By Al Zipsie

In week 7 in the NUIC Lena-Winslow and Forreston met. The schools have combined to win six of the last 1A State championships. And were the top two ranked teams Friday going into their head to head battle.

And Lena-Winslow made a statement in the crossover game with a 46-14 drubbing of Forreston. The Panther's first-string defense continues to be stingy tough. The two teams could meet again in the 1A playoffs anywhere from the second round, to the quarterfinal or like the last two years in the semi-final. Forreston's 16 game winning streak came to an end with the loss. Ronny Valentine led the Panthers rushing with 152 yards on only seven carries. His brother Rahveon Valentine is playing for NIU.

In the NUIC North, Du/Pec beat East Dubuque 28-8. Dakota held off Galena 20-12 and on Saturday Orangeville got a huge 12-8 win over Stockton. Now both teams are 4-3 as they both battle for a playoff spot.

In the NUIC South on Friday E/PC kept Amboy winless 27-6. Aquin rolled over A/FC 48-14 and West Carroll shutout Milledgeville 22-0.

On Saturday Blackhawk/Warren Coop went to 8-0 on the season with an easy homecoming victory.

In 8 man football Polo stayed unbeaten in seven outings with a 44-0 victory. River Ridge 6-1 overall won 52-24. Next week in a battle for the top spot the two teams unbeaten in the Conference collide with River Ridge at Polo.

In our media picks, our weekly winner was Joe Dredge who was the only one to go unbeaten at 7-0. He was the only one taking Orangeville over Stockton.

With two weeks left the leader is Scott Leber of WTVO at 46-3. Kyle Kampmier of the NUIC Football Fanatics/Freeport Journal-Standard and Matt Trowbridge of the Rockford Register Star/Freeport are one game back sharing second place at 45-4. Terry Werntz former Dakota and Freeport coach is in fourth place at 44-5.

Stateline Sports Hub. NUIC Rankings.

  1. Lena-Winslow. 7-0.
  2. Forreston. 6-1.
  3. Aquin. 7-0.
  4. West Carroll. 5-2.
  5. Du/Pec. 5-2.
  6. Orangeville. 4-3.
  7. Stockton. 4-3.
  8. Dakota. 4-3.
  9. E/PC. 3-4.
  10. East Dubuque. 2-5.

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