East Peoria ends drought with historic leap into postseason
EAST PEORIA — The feeling in the air slicing the cold, October Friday night at the Eastside Centre was much bigger than a Week 9 high school football game.
Nestled right next to a giant parking lot, Corwin Clatt Field is bathed in artificial light that is only accessible through a lengthy walk down a wide set of concrete stairs that leads to the sidelines. For the Raiders, the stairs led to history.
An East Peoria team with a 3-5 record going up against an 0-8 group from Limestone might have lacked the statewide appeal to catch attention. But for those in the East Peoria community, it was the end of a long, 14-year journey.
Going into the night the Raiders understood this: they were likely in the newly-expanded playoff field with three wins under their belt, but getting a fourth would make their first playoff berth since 2012 official.
After a 43-30 win over the Rockets, the Raiders celebrated their drought coming to an end.
"Honestly, I don't even have the words for this," an emotional East Peoria running bacl RJ Jackson said after the game. "We knew the history. We knew how close this program was the last two years, just one game away.
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