Schweiker, Gannison, Krazak, Rundio Fridley sponsors to Friday Night Drive. I'm
Mike Krazak. If you've been injured, we are ready to take on the
insurance company and get you to the end zone. We've recovered hundreds of millions
of dollars for our clients. Visit ga Nassim dot com. What's up everyone,
and welcome back to the Friday Night Drive Podcast. I am Kyle Neighbors
here along with Steve Susy, ready to get you set for week two.
It is Thursday morning when we're recording this, and we got a small smattering
of games taking place here on Thursday evening, but the main slate on Friday
is absolutely loaded in week two. Sus and I were talking about it yesterday,
sus Man, as you said, I don't think we've ever seen a
week two non conference slate as loaded as this one. Yeah, it's It's
simply a crazy situation in regards to the level and number of games out there
that are of great quality. You're looking at a situation where most weeks you
have three to five marquee games. Is that you're really kind of scoreboard watching
for and then maybe another list of about twenty games where you think maybe these
are toss ups and it'll be interesting to see how they come out. You
know, I think you can double or triple those numbers this week. It's
it's crazy. I mean, there are just so many games out there.
When you look at them on paper, you're like, I honestly don't know
what's going to happen in that contest. Yeah, we're gonna get into all
the games to watch here in Week two later in the podcast. We got
a lot to get to first. First off, make sure you follow us
on Twitter at Kyle Neighbors at the Suits. You can find Friday Night Drive
on Twitter at fn drive. You can also find Friday Night Drive on Facebook,
Instagram, and TikTok. Go to Friday Night Drive dot com you'll find
all your Week two previews, including suss updated playoff projection. After Week one
Suits, what was the most difficult thing of putting that together? Well,
the week one one is always really difficult. I mean you have some data,
but in some cases you have so very little and always kind of One
of the X factors is the Chicago Public League and they did another reorganization of
how they do things, So it just makes it really kind of hard to
parse the data right now with some of these programs that you just don't know
a lot about at this point in time, and that's ultimately going to have
a pretty big effect on the field because as if you know a lot about
this process, you know, the enrollments on the public league schools are kind
of all over the map, so it kind of shapes the playoff field in
different ways if you have different public league teams make the field. So sometimes
you'll have a you know, a smattering of mid level schools, you know,
mids schools, and that will change you know, where the break lines
are in each of the individual classes. So it usually takes a couple of
weeks to kind of really kind of get a clearer picture, particularly in the
CPL. But right now there's there's data, but there's just not enough data
to feel real strong about some of the picks that you make. It was
it was funny because prior to the season, Prairie Ridge is up here in
mckenry County. Their enrollment has been going down the last several years. They've
kind of been on that five A, six A bubble. As you've been
doing your enrollment projections this year. For the first time, you felt really
strongly though that they were going to be in five A. But because of
those CPL changes you're talking about when you did your projection, they ended up
right again on that five A six A bubble. And I bring it up
because it's funny because every time I go over to PR, someone on the
sideline always always gives me and gives you a little bit of crap because they've
heard this five A six A talk for several years now. They always end
up in six A. So it was kind of funny seeing them right back
on that bubble when you were expecting them to be firmly in five A.
Yeah, those you know, there are a couple of teams that I look
at immediately in regards to like wear the bubble ultimately falls and and Prairiege is
definitely one of those schools. But you know, early look at the numbers,
it looked like they were going to be safely in six seven eight teams
in that nature, but they tumbled down the list because of some of the
public league things and some variables right now that just honestly haven't fared at themselves
out because there are some programs that are included in the projection this week that
aren't usually playoff teams. I see a path to them getting there, but
there's also so many variables right now that could change those things. So,
you know, there's some traditional programs that I didn't have in the field this
week because I don't like the remaining schedule very much, and maybe they lost
their Week one game. But right now that the air bars are enormous on,
you know who gets in and who doesn't get At this point in time,
it gets more precise every single week. But really, right now,
it's kind of an exercise and looking at what's what the interesting results were more
than making it like a real accurate reflection of what I think the field's going
to look like all right now. Well, speaking of Prairie Ridge and the
Fox Valley Conference in general, I want to bring in Joe Stevenson, who
covers McHenry County for the Northwest heraldon Friday Night Drive dot Com. Joe,
starting outside of the Fox Valley Conference. Actually, you got to see an
interesting game on Friday night with Richmond Burden picking up a win against maryon Central.
What would your takeaway from that game? It was you know what that
game lived up to. The billing Richmond was last week was number three and
four A. Marion was seven in two A. And that first half was
about as good as it gets. It was tremendous first half. Richmond led
twenty one fifteen and a halftime and almost It was funny Marian scored with less
than two minutes to go. Richmond, not a prolific throwing team, through
a big pass, got down and scored with twenty eight seconds and then Maryon
almost scored right before halftime. Christian bitten Kerr caught a pass in the end
zone was was just out of bounds. A terrific first half, but in
the second half, Marian really had to deal with a lot of physical problems
from the heat, a lot of guys cramping up. I think at one
point there was like four plays in a row where they had a guy cramped
up and they had to stop and get you help him off the field and
stuff. And Benton Kerr it happened to him two or three times in the
second half because he's playing both ways. You know, he's running long pass
patterns, then he's coming back and playing on defense. Richmond didn't have those
problems, and Richmond played a great second half and one forty one to twenty
nine, really kind of control things in the second half. And I know
Mike coach mc noel was really proud of his guys because, you know,
whatever they had done, drinking the things they were supposed to do, you
know, they didn't have the problem scramping up that that Mary did. Marion
might have had a few more guys going both on both sides, and we
were some real significant problems. Yeah, we were talking about that Live a
Love with Friday Night Drive, Jimmy Mugil and I we were following your game
along. And this was kind of an issue throughout the state at you know,
common week one for you know, injury kids cramping up to begin with,
but then you had the heat all week long. Practice schedules moved around
on kids, and then it was still it wasn't nearly as hot on Friday,
at least in the northern part of the state. Down south that was
still incredibly hot. Northern part of the state wasn't as hot, but it
was still warm for week one, and I definitely had a feeling, particularly
with Marian going up again. Richmond Burden Maryan gonna be in two A this
year if they're in the postseason. Richmond is a four A school. You
just figured that that was going to play into RB's favor. Yeah, yeah,
I think a little bigger roster, maybe not so many guys going.
There's there's a few guys going both sides. But yeah, you know,
Richmond, Richmond looked really good. I don't know if this is going to
be as explosive of a Richmond team as we've seen, but you know,
their quarterback JT grow seven pass the PEMH. I want to say in that
game seven past attempts all in the first half five for seven, hit a
couple of nice long balls to Luke Resnihan and Max Loveall and and really looked
good for his first varsity game. They got the big fullback Braxton Nellison and
Jack Martin's is really fast. That's he's a really good track guy. He
was on a couple of their relay teams last spring that meddled at State and
he's he's a real fast guy. So you know, kind of looks like
Mike Noel and Richmond are going to do Richmond type things. Again, did
you get the sense coming out of that game though, I mean Christian Bennick.
What was the final statu for Christian benn and Kerr And that, my
goodness, nine for two, twenty and three touchdowns. Yeah, that'll that'll
work. There's a reason the Clupton commit, right, Oh my goodness,
you know. And that was a little bit of a factor there in the
second half when he had some problems cramping that. You know, he only
caught two balls after halftime. And I noticed when he was when he was
running, it didn't look like he was able to like go full speed,
you know. After he cramped up a little bit, which is understandable with
the way he was going in the first half. I actually live on the
show, was trying to pay attention to what was going on. But I
had to go to the IHSA record books and start looking up to see touchdown
and yardage totals for a single game because I thought he was going to smash
it at that rate. Yeah, it was pretty it was pretty crazy.
At halftime, it was what seven for one, I'm trying to think seven
for one, fifty and three touchdowns? Yeah, yeah, and like I
said, he almost had that fourth. I was on the other side of
the field. I don't know how close he was, but he caught the
ball and he was a step or two out of bounce. All right,
well let's let's go over to the Fox Valley conference. And you know,
Joe, I'm you're gonna have to to take your loves I guess to start
here, right. You know, I'm just happy that you asked me back
this week after I was singing the praises of Krista Lake Central last week and
uh and Huntley beats them the first week, and I'm like, I was
just happy that you asked me to come back home because I thought you probably
didn't think I knew when I was talking about No. I mean to listen,
that was a close game. Central had the lead laid into that game.
Huntley is an a day program, it's a you know, it's a
large roster. I think that's a and it's an encouraging sign that Krista Lake
Central was right there in that game. It's I guess what I'm The counterpoint
to that is that just shows a little bit how much, like you know,
for Krista Lake Central to get over that hump, they really have to
play at a high level. Yeah, yeah, you're right, you're right,
and uh yeah, they had the lead, and you know, kudos
to Huntley for for coming up with a couple of big stops and two sounds
and what like the last four minutes to win that game. And Braylon Bauer
and his first varsity start at quarterback had had a magnificent game two hundred nine
yards rushing and ran in for the winning score. And yeah, so great
job by Huntley. Absolutely. Looking around the FBC, what else stood out
to you? Well, you know, the funny game I think that that
really kind of cut everybody's eye was Prairie Ridge six zero over Jacobs, which
these two teams, you know, had no problem in the last two years
just pouring on points and you get a sixth nothing game. Alex Kentucky,
our writer, you know, sent us a picture of his box scories is
this is the shortest box I think I've ever seen because one scoring play and
it was you know, you know, it's like it looked like it was
about five lines long. And yeah it was, you know, just not
what you expect. But on the other hand, you know, before the
season, Praye Ridge coach Chris Shrimp, you know, thought that this defense
would be much better. Like last year. They just had to go out
and outscore people, and they did it. They did it pretty well.
But you know, I think they're gonna have to win. That's not what
you expect from a prairie Prairie Ridge defense. No, no, yeah,
I mean oh last year. Yes, yeah, yeah, they've they've been
yeah. And so they've got like seven guys back on that side this year,
and so apparently they're gonna be a much much improved defense. And wow,
wow six to nothing. What a what a funny game. One other
team I want to mention before you get out of here, Joe, We
thank you for joining us here on Thursday morning as we record this with Carry
Grove, missed the playoffs last year, picks up a win in Week one
against Burlington Central. Uh, you know, an expected win, I would
say, but I felt really good with looking at the way that game played
out, Carry Grove. The defense looked solid. And Logan Abrams, uh,
you know, we we we've we've heard of the Abrams boys before.
This is not uncommon here at Carry Grove. So here in a sophomore uh
in Logan Abrams already with big size. I want do you know offhand I
was talking to Tim Frowley, who covered that game, and he mentioned the
size. I want to say, he said, like, was it six
foot like two ten already? Oh no, No, he's six three two
twenty five. Okay, see I'm selling him, selling him short. Yeah,
he his sophomore. Yeah, he went to state last year in uh.
I can't remember if he went in wrestling. I'm not sure if he
went in wrestling. I know his brother wrestled, but he went to state
as a thrower in discus and track. Yeah, he's a big kid.
He's bigger than his brother Wade, who was on the state championship team,
played such an integral part a couple of years ago on the team that beat
d Saint Louis an hard nosed player, like yeah, yeah, he's six
three, two twenty five, so he's he's kind of the size of even
a little bigger than Nick his song who was on the twenty twenty one state
champion team. And yeah, I think people are going to get tired of
tackling him for the next three years. He's a he's a big dude,
and and yeah, that's a that's that's gonna be a real problem for people.
And I'm that's gonna be That's a that was a tough game for me
to pick this week A week two with Kerry Grove going to Crystal Lake Central,
that's a that's an intriguing game to me. That's a that's a big
game for both those teams. Yeah. I was just gonna ask you before
you got out of here, what are you looking forward to in McHenry County
this week? And you mentioned that game. I know you have prayer Ridge
and Crystal Lake South another good game in the FBC. Yeah, I have
South and prayer Ridge, And that's an interesting because you know, now you're
looking at prayer Ridge is a really defensive a great defensive team. Wasn't able
to get a lot of offense, you know, out can score because they
got you know, Kayden Casamino's a terrific quarterback and has some great targets with
Michael Prokos and Colton Hass and some other guys. So that's gonna be A
that's gonna be a fun game for me to see. And I really you
know, those two those two matchups between the four D one fifty five schools
are real intriguing this week. All right, Joe, Well, thanks for
joining us with a great week one. Have a good time out there this
weekend. Yeah, thank you for having me back in spite of my predictions
last week. Oh no, listen, We're used to getting things wrong,
Susini, So don't don't feel bad the listeners. The listeners let us know.
So, especially early in the year, you don't really know yet now
I have. I certainly haven't given up any hope on christ Lake Central being
a very good team. I still think they're there. I still think they're
going to cause a lot of problems for people. All Right, well,
we're gonna take a quick commercial break and then we'll be back here. Michael
dwo Jack can I'm joined us to talk about the Chicago Catholic League and eat
Suburban Catholic Conference. 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. Welcome
back now to the Friday Night Drive Podcast. And we're gonna bring Michael Woljack
in now, who is joining us from the car here. Michael is getting
married this week until he actually won't be out covered in any games the next
couple of weeks. I'm guessing your trip out here in the car might have
a little something to do with that. You know, Surprisingly it doesn't it.
Actually, I was really smart. I'm the condo president from our h
OA here and we're doing some work, and I decided, you know,
one would be a great time to do some work around the building. Wedding
week would be the group for best time. So I am in the car
doing work. They're working inside the place, and I'm regretting all my decisions
right now. But we are in a good spot and we're here to talk
about football. Soa let's distract me for the next fifteen minutes and make everything
good. Yeah, so let's let's go back and start last weekend. What
give me a couple of things that really stood out to you from that first
weekend around the Catholic League. I think the first thing that really stood out
to me, and I was I don't know if Elon Musk made this hard
or anything like that. I wanted to go back to a tweet I had
last year after Week one when Mount Carmel destroyed Saint Rita and then Loyola beat
Saint X from Ohio, and I was like, just get me to Week
nine, like let's get that matchup. And I wanted to retweet that because
that's exactly the same way I felt after seeing what Loyola was able to do
and watching what Mount Carmo was able to do. I can't wait for that
Week nine matchup. Both Loyola Mount Carmel look for real. Both programs lost
a lot, but you know, they just bringing new quarterbacks Jack Elliott from
Mount Carmela and Ryan Fitzgerald for Loyola, and it just looks like the same,
same old And I can't wait for that Week nine matchup for these two
teams. I know, obviously we still have a whole season to look forward
to. There's a lot of great stuff that's going to happen, but that
Loyola Mount Carmel matchup that just looks juicy in Week nine and Loyola on the
Saturday again, and I can't wait for that matchup. But I know we
have a lot of good stuff to look forward to, but those two teams
is just the way that they came out. I'm really excited to see what
those two teams especially can do. In particular, I'm excited about Mount Carmel
because if they got the answer at quarterback, and it certainly appears to be
the case with Jack Elliott with that debut, then the fact that they have
Darien Dupree back and healthy this year, that is just a really scary combination
to go along with everything else. Of course the Caravan have. Well it's
crazy because, like I know, Steve was at the game and he actually
passed along a quote that I used in the notebook that I wrote this week,
But Jordan Lynch said, how are you supposed to stop that? Too?
Aheaded monster? You got Jack Elliot, who throw it and who can
run it on any play, and then you got darry And Dupre who isn't
only a good running back, but he's a really great pass catching running back
as well. So I think that offense is going to be so tough to
stop. And then once you get the wide receivers kind of into it.
As the season kind of progresses, I mean, they're just gonna get,
you know, more and more dangerous. I mean, you got a big
offensive line that you know, Mount Carmel's used to bring him back, and
they looked pretty good against East Saint Louis on Saturday as well. But yeah,
you got Elliott and dupre and both of them are big playmakers. Obviously,
Dupree's going to Wisconsin being recruited by Alabama. Elliott, I'm sure as
at the top of my head right now, I don't think he has any
college offers. That could be wrong, but I'm sure he'll get some college
looks with his talent, you know, to throw the ball and run the
ball. But yeah, I don't know really how you stopped at Mount Carmel
offense. And I'm really curious to see as we've kind of progressed throughout the
season. You know, brother Rice, they have a really good defense.
How are they going to match up against him? You got saying Rita and
you got Loyal obviously at the end of the year, so that offense will
definitely be tested. But I'm really curious to see again some of the better
defenses in the state. You know, what Jordan Winch is able to come
up with, and what those defenses, how they kind of game plan for
that two headed monster. You also on Saturday got a chance to see Maris
and you were over there with Josh Welki. By the way, if you
haven't yet, go over and listen to the Western Suburbs edition to the Friday
Night Drop podcast. Josh Welgi and Jake Bartleson talked about this game a little
bit. Glenbard West came away there with a seven six win, but Maris
that game was tied zero zero late in the fourth quarter. Michael, what
was kind of your takeaway from that? It was kind of interesting because Josh
and I were on the sideline and we were talking and we're like, are
these like just two really good defenses or is this like a two offenses?
They are still trying to figure things on, And it kind of felt like
both where Marit's defense and Glenbard West defense both really made a lot of great
plays, but also vice versa. The offense is really you know, they
were missing throws, there were some bad penalties, there were some drop balls,
and so it's kind of curious. I'm very curious to see, you
know, how Maris does against Brother Rice, because special teams really sunk Maris
in this game. I mean, they missed an extra point. On the
next play, Glembard West, Mason Ellen's returns a kickoff for a touchdown,
and then and then Maris misses a thirty three yard field goal to essentially win
the game after the defense kind of created a fumble in Glenbard West territory.
So I'm really curious to see how Maris responds from this week. You know,
they got a big rivalry match against Brother Rice. The Battle of Pulaski
takes place on Friday. But I'm very curious to see. You know,
Maris only had four returners from from last year's team, and obviously you saw
out of it an experience. And I know it's coach cliche to say that,
you know, the biggest growth happened from week one to week two,
but I am very curious to see how Maris is able to grow in that
week. Especias don't need to grow really quickly against Brother Rice. Yeah,
that Brother Rice matchup. Brother Rice coming off an impressive ten seven win against
Maine South in week one, but they really kind of grinded out that win,
that round out that win. This is a matchup here where it kind
of feels like it's gonna be another really low score and affair. Yeah,
I would kind of. I'm very curious to see. You know, obviously,
Maine South is a really good defense, and I saw that, you
know, Brother Rice is still doing their two quarterback systems, so they brought
in one quarterback at the beginning, second quarterback in the in the second half.
But I'm very curious to see how both teams offense is fair in this
matchup because I think we know that both Maris and Brother Rice have really strong
defenses. Obviously, Christian Pierce for Brother Rice has offers from mich Ohio State.
He's a junior linebacker, Trey Pierce's brother who is at Michigan right now.
And then obviously you've got Brad Fats Gibbons and Duke White for Maris.
But yeah, I am very curious to see how both of these offenses are
able to compete because I think we're still learning a lot about these offenses for
both of these teams. Because defense will take you as far as you can
go into the postseason. And obviously both of these teams are looking for deep
runs. But you know, if Brother Rice and Maris want to make the
semifinals, want to go down to Bloomington Normal. Their offense is going to
need to score, and I'm very curious to see, you know, how
they're able to do, how they're able to grow really quickly, whether that
passing game opens up for both of those teams, and whether the running attack.
You know, Mark Coy had a good game for Maris against Glembard West.
Obviously you're a good defense, but I kind of wanted to see more.
I wanted to see more of a you know, more of a ten
yard run, a twenty yard run, anything like that, as opposed to
maybe the more of the four and five that we saw against Glembard West on
Saturday. There were not a lot of surprises from the Catholic League's slate in
week one. Those teams a twenty four teams went seventeen and seven overall.
Was what did surprise you? Though? From week one? I feel like
the biggest thing that I was maybe surprised about, and maybe I shouldn't.
Maybe I just under valued, you know, how good kan Kiki was,
But I was surprised that Nazaret kind of had to Claud's way back into that
game. I thought the offense, you know, we we talked about it
last week. They've got a lot of offensive whip power. You know,
they have got a lot of you know, talent on that offense, and
I was kind of surprised that they kind of fell into a hole there.
And I'm not surprised that the defense kind of, you know, let kan
Kiki kind of, you know, do what it wanted to do. And
maybe I just undervalued, you know, how good kan Kiki was, especially
you know, looking at you know, what they returned, maybe some lack
of you know, returners from last year's team, and maybe just relying too
much on what Nazareth did at the end of last season. But I think
that probably was the most surprising game. Fenwick really put it on opr ref,
which is kind of interesting to me. I'm really curious to see,
you know, how that matchup was saying Nations goes this weekend in my rivalry
matchup, but I'd probably say naz and fen Work were probably my new two
surprising scores. Carmel one pretty handily twenty four to nothing against creed MONI you
got obviously seeing the Nations in the game I covered against Saint Patrick, they
were kind of get able to get away in that game. But yeah,
Nas and Fenwick seemed to be the biggest surprises for me in the week one.
All right, well, thank you for taking time to join us this
morning. Michael. You know what, Uh, don't think about football after
today for about two weeks. About that. Really, I'm really tempted because
there are a lot of great matchups over the next couple of weeks. And
I don't know how much in trouble I'll get in this new marriage if I
started just checking scores during the wedding and at the rehearsal dinner. But you
are you will see how it goes. I mean, you really are a
brave guy, because I know you well enough to know that you love football
and a marriage, getting married and a honeymoon. Right, not just you're
in high school football either, but the start of college football NFL be I'm
pretty sure the NFL first weekend is while you guys are still out on the
honeymoon. I'm gonna have to gonna have to find a way to keep the
phone tucked in the pocket. Right Listen, you do amazing things for love
him already, you know, Kyle, how it is so I missed the
first couple of weeks. Honestly, the first couple of weeks are probably sloppy.
I mean, I'm gonna watch Illinois beat Toledo pretty easily, and then
the Bears take on the Pad. I don't know, that's probably the biggest
one. But I'll probably have some juicy matchups when they come back, so
at least that'll have me interested in make sure that I actually do come back
as opposed to staying out abroad for the rest of my life. All Right,
well, we're gonna take one more quick commercial break and then we'll come
back with Steve Susy Susan I will break down the top week two games to
watch. Schweiker Ganison 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 Nassim dot com. Thank thank you once
again to sgk R for sponsoring the Friday Night Drive podcasts that they also are
the title sponsor for Live with Friday Night Drive. You can hear that or
you can join us live that is on YouTube and at Friday Night Drive dot
Com or any of shall Locals publications including the Northwest Harold, the Harold News,
the Daily Chronicles, Sauk Valley or all all over northern Illinois get all
your local news in addition to prep sports and professional sports and coverage of NIU
athletics if you go to shall Local dot Com, Friday Night Drive dot Com,
or any of those sister papers. And like I said, eight to
eleven live on YouTube, Jimmy Usual and I Sushi'll be joining us live from
the sidelines from Joliet Catholic and Providence. And that's where I want to start
this week when we break down the slate of games. That is gonna be
an interesting game. Yeah, historically, I mean over recent years it has
been a series had been dominated by Joliet Catholic when they had played, but
last year things got a little bit more interesting with Providence just kind of storming
back into relevance under new coach Tyler Plants. They actually played two times last
year and a little bit of a quirk they played a divisional game which joliett
Catholic won. It turned into kind of a shootout. And then they met
again in the second round of the Class four A playoffs, and to be
frank, Providence kind of dominated that game, and it was a little bit
surprising the nature the way that they took care of that, care of that
and one and eventually ended up going to the state championship game. But let's
just say there's a lot more sizzle in the Providence Joliett Catholic rivalry than there
had been in the past, you know, five or six years going back,
because you know, both of these teams have pretty lofty aspirations. Both
of these teams played pretty well in Week one. I was really impressed with
what Joliett Catholic was able to do making that road trip over to Iowa City
against a good program in Iowa and they seemed you know, what I was
worried about with Joey Catholic coming in the season was whether or not they'd be
able to score, you know, you know, be highly productive offensively,
and they certainly demonstrated that they could. Hja Griggsby had a huge game just
all around. It looked like Joey Catholic has got it clicking out of the
gate. Providence was a little bit more. I guess Iffy and there win
over Lake Central. Lake Central is a good team out of Indiana. It's
also a very large school, and they also had the benefit of already having
a game under their belt because Indiana starts a week sooner than Illinois does.
But uh, you know, a couple of mistakes, but I still think
this Providence team still has its mojo going. If you would, I think
they're they they believe in themselves. There's a there's a there's a great vibe
coming out of that program. This should be a really fun one. Uh.
Moving on, you saw Kenwood in week one against Lincoln Way East.
A matchup here against Saint Rita coming off of forty two twenty one win against
Sandberg. Both of us really like Kenwood. That would be challenging matchup that
they gave themselves in week one, not taking any steps down in class against
Saint Rita here in week two. What do you think about this one?
You know, I think the biggest thing for Kenwood, at least in the
grand scheme of things, is Marquis Lightfoot. Their outstanding defensive end played about
two series in the game against Lincoln was East and you hate to pin it
all on one situation there because Lincoln Way East did pretty much dominate that football
game. But I still wonder what may have happened if he still would have
been in there. He was a he's a disruptor, he's a very good
player, and that was a game that, to be frank, it ended
up fifty two twelve. It was scoreless at the end of the first quarter.
I mean, it did not really get away from Kenwood until you know,
early in the second half, where it felt like Lincoln East was you
know, had got the machine going like they tend to do. But Kenwood
still has a ton of talent. They actually use two quarterbacks in this game,
so I'm kind of interested to see which one of them they choose to
use moving forward. Uh, you know, so that's that's a decision that
I think they have to make. But there's still just a ton of talent
on this Kenwood roster. But I just wonder if they have enough I guess
team going on right now rather than just individual, you know, individual talents.
So basically, when it comes right down to it, I think Saint
Rita's probably a substantial favorite in this game. They demonstrated that they you know
that they've they've got it going pretty well. Uh, you know, it
took them a little while to pull away from Sandberg in week one, but
they were eventually able to do it. But still a pretty interesting game just
to see how it ferrets out. I don't know how serious the injury to
Lightfoot is. It didn't seem that serious when we were I guess briefly chatting
with him on the sideline while he was out, but it was, you
know, you never know what those types of things. Lincoln Way East gets
a matchup this week with number four Batavia. Number three lincoln Way East number
four Batavia in the Friday Night Drive Power Rankings. It's the game that also
was played during the regular season last year, sus I believe you saw that
game last year, right. Last year's game was interesting because Lincoln Way East
kind of pulled away early. Batavia had made a couple of mistakes and it
looked like they were just going to kind of cruise home with a fairly comfortable
victory. But Batavia, you know, a prideful program, fought them tooth
and nail in the second half, made it kind of an adventurous game.
A little bit late where you thought maybe if they caught a break or something,
we might have, you know, a tighter football game at the end.
Kind of a deceptive score in that it makes it look like Lincoln Way
East just completely rolled to that game. They really didn't so, and I'm
sure that's in the back of the minds of the Batavia kids that returned this
year, that they felt like they did not put their best foot forward in
that game at Lincoln Way East. Now they got it back on their home
turf. They're always tough there, you know. I think it will be
a very interesting game between two programs that pride themselves on being disciplined, doing
the things that they're supposed to do, and kind of forcing the other team
to kind of into submission. That's what both of these two programs like to
do. It'll be kind of a rock and meets a hard place type of
game, I think in this situation. You know, I'm just counting down
here, and I believe we have seven matchups this week's suits between teams that
are ranked in the top twenty five of the Friday Night Try Power rankings,
showing just how loaded this slate is. A standout one is between number fourteen
Main South going to number twenty two War And it's the standout game because these
are two teams that are now one of them is going to be oh and
two and you're just not used to seeing either of those teams really at O
and two very often. And I actually I'm not sure. I feel like
maybe Main South had a rough start a couple of years ago if I'm thinking
back to it, But outside of that, I can't imagine there's been many
instances of these two teams being O and two. Yeah, there really isn't
it. I mean, I think that's that's one game where there are uh,
you know, where somebody's gonna come out O and two. There are
several others this week where you're just gonna have a list of oh and two
teams that you're going to be like, what, now, this doesn't make
any sense. I mean, these are programs that at worst you'd expect to
be one and one after two games, regardless of the scheduling, and now
they face an uphill climb. You know, it's it's it's it's just kind
of one of those things where we were talking about this before. H Now
we've gotten into a situation in Illinois where the power programs have I don't want
to say alienated a lot of the programs that are beneath them, but they
don't the smaller programs, the the programs that maybe don't have as much pedigree,
simply don't see the advantage of playing playing powerhouses in those first couple of
weeks of the season. So now the only options for these teams are to
play each other, and that's why we're getting a lot of these matchups.
This Mainsouth Warren game has existed for a couple of years, but both of
these two teams probably didn't expect to be sitting at oh and one heading into
this game with the possibility of dropping to Owen two. So I think Mainsouth
has has a little bit more problem if they fall fall to O two here
than than Warren does because Warren has typically dominated as conference. Mainsouth has some
more challenging games down the hill, But I don't think either one of them.
Relish Is relishes staring at at Owen two, record, heading at Owen
three, heading and down three. Yeah, just a couple of others in
our top twenty five that has a chance to go to fight itself Owen two
surprisingly Palatine with a matchup going to Buffalo Grove. That's not going to be
an easy one there after Palatine law late to Saint Charles North last week.
And there was one other one I was looking for here, Oh, Nazareth
after taking the loss to Kankakee has to play number six York a couple more
instances right there. Sis, Yeah, that's that Nazareth York game is an
absolute doozy. I thought when it was scheduled it was a very intriguing game.
Having seen Nazareth last week, They've got some things that they got to
fix. It's really that simple. You know. York has now established itself
as as one of the elites. I think they power moved their way up
into that conversation last year. It looks like that's continuing solid win in week
one for them. But I mean this is this is a marquee game in
week two between two programs that have obviously big aspirations. For Nazareth though,
once again it's another situation where we might have an own two here and and
their schedule is an absolute behemoth the rest of the way, So, uh,
you don't want to call anything I must win and week two that's ridiculous.
But this is about as close as it can get for a team in
regards to looking out for their future. So we haven't got into one game
yet. That is my personal favor of the week. I bet I'm guessing
you can guess it, though, you know, I'm not sure what it
is. What is it, Kyle, No, it is number ten Prospect
at number eleven Barrington. I'm shocked. Actually, yes, yeah, my
mid suburban love coming out there. Barrington incredibly impressed with them putting up the
amount of points they did against Warren last week. You know Prospect is going
to have run a fast paced offensive put points on the board. I love
this matchup. Yeah, I mean this is a game that on paper,
before the season started, I would have had a strong opinion in favoring Prospect,
just based on the hiccups that Barrington has experienced over recent campaigns. But
now I look at this game as I mean, I got no idea what's
going to happen here. I mean, we could have we could have a
ton of points scored. I think that's a possibility here. But you know,
Barrington just stormed into the conversation and it pulled the you know, hey,
what about us? Move on us? I mean, this is this
is a really notable thing. And once again, I'll give you credit for
it. You kind of you kind of were touting Barrington a little bit more
than I was expecting it out of the gate. Big win for them,
like you mentioned against Warren, puts them in a position now where not that
the schedule got any easier, but they're fortunate to have that one win in
the bank. Because we talked about it a lot in the preseason. Barrington's
got one of the most brutal schedules in the States. So to get wins
whenever they get wins, I'm sure that's going to be great for them.
And you know, having prospect on the schedule here, even if they lose
it, it looks a lot better for them than I thought that they would
be in this situation. After two weeks, they're the Barrington definitely a team
to keep an eye on here as we move forward. If you haven't already
discovered it for yourself, We've launched a new edition of the Friday Night Drive
podcast this week with host Eddie Carriffrio and JT. Penalty. They are doing
the Illinois Valley Podcast, which covers Ottawa Street or up into our South Sauk
Valley market DECLB as well really anywhere out west that Sus and I don't get
to as much. Sus. It was a great debut episode for those guys.
They had a lot of fun. But what are you looking forward to
out of the western part of the state this week? You know, there's
just a lot of stuff that you know that we're still trying to figure out.
It's it's a very it's a very strange situation in some of these conferences.
You can't really get a handle on it based on you know, those
week one results. I mean when you look far west to like the Western
Big Six, there were some crazy results in the opening week of that conference
in regards to what you're used to. And then even you know, when
you look out into the you know, the middle part, you know,
the middle part of northern Illinois out there just trying to ferret out some of
these battles and like the Kishwaukee Conference and things of that nature. It's just
right now, it feels like there's a lot of teams out there that are
about in the same place and you're looking for those breakout games tough to uh
tough to figure them out in some of these cases. I felt like,
uh, Sycamore put on a good showing last week with their win over to
Calb But you know now they now they're you know, going into the city
to play Simion this week, So a very interesting non conference schedule for them.
You know. I was impressed with what Morris was able to do to
Cold City last week, and kind of an interesting non conference game for them
this week too when they host Joliett West. I mean, I know Juliette
West isn't considered to be like a power program, but they are in eight
A school. A lot of a lot of interesting matchups this week, you
know, just trying to figure out, you know, where some of these
teams stack up, because there's I mean, you just can't get as much
out of Week one as you want in some situations, but a lot of
intriguing matchups where on paper it looks like these teams are really really close together.
So hoping to get some I guess a little bit more resolution this week
from that area of the state. You will be able to follow the action
live at Friday Night Drive dot Com and live on YouTube. We'd love it
if you come and join me and Jimmy usual will be hosting Live with Friday
Night Drive at from eight to eleven PM. Our reporters will be joining us
from the sideline at halftime and after the game. We got about eight to
ten coaches lined up for postgame interviews as well. SEUs, you'll be along
to enjoy that, right and then afterwards he'll be after We call it essentially
Live with Friday Night Driver, Friday Night Drive after Dark, whatever you want
to call it. But Zeus is at that point just plugging away in results
and you know, answering whatever question do you have, SEUs, what was
that like in week one? No, it was interesting because it was kind
of a crazy night with some of the weather things and stuff like that.
So it's kind of getting to results a little bit later than I usually do.
But the fun thing about that is it just kind of gives me an
opportunity to I guess while I'm in putting those scores, kind of provide a
little bit of I guess insight into what the actual results mean. So I
enjoy that process. I mean, it'll be more comprehensive as we get deeper
into the season when we'll have a little bit more information about these teams.
But as I'm getting those results, I kind of, you know, admit
surprise or add a little bit of you know, depth into what that means
in the grand scheme of things. And that was really kind of fun for
me because I was really I didn't have as much opportunity as I usually due
to scoreboard watch in week one because my game was running long and it was
close. So some of the information that I was gathering and putting into into
my spreadsheet I was seeing for the first time. So and that's always kind
of fun to, you know, get those little nuggets after the fact and
try to ascertain what's going on. And I expect there's gonna be a lot
more of that this week in regards to picking up information because we've talked about
quite a few games in this podcast, you know, the things that we're
looking through week two, we didn't touch on another twenty five or thirty games
that I think are completely fascinating. So it's just gonna be I mean,
one of the it's not until Saturday, but you know, East Saint Louis
is hosting a nationally ranked opponent on Saturday, and then prior to that,
Glenbard West is playing a really strong team in Saint Louis, both at the
same place. So that's interesting for Saturday, I mean, but there's countless
other games on Friday that we didn't get to. So I think that this
week, if if you're considering going out to a high school football game,
you literally could throw twenty twenty five games in a hat pull one out.
I doubt you're going to be disappointed with what you see. I mean,
there are so many good matchups out there for people to enjoy. Yeah,
I have roughly three dozen games on my watch list for Friday Night or Live
with Friday Night Drive. That's just an incredible amount even before the week starts,
to see what game they're you know how things are playing out to have
that many games already that I know I want to be tracking, So make
sure you join us live from eight to eleven PM this week or on Friday
night at Friday Night Drive dot com and on YouTube. For now that we
are going to sign off, I am Kyle Neighbors. You can find me
at Kyle Neighbors. You can find a SEUs on Twitter at the SEUs or
x You can also find us on Twitter, slash x at Friday Night Drive.
Find Friday Night Drive on Facebook, Instagram, TikTok as well. SEUs,
you got any final thoughts before we say goodbye. Well, like I
just said, just I fully am expecting a crazy week two. This is
this as as good a non conference or in some cases conference schedule that I
can ever remember, Like honestly, in terms of the games and the depth
of the quality of these matchups that we have. It almost crazily. It
almost feels like second or third week of playoffs type of matchups, where you've
got matchups all over the board that are interesting and you're not really sure how
they're going to go. It is a fantastic week of high school football that
I think is on tap for us. All right, everyone, enjoy week
two, join us live Friday Night, and then we'll be back with you
next week. Susan, I will break down everything that happens this weekend.
Talked everyone later. Schweiker Ganison Krazak Rundio proudly sponsors to Friday Night Drive.
I'm Mike Krazak. If you've been injured, we are ready to take on
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