Boblett likes Rocks' chances

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By Craig DeVrieze | Wednesday, August 20, 2008 9:46 PM CDT | () comments

Stop the presses.

For a stunning change, Vic Boblett is picking the Rock Island Rocks to win the Western Big Six Conference football race.

“I debated about coming here and putting the monkey on our back,’’ the 18th-year Rocks head coach said at Wednesday’s annual conference Kickoff Banquet in Rock Island. “I guess I am going to. We should be pretty good.’’

With 12 returning starters from a 10-2 2007 Class 5A playoff quarterfinalist, Boblett’s Rocks do indeed figure to be pretty good. And they are, in fact, the prohibitive favorite to win the league race in what potentially looks like a down Big Six year.

But in keeping with a surprising Wednesday theme, Joel Ryser, head coach of a Moline bunch that lost 33 seniors from last year’s conference champion Maroons, declined to make the Rocks undisputed favorites.

He hopes a reloading crew of Maroons will be waiting to challenge the Rocks for league supremacy at Rocky Stadium on Oct. 17, the final Friday of the five-game conference campaign.

“We have a lot to prove,’’ Ryser said. “But I think we can compete for a conference title.’’

The season will kick off for all six league squads Aug. 29.

If Ryser’s Maroons can resurface this year, then it figures to be a two-horse 2008 WB6 race. That’s with United Township, Quincy and Galesburg still program-building under second- or third-year head coaches and with Rock Island Alleman drastically down in numbers after seeing its four-year run of conference championships end last year.

Still, veteran Alleman coach Dave DeJaegher put the season in perspective, noting a gritty 27-man group of Pioneers will be willing to give their all.

“We have guys ready to commit,’’ he said. “We have to stay positive.’’

Second-year UT coach Kai Killam is taking that approach, even after seeing all-conference back Airreo Greer move to Davenport over the summer.

He said the inexperienced Panthers will break the season into thirds and try to go 2-1 throughout each.

“We are just trying to break through and be in the upper half,’’ Killam said, grouping his Panthers with Quincy and Galesburg in that Big Six mission.

DeJaegher, meanwhile, is positive nothing will come easy for the Rocks or Maroons on conference Friday nights.

“This league is probably underrated across the state,’’ he said. “There’s not a lot of flash and dash, but we do play good, hard fundamental football here.’’

Craig DeVrieze can be contacted at (563) 333-2610 or cdevrieze@qctimes.com. Comment on this story at qctimes.com.