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All right, and welcome into the Weekly Conversation. Week four the recap here on Friday Night Drive. I met Littlewald and good to be with Steve SUSSI once again, hard to believe we already get to the halfway point, and there's.
Been a lot of data points we've learned to get to this point.
I would say, so, right, yeah, I mean, I guess when you look back at Week four and what we picked up out of that, it was as far as a week can be. It was kind of calm for the most part. Didn't feel like there were a lot of monumental upsets at the top of the board, but where I found interesting as we dug more into it, there were some games in the middle of the pack that kind of sorted out in a different way than
maybe I was anticipating. And it's led to some uh, I guess, some chaotic reads and trying to figure out how this might go.
Yeah, I think that's been the tough part.
And you know, we're gonna touch a lot of different bases here in these next forty minutes or so. But the one thing that stood out was when I read what you had today in Nashaw Local, and if you haven't read it, do so. Just the idea of parody at the high school level and just kind of that evening things out. I'm trying to think of dominant teams right now. I think A one E Saint Louis, and
then I think everyone else. Really, you know, normally the Mount Carmel's, normally the Loyals, but they all have a blemish at this point and it seems like there is more parody. What do you attribute that to if you can guess, even at this point, just four weeks the season.
Yeah, I'm not really sure if I can put my finger on exactly why that is. But It definitely feels like, especially in a lot of conferences in the middle classifications, when I'm talking about like three to six A six A, it feels like the gap is closed a little bit between the top teams and the middle tier teams. The top tier teams might still be the same teams, but it's not as easy to sled as it maybe has been in years past.
I think of the matchup between like an All Tough and Unity. I mean, that's A three A and A one A, and that thing was a barnburder back forth back forth. Is that a good example of what you're kind of talking about in terms of just like people can go play up and down maybe one class size, but we're seeing the two class sizes where they're ranked and they're playing barn burner games against each other.
I think there are two things that, like I can point to just kind of looking at where we're at right now that speak to something almost entirely different than what we've seen before. The first, and we talked about this a little bit on Friday night. The CCL Blue is a conference that we usually expect dominance from, and we look at it now, the collective record of the conference is eight and eight. So that says something about
where we're at right now, just in general. And I think the other thing, and I was looking at this a little bit earlier. Let's take the Kishwaukie River Conference as an example. Granted it's an extreme example, but you've got one team at four and oh, and then you've got six teams at two and two. Four of those six teams have been outscored by their opponents this year, so it's kind of all over the place. It's like, you can't you can't just pinpoint it and make a
clear pecking order in a lot of these conferences. And that's what's I think making it real interesting because that's I mean, that's what I do on a regular basis. I look at these and I'm trying to put together what is a comprehensive pecking order, and I can't do it because it's there's so many conflicting information, well like pieces of information that through four weeks, maybe we haven't got complete resolution to it. Maybe we'll get it in
a couple of weeks. Maybe we won't. I mean, maybe it'll just like this all year long.
I wonder if it's gonna be like this until we get to say a second or a quarterfinal round where the entire day is just dynamite games because of the fact that there's so much even keel and you know, you get the element of non conference teams playing it's against each other, especially when you go seven weeks in a row with.
Your conference opponent.
Yeah, you're depending on how the brackets sort out, fine, but all of a sudden, you're gonna get that. You're gonna get that Geneva Canlin matchup in a quarterfinal, which could be really good. For example, in Class six A, and I'll give you another point is when I go through the six A top ten rankings statewide. Here, you know you have an opponent. You have teams that play
seven eighteen another seven EIGHTEAM. These are ranked teams by the way three A, four A, and then in their class at six that's just Class six A. So they're willing to play all over the place. Fenwick having to
play Montini. So you have the enrollment disparity there, close game, you had Belvidere North and Boiling kind of a close game for a while, and they're in conference fos and you have enrollment changes, so you know the rolements may not matter as much as just the fact that the football seems to be pretty even all the way around.
Yeah, and I think that we're gonna see it kind of work gets way, excuse me, work its way towards that you've got you know, well over one hundred teams right now that are sitting at the five hundred mark. The pools of teams that are sitting at three and one are smaller than they usually are. The four and oh group is staying pretty much the same, But I
think that's really telling. The pool of the two and two teams is so much larger than it usually is, and I think that speaks to the general overall argument, are we experiencing more parody? The list of teams that we have at one in three right now includes some heavy hitters. I mean, so it's like we've got you know, it's almost feels like it's like a new era where you're like you can't take a lot for granted anymore.
You can't sit here and say, well, these are the teams that I think are gonna be four and oh and three and one, and know you're pretty much gonna be right when we start the season. That is not the case this year. We did have some of those three and oh teams fall off last week that maybe we're not that we're not ready to, you know, kind of make that leap into the elite group, but there
were some that continued on. I mean, so it's I think we're having some flip the script situations with several teams, and that's what we've talked about this before. We both
really enjoy those stories. But not only is that is that interesting for those schools and also has a very interesting effect on what these brackets are going to look like too, because some of these teams that we're talking about that are emerging are gonna take the spots that we're accustomed to much different programs being on those lines, and then those programs are either gonna maybe not be in the field or on much lower lines because of it.
So it's gonna make for a really interesting playoff field. I think that we're gonna get and I thought we saw it a little bit last year. I think we're gonna see even more this year where you're gonna get to the second round and you're gonna feel like this is a second round game. Yeah.
Now it's just gonna say that you know.
I mean that I feel like that's what we're gonna We're gonna end up having this year. Obviously, there's gonna be bracket situations that don't provide for that, but I do think there's gonna be several scenarios where you just look at it and say, this does not feel like a Round two game to me.
It's just gonna be a different look all the way around, because you know, at this point with Loylo two losses, it's gonna slip down a little bit here. You know, uh, they're gonna be in a different spot than you're normally seeing them.
You've got Glenbard West at zero and four.
That's a different story altogether. But you know a lot of those one in threes, and we'll get to the one in threes, you know, are gonna be teams that you're not accustomed to seeing on the road in the first round. And you're gonna have a lot of coaches and I know there are a lot of assistant coaches a gonna pay attention to this line is you know, see those jerseys, the teams you see on TV the
last ten years, those guys aren't on the field. It's this group you know, it's you're seeing a different group out that matters. To kind of illustrate it that way, you mentioned three and oh teams that kind of slipped back, Maris being one of them, down to three and one.
Seven A was riddled with him with Saint Charles North Lincoln Way West Normal Community that you watched a little bit in person in terms of drive moving back to three and one, and Saint Francis one of those teams where you thought, oh, okay, three and oh after going into will Met and getting a win and then finding themselves losing at home to Saint Rita. So there are a lot of surprises that and just look in the surface and go, this is gonna be really hard to figure out.
Yeah, and it has been, and it just the thing that keeps coming at is that, like there are several teams that like maybe got back to the five hundred mark on on Friday night, and then you look at their schedule that's right in front of them the next two or three games, and you're like, oh boy, oh no, I mean, so just maintaining that five hundred record is gonna be difficult. I mean, just based on what's coming
ahead of them. So and that's what happens when you have, like I said, a larger group of these two and two teams. You look on your schedule, there's obviously gonna be a lot of teams in there that are gonna be sitting kind of in the same boat as you all. So getting that separation and maybe putting together a string of wins against teams that are kind of like in that same situation, it's gonna be critical for a lot
of programs. I'd like you might look at your schedules two and two, two and two, three and one and think, well, well, I got to get two of the three. But if you string together those three, you're you're in real good shape. But if you don't and you lose them all, you're in terrible shape. So and that's I mean, it's there are it seems like they're just so so few breathers
on a lot of team schedules. This year, it's like every time you look up, it's another it's another guy ready to take a swing at you.
It grind, it really is.
This year.
I switch here is just a tad bit and ask you because I'm gonna put you on the spot just a little bit here Okay, So of the four and oh teams, which one is the most surprising one to you or which one comes to mind first? Is a surprising team that's four and oh this year so far? I think I would probably answer that question with I
think it's De Paul prep yep. I think that's the team that I'm gonna go with, just because of the I guess the you know, they they haven't played the the real meat of their schedule yet, but they've also some solid teams that they've had a lot of trouble with in the past. So getting them to four and oh and you know, and impress it the way that they just kind of took care of business on Friday night and getting to four and oh, that's the actions of a team that's ready to make the next step.
If you're if you're getting to four and oh and you're squeaking them out every week, congratulations, you've done what you needed to do. But when you when you're up against a team that maybe in the past has given me a little bit of trouble and you just kind of take care of the business and just kind of roll them off the field, that's the sign of a team that I think is ready to maybe make that next step. And I think the Paul Prepp might be that team squeaking it out and getting to four. And oh,
I'm looking at you, Sycamore exactly. I mean, they're a good team. We know that that's a tough schedule, but hey, a wins and wins a win.
But you know my surprising team at four And oh.
The Oswego Panthers a bit. And it's not the fact that you know they are for and oh, it's the fact that they are looking as scary of an Oswego team as I've seen in thirty years coming out of that place. You know, that defense is roaring, that offense is frightening because they're putting points on the board. What they did to JCA is clearly making some noise in that region about what's going on there. So I think I think the Oswego Panthers look like an eight A
state title contender right this minute. And I cannot wait to see them in Minoca Tangle in week eight.
Well, we know how unsafe this is. We've talked about this before, but if you start doing transitive property studies, Catholic has beaten Fenwick, They've beaten Maris. Now. Granted those both of those games came down to the wire, but Oswego handled Jolia Catholic when they played was a dominant performance. And you know, in years past, I've kind of looked at Oswego's conference and said and kind of thrown my hands up and said, you guys, figure it out because
I can't. But right now, I think Oswego goes into that conference as the clear favorite to win it. And I'm sure that you know Knokah is looking at that saying, hey, what about us? I mean, we're undefeated, we're doing good things too, and they score a ton of points too. Yes, but I still think that Oswego is your clear favorite in that conference. And it's been a few years since
I can say that's clearly the situation. I mean, you probably have to go back to past the era Oswego, before this recent blip, and before you have a team that you would say that's the clear favorite in that conference.
I mean, you're talking the ninety two, the two thousand and three, and then this team I think probably in that conversation in terms of how good that program is historically speaking. But ever since the split, it's been just kind of can we get one of these teams going? This might be the year that one of them finally does. And it's the Panther group, I think more than anything else. Speaking of scary, the mid suburban West is just nasty this year. I mean, I could have picked friend to
answer that question. Hello friend, the friend Vikings. But you know, there's a lot of four and no fun in that league right now, and Barrington is the least talked about team of that group.
It's interesting, you know that you mentioned the four and oh's in that type of situation, and you know, when it really comes down to it, and we haven't talked about it either, Palatine's three and one and they're a really good football team.
I mean, you've got four four and oh's and Palatine in that conference right now.
That is crazy town. I mean it's like you just kind of look at it and you're like, well, jeez. I mean, I mean, you got this week, you've got four and oh against four and oh, four and oh against three and one, and Barrington has Conan who hasn't won yet. But that's but that's the breakdown of the I mean, there's no other conference in the state that can say that we've got undefeated, undefeated four and oh three and one, and then the other four and oh
is playing in the other game. I mean, it's it's a six team conference, but it's just it's absolutely nuts.
Right now, I'm in Genevas, so I'm not too far from that area. So yeah, I did a little bit of a like ahead of time because of the Jewish Holiday. The best part about the Jewish Holiday is that they moved the games a Thursday, so I get to go see games on Thursday and Friday and Saturday. If Mebee and Barrington and Schomberg in Barrington on that Thursday, that sounds like that might be the place for me to
be that Thursday night. I mean, yeah, you got the Palatine Crosstown, but you know, I think to see that Schomberg defense, try and figure out that Barrington offense on a Thursday night, that might be a good appetizer for the for the weekend.
Thursday night as a couple of weeks, so you know, yeah, Thursday night is an option when I can actually go somewhere. So we might have to suit. We're each at one, so we can you know, so exactly saying but that. That's another thing that I always look forward to is that week that I can sneak out in maybe catch a Thursday night game that is outside of my my little umbrella area here. So that's something I'm definitely looking forward to, and definitely that conference is delivering a lot
of intriguing matchups every single week. The rest of the.
Way, Schaumberg is four and oh, we have no idea how good they are, do we?
No, I really don't know for And like I said, that's how we're gonna We're gonna We're gonna learn a lot more about them now because we can start stacking them. The Men Suburban along with the Central Suburban are two of the conferences that you just kind of have to say, hold your horses before you really kind of figure out what they are because they don't start playing one another until week five, so that that's the first time you get the chance to kind of stack them up in
their own element. Because I'll be honest, this conference, historically they've played wildly desparate non conference schedules, So and I know why they do it the way that they do it, but we talked about a little bit. It's just it's just one of those things where, yeah, you can get out to a four and oh start, but that four and oh start might be a lot different than someone else's foreign oh start based on who you played, what you did in those games. So now is kind of
the proving ground. Most other conferences, you start getting that proving ground last week, the week before. In some cases in the lock conferences, obviously they start coming at you right away, but you won't really get a clear packing order on how good these teams are. Maybe not this week, but I think next week we'll kind of have a concrete picture of what we're looking.
Yeah, and with the MSL CSL partnership. The exception of that rule last year was Bumbrook South, who actually piled up just a ton of points got to four and five, but they were three and five, having to win that game to get to four four and five, which is gonna make it just even messier for us in Week nine this year is we're gonna have to watch more three and five teams to see which ones kind of slip into that back door slot if they get into
the postseason. So we go from four and oh and poor conit, you get Barrington this weekend for home coming up there. That's the one exception of the rule in that too, we go from four and oh teams to the one in three teams, and there's a bunch of teams that sort of surprises. I would say, which one surprised you the most in terms of which one should may have to panic the most? Uh, in terms of what they have to build on the rest of the way.
Well, I think Brother Rice is obviously in a in a not great situation right now, you know, sitting sitting there at one in three Mount Carmel in week six, undefeated Saint Lawrence team in week eight, you finish up with Saint Ignatius in week nine. I mean right, there's three games that are that are in utero if you would, So that's I mean, that's that's definitely an uphill climb for them. We talked about this before. Obviously, they're in fairly good shape if they end up being one of
those four win teams. We need four win teams. Brother Rice is gonna have a truckload of points, so they're gonna be in a good situation there. Obviously they don't want to put themselves in that situation, but in order to avoid it that at minimum over the last you know, five weeks of the season, they've got to go four and one in that schedule that we just talked about. Doesn't seem very likely.
Yeah, and one team that is one in three that might have a ton of points, a truckload of points, as you would say, is South Elgin. I did not see them going one and three to start, but they better figure things out fast. Yes, it's nice to have Barrington and Batavia, which could easily get you eighteen playoff points just those two, but you know, we haven't really seen what that team could turn into, and it's clearly taking a step back. The only question is how far back have they gone.
Yeah, I don't know if it's gone all the way back to where where they're going to have troubles with the remaining teams on their on their schedule. I guess we'll find out. But you want to talk about a program that has a softened schedule over the last five weeks of the season, that's that's a good place to start. I mean, they they played as they played up in
the non conference. It did not work out very well for them, but over the you know, I think honestly, if they think we're talking about it bluntly, there might be one other team left down their schedule that might make the playoffs, and the rest of them are are are not going to make it.
So looking at it now, West Chicago got to three and one, which is a surprise to me, and they might do something, but I think they run the table here the rest of the way. But still a surprise to see them slip back, and I'm going to be very curious to see if they have a good matchup or a favorable matchup, you know, say at a six and three clip on the road for a team like
that in the first round. That's no fun or no picnic for anybody who was used to winning a lot and then having to go on the road in the postseason should be fun.
Yeah, They're kind of a role reversal type of team in terms of what we used to do from them is usually they just ramble through their old schedule. They'd end up as a four or five seed, and then you'd be looking to see who that underseeed was against them as a potential upset bid because South Elgin hadn't really played anybody during the regular season. Now, might the shoot might be on the other foot, they might be that twenty the eight seed. To be honest, we did
and they might have to play a five. And who's the five gonna be? I mean, that's that's really what it comes down to. Could be anyone across the spectrum. It could be someone who's emerged. It could be a superpower. I mean, that's just the way that it That's the way that it's gonna break down an eight A this year.
The other surprise, I would say lake Zurch I didn't expect them to come out at one and three either, And yeah, friend kind of opened everyone's eyes. But the flip side of that coin was was was the slow start that lake zurch and the guys of Bryce Erkman a company. It kind of struggled out of the gate.
There.
There's just not enough offense for them right now. They're gonna need that in a league that has a lot of offense.
Yeah, and there's I mean, and there's new challengers to that throne too. Usually you would look at maybe a slow start for lake Zurich and say, Okay, they'll be they'll ultimately they'll be fine once they get back into conference play. But now You've got lake Forest playing better than they have in years. Libertyville is now a legitimate, a legitimate rat to picking them off. It's just like, so you just don't have Warren to worry about anymore.
In that league. There's there's more problems lying there in front of you. Stevenson seems to be at least a viable threat to lake Zurich there too. So, I mean, there's just more teams that if lake Zurich isn't you know, isn't able to get on a second half run. The reason for that is going to be that depth of that conference has improved so much over the last you know, two three years. Uh lke Zerk couldn't afford a slow
start here. It's gonna there's gonna be more hurdles for them to have to clear than years past.
At this point, you cheer friend as much as you can to get all those points to help you, because if you have to get to four and five, that's gonna be a help too. But after this week, they got they have lake Forest this week. It's the fourth of four straight road games for lake Zurich, which is a mess. They get a couple of get well games with Zion, Bitton and munda line. So you'd imagine at this point, you know, you're looking at potentially three and
four going into Warren and Stevenson. You need both of them, I think at that point, and that might not be easy to get.
Yeah, I mean, that's what I'm saying. It's just like you just have so many obstacles that are in your path right now in that conference, and in the past you might have one or two games where you know, you felt like we're we're going to be a test for you. Now you got five. So it's like that's just the escalation of that and once again circling back. I don't think parody's a fair word here. I think that it's just gotten better. Like yeah, I mean that
that's really what it comes down to. It's just become a better, deeper conference than it was, say four or five years ago.
Let's spread around the state a little bit.
So what are some of the results that jumped out to you other way to hang on a second, Wait, Yeah, Peoria just scored again. I just wanted to add that in there. Eighty six points Peoria company. What shocked you want what kind of raised your eyebrows to go oh, that's interesting. Outside of the Chicagoland.
Area, there were a couple in the Central State eight that really raised my eyebrows this week. Rochester falling to Chatham. I know Glenwood's a good team, I didn't dispute that, but seeing that the way that they kind of hemmed in Rochester and just really kind of took them out of their flow offensively, that's that's something that almost no one can do against a Derek Leonard coach team. So
that was a little bit surprising to me. The one that really jumped off the page to me in that late this week was Quincy Notre Dame beating Sacred Hog Griffin as badly as they did. Like I know, Sacred Hog Griffin is not where we're used to from that program, but like we talked about before, Quincy Notre Dame, if they get into playoffs, is a two way team, and for them to do that it cemented in my mind that they are good enough to compete in that conference that is largely made up of five A and six
A schools and certainly get themselves a playoff berth. That win and the ease that they did it with leads me to believe they might be able to do a little bit more like and get themselves actually a pretty
decent seed out of this. So they really raised raised my eyeball in another little minor shout out Bloomington moving to four and other but the Raiders, Yeah, that's something that I did not see coming, to be completely honest with you, because it was, you know, when they when you look at what I mean they've been, you know, sitting around, you know, qualifying as a five win team. They went to Normal West and beat them badly. I mean they didn't just beat them, they beat them soundly.
So that that was Those were kind of the three right there that really kind of raised my eyebrow in central to southern Illinois. It was like they but those are those were the big ones.
Looking forward to week six because Normal Community goes to Bloomington and that will be that will be a dynamite event. And then they have Piorius on the schedule, so whoever is the ball last could possibly win that game. Quincy Notre Dame, by the way, starting their first four games all at home. I've never seen the four in a row, and we've seen a couple times here just tonight talking about it. It's very odd to see four in a
row in one way or the other. Usually the extreme is three, and you know, alternating is one thing, but to have two in a row of anything is kind of a surprise.
But three is the is an odd one in four is insane.
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They have it all. Yeah, it's It's one of those things that I realized was happening a little bit last year where there were teams like looking for games and a lot of them were like adamant that they had to have a home game, and I'm like, well it may not work out for you. You don't understand. We've got seven road games this year, I'm like, what are
you talking about? You've got seven road games. So it's like, I mean, at some point the schedule maker glitch because we had a lot of these teams that were like there were lopsided one way or the other, and then now it's it's you know, it's flipping back. So now they're lopsided in the other direction.
That's the coach knocking on the ads door.
Can we talk?
I got a problem here and I'm just looking at the central State eight West. Can I just go through this with you real quick? Because we mentioned Quincy Notre Dame. Jacksonville has a situation where they're four in five games at home. That's that seems like a lot hold on a second. So Quincy Notre Dame started with four straight road games. Springfield is in a stretch right now. They just finished three straight road games. Now they'll have their next four at home. So and that starts with Quincy
Notre Dame Springfield lamp here. They had four to roll on the road and that started last week losing to Jacksonville, giving up seventy six, which is not gonna be pleasant for the next three weeks in that stretch. And so that whole conference is a mess, and they're not the only one. But yeah, so I think the fact that you know, we've talked about, you know, we kind of stumble into the to the discussion on scheduling and everybody
chasing five wins a little bit too. And what that does is it throws conferences for a loop and you're changing conference schedules. So all of a sudden, those those four year contracts that you have with your non conference opponent where you go home way, home way, home way, well they don't line up nearly as well as you thought they would four years ago or six years ago when you started the series with that team down the road that you thought might be a good neighborhood matchup
but also a good competitive matchup too. So I'm sure eighties and coaches are all not in their head going, yeah see, it's not that easy to do.
Yeah, Yeah, It's definitely one of those things. And I think some of some of what happened in the Central State eight was they had to adapt to like the old schedules involve the teams in their matchups the previous years, So some of that didn't carry over real well with the divisions, and some of them were probably like, well, wait a minute, we played we played that team on
the road last year. Why are we playing them on the road again, So that might have been something that had to do with that as well.
I could do this all day, Stevenson in the midst of five games at home out of the next six weeks. So it's just like, I've never seen this much of it. So all right, let's get away from that for a minute and talk about some of some of the offenses that we've seen. How about Kerry Grove this past week, there's something that says, oh my goodness, their.
Starters actually gave up points that they hadn't done that.
All year, and so they didn't give up a touchdown central in the Rockets, they got a field goal, and that was kind of it in.
Terms of their first teams.
But it was the reaction they had after that to put four hundred on the ground and just score what thirty five straight points on a decent Jacob's team that kind of turned your head and go, Okay, that's the carrier Grove.
I'm used to. Yeah, and it was you looked at it early on in the game. I was kind of following along with it like as I was out watching another game, but you know, it seemed like Jacobs was off to a good start in that game, and then I went away from it a while, I was looking at other stuff, and then all of a sudden, I was like, whoa, what just happened? Then it was a
tornado of scoring. It was like, I mean, just like it seemed like maybe five or ten minutes had passed and all of a sudden, it was just this violent swing in the other directions. So, you know, I think there were all quite a few of those, maybe not quite so many where you felt like the team that was having that done to them is still a pretty good quality So, I mean, that was one. I mean, there were a lot of the those flurries of scoring, but it was usually in a matchup where they were
two pretty opposite end of the spectrum things. Jacobs is still a playoff team in my mind, and I'd be really surprised if they weren't. So, you know, that's basically what it comes down to is, you know, not only was that impressive, they did it against a pretty good opponent too.
Very intriguing to see if because Jacobs goes to Central here in two weeks and those two teams all of a sudden, Central has figured things out after years.
They haven't been in the playoffs in ten years.
Jacob's kind of on that always that six and three, seven to two, five and four element. Will there be a spot taken or will it just be like one of those two teams kind of measuring themselves up for a playoff berth.
But first Central has to get Pat mckenry.
And I want to bring up mckenry just because I saw this nugget and what they did the Dundee Crown to win the game.
You saw this, I would imagine, right how many plays did that drive take for the game winning drive?
I don't remember specifically, but I never written down you want to, Yes, I don't, twenty twenty one.
Not that many. Sixteen is still a lot, though, But Kerry Groves over.
Here going, hey, wait, we've done this before. Yeah, but mckenry to put a sixteen play drive together for a winless team to go get their first win of the season. Bravo coaches at whoever offensive line coaches, I'm giving you kudos right now for that because that is fourth quarter mojo, just like you teach it in August.
Yeah, definitely, And that's the Fox Valley is another example of that, where it's like you look at a close conference like that, usually a pecking order kind of establishes itself. I don't know if we've really done that yet other than at the top where I think we've managed that, but like in that middle group, so maybe where the bottom is, are we sure like on a week to week basis, I don't think we all.
I don't think it's that good.
That's the other thing I think. But the Fox Valley's got a lot of bottom and trying to figure out who's the best of them right now. And I think that's where Central and Jacobs and maybe a Huntly slip back down that way because the two Crystal Lakes are not very good right now, trying to figure out where Hampshire is gonna go, and they have They didn't score
anything on Crystal Lake South. So yeah, that there's a third and fourth playoff bid that's just kind of upper grabs and whoever wants is gonna get it.
Kerry Grove and.
Peer Ridge are both sitting there saying, well, you all figure that out this because this week we've got an hour and a half game to play with the single wing options. It'll be done before eight thirty.
Yeah, yeah, it'll be done. It'll be done well before we get on air on Friday night mat.
Yes, we'll have a full recap ready to go nine thirty for that. I want to get to the small school stuff too, and I also want to break down the I eight and see if we can get some Duquine Conference conversation real quick before we wrap things up.
Cole City seventy four points.
We love that. Nineteen plays. It's all he ran to get seventy four point I've never heard that before.
Yeah, I can't remember the exact stat, but I think it was they're leading rusher and in Benson had four touchdowns on seven carries.
It's good percent.
Yeah, so I mean that that was that was what before he had an early obviously, but yeah, that was one of those things where I looked at it and I'm like, boy, there's probably should have been some impressive yardage totals in that game. And then I was like, no, there really wasn't. And then I looked at the drive chart and I was like, oh, they seem to be getting the ball at around the thirty five yard line scoring in one play, So that's why we weren't amassing too many yardage totals.
So make makes sense.
Yeah, but definitely uh, definitely interesting with the Kohlers moving forward because you know, Pe don't dropped out of the ranks of the undefeated. Mantino's still in it. I mean, so it's not like we're we are, you know, having this situation where it's Wilmington and Cole City, and maybe it will still be that way, but at least there I think are there's some teams in that second tier that are ready to maybe maybe push the Coohlers a
little bit if given the opportunity. So that makes for a little bit more interesting conversation in the Illinois Central eight. Then when is Wilmington playing Cole City.
I love that conference and I will I will say this for years. You know, you and I have been doing this a long time, and I've covered enough playoff games as both a writer and a broadcaster. There's nothing quite like a Wilmington playoff game. A quarter final, semi final game in that building is just really really hard to beat. I encourage anyone to get a chance to go. You gotta go see it for sure. And I'm talking especially to the seventeen and eighteen year olds that are
at the big schools. If you can get a couple of your football buddies in the car and go drive down to a six o'clock Wilmington start on a Saturday. See that smoke in the motorcycles, You're gonna be like, oh, so this is what we're missing out on in the playoffs. This is awesome.
Very yeah. I can't recommend that experience enough. That's I mean. I've also had several experiences where I was almost taken out on the narrow sidelines that was like, well hey, I was like, hey, that's just the price of doing business here, this is Wilmington. I got to deal with it, and they got to pay more attention.
I covered a game against it was Chicago Christian in the second round. It was a Saturday at six o'clock and it was a blowout. But that press box so small, twenty degrees out, just nowhere to go. You're going downstairs to stand on the field like everybody else.
Yep, exactly.
You shared that experience, but you are right on top of everybody down there. So, speaking of small schools, let's switch over to the Big Northern a little bit, because I keep starting to see that the Byron and Dixon kind of you know, comments and you know, looking to meet each other, media is heading towards each other. Dixon's a good football team. Do we really know how good they are?
You know, it's interesting because with the close conference, you can't really figure it out very well. Just while we're on the topic of the Big Northern, I think there's another team there that's kind of flying a little bit under the radar. I think Rockford Lutheran might be pretty good. Like, just based on what they've been able to do so far,
I think they might be pretty good. I don't know if they're quite at the at the Byron Dixon level yet, but I think they're They're in the neighborhood that they're waving from the window. I'll give them that. But you know, Byron and Dixon, like, I still think Byron's is a pretty substantial favorite when they run into each other, but Dixon continues to put together a pretty good, you know, pretty good run. They've had a little bit of success in the playoffs. I think this is a group that
it's one of the situations. We've talked about this before. The success is kind of reading upon itself at this point. Yeah, where I feel like they are, you know, are you know, the the previous group is seeing, Hey, you know, let's let's keep this going. Let's keep this going, and it's working for them. So Byron's obviously gonna be a massive challenge.
But uh, but I think Dixon is, you know, at least worthy of stepping on the field feeling like, if things go perfectly for us tonight, Rick breaks, we can be in this football game. Yeah. I think so too.
I think the Shaner family nine to two last year they got to the second round in Class four A. They're gonna find out because they have Rockford Lutheran this week, coming down to Dixon for that one, and then again, Dixon's schedules fascinating because they picked up Johnston City, as we talked about, at five and a half hour drive
the week before hosting Byron. So you're gonna have that playoff intensity, but you're also gonna have that playoff fatigue of having that long road trip and then Monday having to go back to work. And that's gonna be interesting to see how that whole week goes that coaching staff's gonna have a good feel come Wednesday Thursday leading into that Byron game for sure, and again both Johnson City
and Byron four to oh heading into this week. So let's go to the I eight real quick, because Sycamore they got the eat win at Rochelle not an easy place to go get a win. Caitlan keeps rolling trying to figure out if Morris is still in the mix there as well. So what have we learned from that conference in the last week to make you say that it's it's someone else and it's going to be in the mix this year of those three.
You know, I don't know, Like I really am. I'm like, I don't know if we learned that much last week. I think with Rochelle losing, you know, the way that they did, where they were never really a huge threat in that game, I thought that was a little interesting, you know. I think we'll find out a little bit
more this week with Morris playing Cainland. I think that might that might show us where those two teams are at right now, because I can't get a great read on Caitland right now, so I'm not really sure, Like Are they up there? I mean, you know, they they do have a couple of impressive you know what looked like impressive non conference wins Washington, Wakanda. I mean, yeah, those are those are good, solid, good ones they took to cal the task. But I mean they've they've beaten
who's in front of them. But you know, I'm not I'm just not really sure if they're ready to make that bridge, that gap to Morris, because it's been in the past, it's been like we've seen this situation before, like they going to Morris, good record and then Morris beats them handily. Are they ready to take that and then you know, go to the next step. I don't know.
I mean, in the last I would say in the last fifty years, Caitlin's going to Morris maybe a handful of times and one down there and I'm talking PJ. Fleckears and that might be it. I honestly, I don't know, because Morris has always been competitive in that stretch too. Caitlin says, these ebbs and flows a little bit although more sustained now. But Carter Grubowski, you can't ask him
to do more. He's doing, He's getting interceptions, getting fumbles, he's running kickoffs back, he's you know, the star as your star running back. So you know, in terms of what coach Thorgison wants him to do.
You know, he can't do everything.
So it'll be curious to see how this collective defense goes against this Morse offense, who can score some points as we saw against that Peoria matchup a couple of weeks ago. So that'll be a good one for sure. Sycamore, you know, again, they have the talent and it'll be fascinating to see what they continue to do as they keep rolling back to Kaitlin for a second. Are you ready for Kaitlin an alto off week nine to just completely mess up your brackets as you see that game going full.
Yeah, it's it's one of the like, that's very interesting what's going on there with you know, the the Interstate eight play in those Week nine non conference games and kind of all over the map. I mean there are games, there are matchups that you would never conceive would be happening, like the sal Peru's playing O Fallen. I mean, like these are guests. You know, I like my track records
when I'm looking at these things. And I know every team is every year, every team is different, but you you can get a you can get a feel, you know, over a decade of time, you're like, hey, this is usually how this goes. I mean, but with games like that, I'm like it just kind of throw my hands up and be like, well, yues, we just got to wait and see what happens.
So HOOKI it goes to Sycamore. That makes sense. And then you have and my favorite one is is Ottawa and Saint Bebe and they hadn't played each other, I think since.
The seventies, and they're the whole, the whole Illinois Valley's going, oh, this will be fun. So you know, maybe there's no playoffs at stake for either one of those teams, but you know that'll be fun for them. A couple of seconds left before we rep up, Batavia looked really good. Uh in that second half against Saint Charles North. What do you make of the Bulldogs? Nathan Whitwell is a tank. You can't stop him, and Saint Charles North could not do so in the second half.
Yeah, I mean, it's interesting to watch Batavia do this because you've seen such a varied offense from them, but when they need to, they kind of turtle up and go to their man, and that's what they're doing already early in this year. So I mean, at this rate, he's going to post massive numbers. I mean, just ridiculous numbers. But it'll be interesting to see as we go further
into the season. Do they look to diversify a little bit so you know, or or will they continue to have him shoulder as much as the load that he has to this point, because so far, nobody's figured out a way to stop it. And I know that most coaches are like, I'm not going to try to ram this square peg into this round hole. So if this is working for us, let's just keep doing it. But it'll be interesting to see because I think Batavia is at its best when it has a little bit of
offensive diversification. But you know, hey, if this is what works, it's hard to argue with it as well.
Yep. And no real game of the week, so to speak, in the Duquee this week, I guess you call Batavia at Wheaton North, Saint Charles North, Wheaton South. Those are the games that Geneva's got homecoming, So there's buildings down the street here that are painted it up and you know, pulling the kids out for the parade on Friday, so to speak. So that'll be the vibes are good, you know for the Vikings. But you know, sixty points they've
scored now twice. They've just got one more hurdle before all hell breaks loose around here with a certain matchup and the Team of the South next week here against the Tavy Bulldogs.
Yeah, Geneva, I feel like, you know, they're getting a lot of respect and understandably so I would agree. Yeah, I still feel like it's weird. I mean, they're like a top fifteen team, but I still feel like maybe they're still flying under the radar just a little bit. I mean, they need this Potavia game gives them an opportunity to really plan a flag and it'll be interesting if they do.
So.
I mean, that's that's what it comes down to.
Who are you interested in watching this week? Where were you might step out to? I have not decided yet what I was gonna do. I mean I'm trying to figure out like who's who's gonna make it happen, But like like the closest, like the closest top teams to me right now, all don't have very attractive matchups this week, so I'm not really sure what I'm gonna do yet. I gotta, I gotta, I guess I gotta do some digging.
You and I are tethered a little bit to this show, so that's that's sort of why we can't really go anywhere. And me, I mean, I don't really want to go see Geneva Glenbard North. I'm just not really interested in that because that might be done in about a minute.
But Saint Francis down the street has Providence, and that might be one where I kind of go take a couple of minutes of that and get over there and see if I can evaluate the Spartans, especially after they lost to Providence, to see art lost to Saint Rita, to see if they can kind of turn the corner and are they for real? So we'll see this.
Shoot up Interstate fifty seven and go seep a town, whole city that that might be what I might want to hit.
All right, Well, that's our week, that's our show. Thanks for joining us today for Steve Susi, I'm Matt Roda Wald.
Week five coming up.
This has been the week four recap on Friday Night Drive on Shaw Local.
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