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All right, welcome into another week as we review week number two Friday Night Drive here on Shaw Local and Steve Susi's with me. I'm Matt Rudiwald. Good to see pal.
Hey, how we doing.
I'm doing all right. Let's get right into it. It's been an interesting weekend as we've learned quite a bit about what's going on around the state of Illinois. And let's start with just some of the surprises. The teams have come out unscathed a little bit, and I think the first one you think of all the things that happened this weekend, it's hard to ignore the friend Vikings
and how that they're two to zero. Johnny O'Brien, Johnny on the spot off to the kind of start you expect the guy who is a Division one quarterback to have.
Yeah, I mean, we've talked about it a lot in terms of what the Mid the Mid Suburban West Conference looks like right now, and you kind of gotten used to kind of the pecking order of that league and this this year, it doesn't look like you can count on almost anything. I mean, we have four undefeated teams in that conference. One of them is Fremmed, one of them is Schomberg, which is another team in that conference that has kind of found itself at the bottom of
that league. So very interesting when you look at and then the grand scheme of things that you have, you know, five teams in this in you know, five or maybe even all six teams in this league that can make a push at the playoffs. It's gonna be hard for Conan now sitting at zero to two, But you also have to consider the fact that Conan already has fifteen playoff points, so obviously they played some people in the non conference schedule too, so they might be able to
factor into the Knicks as well. So it looks like that league is going to be a league full of mayhem this year. And Fremed and once again Schomberg are two teams that have found themselves at the bottom of the conference for the last couple of years, look like they're ready to try to climb a few runs.
I think we're going to spend a lot of time talking about Fremd over the course of the next couple of weeks, so I want to spend some moment. I want to spend a moment on the Saxons and what are people telling you about what's working for Chambering, why
they're too and oh, what's changed for them? What's worked for them both offensively defensively that you can tell so far, as far as I can tell, just based on the limited information that I have on that, it looks like they're playing some pretty good defense because I.
Mean, holding an Antioch program to seven points in the opening week of the season, and that Antioch team historically
is a high scoring, prolific offense. I know they've got some changes that they had to make, but it definitely seems like right now, and you know the fact that that probably gave them significant amount of amounts of confidence because they roll into that Week two game against Elk Grove, they squeak that win out and you know, in past years, maybe this was a program that would have said maybe would have folded up in a close game because they had the confidence bursting that they could get it done
against a good opponent. They were able to finish off that win and nip out Grove by a point. So now they got into Week three at two and oh against the Niles North program that frankly is struggling a bit, follow that up with a Niles West program that also is not really playing all that well right now and
historically hasn't been that strong. I mean, there's a real conceivable opportunity for Schomberg to go into the conference schedule at four and oh, which is something you wouldn't really have bet on at all as a possibility heading into the year.
And if you look deeper into that schedule, Palatine a weights Okay, so maybe we check that as but you got Conan on the other side of that, and then heading into the onslaught that is Barrington and Fremed and back to back weeks, you could be looking at a five and one team and you know, at two and zero, it's one thing to have that confidence that, Okay, we
got things going. When you're talking about it as you leak into October at five and one, that's a very different type of confidence we're talking about for a team like the Saxons that hasn't been in the postseason in quite a while. I hadn't had a winning season in a long time.
Yeah, And it's one of those things. Momentum I think in high school football is almost more important at that level than almost any other one. Like, if you start to get that belief, I mean, let's be honest, you don't often really know who you're lining up against on the other side. So the fact that you believe, hey, we can beat anybody we play, you might not know better, like to be completely honest with you, that the guy
on the other side of you is absolutely loaded. I mean, it's it's definitely a situation where that confidence can snowball. And that's why you honestly see a lot of the same teams repeating over and over and over again because they have that belief in their program and their systems. Hey we did this last year, why can't we do it again?
So one more. Yeah, and one more thing with the mid suburban West, just because you want to circle week number six is Barrington at FREMD. That's a road game in that rivalry, and point the rivalry is going to be back this year.
Yeah, it certainly does look like that. And and Barrington's off to an exceptional start one hundred and five points through two games, so obviously they've got that offense clicking. So that should be an interesting kind of contrasting styles because fronts played really good defense so far.
You and I spent some time on Friday night talking about some of the teams that it's nice to see in the next and we talked a little bit about a Chamberg. But let's go deeper than that. Let's start with a Fenton team that's hadn't been in the postseason since twenty thirteen, and of course a ten game losing
Street coming in. They're two to zero, and I think they're the perfect reason why the Upstate eight needed to get out of their schedule, out of their locked schedule, so they can go get some team, to get some confidence to build some programs in that conference.
Yeah, it's definitely an interesting situation when you look at the Upstate eight, particularly in the East Division with Fenton at two and oh, there's a couple of other programs in that division that I feel like they can still compete with. So getting out of the box at two and oh and then going into league play. You know, there are a few teams in there that I don't think that they're quite ready to clear that hurdle, Glenbard East and Glenbard's South, for example, But the other ones,
it's it's kind of wide open in there. I know West Chicago had a resurgence season last year getting themselves into the playoffs, but other than that, I mean Riverside Brookfield's kind of a wild card. They haven't been with these teams in a while. But there's some teams in there, Like I said, they can I think that they can
get it. They have the momentum right now and they can get it moving in maybe maybe get themselves into the mix where they've got a shot at maybe claiming one of those playoffs first.
I think it's safe to say, with the exception of maybe two or three programs in that whole up State eight, that sustaining program numbers and commitment to the program is the hardest part. And so when you're looking at a team like East Aurora who made the playoffs, can they do it again? I don't know. Can Fenton do it for the first time in a while. Can teams like Elmwood Park or Ridgewood sustain it for a little while.
That's why Riverside Brookfield has been so good for so long, That's why West Aurora might have some success here, and that's why Bombard East and South Belgium have been dominating the LEA for the last couple of years.
Yeah, it's definitely kind of chaos. And then you look at the other side over there, Like you mentioned, West Aroor is off to a nice start at two and zero. Haven't played the strongest opponents yet, so you don't really know how good they are. But they have some talented players. They're in good shape. But every other team in the West Division is owing too right now. So some teams are going to have to, you know, gain gain momentumy proxy once we get into the conference play because somebody's
got to win those games. So maybe somebody gets a little fire lit under them and gets going there. But I think in the long run, this was a good thing for the Upstate eight kind of breaking this up and giving these teams an opportunity to go out and play the non conference games, hopefully against some opponents that
they can compete with. So maybe they have a little bit of momentum going in there instead of in the past when you get some of these teams at the bottom of the division, they'd run into the powerhouses at the beginning, they'd already dug themselves a hole, and then it would just it would escalate downward.
Before we move on here and bring in a friend of ours. And momentarily I want to talk about South Belgian and having seen them in person against Batavia and we talked about them at the beginning of the season. They scheduled up a little bit, they had Barrington and they got a sixty four burger put on them, and then they found themselves of Batavia down forty two to
nothing at halftime. I think this is a very important week for that program to understand, Hey, if this is what you want to do and play with the big boys, you're gonna have to come play, you know, for forty eight minutes the whole time around. And so there weren't a lot of downheads there weren't a lot of There is natural frustration that you'd see the football team that's down forty two to nothing in the first half, but there wasn't any screaming and yelling or anything like that.
It was more trying to sort things out. So be very curious to see how South Elgin moves on from two devastating defeats in a non conference format that they're not used to.
Well, I mean, it was something that I felt like this program had to do if they were going to be able to compete. You know, they have won a playoff game or two over the last couple of years, but for years before that, they would roll through the conference. They'd pile up these amazing numbers, they'd go nine to oh and then they'd get beat in the first round of the playoffs. So this is this is a this
is a training ground. This is an opportunity to say, hey, we're not there yet, what do we have to do to get there? And now they get into that schedule where there's a couple of games in there where I think that you know, South Elgin will be pushed a little bit, but there's quite a few of them that are not. So they can take the opportunity to kind of make some adjustments, figure out what they need to do to get to the level that they want to be.
So at the end of the season, they're not going to be nine to o they have been seemingly for multiple years. Now they're gonna They're gonna the best they can end up now a seven and two. Maybe they end up at six and three, You never know, but you know, I still see this as probably based on where they've been and some of the other teams that they have left on their schedule, I still see them
as a playoff team. But I think this will be a much more battle tested playoff team, even if it's seated a lot lower than it's been in the past.
To be fair, they're facing two of the best quarterback receiver combinations that we've seen across the state of Illinois, at least in the Chicagoland suburbs. So it's a tough, tough sledding it's at the start, but you learn a lot about where you need to go when you're a team like the South Elgin Storm. This is the Friday Night Drive broadcast as we recap week number two. Let's check out what's going on in the Northwest suburbs Alex Tech, Kentucky.
From the Northwest, Harold joins us Alex you saw some some good stuff this weekend. That that conference. I can't figure out the Fox Valley. It's Kerry Grove and everyone else trying to figure it out.
It's the usual suspects. It's Kerry Grove pr who won the conference last year at nine to zero. Huntley's up there too. They're all three of those teams are two and o at this point, and you know, those are kind of been the the three teams that have been kind of the top for the you know, the last few years.
I saw Kerry Grove week one. They did not have logan Abrams. I don't know how you got a chance to look at them with low logan. And that's just how different it was. I've bang banged up a little bit to start week one, but having him makes a whole heck of a difference, I would say for that program.
Oh for sure. So they didn't have logan Abrams. Who's you know, six foot three, two thirty five. I believe they're big junior fullback. They also didn't have their running back holding Boone. He was he was in Alabama doing a international CrossFit competition because he's he's ranked really highly in the CrossFit.
Interesting, Hey, Alex, I mean Chris prairidge Ridge, how have they I mean, how in your mind have they I guess transitioned to a new coaching staff there. Obviously, defense is playing at a high level right now. They haven't allowed any points in the first two games of the season. You see that as the team's calling card this year.
Yeah, and I think that easily gets lost with praier Ridge because they're running that, you know, the triple option as well as they do scoring all these points. But like, like you just said that, the defense is you know, has been as good as the offense these these last two years. They allow an FBC low eleven point six points a game last year and you know this year, two games no points. So I mean, yeah, I think their defense, you know, huge part of that team. Defensive.
They have a senior defensive lineman, Gavin Tinch, who is six four to ninety five. He's getting a lot of Division one looks. And uh they they brought their leading tackler back from last year to Jace Kranig, the middle linebacker.
I look at a team like Jacobs, and I think the Golden Eagles have an opportunity to slide up in that to that tier one echelon of teams. What needs to happen for Jacobs as you look at their schedule and what they have left here and not exactly an overwhelming win against Hampshire and Friday night, They've got to put some teams away in order to be taken seriously like those. But what do they got to do to get better?
Yeah?
And I mean I think coach Brian Zimmern would say, you know, anyone in the FBC is a is a big win. I know they got Hunty this week and that's another huge test for them. I saw Prairie Ridge Jacobs that first week where pr beat them seventeen zero, and coach Zimmern was just you know, looking back at
all the mistakes, the turnovers they had. You know, they had a couple of close drives, you know, get into the the red zone, get close to scoring and you know they go, you know, get turnover on downs like That's what's kind of happened to them in these these big games the last couple of years, and you know they fix those things they're they're gonna be right up there at the top of the conference.
I'll switch out go ahead with Prairie Ridge, Kerry Grove, Huntley, and Jacobs kind of considered the four teams maybe at the top of the conference. In a close conference, you typically get five playoff bids. What I can't figure out looking at the Fox Valley is who do you think the front runner is for that fifth spot.
So I went into this year and I think I told you this use uh. I thought Burlington Central was gonna, you know, make a make a little jump this year. I think they've finished four and five the last two years, just playoffs. Yeah, they earned a big win, you know last week against Dundee Crown. They they had to get a thirty thirty seven yard field goal from the kicker David McCoy with three seconds left to win that one,
twenty four twenty two. Yeah, those teams that are trying to you know, be that that fifth team in the conference, Like, those are the games that you gotta win. I mean, all these games are going to be close. I know Burlington brought back a lot from last year, and like I said, they were so close last year, so close the year before. I know that team's you know, really gunning for the playoffs this year.
Yeah, two years ago they had they got four and four after beating Kerry Grovid overtime in Week eight, and then stumbled at mckenry to get knocked out of the playoffs. Last year a little more conventional, trying to get knock out Huntley to get to five and four. Couldn't do it. So they're trying to get to five wins at Central and it's been kind of tough sledding. As they are starting to make some progress in that conference.
I want to.
Switch over to the Kishwaukee River because Susan and I want to give some love to the Harvard Hornets.
Yeah.
Yeah, twenty game losing. Forget all about that now if we're talking playoffs now, right.
Yeah, I mean I'm looking at the Kishwaukee River Conference and I don't really know who the front runner is. I mean, going to the year, I would easily have said Richmond Burton. But even like you know, this last week, Richmond went down to Quincy Notre Dame and struggled.
I forget the score that.
I think it was twenty two to ten, I believe, and they scored their last Yeah, they scored their last touchdown I think pretty late in the game. And the first week they beat Marion twenty one to seven. Last year, that was a game I think they won pretty handily. I mean they lost you know, a good amount of a talent from last year. But yeah, like you said, I want to give a credit to the Hornets. You know, enter the year on a twenty game losing streak, win
their first two games. They won the first first game forty two seven over over Lyle. Last week it was twenty one to fourteen over over Reed Custer senior Adam Cook, the quarterback. He's had three rushing touchdowns both those games. You know, I mean, they're they're excited at Harvard and they should be.
And they go to Woodstock this weekend before having Richmond Burton. So we're gonna find out. Yeah, it's coming quick for the Harvard Hornets. Alex, what else jumps out at you? What's caught your eye as we take a first to first to look at the first two weeks of the season.
Do you know I think I mean, I think we touched a lot of you know, a lot of it. I'm just really interested to see when these big games get going in the in the Fox Valley when we were matching up you know, PR and carry Grove. I think next week, week four, it's PR and Huntley. That's going to be a huge game. It's going to determine you know, who's going to be, you know, ending up on top of the in this conference. So you know, the next couple weeks, those are like the big games
coming up. I'm just looking forward to, you know, seeing who comes out on top of those ones.
Well, Alex, we appreciate your time, thank you so much for jumping on, and we're looking forward to reading everything going on in the Northwest ere these next few weeks.
All right, thanks to Paul fans.
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Yes, all right, Alex Kentucky the Northwest Harold the new editor. I believe that the Northwest Harold a post that had not been vacated in many, many moons. For thanks Joe Stevenson, good buddy of ours. So, you know, when you look at what's going on up north, let's talk about Richmond Burton a little bit here, because that that kind of it sticks out, just because the scores don't indicate the
dominance that we've seen in the past. We know what's a good program, we know that's a good football team. What do you think they're thinking and what do you think is going into their mindset as they head into conference play for the first sense weekend.
You know, it's interesting with that program. You just you're just like Alex said, you're just kind of conditioned to believe that that conference is Richmond Burton's for the taking. So when you have to look at what's going on so far, and I think Quincy Notre Dame, for you know all that it is is a pretty solid program. But it's also when it comes right down to it, it's also a two way program. I mean, that's that's
the truth of the matter. So the fact that that Richmond Burton had trouble with them might indicate that not that they can't win the conference again, but they might be a little closer to the pack than we're used to.
It will be interesting to see, especially when we get into league play, to see how these first couple of games come from through in conference play, because you know, some of these are some of these other teams are complete wild cards right now you look at granted they haven't played the best competition, but Woodstock North is putting up a ton of points right now. I think Woodstock is supposed to be a little bit better. Just in general, it looks like that league has some guys that might
be able to take a shot at Richmond Burton. Might not finish it, but they but most of them have not had the ammunition to even try to take the shot in past years. So it looks like the it looks like the gap has closed. We'll see how close it's closed here in the next couple of weeks.
Let's be as fair as possible, because when you look at the schedule, they open their season with four or five on the road, so they finally get their home opener coming up with Johnsburg this week, but then they go to a Harvard atmosphere that could be completely different than what they've gone to in the last few years. And then they'll go to Woodstock, which could be a very key measuring stick as to where they sit in conference play. But the good news for them is they
don't have to go to Sandwich. They don't have to go to you know, they both come to them, so we're not talking about long road trips. And then they get backloaded. Three their last four are at home, so maybe they're just depending on the youth of their roster too, could be figuring things out and just one in one on the season. So that's a look at Richmond Burton. You're watching the Friday Night Drive podcast week two in
the books as we all recap what we saw. It was the weekend of the Kicker, Mister Sussie, I don't know if I ever recall as many games coming down to the wire like that. You know, one thing that Alex Kentecky hinted at was the Central Rockets also got a game winning field goal as time expired. But we had all sorts of game winners around the state, and they feel like they were happening like like right on
top of one another too. There was no gapping of them when you look up there, oh there's another game winning field goal. I mean, it was just like they were all just kind of swarming all at the same time. And it's one of those things that over the past few years, I've noticed the place kicking has got a
lot better, Like just in general across statewide. We've had some elite kickers at certain schools in some places, but in general now, like I used to think that you know, a team had to have, you know, a lock solid kicker to have a chance at making a thirty five to forty yard field goal, it feels.
Like they're almost commonplace now. There's a lot of kids that are coming over either from soccer backgrounds that are contributing in that way or just focusing on that in particular, you know, the general kicking games. So that's something that like five ten years ago, I wouldn't envision that as even being possible. That there were so many last second field goals and it seemed like everybody made them. There weren't any stories out there somebody having a last second
chance that didn't go, that didn't go. I mean, they were all good so I mean, that's that's been an impressive story just to kind of watch now that teams now it's in your playbook if you're down, if you're down two points, get yourself a field goal range. You might have a chance to pull that out. In the past, it doesn't seem like that was something that was a card that a lot of teams could play. Yeah, a whole bunch of people have that in their deck now.
As we were talking Friday night, I think it was I forget where which game it was, but we were thinking where do they have to get to? And I think I blurted out the fifteen yard line to be ultra conservative, I think you can back that up a good ten yards to at least take an educated shot at field goals. And I'll give you this story of my playing days back twenty five twenty seven years ago on a two and seven six eight team, by the way, not very good. We still had a specialist kicker back then.
That was a rarity. He ended up walking on in Iowa. The names Nate Campbell's up part of the coaching staff down at Yorkville. But he was the strongest kid on the team and he was the specialist. When it came down to it, he had the length. We just could never get him in position. Now, as you see everywhere there are nets on the sidelines, just like Natehead, you have the holders that are also working with them. They're
constantly working and constantly practicing, you know. And to see these kickers working on their own, they're coming from soccer and not just the big schools, it's the smaller schools too. And I'll tell you this from last year being down at the state and I've seen this for years at the state level, But when you have Wilmington, who's notorious
with good kickers. By the way, they're talking about forty five fifty yarders at the class two way level, that's when you know that everyone not only has one, but should have one. And if you haven't had one in a fourteen hundred enrollment school, you're not doing it right.
Right, And that's definitely one of those things that, like I said before, ten years, fifteen years ago, this was something he just did not have. It's the point where I almost look at the big schools and they don't have a kicker. I'm like throwing my heads up, like you have how.
Many soccer teams. You have how many kids in this school? You tell me you can't find one. And that's why we also left at College Kickers as well. So it was quite the weekend. And by the way, it was manooka Nahporville Central, Saint Joe Ogden, the Central Rockets, and a favorite of yours, the Plainfield Central Plainfield South Cougar's. Apparently they they were very very happy to get that win and try and look for you at the sidelines afterwards on Friday night.
Yeah, I wasn't there, apparently, not real happy with my prediction of them finishing fourth in the conference. So but good for them. I mean, it was definitely not the best of the season for them. Last year they went two and seven, right, you know, they they laid a new foundation down there. But they've picked up wins to start the season here over Yorkville and and then you know, winning on Friday night against the cal yep.
Hey, Hey, you know what, when it comes to motivation, you do what you gotta do, right, Coaches, go ahead, whatever thing you can use to get to get going and get your kids going, you go ahead and use it. Some of the surprises and maybe not so much as a surprise, but it's the rather the dominance that we've seen in some of the conferences. So the Catholic League has had some dominant performances, maybe the records don't look as dominant, and we know they're gonna be a good league.
I'm sure you didn't have Marmion as two and oh to start things off, though.
No, I didn't. And it's like the funniest thing to look at about the CCL. At this point, half of their teams are two and oh, but none of them are from the Blue. That's the first thing that's very interesting. The supposed power conference in the state and all of their teams are one and one at this point in time. And then with half of their teams, the list of those teams that are two and oh include some teams that just I wouldn't have put a lot of chips on them being two and oh out of the gate.
Nile's notre Dame Bennett Marmion, like you mentioned, you know, these are teams that I think are okay, but they have to get it was very important for them to be two and oh at this point in time. They're gonna need that cushion heading into their conference. Schedule, so accomplishing that, you know. De Paul Prepp is another one that like needed to go to and o because once they get into their conference schedule and their crossovers are
are are potentially problematic. You know, getting off that two and oh start is really really impressive.
And Bennett of course getting a win against Moulin on Friday night and rather dominant fashion and having to do it on a short week after playing Hillcrest on Saturday, they'll get De la Salle and they could add another win there before Saint Vider then Mount Carmel's Saint Pats Fenwick Nazareth and DePaul Prepp, who all of a sudden becomes a story and De Paul Prep, you know, for them getting to where they are they since they I think you had when they since they've renamed, they only
had what one winning seasons in the last ten years, Is that about.
Right, Deaul Prepp?
Yes?
Yeah, I mean you have to go back into the Gordon Tech days to find winning seasons on the regular for that program. So I can recall, I want to say it was four or five years ago I went up to a Saturday afternoon game with the Paul Prepp and they were playing joli At Catholic, and granted it was a very good joli At Catholic team, right, they got absolutely ran off the field, and I mean in like the first quarter, so they've obviously made strides up there.
You know, the program has grown under Mike Pasarella, and they I think they're in position now where they can make a run at that playoff berth, where in past seasons it looked like it was going to be an overwhelming accomplishment for them to even be competitive in any Catholic League game, And this one's key.
For them this week as they go down to Chicago Heights to take on Mary Catholic at one and one, they really need to win that one because the road does not look friendly after that the rest of the way. Switching from the Catholic League over to the Duquine, I got to see them in person. I noted this on X. I had never Geneva Grad. I had never been to both a Geneva game and a Batavia game that started
at the same time on the same night. So I did a little like runner back and fourth here probably a good four mile drive, so I made good time and what I saw were two games that were not close. So it was it was not It was not fun to watch from from a from an energy perspective. But I will tell you lamont As, we suspect it might be a little bit down, a little undersize. They tried everything they could defensively, they were They held on as
long as they could. But Talon Taylor is about as healthy as I've seen him, about as fluid as I've seen him. And they've been having him do crossing routes, which makes him even more dangerous. Putting him an open field, you've got to figure out where he is. He's not flying down the field on doing flyouts. And but Tavia, I got to look at body Anderson who did not look like he had surgery at all of the offseason. He was moving just fine. His arms, his arm strength
was okay. And I tell you what, Isaiah Brown has turned into quite the receiver. He is very difficult to guard man on man on the line.
You can't check him.
So whoever's gonna be able to guard him in that conference, Uh, it's there's gonna have to be some bracket help no matter who is playing. Both Talon Taylor and Isaiah Brown for Geneva Batavia.
You know, it definitely looks like, you know, that's a collision course that is eventually gonna come to fruition between those two programs. But man, you just look at that week to week schedule and it just feels like every week you're gonna have two or three games or maybe all four games where you're just like, I don't know what's gonna happen here, because it's just there's ridiculous depth in this conference. There are six teams that are still two and oh. I mean glen Bard North and Lake
Park right now are at two and oh. They haven't played the level of competition, but you play who's in front of you. I mean, and like I said, now you're two and oh, and you go into the league, maybe maybe you pull a rabbit out of your hat and you beat one of those teams that you're not supposed to beat, and then all of a sudden things look a lot different. I mean, that's really what it
comes down to. The only team right now that I mean is a step behind it looks like to me is Saint Charles East that I mean, they're zero and two out of the box. But I mean they also played some pretty decent competition out of the gates, so you can't just look past them. I'm sure in the grand scheme of things, every single week in the Duke Cane on your schedule is going to be an absolute war. And I have a feeling as we go through the regular season it's going to be very similar to what
was happening last year in that conference. It felt like you had all at the same time. It felt like you had two or three games in that league coming down to the wire, coming down to that last possession, can someone tie the score and send it into overtime. I don't know how many overtime games we had in that league but last year, but it felt like every week there was at least one on the conference schedule that it was a ridiculously deep this year league last year.
I think it's even deeper this year, which I didn't wouldn't even have thought was even possible based on how deep it was last year.
And it's impressive, and you feel bad for a guy like Nolan Possley, the head coach of the Saints in Saint Chorrele's East. You could feel the urgency from him in his program to try and get past where they are one and eight last year. That's not good enough in that town. And so they have homecoming this week and that's what Gleunbar North walks into this weekend. And their next six opponents right now sitting at two and zero,
so that's how their schedule shakes out. Wheaton South is the last one on that slate at one and one, so it's gonna be tough sledding for Saint Charle's East, Saint Charles North and Wheaton North. That's gonna be a doozy of the game on Friday night. I'm probably gonna slip over there to take a look at that one for the first time in a while. Ethan Plumb is probably the one quarterback nobody's talking about in the entire state after he had a lot of conversation these last couple of years.
Yeah, I saw him last year in the playoffs and I felt like that they were knocked out by Bradley Bourbone in that game in the second round contest last year, and I felt like watching him play in that game, that was the kind of effort that was gonna drive him to work really hard for his senior year because I know he was really disappointed with the way that he performed in that game. He was outpaced by Bradley Bourbone as quarterback in that game, and that did not
sit well with him. And I saw him in some some offseason showcases and he just looks like a guy who's ready to just explode in terms of putting together a mammoth season. And and definitely, I mean, he's gonna have a lot of opportunities to try to guide that team to some big wins this year, especially in the schedule that they have remaining. But but I really like his potential moving forward, and I think he's going to
have a very big year. It's just that's a fun team and and I've seen them in the past and they they never hesitate to maybe make a risky or take a gamble. They're just a very a very good team in that way that you know, Robert Toomazak just went for two in a game already this season when a kick would have tied it and sent it into overtime, just rolled it out there and said let's go for the win. Right now. That's the way they tend to play. They're they're an entertaining program.
Riverboat Robert running the running the program for the North Stars. And we know the Buquine Conference is good, and we don't know who's gonna win that league. Who's gonna win the Upstate Eight or the I'm sure, I'm sorry, the Interstate Eight. That's the one I want to talk about, because that league looks about as deep as I've seen that league in a long time as well.
Yeah, it's definitely a very entertaining conference just to kind of look at and kind of speculate on where we're going to go. I mean, there's just a lot of really sturdy football programs in that conference. And now that you have that, now that conference has now went back to itself after we had a couple of years there
where they were emerged with the Kishwaukee River. Now that it's just those six programs you've got, you know, the four at the top, and all four of them I think have enough of a pedigree to talk about you know, hey, they can potentially win this conference. So that makes for
a really really interesting discussion as we go. And then you know, even with losal Peru and Ottawa, there are teams feel like they are ready to maybe try to make a step forward as well, so those all six of those programs I think are are going to try to give themselves a puncher's chance where they're at the very least in the conversation for trying to get to a playoff Berth.
It's amasing because those four to two that the four teams you talk about that are at two to zero and the two that are one and one, Ottawa and lasal Peru, one of the oldest rivalries in the state of Illinois. They're gonna play this week and then they're gonna play in three more weeks because they're gonna play each other twice, and I'm not sure they've ever done
that in their in their rivalry history. I'm sure we could find that out at some point as we keep an eye on what goes on the Illinois Valley this week. I certainly don't think that they have.
And I mean it was one of those things that was born out of kind of schedule need and a situation like that. They made an interesting choice to leave Week nine as a non conference date rather than backloading the schedule like most leagues do, and they quickly discovered that there aren't a lot of teams that are looking for non conference games in Week nine, so that was
why that's why we got what we got there. They ended up doing a little creative mishmash to have them move that second game up and then they bracketed it back and got Week nine games, So it was kind of it was kind of an off season problem for all of the teams in that conference. I mean, Morris Is going to Michigan, Caitland is going to Belleville. All tough. I mean these are I mean Rochell's actually doesn't currently have a Week nine game. They scheduled the Missouri team
that dropped them. That'll end up being a forfeit win if it has to be. But all of those teams ended up having to get really creative to fill that Week nine non con game. So it's definitely it's definitely something I think they're probably gonna look at, maybe try to readjust for the future.
I don't want to look too far ahead because we don't want a preview Week three too much, but boy, Rochelle and Highland at Illinois Wesley is really intriguing to me, So I'm curious to see how that's gonna go Friday night. Keep an eye on that. To Calvin Caitlin, and of course we'll see how this goes with the you know, a Sycamore as a Mohammed Seymour. That's a nice long trip for them. So there's a lot of long trips to the Interstate eight this season, then pretty much all
the way through Week nine. As we wrap things up here, a couple more minutes, some nuggets and tidbits. Let's go back to Sycamore for a minute. That three fumbles there trailing oswego East, which is an eight day school, still found a way to win. They're gritty club this year.
Yeah, they I mean they're doing what they have to do. I mean, obviously they had had a bit of an intriguing one in Week one as well. So there's a lot to be said for being a football program that knows how to get it done by whatever means necessary, and Sycamore has definitely done that so far.
Can we give it up for the Dixon Dukes a ninety nine yard touchdown pass, which is a school record. Let make sure I get it right, color Cullin Shaner to Eli Davidson. I think I got that right. But hey, you know what, when you break a record, that's one thing ninety nine. You figured that'd be a record, but it broke a record that was set back in nineteen fifty six. That's when you know your name's gonna be
on the board for several, well forever. Now at this point with ninety nine yards, Dixon looking good early.
Off to a good start. I mean, ninety one points in their first two games of the year I noticed earlier today. I mean, I'm not saying they're gonna go after Byron, but at least they're setting the tone that they that they would be willing to, Hey, let's go let's go see later on in the season and see what happens when we play Byron. And a lot of teams aren't looking for that challenge, but I think Dixon
might be. I think there, I think they're ready to say, hey, let's let's strap them up and see what happens, guys, Let's see if we can duplicate you know, a nice offensive shootout here. So definitely, it's been building for Dixon over the last couple of years. They've done a nice job last year into the second round of the four A playoffs. They definitely are a team that I'm keeping an eye on in that four A North bracket. They get a nice bracket, they could be pretty dangerous.
Speaking of Byron, I would imagine Williamsville is gonna be a place to be this weekend too.
That that's going heck of a fright in eight matchup. Well you have to like that, that that's even happening. I mean, we had, you know, we had we had two teams right there, two elite teams in the three A mix that both had their opponents basically drop out of varsity football for this year. So they looked at each other and said, hey, you want to come down and get this done. I mean, and you got to you gotta respect that. First of all, both both of those teams are going to get their wins and they
know it. So the fact that they're just willing to say, hey, these were games we knew we were going to win, to put that w aside and say, hey, let's go challenge ourselves, give it ourselves an opportunity to uh, you know, to get this done. Not that far removed from these two teams meeting in the state championship games. So you know, really really two of the top tier three A programs taking an opportunity to take a bad situation and make it into a really interesting one.
Coaches, if you're watching us, do more of this. We talk about it. We don't want to talk about your sixty to nothing win. We want to talk about that. That's more fun for us and more fun for you as well. Remember when we were worried about Forreston, Well, they had four hundred yards rushing last week. I think they're fine. What do you think, Yeah, I think so.
I mean, it was definitely it was definitely a little bit shocking to see what happened to them against Fulton in the first week of the season. I think we'll find out over the course of the year that Fulton's pretty good in their own right. But Forreston did a really nice job of riding the ship. And let's not bury the Cardinals just yet. Flannagan, Cornell Woodland. It was homecoming last week. They had military nights, so they came on camel Oh, and they're honoring the nineteen seventy four
state champions fiftieth anniversary. That had been a fun atmosphere to start things off. In week two, we're already in homecoming season. Yeah, I know, that's crazy, isn't it.
It?
Seems weird that we're twenty percent done with the regular season already one third after this week. That just seems crazy. It seems like we just started yesterday.
We say this every year, right when we get into the first two weeks, it's like, oh, a third of the season is done. And you know, these coaches are saying that to their players as well, because those seniors better feel that sense of urgency because their football career, they've probably been playing maybe since they were eight years old, ten years of football. It's coming to an end fast if they're not paying attention. So that one and I'll
leave you with this in your backyard. Wilmington fifteen straight wins. They held Sandwich to what one hundred and thirty three total yards. That's a good Sandwich offense. That's not supposed to happen to But Wilmington they're back and they're probably ready to get back down to normal.
Wilmington took a forty two to nothing lead midway through the second quarter in that game, so they completely controlled that and the grand majority of those one hundred and thirty three yards were very very late in the game, if you know what I mean. So Wilmington just really looking like they've got everything firing on all cylinders.
All right, what's ke what's catching your eye? Maybe you might head out to if you can this weekend. What do you think for your week three? As we take a peek.
I haven't dug that far into like what is directly in front of me yet. I mean, it's it's one of those things when we look at at the schedule, I start picking through what is left over from week two, but I haven't really lined up exactly what my game plan is going to be for week two. I snuck out a little bit and watched a little bit of an old school rivalry between Bishop McNamara and Hersher last week. Yeah, hope, and I can find uh. I'm hoping I can find at least at least a half that I can sneak
out to this week in week three. But I haven't decided what that is just yet.
I have been to Hersher, I have played at Hersher. I have never been to Bishop Back. That's usually it's the opposite, right, because successful that program has been for a long time. I think I'm gonna sneak up to Saint Charles North and watch Saint Charles North and Whek North and the and the weekly Slugfest and the dou Cane. But if I change my mind, I might slip over to Caitlin and get a look at the Caitlin Knights in the Decal barbs because that's a fascinating playoff point
possibility for Caitlin. As you look at the internet State eight and you know how much of a grind that is, and that non conference schedule is not easy, especially that week nine games. You mentioned alt off in week nine not exactly one, that they'll be fired up when you go down there too. Yeah, Alts after Saders. That building's gonna be ready to go for a team like Caitlin coming in there in week nine, So I might see if I can sneak the one, if not both that
might be pushing it. I don't know. The country roads are not that friendly for me to get that far that quickly. So should be fun. And that's our look a week two sus. You have a good week. We will see you as we get ready for week three coming up.
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