Fieldcrest to start season with heavyweight matchup at Gibson City

Saturday marks exactly a year since Mike Freeman was hired as Fieldcrest’s head football coach.

It also will be the first time he coaches the Knights in a game as the program’s leader.

“It’s been totally different to go a year-plus without coaching a football game,” said Freeman, who served as a Fieldcrest assistant for six years. “I’ve really embraced the role and I’ve loved the opportunity to work with the kids. The senior group is really special. The coaching staff is once in a lifetime to work with. It would have been way different if I would have been somewhere else with a different team and coaching staff. I’m thankful and fortunate for who I have with me.”

Freeman’s tenure as Fieldcrest coach starts off with a bang as the Knights, who are ranked No. 8 in the Shaw Media Class 2A Coaches’ Poll, travel to 2A No. 4 Gibson City-Melvin-Sibley for a 2 p.m. Heart of Illinois Conference game Saturday.

Last season, the Knights went 12-1 and reached the Class 2A semifinals, while the Falcons were 11-2 and reached the quarterfinals.

In Week 4 of the 2019 season, Fieldcrest defeated GCMS 14-6 to snap the Falcons’ 31-game winning streak that included back-to-back state championships.

“I think it’s a great opportunity to showcase what we’ve all been waiting for for a year and a half,” Freeman said. “We love the challenge of having a strong opponent to start off. We’re battling for pride in the HOIC and to be one of the teams at the forefront from the beginning. We look forward to a great game.”

The Knights, who allowed 9.2 points and 99.8 rushing yards per game last season, face a tough task defensively as they look to slow down GCMS junior running back Aiden Laughery, who ran for 1,279 yards and 22 touchdowns in 2019, and has scholarship offers from Illinois, Rutgers and Washington State.

“The key is to slow him down,” Freeman said. “He’s a really fast athlete who loves to get in space. As long as we can do our jobs, contain him and keep him between the tackles and limit his big-play ability, we’re going to find success on defense.

GCMS has other weapons as well, including Isaiah Chatman, who had 655 total yards and 10 TDs in 2019.

“Our No. 1 key [defensively] is just limiting the amount of plays their playmakers get in space,” Freeman said. “We want to try to keep them limited near the line of scrimmage and not let them get outside. We have a great group of linebackers who I think are going to do a great job along with the defensive front. We can really lean on our secondary and they can take away big plays over the top.”

Offensively, the Knights hope to get their playmakers — such as RB/WR Jaxon Cusac-McKay (1,167 total yards, 16 TDs in 2019) — opportunities against a stout Falcon defense that returns several starters from a unit that allowed 6.1 points per game and recorded five shutouts last season.

Spreading the ball around will be quarterback Cory Land, who threw for 564 yards and seven touchdowns and ran for 207 yards and a score in a limited role last season.

“Just like any other team, we want to get the ball to our playmakers,” Freeman said. “We feel we have quite a few playmakers who love the ball. We have different ways we can get the ball to guys who can score. Up front, we have some experience and some inexperienced guys. It’s really going to be key to the game how our offensive line holds up.”