West Carroll Thunder
The Thunder had a tough go in 2018, with close losses in 2 games that kept them from reaching the playoffs. With a team that featured a lot of juniors, the Thunder will be a team to watch in 2019. Once again, Coach Matt Leitzen had the Thunder involved in a lot of different summer activities, and they return a good mix of skilled players and linemen. The focus for the Thunder will be ball pursuit on defense, line play on both sides of the ball, and taking care of the ball on offense to reduce down turnovers from 2018. The Thunder will return their QB, a couple solid receivers, two backs, and will bring some good sized linemen to the mix.
The Thunder will have some very good skill players returning, which tells the tale of how much Coach Leitzen has turned this program around entering his 5th season at the helm. West Carroll still has to prove they can win the games against the top teams in the conference, but a new look South Division will have West Carroll facing 4 playoff teams from a year ago. New opponents on the West Carroll schedule will be Aquin, AFC, and Milledgeville. The remainder of their schedule will feature games with Galena and Amboy, the two teams that have played spoiler to West Carroll in the last 3 seasons.
West Carroll has made the playoffs 5 times since their consolidation in 2005, going 2-5. Like last year, West Carroll will start the season with some tough games, but should see themselves in the playoff mix entering week 6 should they get to 3-2 at the midway point. If they can turn those 2 losses around, and find an additional win, they will definitely find their name called on Selection Saturday. The Thunder open up 2019 on the road at Galena, a game they lost last season.
West Carroll Playoff History
2005 0-1
2006 0-1
2007 1-1
2015 0-1
2017 1-1