Schweiker, Gannison, Krasak, Roundio Fridley 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 Nassim dot com. What's up everyone, and welcome back to the Friday Night Drive Podcast. I am Kyle Neighbors along with my co host Steve Susy, here to get you ready for week
three here across northern Illinois and throughout the state. Suits we get the first weekend of widespread conference games around the state. It's always a fun weekend. It gives us a lot more information after these two weeks of non conference games. Though. Yeah, I love the non conference portion of the schedule because it, I mean, it provides a lot of different matchups that you don't
ordinarily get. But the conference schedule, I don't want to say it's more predictable, but it's more what you're used to seeing, and it definitely it sets off alarm bells a little bit easier. If you see a score that's out of line with what you're used to. If that makes any sense, it's it definitely you have more past evidence to go on on how these things should go. So when they don't, you know, it tells you teams that are emerging, teams that maybe are are are playing better than you might
have expected them to. It's it's just a lot of fun to kind of sort all those things out. Sounds like that might be Tucker with some thoughts on the first weekend of conference games, and yet it's looking like it's gonna be a beautiful weekend for football around the state. So we got to jump into this here with Joe Stevenson right away. We want to get into the Fox Valley Conference. I'm gonna bring Joe in. Joe covers the McHenry County
area for Friday Night Vibe and the Northwest. Harold, Joe, how you doing. I'm doing all right, doing all right, and I've I've learned. I learned a lesson in the first two weeks of the season. I mentioned this to you last week. Kyle or a wise man you know, once said something to the effect of, you know, you got to go
with tradition and stick with tradition. That was the guy that we're talking to sus and I should have listened to him because we're we're Terry Grovn Prairie Ridge after two weeks, right on top of the Fox Mailer conference where they usually are, and and a couple of the teams that I thought might be there are not there. So I bowed to you, Sus. I bowed to
your knowledge. It's it's been an interesting journey to get through, to get through those first two weeks though, Joe, because you know, let's start with the Prairie Ridge and Kerry Grove aspect of this year, because you know, these are the two teams we've talked about the d the District one fifty five U school. Two of the four schools there have been in every state title game going back to what, yeah, twenty sixteen in Class six A, and we've kind of seen them for the most part, kind of trade
on and off. You know, you get one of them, they have a they get to the state championship game, and then they have a you know, they graduate that senior class and then carry let's say it's Prayer Ridge and then carry Grove back the next year. But this year, I think maybe for the first time since I came in here where even though you know Carry Grove or I'm sorry, prayer Ridge graduated a ton off that year, they seemed pretty confident that they had a chance to be really good. We've
seen that through first two weeks. Carry Grove after missing the playoffs last year for the first time and Forever is looking to be back to it. It's it's old self. And I think through two weeks these are two really evenly matched teams in prayer Ridge and carry Grove. I can't wait to see them battle it out. Yeah, that's coming up here in a couple of weeks, Week five, that will be the big matchup. And yeah, I
agree with you. You know, Praie Ridge. I saw them last week and it was fourteen zero in the second quarter and Chris like south throwing the ball like had three forty yard pass plays and looked really good. And I'm kind of at the point in the game where I'm thinking, you know, if pray Ridge doesn't get a touchdown, do something here, it could this
might get ugly. Well it didn't. They pray Ridge came back and scored, got a stop, scored, got another stop, went through the hook and lateral play that and gets Luke Vanderweel gets pushed out of bounds with point
two seconds, so they kick a field goal. This is a game that they were, you know, trailing fourteen nothing, all of a sudden they going at halftime, They're up seventeen fourteen and scored all the points in the second half, scored thirty eight un answered points and beat what I still think is a pretty good Chris Like South team thirty eight to fourteen. So, you know, an impressive performance by Prai Ridge. I have seen Carrie Girl
yet, but but that was a really there's a really quality win. To go over to Chrystal Lakes Central and uh and they I think Trojan's led them away and that game came up with a big stop late in the game and won that seventeen fourteen. Yeah, so you you joined us at halftime from your game on Friday Live with Friday Night Drive, which by the way, you can win us every Friday Night Jimmy musually I host that live at Friday Night Drive dot com. You can also find that on YouTube in any of
shall locals websites. You joined us at halftime of that game, and yeah, Prairie Ridge had just rallied to take a seventeen fourteen lead. I did not expect that game to end up being thirty eight fourteen. Chrystal Lake. South lost the receiver Michael Proko's and wide receiver Nolan Gorkin in the second half of that games. Joe, you have any update, you know, if those guys I have a chance of play. I have a feeling they're not going to play, just because of how they looked at the at the end
of the game. I wasn't able to get any information on that. I don't they're going to be able to play. I know Procos had an ice pack on his left ankle. Gorkin ran into a defender. They were both going, you know, both kind of going after the ball. The officials ruled incidental contacts. South thought there should have been a penalty. I'm not sure. You know, they ran together and he it looked like maybe a knee on him. So it looks like they're without those two. Colton Hess
looked really good and Sasha Summers is another Heshian. Summers are the two kids that are both six five and nicegets. Colton Hess had a really nice game. It's like seven for one oh five and both of their touchdowns the other night. But yeah, they're gonna miss Procos. Procos seemed to be that guy that Kayden Casamino could could lean on when it was third down they needed to get one, you know, they get him running across the middle and
get a little yards after the catch. Yeah, I had a feeling those two guys. Are you had at least expected both of those guys to be out this week or are leaning that way? When I looked at your pick that you are responsible for when you do our capsules for the mckenrick County area each week, and I saw that you had picked Burlington Central this week at Crystal Lakes South. So I gotta had a feeling. But how do you
feel about this Burlington Central team after two weeks? Yeah? You know, Burlington Central looked really good last week in a win over Denny Crown forty one to six. Jackson Alcorn, the quarterback, through had his best varsity game. He started last year as well, but he threw for three hundred yards and five touchdowns. They got a lot of different guys that throw to Brady
Gilroy, Michael Person, Caden West. Some of those guys they throw to and they got a lot of that's a team with a lot of players back from I don't think they graduated a whole lot. They a lot of people back from last year and almost a playoff team last year at four and five. So the Rockets, you know, looking looking pretty good. You know, I'll where around McHenry County. We haven't hit on Huntley yet. Tonight you get to see Richmond Burden and a Thursday match up against Marengo. What
other news and notes do you have for us? Yeah, well, you know what strikes me from last week is, you know, we didn't know much at all about Milwaukee Academy of Science, where Marion Central, who we've been touting as as a team that could be a force in two A if it can reach the postseason, went up there to play and you know, you see Milwaukee Academy of Science and you're kind of thinking they're probably gonna win that game, and it wound up being a really exciting game, forty six
to thirty nine. Marion Central loses. So now the Hurricanes are oh and two, and now they go to the Chicagoland Christian Conference, which you know should be a much better, much conference, much more conducive to the Hurricanes making the playoffs than their former conference, the CCL E SCC and with the crossovers and stuff that got there. But man, you know, Marian's margin
of error now is virtually nil. You know, you they're going to really have to play some some great football these last seven weeks to get to five wins and get in. You know, Wheaton Academy is a really strong or four A team, and you know, I think the Hope Academy was really good last year. Only a one eight team, but you know, and then there's a couple other teams out there that that Marion's gonna have to worry about. So the Hurricanes they're gonna have to They're gonna have to really start
playing well. Yeah, szus. Marian Central is called going down for a Saturday matchup this week against Bishop McNamara down in Kankakee. You're actually gonna go
over and uh cover that game for Friday Night Drive. If Mary and Central was to lose that game and fall to oh and three at that point, I know, you feel like at the last time we had talked after they had fallen to Owen that you're like, hey, I still think they can get there if they follow too and three this weekend, you you changing changing
your thought process there? Well, I would definitely be changing my thought process, and that's that has something to do with the fact that I think that that would be, in my estimation, a pretty bad loss to Bishop McNamara, who is pretty young and is not the Bishop McNamara of old. They've they've they've already lost the LEO. They've really scuffled to beat a Hersher team
that went one in eight last year last week. So if Marian Center Catholic were to lose that game to Bishop McNamara, that I think that would almost almost eliminate them from consideration because they have several games on their schedule of teams that I think are of a significantly higher caliber than Bishop McNamara's at this point
in time. Let's keep in mind, though, you know, the week one loss Richmond Burton is a really good, really good for a team and we just we just didn't know I guess how good Milwaukee Academy of Science is or you know. So I'm not saying those are terrible losses, but it just does it really does make Marion just doesn't have a lot of room for error. I think the thing that's concerning for me is throe of those for a two games. And yeah, okay, so Milwaukee, you know that
week two lost maybe is better than we anticipated. They're really struggling to get any stops on defense, right right, Yeah, two games have given up eighty seven points. And this was kind of the trend last year that they really hope that they'd be a better defensive team this year. Right, all right, Joe, you got anything else for us? How about uh, you know, we talked about Carry Grove and Prairie Ridge. I do want to make sure we hit on Huntley though. You got a good game against
Jacobs this week, Yes, I do. That was a tough one for me to pick, because you know, Huntley has Huntley beat mckinry last week, had had a nice comeback win over chrystlike Central on on the in the opener, and has played some pretty good offense and defense. And I'm really looking forward to that Jacob's and Jacob's defense. Two hundred Okay, it's two hundred and sixty three total yards and thirteen points allowed in two games. So
I think this is a really intriguing game. I think this is probably the best game in the FBC this week, and I'm really looking forward to seeing those two teams. Yeah, I agree with you, Joe. All right, well, everyone make sure you followed Joe on Twitter at nw H Underscore, Joe Preps on. You can find all of Joe's work at Friday Night Drive dot com and nw Harald dot com. Joe, thanks for joining us this morning. Oh you betman. All right, We're gonna take a quick
commercial break everyone, and then we'll be back. Steve Susy and I will break down the week three games to watch. This is State Representative Steve Reich and I'm happy to sponsor this year's Friday Night Drive. There will be plenty of time for politics down the road, but for now, let's enjoy some high school football. Whichever school you follow, give him your support. All
right, welcome back to the Friday Night Drive podcast. Now, Steve Susy and I want to jump into the Week three slate where we got twenty three games this week with two and ozo teams, and we want to start in the Catholic League. Michael Dwojack is not able to join us this week. Michael got married last week and is enjoying a honeymoon. So congrats to Michael and look forward to having him back next week. But for now, we'll
do our best suits to break down the Catholic League in his stead. We'll start with Saint Rita and Joliet Catholic in a matchup with two and oh teams. You got to see Joliet Catholic with their win over Providence last Friday night. This is an intriguing matchup to me on multiple levels. Yeah, certainly is you're looking at two teams that you know have both come out with a
lot of success. The one thing that really stood out to me last week in enjoy A Catholic's win over Providence is their defense is really really strong, paced by a defensive line that just can cause a lot of problems. And to be frank, I mean Saint red has played pretty solid programs to start the season. I don't know if they've seen someone who brings that kind of defensive capability to the table yet, So it should be an interesting matchup up
front. I think between these two squads, whoever can kind of maintain that battle on the trenches I think will be the team that probably comes out on top here Yeah, So moving on, We've got a lot of good stuff in the Catholic League, so I want to quickly get through stuff if we can. Here we go, I see Catholic and in its first taste of what it's going to be like to be in the CCL E SDC, they go to Lyle this week, very crossover matchup against a much larger Bennett squads.
Who's what do you How do you think this one's gonna play out? You know, this is really interesting seeing to me on a lot of levels. First of all, you have to consider that I see Catholic's non conference schedule, to be honest, was lacking in quality, so they have not been pushed at all in the first two weeks of the season, and they're running into a Bennett team that, to be completely honest with you, I didn't know that much about to start the season, but I've been really,
really impressed with what I've seen so far. So you know, this is gonna be really interesting because, like you mentioned, there's a big disparity between school sizes here. I mean, Bennett is a five day six A level program, I mean buy enroll the I see Catholic is a two three so I mean it's it's definitely, you know, a significant disparity in school size. So uh, you know, welcome to the Catholic League. I see Catholic. This is probably what you're going to be seeing on a weekly week
basis. Correct me if I'm wrong, You're gonna go over to see mitt Naperville Central at Lockport on Friday night. No, I'm doing a bowling Brook and name Bowlingbrook and Nahborville North. Okay, I knew there was. It was one of the Neighborville schools. Well, let's go ahead and hit that games. There was Nighborville North, that Bullingbrook. What caused you to pick that one out? What do you want to check out on Friday night between those two? Well, I I wanted to get a look at both of
those two teams kind of in this situation. Bowling Brook off to a two and I start. I expected them to be at two and oh at this point in the season. Wanted to see, you know, the development of their their standout sophomore quarterback Jonas Williams. But more importantly, I wanted to see what bowling Brook did with a with a pretty strong what I perceived to
be a pretty strong opponent. I didn't feel like their first two teams that they played on their schedule would give them as stern a challenge as I wanted to see. So that's kind of what I'm trying to figure out and always look for an opportunity to kind of see these new Page Valley teams and see where they fit in the grand scheme of things. So Nighborville North has has
struggled a little bit offensively, They've been more defensive based. So I just thought it would be an interesting kind of contrast between you know, strength against strength and see how that played out. Yeah, we you know, if you are near a computer or on your phone on Friday Night, we would very much enjoy if you joined us live with Live with Friday Night Drive. Steve Susie will be on the sideline from that game. You can watch that
live on YouTube and on the Friday Night Drive Facebook page. You can also go to Friday Night Drive dot com and any of Shallow Local's websites. You can follow sus on Twitter at the sush. You can follow Friday Night Drive on Twitter at f and Drive. You can also find Friday Night Drive on Facebook, Instagram, and TikTok sus sticking with those those do page Valley Southwest
Suburban games. The game I mentioned a little bit ago that I thought you were at Naperville Central at Lockport is another one that I think could be a really intriguing game that should come down to the wire. Yeah, you know, I didn't know what to make of Lockport heading in to this season. But sometimes I, you know, get out in front of my skis and try to do too much analysis, you know, based on what I think
might happen. Sometimes I just got to listen to the people involved. Because veteran coach George Sharp, when he when he is overly positive about his team, you should pay attention because usually he tries to downplay things and it's like, oh, well see how it goes, and is very moderate about things. But when he's when he's really exuberant about the potential of his team,
something good is usually coming. And I should have paid more attention to that when I was in preseason conversation with him, because he was really positive about his defense. His defense has been very, very good so far to start the season. The only thing they've been victimized by is a couple of big plays, But other than that, they've been sending people on three and outs on the regular and when Lockhart is playing that strong defense, Uh, they
are a very difficult team to deal with. And they're doing just enough offensively and they're really strong in the special teams games. So this is a good team all around. So you know, it's it's just one of those things where you just kind of maybe have to get a gathering after what you're seeing after a couple of weeks. But you know it should be an interesting game. You know with Naperville that this is another program that's off to a pretty
solid start. You know, before the season started. You look, if you looked at Lockport's schedule, you would be like, hey, this is a lot to try to maneuver. But they've already kept you know, two pretty big non conference wins and are aiming for a third. You know, Naperville Central, they go into that New Page Valley schedule after you know, after one more this nonconference game, and they want to be in the best position that they can be in because that conference looks like maybe it has a
little bit more depth than it's had in the past. You know, I want to go over to the Duquene Conference because we get our first Duquee Conference matchups this week and we're looking at Saint Charles North at Wheaton North as the highlight of that. But before I do, I want to make sure to give a shout out to Joshulge and Jake Barleston, who do the Western Suburbs addition of the Friday Night Drive podcast. They hit on our cane market Western
Cook County do page in Kendall County. They'll have a lot more from Duquene Conference, but I wanted to make sure to hit on this one in particular suit Saint Charles North at Whedon North. What do you expect in this game? You know, I was a little surprised with last week's lost by Wheaton
North to Lockport, who we were just talking to. So it's another situation where you know, obviously these teams in the Duquee need to go into the conference schedule as strong as humanly possible because it's such It's always a deep league, but it seems like it's even deeper this year with kind of the emergence
of Geneva to that Upper Crest group. Still not really sure what Wheaton Warrenville South is so for we North, you know, this becomes a very pivotal game for them because they don't want to drop to one and two here and get themselves in a situation where they have, you know, limited leverage to the rest of the way. Let's head a little further north here into the
North suburbs, and I want to hit on Palatine in Main South. This might be my favorite game of the week because it features two teams at one and one that lost season openers, both teams with high expectations coming into the season here, and they bounced back last week with big wins, Palatine taking
down Buffalo Grove Main South with twenty eight seven win over Warren. I don't I think Palatine is a favorite in this game despite going on the road suits but Main South with a convincing win over Warren last week given me a bit more pause. You know, I'll be honestly, I would incline to agree with you, but you know, it's just one of those things when you look at what may in South is done here in the early going, that
comfortable win over Warren, I did not expect that. The one thing that I can speak to here is that I think despite the fact that they're one and one, they lost a brother Rice. You have to consider this team's only given up seventeen points all season. Obviously, they're a very good defensive team that might be able to keep this Palotine team in check it and turn it into you know, one of those games it comes down to a last
possession in the fourth quarter. It could be relatively low scoring, which is something that I wouldn't say often about a team playing Palotine, because I think that team has a lot of offensive capability. So I think this game could end up going a lot of ways. I agree Palatine is probably the favorite, but the margin of favoritism is very, very slim in my mind.
Yeah, this seems like a game where Palotine's really going to need a big one from a dominic ball running back to Laye commit against this main South defense. Quickly, I was looking back here, Warren now, after mentioning the warred is oh and two. When's the last time you think the Blue Devils
gave up sixty eight points through the first two weeks of a season. I mean, I mean, you'd be hard pressed to find a time that Warren has given up sixty eight points through seven or eight weeks of the season, to be honest with Yeah, that's I mean, that's this is a team that at the end of the year, I seem like I'm always writing some sentence along the lines of the Warren defense is allowing six points per game to
opponents. So it's like, I mean, that's that. I feel like I've wrote that sentence, you know, ten times in my life, So it's I mean it. Yeah, that definitely is not something you're accustomed to from this program, you know. I think they're gonna be better off now that they enter North Suburban Conference play. But I think this is a sneaky Libertyville team this week two against them, So I don't think they can, you know, take a breath and go, Okay, now we're in the
conference. We usually dominate here, everything's fine. I mean, don't I like this Liberty Goal team. So I think that I agree with you if you if you didn't make that point, I was going to I think this trap game is the wrong way to say it, because I mean, Warren's coming off is own two. But like, yeah, they certainly can't think that they're they're out of danger now that they're in the North suburban schedule, This is definitely a tough opponent for them. Yeah, before we move on
to some of the smaller schools as suits. Any of the kind of the five ay through eight day games that I missed this week that uh you want to talk about, I think there's one going back to the Catholic League. There's one game that really really intrigues me this week. Fenwick and Providence is a game that that I think we'll kind of be a good benchmark for both
of these teams. Fenwick out to a strong two and oh start. Uh kind of raised my eyebrows with that win over Saint Ignatius, And to be honest with you, had Providence might not be in the best of places right now. They had a lot problems on offense that they're going to have to correct pretty quickly against the Fenwick team that has some explosive players on defense. So for me, this is gonna be a really interesting kind of measuring stick
to see where both of these programs really are right now. Providence has kind of gotten a better Fenwick over the last couple of years, so that's another element to it. So I think that's a really interesting game to take a look at all. Right, heading to some of the smaller schools, and you know, want to make sure to give a shout out to Eddie Cariffio
and JT. Penalty, who are hosting the Illinois Valley edition of the Friday Night Drive podcast sitting on some of the smaller schools out in the central and northern part of the state in the western part of this date as well. One school or one matchup for the smaller schools the War on thirty four Plano and Sandwich. It doesn't really matter if these two teams are good or playoff
bound. This is a game that they always look forward to. But you have two teams at two and oh Plano coming off with three and six season. The Reapers are pretty solid pro gram over the last let's say fifteen years there, so going back even further than that. But you know they're coming off that three and sixth season off to a two and oh start. They're going to against Sandwich, who is also two and oz and didn't even have
a didn't even have a varsity team last year. SEUs. Yeah, Sandwich has been a really surprising team to me this season, just you know, on the grounds that I kind of expected them to maybe ease into things a little bit. And I mean the week one went over Mantino, Mantino struggled for the last couple of years. That kind of raised my eyebrows a little bit just because they, you know, they didn't play varsity football last year.
But last week's win over pi its own a team that I fully expect to kind of be in the in the front of that second tier in the Illinois Central eight. Uh dominated them, put up forty two points in one easily, So Sandwich bringing a lot to the table here to start the season. Uh. You know, I've read some stuff in the off season about how, you know, they were really ready to get back to the varsity level, and you know, I figured maybe that was just you know,
being enthusiastic after having a year off. But obviously they've got some horses in the stable. Going over to Princeton, the Tigers fall to number six in the Class one A people after taking a stunning lost to Morrison last week on a last second field goal twenty two twenty one. Princeton now goes and gets a matchup on the road against Sterley Newman Central Catholic Newman is two and oh took a had a win on the road at rock Ridge in week one and
followed that up with a sixteen ten win over Sharard in week two. I think the Tigers are going to be angry as they go into face Newman here. Uh you know what, as impressive Asterley as Newman has been through first two weeks, I would not want to be the team that has to face the Tigers after their first what regular season lost in how long? Oh it's been, It's been some time. I mean that this is one of those conferences right now that I'm being honestly, I don't really know what's going to
happen on a week to week basis here. I've been getting strange reads. The Princeton loss surprised me last week, but some of that was due to the fact that maybe I didn't really know how good Morrison was. That I think that's a good football team, But there's just been some really confusing results so far based on what I'd heard in the offseason, you know, I was a little surprised Newman beat rock Ridge in week one. I'd heard barely
good things about rock Ridge over the course of the season. Kind of the consensus pick to win their division in that conference. And then you know, last week Newman really struggled to get past Gerard, and I think Gerard might be a little bit better than they were last year, but they were won and eight last year. So I mean that was a team that I thought that that Newman would kind of run away with one away from after beating a
good records team the week before. So I've kind of thrown my hands up and said, I'm just gonna let these guys play these I'm not gonna, really, you know, you, contort myself into different directions trying to figure out, you know, how these teams should be stacked. Right now, I'm gonna let the results themselves speak for themselves because it has been a very tricky conference to figure out so far this year. Yeah, I don't know.
I don't even think you mentioned mentioned Orian, which is off to the two and old start, kind of a surprising win back in week one against Hall, and now they faced Morrison, So you gotta match up with two and old teams there as well. Yeah, So I and then that's another that's another situation. I'm just kind of looking at it and going, you know, a lot of these teams look like they're almost completely flipping the script
from last year. I mean, Morrison made the playoffs last year, we're out in the first round, finished five and five, and all of a sudden they look like they might be the best team in this conference. And an Orion is another team that did not meet their usual standard last year and look and look to be kind of like roaring back to you know, relevance in two A football, any other small school game too. Want to hit on sus you know, I think we think we got the ones that I
was most interested heading into the heading into the week. All right, well, before we get your final thoughts heading into week three, I want to one more time say go ahead and join us live for Live with Friday Night Drive on Friday night from eight to eleven pm Live on Friday Night Drive dot Com. All of Shaw Shaw's local sites, including The Northwest Harold, the Joliet Harold News Daily Chronicle out into Kyle Sauk Valley, Ottawa, the News
Tribune out in LaSalle, come join us. You can also find us on YouTube and Facebook. SUSA be joining us our team of reporters as well. Make sure you subscribe to the Friday Night Drive podcast whether you get that on Apple's Spotify, wherever you get your podcasts from. Come back with us next week, SUSI. I'll be recapping things on Monday. But sus we got a good weekend of football ahead of us. What are you looking forward to
most? For me, it's about the conference races finally opening in earnest and a lot of the leagues around the state. There's some interesting crossover games in the Chicago Catholic League measuring stick for me. For a lot of teams figuring out exactly where they fall after a non conference season. That's sometimes gonna be hard to read. So getting all those games in, getting a chance to see if teams really fall where we think they fall is going to be what's
the most interesting thing to me about Week three? All right, We'll make sure you join us live tomorrow night for Live with Friday Night Drive from eight to eleven PM, and then enjoy a good weekend of high school football before joining Sus and I next week to recap Week three. Everyone have a good weekend. We'll talk to you next week. Schweiker Ganison Kozak Rundio proudly sponsors
to Friday Night Drive. I'm Mike Kozak. 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 the GA Nassim dot com