Kahoks ready for regular season kickoff on Friday night

by Mark Jurgena

COLLINSVILLE — If you missed Friday night’s Kahok Kickoff you missed the first Collinsville High School football game of the season.

Well, sort of.

This past offseason the IHSA announced they would allow member schools to compete in a controlled scrimmage with another school the weekend before their season begins.

The Kahoks and Mascoutah got together for that week zero, 48-play contest.

Collinsville coach Colton Rhodes was happy about the scrimmage.

“Our scrimmage with Mascoutah on Friday Night went really well,” said CHS coach Colton Rhodes. “We got each kid in our program on the field under the lights and into the game. We were able to see a lot of good things and pinpoint some areas that need to be addressed as well. Thank you to Mascoutah for coming out to Collinsville for the event. I was really happy with the outcome with it being the first year we were allowed to host.”

With the scrimmage out of the way, the week of work for 103 athletes who went out for football this season will focus on week one opponent Belleville East. 

Collinsville, who has 23 seniors dotting this year’s roster, will host the Lancers on Friday night. Kickoff will be at 7 p.m.

Six of the nine Kahok opponents on the schedule were in the playoffs one year ago with Belleville East, Belleville Althoff and Triad winning their opening contest in the postseason.

“I am really excited for the upcoming season,” said Rhodes. “Each season brings on a new team and a new dynamic. However, we still have our same goals and the same pillars we follow for Kahok football. We have a pretty tough schedule with some really good teams. So I’m excited to see what’s in store for us. We have great potential, it’s just a matter of unlocking it all and putting it together on the field.”

In last year’s opener, the Lancers beat CHS in Belleville 24-21 on a warm Saturday morning. 

One year ago at this time it was much like this week, extremely hot. However a season ago the heat extended to Friday and as a result, many games were moved to Saturday.

The Kahoks have planned to make sure they can practice every day this week by conducting practices before school from 5:15 a.m. until 7 a.m.

CHS has four home contests this season. After they battle East on Friday night, they will host Centralia on Sept. 6, Mt. Vernon on Sept. 20 and Marion on Oct. 11.