By Buddy "Friday Night" Cobb, Williamson County Bureau
SOUTHERN ILLINOIS — The Southern Illinois River-to-River Conference boys soccer race was already the busiest in the South, with Anna-Jonesboro, Carterville/Herrin, Harrisburg, Massac County, Murphysboro, and Pinckneyville all in the mix — and now Salem has added a new wrinkle to the picture, the Southern Illinoisan reports.
Carterville/Herrin's co-op program has been a fixture in that crowded field, drawing on two towns whose rivalry usually plays out on the football field or the wrestling mat rather than the pitch. A cooperative squad like this one has to weld together players from two different school communities, and how they gel early in the season often tells you how far they'll go once conference play gets serious.
With Salem now factored into the equation, the River-to-River race looks even tighter than usual heading into the fall. For Carterville and Herrin supporters, the message is the same as it's been for years: nothing about this conference comes easy, and every program on that list is going to have to earn its spot.
— Reporting by the Southern Illinoisan.
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