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I M dot com. What's up everyone, Welcome back to Friday Night Drives
Friday Night Drive Podcast. I am Kyle Neighbors along with Steve Susie. Here
it is Thursday, November second. We are here to break down the second
round of the high school football playoffs. And I'm trying not to laugh and
Sush, you were kind of I could see you smiling. So Sue's pointed
out anyone who's with us here regularly and sees the commercial throughout the Live with
Friday Night Drive experience, we got a like a a commercial promo in Friday
Night Drive itself and there's a clip from I'm not sure what year the state
championship that was sus but Jeff Reen's the Wilmington head coach that Susan had put
it out well kind of caught in between the victory celebration, throwing the arms
up in the air. I had never caught that until you mentioned it.
And then we're sitting there and I'm trying not to just laugh as the show
starts. Here, Sus, you just broke up or I broke up?
Someone broke up here, Sousie back with me, Yeah, I'm back all
right. I think I broke up for a second. There. Not a
great start. Hopefully that will continue happen you all right, kind of pull
myself back together here, sus. How you doing pretty well? You know,
getting ready for round two here and excited for that, but still kind
of looking back and forth on you know, what happened in week one,
and we've talked about this before. It was there was a lot of games
that went the way we expected them to go. But that didn't mean the
round lack for excitement. There were a lot of interesting games, a lot
of interesting were absolutely everyone who's joining us live this morning on YouTube and Facebook,
thank you very much. If you are joining us live, you can
leave a question or comments in the chat. We really do appreciate it.
Leave us thumbs up and subscribe to the channel the YouTube channel as well.
Please. That really does help other people find the show. If we could,
We're try and go today. Get twenty five likes on this video to
help us get there. Please. You can go to Friday Night Drive dot
com to find all of our content. You can follow us on Twitter at
f N drive. You can also find us on Instagram, Facebook, and
TikTok. You can find SEUs on Twitter at the SEUs. You can find
myself on Twitter at Kyle nabors SEUs. You know, the first thing first
before we bring Michael in, Michael Rojack in here to start talking about Chicago
Catholic League and East Suburban Catholic Conference. We got sixty four playoff games this
weekend, man, but I think it's only eight on Friday night. You
doing okay? Yeah, I'm glad that that number is is more than zero.
I'll put it that way. But I'll go on a tangent here pretty
soon because only having so few on this Friday means the odds of us having
any next Friday are starting to run thin and basically almost eliminating any chance of
having any on semi final weekends. So I always get a little agitated when
we start going full Saturday real quick in the playoff process. You know,
we're called Friday Night Drive. I prefer Friday night games, so I want
to be able to see as many games as possible on a given weekend,
and eliminating Friday Night is an option so early in the playoff parameters. I
don't think it's a good thing, and I actually don't think it's a good
thing for the participating teams either. In some regards, Yeah, I'm surprised.
I get it, particularly for the schools five A through eight A that
are going to be playing in state championships on Saturday. But I'm surprised to
see so many of those smaller school teams that do play they title games on
Fridays moved to Saturday already, and not just at you know, some of
our smaller pubs here at Friday Night Drive dot Com have a lot of eight
man teams, and even those games, you know, like Polo Millageville out
in our Soft Valley market, that's a game that's being played on Saturday.
So yeah, a lot of a lot of crews, are a lot of
teams move into Saturday already. I was, you know, surprised, but
also a little you know, with the the officiating search situation to see so
many teams go to Saturday so quickly. Well, I actually had someone tell
me that the ISA is just actually sent out a message before the playoffs starts
telling people if you want, if you want more experience than better crews play
Friday because they start to run into conflicts with some of their better crews that
work college games as well, that already have commitments. And I think that
would be an incentive as well for teams to if they're like, if it
doesn't really make that much of a big of a difference and you don't have
that much of a travel to make, I think that would be a factor
that I would consider before making that switch, is that I would I want
the best crew that I can possibly get here working this game. So you
know, I would have thought that would have been more of a factor than
it appears to have bad been. That's a really good point. You know,
we need officials in the state, and I'm not trying to rag on
anyone here. I appreciate anyone who does sign up and do that job.
But football's a very, very tall, tough sport to officiate. You definitely
in the experience and you don't want playoff game being decided by guys that might
not have as much experience as some of these older crews, So definitely understand
that, but I do want to go ahead now and bring Michael dwojack In,
who covers the Chicago Catholic League for Friday Night Drive dot Com. Michael,
how you doing? Man? Think you got? You got yourself on
mute here? Sorry rookie move. I forgot that we're back in twenty twenty
and I don't know how to unmute myself. It's the rough start for us
here this morning. I'm freezing up. You're on mute. It's all right.
How's it going? Man? Good? Good? Obviously Week two of
the playoffs a lot of good matchups looking forward to, so it should be
some good stuff. Yeah, and want to dive in right away and start
previewing some of these Catholic League games. One of the more intriguing matchups in
Class five A this week a one pm Saturday game between number six Carmel and
number three Antioch. Carmel going up to Antioch. What are you thinking about
this matchup? It's a really interesting matchup. You know. Antioch is ten
to zero, Carlo's nine to one. So we're kind of getting a matchup
that maybe you would see, you know, in the quarterfinals are the semi
finals here in the second round. But Antiocha took care of business like most
of you know, the area teams did against the CPS this past weekend,
and Carmel did the same. So I'm really interested to see how these two
teams match up. And I'm really curious to see, you know, Carlo
has done a really good job of you know, beating everyone except Mount Carmel
this season, which not a lot of teams have done this year other than
Loyola. But I'm really curious to see how Carmel, you know, presents
itself in a game like this against Antioch. Antioch obviously undefeated and able to
play against a lot of good teams and limit a lot of good teams.
So I'm curious to see, you know, We've we saw Carmel, you
know, show glimpses of that against Mount Carmel, you know, having a
tight game between the Caravan and them, and ultimately Mount Carmel won that game.
But can Carmel, you know, take the next step. They lost
in the second round last year, the second Sycamore. Can they take that
next step under coach McKee and you know, reach the quarterfinals and then potentially
maybe even play I think it would be Nas in the second in the quarterfinals
if they both win their games. So this is a really you know,
I'm really gonna learn a lot about this program. I think by you know,
what happens in this game. Obviously Carmel loses. I don't think that
means that they're a bad program by any means, but I think that,
you know, this is a big stepping stone for coach McKee and what that
program wants to build, and this is a really big moment for them just
to see whether they can you know, reach the moment. Yeah, so
this is Antioch is a team that we've seen in the Class six A postseason
in recent seasons, dropping down to five A. Here, what do you
make of this matchup? Ran You know, it's it's an interesting challenge for
Antioch in a lot of ways. Because you mentioned what it means for Carmel.
Antioch you know, plays in a conference that they've typically dominated. They'd
score a lot of points during the regular season, but I don't know how
battle tested it makes them for you know, stronger competition and whatever classification that
they end up in. They they've done this before. They've they've had,
you know, big high scoring teams that have gone into the playoffs and then
run into some struggles and not been able to advance as deep as you might
think with a program that has the kind of in season resume that they seem
to be putting together. So this is an interesting, I think, proving
ground game for both of these programs. Yeah, I agree. So if
we actually have not posted, by the way, that'll be going up a
little later this afternoon. We've started posting Susi's picks for all second round games.
One A, two A have gone up. Three A be going up
shortly after this podcast ended this live stream. In five A wild be going
up later this afternoon. I'm going to put you on the spot, though,
sus Soud you got Carmel or Antioch in this one. I took Carnival
in this game. I think I think they're they're better prepped for this particular
contest. I think Antioch will put up some points, it will be a
high scoring game, but in the end, I think Carnmel has has what
it means here to get by this game. In five a on the southern
part of this bracket. We got two Catholic leagues that you're really familiar with,
Suss you saw them both last week and Juliet And are Juliet Catholic in
Providence? Michael, You get Juliet Catholic with a matchup this week, hosting
a number thirteen Triad. Providence is on the road at number ten Hillcrest.
What are you hearing about those two teams. I think both of those teams,
you know, are well. Julia Katholic obviously he's hosting the game and
Providence has to travel again to Hillcrest. But I think both teams are feeling
pretty good. Juliet Catholic obviously with the big forty to sixteen win against Peoria.
I think Juliet Kathleck, you know, they were a little upset about
now when the Green title, you know towards the end when they lost to
Saint Ignatius in week nine, and you know they saw you saw, you
know, how good this team can be both offensively and defensively. I mean,
obviously Adrian Washington is a huge wide receiver for the Crew, and you
got Dylan Johnson has a big defensive tackle for the Hilltoppers as well, so
maybe you know, some frustrations were taking that against Peoria in the first round,
but I think, you know, try it at seven and three they
beat Muhammad saying More by one point twenty to nineteen, so kind of pull
off the upset there. But I just think Juliet Catholic is you know,
you can you can say this thing for every c CLA SEC team, like
Seu's talked about earlier, they're battle tested, they played against the best teams
in the state. They just know how to win these types of games at
this point. So I think they're definitely gonna win against Tryad against for Providence,
against against Hillcrest, I just think it's kind of the same thing.
You know, Providence was able to sneak away with some big defensive plays against
more Than to pull off the upset of the number two seed there, and
I think you're gonna get the same thing in that matchup. Maybe not as
wide of a margin as maybe we'll see in Juliet Catholic in provid Uh and
try it, but I do think that Providence, at least for this week
another week, is going to be able to you know, make the right
plays both defensively and offensively and hang on to when they came to move on
to the quarterfinals. Yeah, I'm taking Juliet Catholic in Providence when this week
as well, Susan are you? Are you taking both of those teams?
I am? You know, this Joliet Catholic situation kind of reminds me of
their state championship run of a few years ago where they went through the South
bracket in five A and they they kept running into these teams from southern Illinois
that just did not quite have the size to match up with joliett Catholic,
especially in the trenches. I'm reminded of Actually, uh, they came across
Highland during that run. Who is primary primary player with Sam Laporta that tight
end for the Detroit line up. We loseus, I think so, I
think we lost sus Really kind of a challenging situation for them in that situation,
but in Providence. You know, I don't know how they do it
at this point, especially after witnessing the way that they want against Morton,
But I'm starting to believe now that they'll just figure it out. I don't
have rationale for how it's gonna happen, But I do believe that they've somehow
figured out what works for them and they'll get just enough to get past this
particular matchup. Thank you everyone who is joining us live on YouTube and Facebook
this this morning. You can throw your question or comment in the chat.
We will get to those throughout the show today. Michael, you know,
elsewhere in class for a you got Saint Vider this week with a second round
matchup against weedon Academy. Saint Vider shut out Richmond Burden a really nice win
in that first round. But now they come home on Friday night and get
a tough matchup against weedon Academy. What do you about this one? I
think this matchup is really interesting and I'm really interested by the top half of
the foray. You got Icy Catholic playing Boiling, and then you got Dixon
playing Saint Lawrence. So you potentially have Icy Catholic and Saint Lawrence potentially playing
against each other in the quarterfinals, and Bider moving on to the quarterfinals as
well if all three of those teams win. But going back to it originally
as just you know, Viighter has you know, competed in a lot of
games they've beaten in a lot of good teams, and I think that playoff
performance was kind of what they have been building for, you know, for
the past years, honestly, just with what this program has wanted. You
got Cooper Kameda now, who's shown that he's very confident as a quarterback.
Obviously he won the Bears MVP for Week nine after throwing anything it was like
five touchdowns. But he's become you know, one of the better quarterbacks in
the state as a junior. Obviously, he's got the a lot of talent
in the family with his brother being tight end for the Bears. But I
think Viader has kind of shown, you know, they've gone through some you
know, growing pains, they've gone through again the CCL schedule, so you
know at six and four, yes, ure, maybe they don't look as
good as maybe they really are. And I think Ween Academy, you know,
at nine to one, has you know, done really well this season.
But I'm not entirely sure. Maybe sus could correct me, but I
don't think Ween Academy has really played, you know, the type of schedule
that Saint Viieter has, and I think Biader is heading into this matchup with
a lot of momentum. Yeah, I think Wheaton Academy is a good football
team, But this is one of those situations where I really think the schedule
that each of the two teams play, may you know, may show the
differences in the two teams. I think if you put Wheaton Academy in Saint
Biet's schedule, they would have difficulty matching what Saint Biad did, And I
think that's something you really kind of have to look at when we get deeper
into the playoffs. Not to take anything away from Wheaton Academy, I think
they're a very solid football team, but I think in the grand scheme of
things, this is one of those games where you really do have to throw
out the records in comparison in trying to compare the two teams. Yeah,
Weedon Academy, I'm looking for like a measuring stick game. Like you go
back to Week two. They beat Saint Charles East, which is a nice
win for a program their size to beat St. Charles East. But Sat.
Charles East was one and eighth this year, not a very competitive football
team. They lost to Chicago Hope, a one A school. There one
loss on the year with a one point loss and that is a good team.
So yeah, it's really hard to kind of get a feel for,
you know how Weedon Academy stacks up against the Chicago Chicago Catholic League team like
Saint Vider. But it's a difficult it's a difficult it's a difficult setup.
But it's it's one of those games that as we get deeper into the playoffs,
you really kind of have to stay take into account the I guess the
battle scars that each one of the two teams is taken to this point.
Yeah, absolutely, I want to finish up with Saint Ignatius Huntley, But
before I do that, I don't you know, we got Loyola Mount Carmel,
anything that stick out in any of the other matchups, Michael, I'm
really curious to see, you know, if Saint Lawrence. Saint Lawrence won
its first playoff game since twenty seventeen, that was a big moment for them.
Can they they have a host, they host a playoff game on Saturday,
So I'm really curious to see whether, you know, they're gonna be
able to top Dixon and whether they end up seeing Icy Catholic in that quarterfinal
matchup that should be a lot of fun, and that's a kind of,
you know, a fun matchup to look forward to for the top two teams.
I mean, Loyola playing Niclo Valley. The Nico Valleys obviously had a
very successful season, but I think Loyol is obviously going to take control of
that matchup pretty pretty handily. It's kind of funny, how, you know,
falling behind three nothing in the first round of playing Field North really hooked
up the Ramblers and kind of motivated them to score a lot of points.
But you know, whatever works for you, guys, works well if as
long as you win the game. And Mount Carmel playing against Prospect, I
think Mount Carlo should control that game pretty easily on Friday as well. Just
two top seeds I think are heading into the quarterfinals sitting pretty well, and
maybe finally we'll get some good matchups for both of those two teams as we
head deeper into the playoffs. He is Michael Dwojack. You can find him
on ex or Twitter at m Dwojack ninety four. You can find him on
Instagram and threads as well. He covers the Chicago Catholic League and East Subourban
Catholic Conference for Friday Night Drive dot Com. One of those teams, saying
ignacious Class eight A gets a matchup against Huntley, a team from McHenry County.
So I'm gonna go ahead and bring Joe Stevenson to have him join us
as well now because Joe Stevenson covers mckenry County for the Northwest Herald and Friday
Night Drive dot Com. Joe, how you doing. I'm great. I'm
great. I get two football games. I get one of those Friday games,
one of the eight Friday games. I'm lucky. Yeah, I would
say only we're not used to only two football teams being left in McHenry County
just one week into the postseason, so kind of lucked out to make sure
you still got one on Friday and Saturday. Yeah, for sure. We're
used to seeing, you know, Prairie Ridge and Richmond Burton hanging around for
a while and some other teams, and yeah, it does. It does
kind of feel weird just toft. It feels bizarre to only having two football
teams left in McHenry County. But it got a good one on Friday Night
between Hontley and Saint Ignatius. Joe, I'll start with you. Hotley Hotly,
coming off that win against Niles West in the first round, struggled in
the first half, put it together after halftime, had pulled away in that
game. How is Huntley feeling with a matchup against Saint Ignatius, Well,
I think it feels pretty good, you know, to get through that for
the first round. You never know what you're going to get in a day.
Yeah, they really the Red Raiders really didn't play well in the first
half. Missed a lot of tackles, missed a lot of offensive opportunities.
In fact, coach Mike Nimola said at halftime he was happy that they were
tied fourteen to fourteen because he didn't he felt that like they played that poorly.
That okay, were we played that badly and we're still tied. And
they really came out and took control of a game in the second half.
The defense was much better and the offense kind of looked like the offense last
year. Just give it to Hayden Jankie. He's the big two hundred and
ten pound running back and let's just ride him. He had thirty two carries
for one hundred and fifty two yards and three touchdowns, and then you know,
even then, you know they were up six points early in the fourth
quarter and got a huge block punt. Zach Garriffo came through, blocked the
punt. It like flew like twenty yards in fifteen or twenty yards in the
air. It bounces in the end zone and Travis Dudeka recovered it, so
they get to win. There probably could have been a wider margin, and
you know, the Red Raiders are well aware they have to come out and
play a much better first half this week against the wolf Pack. You can
follow Joe on Twitter at NWH Underscore Joe Prep Zone. He also Joe had
a terrific story up at Friday Night Drive dot com right now about Braylon Bauer.
Braylin and the Bauer family lost. Braylan father, A Lyle Bauer,
a what how to phrase it much anyone in Huntley new Lyle Bauer, a
longtime youth coach, very involved in Huntley athletics, died unexpectedly. Joe had
a terrific story about how you know, the family is really kind of rallied
around football to cope throughout the fall. Terrific piece, Joe. You know
this matchup for Huntley. We were talking about it actually on the sideline Saturday
when we were watching Prairie Ridge play Nazareth, about the potential of Huntley and
Saint Ignatius playing Michael. This is you know, Saint Nick Nacius runs the
triple option offense, and like last week against Juliet West, that was a
real advantage. Juliet West certainly had not seen a triple option. That isn't
going to be the case this week against Huntley, who has seen it three
times this year. They've seen it against Prairie Ridge and Kerry Grove, who
run it better than anyone in the state. They also saw it against McK
henry. Uh. You know, do you think that can play a factor
here, you know, kind of working against Ignatious against Huntley. I mean
we definitely will you know, help Huntley in this matchup. I think that's
definitely going to be the case. But I think, you know, but
there are other things other than the triple options that have really worked for them.
I mean, they've got their quarterback, Jack one Zong has really impressed
me this year with coming out. He's done a really good job, you
know, come stepping in as a junior. He was named the you know,
MVP of the Green this year for his performance. So yeah, I
Seening Nations obviously loves to run the ball, obviously does that a lot,
but you know, he has shown that he's able to throw the ball,
and you know, Seeing Nations has shown that they've been able to do that,
and I've really been impressed with them. I feel like, you know,
it could have been really easy after you know, making the state semi
finals for the first time, you lose thirty six guys, you move up
to eight A, you move up to the Green Division, it could have
been a really easy year for them to say, well, justin Scott's really
good. But you know, we've got all these new guys and you know
they're stepping up. But I mean Scott's been triple teams, you know,
maybe quadruple teams sometimes this season, and other guys have stepped up in big
times. And I think you've seen that a lot. With the offense where
you have the triple option, you know, helps Seeing Nations a lot.
But they've thrown the ball a lot too, and not afraid to take their
deep shots, so you know they'll get you into that comfort of thinking,
well, they're going to run the ball every single time. Maybe they'll throw
a five yard pass and then Jack Lensong hits you for like a fifty yard
pass or a seventy yard pass. I saw them do that against Saint Patrick
to start this season, and so you know, Huntley's going to be familiar
by I do think that saying agnationis is more than just you know, running
the triple option. Then just are running the ball? Yeah, sorry,
I don't know if you guys they're deciding to do a leaflower right outside the
window right now, never never failed. While we're streaming love but Joe Huntley,
what are you hearing from them? How are they preparing for sant Ignatius?
Well, you know, I think what what Huntley is going to need
to do this week is is throw the ball a little better than it did
last week. Like I said, they missed some chances in the first half,
and you know, you know, you can rely on Hydden janky,
but you don't want to have to just have him be kind of the whole
offense. And so I think if they can diverse fine a little bit,
which they've done pretty well this year, they'll have a much better chance.
And like I say that what I mentioned before, they have to come out
and tackle better in the first half. The second half was very good.
The first half wasn't very good. And I don't think you want to get
in a hole, you know, in a in a big hole in the
first half, which could happen if you if you don't, if you don't
play better defense. Can you guys hear this just faintly, but he is
like standing outside my window right now, as if he's doing it on purpose.
All right, Michael, Before we let you go, man, we're
gonna ask Joe some more about Kerry Grove Highland Park. You got, I
think left for the Catholic League you want to tell us about. I think
it should be a really fun weak There are a lot of potentially you know,
we saw how strong the conference was last week, obviously with only Brother
Rice losing against the team that wasn't in the c c L e c C.
I think we should get a lot of quarterfinal teams, and I think
it could be a fun week where we get some teams that were now used
to seeing in the quarterfinals. He got arm you got Saint Lawrence, You
got a lot of good programs, Invider, I'll have the potential to make
the quarterfinal rounds, which they haven't done a little bit. So you know
you'll have predictably, you'll have your Loyolos, you'll have your Mount Carmel's,
your Icy Catholics, probably probably your Naza's too. But you'll get some programs
that probably we haven't heard from a while, and that should create some fun
stories from week number two to week number three in the playoffs. All right,
make sure you follow Michael on Twitter at m DWO Jack ninety four.
Talk to you later, Michael. All Right, have it going, guys.
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 him your support, all right, Joe, So let's wrap this
up with you. We got to match up between Kerry Grove and Highland Park
here in the second round Class six s A. I'm gonna be really frank
like, I think Harry Grove is a pretty substantial favorite for this game,
and a part of that is just the fact of how well Carry Grove played
against Lake Zerch in the first round. I'm not sorry, not Lake Zerich
against Libertyville, a different North Suburban Conference opponent. How well Kerry Grove played
against Libertyville in that first round. I was, you know, I expected
Carry Grove to win the game. I was shocked to see just how handily
they rolled in that one though. Yeah, I was too. Same thing
here. They came out and just took control. It was kind of like
they were they were mad for missing the playoffs last year for the first time
in eighteen years, and just kind of took it out on Libertyville, Ah,
in that first half and really had it going. And you know,
Carry Grove's really really kind of hitting on everything right now. Offensively, Logan
Abrams the the six three two twenty five big sophomore fallback has been so good.
But boy Andrew Prio is just electric the plays that he makes on offense.
So in our area, he's eighth in rushing with eight hundred and fifty
two yards. That's on sixty carries, eight hundred and fifty two yards and
sixty carries. The seven guys ahead of him all have twice as many carries
as him. He's just you know, he's just a big play waiting to
happen. And you know, Peyton Sieberg has really picked up his rushing numbers
in the second half, the quarterback too, so that offense is playing really
well. And you know CG always seems to play really strong defense as well.
And I really like, I really like its chances to get through to
the quarterfinals, which seems to be like you can pretty much just pencil Carry
Grove v in every year for the quarterfinals, Carry Grove or Prairie Ridge,
right, Yeah, And it was funny coming into the year. It's kind
of become a thing where it seems like it's either Prairie Road or Prairie Rig
or Kerry Grove. And I thought, maybe for the first time this year,
with carry our Prairie Ridge being in five A, we're gonna get both
at State. Didn't happen to be the It didn't end up being the case,
obviously, with pr running into NABS the first round, but we got
Kerry Grove still sitting here at six A, so things still working according to
plan, right right, Joe, Yes, Yeah, you know one other
thing I want to I want to hit on before we let you go.
They're going a Prairie Ridge. Chris Strapp, longtime coach at Prairie Ridge,
announced he is stepping down here after the season. What do you think of
that news? You know, I was, I was really surprised by that.
I had caught no wind of that, and you know, uh,
Sus even texted me that did you see this coming? I said, no,
I did not. I found out late Tuesday night from someone and and
apparently the Fox Finalley coaches had their meeting Tuesday night, So so the coach
is new. But yeah, you know, Prairie Ridge just an amazing program.
In his twenty two seasons, there three losing seasons, one hundred and
eighty seven and sixty four. That's a seven forty five winning percentage. It's
just crazy how good they have been, how consistent they are. Three state
championships, two other runner up finishes, and you know, it's just a
program that others want to model themselves after because they're just they're so good.
And you know, really, I don't think you ever hear anyone say disparaging
words about them that you know, a first class organization all the way,
A lot to be proud of there. It sounds like Chris Shrimp. You
know, he wants to be an athletic director. Want he said, I
need a new challenge. I want a new challenge. And it so happens
that Mark Gilbert at Prairie Ridge is retiring after this year. So that seems
like a really natural fit that he could step in and be a d there
at Prairie Ridge. You know, when I think of Prairie Ridge, I
think of baseball coach Glenn Peccerrero who was there when it opened, volleyball coach
Stephanie Otto, who I believe was there has been their only volleyball coach in
the history. And I think of Chris Shrimp, who was there five seasons
with Dave Whitson with the football program and then took it over and has been,
you know, only their second. They've only had two football coaches in
twenty seven year history. So, you know, good for him. I
wish him the best, great guy, great coach, And you know,
it's just I'm happy for him that that he's, you know, gonna do
what he take on another challenge that he wants to do. All Right,
Joe, you get two football games this week, and you got any final
thoughts for us before you head out. I'm really intrigued about the Friday night
game. I feel like Carrie Girl's gonna gonna get through that Saturday game.
I'm interested. I think the Friday night game could could be a real interesting
game with Huntley and Saint Ignatius looking forward to that. All right, Joe,
well enjoy two football games this week, and sir, I will all
right talk to you letter. All right, he is Joe, Steve even
Sin Now it is just sus and I. We got a little bit time
left here, sus let's uh, let's break down some of these classes.
We'll go back up to one A here and work our way up. If
you were joining us live, we will take your questions if you have any
here. I want to throw this up, Jesse. We need to cook.
Hey, sous In regards to to a North being a record being seventy
six and four, says, I believe three A North in twenty sixteen was
seventy eight and two. You remember that one, sus. I actually I
saw that comment and while we were talking there, I looked it up.
I had forgotten all about that. That's absolutely correct. There were there were
six there were six ten and oh teams in the in the second round in
that side of the bracket, and it was. It was definitely one of
those stacked situations because now that I'm thinking back to it, it was another
one of those times where people were banging the drum for one of my favorite
songs, let's just go to one to thirty two in every class so that
doesn't happen, and I would fully support that, obviously. But yes,
that is correct, that is That's definitely a nice catch there from Jesse.
Let's see three A North in twenty sixteen, seventy eight and two. I'm
trying to think the programs that would have been in there that that season.
That would have been Byron, right, yeap Byron probably would have been in
there, Icy, Catholic, Wilmington, trying to think in the North.
Who else would have been there? Monacello I believe was good that year.
I'm trying to remember the other two, but it was. It was.
There were six undefeated teams that were left there at that point in time.
But yeah, so no, that was that was I think that's gotta be
the record we were talking about earlier this week, someone had asked me what
I thought if I thought that was a record and I was mistaken, I'm
pretty confident that that actually is the one. All right, let's go ahead
and dive in here. We now have not one but two leaf blowers outside
my window right now. Come on, guys, all right, let's let's
go ahead, Susan dive into Class one A. Where do you want to
start with this bracket? You know, I think for me, you know,
one A, I think we go around and around and around about this
all the time, about you know, how big a favorite Lena Winslow is,
and I still think they very much are. There are two games that
kind of sparked my interest this week in the bracket. Hope Academy and or
A Christian is obviously one of them. Uh. You know a lot of
people have been talking about Hope and their ability to maybe make a deep run
here. Or A Christian the only team to beat them there in the regular
season, so uh, an interesting matchup there between two pretty strong programs there.
And then you go down to the South and I've talked about them a
lot in this postseason. I'm interested to see how Al TAF you know,
matches up with a Leroy defense that has not given up a lot this year
and has a history of kind of being that gritty type of defensive team in
the playoffs. Uh. You know, if All Talk puts up a bunch
of points this week, then you start to think about can anybody slow these
guys down, and that that conversation may actually include lean A Winslow. I'll
throw one more out there in one A Morrison and Ana onon Butler's Field.
I think that's a good matchup too. I don't expect a lot of points
to be scored in that one. Yeah, I wouldn't either, you know,
Ana on Weathersfield kind of in a new conference, but not this year.
You know, they kind of merged two conferences together with a lot of
teams that were already playing each other, and they didn't really have a lot
of trouble, you know, kind of maneuvering things through that league. I
don't know how many strong teams were ultimately your suits team, especially on the
defensive side of the ball. I think I lost you for a second there.
Yeah, I'm just saying that. I that I like Morrison, you
know, in general, I think I think they're a pretty strong defensive team,
all right, Going on to last two a here. I mean,
you could really just throw a dart out of board here and find an interesting
matchup to talk about. So I'll just start it at the very top of
the bracket. Seneca going to rock Ridge, Senaca drawing that number one seed.
We knew the second round matchups really didn't matter what seed you drew,
you were gonna be and for a rough second round matchup here, Sanaka go
into rock Ridge. That's a long trip to have to make to begin with,
and then you're facing a rock Ridge team that I really like. Sus
this might be I mean, it's on the short list from my favorite game
to the second round. Yeah, it's pretty good. You know, when
you when the pairings came out and we saw that there were gonna be nine
teams with eight wins or better on the north side of the bracket, it
created a situation like this where we were gonna get a top seed having to
play a really, really good football team. And that's what's happening here.
You know, I still think Sena gonna win this game, but I certainly
think that it might be a situation where it is undecided in the fourth quarter.
I don't think Seneca is going to be able to put up the points
that they've been putting up on a regular basis against the Rockberds defense. Anything
else in the north side of the bracket, you know, you know,
I look down there in that Wilmington Try Valley game is really intriguing to me.
It's just it's the third time in three seasons that these two programs have
met in the postseason. They split the two previous matchups. It'll be interesting
to see Wilmington having to actually go to Try Valley this time because, as
you and I both know, Wilmington is an interesting playing environment for a guest,
So Wilmington has to hit the road for this one. The two previous
encounters were at Wilmington, so that game, in my mind, is about
as even on paper as you can get. So I think it could go
any which way. I don't once again, I think this is another game
where we're not going to see a ton of points score. I was really
excited when I looked at your predictions and your breakdown for Class two A this
morning, sus and saw number eight Nashville a winner in your predictions over number
six Quincy Notre Dame. I love to have you on board man. Well,
at this point it becomes almost silly to bet against them out of the
South bracket, especially when they when they're in this two a draw. They've
They've done it time and time again with a you know, a lower seed.
They continue to surprise people, and in this situation they're a much higher
seed in the second round here against the Quincin under d eighty team, which
I think is an okay football team, but I think they also caught a
little bit of a break there in the first round, you know, with
that one seed being a nine to oz team from a smaller conference and maybe
not quite as battle tested. So uh, there are certain teams that have
a really hard time now pulling the trigger against in the postseason. Nashville will
be one of those teams. Adam Anderson appreciate the question here for two a
South bracket doesn't matter day. Uh, modern day have the best chance for
a lower seed to win in two Aso's what do you think there? Yeah,
I think he's right. You know, I like Justice City. But
once again, the Black Diamond is a conference that you know, usually has
a team or two with a pretty strong record, strong point differential in their
benefits but they really, you know, they kind of maybe struggle against programs
with a little bit more pedigree and a little bit more of a rigorous schedule,
and that certainly can be something that would be accounted for with Breeze Modern
Day. So yeah, if I had to pick an underseive to win this
week and make a list, I think I would put Breeze moder Day at
the top of that list. Seeing the nice little promo here for staying the
game, make sure you sign up for the Friday Night Drive newsletter that I'll
get you the latest news directly to your inbox every morning. Uh, Class
three A. Let's go ahead and move over to their suites where you want
to start. You know, I look at the actually the South bracket is
kind of the most confusing part of this bracket to me, just looking at
some of those games down there that do coin loan to loan. Unity game
is really interesting. To Unity, another program that just seems to get it
done in the postseason, impressive opening round win over Williamsville, kind of ran
away in that game, and to Cooin, I just can't get a great
read on. You know, they come from the southern Illinois River at a
River Conference. They played well in that league all year long, but it
seems like I don't know, I just I don't get a strong, strong
read from them as the one seed in that situation. So you know,
that's where that comes from, really like Mount Carmel and where they're at.
But the one that is so interesting to me down at the bottom is Rock
Sanna and Saint Joe Ogden. Ro Sanna undefeated kind of kind of came out
of nowhere. To be completely honest with you in regards to their success.
They just keep stacking up a whole bunch of points, playing a pedigree program.
And Saint Joe Ogden here in this round, I think this is the
game where Roxanna shows. If it's in the conversation, I think we lost
you just for a second there. We got most of it though, is
I'm gonna throw up this question from Diana Ward. Diana says, who has
the best chance to beat Byron in Class three A? Boy, I don't
know if I have a great answer to that. I would say Montini would
probably be my choice of the teams in the remaining in the three A draw,
but I think just about anybody who plays them right now, it enters
the game as an underdog, and in most cases is a substantial underdog.
I'm hoping to go get a look at at Byron on Saturday afternoon if that
works out for me. I really want to see how this is getting done.
I saw their stats this week. They got sent to me there.
It's actually an insult to video game stats like that's they're crazy. I mean,
they're absolutely nuts. The one that really jumps off the page. They've
scored eighty rushing touchdowns in ten games. Eighty They're averaging eight rushing touchdowns a
game. Kyle, that's crazy town. That is absolutely silly. Eighty rushing
touchdowns in ten games. And by the way, I want don't go ahead
and make sure to promote right now. You know you're gonna go overwatch Byron
on Saturday afternoon, but Saturday night you'll be joining me and Jake Barleston and
Barrington. We're gonna do Live with Friday Night Drive on location. This is
gonna be a pregame show from six to seven pm, breaking down everything that
happened in the second round. We're gonna be live from Barrington High School before
Barrington takes on Naperville's Central full coverage coming your way on Saturday evening from six
to seven pm. Suits. But for now, let's go ahead and keep
moving through this year to Class four A. Where you want to start in
four A, you know, you look at four A. And then we
talked a little bit about Michael with Michael before about the Catholic League representation on
the north side of the bracket. Yeah, I think there's a potential there
for you know, all three of those teams to win their games. I
don't think any of them are slam dunk wins, but I think there's a
potential for it to be a setup for all three of those to move along
just the way it kind of lines up. And really interesting story up there
with Sandwich on the top of the bracket. Obviously, we've talked about this
a lot before no varsity football last year, and I think it is a
very strong likelihood that they will be in the quarterfinal round next weekend, which
is a remarkable story just within its situation. So just crazy there. And
then you know on the south, you know, I think it's it might
end up being business as usual for you know, the teams that we kind
of expect to win down there, especially Rochester. Yeah, I think Murphy's
Brown brief central our favorites in that game, the one that I mean,
Peorio Notre Dame we've talked about with their kind of eclectic schedule. Do you
have them as a favorite over Harrisburg? I do, but a small favorite.
You know. I'm kind of basing this on the fact that I actually
watched one Harrisburg game this year on a Saturday night when there were no other
games to watch, and they kind of got walloped by a team that didn't
even make the playoffs. So I don't know. Maybe they're just one of
these teams that's kind of streaky. I talked to one of my friends about
them down there. They're fast and athletic, but I think Peoria Notre Dame's
battle testing schedule kind of gives them a little bit of an edge there.
All right, Class five A, we got a question here. I'm going
to start that to put that up there, to start us up in five
A, Adams said, are we headed towards a Saint Francis Nazard rematch in
the semi finals? In five A North? What do you think, sus
You know, I don't like to look that far ahead. I think that's
definitely a possibility, but I think there are quite a few teams in there
that are going to at least have something to say about that gets recreated,
So you know, I think maybe Carmel is a potential problem for Nazareth in
the next round should it line up that way. And honestly, I think
either one of those teams that wins, potentially of Saint Francis wins this week,
that they would meet in the next round could be problematic. But if
you're saying, who do I think the favorites are to get to that semifinal,
I would agree with you that they are, but I don't think they're
heavy favorites. I don't think they're slam dunk favorites by any stretch of the
imagination. I completely agree I expect Saint Francis to win next week. The
most intriguing matchup in Class five A wherever you look at in this bracket to
me bracket in the second round, though, is Sycamore Chicago Morgan Park.
Sycamore is a team that's been to the state semi finals and back to back
season Chicago Morgan Park. This is not your typical CPL teams. This is
a team that up and down the lines. It's a good football team.
I expect this to be a really good game. Yeah, you know,
times down Griffin Morgan cop player committed to Illinois, A very talented guy.
Kind of Morgan Park kind of uses him wherever they need him. He can
do a lot of different things for them, But by far is he not
the only weapon that they have. So you know, like you said,
anybody who's looking at this and seeing that public league line on there, this
was the team that if you would have asked, said morgan Park without hesitation,
Jim says, can anyone stop Morris in the five A South bracket?
SEUs, what do you think? You know, I think potentially you'd have
an interesting game that is potentially lining up in the quarterfinals next week with Morris
and Joliet Catholic. But I like Morris a lot, and I feel like
they are the best team in the South part of this bracket. I don't
think it would be any you know, it would be a walk for them
against Jolie Cathock. I would have them favored to win that game. And
then that bottom half of that bracket, it's just kind of who survives down
there, that would be a potential semi final matchup. So I think Morris
is kind of kind of a strong favorite to come out of that South bracket
alive. Yeah, I agree. I think Julia Katholick could give Morris trouble.
I just love how balance this Morris team is this year. This is
not a run heavy team. They can beat you through the air and they
can score quickly. I think that's gonna be a tough out in that five
ay South bracket. All right, six A suits. One of the more
you know, I think bandied about around the Friday Night Drive offices this week
in terms of which way we were going for our pick. Is that top
game here in the North bracket, Lake Zurich against Cainlan. You know,
breaking this down quickly here, you know, you might say one versus nine,
Well, why is that so close? But like Lake zerch struggles in
the first round against Crystal Lake Central kind of gave us some questions. But
then you look at Kaitlan three losses on the year, all incredibly close against
very good teams, including Sycamore and Morris. Right off the top of my
hand, I can't remember who the third loss was for Caitlin. That was
another really close loss, but playing really well. It was Washington, Washington,
thank you there it is Washington. Uh. This this to me does
feel like a coin flip game. Yeah, I can see that. But
I mean, if you're gonna play that game of you know who they lost
to and how close those games were. Lake Zerk lost one game and it
was by four points to Warren, So I mean that's you know, I
agree with you. I think this is a very close game on paper,
would not be surprised to see Caitlin win the football game. But I think
people are being a little bit too dismissive of the fact that lake Zurich has
beaten some good football teams this year from higher classifications as well. And their
only miss step this year, and it was barely a misstep, that was
a very close game that lake Zurich actually led late in the game was against
a Warrant team that's still alive in the eight A playoffs and considered to be
a very strong contender for to do some damage there. So full, full,
full disclosure, I'm taking lake Zurch in this game. I was playing
Devil's advocate a little bit there because I know you're on the same side as
this ledger as I am. I think, well I should. Yeah,
but it wasn't any It wasn't an easy pick. I want to make that
clear. I didn't. I didn't just go Okay, leke Zerich and move
on. I thought about it for a while and took all those things into
wait. But uh and once again would not surprise me at all if Cameland
won the game. But if I had to pick a favorite, I'd picked
lake Zuric. And it's a very slight one. Yeah, leke Zerk's body
of work. The fact that also they're coming down from seven A where they
were a semi finalist last year. It's a good program. Yeah, I
gotta I gotta side with leg Zerich here in this one. But as you
were saying, I think Caylen can win this game, Like I said,
it's close to Clint Flord. I really do like the way Caitlin is playing
right now. What else in six A is standing out to you this week?
You know? I think this is one of those situations when you look
kind of, you know, dig into the bracket the game. I guess
that I'm most confused about is that Glenwood Richards game on the bottom of the
bracket. Glenwood's kind of had some strong results and then some not so strong
results, and Richards after losing those first two games in the season to I
believe with Saint Rita and Libertyville, this young group has just really went on
a tear and you know, just they've won every game since. You know,
when we were talking to Anthony Sheen on one of our Friday Night Live
episodes, it was like we just kind of had to learn what we were,
what we really were, and they clearly have. So I think that's
an interesting team to kind of keep an eye on. But as this field
gets more difficult, I think we're gonna see quarterfinal matchups in this class after
we get through this round, where every single one of them you're gonna go,
oh boy, that looks like an interesting game. So that's what I'm
kind of really looking forward to, is seeing how this all sorts out and
then gets us those quarter final matchups. My wrong for thinking that Creaemony is
gonna surprise some people on Saturday. I just it's playoff football. It's creem
MONIQ going to Washington. This is a tough matchup. I get it.
H you know, the big loss to Kanga Key in week nine give me
a little bit of pause. But I don't I just I don't know,
maybe it's just past precedent. I just think that the Warriors on Saturday are
going to find themselves in this game late. Well maybe maybe this is me
over simplifying things here, but when I look at Creemony UH and Washington,
UH, they have a common opponent. So you go back to the second
So, you know, kanka Key like like a you know, I think
we buzzed out there for a second. But kank Key's only points, uh,
only points that they scored in that seven to nothing victory was on a
kickoff return. So and then kanky Key just hammered and create forty two to
nothing. So you know, when I kind of look at that, I
look at what Washington might be capable of doing defensively, is keeping Creed in
check? And so I actually think Washington's probably a pretty substantial favorite. Miskin
just got here late. Whether on the ghostays, I'll rewatch. Thanks for
your analysis, guys, I appreciate it. Thank you Whether on the Go
for joining us throughout the season. Really appreciate that Alex has thoughts wrong one
there thoughts on Eisenhower. What could give the case a problem? What do
you think, Zeus? Well, I mean, Eisenhower is an interesting team.
They have some athletes, particularly Andre Lovett, a guy who's going to
end up in a major Division I school. I don't believe he's committed yet,
but you know, Kanka Key's just got people all over the field.
They're they're they're deep, especially on the defensive side of the ball. I
really think Eisenhower, who just scored forty plus points in their overtime thrilling win
over Done Lap in the opening round, I really think they're gonna have a
lot of trouble scoring points at that level in this game. I think they'll
be fortunate to get, you know, maybe a couple of touchdowns against this
defense, which now has given up the fewest points in the state through ten
games. So this is a game where I think if Kee just kind of
hold serve and do what does what they usually do, they should be moving
on into the quarterfinals. All right, Class seven A, sus what stands
out here? Well, I guess when I look at some of these games,
they feature matchups with schools that maybe I didn't expect to be here at
the beginning of the season. You know, I look at but the game
that I think is the most interesting from a competitive balance for me, I
really like that Downers Grove Northhursty game. I think that has the potential to
be a very very interesting game. I hate to keep using the phrase coin
flip, but like I really kind of felt that when I was going through
that, and I like see a lot. I just like the way Downers
Grove North is going about their business right now. Last week just kind of
you know, I was concerned about their ability to match up with ken Wood
in the first round, and they didn't seem to have any problems with it
at all. They they dispatched them pretty quickly. And and I've seen that
ken Wood team that that is a challenge there. There's a lot of challenging
things that they had to deal with with the Broncos, and they did a
really really nice job with it. And Hersey, I don't want to say
they sputtered, but they kind of struggled to get away from, uh,
you know, their own for their opening round wins. So you know,
maybe maybe a convergence of one team playing its best right now and one team
maybe not quite at the level that they would want to be at this point.
So maybe I'm overreading that situation. But in just matchup in general,
that's the game I'm most interested in. I need to reach out to Max
Shuckman down in Quincy because I need to read on this Quincy team. You
got anything for me against Whedon north Well, really really talented quarterback wide receiver
combination. Braydon Little Coach's son. He's a junior, has put up huge
passing numbers this year, did the same thing last year as a sophomore.
It's a good team. It's one of those teams that like they got to
hope that the weather kind of holds up for him, because you know how
I like to try to say that, you know, sometimes playoff built teams
when we get deep into November, you like to have that strong running game
and that strong defense. Well, Quincy kind of goes the other way.
They have. They were heavily reliant on throwing the football. So it's definitely
they have a good defense, but it's one of those things where you know,
they really are reliant on being able to move the ball through the year.
All right, one class left to go here Class eight A. We'll
start with that Barrington and Naperville Central matchup again. You'll get a special edition
of Live with Friday Night Drive six to seven pm on Saturday evening, will
be broad casting live free game from that matchup. Suis Barrington Naperville Central?
What you got there? You know, Barrington, When I saw them in
the middle of the year, I think, I maybe I don't want to
say I saw them at their worst, but they they just seem to be
kind of like grinding out wins. And I mean they ended up winning in
the you know, clinching a win in a last minute against a team that
it didn't even make the playoffs. So I was kind of wondering about them
when I walked away from that. But ever since, it's almost like they
were offended by my take. It was. You know, they beat Palatine
pretty comfortably in that showdown game late in the regular season and has really been
roaring through the through this you know game situations as it stands, so a
pretty nice setup for them heading into this game. Naperville Central. I think
it's just a very solid football team. They had a little bit of a
hiccup in the last week of the regular season with that lost an equal Valley,
but you know, kind of just figured out what they needed to do
to get to this point point. So I think two very solid football teams
going to load. Adam says the best matchup on paper might be Edwardsville Glenbard
West. Adam, That's exactly where I was going next here. I do
think this is a really good matchup between Edwardsville and Glenbard Wests. Yeah,
Glenbard West is the kind of team that you know, overcame some serious issues
early in the year with some injuries, they lost Julius Ellens. It was
just kind of a team that you didn't know if they were going to be
able to gel together. But now they kind of look like old school Glenbard
West playing a really really good defense, doing enough on offense to keep people
at day. And then when it comes down to it, Edwardsville on the
other side, you know kind of, you know, quietly going about their
business, was floating between seven A and eight A. Where would they end
up in the postseason. Edwardsville is you know, really fast, really capable
of making some plays. You know, I think it really will come down
to a couple of plays in this one that will make the difference. All
right, everyone, we got to get out of here. Uh, sus
you got any final thoughts for us? So you know, I think it
has the potential to be an actually a really really fun second round there.
It seems like in every class we've got three or four five games that I
am really intrigued with and could see either of the two teams winning the game.
And that's always what you like to see, all right. He is
Steve Sussie. You can follow him on Twitter at the sus You can follow
myself on Twitter at Kyle Nighbors and of course go to Friday Night Drive dot
com. Follow us on Twitter at fn Drive. Go ahead and find us
on Facebook and Instagram and TikTok as well. It's gonna be a good week
in a high school football. Stick with us. We're gonna have plenty of
coverage for you at Friday Night Drive dot Com, Susan and I'll be back
on Monday morning to break down the secon round the playoffs. Everyone, enjoy
a good week in a high school football. We'll talk to you later.
Schwiker Cannon Krizek Rundio proudly sponsors to Friday night drive. I'm Mike Krizak.
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