Football Preview: Normal Community Ironmen vs. Bloomington Purple Raiders
Normal Community has gone 7-1 against Bloomington recently and they'll look to pad the win column further on Friday. The Normal Community Ironmen will be staying on the road to face off against the Bloomington Purple Raiders at 7:00 p.m. After the two teams made easy work of their previous opponents, one won't be so lucky on Friday.
Normal Community's defense heads into the match hoping to repeat the dominance they displayed on Friday. They breezed by Manual on the road to the tune of 42-0. Given the Ironmen's advantage in MaxPreps' Illinois football rankings (they are ranked 64th, while the Rams are ranked 408th), the result wasn't entirely unexpected.
Meanwhile, Bloomington put another one in the bag on Friday to keep their perfect season alive. They blew past Urbana 84-0 on the road. That 84 point margin sets a new team best for the Purple Raiders this season.
Rob Lanier was his usual excellent self, rushing for 145 yards and three touchdowns on only seven carries. His longest rush was for an impressive 56 yards, which helps to explain his lofty yards per carry total. The team also got some help courtesy of Tavarrion Rodgers, who rushed for 60 yards and two touchdowns.
He was just one part of a punishing run game: Bloomington was unstoppable on the ground and finished the game with 321 rushing yards. That's the most rushing yards they've posted since back in October of 2023.
Bloomington's defense was in the mix too, especially the secondary: they snagged two passes before it was all said and done. The picks came courtesy of Rodgers and Jamari Sutton. The dominant performance gave Rodgers a new career-high in rushing yards.
Normal Community's victory bumped their record up to 4-1. As for Bloomington, they pushed their record up to 5-0 with the win, which was their third straight on the road.
Everything came up roses for Normal Community against Bloomington in their previous matchup back in September of 2023, as the team secured a 34-0 victory. The rematch might be a little tougher for Normal Community since the squad won't have the home-field advantage this time around. We'll see if the change in venue makes a difference.
Article generated by infoSentience based on data entered on MaxPreps
