WRMJ Week 6 TRAC Football Preview & Picks With View From The West

With the divisional favorites separating themselves last week, the focus around the TRAC shifts to the playoff outlook for each team entering Week 6.

Rockridge and Monmouth-Roseville put themselves in position to win outright conference titles last week and clinched playoff spots. Riverdale and Newman have a chance to punch their tickets this week.

WRMJ’s Ty Taylor is joined by Greg Armstrong and Mitch Stoermer from View from the West Podcast to preview and predict this week’s action.

Standings after Week 5

Place	Picker	Record
1	Greg	25-4
T2	Mitch	24-5
T2	Ty	24-5

Game of the Week: Riverdale (4-1, 2-1 TRAC Rock) @ Erie-Prophetstown (3-2, 1-2 TRAC Rock) – Friday 7 p.m.

Preview

Riverdale will try to punch its first ticket to the playoffs in nearly 15 years on the road at Erie-Prophetstown this week.

The Rams held off Orion in a 42-28 win at home in Week 5. Riverdale scored the first 21 points of the game and led 28-14 at halftime. The Rams rushed for 408 yards, including 177 apiece from Caen Beckett (four TDs) and Gaege Heisnsen (one TD). Riverdale is looking for its fifth win of the season, which would but the Rams in the postseason for the first time since 2011. With Newman waiting next week, but then favorable matchups with Hall and Sherrard on the schedule in Weeks 8 and 9, Riverdale has a chance to bolster its seeding this week.

Erie-Prophetstown snapped a two-game losing skid with a 43-15 win at Mercer County in Week 5. Quarterback Keegan Winckler completed 9 of 12 passing attempts for 172 yards and three TDs in the win to push the Panthers back above .500 after starting the season 2-0. Gaven Adams caught two TD passes and returned a kickoff for a score, and Evan Steimle added a receiving TD and a pick-six in the win. Erie-Prophetstown is past the toughest part of its schedule with games against Newman and Rockridge in the rearview mirror, but still faces multiple hurdles to return to the playoffs this year. The Panthers play Orion next week, which could end up being a winner-get-in-loser-doesn’t game, before wrapping up the season facing Mendota and Princeton in Weeks 8 and 9. Erie-Prophetstown needs at least two more wins to be a postseason qualifier.

Picks

Ty: Riverdale

Greg: Riverdale

Mitch: Riverdale

Orion (2-3, 1-2 TRAC Rock) @ Rockridge (5-0, 3-0 TRAC Rock) – Friday 7 p.m.

Preview

Rockridge is looking to avoid a letdown and remain undefeated on the season at home against Orion this week.

The Rockets picked up an impressive 26-6 win over Newman in a state-ranked battle last week. It took Rockridge until the final minute of the first half to get on the board via a 3-yard TD run by Cullen Schwigen that put the Rockets in front 7-6 at halftime. Rockridge would go on to outscore the Comets 19-0 in the second half to pull away. Schwigen has accounted for 20 TDs through five games with TD passes to Chase Wheatley and Owen Steele to go along with the rushing score late in the second quarter. Thomas Sowards added a rushing TD in the fourth quarter of the win. The Rockets can clinch a share of the conference title with a win this week and win the TRAC Rock outright with wins over Orion in Week 6 and Mercer County in Week 7. The Rockets will battle Monmouth-Roseville in Week 8, ahead of the regular season finale against Hall. Rockridge, ranked No. 2 in 2A this week, has already locked up a playoff spot. Head coach Sam Graves is one win away from becoming the all-time winningest coach in program history.

Orion couldn’t overcome a slow start and fell to Riverdale 42-28 in Week 5. The Chargers dug themselves into a 21-0 hole early and cut the deficit to 28-14 at halftime. Orion pulled within one score in the second half, but never tied the game or took the lead. Quarterback Kale Filler is 79 of 135 for 978 yards, 11 TDs and two interceptions on the season, and wideout Owen Voorhees has scored 13 TDs and racked up more than 900 all-purpose yards through five games. If the Chargers fail to pull off the upset this week, they’ll need to be perfect in the final three weeks of the season against Erie-Prophetstown, Sherrard and Kewanee to get back to the playoffs for the first time since 2019.

Picks

Ty: Rockridge

Greg: Rockridge

Mitch: Rockridge

Mercer County (1-4, 0-3 TRAC Rock) @ Newman (4-1, 2-1 TRAC Rock) – Saturday 1 p.m.

Preview

Newman is aiming to rebound from its first loss of the season and eliminate Mercer County from postseason contention on Saturday afternoon.

Newman was handed a 26-6 loss by Rockridge on the road last week. The Comets struck first after a scoreless first quarter on a 58-yard TD run by Matthew Blackert with 6:02 left in the second quarter to jump in front 6-0. Newman couldn’t find the endzone again and gave up the final 26 points of the night. The Comets dropped a few spots to No. 6 in this week’s 1A AP Poll and will try to bounce back and earn a playoff spot this week. Newman plays Riverdale next week, Kewanee in Week 8 and Monmouth-Roseville in Week 9 before likely appearing in the 1A playoffs.

Mercer County’s postseason aspirations are on life support after a third consecutive blowout loss last week, 43-15 to Erie-Prophetstown. The Golden Eagles have allowed 40+ points in all three of those losses and are -11 in the turnover margin on the season. After allowing the first 14 points of the game, Mercer County scored midway through the second quarter to cut the deficit to 14-8. A fumble led to an Erie-Prophetstown TD in the final minute of the first half, then the Panthers returned the second half kickoff for a score and the rout was on. The Golden Eagles missed the playoffs in their first year in the TRAC last year for the first time since 1994 when you factor in the former Aledo and Westmer programs, and with games still to come against Rockridge and Princeton in the following weeks, Mercer County will need to pull off three straight monumental upsets ahead of Week 9’s road game at Mendota, to have a shot to play into Week 10.

Picks

Ty: Newman

Greg: Newman

Mitch: Newman

Monmouth-Roseville (5-0, 3-0 TRAC Mississippi) @ Sherrard (0-5, 0-3 TRAC Mississippi) – Friday 7 p.m.

Preview

Winless Sherrard welcomes undefeated Monmouth-Roseville to Clifford King Field for Homecoming this week.

For the second straight year, Monmouth-Roseville dominated Princeton in a 36-8 road win last week to take control of the TRAC Mississippi race. The Titans rushed for 350 yards in the win and took control early, leading 14-0 at halftime. Nick Huston rushed for 157 yards and two TDs, while Landon Montroy added 127 yards rushing and two scores of his own. With a win this week, Monmouth-Roseville would clinch at least a share of the conference title, and with wins against Sherrard and Hall next week, the Titans would win back-to-back, outright TRAC Mississippi championships. Monmouth-Roseville has tests against Rockridge and Newman waiting in the final two weeks of the regular season. The Titans have already clinched a playoff spot in the 3A field.

Sherrard suffered its second consecutive one-possession loss last week, 14-10 to Mendota. The Tigers were stopped on fourth and goal from the 8-yard line in the final two minutes of the game, a week after Sherrard allowed a game-winning touchdown to Hall with less than two minutes remaining. Sherrard played the game last week with an emergency third-string quarterback for the first three quarters until Carter Brown returned in the fourth. With the loss in Week 5, the Tigers were officially eliminated from playoff contention. Sherrard wraps up the season with games against Kewanee, Orion and Riverdale.

Picks

Ty: Monmouth-Roseville

Greg: Monmouth-Roseville

Mitch: Monmouth-Roseville

Princeton (2-3, 2-1 TRAC Mississippi) @ Hall (3-2, 3-0 TRAC Mississippi) – Friday 7 p.m.

Preview

Princeton is looking for a bounce-back performance in its road trip to Hall, which hasn’t lost in divisional play yet.

Princeton fell back below .500 with a 36-8 loss to Monmouth-Roseville at home last week. The Tigers were limited to 26 rushing yards in the loss. Princeton’s lone scoring play was a 51-yard TD pass from Gavin Lanham to Casey Etheridge in the fourth quarter. Princeton is in unfamiliar territory relative to its recent history at 2-3 through five weeks, but the Tigers have four winnable games left on the schedule. After this week, Princeton plays Mendota, Mercer County and Erie-Prophetstown to close the regular season, as the Tigers project to factor into the 3A playoffs once again.

Hall drilled Kewanee 44-0 last week to win its third consecutive game, which marks the longest winning streak for the Red Devils since 2019, when the program won four in a row. Aiden Redcliff rushed for three TDs in the convincing victory. Hall needs to find two more wins to find its way into the playoffs, and will face a stiff challenge to do so. After battling Princeton this week, Hall still has to play Monmouth-Roseville, Riverdale and Rockridge.

Picks

Ty: Princeton

Greg: Princeton

Mitch: Princeton

Kewanee (0-5, 0-3 TRAC Mississippi) @ Mendota (1-4, 1-2 TRAC Mississippi) – Friday 7 p.m.

Preview

Mendota returns home riding the momentum of winning its first game in just shy of two calendar years last week to take on a struggling Kewanee team.

Mendota held on late to defeat Sherarrd 14-10 on the road in Week 5, snapping a 16-game losing streak for the program. It was the first win for the Trojans since Sept. 30, 2023. Mendota erased a 10-7 halftime deficit and kept the Tigers out of the endzone on fourth-and-goal from the 8-yard line with under two minutes remaining to seal the win. Corbin Furrar scored a pair of rushing TDs in the game. The Trojans would need to win their remaining games to qualify for a playoff berth, Mendota wraps up the regular season with games against Princeton, Erie-Prophetstown and Mercer County in the coming weeks.

Kewanee was handed its fifth straight lopsided loss to begin the season in a 44-0 shutout setback to Hall last week. The Boilermakers have scored just four offensive TDs all season and have been outscored 245-32 in five games. Kewanee will miss the playoffs after appearing in the 4A postseason the last two years. The Boilermakers finish the season against Sherrard, Newman and Orion.

Picks

Ty: Mendota

Greg: Mendota

Mitch: Mendota

WRMJ’s coverage of the TRAC is presented by: