Schweiker, Gannison, Krazak Rundio Pradley sponsors to Friday Night Drive. I'm Mike
Krazak. If you've been injured, we are ready to take on the insurance
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dollars for our clients. Visit the ga nassi n dot com. What's up
everyone, and welcome back to the Friday Night Drive Podcast. I am Kyle
Neighbors along with Steve Susy. Here it's Monday morning. We're back with you
to break down week three, and we had some really crazy finishes on Friday
nights. SEUs you were filling in for me on Live with Friday Night Drive.
I was under the weather unfortunately this past weekend, but I would following
along with you guys, working kind of behind the scenes and things for that
last i don't know, forty five minutes Friday Night of games got pretty wild.
Yeah, they certainly did. And while we had that kind of work
switch up on Friday Night, I was kind of doing the angry Abe Simpson
fist shaking at you because I'm glad you're bet. I'm glad you're better now.
But I was supposed to be at bowling Brook and Naperville North on Friday
night, and I missed what turned out to be I think probably what will
be one of the more fantastic finishes of the season, But to be honest
with you, I'm not sure if it was the most fantastic finish of the
week. So I mean it was. There were some really crazy games that
came down to the wire, that being one of them. Quick recap on
that one, forty four seconds left in the game, bowling Brook scores a
touchdown, decides to go for two to go ahead in the game to make
it forty nine to forty eight. They get it Jonas Williams to Cayenne Barry
Johnson, but they left Naperville North too much time as surprising surprisingly, the
Huskies were able to run the ball, which set Naperville North up for a
chip shot twenty yard field goal which gave them the win fifty one to forty
nine. So just an absolutely crazy finish. In that one, it looked
like bowling Brook had pulled out a pretty impressive win in that situation. Southamore
quarterback Jonas Williams had thrown six touchdowns in that game, just absolutely nuts bringing
that one down to the wire. Yeah. I thought when when Jonas Williams
got them the lead with forty five forty four that they were in good shape.
I'm sorry had gotten the lead in that game though late, but yeah,
Naperville North Cole Arl, I don't know if you mentioned him. Naperville
North running back ran for three hundred and fourteen yards in that one. Suits.
Yeah, and that's not really where you would expect Naperville North to be
productive offensively, but it looks like they had a nice pass run balance and
in the clutch they felt so confident in that ground game that usually you see
a team with less than a minute left and maybe a time out one time
out, you think the only logical course of action would be to throw the
football. But obviously they felt so strongly about how well they'd run the ball
that they were able to get into field goal position by running it. Plenty
to talk about this morning on the Friday Night Drive podcast or recapping week three
here Kyle Neighbors and Steve Susie withy. You can find all of our work
at Friday Night Drive dot com. You can follow us on Twitter at f
and Drive on Facebook. Instagram and TikTok by searching for Friday Night Drive.
You can follow myself on Twitter at Kyle Neighbors. You can find sus on
Twitter at the Sieus. Also throughout the week, you can come back and
listen to more of our podcast. Josh Welgee and Jake Marlston will be around
to recap the western suburbs from Cook to Page and Kane County down to Kendall
County, and then Eddie Cariffio and JT. Petalgy will break down the Illinois
Valley area from all the way to the western part of the state over to
Dical. We got a lot coming your way this week, SEUs or everyone
listen, but SEUs, you know you mentioned special teams there in that first
game. Another game where special teams played a factor. Late Lockport, we
talked about super Foot. Another big week for Superfoot helping Lockport get a win
in overtime. Well that was a game where, you know, as I
was kind of trying to follow along with it, I thought it was over.
I mean I had gotten I had gotten some information about the game that
Lockport had been sacked on a fourth down play with less than a little less
than two minutes to play, and I figured that, you know, Naperville
Central would simply run out the clock and that game would be over. But
Naperville Central, on there that last possession where they were trying to leave the
clock, attempted a pass which they didn't complete. It stopped the clock.
It gave Lockport an opportunity to get the ball back after you know, they
had gotten inside of a minute, and Lockport moved the ball effectively enough to
get one crack at a field goal with less than a second. Nate Blazowski,
my guy superfoot, hits that field goal, sends it into overtime,
and then in the overtime period, Lockport scores a touchdown on their possession and
holds on to win. So a thirty one twenty four win for the Porters.
That look like from all indications. I actually talked to one of the
officials that was working the game on Saturday afternoon and he told me he's like,
yeah, we you know they it looked like the game was probably over,
but Naperville Central made a curious decision. They're attempting that pass that stopped
the clocks. So I don't know the exact specifics whether or not they felt
like they had to get one first down to lead the entire clock. But
that really looks curious on the grand scheme of things that pass attempt during that
that final drive. Yeah, I certainly fallen along with that on Friday night,
kind of turned my head to the side when I saw that come across
that Lockborn had the ball back. Another game that came down to the wire
and a special teams, a couple of special teams played, and this one
was Montini and Nazareth. Montini was forced to punt, and the closing minute
of that game had the punt blocked. Nazareth recovers at the fifteen yard line,
is able to attempt a field goal at the end, only to have
that block. So Montini holds on for the twenty four twenty three wins.
It was a wild one there. There were multiple opportunities for Montini to add
on to that lead earlier in the game, where it would have been it
wouldn't have mattered. Essentially, they could have pulled the old safety out of
the back of the end zone with you know, with a little bit more
of a substantial lead, and they wouldn't even have had new punt in.
But you know, really pulled that one out of the fire for Montini.
A game that looked like they had it in control early on. They had
an opportunity to kick a field goal just before half that would have sent him
into the second half of the twenty four to seven lead. They missed that
field goal and then all the matchinations started. They had a couple of other
opportunities in the red zone where they didn't capitalize for points. So I mean,
had Montini lost that game, they would have had a laundry list of
what could have been. But instead they did something that I mean, I've
been watching high school football for a long time. I don't know if I've
ever seen a sequence that went blocked punt, blocked field goal at the end
of a game. I mean, that's that's an incredible pattern of events that
just you wouldn't imagine a scenario where it would even come into play, let
alone actually happening. So great situation for Montini. They're three and ozo now,
and that's a that's a situation that I was talking to them before the
season. They felt it was absolutely critical that they get off to the best
start possible with the remaining catholically games that they have on their schedule SGKR.
It's the sponsor of the Friday Night Driving podcast. They are also the title
sponsor of Live with Friday Night Drive. If you tuned into that on Friday
night, you would have seen SEUs and Jimmy Musual fallen, that chaos added
unfolded. Sus, that was your first time in the co anchorcy with me
out under the weather on Friday night. What was that experience like? Yeah,
it was fun, but it was one of those situations where it's it
was a different setting for me on a Friday night. Usually I'm trying to
watch a game that's laying out in front of me, as well as tracking
twenty five or thirty other games that I'm interested in the results. So just
kind of a different situation with snapping my head back and forth, trying to
figure out the way to go, what to follow, and what the big
moments were. Because I had a couple of games up that I was trying
to watch on YouTube. I had a few other things that I mean,
I had a few different scoreboards that I was tracking. I had two computers
in front of me. I kind of, and this is gonna sound crazy,
I kind of wish I had four. I get it. Yeah,
that was the way it was. I mean, it was one of those
things where I don't know how many people are familiar with MLB dot com where
they have the split screen option where you can cube your screen in four different
ways. I wanted to cube my screen in about eight different ways. So
it was really it was really kind of chaotic. It was fun. I
enjoyed it. I did miss being on the sidelines. It's one of my
favorite things. But if I had to have a replacement for that, that
was a pretty good one. We talked about. We modeled Live with Friday
Night Drive under the concept similar to the NFL Red Zone Channel on Sundays,
which is so much fun. But the big difference between the NFL Red Zone
Channel and what we do on Friday nights is, like yesterday, Week one
of the NFL, there was twelve games during the day yesterday, I think
it was seven at noon and five more at the three o'clock's late. I
mean on Friday nights, who how many game were there? One hundred and
twenty more one hundred and got there were more than that. It was it
was like almost two hundred that you know, one of those things is uh
that I always joke around about, is Yeah, there might be two hundred
and ten or two hundred and twenty games on Friday, but you're not interested
in all of them. Yes, I am. I am interested in all
of them. That's that's actual truth. I want to know what's going on
in every single one of those games. It's an impossible situation to try to
wield. And like you said, the red Zone, it seems very busy
for those that are watching it, But me, I've got two hundred ping
pong balls in the air that I'm trying to figure out on Friday night.
So it's it's definitely one of those things that I don't know if there is
a good system to try to keep track of everything. I haven't found it
yet. Jimmy and I have sat through there the first two weeks, and
you know, it's it's a learning process that we try and let the viewers
know it's something new that we're trying. Yeah, and I feel like I
need about eight different monitors up with different games and different scores to be able
to keep track of everything happening on Friday night. It just it comes so
fast and so furious, even working behind the scenes to try and feed you
scores and some info. It's just everything updates so quick that I miss so
much. I was trying to find out finals and like, uh, you
know, it's it's things are refreshing so fast. Yeah, they're just like
I said, there's a lot of things that end up happening around the nine
thirty to ten o'clock range, because you know, you got games that started
at seven that are running a little bit slow, you got the seven thirty
games that are running a little bit fast. You have a couple of earlier
games that are coming in and you get those before. But it always seems
like everything's ending at the same time. You know, those teams are still
teams in mode that they have to prove it. But as far as Lincoln
Way Central goes, I mean, it hasn't taken long and they've proven it.
To me. It'll be an interesting rivalry game with Lincoln Way West this
week. But I think it's possible, and I certainly think you know,
six and three, seven and two is in the cards for them, which
is which would be two things that like you know, I would have said
that's highly unlikely at the beginning of the year, but really nice job for
them they have. They have some fun guys you know that are just getting
the job done right now. And another team that has excellent special teams.
Big shock. I mean that seems to be one of those things that you
know is coming into play with a lot of teams winning games that maybe they
weren't expected to, or toss up games, excellent special teams there. With
Andrew Schiller leaving the kicking game for Lincoln Way Central, I wanted to take
a quick commercial break here, but Susan I will be back to finish up,
finish up, rapping Week three for you. This is State Representative Steve
Reich, and I'm happy to sponsor this year's Friday Night Drive. There'll be
plenty of time for politics down the road, but for now, let's enjoy
some high school football. Whichever school you follow, give them your support.
Welcome back into the Friday Night Drive podcast. Before we took a commercial break,
we were discussing some three and three and OZ teams. Before we get
back into that, because we were just talking about Lincoln Waight Central and their
Week five opponent, It's Sandberg. Sandberg pulled off a forty one thirty four
win against the calb in week three. Susan, I'm gonna go ahead and
say I did not anticipate that. I thought to Caleb was starting to play
better after week two. They were up in that game early on. I
thought they were in control. Sandberg goes down and scores, gets an on
side kick, recovers the on side kick, goes down and scores again.
Suddenly, uh, Samberg goes down from being down eleven. I believe to
up three points in that game. It was a major shift. Suddenly the
Barber fighting, uh, you know, fighting hard, and Sandberg, Troy
McCalister gets gets another big win. Yeah. I mean, Sandberg was one
of the wild card teams for me. In the beginning part of the year.
I didn't really know what to make of them. I've long had respect
for what Troy McCallister does with his programs, you know, I thought maybe
last year was a little bit of a hiccup. I'd heard they'd had some
injuries that they maybe never really quite came over. But even so, I
wasn't really sure like where they fit in the grand scheme of things. And
to be honestly, I'm not totally sure now, but one of the things
that kind of ended up being a forty two twenty one loss to Saint Rita
to start the season. But that game was actually a little bit closer than
that final score would have indicated. Sandberg was hanging around, you know,
into the third quarter in that game and kind of gave me the idea that
maybe we'd have you know, uh, you know, maybe they were coming
back to us a little bit in the way that I had maybe expected them
to. Week two, you know, held down an Oak Forest team that
I think might be a little bit better than people think. And then I
was looking for this to Cow game to be kind of a measuring stick for
them, and it looks like they have, you know, some interesting things
that they're doing. Special teams plays have been really good for them. They've
got a nice quarterback wide receiver connection. You know, they have some pieces
here. But Sandberg is another one of those teams like we mentioned with Lincoln
Way Central, Andrew was another Bradley Bourbon At these are all they all look
like good teams on paper. How does it all sort out? Yeah,
the Eagles with a good road win over Dick cal Going back to our three
and O teams donners, Grove North sitting and here at three and o and
listen, this is a Donners Grove North. I think most people, including
us, expected to be a really quality team this year. That being said,
they beat Glenbard West this past weekend. They had not beating the Hilltoppers
and I believe sixteen years sus Yeah, correct, And that was one of
the things about them, like the fact that they're three and o right now
is a little bit surprising. The fact that they're a good football team is
not lost on me. I knew that they would be, but when they
opened the season in the fashion that they did, with a Week one game
against Wheat and Saint Francis Crosstown, you know, Crosstown rival down or Grove
South in Week two, which is always a challenging game regardless of the records,
and then now in Week three with Glenbard West. Let's be honest,
if you looked at that schedule at the beginning of the years, you wouldn't
have put the odds of Downers Grove North coming out of that with a three
and old record very strongly. But they've been convincing and all three of these
games, particularly in that Glenbard West win they didn't just win it, they
won it. I mean they ran away and a hit in that game.
So a really really nice win for those guys, sets them up well in
a conference that once again is extremely deep. To be three and ozho at
this point, great sign for the Trojans. You know, now it has
my eye actually kind of looking towards that York game. I believe that it's
in week six. Yeah, that game is in week six, but more
immediately, Glenbard West now find itself at one and two and has a matchup
at home this weekend against Lions, A not an easy battle here for the
Hilltoppers. The Hilltoppers now through three weeks have scored a grand hotal of fourteen
points seven against merist in week one, shut out against Ut Jesuit out of
Saint Louis, Missouri in week two, now taking a thirty one seven loss
to Donners Grove North in week three. The Hilltoppers are going to have to
get their offense go and here soon, sus. Yeah, and they're another
one of those teams that you look at what is left on their schedule and
boy, it's it's not going to be a slam dunk for them. I
mean, they still have to play York and you know the Lions there.
I mean, there are a couple of games in there, and then if
somebody rises up, you know, gets rose up for Glenbard West, they
could be in trouble making the field. To be completely honest with you right
now, it's and that's looking back at their beginning schedule. You know,
Marist, you know Decmat is a really good program out of Saint Louis.
So it's not shocking that they are sitting here at one and two right now
based on the quality of that schedule, but it certainly makes makes it a
lot more difficult for them to you know, get themselves into the field,
to be completely honest with you right now, with what they have left,
Yeah, that not a lot of room for error here because you know,
like we said, the Lions and the Lions game is going to be tough,
the York game is going to be tough. Outside of that, like
they're winnable games. I worry, you know, Hensale Central's oh and three,
but that's a that's a tough oh and three. I don't think you
know, they're gonna find a way to put some wind on the board before
this is all said and done, it's a pretty good game between them and
West usually, and then Week nine, that OPRF game could be a bit
of a sticker. I feel like as well, Yeah, I mean,
there could be a scenario where both of those programs potentially would be you know,
you know, fighting for one spot. I mean that that's that's a
scenario that could play out. It's it's very That conference is always pretty difficult,
but now with the emergence of York as you know, I guess the
standard bearer at this point in time, makes it even even crazier for those
teams. And like a few years ago, you would have been hard pressed
to say, okay, I can't I'm not including Hinsdale Central and the lead
of that conference, and now they've kind of slipped back a little bit to
the middle of the pack in that group. But the middle of the pack
of that group is awfully good too, So you know, it's it's one
of those leagues where I feel like, at least one team that is in
that conference is probably more than worthy of getting itself into the playoff field,
but the conference schedule is just too strong for it. They're not going to
They're not going to be able to find a way to get themselves to five
victories and stay away from the you know, the four losses in league play
because the teams ahead of them are just too good. We got East Saint
Louis sitting at one and two, Merists at one and two, Simeon at
one and two, Warren. These are all quality programs, and I expect
looking through just clamping through schedules pretty quickly. I think a Saint Louis is
not going to have any issues. Merrist, I think is able to get
to five wins pretty easily. Still, what teams at one and two that
are notable programs are you starting to say, like, oh, I'm not
sure they're going to get to five wins. You know, it's you know,
you mentioned the Saint Louis. You still have to keep in mind that
they still don't have a week nine game. So for them, I mean,
while I would say yeah, I think they're okay, you know,
I would be surprised if they if they didn't get ultimately get to at least
five wins, there's there's still a problem there because it's a it's a week
nine situation that uh, you know, hey, not not great Bob in
that in that situation and being at this being at this point of the season
and not having yourself a Week nine game guaranteed. I'm sure they're working on
it. But yeah, that's that's not ideal. They have to go out
of state for that, right, like the yeah, they're not going to
find an in state upon them. Well, I mean, I'd be stunned.
I mean, something crazy would have to happen for an Illinois team to
open up for them that would be willing to play them. You know,
the ones that kind of jump off the page at me when I start talking
about one and two teams that that I don't think that are that have a
rough track. One of them that surprised me when I was looking at it
the other day is Sterling. They they narrowly beat East Moleen. Uh and
they they're now one and two. They started the season oh and two.
You know they have games left with a resurgent Genes CEO team Quincy, who
I think is you know, one of the stronger teams in that conference,
uh, if not the strongest, and Moleen in Week nine a strong program.
And then it's kind of odd to consider this, but they're going to
Princeton, which is a game that, like on paper, you would think
Sterling would be the favorite just because of the bigger program and such. But
sitting there at one and two, Princeton, you know, is a pretty
strong program. I don't think that's a slam dunk win for them. So
if they you know, if they end up losing that game, I think
they're really in trouble. You know, going into this season, I would
never have even considered that a possibility that Sterling would lose to the Princeton and
not again, this is not a shout against Princeton, and you're just talking
about six or five a such a larger school. The thing that this East
Mauleen result is actually really concerning to me for Sterling, even though they won
the game, like East Malin is coming off and one and eight season,
it's not a strong program. The beat them only by four points is concerning.
Yeah, And then that's kind of what jumped out at me this week
when I was looking through them. You know, I go conference by conference,
so I didn't get down to the Western Big Six until the end.
And uh, and that was one of them that just kind of jumped off
the page at me as like, you know, I don't know if there
are five wins in that schedule right now. Another one that that kind of
surprised me when I was going through is Yorkville. They were surprised, and
I think it was I think I can safely say that with a loss to
Joliet West on Friday night. They lost by game twenty to seventeen. Big
win for Joliet West. I mean that that's the kind of win when you
start scripting out, you know what teams could potentially get into playoffs. I
think that's the kind of win that gets I think almost you know, provided
they do would take care of business in their own division. That was a
huge win for them. But Yorkville, you know, they have one more
game in Crossover, which I think they should be fine, but only going
into that SBC East Race with a two and two record. Yeah, I
mean that means they got to win three of five coming home, and in
that league. I don't know if three wins are there for him this year.
Minooka a resurgent Oswego team Plainfield North and then Oswego Easton and you know,
West Aurora, even though they haven't played the strongest competition is three and
oh out of the box and look like they're probably gonna be four and oh.
That's not a breezy win. So winning, you know, potentially winning
three of five. They're just to get to five wins doesn't look exceptionally easy
for Yorkville. Definitely not. Yeah, the Fox is coming off at nine
and two season. Can't be happy to be sitting here at one and two
after that loss to Julia's a huge win for that that Tigers program. Wrapping
it up here, Sue's before we get out of here, thought's talk about
a oh and three teams, and you know the first one is Na Nazareth.
Now at Owen three, you and Jimmy were discussing in this live on
Live with Friday Night Drive. I'm not really seeing a path for the Roadrunners
four and at this point. Yeah, I mean it's one of those things.
I mean, you look at it right now, and and I'll be
honest, there are there are two or three games that I think they're almost
certain to probably not win at this point. Brother Rice in week seven is
a big problem. They finished the season with Saint Francis in week nine.
I don't think they win this week you know, and they play and like
I was just getting to that, they play icy Catholic this week, which
flexed its muscles with a comfortable win over Bennett. I did not think that
I thought they could win that game. I did not think they would win
comfortably. Yeah, so much, So much for our talk of wondering how
I see Catholic is going to how they're going to adjust to the Catholic League
rigors just going out and get punching Bennett right in the face on Friday night.
Yeah, And I haven't even mentioned the fact that they also have seen
Ignatius and Fenwick on the schedule, So I mean, they've done this before.
So it's it's it's difficult to you know, completely dismiss them. But
boy, it does not look good for them. I mean that's that's the
complete, being complete honest there man, And holy hell, I mean you
look at their schedule at the I mean they started four games in a row
on the road Kankakee, York, Montini. Now I see Catholic. I
mean that is brutal. Yeah, now that's it's one of those things.
I mean, it's not surprising if you you know, look at at playoff
points that the amount that your schedule has achieved, that Nazra sits number two
in the state right now, who's number one? I'd have to look for.
I'll get it for you real quick because I'm curious myself now that we're
looking at it. That's all right, Yeah, So as you're looking at
man owing three icy Catholic there. I mean, by the way, it's
nights win for Weed and Saint Francis as well, their first game the Catholic
League, taking down St. Louis forty two to twenty eight. There.
That helps them a lot. They get Fenwick this week, followed by Julia
Catholic, which Julia Catholic taking that loss against Saint Rita. I guess I'm
not surprised. I'm not surprised. I don't know though, Like I guess
I expected JCA to score more than ten points in that game lost. I
guess lost control of that game and Sat Rita just pounced on the opportunity.
They were defensively strong for three quarters, but that third quarter kind of did
in the Hilltoppers. Saint Rita had just made a couple of plays at the
right time. So I was watching that game a little bit during the craziness
of Friday night. Jolie Catholic held a tend nothing lead for most of the
game and then all of a sudden it seemed like it was it was Saint
Rita had put up twenty points and taking control of that games. So Jolie
Catholic's offense right now needs to get a few more touchdowns, a few less
field goals. They've been moving the ball, but they've they've and Patrick Durkin's
a good kicker, and I'm sure they appreciate having him, but I think
they'd appreciate him kicking extra points a little bit more than kicking field goals.
So moving forward, I think that's an emphasis for Joliet Catholic. But I
felt like that game was kind of a toss up on paper. But it
was definitely one that if you would have put me put my hand to the
fire, I would have said, I thought Jolie Catholic would win that game.
So definitely interesting that. Getting back to your strength of schedule question,
I checked. It's Sandberg. Sandberg is the answer to the strongest schedule in
the state right now. No, it just you know, pretty much an
interesting week all around. We thought we would get some answers to some teams.
Now that we most conferences are now in conference play or crossover conference play,
so measuring sticks all about. I think we're about where we expected to
be. The results of Week three, for the most part, kind of
fell in line with what we were kind of expecting, So it'll be interesting
to see if that trend continues into Week four. There are some big games
sitting on the calendar for them too, so the big games just keep on
coming. So that's the really fun thing about this. It seems like every
week we've got fifteen or twenty games that you're really excited to see what's going
to happen. It's not like you have a team that you think is head
and shoulders above the other one. I think you're gonna have some fun games.
We certainly had some fun games this week, so hopefully that trend continues.
Yeah. I always say it's best to wait until teams get four games
under their belt to make a determination of how much we know about them.
So we have finally reached that week, but we got plenty of content coming
your way before that, so make sure you stick to Friday Night Drive dot
Com. We'll have seus's updated power rankings. We already have what we learned
in week three up there for you. Will have SUSS updated playoff projection coming
on Wednesday, and then show up on Thursday for us as well. We'll
be back here Susan I to preview week four. But for now we're going
to go ahead and sign off. Thank you everyone who listen. We'll talk
to you later this week. Schweiker Gannison Krazak Rundio proudly 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.