Football is returning to Elverado. The Falcons announced on Tuesday they have entered a co-op agreement with Christopher-Zeigler-Royalton where legendary coach Mike Rude is in the first year as Bearcats head coach.
The addition of Elverado could be significant. Not only will it increase the potential bodies for the Bearcats program to pull from but it will increase their enrollment numbers for postseason time if the newly formed CZRE finds itself in the playoffs for the first time since 2008.
As CZR, the Bearcats had an enrollment of 337, typically a 2A school. With Elverado’s additional 102, that brings enrollment to 439 – number that has firmly been a 3A school’s enrollment since 2011.
Elverado has had multiple co-op agreements since 2013 when they football program was discontinued. They have had agreements with Du Quoin and Murphysboro in the past.
