Schweiker, Gannison, Krazak Rundio Proudley sponsors to Friday Night Drive. I'm Mike Krazak. If you've been injured, we are ready to take on the insurance company and get you to the end zone. We've recovered hundreds of millions of dollars for our clients. Visit ga nassi n dot com. What's up everyone, Welcome back to the Friday Night Drive podcast. I am Kyle Neighbors along with Steve Susy, and it is officially week one of the twenty twenty three
season. We are recording this on Tuesday morning, August twenty second. We are well, I would say, three days away from the start of high school football the first Friday Night. But SEUs, we got more games on Thursday night than I don't know. I feel like we've had games on Thursday night before, but certainly not this many. Well, I think the first rink goal that you have to consider is that there aren't there haven't been any Thursday games in week one. Really, I thought maybe this is CBS would
do it now. This is a new thing. For the first time, you were allowed to schedule Thursday games in week one. You've never had that capability before, so that's one thing that feels a little bit different. I think we were at least originally scheduled for about ten to twelve games on Thursday this year. A couple of them have already been moved because of the fact that the weather forecast looks like it maybe one hundred degrees that day. But
I mean, basically that's the first wrinkle. But as a whole, there are more Thursday games this year that have been already scheduled. I've noticed over the course of the summer that we're starting to see games that were originally scheduled for Friday earlier in the calendar to also be scheduled for you know, for Saturdays. They're moving them around, and it's largely due to officials concerns. Yeah, we've been talking about it for the better part of a decade.
We've seen some movement post pandemic in terms of games being moved around because the official shortage being exacerbated by the pandemic. But this year was really the first time I felt like we were starting to see I think the teams are still hesitant because when I talk to coaches and ads, they don't want to move these games off the Friday nights. But I think they're starting to accept that
this is the new normal. Suits yeah, I mean it's We had a little instance last year where a couple of conferences actually agreed to playing Thursday nights as a rule, basically to ensure that they wouldn't get bumped to a Thursday later in the season. To my knowledge, all those conferences did not continue that process into this year. I think primarily because they were irritated that they felt like they were the only ones making a sacrifice. But basically, you
know, it is I think it is the new normal. I think eventually, I think we might reach a situation if we don't see some sort of improvement here where it almost becomes mandated where you know, conferences are required to have at least one week during the season where they're playing on Thursday nights, just to allow for some of these schools that are having trouble, real trouble finding officials the opportunity to where they're not being forced to do it all the
time, and it's more of a spread out effort. It's so I really, as a football fan, you know, the opportunity to see more games is great, Like I love the idea of Thursday football, give me Thursday Friday, and then my favorite is Saturday afternoon high school football. I love being on a sideline when it's nice and warm out, you know, particularly early in the season. I think Glenbard West Merris week one, that's where
I want to be. But the Thursday night games, you know, we're talking about high school football games that a lot of times don't end until ten clock, sometimes ten thirty, and then you're asking kids to go to school the next day if they have. You know, some of these kids are let's say you're talking, let's just go uh really randomly northwest northwest, upstate Ali night. Let's say you have an hour bus ride right coming back from you know, forced into I don't even know. But yeah, now you're
talking about you're getting kids home at eleven eleven thirty at night. I mean that certainly has to be a concern for administrations. Yeah, I would imagine it is. I Mean, the one thing that I noticed when we did do those Thursday games is a lot of schools were doing them earlier. We had six o'clock kicks and and things of that nature. That we're very helpful in that in that realm, and like you just said, I mean,
the more football, the better. I'm I'm super fired up about the fact that I get four games this weekend that I can be at live, and that's that's tremendous. I'm real happy about that. But you know, from a logistics sense, it does become a problem, not only in what you're talking ab about, but even from a if you're talking about Thursday games that
are later in the season, I mean schedule quirks. You could potentially have a Saturday afternoon game somewhere and the schedule lines up where you've got to flip and play a game the next week on a Thursday. And you don't really think about that in the construct, but you know that's essentially four days including a Sunday, when most programs kind of take the day off to refresh and
revitalize. I mean that that's a really tight window. They have tight windows for planning now, but I mean you essentially, I mean, in that scenario, you've limited yourself to in most situations, you've limited yourself with three days of practice for a game, and you know how important each game is.
It's you know that that could be a potential problem too. Yeah, definitely, it's going to be somebody to monitor throughout this season because I mean, as we're saying, this is going to become the new norm, a lot of people are paying attention to see how this goes this year. But all right, we're gonna go ahead and start getting into our preview for this week. But first, if you're not going to a game on Friday night, we'd love to have you join us at Friday Night Drive dot com.
We are launching a three hour live stream from eight to eleven pm with live look in from our reporters, postgame interview with coaches. It's gonna be a lot of fun. I'll be co hosting that with Jimmy Musual Susy be jumping on after he gets done with his game that he'll be doing that each week, kind of going through his first thoughts when it comes to building out his bracket projections each week. Feel free to join him there, and of course
go to Friday Night Drive dot com to get all of our content. We have a ton of football coming up this weekend for you, and of course you can find all of our preview content still up at Friday Night Drive dot com. We just launched our preseason power rankings, and as we go into this week's podcast or this edition of the podcast, I will be using our conference previews to kind of prop myself up here as I learned these teams throughout
the season. Today we are going to talk. We're going to kind of do what we've done the last couple season for this first episode of Week one, which it will go class by class and talk about some of our favorite teams, some of our expectations. And then on Thursday, if you come back, we'll have a full Week one preview for you. Joe Stevenson, Michael Joel Jacoby joining us to talk about the Fox Valley Conference in the Chicago
Cathol League, Catholic League in East Suburban. But seuss Class one A. That's where we're gonna start, and that starts with Lena Winslow, and I was reading through our Northwest Upstate A LINEI Conference preview. Lena Winslow. While I don't expect to fall off because it's what they do. They do. Have to replace ten starters on defense and eight on offense. That's a lot.
It is a lot, but I mean it's one of those situations where you kind of look at that program and year after year they seem to have either freshmen and souphomore those that are playing heavily. They're maybe not listed as starters, and in some cases they are starters, but they're guys that are getting in the game, getting experienced. And with Lena, it's weird too, because if you're a second or a third stringer on Lena Winslow, you
might have played more than the starters did last year. I mean, it's not like it's not like you that those guys are just green and have absolutely no experience, you know, playing at the varsity level, because I mean there were games obviously that they came out at halftime and they were, you know, in the process of steamrolling someone, and that was the you know, those guys were getting lots of playing time, so you don't have it's
not the same situation. That's one thing that I think gets overlooked a lot with some of these power programs that are winning a lot of games comfortably, is you know, sometimes there's starters played less than the reserves. So I would not expect a there's going to be a little bit of a fall off, I think, because that was an awfully good team last year, but
I still expect them to be the dominant team in their conference. And by being the dominant team in their conference, that in my mind makes them the favorite and one A yeah, the obviously the defending one eighth day champion, they have to be the favorite when you're talking about particularly Lena Winslow. But I will say just in their conference, there are a couple of teams in forrested in Fulton suits that I think can give Lena Winslow a challenges here.
Oh, I would agree. Both of those programs, you know, are in pretty good shape. I think heading into the season. It's another situation where you look at that conference obviously the premier small school conference in the state, you know, and how Lena has dominated it, but those schools that are just behind them are awfully good football teams usually find themselves in the midst deep in the postseason run. Both of those teams have a lot of experience.
I like forrest In quite a bit. I think people might be sleeping a little bit on Fulton, you know, you're not hearing them as much in that conversation at the top. I think they deserve to be there. I just put together. You know my top ten pole for those classifications, I have Forest in at number two. I have Fulton at number four.
So that kind of tells you where I'm at on those two teams. You know, I don't want to make it just the nui C show for one A here, but we talked about those top three teams, but you start looking for other contenders, team that can surprise you in one A And I'm looking through last year's Bracken and kind of laughing because, like we both liked Hope Academy came into the postseason at nine and oh they lost to Forest in Ottawa Marquette had an eight and one regular season last year, won their first
round matchup against Morrison, then ran in Dakota and UIC team who won thirty to nineteen, knocked out Ottawa Marquette in that game. It's just everything in one A North has to start with the n u C. Is there any team suits outside of that conference that you do have an eye on though? Well, There's is one team, and it's a team that a lot of people probably don't think of as a one A program. It's Belvio altof I've heard a lot about them, their enrollment has dropped to the point where they
are. Yeah, you can't see me. The listeners can't see me smiling over here. But the second you say won a Bellville ALTOF, I think about watching them in the four A title game at Northern Illinois five or six years ago. Now you tell me that in one A. Yeah, they're They're in one A now. And the biggest problem that Altoff I think could have is they're still playing a schedule like they're at the four A and five A level. Are they still independent? Yeah, they are still an independent.
They've they've just basically just dropped out of their conference, the South seven, but they're still playing a lot of those teams. So, I mean they have teams like Centralia and Collinsville and Breeze Modern Day and although they're not as strong Granite City, but these are all five A six A programs that they're playing. And then they also played the cat Saint Teresa, they play duran Pecatonica. So even the schools that are closer to their actual size that
are on their schedule are good too. But if these guys get to five wins, I'll say it right now, I think they're probably on the South bracket championship line. That's what I think of their talent level and from what everything what I've been told about them. But I also don't think it's a guarantee that they get to five wins in that schedule. It's just it's very
perilous. They play a couple of Missouri teams too, that honestly at this point I don't know a lot about so maybe that will swing this one way or the other. But their schedule I think is their biggest detriment because they're very talented and from what I've been told by people I trust, incredibly fast, like like shockingly fast for a one night football team. Really, yeah,
that'd definitely be a fun storyline to follow throughout the season. Who else in the South brackt And I think our listeners know this at this point. I make it pretty clear when we go into one A South, this is your realm and seuits like I know Camp Point Central. By the time we got to the postseason, I knew about Camp Point Central. I felt pretty confident that they were going to be making a run to gool Is a very good program. Those are the two names that stuck out to me, but
Honestly, Sue's this, like I said, this is your realm. Take me to school here, man. Well, you know you just mentioned a couple of them that obviously you kind of have to keep a radar on. And one a another team that I've heard some pretty good buzz about in the off season is Jacksonville Route, a program that kind of kind of went down a little bit for a while, but looks like it's on the upswing.
I don't know if we're quite at the level that we're talking about that you know, some of these other teams, but I do think Route makes for at least a little bit of discussion out of the Western Illinois Valley, a conference that that has been dominated over the last couple of years by Camp Point Central, But it looks like there are a couple of teams there that look capable of at least given Camp Point a little bit of a run. All
right, let's move over to class to a Susan. We got defending state champion Saint Theresa beat Try Valley twenty nine twenty two in that state title game. I'm just gonna let you go ahead and start with two are where are you looking to start in this class? Well, I think you know what it comes down to is you always kind of have to look to the Sangamo and see where the power lies in that league. This looks like a really
strong Morrow of forsythe group. But another team in that conference that I've heard a lot about is Athens. So those two teams right now are the teams that I look to out of the South. The North is very very interesting this year because there are some names down here now and we've talked about this
team already in the in the off season. Mary and Central Catholic is a very very interesting team to me now that they are in a conference where I feel they have comparative opponents and an opportunity to get themselves to the win level. Elite talent for almost any level at the skill positions there, there's not there's not a lot of two way programs. I can say. They have
a Clemson commit line up at wide receiver. Yeah, So it's just it's it's one of those things where you look at that you look at their postseason record, you know their record over the last couple of years, and you're like, what are you talking about? But the circumstance has changed there it's it's really that simple. I would be very surprised if that if this team is not, you know, high up in the mix at the end of the season. You know, a couple of other teams out of that area
that I like. I really like Seneca a lot, provided that they end up in the Class two A field. Uh. This is a very experienced team. I saw them at a seven on seven lineman challenge earlier this summer and the thing that stood out to me about Seneca was they were in a field with four A, five A, six A schools and their linemen were pulling those schools all all over the all over the field. I mean, it was really impressive. So I mean that line, with the skill players
that they have back, I think that's a very good team. And also winner of the offseason award for Best Team T Shirt. Their linemen were walking around it with Eyehop T shirts which indicated Irish House of Pancakes rather than International House of Pancakes. I enjoyed that immensely, So, you know, they're
a very interesting team. Another team from the North that I think is pretty strong out of the three rivers is Rockridge, and we've gone through this conversation at this point without mentioning the defendings Class two A state champions Decatur Saint Theresa. They lost a lot to graduate, but they're still going to be a pretty good football team. Like ALTOF, they're now an independent. They got knocked out of their conference. They are basically playing very similar to what ALTOF.
Is a very difficult schedule for a one A school. They're playing, you know, bigger schools. They open the season with a pretty good small school out of Indiana. They're traveling over to Linton Stockton. They play ALTOF in week two. They've got Colonna Unity on their schedule. They play Lena Winslow in week five. They finished the season with a four A Stronghold Highland. I mean, when you look at that on paper, five wins is
not a guarantee. I mean, that's just that's a rigorous schedule for them, especially considering they lost quite a bit to graduation. So they're going to be a team that's gonna be on my monitor the entire season long. But I could see a scenario where maybe they're not. They maybe to have to sneak into the back door of the playoffs. If they get in at all. Yeah, that's certainly a tough schedule. I got two more teams for you, sus if they end up into a Wilmington. Jeff Rereen's running a
terrific program over there. So I'm knocked out in the second round last year. That is actually an early exit from the playoffs for the Wildcast. I don't expect, you know, I would be a bit surprised not to see them make a quarter final run. It's just what just what Jeff Reen's and that staff is able to do with what they put in place there over the years. And then Newman Central Catholic had a new coach last year. They won three games late in the season to sneak into the playoffs. They lost
handily to Rock Ridge in the first round. That is a rematch here in week one. We'll talk about that more on Thursday, the Thursday episode. But I'm interested interested to see if Newman has made any progress here now that they're going into the second season under the leadership of LeMay. Okay, when we look at these two teams, you've you've made a point on Wilmington's.
Wilmington is currently right now, right on the fence between the two A and three eight fields, So if they were to make the playoffs and sneak into that two A field, completely agree with you. I feel like this is a team that last year had a few things that just didn't click for them, but this year they have a lot back in the trenches, and you have to like a Wilmington team that has an experienced group in the offensive and
defensive lines, they tend to dominate the line of scrimmage. When when you talk about a Wilmington team that was young last year and learning on the job and still was able to do what they did and now have a lot back like back coaching staff, they're gonna be ready to go. Oh yeah,
no question about it. And like I said, the only reason I didn't bring them into the discussion is that right now I have them projected as a three A team, but I could easily see a scenario that gets them back into two A. So, as for Sterley Newman got to correct you there, they're no longer multiplied, so if they did make the playoffs, it would clearly be in the one eight. There's no discussion. I forgot about that. So so there that they've they've dropped down to one they are.
They would be clearly a one A actually non multiplied. They're one of the smallest football programs in the state, so so yeah, they would go down to one A. All right, SEUs Well, let's go on to Class three A here where you know immediately the defending champion here, Icy Catholic. Let's go ahead and throw them out. They've been bumped up because of the multiplier. The place I want to start, sus is the number one seed last year, which was Princeton. They lost an incredible talent there and Tigana
help me out, Susan Davis. Teagan Davis, thank you there. I would blank it on the last name. Lost an incredible talent and Tiagan Davis. But this Princeton program has really put things together over the last four or five years. I really like this Tiger squad, Susan, Yeah, I do too. I mean, you know, Ryan Pearson's crew over there has kind of established a bit of a machine. I mean they've gone year to year to year where you look at them on paper you're like, well,
I don't know if they're good enough to make a run. They're over there dominating one and two A teams on a regular basis. But this this is a program now that I think you have to take seriously and you have to put them especially now that one of the obstacles has been removed from from their path in regards to possibly getting to a state championship game in ic Catholic.
They're very interesting. The somewhat fun thing about their schedule this year is you're going to get an opportunity to see how good Princeton is in the course of the regular season, even if the Three Rivers isn't that strong. With Peru Saint Bede leaving that league, you know, like fairly late in the game to go join the Chicagoland Prairie, it left a non conference vacancy in their
schedule. So in a week five they're hosting Sterling. So that makes for a really interesting kind of measuring stick game right in the middle of the year, to show us how good Princeton, you know, is in the grand scheme of things, because sometimes you look at Princeton and I'm not meaning to make this sound badly of the Three Rivers Conference, but it is a lot of smaller schools, so you don't know how Princeton really stacks up with three
AM four A because they're playing pretty much those those schools all year long. They've done a pretty good job in the playoffs the last couple of years. But I find that really fascinating about Princeton schedule this year. Elsewhere in three A, Byron, I mean, ye, Byron's always going to be in the conversation. You know, you Seneca was the in three A last year. You said two A, Wilmington probably are possibly coming back up to three A. Suits who else in this class do you like in the north side
at least? You know, the North side is kind of a hard thing to figure out because you've got so many teams that are kind of bubbling around that two A three A line a team that I'm interested in, But I just it's another one of these schedule discussions. Lombard Montini was so young last year but and got it kind of put together at the end of the season. But just a brutal schedule for them in the in the Catholic League, they would be non multiplied. They are a three A team if they find
their way into the field. But boy, it is a tough tough schedule for them, you know, once they get into conference play. I mean they have to play Nazareth and Providence Brother Rice is on their schedule. I mean, right, there is three real big problems and then they've got you know, other games on there too. If they somehow get to five and get themselves in and I think an argument can be made that that schedule would make them a contender for a four win at large team if we need them.
But it's it's an uphill climb. But three A is really really difficult right now because of the quality of the teams that sit both on the two A three A border and the three A four A border, So it becomes kind of really tricky there to matriculate who will actually be in this field in the long run. But I think your Princeton's and your Byron's are at the top of the conversation. Don't sleep on Stillman Valley. They are usually in there as well, but from there it'll just kind of be a hodgepodge,
you know. One of the teams that obviously has made a lot of noise over the last few years. And three A read Custer lost a ton of players to graduation, so I think the down swell is probably unfortunately coming for the Comets. Uh they have like they have a lot to figure out in regards to getting themselves back up to the level that they have been in the
last few years. On the south side of the bracket, we had a semi final game between Williamsville and Tolono Unity last year, two programs that you and I both really like. Sus Are they both expected to be in three A this year? Yeah, I think so. It's you know, when it comes right down to it, those schools are kind of stable enrollment wise. What you see with these teams that move around a lot, there are teams that maybe experience a tend to twenty student shift when we have the new
enrollment numbers. These schools don't tend to do that. They tend to stay kind of right where they are, which is right in the middle of the three A mix. So I would expect them to both be both both and three A and both factors as far as the season goes. Yeah. Tolono Unity in particular, Scott Hamilton has done a great job with that program over the years. I can't say that I personally know a lot about this roster, but I've heard through the grape vine that the Rockets are looking pretty solid.
Yeah, I've heard that as well. It's one of those things when you don't get a lot of opportunity to see them, you know, during the summer or anything line along those lines. But people I trust from down in that area have told me that they feel like this is this is one of the better Tolono units that they've had in a while. And to say that means that they've got a really good football team, because I've had a lot of good ones there. All right, Well, one more class and
then we're going to take a quick commercial break here. We'll go over to Class four A, where we have another instance of a defending state champion that will not be in this class, in Sacred Heart Griffin SEUs. There are so many ways we can go. For a anyone who's listened to us over the last few years has know how deep this class has become. Now I don't see that changing much, Sus. Where do you want to start here? Well, this is this is I think one of the most interesting situations
when you look at some of the enrollment shifts that we have had. Obviously we talked a little bit about IC Catholic in the three A class, they move up to four but what you have to look at in regards to this class as a whole, I actually think it's a little bit thinner this year because Sacred Heart Griffin moves up to five, Joliet Catholic moves up to five, Wheat in Saint Francis moves up to five. I think not Weed in St. Francis moved up as well. So there's there's that's what you're looking
at right there. You're looking at three teams that we were talking about as being elite in four A, including the defending state champions, all moving up to a different classification. Granted, you bring in a really good team in I see Catholic, But I think for me, when I was like going through trying to put together at top ten of this classification, I think this is now the thinnest class of And I would usually say that for five A
over and over and over again. But but I think that the construction of the class, with the teams that are leaving against the teams that are coming in, make this a little bit thinner than it's been in the past.
Some interesting additions to the class outside of Icy Catholic, this has been happening for a couple of years, but it looks more likely that Morris could skew into the four A classification, which is very interesting because Morris is a really good team, has a lot coming back on the offensive side of the football, and at four A I think they're extremely dangerous. And another team that has made some pretty decent playoff runs in five A and six A in the
past lost its multiplier in Rockford Boylan. So that's another team once again in the north side of that bracket that should make things interesting. Yeah, they will give a little more depth to that north side of the bract that will also include Richmond. Burden has been on a tremendous run once again is having to reload. But Mike Noel and that staff, I expect the Rockets to be in good shape. There was someone else I was looking through here.
I can't find him now, But I mean, at the end of the day, I feel like we're looking at probably IC Catholic as a favorite in the North SEUs. Yeah, I would agree, I think so, yeah, yeah, all right, Well how about on the south side of the bracket, Well, I think I mean, you have to go back and consider Rochester. You always have to consider Rochester. You know, I saw
them a couple of times live last year. They were they were a team that you know, had some young players in positions, look like they have a lot of talent. Uh, I think they're you know, as far
as you know. Whenever you're talking South for a Rochester starts that conversation, it's it's definitely kind of a weird situation down there with some of the teams that you're used to having in you know, and basically in the mix now either you know, with Sacred Heart Griffin going to five A. A team that I'm kind of sleeping that I think a lot of people are leaping on in for a is Mount Zion. There's an awful lot of talent on that
team. J C. Anderson, Bradon Tremble, a couple of guys that are at the wide receiver position that are special and are already drawing you know, Division One interest, despite the fact that Anderson Anderson's only a freshman or I mean a salphamore, I excuse me, Tremble a junior. So that's an interesting team down south that I think a lot of people aren't really talking about that probably will be down the line. You know, a pretty strong
look of a team there. Effingham is another team that I like. But from there it's kind of I think it's one of those years where like I said, I think four A is a little thin. I think some of the teams that are going to be in this mix, we don't know who they are yet. I think we're this is the best class. If you have an opportunity to break through, there's gonna be some some chances for you there to make some noise. All Right, we're gonna take a quick commercial
break. Stay with us here on the Friday Night Drive pocast. We have Class five A through eight A to break down for you. Schweiker, Gannison, Krazak, Rundio Proudley sponsors to Friday Night Drive. I'm Mike Krazak. If you've been injured, we are ready to take on the insurance company and get you to the end zone. We've recovered hundreds of millions of dollars for
our clients. Visit GA nassi n dot com. All right, welcome back to the show now, and we're gonna go over to Class five A suit and we'll start with the defending stage champion, Nazareth, which got into the postseason at five and four was a young squad ran all the way to the state title, beat Poria forty five forty four in a fun title game.
The Roadrunners looking pretty good SEUs. Yeah, I mean, it is hard to not look at this roster and be wowed by the level of underclassmate talent that excelled last year for them, freshman's southmores all over the field for them last year, and key positions. Uh lost a few things to graduation, but you know, it feels like they have ample replacements for those losses. So you know, a young quarterback and developing quarterback and Logan Malichuk. Just
a really good team just in general. You know, they they too are another school that you know, has that Catholic League schedule in front of them. Might be a situation where their record might have a few losses on that because I mean, just because of the quality of teams that they play all year long. But they're good enough that even though they're one of the smaller Chicago Catholic League teams, I think they could still put together a pretty good
record with the with the talent base that they have coming back. But it's hard to say that too when you look at their schedule and they play brother Rice, you know, they play Icy Catholic, they play York. I mean this is this is a loaded schedule. So I mean you're going Kankakee to start week one, you got Lamont week two, marriage week three. They don't have Lamont and a week two anymore. No, what happened there?
That's uh no, it's York. Now, Oh it's York. Okay, yeah, no, that's uh that that arrangement ended after last season, so they don't play Lamout a week two. Ah okay, yep, yep. So that's that's what's going on here. I clicked on the wrong preview. I'm looking at that schedule and Kankakee and Lamont and you said that, all right, that makes more sense. Yeah, so no, that's uh That's basically what it comes down to is that, you know, they're very
good. They're very good, but it could be conceivably, once again that they could enter the postseason, you know, with a eleven seed by their name or something along those lines, and everybody knows they're not the eleventh seed, but the way that the system works, you know, they could be a very they could potentially end up with a double digit seed with that schedule, I could also see them, you know, putting together a strong season on the end of the ledger, you know, within eight and one or
something like that. But logic seems to dictate that they'll probably they'll be in the playoffs, but probably as a fairly low seed. Who else in the five A potential North bracket do you like because I'm I means obviously, as we just talked about, is a pretty heavy faret. I feel like Sterling. I mean, it's it's a solid program. Can they score? You know, you look at the usual suspects you know that are usually around here,
and you got Sterling, you got Sickamore. And then then it becomes a geography question, you know, like what side of the bracket does Joliet Catholic end up on? Yeah? You know it like they've been on both sides in recent years and now they're in five A sou. The geography changes for each class, but the break line four or five A typically ends up being somewhere around Joliet, So I mean, which side are they going to
end up on? And then my next question in the North bracket is something that you can probably make a better answer to you than I can at this point, because I've heard varying reports on this team. You're used to them in six A. Prayer Ridge is going to be a five A team this year. You know, there's a lot of people that question whether or not they have enough to be a serious contender after what they lost. But I've also heard that they have, you know a lot of talents still on that
roster. So I mean answering the prayer Ridge question is going to be pretty interesting. And that's that's to me speaks to not only what's going on in their program, but also that I think the Fox Valley is gonna be wild
this year. The Fox Valley is going to be wild this year. So what we've seen in recent years when it comes to the Fox Valley Conference and particularly two district rivals in Prairie Ridge and Carry Grow, because they've kind of been trading back and forth, the more dominant one one of those have been in the six A title game well every year since twenty seventeen. Prairie Ridge
in five A is interesting. You're losing Tyler Vasey, who was just incredible for a Prairie Ridge on the way to the six a title game at quarterback last year running the triple option offense. I have questions about that, but the thing is, they usually find athletes to run the triple option, and what a lot of times it comes down to is the trenches. And everything I'm getting out of Prairie Ridge is that they feel their offensive and defensiveligned are
some of the best that they've had in a while. So if that is indeed the case, I expect the Wolves to be in contention again. Yeah, I'll put my chips on that scenario. That's I mean, that's one of those programs that you're gonna have to twist my arm pretty hard and show me lots of evidence before I don't consider them in the mix for whatever classification they end up in. So yeah, that's that kind of confirms what I've
heard from some people, but I've heard some conflicting reports. So it's interesting to see what's going on with them as we go along here. But once again, I think I've just mentioned it before. I think the depth in the Fox Valley Conference is going to lead to some interesting results this year. So you know, I don't think we have a locked in, sort of stacked in one two three four in this conference. I think there's going to be some barnburners on a weekly basis. No, we'll talk with Joe Stevenson
more about the Fox Valley on Thursday. But I can tell y'all hand like he thinks Crystal Lake Central could win that that conference, and they certainly have a lot of talent. It's just when you talk about you kind of look at it. Over the last four or five years, even a little further back than that, it's been Prairie Ridge, Carrey Girl, Huntley and Jacobs, and then kind of a fifth team rotates in there, whether that's Crystal
Lake South, they're Central. Sometimes it's depend McHenry. Joe Stevenson feeling really good about Central Christa Lake Central. We'll talk to him about that on Thursday. Sus Another team I want to mentioned, and Joe Stevenson actually wrote about their freshman starting quarterback and Trey Taylor Carmel seven win team. I don't know exactly where they're going to be this year, but I gotta tell you, I'm intrigued by a freshman quarterback who already has seven Division one offers. Well,
you know this is this is kind of my pet team. This year. I mean one of the I ranked them in my top ten. I'm pretty comfortable that they are going to be pretty good. I sound like a broken record with these Catholic schedules though. I mean they open up non con with Creetmoni in Lake Forrest, which you know that that's two challenging games in season. They've got Mount in conference season, They've got Mount Carmel in Providence,
and along with some other teams that are certainly capable. So if Carmel punches their ticket, I think they're extremely dangerous, especially in this five Ay feel it's just getting that ticket punch that maybe The challenge on the south side of the bracket five A seems to me sus just about as hard as it usually is. Two teams that stand out. You'll get to see Peoria here week one, right, Uh no, I don't. I don't get to see Pory. I think they have an intriguing matchup with Rochester, but I'm
not going to that. Oh no, you're not. Okay? Yeah, Well, anyway, so two teams that stood up Peoria. The question is always gonna be they're gonna score a lot of points. Can they stop anyone? And Cank of Key going to be good defensively? Can they score? Well? Once again, we've got another enrollment snap who there. Cake is not clearly a six eight team. So they've been a five A team for
like a decade. Well, if you've if I know you're from this area, but if you've seen the amount of construction that they put on Kanky High School, you would understand the enrollment increases that have been going on over there over the last five years. Significant enrollment increase at that school over the last
two enrollment period, no idea. I can't really explain it. But if you were to take a list and look at who had the largest increases over the last two years from enrollment, he would be in the top five of that list of statewide in schools. So they are clearly a six A. So a lot of the discussions, okay, so I'm going to rip them out of the five A South bracket here, which makes it even more difficult to discuss this one. I mean series, I mean you mentioned Highland earlier,
Centralia. I don't know, man, what do you think here? Well that once again, I think this is where you get into the geography argument. I was talking to some coaches recently about why we should seed one to thirty two and five A and four A are kind of my pet projects towards that, because we have so many schools that you would consider when looking at a map that they should be in a north bracket, but in reality, when you look at you know where five A is on the map and
where the schools are actually located. A lot of teams that you would strongly consider north end up in the South bracket and end up creating a lot of long trips which supposedly one to sixteen eliminates but or at least lessons. And last year we had some ridiculous road trips in five A first round because the concentration of the good teams in five A is largely in the northern portion of
the state. That and then I mean, now you've got Sacred Heart Griffin in there to feel some of that void in five A since they moved up from four A. But I'll be honest when I look at that and say, okay, give me the top five programs in five A in the South, I'm going to struggle to do it in a way that, like I feel like there are teams that are actually if the brackets weren't North and South with legitimate threats to winning a state championship, Like I have a hard time
coming up with five or six of them. You know, I think Mohammed Seymour will still be pretty good. I think they've established themselves now. I think they've got enough back to where they're going to be a fairly solid team. But after you know, Peoria and Sacred Heart Griffin, it's kind of rolling dice in regards to, you know, what teams that are like really operationalist. I know there are some good teams down there, but in terms of teams that I think can make a run, there's not a lot of
them. No, I agree with you. So we're gonna go ahead and move on to Class six A, and we're just gonna go ahead and start with the Saint Louis fifty seven to seven win over Prairie Region the state title game last year. There's no doubt about it. So's the Saint Louis is the favorite once again. I'll go ahead and spoil it. In the Friday Night Drive Power rankings are top twenty five, much like they were last year, sitting there at the top spot. Yeah, I mean they have questions
there obviously are questions. You can't lose the quality of offensive line play that they had last year and the largest, the largest offensive line that I've ever
seen it. I mean, it's just it was incredible, and it was one of those things where you know you would watch that and if maybe they're passing attack wasn't working, you knew that eventually all they had to do was put the plow down and run people over and in the in there three times that I saw them last year, Eventually they got there, and eventually that was it was just too much for anybody at the high school level to try to deal with an incredible offensive line. You know, you can't lose that
much talent and expect everything to go off without a hitch. However, all five offensive lineman that's guarded in the state championship game, including Miles McVeigh and Paris Patterson now in college. Yeah, so it's just it's just one of those things you just can't expect it to go off of it. There's but there's still so much talent on that roster. I mean, it is,
it's pretty incredible. As long as they get adequate offensive line play. I just have a hard time believing that, you know, there's anybody in this classification that can bridge the gap of the talent that these guys have on the defensive side of the ball, particularly in the secondary and the linebacking group. Uh, you know, the skill positions are still absolutely loaded, you know. You know Pops battles back at quarterback, Tayren Martin in the backfield.
This is just this is a program that yeah, like no, absolutely, yeah. I think this is a team you know we're used to. I mean and trust me, they're still going to score a lot of points, but I think this is an offense at it's gonna be able to pound the football at teams a little bit more than we maybe we've seen in the last
couple of years. Well, the one thing about Martin that I that I recognized last year when you see him live when they did go into those situations such a smart runner as a southamar last year, just utilizing the people in front of him to give him more opportunity to run. It's always great when you when you get when you're getting six or seven yards before anybody touches you.
But it kind of takes a skillful running back to understand how to set up blocks down the field, and he's already got that in his bag of tricks. He knows how to do that. So as long as he Saint Louis has some good line, you know, some solid linement out in front of him, Martin will help those guys. I mean he has that ability. Sounds weird to say that about such a young runner, but he's yeah,
yeah, yeah, he's a skilled individual. I mean I saw him in that LaMotte game and I watched a couple of series from behind the goal post because I was curious as to how it looked lining up down field, and and he was just doing an incredible job of, you know, letting the lineman lead running to the block, using it to get space, create extra yardage for himself. He's a special kid. I really enjoy watching him
play. And he's lifted. At least last year, going into that title game, they had him listed at five eight, one hundred and ninety pounds. He's I would't want to say, a big kid, yeah, but he's just well built one hundred and ninety pounds. Off more running back, I mean, he he has speed. He can run over you. I think that offense and between him and pop Battle and they had a pretty young
receiving corps last year. It's gonna be a lot of fun. Yeah, I mean, like I said, this is a this is an interesting team. I'm really really really interested to see what happens on Saturday Night. We'll get into that a little bit more in our next podcast, but opening with Mount Carmel is pretty fascinating. And once again, this is a team that just doesn't fool around when they schedule, so we're gonna have ample opportunity to
see what they can do against elite programs. They're going to Texas this year, they're playing Saint Francis out of Baltimore, Maryland. Again, this is just this is a This is a fantastic program and the expected I set the expectations for them pretty high and they usually need it, so that's uh. I'm just interested to see how they put it all together. Again, six A, even if we take Prairie Ridge out and put them into five A two six A is looking like a loaded class this year. Yeah, it
very well could be. I mean, you have a lot of kind of interesting teams that I think could be really really good, and that's that makes it kind of fun. I mean, the one thing that I noticed right away that a lot of people, you know, kind of lost in the shuffle. We were talking about enrollment spikes, Well one of the bigger enrollment drops was Saint Rita, So they are not They're clearly a six A program now, so when you look at that, that adds another kind of really
strong program into that six A mix. New coach with Martin Hopkins. But I think they have a lot of talents still there, so I think they have to be brought into this conversation pretty quickly. I really liked what I saw from Lake Zurich last year. I think they're probably gonna end up in the six A field based on their enrollment number, So they're interesting. Lamont another team that is going through a coaching change type of situation, but a
lot of unity in that program. They hire an assistant to replace, you know, Brett Cooey, and so I don't really think there's gonna be a lot of change in that program. And they have a lot coming back, especially in the trenches. So I think we're going to see a lot of what we always see from Lamont, good solid defense. They will miss Peyton Solomon at the quarterback position. But I still expect this team to be a major player as the season goes along. Yet another coaching change of note in
the Chicago Public League with Chicago Simeon. So there's just a lot of interesting things that we have to watch before we can figure this all out. And we mentioned it a little bit. Five A Knake, another team with a coaching change, probably a little bit of philosophy philosophy differences going on there. So usual suspects here, but a lot of questions to be answered inside the
class. And there's a lot of teams you didn't even mention here. And first off, I'm gonna confirm this before I two teams, let's see where they end up this year, saying Ignatious and Niles Notre Dames. Who's are they looking at six A or were they bumped up? Saying Ignatious now faces the multiplier. They climbed all the way to eight. That's gonna be tough for saying Ignatious, Just why get back down? I like that team,
but that's that's a tough draw. Nile's Notre Dame is still in six, okay, So and then another their wrinkle with the bubble between five and six is Providence sits right on the line between five and six, currently the smallest team in the projected six A field. So that's another team that's added to
this mix that we haven't talked about yet. We could easily be having this conversation about Providence in five A as well, a team that kind of broke out last year, lost some key pieces in graduation, but I was really impressed with what I saw for them a limited time this summer. This does
not look like a flute from Providence. I think they're going to be heard from a couple more teams will go through the FEC one more time here since again an FBC team has been the North representative going back to twenty seventeen. Prairie Ridge out of the looking to be in five A. We mentioned Chris Lake Central is a team that I think and makes a run there for the FBC. Kerry Grove Heady, who decade long playoff streak snap last season.
I fully expect the Trojans to bounce back and be in this conversation. And then Sue's about Kenwood. What do you think of Kenwood? You know that's another I got you again, Kyle, Damn. You know so that's they're a seven eight program now, so when you talk about that in a minute, Yeah, how about that was the last team I was going to before I moved over to seven eight. So let's start with Kenwood because I tell you I like them. Yeah, it's hard not to. I mean,
it's it's a very interesting situation with them. You know who they added, you know, be a transferred to an already talented team. Uh makes me just really really you know, I'm interested. I'll just put it that way. I'm just very interested in what I'm gonna see because you know, it's hard to not look at the top end talent of that roster and think, you know this, this is a potential team that can make a really really deep run in in the big classifications. So, uh, it's they have
they have a lot of talent putting it all together. Adding I Marian Stewart from Bowling Brook, adding Ethan Middleton to the backfield mix. That's that's two huge talented offensive players that they added to a mix that was already pretty good to begin with. You know, That's that's one of those things where I look at it and say, is there enough footballs to go around here? That's a genuine concern. So I can't recall the quarterback's name, but he's
also back from them, had an injury issue last year. But I liked what I saw from him early in the year. I believe it was Week two when I saw them live and he was still in their lineup. They just I think this is a team that is going to be fascinating to watch over the course of the season. Open the season with a tremendous matchup for them to see measuring stick to see exactly how good they are with Lincoln Way East. But they're a fun team. I think the seven A is a
loaded class. I couldn't help myself from ranking them in my top ten, which kind of surprises me. All right, sus While we are very intrigued with ken Wood seven A as, I was just saying, a lot of good teams in here. Who are some of the favorites? You think, well, I think you have to start with the defending state championship from Mount Carmel. Obviously, you know, pretty good program, Yeah, pretty good. They lost some key pieces Lannie Dowling, obviously a big loss to their
offense. But you know, when I didn't see them this summer. They looked really, really proficient, you know it on both sides of the football, particularly on the defensive side of the ball. You know, I do not think they're going to take a dramatic step back. Another fascinating Week one matchup, you know, obviously playing East St. Louis down at I SU, but you know, getting on that train real early and finding out what they're about. So, h really really solid team. So I expect them
to kind of, you know, be the favorite. I won't slap the co favorite label on this team, but I really really like them a lot. I like what Batavia has coming back. I think this is a really sound program that doesn't make a lot of mistakes. I think they're going to be pretty dangerous, uh in the in the grand scheme of things. So you know, real good team there. So you know, those two I think are the clear ones, and then I think we've got a whole bunch
of teams after that that you can enter into the conversation as threats. And that's what makes this class I think the deepest. To be honest with you, it was the easiest one to come up with ten candidates four also the easiest one to list another six or seven teams that I thought are capable of being ranked. So a lot of depth in seven eight. Yeah, just just in the Duquene Conference alone. I mean you're looking at weedon North, a seven eight playoff team a year ago, Saint Charles North, Uh Jane,
where does Geneva fall? SEUs? Geneva is a six A program most likely. Okay, so I mean going back to six A. Geneva is a team that I'm intrigued in this year. SEUs. You just went garble on me. Okay, yeah, sorry, yeah, all right, coming back down in three two one. Yeah, I mean we're looking at the Duquene Conference Batavia, Uh, weed and North in the playoffs last year.
We didn't weed in North, Saint Charles North in the playoffs last here, the Duquee Conference is going to have a factor in these upper classes once against its Yeah, it really does look that way. And it's another one of those leagues where it looks like there's gonna be some really good football teams that don't get to five victories. Those programs have to be careful in the non conference schedule, and some of them, to be Frank, haven't been.
So it's it's almost it's almost it's almost a situation where you feel like you have to get out of the box too and oh to give yourself a chance to get you know, the best chance to get to the playoffs. So, I mean, and then when you look at these non conference games, it's like Saint Charles North is playing Palatine and Creepmone I was I was just going to ask you, does Saint Charles North have the most difficult schedule in
the state. I think that case can easily be made. I mean, I mean it's it's a top five or there's there's no doubt in my mind there's a top five. Right, I'll run through the first five week for our listeners, Palatine, Creepmone Weed and North butvia Wheat in Warrenville's South. I'm not saying that the North Stars can't can't perform well with those five games, but man is at tough. Yeah, I mean, it's it's it's
brutal. I mean, that's but that's what I'm saying. I mean, you've got every one of these teams that are that I expect to be in the mix at the end of the season has at least one extraordinarily difficult non conference game if not too. I mean Geneva's playing Lamont, Wheat North is playing Downers, Grow South and Lockport, but Tavia has Lincoln Weight East and
week two Weet Warrenville South has Sinean and Lions. So it's just like every one of these teams has has obstacles just to get to the five hundred mark through two weeks and then they have to enter their conference schedule where they're beating up on each other. So I mean, the Duke came this year, I'm certain is going to produce at least one team that we're looking at at the end of the year as going how did they not make the playoffs?
And it's this schedule that will be the reason for that. Is there any team that we haven't mentioned so far that we would look like idiots for not mentioning. I don't know if you can go as far as to say idiots, because like I said, I think it's an open group, A couple of mid suburban teams Hersey and Prospect. I have my eye on kind of a wild card, a program that a lot of people do not talk about. A lot is Quincy out of the Western Big Six. You know,
a lot of underclassmen contributors. Last year. Sophomore quarterback Brandon Little put up monster numbers in the playoffs last year before they were finally ousted by Lamont. Very talented team and just a team that I finally just decided I'm going to put on my radar and watch what they do, even though I wonder how they're doing it. I think he's still got to keep an eye on Yorkville. This is a program and a very tough conference as well, but they
have just figured out a blue to get it things done. They have to replace quite a bit, but they still have some key people in some key places. I still like Yorkville quite a bit. You mentioned all four teams that I was thinking about, Hersey Prospect, Quincy and then Yorkville there. So if we look like idiots, it won't be because of you SEUs. At least we can say that one time, I say one time, we
will. We can say that. All right, let's wrap this up with aid A and we're just you're you gotta start with the two team that played in last last year state championship game in Loyal and Lincoln Way East, SUSY. There are two programs that if we got to Bloomington, I wouldn't be surprised to see a rematch, you know, I wouldn't either. The thing that kind of always seems to astonish me about Lincoln Way East, I feel
like they lose really valuable players to graduation. It doesn't go and then I go back and they still have like ten impact guys on the roster, and I don't know how they keep doing that, but that that's just the I guess that's what this program is now. So and that was what kind of wowed me about them when I went out there. I was like, still got Braden tissue at the quarterback position, still got a really good defensive line group led by you know, highly recruited kid No Roorke, David Wutsky,
an experienced secondary. Just a lot of interesting pieces that they still have in place. And this is a program that if they get their running back situation figured out fairly early in the season. They lost both of the guys that were the primary ball carriers for them for graduation. And this team likes to run the football. I really like Junior's ion gist, but he still hasn't proven it on the varsity level. So but if they get that sorted out.
I think this team is probably better than it is last year, and that's saying a lot. A team that I want to make sure to mention in eight as Palatine. You look at running back Dominic Ball. On the other side, you got Jalen Williams, who I've gotta be two dozen Division one offers now defensive end junior there. I really liked what I saw from Palatine last year a lot coming back here. You know, you got eleven
players back. I think four of them. If I remember reading the Dick Quagliano and The Daily Herald, who we partner with put together that conference preview, I'm pretty sure they have four Division one commits already on Palotine. It's gonna be a really good squad. Well. I mean I often refer to a lot of the teams that I see, you know, during the offseason, I develop a little bit of a crush on the team just in regards to how much I liked them, and Palatine definitely qualifies on that grounds.
Really really like these guys. I got an introduction to them in a playoff game last year where they came down and pretty much man handled what I thought was a pretty good Manuka team, and boy, oh boy, I think this team has quite a bit h You know, I when I ranked them in my top ten, I wanted to rank them higher and I had them ranked third. So that's that basically tells you how how good I think they can be. On the other side of that conference, I will say,
don't sleep on Barrington. It was a program. It's a program that's obviously run very well. Joe Sanchez has done a nice job over there. They missed the playoffs last year at four and five, but they only had one kid back from twenty twenty one on that twenty twenty two team. That's not the case this year, Barrington with a lot coming back, I expect the Broncos to have a big bounce back this season. Yeah, and it's one of those teams that like, if you're if you're not careful, you can
look at that schedule again and say, oh geez. But hopefully for them that bounce back is accurate. Because if I had to, we were talking about the top five most difficult schedules that you have out there. I think I can make an argument that Barrington belongs on that list too. I mean,
if you look at their non con. The only thing that might save them is maybe their actual league isn't as deep as it's been in the past, because if it was, then you've got a problem, because I mean, you open the season with Warren prospect Glenn brook South in your first three nikes. I mean, that's just your non con and you have to deal
with with, you know, Palatine for one inside your league. So right there are four legitimate top twenty five teams on your schedule, so you're not going to be given a lot of luxury to uh, you know, kind of ease yourself back into being a playoff caliber team. They don't have any breaks on the schedule. Did you just know all for their first four weeks opponents without looking at it? Maybe that's that's sick, I thought, not
so for our listeners. Susan and I are recording this and we can actually see each other here, and I was pretty certain that he wasn't looking at his screen as he just spouted off the first four games for Barrington Football. And that is why you listen to this podcast, not for me, but because he is just an incredible fountain of information. See if there are more
teams in eight A that we haven't even talked about. You just mentioned one of them that Barrington's playing early Warren, I mean, another really good program. You know, Warren kind of lies up in the weeds up there on the northern Illinois border. See, you never quite know exactly what's going on for them, but I've heard a lot of you know, talk about them in regards to they didn't do as well as they expected they were going to do last year, and they're angry. So an angry Warren team I wouldn't
like my odds against them. Just has really established themselves as a defensive powerhouse over the past few years, and if they can get their offense going to that level, this is an extraordinarily dangerous team too. When I was talking about being having it kind of difficult to try to stack these top teams in this class, you know, figuring out where to place Warren that isn't in the top five, it felt like a mistake to me. So you know, it's just I mean, I expect quite a bit from them as well
any other teams in eight A you want to touch on. You know, I think I'd be remissed if I don't mention York kind of another breakthrough season last year for them. I think they they will not take a violent step back, but you know, I kind of say that with a caveats. You know, the West Suburban such a deep conference again, uh, you know, with so many good teams in there. York another team that he needs to be mentioned here, Glenbard West Lions has kind of re emerged as
a really strong program, a team of it. We haven't even mentioned the DVC yet, have we. No, we haven't. I was gonna get there next. But you know, it's it's basically, you know, there's just there's a lot of teams in here that you could make a case for, you know, in the top seven or eight teams in this classification. And the d Page Valley, like you just mentioned, there's another very interesting
scenario. I think both Niqua Valley and Naperville North belong in this conversation, you know, just in regards to you know, what they have coming back. I really liked what I saw from Niqua Valley this summer. I just felt like every time I was watching them, I saw something good. It's just like that's it's really kind of an interesting churn that goes there. Real kind of a not so much fun for the people that are involved in it.
But the fact the two Page Valley is now crossing over with the Southwest Suburban leads to some really fascinating games in week three of this season. Now, those two Page Valley teams don't have to go to Ohio to fill their schedule out, but I gotta say I'm really looking forward an Equa Valley and link Away East and week three. There are several other interesting games because of
that crossover arrangement. But so many good teams in this classification. I reluctantly call teams sleepers in this division, but I could probably go twenty deep, to be honest with you, with teams that I think could have pretty good years, but their schedules are so rugged that I could also see scenarios where some of those teams might not even make the playoffs. Yeah, I absolutely agree with you there. All Right, Well, we have made it to
the end of preseason. Suits this is kind of the last piece of content we put together before we really really shift our focus completely to Week one. Man, We've made it. Football is here. Yeah. I saw a tweet this morning from Lincoln Way East that said two more sleeps and I was like, wow, that's true, Like that's excellent. I'm very excited about that. So yeah, so about you know a little under fifty hours here, I will be at a high school football game. So as a result,
I will be officially in my happy place. Yeah. Absolutely. Thank you everyone who's followed along during the preseason and ready for the twenty twenty three season. We can't wait to share the experience with you. Join us live on Friday night at Friday Night Drive dot com from eight to eleven pm. Will be live on YouTube, streaming all your week one information. Stick to Friday Night Drive dot com. You can follow us on Twitter at f and
Drive. You can find us on Facebook and Instagram and TikTok. John Sally getting that going for us search for Friday Night Drive, Jake Barrowson, and Josh Wilkie. You will be along with you later this week to do a Western suburb podcast and then Sus and I will be joined by Michael Rojak and Joe Stevenson and we get you set for week one. Everyone. Thank you once again, it's been a fun time getting ready for this season. We're we can't wait, We can't wait for Thursday night and Friday Night. It's
gonna be a fun time. Schweiker Gannison, Krazik Rundio Pradley sponsors to Friday Night Drive. I'm Mike Krazak. If you've been injured, we are ready to take on the insurance company and get you to the end zone. We've recovered hundreds of millions of dollars for our clients. Visit GA Nassi n dot com.