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This is State Representative Steve Reich. Since twenty sixteen. It's been my privilege to represent the sixty third district in the Illinois House. I'd like to continue representing you, and I'm asking for your vote on November fifth. Thank you pay for by citizens to elect Stephen Reich.
All right, welcome in to Friday Night Drive. The local recap, of course of our semi finals and what a semi final round it was. We got a lot to talk about and plenty to dive into. So we're glad you're with us here as we get ready for the final week of the football season here in the state of Illinois. My name is Matt Rudelock. Glad you're with us this evening as we're taping this on Monday night. Steve Usci's here, boy, how is your weekend? Young man?
A little adventurous, a little bit more so than I kind of expected that it would be. So, uh, definitely, uh, kind of like you said, kind of a crazy weekend. When I looked back at it after it was all said and done, you know, when you've got almost half of your semi final games decided by a touchdown or less, you've had a pretty interesting weekend.
Yeah, And I would say that, you know, for all those that that look at the brackets and they say, well, why are they one seed with you know, with not as much depth that say you and I have throughout the course of the year, I would say that the teams that were supposed to be there probably what were there in the first place, And that showed you with the competitive games we saw everywhere that these are some great matchups and we got some great brackets out of this.
This looked This's turned out great this year.
Yeah, there were a lot of teams that you know, came out a different seed positions than maybe you were expecting. But you know, ultimately, when you kind of looked at it and you looked and headed into this weekend, I felt like there was the potential for a whole bunch of close games and a lot a lot of them came to fruition, some of them did not, and then there were a few others that I did not think were going to be close games that turned into very
much the case. So you know, it was just kind of a hodgepodge of things that ended up going on, and just as I expected, all of the sources weren't what I expected. There's a lot of crazy stuff going on. Around three thirty four o'clock when some of those games were wrapping up, the two o'clock games were starting to show their shape. I mean, it was, it was very very interesting. I actually was so interesting what was going on.
My game that I chose at one o'clock kind of got away from things, so I left a little bit early to get to my next game. I actually ended up pulling off the road so I could follow along with some of the games that were playing that were closing up, because I didn't obviously didn't want to take some reckless driving situation to find out what the score was in the semi final game. So I pulled off, got some gas, and just sat there for about fifteen
or twenty minutes watching various things wrap up. So yeah, that was basically that was basically my Saturday after late afternoon, so I.
Had I got asked to do radio duty for De Paul Radio. At the last second, well, what time is that game? Four o'clock? That takes me out of all of this. And there was a you know, the game at Geneva course that I wanted to watch and go see in person. I didn't get a chance to do it, so I had on the radio on my way, and then when the radio signal died, I made sure to get NFHS on, but I wasn't watching, so I was just trying to listen and try and you know, carry on.
And I thought the Cruise did a nice job with that that broadcast, but that was something I was paying attention to, but also kind of checking to see all the other games going on. Around one o'clock, I checked the I checked the East Saint Louis score and said, well that's decided. I mean, it took two seconds to kind of do that. But which one of the games that you were paying attention to that you thought was not going to be tight? Which one of you surprised?
Which surprised you the most? That was like, oh, this is a good.
One, you know, I think one of them that kind of surprised me a little bit. It was one that you just mentioned there and it went in a different way. I was pretty confident that Kerry Grove was gonna win that football game against Geneva and the fact that it was right there and Geneva was leading, you know, a good portion of the way and just kind of trading it punch for punch and ended up winning that football game.
That was the one that I was kind of monitoring, and it was giving me the reaction of, Oh, here we go. This is a little bit more interesting than I thought it was. I mean, And like I said, there were a lot of them that materialized pretty much exactly the way that I thought they would. One of them that was monitoring real close was the DePaul Prep Cole City game. That was I was very interested in, and that was a definitely a puncher's game. It went
right down to the wire, you know. It never really seemed like either team had total control of that game.
What's interesting about that game from where I was was being at DePaul, and there are some DePaul people who are very invested in what's going on with the Paul praffintex to Paul staffers, maybe the most important one in the athletic department as a kid on the team that's down into Paul Prepp had in his Central Michigan. So we were all watching that one on the stream when it got tight. So I watched the finish of that one down in Cole City. I gotta say, the folks
in Cole City, that field is beautiful. Yeah, I will tell you that they good job, good job sports Boosters, good job school board. You got it right that and that that's a that's a building that deserves a good field like that. So that was cool to see. I had no idea they had a turf field down there all these years. Is it this year the first time? Yeah?
They just they just got it this year. And they did a whole reconstruction of like the whole area over their baseball softball Field's got to redo everything. So and that's a that's a complex. It was pretty good to start. So when they when they beefed it up in the way that they did, it made for it made for a really nice setting. I haven't seen a game there live with it with turf, but I actually was driving by there one time because it's not too far from
where I live. Yeah, and I just went over and took a look just because I was curious, and it's a it's a very nice facility.
So kudos for De Paul going down there and winning, because that's not an easy place to play. But kudos to the Cole City folks because, you know what, you put on a good show for a lot of people that were tuning in to see what that looked like. And every seat in that building was taken and that was Cole City football. That was enjoyable to watch, and just a heck of a finish that was really a fun finish to Paul had a chance to put that
thing away, didn't quite do it. Then they had to hold on for dear life in the last three.
Minutes or so.
An impressive finish to hold on and get that win. And you know who knew that the DePaul Pram, the DePaul prep Rams would be in a state championship game here Friday night. Now, that's that's just awesome. Something we wouldn't have been talking about August or September really when you got that found to it.
Yeah, there was just a litany of games this year. It almost fit the script for De Paul where they just a very close game they played a lot of close football games this year, decided by a touchdown or last decided late in the game, win, lose, draw, whatever
it was. They were in a lot of those close football games, and in a game like that one, maybe that benefited them, the fact that they had been in those situations before and knew not to tighten up and knew that they just had to play through it and do what they had to do. Because you know, as much as we talked about Cole City putting together a good, good situation, other than those two games that they lost,
their other games were all runaways. They hadn't had a lot of games where every play, you know, could swing the outcome of the game one way or another. So for De Paul, they're used to that. They've had five or six of those games already. So for them, they were they were in a situation that they were comfortable with and had experienced before.
Let me ask you the other way, obviously, the one that we you know, you talked about Geneva and character. I'm won't get in depth with all of these games. We kind of go down class by class, but just kind of get the overall feel of which one was a blawout that you didn't think was going to be a ballout.
You know, I thought, just based on past history, and I'm learning more about them as I go week to week to week here, you know, I thought Camp Point Central would give bell Ball all tof at least a little bit better of a game than they did. And I guess I'm I'm wildly underestimating the power that is dear Hill Junior because Mike, I mean, he put together a massive game. I was looking at this state stats earlier today. That young man's averaging eighteen yards of carry.
That's ridiculous. I mean that, I mean that carry. Yeah, and it's not they are one A team, but they did not play a one A schedule. That's I mean, until the playoffs got here, they had not played a single one A team. Every other team on their schedule two A, three A six A seven A beat.
A six A playoff team in week nine.
Yeah, I mean it's just I mean, yeah, that's I mean, they beat a seven A playoff team earlier in the year. I mean, so it's like they're they are. They are everything that I think everyone is trying to tell you that they are. They are very, very impressive and that the fact that they just they kind of they were scoring seemingly every couple of minutes in that game, and Campoint Central threw a couple of early punches and tried
to match them, but eventually they just they couldn't. I mean, I mean, Campoint Central very good football team, but it looks like All Top's a different beast.
We'll go through class by class here and then I want to come back to All Tough and the implications of winning and what that does from a basically a success factor and the multiplier, because you wrote some really good stuff today about that and I was looking at it going wow, Okay, so I want to hold that thought. But let's start with one a work our way back up as we kind of started already a little bit with that. And how about Lena Winslow. Lena Winslow is
one of those teams. It's just still I think it's amazing how they've just flown under the radar this year. Now we're going to find out, you know, as they go in kind of I would say, as an underdog against the All Top Catholic here in the state championship.
Game, Yeah, I think they are. And it's definitely kind of a weird position for Lena Winslow to be in that role. I mean, let's let's be honest, over the last six seven years, you were drawing them on that final line. If you you're doing your you know, pre playoff bracket predicting, it just you could you could start on that last line and build your way back. It
was just as easy to do that. But uh, Lina's Lina's a really good football team, and you kind of maybe wondered exactly how good their team was when I don't want to say they struggled in the regular season, but they did it just knock people out like they they have in past years where they were just kind of steam rolling teams in the n U I C. But in the playoffs they've kind of gone back to that.
They've gone gone back to the situation where they've just kind of just rolled over almost everybody in their path and and did a really they dominated Leroy, which was something that I really didn't see happening. I thought that that would probably be a Lina Winslow win, but I thought it would be a little bit more competitive than that.
And once again, it looks like a lot of times in the bracket, you're not sure if you're going to get two teams to the final that I think we're the two best teams in one A. I think these two were the best two teams in Yeah. I think we've been looking at that all year.
Yeah, I think we've been looking at it all year as that that's the matchup you want to see in one A. Let's remember Lena Winslow. Since twenty seventeen, they've gone thirty one and two in the playoffs alone, thirty one and two. So it's a remarkable success here. And if they can get a win over a team like Altop Catholic, that certifies their legacy as one of the greatest programs in the state of Illinois, to be very very honest with you, if they can beat an all
top team like this. So that's what it's at stake for Class one A. Let's go to Class two A because this was fun. Usually two A is kind of the forgotten class across the state here when you look it down to it. Not so much last year with Wilmington, but it was kind of like, oh, Athens this year, that's nice. This year is oh, who's that team Chicago Christian getting there. How about the Chicago Kurst and squad trying to find their way through and winning the biggest
game in Farmington history. How about that?
Yeah, it was definitely a situation. I was kind of monitoring that. And as as the weekend has gone by, I've learned a little bit more about the Chicago Christian football team, but I didn't kind of know before. This is about as close to iron Man football as you're gonna get, this Chicago Christian football team. They've got eight guys who are the listed starters on both sides of the football. They've got multiple guys who never leave the field's dream, you know. And it's one of those situations.
Was listening to the coach the coach's conference calls today and and it's and and their coach was basically like, you know, sometimes I'd like to take them on the field, they won't. They take them off the field, they won't let me. I mean, that's that's basically what it comes down to is that this is a senior dominated football team that really really believes in itself right now. And you know, this is a program that I'll be honest with you, does not have that much much of a
postseason pedigree they've won. They've now won four games in this in this postseason run. Prior to that, in the entire school's history, they had won six playoff games. So I mean, that's it, That's all it was. So this is this is a storybook season for Chicgo Christian. Obviously they'd love to finish it out with a championship, but it's not going to I personally don't think it's going to deflect anything away from how much they've accomplished the season.
No, the deepest run they ever had was one time getting the quarterfinals and then Driscoll, the old Driscoll Catholic Highlanders, took him out and it wasn't close. But you know, this is the kind of thing their their performance in the postseason the last few years out and round one forty one, nothing out and round one forty one to seven, out in round one forty two to six, And so they get a rematch here coming in here with you know,
a team in morele Force that they've seen before. They have a little tape on them, so it's a different team. And I'm not I would call Morella the favorite just because of their pedigree and just what they've done on the field this year, but I would say the margin of favoritism is a little closer than you would even say in the one A game.
Yeah, I think it's gonna be an interesting game. It's I think it's very important for Chicago Christian to kind of limit it possessions here because the one thing Moroa does like to do is play really fast on offense. They've got a lot of weapons and you know which Chicago Christian have, and so many guys going both ways. My concern would be if morea Forsyth is allowed to just run it at high octane, Kyle Christian might run
out of gas. So I think it's one of those things where you know, how the tempo of this game is going to be very important to how it plays out.
They've put points on the board all season long, and you know, when you have a team like Maria Forsyth three, you know it was good. But they got that big upset over Quincy Notre Dame. There's a little tick of motivation to say, hey, we got to finish the job here, and I know those kids are thinking about that that Quincy Notre Dame game has long gone in their memory at the moment, but it just shows you that Josh Jose continues to put together a year and in year
out really good football teams. The youth program is humming down there. Everything in Morolla, everything in Forsyth, everything is going their way. And you know, getting a win over our buddies down at Johnston City, you know, they hung tough with him. They had to go in there and do it. I'm curious to see what that environment was like. I didn't get a chance to check in on that game, but you know, kudos to Johnson City for hanging in there and having great, great postseason run.
You know, for Moroa, I think a lot of it is, you know, finally getting past that semi final hurdle. It seems kind of ridiculous to say that this is gonna be the I believe, the ninth appearance of a morele Forsyth coach Josh Justa's coach team in a final. But for the last four out of the last five seasons,
Mereale Forsyites gotten beat in the semifinals. So for them, you know, finally getting past that semi final role and getting back to the title game probably takes a little bit of a weight off of particularly the coaching staff finally saying yes, we can get back. So for them, you know, I'm sure that they're they're rolling in with a lot of positive momentum and and feel like they can finish the job this time.
It's amazing that he've been doing it since and two thousand and five in terms of the way the program has really turned out almost two hundred and fifty wins. Now, it's awesome what they're seeing down there in marele FORESSI up to three A. Now Wilmington Montini. What happened to the Wildcats?
Yeah, it was one of those things where I felt like, you know, they were gonna have some issues with whether or not, you know, some one of their defenses was probably gonna crack in this game, and it seemed likely that it might be Wilmington's. And that's what happened because early in the Montini scored very quickly the game and
kind of put Wilmington back on their heels. And it just felt like what Wilmington does usually they get a bunch of stops and then they're able to put together long drives that kind of take away, you know, the other team's momentum ability to you know, ability to kind of take control of the game. Well, both of those components kind of deserted them in the Mantini game. They gave up the early score, which is something I probably don't think that they've done in years, to be completely
honest with you. So they were always the whole you know, already had to start playing from behind right out of the box, were unable to get their running game going kind of until later in the game. They ended up putting up decent rushing stats in the game, but that was well after the outcome was kind of in hand. So Mantini, I think, just kind of physically bullied Wilmington around a little bit, which is also something that they're
not really accustomed to having happened to them. So just you know, unable to kind of use the components of what they were able to do. Mantine he did a really good job of taking it away. And they've been doing that to teams all year long, and when they do it and their schedule, that's really saying something about the quality of their defense. That is a top shelf defense that has been performing against quality six A, seven A,
eight A programs in their regular season. I mean only one team has scored more than three touchdowns on them all year, so that speaks to the quality of that defense. It's an experienced team, tons of senior leadership on that group. I feel like, you know, this march that they've put together was kind of expected from this group. So for them to complete it by getting to the state championship game isn't really all that big of a surprise to him.
Maris scored twenty one points on them in Week three. That's the most they've given up at all this season, so in any game and everything else was tight Fenwick if you remember the Fenwick game is fourteen to ten. That was nip and tuck the whole way too. But I want to ask you, because you've been around, You've been around these parts a long time with Montini. When Chris and Erano left for a while, some of the
air of the program went with them. And so now we're in year eight of Mike Bukofski, who I've always liked. I've always thought he ran a great program. He is a great coach. There were a lot of coach holdovers that stayed from that staff. They finally got over the
hump to get to the state championship game. They were twelve and one in twenty eighteen, but then they went backwards three and six two times, and you're like, I don't know if this is this is the you know, the way they're going to do with this, and even slipping back in class because of enrollment, you weren't sure. But now you start to see that kind of building a little bit, and it just feels like Montini's starting to work their way back a little bit.
Yeah, the biggest obstacle for them and kind of sustaining was the difficulty of their schedule, Like I mean it, it became a situation where you felt like, especially when they dropped back and like classification wise, the biggest challenge was going to be whether or not they'd actually get into the playoffs just get there. Yeah, if they got into the playoffs, they would be dangerous. But the problem
was they were having trouble getting into the field. So once we saw like like last year for example, they got back in and they got beat by byron a superpower everyone else did super superpower that scored more points than anyone had in state history. So and they almost won that game. But and now this time they're following through here. Now that success is going to get them
bumped back up into classification. We'll talk about that later, but it's it's a situation where you look at it and said, you know, the stars have not been aligned for the program in a while, and there are various circumstances to why it slipped in the way that it did. It's nice to see them back in this situation that they're in, but they've certainly earned this spot in the championship game. This schedule was a gauntlet, no question about it.
And then for them to do what they've done, especially defensively inside of that really impressive.
And folks downstate are going to sit there and say, well, this is Chicago, go bias, you know when it comes to talking about Monticello. But I will tell you this, that was one of the best finishes that we've ever seen in the semi finals. Just how dramatic it was with Monticelo getting a win over Unity, another team that all toof was able to squeak past at some point
dround the season. So you know, when you look at what Monicello can do, I'll ask you this way, what is what does what does Colton Colin Welter have to do to stay with Mantini because they can put some points in the world, but they're so good defensively too.
Yeah, it's it's really kind of an interesting dilemma for Monticello and how they approach this game. If you look at their statistics, they're off the charts. I mean, you know, they have all kinds of components. They can run the football, they can they can throw it, they can do the things that they need to do. They can score quickly
if they have to. But it becomes kind of a a balancing game, I think for them, because I don't think they want to get into a situation where they've they've got to put up fifty to win this football game. I don't know if they can, to be completely honest against this defense. So how do you approach it? Do you just attack when the opportunities present themselves and let the time of game and all that other stuff take
care of itself. Or do you kind of you know, hunt and peck and you know, kind of piece together some drives that last for a while and work your way down the field. But then you get into the hornet's nest of are you going to be able to do that against the Mantini defense. Maybe you just got to take your shots when they're available to you because they might not come very often.
Now, Ma Solo has done this before. These kids were a lot younger twenty eighteen, so you know that sounds like to you and I sounds like yesterday. That's six years, which is a lifetime for a senior in high school who says, yeah, I remember that when they were in fifth or sixth grade. So you have to keep that an aspect of it. So there's some familiarity with just oh, yeah, we can do this. But for you know, for a well turned company's he's won state championship after state championship.
This is not a new challenge for him. So the best thing they have going is the guy driving this thing in the first place, and knowing that their coach has won four state championships at the very least, and able to put a good game plan against a team that seasoned like Monty.
Yeah, I'm interested to see what kind of levers he pulls in this situation because it's a program that has had obviously, like you just said, a lot of success, has shown a pedigree to advance deep in the playoffs. How much how much difference does he show to Montini in this situation? How many things does he you know, does he go in the bag of tricks? I mean, what does he do? I mean, he's a creative guy. I've seen the program for a long time. I mean, he's one of those guys that I think if there's
something defined, he'll probably find it. So I mean that it'll be just interesting to see, you know, how he you know, how he decides to attack this defense because I'm sure he's aware how good it is and and the fact that he may not have a lot of opportunities to uh, to take that big hit, if you will.
You're listening to the Friday Night Drive podcast as we recap the semi finals and take a small peek at what's going to be happening Thanksgiving weekend down at Illinois State University and Hancock Stadium. Matt Ruleld, Steve Sussi with you here. Let's talk about four A. Now, we talked a lot about De Paul, so we'll leave what happened
with them there. Let's talk about Mount Zion because for them to go up and get that road game and get a win and then get to get to go back is a big help for them, I would say at this point in the season.
Yeah, I was trying to think of this today. I mean, we were talking a lot last week about if whether normal university, you know, won, then they would be very comfortable with their surroundings. I didn't. It didn't even occur to me to think to myself, well, that works out pretty well for Mountain Zion now that they got to win, because now they now they have experience routine down on
the state championship field. They know what it's like, they know what it's like to be under the lights, they know the surroundings, they know the setup, and it's just like, well, well that's that's a that's a nice little setup for them. But uh, And it didn't even occur to me today until the coach was actually talking about that during coach's conference calls today. So definitely an interesting situation. This is
a Mountain Zion team. We talked a little bit about it last week in terms of some of the elite offensive players that they have. This is a team that I think has the potential to be very very tricky to stop. You know, Braden Trimble is a kid that you know the really adage that is doing everything but drive the bus. I'm not so sure he might not actually be driving the bus. I mean, that's that he is capable of doing everything, contributes in so many ways
to this football team. Is so tricky to you know, he's a guy you have to know where he is. And the problem with that is he's not the only guy. You got to know where he is. So this is an interesting football team, and it's one that has has had really kind of a strange metamorphosis over the course of the season. At one point they were three and three and it really kind of looked like they weren't going anywhere. I mean, they lost them a tune earlier in the year, a team that I believe finished two
and seven. I mean I was like, what's going on with them? And now we find them clicking on all cylinders and in a state championship game.
It's matt tuned, sus. You know they're gonna come after you if you don't get it right. Mattuned Yeah, tell you.
Said, yep, yeah, I realized that as soon as as soon as I said it, I didn't say it right.
I'm fixing it so that the social media folks don't have to Yeah, there you go, but you're right. I'm looking at their schedule too and just kind of saying, Wow, what an adventure and to have two teams at ten and three to kind of get there. It's kind of fun, but it's very odd to look at it. Keep in mind for both De Paul Prep, maybe not so much
for them as it is for Mountain Zion. These are kids that played on the state the state basketball team too, So this is nothing in terms of an environment that's like, oh my goodness, what are we doing here as our team won a state championship before. The answer is no, but we're right there. We competed at the highest level.
So for Mount Zion, I mean, I look at The Paul as kind of a favor, but I think this is probably a more even game then people think because of the fact that there's a there's a comfort level that I think the Mount Zion folks are going to have right when they get there. It's gonna be Braves Nation when they come up there for Friday Night.
Well, we saw it early on that this was going whatever ended up happening, we were going to have a different looking for a final it just that was what was going to happen. With Rochester bowing out early in the tournament. It was just like, well, this is going to look different, we just don't know how different. And that's definitely what we've got here. We've got a team that has not been in a state championship game in forty four years, and the other team has never been
in one. So and when the other team was in that forty four year drought, they were known by a different name. So this is a totally brand new for a final.
Hi from State Representative Steve Reich, and I'm here to wish everybody a happy Thanksgiving. Let's make it a happy Thanksgiving for our neighbors as well. My office is conducting a food drive for local food pantries here in McHenry County at ten seventy two Lake Avenue. If you're out and about, drop some non perishable food items off at my office.
And we'll see that they get delivered.
Every dollar helps. Let's make happy Thanksgiving for hey football fans.
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Let's go to five A now and talk about the rematch of the rematch of the rematch of the rematch Nazareth and Juliet Kathley. First off, let's talk about Julia Catholic because I thought Morris would put up a little bit more of a fight. But I also think that this proves a Julia Catholic is a lot better than people give them credit for. And I think they're going to be ready to go this time around.
Yeah, this should be I think this has the potential to potentially be the most interesting State Final game of the weekend. And you'd say, well, what's so interesting about it. We've already seen this thing multiple times before this, But I think that's what makes it interesting. I mean, it was a sixteen to thirteen game in the regular season. You know, Nazareth finally broke away with a fourth quarter a long fourth quarter touchdown pass, which is something that
Nazareth can do. But you know, Joli Katholck has played outstanding football in the playoffs. They've only allowed twenty points in four playoff games and not that much more yardage. I mean, this has been a situation where they have been absolutely stifling the other teams in their side of the five A bracket at this point in time. So they're playing as good a football as they have all season as they head into this game. You know, I went to the Nazareth game on semifinal. Boy, they look
pretty sharp too. I mean, they really took care of business and and we're particularly troublesome on defense to what in Saint Francis, So that was that was a really really impressive effort. It feels like the core of this Nazareth roster has been there for about fourteen years at this point in.
Time, Yes, and it really has.
These names are the same kids that I feel like I've been talking about forever and they're all now they're all seniors, and they're all really really good. You know, Gabe commits the Stanford commit that kid. It feels like there's three of them on the field. I mean, it seems like he's everywhere.
You gotta remember, like a guy like Mogan Malachuck has probably played at least nineteen playoff games at this point for his career all four years. And so and Logan Malachuk, as much as I like him as a player, everyone has to remember that if if Julia Katholick doesn't lose their running back late in the first half of that state championship game a year year ago, the Hilltoppers are walking out with that state title. But Nazareth rallied because of that and was they were able to get that win.
And so I'm sure that's on the minds of folks with Julie Kappa coming in. What made Nazareth so sharp on Saturday from what you were able to see compared to what we've seen them before. Obviously they're really good, But that's Saint Francis team, that's all. That's an awfully good football team over there.
Yeah, I mean, they forced four turnovers and that seemed to kind of really deflate Saint Francis. But I'll tell you for me, what was the pivotal situation in that game, Nazareth took a twenty seven lead in halftime, and I saw something that I don't believe I've ever seen. I was scanning my memory banks and I don't believe I've ever seen this. So on this on the ensuing second off, the second half kickoff to start the game Waeen, Saint
Francis runs the kickback, so they're down a touchdown. They're feeling really really good about themselves, and then they kicked the ball back to Nazareth. Nazareth does the same thing to them, back to back kickoff returns to start the second half. Don't believe I've ever seen that in my life. Pretty sure I probably won't ever see it again, but that kind of showed that. It was like, well, they're
within a touchdown, gotta do something. Okay, let's do this, and then they just came back to kick and you saw it developing and there was like, oh man, I mean, I don't know how big of a momentum pendulum switch it was, but it might have been one of the biggest ones I've ever seen. Saint Francis feeling real good about themselves, feeling like they're back in the football game and fifteen seconds later they're right back in the same situation they were five minutes ago.
I have seen it one time, and that was in twenty oh three Carmel at Marian Kathlic Okay, Like I think that was one of those seventy to sixty three games. It was insane, Like I think we were there till midnight and it was thankfully it was September, but I'm not kidding. We were creeping up past eleven thirty still going because it was just nuts. So I have seen it one time. But that's it, And you're right, the momentum swing boom, the pendulum just going all over the place.
Let's talk about to six s a here because and let's talk about Richards because I thought Richards would do something here and that didn't happen. What happened to the Richards Bulldogs?
Yeah, I mean sometimes history bears fruit. I mean that we talked about it a little bit last week. It was Richards has not done well in previous matchups with the East St. Louis, and of fairness, a lot of teams haven't done a lot with East Saint Louis. But you know, we saw it real early in the year. This I think the CEA Saint Louis team is a different breed than what we've we've got in the past few years.
That they are.
Wholly focused on winning football games in whatever way they need to win football games. They don't care if it's flashy, they don't care if it draws oohs and ohs. They're just gonna take whatever the defense the other opposing defense has to give them. And they've got to give them something because it's not possible to shut off all the options completely, so you have to you have to give
them something. And unlike in past years maybe where they would really they really enjoyed, you know that air it out and complete the sixty yard touchdown pass. Bill de condunc you to death too, if they if they if it's what suits them and it's what you're giving them. So I think they've just done a really, really nice job of recognizing what the opposition is giving them and
just taking full advantage of that. And that's what I think makes this team as dangerous as any East Saint Louis team we've ever seen.
This is the fifth straight appearance for East Saint Louis in the state championship game twenty nineteen, they beat Prairie Ridge, doubling them up forty three to twenty one. The score
gives you a whole hum feel. Then the first Carry Grove loss thirty seven to thirty six in twenty twenty one, twenty twenty two, when you thought Prairie Ridge might do the same thing, No, instead it was the Flyers, the largest margin of victory ever in a title game, and we saw the clockfront which I think I've never saw
in Champagne before. And then last year where you thought Kerry Droven is gonna do this again, and then seventeen plays later, in a ten minute drive in the fourth quarter, they were able to pull the upset and East Saint Louis was left wondering, how does this happen to us again? They're paying a more conventional opponent in the Geneva Vikings, so we're able to get by Carry Grove. But the thing about Geneva is that the last time they were in a state championship game, guess who was there East
Saint Louis. And there's something about Geneva and East Saint Louis with a history where the Vikings they've faced this this Juggernaut before they've walked in with this mentality. They've played good two and a half quarters, maybe three quarters of football against them before things bottom out. But they didn't have an All American receiver and the best player I've ever seen put on blue and white before, Talon Taylor was catching the ball all over the place on Saturday?
Can he and his teammates make this interesting on Saturday? With East Saint Louis. I have the Flyers as a heavy fav.
Yeah. I think you're right. You know, I hope that it's an interesting game, and I think there are some things that lead you to believe that maybe it can be. But you just look at like all of the pieces that East Saint Louis has, and and we didn't even we talked about their offense when I was breaking them
down a little bit earlier. Their defense is better, and it was it was really really apparent how good the defense was, even though it was all the way back in Week one when I saw them live what they did with Loyola. They they completely took Loyola out of that game. And you're talking about an ad A finalist right now. Granted it's a lot different version of that Ada finalist right now than it was back in Week one.
But the fact that East St. Louis's defense was able to do that, they made Loyola's offense look pedestrian in that game. I mean I was down on the sideline, I was watching it close up. I mean, there were a lot of different things going on in that game. But that's a really, really good defense. And you know, I think Geneva has a fair amount of playmakers, and
obviously with Taylor they have a great one. But you know, when East St. Louis has so many players on defense that are playmakers and guys that can do things, I don't know how many matchup mismatches Geneva is going to be able to create, to be completely honest with you. So that's the challenge that comes into this situation. And you know, you look at it and say, well, they've
been beat before. I mean, it can happen again. But it's I think this is this is a particularly interesting version of East St. Louis that I think just seems to have all the pieces in the places that they need to have.
Those pieces should be that one would be a good one at least to start. I will say if they can hang in there by halftime and then all of a sudden things get interesting. But the thing is, for the Vikings, I think they need to get in a shootout. This needs to be a first to sixty kind of thing. And that's not that's not comfortable for a lot of people.
But let me add this to and just because it's it's my hometown, I came back from that DePaul game in the city after the game is over, but we're talking about seven o'clock at night and the vibrance of the town and you can feel that there was a big victory and maybe a bit of a surprise to some. I think it was a little more split down the
middle about belief in this one here. But that's the fun part of what we're talking about in terms of these journeys, places like Mountain Zion and their downtown Saturday night places like you know, even the Lombard or if you want to go in further song Monticello. That place was rocking after that game and how long did that carry on into the evening hours. That's the fun part
about state final football and state playoff football. So I just kind of want to point that out and then later you had Batavia and let's go to seven A because I don't know what it is about the Battle and Bulldogs. We need a new nickname for them, because they're more cardiac kids than anything else. Isaiah Brown with that amazing catch. That was one of the best catches I've ever seen, and that might be the biggest catch in Batavia football history.
Yeah, I was. I was kind of following along with that game. At the end of the game kind of merged right along with halftime of the Lincoln Way East games, so I was able to kind of follow along with what was going on. And I saw that Lincolnway Central had scored a go ahead and score with about two minutes left, and before my mind's eye could even calculate what's the score and what the situation was, my immediate reaction was they left Batavia too much time, too much time.
That was when I heard it was just a little over two minutes. I was like, too much time. And then when I when I found out, of course that they scored with I believe thirty two or thirty one seconds left in the game, I was like, well, that's that's kind of what I expected at this point in time, you know, I feel for both of the Lincoln Way programs that have been vanquished by Batavia in the final minute of games over the course of his playoff it was it was a tough pill to swallow for I'm
sure both of those teams. But Batavia's got some playoff magic, some mojo that I don't know if a lot of other programs have the equivalent of it, But it seems like if you're in a close game in the fourth quarter with Batavia, get worried because it's not gonna be a situation that you're probably gonna like with the end of it.
It's not like it's a veteran quarterback marching you down the field to This is a sophomore quarterback and Michael Vander who's been on the team for what four weeks? Five weeks?
I think he joined the team fully as a varsity player in week seven.
Perfect Yeah, okay, so he's played basically half a season as everyone else, and the poise and comfort level for the for not only him, but the other ten around him. And as I was watching the final drive and my thought was, how in the world is Dennis pier and talking to this kid? What is he saying? How is
it keeping him calm. That's one of the greatest coaching elements that I've seen is just throwing a sophomore quarterback in there, and they figured it out with this kid twice and it was the exact same score, twenty five to twenty one.
Yeah, it's it's really kind of a crazy situation. I was at the first one against Lincoln Way West and and it was it was just it was funny, like I talked to him after. I talked to quarterback after the game, and it was just like, I kind of it's okay, like and I'm like, boy, the wonder of being a high school sophomore not realize they're not realizing the significant significance of what you just did. And then and then you know, a few weeks later doing it
essentially doing it again. That's that's something special. I mean, I'm more interested now. I didn't actually see that the breakdown of the game, But I talked a few weeks ago about him not having a nameplate. I'm gonna seek him out and see if he doesn't. I'm gonna seek him out and see if he got one. For the state final.
You gotta give him one. It's on television. For goodness sakes, you gotta now do it on Thanksgiving after practice.
Come on there you go?
All right? So they go into this one against Malt Carmel as heavy underdogs. I think the Caravan are going to roll no matter what. And uh and I know the folks from one town, one team don't want to hear that you have one shot stay in this game early by taking the lead and keeping this, you know, as tight as possible. But I think Mount Carmel is one of the best teams in the state. And they've proven it once again that that road victory over Saint Reid. It.
Yeah, I mean the last four times, the last four playoff seasons for Batavia, this is how it's come to an end for them. They've lost to Mount Carmel, so they've you know, only one of those games was was what would be classified as being fairly competitive. It came down to the wire, actually, but you know, the other ones have not been, you know, and I think right now the bridge between those two teams is pretty wide.
It would take it would take a you know, I think it would take a pretty herculean effort for Batavia to be able to trade punches with this football team right now, and the way that they're playing. You know, Mount Carmel has just been, uh just been flexing us, particularly its offensive muscle, through these playoffs in impressive fashion. And I you know, I'm not really sure now that it appears that Jack Elliott is healthy, I just I
don't really know. Yeah, I mean, I'm not really sure how they're they're gonna be able to rain that in.
All right, So I have a thought for you. All right, get ready to get the viral moment out. I've walked through this in my head, and this is I'm gonna stumble as I spit this out. But you have Batavia, you have Geneva. Okay, they're in back to back games. These are rivals. If you're not familiar from around the state,
they're they're three miles apart. Okay, here's my thought. I think that the Geneva and Batavia student sections should figure out a way, knowing that they are heavy underdogs against East Saint Louis and Mount Carmel, they should both go down there together and make that environment as loud as possible. You think about the amount of students eighteen hundred and one school seventeen hundred another, Why don't we get three thousand kids down there to make this thing insane? And
you got a six hour party out there? Why not?
Right?
That would be an amazing environment. Now, I don't think it would ever happen because this will require the administrations to the schools and the school districts and all that stuff. But boy, the students, you know, they have the ability to communicate on their phones right now, I'm sure they all have friends from the other town. Figure out a way to make a three thousand Army Tri Cities student section and take down both East Saint Louis and Mount Carmel.
What do you say, can we make that happen? Boy, that'd be fascinating to watch. If it didn't materialize, I'll tell you that much. It would be something that would be I think would be a remarkable thing that I think, regardless of how the outcomes of the games came out, it would be something you would remember for probably a lifetime.
To be sacrilegious for me to even suggest this. I have betavior friends. One of my best friends is a potavial lung class at eighty eight. I think this might be the only way to kind of make sure that everyone stays in both games. At this point, I don't know, but still it'll be fun to see that environment. And even if they don't do that and you see the student switching, you know after a loss, the awkwardness will be very interesting. That's the fun part about the state finals.
Let's wrap up with Class eight A and then I want to talk about what you wrote. For sure that it's the best play call I've ever seen, and I had it in my head with York. I thought, just run backwards and get to the ends. It's ten seconds. They can't even if you have to kick off, that's going to eat more time. And they actually did it, and I was so impressed with the execution of that
safety play for York. It's awesome to see them break through the semi final round and get down there for the first time.
Yeah, it was. And you know when you watch that, like I heard about that after the fact, I'm like going, yeah, that's that's definitely a way to go. And sometimes I'm in that situation. I've seen those situations before and I'm like,
why not try that? But they had the ideal situation, an absolute speed burner there that could run around and stretch that out if possible, and it almost took a second to realize what was happening as you were watching it develop, but really kind of a kind of a fascinating thing that was going on.
It's one of those, Oh, I have a state final sprinter, why don't I just make sure that he runs as fast as he can and use the speed. But the best part of that play, if you watch it, because I've seen it a couple of times in social media, but I watched it live too, was that he avoided two hits in the back of the end zone and was I think he was surprised himself that he was
still in play knocking off the clock. And kudos to the your coaching staff who said they wanted to go in the fourth quarter with the ability to see the clock and the scoreboard in the other end. I don't think they had that in mind in terms of why they would need to see the clock. Which is great Loyola. You watch them face to face firsthand, you know every time I think Lincoln Way East is going to get
the upper hand, and that environment was probably rocking. What was it like and what was the despair like at the end of that one?
You know.
It was one of those things is you were kind of like watching it develop. There were little nuances of the game that you didn't really even realize were happening, you know, until you thought about it after the fact. At the time, you're thinking to yourself when Loyola on three separate occasions, had to settle for field goals rather than score touchdowns, You're thinking, well, this, that's probably a really good thing for Lincoln Way East. But they didn't
get those touchdowns. But what you didn't realize at the time was there was a difference between what usually happens in Lincoln Way East games. Teams are not getting a chance to kick that field goal. I'm not even talking about touchdowns. Lincoln Way East was not getting three and out, they were not taking Loyola off the field, and Loyola was getting some points, they weren't getting as many as they would have liked, right putting up points royal and punt.
And that was something that you didn't realize that it was happening until it happened. Until we got through the game. They did not punt. Every time that they you know, had the football, they did something with it. They got themselves in a situation where they were kicking field goals, they did something with it. And in the second half they showed the benefit of having to play a quality opponent almost every week that they put the put the
cleats down on the field. They showed the benefit of that. Put together a monster drive to start the third quarter, put together another monster drive that completed the third quarter. They didn't get any points out of that. Lincoln Way US picked off a pass the goal line, but it showed up a bunch of clock and it was just one of those things. And then then they put the final touches on it with another long drive that just
took a bunch of clock away. Never got Lincoln Way East a chance to have an opportunity to get into a rhythm. And then I saw something that I never thought I was I probably would ever see is Jonas Williams completed a pass with two minutes left in the fourth quarter. It was the first pass he completed in the entire second half. So Loyola had effectively completely out any offensive rhythm that Lincoln Way East ever hoped to attain.
That's just as simple as it got. They they forced a three and out with three incompletions on one drive. The other completion, they got a situation where they were third in short and they fumbled a hand off, so they didn't get a first down. So those two drives prior to the pass completed with two minutes left, that was all they got. A series of incomplete passes and a running sequence that did not let them a first down.
And that was basically the only two drives that they had at it for most of the second half.
Twenty twenty two, Loyola had to beat York and then Lincoln Way East, twenty twenty three, Loyal had to be York and Lincoln Way East, and twenty twenty four Loyola might have to flip it and beat Lincoln Way East and then York, and so we get to see York and Loyola do it again for a third straight time. What is Loyola, what is your cap to do to make sure that they stay with Loyal as long as they can.
Well, they can't let Loyola do essentially what they did to Lincoln Way East. They can not allow them to piece together fourteen fifteen play drives that chew up eight minutes of the clock and just turn it into a Essentially you're only going to get about five possessions for the entire game. And that's what Loyola essentially did in that game. They just turned it into a much smaller game in terms of often some opportunity for the opponent. And you know, just you look at you look at
what they're doing right now. They are imposing their will on the opposition. And the biggest key for Yorke that I can see in this game is just simply can't let that happen. I don't know how they do that, but that's gonna be what decides whether or not that this is a competitive game, because if they allow Loyal to impose their will, they're going to do exactly the
same thing that they did the Lincoln Ways. They're just they're just gonna drive and drive and drive and drive and drive and figure out a way to get themselves in a position to put points on the board, field goal, touchdown, whatever, and before you know it, you look up at the board and you're behind. And that's that's all they're trying to do at this point.
There are two things I found interesting from from Ryan Fitzgerald over the course of the weekend. Won him calling out critics in a very prominent newspaper in town about how his prediction went. But the other one is what he said after the game talking about Lincoln Way's not playing a fourth or quarter game all year. And I want to bring that to what the what the private schools have done in terms of their battle testing and how this relates to the multiplier and to the success factor.
You wrote some really good stuff. Can you lay out that again just in terms of it, just because it's still remarkable just to see and print, let alone hear it about where these teams are gonna fall next year. This is going to be a very different layout next year, I would imagine.
Yeah. I think that the first thing you have to start with is the fact that, I mean, we ran into this a little bit last year and people didn't really fully understand what was going on. You know, basically you re establish this every two years, and one of the things that that comes into play is that the success formula is something that the ISSA has put in place to I guess protect sort of against private school
dominance in a particular classification. So over that two year period, the previous this year and the previous year, if a team wins a state trophy, which is a championship or a runner up in two consecutive years, then they must
move up one classification above where they achieved that success in. So, for example, since Juliet Catholic, Nazareth, and Mount Carmel are both guaranteed all guaranteed to have won either a championship or a runner up trophy by winning those semi final games this week, they are now subject to the success formula. So all three of those teams will be moving up one classification next year from where they competed in having
that success. So in the case of Juliet Catholic and Nazareth, they will move up from five A to six A. From Mount Carmel's case, they will go from seven to eight A. And it does not matter if the enrollment numbers come out in the spring and their enrollment number says, well they should be in four A or they should think. It does not matter. The success formula supersedes all of that other stuff, all of it that basically those schools
are locked into that classification. If they qualify for the playoffs, that's where they'll play. So that's the first step in this process. There are three teams that are doing that, so they will move up in that situation. So then you start thinking ahead, what class is going to be pretty nasty next year? Looks like six to A to me, I got completely honest with you. You got the existing teams
that have kind of established themselves. As long as East Saint Louis still elects to play up, then that makes for extremely deep six A classification with the addition of Nazareth and Joliet Catholic. So that's the first stage in
this process. Then you go to the multiplier because that's a situation where you have to look at it and say, okay, what happens with those The last period, en Roman period, had fourteen teams that qualified to be multiplied, which basically means their enrollment is taken by a one point sixty five multiplier. It's a there's an increase that comes with that.
So of those teams, seven of those fourteen are losing their multipliers, and the qualification for doing that is over that same two year period you have to win at least three playoff games. So you look at that the teams that are losing their multipliers. Brother Rice, Marist, Saint Ignatius Saint Teresa, Ice, Catholic, and Fenwick.
So we stop you there because that's despite Saint Teresa winning a state title two years ago.
Yes, yes, so that's the I mean you look at that. No, see Saint Teresa won it three years ago. Yeah, So that doesn't factor into this because it's only the last two years. Two years ago they were actually winless head was yeah, and then this year they lost one game, so they so they will drop as well. So what happens with those teams? For example, Brother Rice was a seven A playoff team this year they lost in the old opening round, so that without those three playoff wins,
they will go from seven eight to five AM. So that's a situation right there. Marist is another one eight eight to six A okay, and that's using the enrollment numbers that we have, same thing for Sant Ignatius eight eight to six A. All right. The one that I find most interesting in this situation, I see Catholic four A
two way. So they they may make they have made the decision in the past to play up, they may choose to do so again, but based on their current enrollment number not being multiplied, they're clearly a two a team exactly. That's a situation. And then the other team that was factored into this multiplier situation that I find interesting. In this situation, Sacred Heart Griffin actually was subjected to
the success formula in the last two year packet. They were they were the only team that actually was, so they were a five A team in the postseason. Not only does Sacred Heart Griffin no longer qua five for the success formula, they no longer qualify for the multiplier, so they drop from five A to three A. So that's something in that situation too. Keep in mind, all of these teams could choose to say, hey, no I want I would rather play where I was play, I
can play up. But by the letter of the law, as long as they're enrollment number doesn't change violently, this is what will happen to those schools. Now they're so yeah, go ahead.
Go ahead. No, I was just gonna say, I wanted to factor in the fact because what I stare at is four A five A now, yeah, because that's where the movement is. So if I'm Sycamore, if I'm Prairie Ridge, and let me bring this out. Because the Fox Valley Conference schools are all losing enrollment, every one of them. Prairie Ridge, Carrie Grove, both Crystal Lakes, they're all dropping, with the exception of one. My central rockets are going up.
Everyone else is losing enrollment. So if your Carrie Grove, this might be the best thing to happen to you, because everything's pushing up, and I wonder if things go on, are there enough teams stuck in six A that would push you down and get you to five A.
Anyway, some of those teams, some of those vacancies are gonna have to be filled by someone, right Like, that's the reality of the situation. So you know some of those teams. It won't change some of those teams because there are some eight A to six A switches, which obviously means some teams are gonna go up too. So it's kind of a counterbalance type of thing. That kind of gets us to the next point is while there were teams that went down, there are also teams that
go up. We had nine teams that are making a jump that did not have a multiplier and now they do. So you've got some very interesting teams that are making that change. I'll run down the list real quickly here Belleville alts off.
They have to win this weekend because it's not gonna be as fun the next few years.
So Lawrence, my team, Chicago, Christian Quincy, Notre Dame, Wheaton Academy, Normal University, and this is probably the most interesting one to me just because of what happens to them de Paul Prep.
So they have to win this weekend, not just because oh we got to win the state championship. I'm not sure they're going to like the road getting back there next year.
Go ahead, Well, the thing about DePaul Prep you have to consider here is back when DePaul Prep's calculation for their enrollment that they're currently using, is that school's enrollment
has exploded, has just increased, it has exploded. It is almost fifty percent larger than it was the last time that we figured out these enrollments because we do it in a two year period, So DePaul Prep's enrollment number is going to be much much larger before you consider the fact that they're now going to be multiplied, which they weren't before. So not only do you have that enrollment spike, you have a multiplier on top of it,
and it's entirely conceivable. I don't know exactly what DePaul but De Paul's enrollment number will be when the issa's new numbers come out. It is entirely conceivable though that DePaul Prep could be an eight day school. That sounds crazy, but that's that's that's the biggest that they're going to be the largest number jumped, both in natural enrollment and then what in jumping enrollment wise from uh, you know,
having the multiplier attached. They're they're enrollment number now I believe is eight thirty three for calculation in the state traded. I was just going to say that I believe, I believe it will be over two thousand when this is recalculated.
That's incredible. So that's the that's the big story. And then looking at some of the other classification jumps, just off the top, all Top goes from one A to three A, Wheaton Academy goes four to five, Quincy Quincy Notre Dame goes two to four, Montini three A to four A five A bubble. They're kind of mixed there, you know, so it makes sense, you know, yeah, those
those make sense, you know, for the most part. But that when you sort all of this out and you just kind of look at what the landscape will look like. Some of those playoff fields look a lot different. It's it's an exercise that I will be undertaking in the off season. But just to kind of get a grips on, well, you know, if we just use these enrollment numbers, how
do the playoff fields look? I will play around with that because I think it's gonna look pretty fascinating if you take out the factor of you know, maybe some of these teams will elect a playoff, but what if they don't, this is what the fields will look like
it would look like if they choose to. So it becomes a really kind of an interesting machination type of thing, because like you had a couple of teams that elected to move up from five A to six A to I think in some ways to get away from some of those teams that were in five A. Well now those teams are in six A. So what do you can take to me? So what are you gonna do now? It's just like so then it becomes kind of like which level or do you want to pull? Which problem
do you want to undertake? So I think that's going to be pretty fascinating it. And I think some of this process was really really hindered a couple of years ago by the COVID year because it was much more difficult to obviously, they.
Held they held them.
That's why, Yeah, they it was much more difficult to acquire three playoff wins when you only had one season to do it. Now you have two seasons to accumulate those three wins. So now that's why you're seeing a larger list of schools having to have to actually be multiplied because, like I said, there were fourteen before next year,
in the next pocket, there will be eighteen. So you know, it's definitely one of those situations where you're starting to see some of those programs that you're like, going, they shouldn't be in that classification. Well a lot of them won't be anymore. They won't be.
Do you hear those loud cheers? Those those are I believe those are loud cheers coming from let me check, yep, they're coming from Rochelle, They're coming from Morris, they're coming from Highland and Peoria, and also they're coming from Vincennes with Morgan Park as well. You want to talk about paths opening up and possibilities. Well there you go, even if ben Academy can't get through because of these sorts
of things. So it would be interesting to see. And yes, of course sycamore as though, so you know, and that's just looking at five. It can't wait to look it for it. And I can't wait for that day when you put those fake brackets out there, because I want to see what that looks like. Just tease us like a week before so we can mentally get ourselves around that, say February or so, all right.
You're no problem to trust me. There's all kinds of exercises that I have to do to keep myself engaged until we get to the next season. So and the and the massive twenty twenty five schedule document that I have not started yet. Oh man, enough it is not enough to keep me entertained all off season. So I have to find other things to strike my fancy.
Plus spring trainings in February. See I get pitchers and catchers reports. Suit, Hey, le'vey amred on long enough? We gotta go, all right, we will be back next week to wrap up the state finals. And again I want to see the Geneva Batavia student sections together. Let's just let's just get weird. Dogs and cats living together, mass hysteria. Put them all in one student section. Please have a lot of teachers and faculty there. Just observe that just
in case it gets weird. But it would be awesome to see against eat St. Louis and Mount Carmel enjoy the state finals this weekend. I will make my way down there to watch as a fan for once. That'll be fun. Not calling games this year, I'm just gonna enjoy it as a fan. So Steve SUSSI will be out there. I'll be out there and for Steve my saying. My name is Matt Rude Wall. Thank you so much for watching and listening. This has been the Friday Night
Drive podcast from Shaw Local Sports. We'll see you next week everyone. Do you ever wonder where the profits go when you shop at a big box store? Hi, this is Patty from Oliver's Corner Market. When you shop at Oliver's you can rest assured that the profits stay local, supporting other local businesses and charities. Find us at the Corner Britain, Bradshaw and Dixon