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dot com. What's up everyone, and welcome back into the Friday Night Guary
Podcast. I am your host, Kyle Neighbors along with Steve Seussie. It
is Thursday, October twenty sixth. We are a little more than twenty four
hours away from the first round of the twenty twenty three playoffs. Suits you
ready to go? Absolutely, you know, having an opportunity to kind of
break down these brackets and take a look at, you know, in depth
at these games. It really looks like we're gonna have a lot of fascinating
first round matchups. Not that that's something we haven't had in the past,
but it certainly looks like there are a few more to choose from than maybe
in past years. Yeah, definitely a lot of fun matchups here in the
first round. We got a lot to get to today, we're gonna be
live with you for the next forty five minutes or so. You can join
us throughout the playoffs. On Mondays and Thursdays at eleven am, SUS nine
will be here taking your question breaking down the brackets today like we would normally
if you listen to the Friday Night Drive podcast, which of course you can.
If you're not watching this live, you can download this anywhere you get
your podcasts from. On Thursday, we have Michael Duojack join us and Joe
Stevenson join us, and we're gonna go ahead and dive right into that stuff
right away. Today. We got a lot to get through, obviously,
one hundred and twenty eight games in the first round, plenty to talk about
here. Again, if you are watching live on YouTube, you can send
us questions and comments. We appreciate it. It helps us figure out what
you guys want to talk about. And of course if you can give a
thumbs up and subscribe to the channel, it really really helps people find this
show and grow the channel. We appreciate that. Now, with that,
I am gonna go ahead and bring mikeel on. Michael Dwoljack covers the Chicago
Catholic League and East Suburban Catholic Conference for Friday Night Drive dot com. How
you doing, Michael good? Are you guys doing playoff football? Man?
I couldn't be happier. Yeah, you like it. I know it's It's
a great time of year right now. And yeah, I'm a football guy,
Michael. I know you do some soccer coverage for the Northwest Herald helping
us out there. I actually suits. I know you don't cover a lot
of this, but I actually love this time of year for postseason volleyball too,
Michael. Have you got any of that over the years, Yeah,
I've got. Postseason volleyball has always been fun. Some good teams you know,
making it and those you know, I feel like that's where a lot
of upsets happened too, because, like you know, the third said match,
anything can happen if you tie it after one. So those are always
fun environments to be a part of as well. I yeah, high school
volleyball is a lot of fun, particularly when you get to like really good
levels like huntley volleyball. I'm taking this completely off course. I don't care.
It's our show, right huntley volleyball, like you get like multiple dividual
players and they're just slamming balls down. High schoolvolleyball is a lot of fun,
but that's that way we're here. We're here to talk football and you
get a really good game. We're gonna start with your game on Friday night,
Saint Rita, Mount Carmel. I think it's fair to assume that the
Caravan are going to be a little upset after suffering that loss here to Loyola.
I think both coaches are going to be pretty upset after what happened in
Week nine to both of them. I mean Mount Carmela obviously lost Loyola,
and Saint Rilo lost to Brother Rice, so I mean both. I feel
like both teams are going to be pretty determined. I'm sure when Martin Hopkins
and Joan Lynch Boast saw who they're playing in the first round, they're like,
don't this Isn't this more of a quarterfinal matchup or a semi final matchup
like it was last year. But I'm sure both teams will be pretty motivated
out when they kick off on Friday for a what feels like a deeper postseason
game as opposed to a game that's happening here in Week one. Yeah,
these two teams obviously met during the regular season. What do you think they
learned from it and what differences do you expect in a rematch. I think,
you know, familiarity always plays a role into this. Obviously, they
played each other twice last year, they played each other in the semi finals
in last season's postseason, and then you know Mount Karmel beat him three to
eight to seven earlier in the year. But I'm I think the biggest thing.
You know, obviously familiarity plays a role, but is Signorita going to
have it? Starting quarterback is a really big question here. Jeded Hilding got
injured in the Week eight he missed that game, and then he didn't He
missed the rest of the game against Brother Rice after being hit hard on a
on a run in the third quarter against Brother Rice. The backup had to
come in. He played pretty well in Week eight and did well in backup
duty in Week nine. But I think that's a big factor into what's going
to happen in this game, and whether you know Saturita is going to be
able to throw the ball at all. Obviously they can run the ball pretty
well with DJ Stewart, and they've got a good cast over there. But
if you take away the pass game for this Mount Carmel defense, that makes
it pretty easy for them to just stack the box and really limit what Sanerita
is able to do running the ball. You can follow Michael on Twitter or
x at m Dwojack ninety four. You can also find him on Instagram and
threads. You mentioned Brother Rice. Another CCL Blue team there that is in
the postseason that had a you know, it's week nine, it's week nine
outcome put itself or put them in a matchup here another game that you would
not expect to see in the first round, Number twenty six for the Rice
facing number seven Batavia. You what are you hearing about that game? I
think that game is obviously really interesting. I'm sure you know, same thing
with Mount Carmelsey and Rita. You know, they don't want to be playing
against each other in the first round. But I mean for Brother Rice,
it's been pretty much, you know, it hasn't been the season they wanted
it to be. You know, they beat Main South to start the year
ten to seven. Things are looking great, like they look like a pretty
dominant team in that opening win, and then everything like falls apart Christian Pierce,
their junior linebacker who has offers from Ohio State, Michigan, Illinois,
Texas, a lot of big schools. He gets injured and he's out for
the rest of the regular season. A lot of seniors on their defensive line
are out for much of the season here and there. Their secondary is made
up of sophomores basically, so coach Cleddenfeld really had to change up the defense,
you know, in the middle of the year, and they were able
to kind of come together and you know qualify. You know, they beat
Montini in Week eight, they beat sat Rita and week number nine to make
the playoffs. So I'm really curious to see, you know, has Brother
Rice kind of figured it out now, like they know who they are this
year they have they're not the team that they thought they were going to be
and don't have all the players they thought they were going to have, But
a lot of guys have come back. Now obviously Pierce, he's not going
to come back for the rest of the right, you know, for the
playoffs. But Brother Rice has a lot of you know, good defenders and
they've got an offense that clicks. Randall Nowden really runs the ball well,
and Ryan Harts and Marcus Brown both come in a quarterback for Brother Rice to
throw the ball, and they can do that as well. So I'm really
curious to see Candy keep this momentum and those going through that rugged you know,
c clac schedule kind of prepare them for this moment playing against the Batavia
team. Obviously they're trying to win a state championship here. So I think
when we come into this post and eight A Loyola is one among the favorites
Mount Carmel and seven eight among the favorites, neither of those things that are
surprised, right, sus when you look past those two though, Yet Brother
Rice there as a twenty sixth seed up and down these different brackets in the
different classes where some of the Catholic League teams that you think could kind of
sneak up on people. Well, I'm kind of intrigued by stating ignations and
that's a little bit because of their path. I kind of like the setup
for them to make a little bit of a move here. Now granted they're
in that you know that eight nine pod is a lower seed, which means
they get potentially get to Loyola pretty quickly, but still I like where they're
at in the bracket, and then going farther down, I think the thing
that really kind of stands out to me Mantinian three A. You know,
all season long they're playing, you know, the behemos of the Catholic League.
Granted, they started real fast and I don't want to say stumbled down
the street. That was kind of schedule related as well, But when you
go down all the way down to Class three A, after you've been playing
six to sevens and eights all season long, there's quite a dramatic change in
the opponent that you're going to be facing. And sitting there as kind of
a six seed in that bracket, they look really really interesting to me in
three another team in five. I like Carmel Straw. I think they're in
good shape to be around quite a while. I about you, Michael Warrier,
you agree with sus anyone else? I'm really curious about Saint Francis as
well. Obviously, the biggest thing any team really wants and football is a
great quarterback, and that's what Alessio maybe Hobik has been for Saint Francis this
year. He's just been really helping them win a lot of big C c
L E SEC games this year. So if you have a hot quarterback like
that who and a really good defense like Saint Francis does, obviously the running
attack is working as well. But if you have a quarterback who can make
a lot of big plays and big moments, I think that really helps you
go on a deeper run. So yeah, I would agree with all the
other guys, obviously Ignatius if they're going to run out justin Scott, you
know more often than not now after week now now that you know the Cats
out of the bag, But I would agree with most of them. Also,
curious to see how Carmel does start running back justin Scott, right.
Yeah, let's go ahead and bring Joe Stevenson in now. Joe Stevenson covers
mckenry County for the Northwest Herald and Friday Night Drive dot Com, and I
want to bring him in right now because we get a matchup between a Catholic
League team and one of the best teams in mckenry County, Prairie Ridge team
that has been in multiple state championship game. Usually we find them in Class
six A. We find them in Class five A this year, Joe against
a Nazareth team that comes in at four and five, but it's the defending
state champion. This is not a four and five team by any measure.
I liked coach Chris Schremp's reading your preview story getting that ready that goes up
on Friday Night Drive dot Com Morning Coach Chris sh Repp, you know,
like it's a bad draw for us, but it's a bad draw for them
too, exactly. Yeah, you guys were mentioning a couple of games earlier
that didn't seem like first round games. This definitely doesn't seem. This seems
more like a quarterfinal or semi final game. With the pedigrees of these two
teams, Prairie Ridge three state titles and two other runner up finishes since twenty
eleven and nas has four state titles and two runner ups since twenty fourteen.
So yeah, it's a real interesting game. And you know, this time
of year, we always hear Chris Shrimp at Prairidge and Brad Seeberg at Kerry
Grove talk about how you know the triple option. They do it so well
and it's not an offense that the teams see a lot, and they always
feel like that can be an advantage in the playoffs. You know, the
Fox Valley Conference teams are used to seeing it two or three times a year
now because they see them. But it does seem to be it does seem
to play to their advantage in the playoffs. And I know that, you
know, coach Shrimp is hoping that that can be the case again because they
do it so well. They always talk too about how much faster they run
it toward the end of the year than they do it the first year.
They'll watch the video on this and they noticed it on video, how much
crisper and cleaner and faster they run it the more they run it through the
season. Michael, what are you hearing out of the NASA Nazareth side of
this. I am curious to see. You know, Joe talks about the
triple option. A lot of teams, you know, aren't familiar with it.
But naz did play same Ignacious this year and they beat Sam Ignacious and
I know obviously that was a big matchup last year of the triple option teams.
So naz has seen the triple option this year and they're you know,
they have some experience with it, so I'm kind of curious to see how
much that plays in a factor into the game. And you know, obviously
we've talked about NAS all year, toughest schedule, all that kind of stuff.
I mean, I didn't expect them to lose thirty five seventeen to Saint
Francis the way they did. But I think they're just going to take the
mentality that they have, you know, during this you know, after the
oh and fourth start of just trying to build upon every single week. They
have drawn upon last year's experience. Everyone knows two and four going on to
win a state championship, all that stuff. But I think Nyas obviously has
the talent. It's just about whether it can keep up with the triple option
that Prairie Ridge is able to throw out there. And obviously going up to
Prairie Ridge and playing on grass as opposed to, you know, being pretty
used to playing on turf for much of the season, I'm also curious to
see how much that kind of plays a factor into the guy's kind of getting
adjusted to playing on that surface up there. That's a good point actually about
being on grass, and it's been you know, I'm up here in mckennery
County with Joe. It's been rainy up here the last twenty four hours or
so. I think it's supposed to continue to be over the next forty eight
hours or so heading into that game. It could be a slobby one on
Saturday. Joe, what do you think? Yeah, I think I think
you're right, And I don't know if that I'm not sure which team that
UH favors. If that's the case, I know, you know coach Shrimp
was talking about when I asked him, what are you concerned about with Nasrith.
They're going to see a much different team that than most of what they've
seen this year because nas is just going to throw it and throw it and
throw it and has He was really he was concerned with their speed. He
said they got a lot of team speed that they that they have to worry
about. So I don't know if that nullifies it being on a on a
wet track. I'm not sure, but I guess you always think that you
tend to think that it would help the running team more than the passing team.
That that might uh that might it might be more like if if it's
windy or something, you know as part of that coming into it. I'd
rather have the wet track than we had the frozen track. Remember last year
for for Prairie Ridge. Yeah, that was terrible that nobody could do anything,
no one could cut on it. They get slip in. Yeah that
was brutal. Michael will let you go. But you got anything else for
yes, No, I'm just I think the biggest thing I'm kind of looking
forward to see is I feel like this time of year is when you finally
find out like how good the c CLE E S c C is. I
think obviously, you know, Mount Carmel's good and Loyola is good. Obviously
they're big teams, but there are a lot of good teams that missed the
playoffs because they had to play in the c CLEE c C this year,
and I'm really curious to see, you know, a lot of five and
four teams. There are a lot of six and three teams that are probably
going to make the quarterfinals or semi finals this year. Obviously it depends on
the matchups. But I feel like now we're finally going to get a chance
to see how good the conference really is. Now that they finally get a
chance to play, you know, other teams other than just beating each other
up for most of the seven weeks throughout the season. All Right, you
can find Michael's work at Friday Night Drive. You can find him on Twitter
at m dual Jack ninety four and on Instagram and Facebook or Instagram and threads
as well. Michael, thanks for joining us. Man. All right,
happy football guys later. This is State Representative Steam and I'm happy to sponsor
this year's Friday Night Drive. There'll be plenty of time for politics down the
road, but for now, let's enjoy some high school football. Whichever school
you follow, give them your support, all right, Joe, So we
talked Perry Ridge. We got some other Fox Valley Conference teams in the postseason,
though. Let's start with Huntley in eight A A matchup against Niles West.
We've seen Huntley with some brutal draws in the eight A playoffs over the
years. In the first round, I actually think this one sets up pretty
well for them. I agree with you. I think Huntley has a real
good chance here. Niles West first time in the playoffs since twenty fourteen and
only one playoff victory in school history, which was nineteen ninety one. So
I don't know a lot about the Wolves, but I really like the way
Huntley's playing Hayden Jankie, They're big running back, has scored in every game.
I thought that was kind of interesting. He has a rushing touchdown in
every game. And their quarterback, Junior braylen Bauer, they don't throw a
lot of they throw a lot of short passes, so he has a really
good completion percon He's like seventy five percent. But that's really helped them this
year with their offense to take a little bit of the pressure off Jankie.
He hadn't carried it nearly as much as he did last year. So they're
way more than one dimensional like they were last year. And their defense has
played pretty well too, So I really like how this sets up for the
Red Raiders on Friday. Joe all right, sus I just was noticing this.
Huntley would play or Hanley O'Neill's West would play the winner of Saint Nignatius
and Jolie out West. I want to ask you a little bit about this
matchup for Jolia West. Dan Tito, by the way, laying the Chicago
Bears Illinois Coach of the Week today. I saw that announced Brad to coach
Dan Tito for that. What does Joliat West have to do to win this
well, I think the biggest thing for them is they have to be extremely
disciplined on defense. We were talking a lot about the triple option. We
were discussing, you know how it factors into that. Juliet West doesn't have
a lot of experience seeing that type of offense going up against them, so
in doing that, they just have to be prepared to be disciplined. And
it's a capable defensive unit. They're capable of making big plays, but just
really got to stay in their lanes and give their offense, which is multifaceted
and talented enough quality opportunities to get some points on the board. Because I've
seen Santy Nations do this before, and you guys probably have to where they've
just kind of taken over a game and more importantly, taken over the clock.
I've seen them take over an entire quarter one time where they just simply
march the ball down the field and a methodical nature, and with Juliette West,
they like to get out there and make things happen, So it might
just get really frustrating for them if they're unable to get those stops and get
sant Ignatius off the field and let their offense have some room to run.
Guys in Class seven eight, we got a matchup between number twenty three Jacobs
and number are at number ten Lincoln Way Central. Looking for some intel on
this one because this is to me one of the more difficult matchups I've had
trying to figure out picking this week. Joe, how do you feel about
Jacobs heading into the postseason. I really like where Jacobs is at right now.
Five wins in a row, and the defense has really played well.
You do look at their wins and there is one win over a playoff team,
which was Crystal Lake Central. You know, they lost six to nothing
in the season opener to Prairie Ridge. Neither team could get their offense going
that night, and then their other losses were to you know, Cary Uh,
Terry Grove and Huntley. And but Jacobs has played really well. They
seem to of fixed their offensive problems and they moved running back Caden Demel to
fullback and I don't know why, but he seemed to have He was really
good at running back, but he's even better at fullback and that seemed to
have kind of sparked their offense. Their offenses has been really good. I
think, I think this is an interesting game. I don't know a lot
about Central. I know that it's rank seventh in seven A and I think
Jacobs is definitely going to have its hands full. But the Golden Eagles have
been playing really well. Yeah, Central is a team that surprises lincoln Way
Central that is all year long suits. Yeah, I feel like this could
maybe evolve into a little bit of a rock fight. I mean, Lincolnway
Central is is really good on the defensive side of the ball. They don't.
I mean, you ask their coach for a name or two on the
defensive side, and he can't help himself. He names like eight because it's
it. I don't want to call it a no name defense because that's not
what it is. They're just getting contributions from so many guys it's hard to
single one out. So and then offense, they've got the human bowling ball
Anthony Noo, who is about five foot seven and just runs with power and
energy and tends to seem to break plays that it doesn't look like he's going
to break. So I really feel like this could just be a field position
battle where one or two mistakes by one sideline over another could make the difference
in the game. In Class six A, we find two more Fox Valley
Conference teams Joe both matched up against North Suburban Conference teams number sixteen christ Lake
Central at number one Lake Zurich at seven pm on Friday. Also six thirty
pm on Friday, Number three Kerry Grove hosts number fourteen Liberty. But what
do you think of those matchups? Well, I really like how Kerry Grove
looks going in to hear you know, the one point loss to Prairie Ridge,
a one point loss to Huntley, and the Trojans can play good defense
and they you know, they run the option really well. I do know,
I do know some of the information from Liberty Bill coach Mike Jones mentioned
that they they lost a triple overtime, they lost an overtime, and they
lost in the last minute. So three of those four losses were really close,
didn't Didn't they lose by what was it, sus one point to Lake
Zurich. Yeah, one point lost. So this is you know, this
is a team not to be taken lightly, I think, and but but
I really like the way the Trojans are playing regarding Chris Lake Central. You
know, a really tough break for the Tigers in losing quarterback Jason Penza in
Week eight against Prairie Ridge to the shoulder injury. I did stop by practice
this week because they had the Friday Night Drive Team of the Week MVP to
deliver the belt and Jason was out there. But he hasn't really been cleared
yet, so I think you're going to see their best receiver, George Demopolis
playing quarterback again this week, which really it's too bad for for Central because
you got your best receiver throwing balls instead of catching them. Yeah. I
was watching that game last Friday Night in week nine, and when Penzela had
gone out, they had brought in a sophomore to finish that game. Abraham
Quinn Yeah yeah, yeah. So like I'm watching early in that game and
I see George Mopoulis walking over to the sideline to get a play call.
Well, first I saw number fourteen. I went, wait a second,
I'm pretty sure that Demopolis. I looked at him. I'm like, oh,
they moved him back to the quarterback. All right, that makes sense.
Yeah, he had he had too much experience there last year. Unfortunately
because pens they got hurt in the opener and he wound up playing seven games
and then and then you know, we got a little hint of what they
could have been last year when Penza returned for Week nine and they losch to
pray Ridge fifty six to forty nine. Is what a crazy game? Well,
just and just to give you an idea, I mean it won.
I mean it's hard to go from wide receiver to quarterback and make that transition.
I'm in a week. So I mean that alone shows how good of
an athlete George Demopolis's. But also he played quarterback last year, but he
still ended up getting offers and signing at Northern Illinois University, at Division one
school for wide receiver, despite not having that much tape playing hide receiver.
Yeah, I can't remember feeling better for a kid, you know, to
get to get that D one offer and to commit that then George, you
know, with the misfortune of last year. Yeah, and the Tigers hill
with a tough matchup against lake Zerxso so this seems odd to see lake Zerk
sitting there in the six A field. Yeah, I mean, they were
kind of bubbling back and forth between seven and six A, and I just
feel like this has been one of the quietest eight to one seasons in a
good solid league that I can remember in a while. That lone loss back
in week five to Warren, I believe it was twenty one to seventeen in
that game, just kind of indicative of just a good, solid football team
just going about its business. Defense really really good again. But I mean
we talked about Libertyville a little bit earlier in this segment, and Libertyville,
you know, put up twenty eight points on them. That's the season high
against this defense. But it's Lake Zerk's just a really, really good,
solid football team. And in kind of a bracketing quirk, the only one
loss team on the north side of the six A bracket. So that's that's
kind of odd too. I Mean, we've got only one undefeated team in
the entire bracket and then just one one loss team on the north side,
so kind of a wide open bracket there. But it looks like Lake Zeric,
at least in my mind, is on top of that list. All
right, Joe, one more game before we let you go. Richmond Burden
sitting here at the number five seed in Class four A, coming off a
somewhat surprising loss to Rochelle, how do you feel about the Rockets heading in?
Well, I think that lost, you know last week thirty to twenty
to Rochelle, and Rochelle looked really good. I have to say that defense
was tough. Rich Men could not run outside against them, and and and
really grinded it out on offense and held the ball and really played well.
I would feel a lot better for Richmond if it had won that game and
got it got a different drunk because Saint writer, you know again you're you're
talking c C C C L E, s c C. You know,
it's played a really strong schedule all the way through. So I think this
is a lot tougher first round game for the Rockets. I still think,
you know, Richmond can can win this game and get through the second round,
but a lot a lot tougher first round game than the Rockets are accustomed
to seeing in the last few years. Yeah, I definitely think this first.
I think this first round game for them might be the biggest obstacle for
them making a really deep run. I think they can they can go really
deep if they get this game. And I unlike past years, like you
just said, uh, this isn't a this isn't a ninety ten game.
In my mind, this is a this is a you know, a sixty
forty game. In favor of Richmond Burton, Saint Vider, young but tricky
h Cooper Comet, Cole Comet's younger brother, you know, is a heck
of a player. They've got some players in here. It's you know,
it's a four A team, but you know they've been playing Behemus all year
long. Yeah, it's kind of it's kind of weird, Like they get
Saint Vider, Richmond Burton gets Saint Vider here in the first round. If
they survive, uh, I'm you know, would be absolutely shocked if it
wasn't Weedon Academy in the second round. And then I feel like their quarterfinal
matchup, if they made it that far, would probably be easier than the
first two matchups. Sous Yep, Yeah, I agree, And that's that's
really kind of the way it broke down. It was, you know,
when you look at kind of the public league placement on this bracket, it's
all kind of clustered in one area there, including a public league against public
league matchup in the first round, so you know, it opens up nicely.
I think if Richmond Burton can get past these first two rounds, I
think they're in pretty good shape. You can follow Joe on Twitter at NWH
Underscore Joe Prep Zone. Joe, what two games you got this weekend?
I have? I have Huntley Niles West at Huntley on Friday, and I'm
actually watching some cross country Saturday morning, but then I have to go over
and watch that NAS PR game at two o'clock. Then I'll go and finish
my cross country riding after that. So yeah, I'm kind of enjoy that
I'm going to go over and watch NAS and PR play too after. You
know, it was a lot a lot of fun doing live with Friday Night
Drive, but that also meant like, I don't know, sushi are the
same way, like we were here doing this and not on a sideline somewhere.
So I'm looking forward to hearing some pads popping, some some helmets clank
together this weekend. Joe. You remember the last time we saw NAS and
PR. It was such a great game as a Fantastic six a state championship
game in twenty seventeen. And you know what I'll always remember about that is,
you know, Samson Evans was so good and NAS tied it with I
don't know, six or seven minutes to go twenty one to twenty one.
And on the kickoff, it was a brilliant move. Oh yeah, I
looked down and instead of putting Samson Evans deep, Chris Shrimp moved him up
to the twenty yard line. They thought NAS thought it was kicking it away
from him and bounced it a perfect one hopper right to him and he took
it from like the twenty five yard line to NAS's forty to set up the
winning, the winning scoring drive. But then you know, NAS came back
and and was intercepted in the end zone. Yeah, at the end of
that game, almost came back and tied with only like a minute. Some
of that was that. JJ McCarthy, Yes, yeah, that's funny.
They're your current betting favorite to win the Heisman Trophy, Joe. I don't
know if you saw that. I didn't. I knew he's having a great
season, I didn't know that. That's wow. Yeah, JB. McCarthy,
currently the favorite to win the hide in Pretty Wild. All right,
Joe, we'll let you go. We appreciate you joining us today though.
Oh always fun guys. All right, calculator, Yeah right, all right,
everyone, So Sus and I stick around here for the next fifteen minutes
or so. If you're watching live on YouTube, you have any questions for
Sus or you can throw those into the comment. We will get to those.
Sus, where do you want to go? You know, we're going
through here kind of breaking it down, and I think one of the most
interesting things that was kind of developing over the week is how close we had
we came to having the brackets look differently in some situations. You know,
when we were talking about that Prairie Ridge matchup with Nazareth, A lot of
people don't realize how close we were to having that look a lot different.
On Saturday, when everyone was focused on Loyola and Mount Carmel, this weirdo
was focused on Peyton and Lincoln Park because what that game meant was if Lincoln
Park won that game, it changes seven a bracket significantly. Was that the
one you were soliciting, was that the one you were solictening up as it
actually it actually wasn't because this one was just kind of a you know,
whatever happens happens. But Peyton, who ended up being the number one seed
in the bracket, had they lost that game to Lincoln Park would have tumbled
down. You would have had Praier Ridge move up to the one seed,
you would have had Antioch move up to the two seed, and then your
first round matchups would have been Prairie Ridge against Sterling, Antioch versus Nazareth.
And what happened in that game thirteen twelve in favor of Peyton, so you
know, and so that was what we were kind of watching that from the
periphery and not really I don't think a lot of people realize that that was
the impact of that one point result in a Saturday afternoon public game. So
and then I could get into the whole fascinating situation with seven, a double
forfeit that ended up causing a seed stack to change, which I talked about
in the What we Learned It on Monday. So definitely and interesting situations that
kind of little machinations that were behind the scenes that I don't think people realized
on that final day how much of an impact they had. You know,
when we finally put it all together, got a couple questions coming in here.
Really appreciate it, guys. Trevor ass a little late to the stream,
But do you guys think Chicago Hope has a chance to play in the
title game? Talking about Class one A here, let's pull that bracket up
here, let's see sus Hope's in there as the three seed. What do
you think you know, I've talked about this the entire time. I like
Hope. I like a lot of the things that they have, But the
fact remains that they could potentially play a team in the second round that beat
them during the regular season, so they would have to clear that obstacle.
Likely second round matchup between Aura Christian and Hope Academy. Granted it would be
Home and Hope. It was a close game when they played the first time,
but Hope's obviously larger obstacle if they could keep going is I won't pick
against Lena Winslow until they lose, and I'm not sure when that's going to
be, and I don't really think it's going to be this year, either,
So I think we got to go all the way back to a regular
season game against Forreston I believe two years ago, which they probably maybe did.
They promptly avenged in the playoffs by winning by like forty or something,
so they they don't lose very often. There's still the clear favorite in one
A. And that's the biggest obstacle for any team that resides on the North
bracket on whether or not they can get to normal is how how Lena winslow
and if they can get dispatched. Yeah, I completely agree with that.
All right, so we got let's see term followed up here. So both
very good teams, hope. It's very big upfront and very athletic in the
backfield. Might be the biggest team in one A. Dude, if you
had a chance to look at their offensive line. I did see their coach
posts their starting offensive line on Twitter and tag Briday and I drive in that
today. Yeah, I've seen a little bit of it on tape. I
have not seen them live this year. Not the same thing, but that
is something that definitely stands out. It's it's a very big and talented offensive
line, very talented quarterback play there, and a lot of explosive playmakers,
a lot of it's just a lot of fun. It's it's a fun team
and I wish them the best because they're i mean, their coaching staff a
great bunch of guys. Had the opportunity to speak with head coach Chris Mallet,
you know, at a summer event this year at a showcase. I
talked to Chris a lot on the phone in the past when I've tried to
help him put together a schedule as an independent. Now he doesn't have to
worry about that as much as he used to. But I mean, they
still went to California this year in a non conference game. So it's a
very interesting program led by an a very interesting guy. So, you know,
I always kind of have you know, I'm not supposed to have a
rooting interest as the member of the media, but I always like it when
Hope Academy's playing well because it's a fun story when they do. The man
you're listening to talk is Steve Sussie as our former colleague at The Daily Darrenald
Timaron, who just say the man, the myth, the legend, the
SEUs breaking down the playoffs for playoff first round playoff matchups for you. Here
you can find sus on Twitter at the Suits. You can find myself on
Twitter at Kyle Neighbors. You can also find Friday Night Drive on Twitter at
f and Drive. You can also follow Friday Night Drive on Facebook and Instagram.
We had a question from Jimmy who says who advances in the top half
of a top half bracket for seven A sus. You know, it's it's
really chalky to say this, but I really like the top seed. You
know, Normal Community has had a very fine season. You always kind of
wonder about, you know, the big twelve teams kind of transferring into this
seven A playoff field, whether or not their schedules prep them for it.
But I think their defense translates against any level of competition. You know,
have really done a nice job of like taking care of some pretty quality programs,
either shutting them down entirely or limiting them to very few points. They're
a good team. But the other team that I like on the north side
of the bracket, I really like Hersey a lot. I kind of like
their path they're in that situation. And if you want to talk a few
underseeds that I think are interesting here. You know, I just said that
I like Hersey. But I also think a potential second round matchup against either
of those two teams that they could play between downers Grove North and Kenwood.
Kenwood has some incredibly explosive athletes and downers Grove North is just a really,
really solid football team. So whoever gets through that first round game I think
is going to give Hersey an interesting test. And we talked about this before
with some other teams. I feel like that second round game might be more
difficult than games they would face down the line, So you know, in
that situation, you know, I think there are a lot of interesting teams
here. Wouldn't surprise me to see, you know, a double digit seed
make a bit of a run here. There are a lot of candidates for
that. I think that sixteen to seventeen game is interesting between Bradley and Saint
Charles North. That's where I was going, you know, So that's one
of those I have a two o'clock game in Central Illinois. I'm hoping to
make it back to my home area to catch the second half of that game.
That's how intrigued I am with that contest. But like I said,
there's a lot of teams in here that I think I wouldn't be shocked to
see them on the quarterfinal lines. And I feel like there's you know,
ten to twelve options for those teams to get there. Let's see where are
we at here? Got more questions coming in love the question guds really appreciated
here, Gacker once is Ducaine represented well in the playoffs four teams in seven
A and one in six A. Geneva traditionally had been in seven A.
What do you think Geneva's chances this playoff class? Well, I think Geneva's
bracket is quite kind, especially early. You know, drawing that Chicago Public
League team in the first round sets them up nicely. They're going to almost
certainly be playing the fifteen seed in the second round because they also play a
public league team. I think Lake Forrest is a good team, but I
think Geneva probably gets them. So then we're talking about in the quarterfinals,
before they run into their you know, their first I guess significant opponent.
I figure that will be Kerry Grove. Just kind of looking at that group,
so you know, that is a really excellent quarterfinal potential matchup that I
think right there, I think that's you know, almost kind of like a
toss up in my mind right now with where those two teams are at,
so, I think they have an opportunity to make a really deep run here.
They could potentially beat Kerry Grove. I think you're probably looking at lake
Zurich in that semi final game if they were to get that far. So
do I think it's out of the realm of possibilities that Geneva could find itself
in normal I don't. I wouldn't put an exceptionally high percentage on it,
but I think it's something that could be done. I would be surprised if
coming out that six a North Bracket if it wasn't one of those three though,
lake Zurich, Carry Grove, Geneva. I agree. I think I
have Krry Grove as a slight favorite, then lake Zurich, and then probably
Geneva. I think those three teams are close enough though that you could if
you order them in any order of those three, I really couldn't really couldn't
argue with you. Yeah, we're in the same page, yeah on that
one. All right, let's go over whether on the go, Whether on
the go? Nice to have you back Man Dixon's chances versus Saint laws and
for a North bracket in the second round. Let's see here, So Dixon
with a matchup against Plano in the first round. You know, I don't
want to say that's a win. First off. I think that's a win
for Dixon, but I'm not completely sure, to be honest with you.
With the way the Big Northern Conference played out this year, I don't really
know what to make of the teams behind Byron in that conference. Sus Yeah,
I mean, I think that's one of the things that I kind of
look at here too, not only with the Plano game, but moving further,
if they were to get past that game against Saint Lawrence. You know,
Dixon, as I described it, at least from an enrollment perspective,
is a big fish in a small pond in the Big Northern. And I
don't think the second tier of that conference is anywhere near as good as it
has been in past years. When you look at you know, Stillman Valley
and Genoah, they had what I would consider to be down years. They
both made the playoffs, but not quite at the level that we're accustomed to
for them. Kind of an up year for North Boone and a little bit
of an up year for Oregon. The conference ended up sending six teams to
the playof US. Sometimes that speaks to conference strength, but in this case,
unfortunately, I think it kind of speaks to conference mediocrity that they were
able to get six bids out of a locked conference. So that's kind of
my take on that. So, you know, Plano's played a better schedule.
I think they're prepared for that game. But let's just happenstance that Dixon
wins the game and answer the question that he asked. Yep. I think
Saint Lawrence is a pretty big mountain for Dixon to have to climb in that
situation. I'm seeing some other comments in there from from Trevor Burns about Saint
Lawrence and their running back. You know, he's a very very good player,
will be tough to stop, and like I said, there's there's a
big difference between, you know, the week on week competition that Saint Lawrence
is seeing and the week on week competition that Dixon is seeing. Dixon has
a very good defense, but it also hasn't seen the challenges to the level
that than in the Byron game, and we saw what happened there where you
know, the other team is bringing an awful lot of thunder at you,
and I think Saint Lawrence is Saint Lawrence would be a very, very difficult
vote for Dixon in the second round. Tremor has another question asking about the
Illinois Central Eight Conference. How does Wilmington chances look to make a title run
in two A here, sus we talked about this earlier in the week.
This two way North bracket is absolutely loaded. Sus. Well, you know
that's actually an understatement. When you look at this and you look at Wilmington's
potential path. You start with Mercer County, a program that has historically steeped
in doing pretty well in the playoffs. To my understanding, this is a
younger, younger team that has had a lot of injuries of this season and
maybe isn't quite to the standard of you know, previous Mercer County programs.
But then you get into the next round and then I can't remember a potential
gaune like this for you know, a team like Wilmington in this situation.
I know Wilmington's going to back down from it, but they go potential second
round game would be Tri Valley. Yeah, and then they would go to
the quarterfinals, where it looks like Seneca would be the favorite to get their
Seneca already beat them in the regular season. If they yeah, so,
if they somehow managed to reverse the script there, Hi, you get to
play Moroa foresight potentially in the semis or Bloomington Central Catholic or Bloomington Central Catholic.
Moroa has consistently been the number one team in two A. Bloomington Central
Catholic obviously a very good football team playing in a predominantly three A four A
conference and winning all of its teams in that league. You know that is
I can't remember the last time I saw minefield of that nature for any team
in the postseason. Because you're you're potentially going, let's use their current records,
you're potentially going six and three, nine and oh nine and oh nine
and zero, and then you're in the championship game. Yeah. So where
all you're doing is, yeah, we're talking about a South bracket that is
nowhere near as strong as the North bracket. But still whoever does manage to
maneuver that is probably going to be a pretty good football team too. I
still think getting through the North bracket would potentially put you in great position to
win the state championship because I think the level of competition would drop a little
bit. But which shouldn't really happen. Come on, I can't say that
Nashville, Dude, Nashville is the favorite no matter what. Yeah, oh
yeah, okay, but no, it's it's a crazy bracket one that I
have not you know, I could come up with very few examples of a
situation where you have that many teams and then have so many solid one loss
teams in that bracket as well after the undefeated teams. Wilmington is obviously one
of them. I mean, but there's just so many, so many that
a one loss team is actually on the road in the first round, so
loaded to a North bracket. Whoever who ever comes out of it hopefully that
they're actually able to survive physically with enough to go into the state championship game
without feeling like that gauntlet has hurt them too badly. All right, we're
called up on questions. We got to get out of here anyway. Make
sure you stick to Friday Night Drive dot com all week and long. We'll
have full cover to the first round for you. All your preview content is
going up on the website right now. I got susa's first round analysis for
one A through five A. All is up. Six a'll be going up
this afternoon in seven and eight A tomorrow morning. Sus, how about you
leave us with some final thoughts though, you know, we talked about it
a little bit before a potentially fascinating first round. So many fun games out
there. I mean, for example, we didn't even talk about the game
that I'm traveling to on Friday night in the five A bracket. I'm going
to Piori to see Juliet Catholic and Peoria square off. That feels nothing like
a first round matchup. And if I had more time, I could sit
here and point out fifteen or twenty more games like that where it's their first
round games that feel like quarterfinal games. So an opportunity for some really good
football, and I hope everybody has the opportunity to go on season. Thank
you everyone who joined us live this morning on YouTube. You can subscribe to
the channel, leave a thumbs up. We really do appreciate it. You
can find us live on Mondays and Thursday's morning throughout the postseason here at eleven
a m. Will be breaking it down sus and I. For now,
we're going to go ahead and sign off for Steve Susie. I am Kyle
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