Down The Stretch They Come

The last half of the football season is upon southern Illinois as most teams will be eliminated from playoff contention after Friday night.

It's a special week in the Black Diamond Conference, where Rivalry Week is taking place and Eldorado travels to Hamilton. County.

Harrisburg and Massac County will look to break a winless streak to the season as both teams go for their first win.

As of today (Friday), Massac County football has gone 1,120 days since their last win – that of course coming on Sept. 2, 2016 in a 14-13 win over Nashville.

That was the second game on the schedule that season and since then, the Patriots have lost 25 straight, including back-to-back seasons of 0-9 records.

The Patriots have had some moderate success on the field this year. Despite being shutout 27-0 by Murphysboro last week, Massac County played Anna-Jonesboro to a 34-29 game, lost to Nashville by 29 points, but put up 34 in the loss and fell 21-6 to Du Quoin.

Since 2010, Harrisburg has won the last nine meetings against Massac County and since 1996, Harrisburg is 17-7 against Massac County.

Eldorado is looking to beat Hamilton County for a 10th straight time. The Eagles have not lost to the Foxes since 2009 and while the Eagles (3-1) are looking to bounce back from last week's loss at Sesser-Valier, Hamilton County (1-3) has lost its last three after opening the season with a win over C-Z-R.

Spyder Dann covers prep and college sports for the Southern Illinois Local Media News Group. Follow him on Twitter: @spydieshooter.