East Moline United High School hasn’t been able to find the winning formula of its crosstown rival Moline Maroons and sits in second-to-last place in the Western Big 6 Conference with a 1-3 record. The Panthers season started off with a win 46-6 win over Chicago Tech Academy, but they dropped their next three games, falling 13-6 to East Peoria High School, 35-12 to LaSalle-Peru High School and getting shutout 49-0 by the rival Moline Maroons.

The season will wrap up in late October.