After a sluggish start that left them in a 10-0 hole less than six minutes into the first quarter, the Coal City Coalers shook their early jitters and rattled off 31 unanswered points to defeat the Herscher Tigers on Friday night in Coal City by a score of 31-10.

Whether it was the sophomore game running late, homecoming weekend, or the fact that Herscher got off to a 1-2 start on the year, the Coalers seemed to be in a daze at the start of the game. On the Tigers opening possession, the quarterback Dalton Sproul found wide receiver Matt Guimond on the right sideline, and Guimond outraced the entire Coal City secondary and struck paydirt from 67 yards to give Herscher the early 7-0 lead.

“(Herscher) came out and played extremely hard and they were very fired up to play,” Coal City coach Lenny Onsen said. “But, again, I’m not taking away anything from what they did, but we just weren’t on our game – you know, with the homecoming and all that stuff.”