Prep Football: New Kind Of Bragging Rights

Posted June 02, 2015 11:00 pm

In true David Bowie fashion, "cha, cha, changes" are coming to southern Illinois football in regard to its 10-year running All-Star game with Western Kentucky.

The two will no longer knock helmets on the gridiron after southern Illinois representative and Marion High School head coach Kerry Martin talked with west Kentucky and Mayfield head coach Joe Morris this past January.

Instead, there will be an All-Star game in southern Illinois and it will split down Interstate 57 as an East-West game that will be played Friday at 7 p.m. at Johnston City High School.

"The Western Kentucky game was great," Martin said. "I think it was time for a change and maybe we weren't having as good of crowds as we were having before. I think we lost a little interest and a little energy in the game and I believe now there has been a little bit of a renewed interest in bringing something like this back to just southern Illinois."

Harking back to the days of the Coal Bowl is what Martin said was primarily the case for bringing the game back to southern Illinois and doing it in the manner they are.

The East team will feature players from Marion, Mt. Vernon, Massac County, Harrisburg, Eldorado, Hamilton County, Fairfield, West Frankfort, Benton, Vienna-Goreville, Carmi-White County and Johnston City.

Coaches for the East Team will include Marion's Kerry Martin and Jason Dunning, along with Eldorado's Brandon Hampton, who will be the offensive coordinator for the game. West Frankfort's Brian Beery, Benton's Jeremy Clodfelder, Mt. Vernon's Jared Shaner, Fairfield's Justin Townsed, Carmi-White County's Curt Simon and Massac County's Ryan Lott will also help out.

The West Team will include players from Carbondale, Centralia, Nashville, Pinckneyville, Sparta, Du Quoin, Anna-Jonesboro, Murphysboro, Herrin, Carterville, Chester, Sesser-Valier-Waltonville-Woodlawn and Christopher-Zeigler-Royalton.

Head coach for the West Team will be Carterville's Dennis Drust, as well as, Centralia's Ray Kauling, Carbondale's Brian Lee, Anna-Jonesboro's Brett Detering, Herrin's Jason Karnes and Murphysboro's Gary Carter.

Martin said after sorting things out and coming up with teams, there was an equal number from east and west, but more so, an opportunity for more kids to play.

"The East/West game, I believe, give more kids an opportunity to play and more coaches involved. There has been a lot of excitement, I can tell, in southern Illinois about bringing this thing back.

"Almost every school in southern Illinois has kids represented and that's the exciting thing about it," Martin said. "We have some great football here in southern Illinois and we have so many coaches involved. Both sides have numerous head coaches that help promote our sport. This is a great promotion for southern Illinois football. it's one night, it's fun and it's a fan favorite."

The notion to rotate the game around southern Illinois is also something that is intriguing for Martin and while he admits it was nice to use the facilities of Southern Illinois University and Murray State University for the last 10 years, showcasing area high schools is even better.

The game was scheduled to be played at Marion High School this year. However, construction of the new multi-million dollar facility is behind schedule, forcing the move to Johnston City.

Marion is likely to have the game next year.

"We're hoping to rotate the site among other schools," he said. "We'll probably keep it in some centrally located schools that have all-weather surfaces. This can be a tough time of the year to play football because some schools' grass just isn't ready. We have several schools in southern Illinois that have turf fields that will allow us to move this thing around a bit.

Michael Dann covers prep and college sports for the Harrisburg Daily Register. Follow him on Twitter: @spydieshooter.

EAST-WEST ALL-STAR GAME

When: Friday Time: 7 p.m. Where: Johnston City High School