Schweiker, Gannison, Krazek Rundio Proudley sponsors to Friday Night Driver. I'm Mike
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dollars for our clients. Visit GA nassi n dot com. What's up everyone,
and welcome back to the Friday Night Drive Podcast. I am Kyle Nighbors
along with host Steve Susi, and it is week one, so we are
here to talk to you about this weekend slate of games. And we thought
we'd have football on Thursday night here this evening. Susy, you had a
nice one lined up. Mother nature is being kind of weird to start the
year, though. Yeah, it's been crazy. I mean, we had
a we had a handful of games that were originally scheduled for Thursday night,
and of course that got me immediately amped up to have an opportunity to get
an extra marquee game in on a weekend like THEU So it was really kind
of looking forward to that. But early in the week you started to see
signs that we were probably looking at about one hundred degree temperatures for that Obviously,
the risk area involved in putting players in that type of situation was kind
of frowned upon, and we didn't we didn't get that materialized. A lot
of those Thursday games have been pushed to Friday or Saturday, most to Saturday,
including the game. I was looking forward to seeing that Kenwood Lincoln Waight
East game that's now on Saturday morning. So I was pretty upset about it
at the time when it, you know, when they canceled the game,
because I was really looking forward to it. But after going outside and experiencing
what the temperature is likely going to be, I've I've come I've come to
peace with it. So that's basically what it comes down to now, is
that I understand why they're doing it. I'm interested to see how much of
an effect Friday night. Actually, some people are pushing it back an hour
hour and a half from original games time to try to get away from the
heat a little bit more. I don't know how much of effect that's gonna
have, but that's what people are trying. So yeah, it's man.
The wife and I took the dog out for a walk about eight o'clock last
night and it was still hot, humid. Just I was drenched by the
end of it. If you're going out to a game this weekend, one
make sure to double check the time. We'll have a list of game time
changes at Friday Night Drive dot Com. A bill will for you. But
make sure that you wear a hat, drink plenty of water. It's it's
been pretty miserable out there, Susan. Yeah, it looks like for the
northern part of the state by Friday evening that the heat's gonna break. But
from looking at weather forecast, really as you get south of Peoria, they're
still talking about mid nineties for a lot of the day on Friday. I
got a feeling that we're going to see more games pushed the Saturday, which
could present you know, multiple problems. Well, you know, I've been
wondering about it when I saw, like, you know, the Public League
making the move that they did. You know, they have to really finesse
their schedule to begin with, just to ensure that they get enough officials to
places where that they need to be. So adding those Thursday games into the
Saturday mix is probably going to cause a problem for not only venues, but
officials as well. So that's just in the CPL. If you get a
bunch of programs, you know in Central Illinois, Southern Illinois moving their games
to Saturday as well, I wonder if we're going to have enough officials to
go around on Saturday. Now, that's I think that's a legitimate concern.
It's definitely something that we're going to have to monitor all year long. We've
seen it before we even got to Week one games getting moved off of Friday
to Thursday or to Saturday to accommodate for that. I don't know what happens
if almost everybody goes to Saturday. I think it just creates the same problem
on a different day. Absolutely, it's going to be it's gonna be a
storyline all weekend long. And join in you Thursday night, well, what
we thought it was going to be a Thursday night game at Lincoln Way East
and Kenwood over at Gately. Michael Dweljack was going to be over there.
It was just too good of a matchup to pass up when you live in
Chicago, right Michael, Yeah, I was definitely excited for that matchup.
I haven't seen Kenwood. I've heard about Kenwood for the last couple of years
and just you know, the talent that they've built over there. I was
really excited to see you know, Lightfoot, Marian Stewart and all that kind
of stuff. But yeah, I just didn't feel like sweating through a polo
and just you know, going through the whole spiel, like let the kids
like stay safe and it's better to push it back a couple of days in
that deal with anything that might have a long term issues. But yeah,
I was definitely looking forward to seeing that one. But you know, maybe
we'll see that one. There's something else down the road. So we wanted
Michael to join us this morning to talk about the Chicago Catholic League in the
East Suburban Catholic Conference at twenty four team Conference. He covers that league for
us over at Friday Night Drive dot com. Make sure you follow Friday Night
Drive on Twitter at f and Drive. You can also find us on Facebook,
Instagram, and TikTok. Michael is it at Michael dwel Jack for your
Twitter and Michael M. Dwoljack ninety four. There you go, Thank you.
You got also at the SUS and I am at Kyle neighbors on Twitter
x whatever you want to call it, whatever Elon names it. Nowadays,
you know, threads and Instagram, you gotta go. I'm trying to boost
my Threads account. If anyone wants to follow me there, I've got a
twelve followers, so follow me there as well. I kind of forgot Threads
existed already. It's just kind of the age we're living in right now.
But yeah, Michael's joining us to talk about the Catholic League, and Michael,
one of the biggest conversation points all summer was the realignment after the first
two year period of this twenty four team conference. When you went around and
talked with coaches and players this summer, what did you hear. It's been
an interesting process, you know, just trying to incorporate two teams that you
know, haven't been playing in the conference or anything like that. So how
do you kind of bring that in? And it's it's been kind of like
interesting just to hear the coaches talking about about they mostly used an algorithm to
figure out who belongs of what division. They didn't want to leave it up
to, you know, human judgment. They didn't want, you know,
one coach to accuse another coach or and it's like acuach another athletic director,
you know, of wanting to play up to one school as opposed to another.
But with that you had saying Ignatius jumping all the way up from the
white up to the blue and talking to mad Miller at saying nations, they
obviously would love that, you know, to be in the blue and kind
of get to that level. But he also knows that he's still building a
program and the school enrollment numbers aren't there, and the program numbers aren't there
to compete against teams like Loyola, Mount Carmel, Saint Rita and Marris who
was just recently in the conference as well, or in the division as well.
So he was like listen, like we it'd be interesting to see what
they do. This is a one year trial period. This year they're going
to figure it out, kind of see how things go. But it's been
interesting. I'm kind of curious to know whether they take less of the algorithm
and more into like, you know, here's what we saw and like this
team deserves to be in here. They have this money, players and the
kind of stuff. So it'll be interesting to see what happens this year and
how they kind of handled it next year, and whether they have the same
approach or they changed things up in an off season. I was talking to
another Catholic league coach earlier this year and he was expressing how they thought they
might do it, and I thought they were going to put He was explaining
they thought they were going to put a heavier emphasis on you know, numbers
in the program. But then relate to me an interesting piece of information that
said, well, if they did it strictly on that, LEO has experienced
a massive resurgence and program numbers, and if they did it just on that
metric, LEO would catapult up in a way similar to what you're saying in
regards to what Saint Ignatius was about to do in the current system. So
I think it would be un to put you know, not disparagingly or anything,
but fully up fully on program numbers might not be the best idea either.
So I think they've got to find some sort of creative balance here,
because I understand that can be a wait, but it can't be the only
way. Yeah, And I think they'll get more of that because you know,
I think they're It's kind of hard because obviously both IC Catholic and Saint
France has come from different conferences, So it's like, how do you kind
of, you know, mix that in and how do you kind of,
you know, how do you kind of you know, incorporated team and decide
where they're going to be when they having played against the same competition the other
teams in the conference have. So I think that's why they're doing the one
year thing. For this year. They like looked at, you know,
how those two schools did against previously against CCL E SCC teams and that's how
they kind of both wound up in the OAR. And so I think it'll
be really interesting to see how they look at this year, see whether it
worked or not, whether the divisions make sense, or whether you just have
all right, well, there's two teams shouldn't be in the same division.
We got to figure out a different algorithm. I think that would be really
interesting. Is something to watch for next season. I know we haven't even
started this season, but uh as definitely something to watch after the state championships
finished at the end of November. Are you getting the impression just by looking
at the conference itself? Is that because it's kind of what I feel like,
there just could be a situation this year where there's just a ton of
teams sitting there with three, four and five losses, because it's going to
be a you know, a battle royale every year, both with the crossovers
and inside of divisions. I just don't feel like there's as many teams that
are just clearly separated from everyone else. Is maybe there have been in the
year's past. No, I would agree with you. I think that the
the race for suprematy is really interesting just based on each I mean, each
division race in this conference is going to be so interesting because you know,
you've got Mount Carmel and you got Loyola. I feel like those are two,
you know, as you you know, I've seen in your pole,
I've seen in other people's polls. Those are like two of the top three
top four teams in the state. But everyone else I think is just really
interesting to see. You know. I wouldn't be like Brother Rice in the
cclu cc Blue is so interesting to me because they can really you know,
they could play spoiler to Loyola and to Mount Carmelo, and that wouldn't be
a big like they're just a lot of teams I agree with you that are
just you know, very good, and you are kind of going to have
a situation where I feel like we see this, a lot of team is
going to be like the number twenty two seed. I think this has happened
Loyal, and I think this has happened to other teams where you have a
number twenty two seed. I think this happened to Jacobs and Rice last where
brother Rice is clearly the better team than Jacobs, no disrespect to Jacobs.
Are Algonquin, but it's just like they're just playing different schedules at this point.
And you will see that a lot where and I think you'll see that
a lot where a number twenty seed, maybe you have like a I don't
know, like Juliet Catholic or any other team that's going to kind of be,
you know, having a down year. I'm using air quotes because they
have three losses, but they'll probably make the state semifinals. Oh, they
make it the state championship. I think everything NAS was a twelve last year,
for example, Yeah, exactly. And I love NAZ and I think
they're gonna be a really good football team again. This year, but I
think there's a possibility NASK could be at twelve twelve again this year just based
on the schedule. I mean, So that's what I think the situation is
going to provide, is that I mean in five, six, seven,
and eight, when you look at those seeds, you can almost it's cliche
to say grow seeds out the window, because you have to keep that into
consideration the factors and the quality of schedules that all of these teams are going
to play. It's not just three or four or five of these teams that
got the short end of the stick. Every one of these teams has you
know, crossover games that look terrifying, Indivision games that look terrifying. It's
just I think we're gonna have a situation where it's just gonna have a lot
of teams that week seventh, week eight, we're not sure if they're going
to be able to get the five. Yeah, and if there are two
things that coaches like when I did all my previews and talked all the different
coaches, there are two things that I heard from literally every coach how excited
they were to start the season, and also how much that schedule is going
to prepare them for the playoffs. Every coach has said that schedule is just
a meet like you are just if you it's basically a race to five wins.
If you get those five wins, you're in and you are well prepared
and are probably going to make a deeper run, unless you have a situation
like Saint Rita Mount Carmel where they just have to play against each other in
the quarterfinals. Like those two teams probably could have played in the state finals
last year if they were not pared against each other in the state semifinals.
That's just how talented this conference is. And I don't really expect they had
to change much of the season at all. And then we get the added
wrinkle of two power programs in the conference of Loyola and Saint Rita having new
coaches this year that you know, that put a little more intrigue in it.
It is really interesting and I didn't realize this until I talked to Mount
Carmel coach Jordan Lynch, who is now the senior of the CCL SCC blue
longest serving coach. With bodshro taking over at Loyola, Martin Hopkins takes over
at Saint Rita and Casey Quentinfeld's in his second year at at Brother Rice.
Obviously round Check had had a Lynch, but Marri's moved down to the Green,
soa now Lynch is the statesman there, which he was kind of thought
it was funny when he brought that up. I was like, I didn't
even think about that, but that makes sense. But yeah, it'll be
really interesting. I think, you know, for two programs like Loyola and
seeing Rita, you kind of don't change what's been working for two elite powerhouses.
For for Loyola, it's been they haven't really changed anything. The offensive
coordin area is the same, the defense is staying the same, the practices
are the same. Everything is pretty much the same. I think the terminology
is pretty similar. It's just a new coach. It's just Bodshro taken over.
He's been a coach in the program, so he knows how Loyola likes
to run it stuff and Loyal likes to reload. Yeah, they're gonna have
to change up maybe how they run their offense with an inexperienced quarterback and you
don't have Jake Sterne or Declin fur there anymore. But for Loyola. I
think it's going to be the same old, same, Well, you just
reload and fight for a state championship and just gain experience. And for seeing
Rita with Martin Hopkins, I mean it's it's kind of the same thing.
They have a new defense, which I don't know if that defense needed to
be changed, considering it limited most of the best teams in the state and
didn't really let them score them. Coach Hopkins talked about having a more of
a collegiate freestyle and Zach Clark, the secondary player for the Mustangs, is
really excited because that's going to mean more turnovers for what the defense is going
to be. But it's going to still be a really good defense with a
lot of returning talent. And you had DJ Stewart coming back and running back
and that's going to be tough to stop. They're going to just run the
ball like they always do. And you got Jed Hilding coming back who has
some experience at the quarterback position. So for both of those two powerhouse programs,
Yeah, they have new head coaches. Yeah, maybe things look a
little bit different and they have to replace a lot of talent, but I
don't really expect things to really be that different. I mean, sure things
will look a little bit different to fensively for Saint Rita, but you know,
why change something that isn't broken, you know, for both of those
programs, And that's kind of the approach that both coaches have kind of taken
upon themselves as they've taken over. Let's you already went through a few there,
but let's hit on some of the top names to watch this year.
I think any lists with the any list with the CCL, SCC honestly with
Illinois starts with Justin Scott. He's just a phenomenal athlete. Just what he's
been able to build over the last what two and a half years that he's
been playing football. He didn't play football before high school. He didn't play
football as freshman year because of the COVID nineteen pandemics, so he just has
barely any snaps and he's just phenomenal. He's a really good defensive end.
That's what he's a five star recruit going to Ohio State. For offensive line
wise, he's really developed well over the past year. He's doing really well
and it's really started really hard to stop. And then that's someone that I'm
really excited to see for Fenwick, Nathaniel Marshall, I'm really excited to see
a lot of guys are in on him right now, huge Power of Five
programs. He should be really fun to watch. He's such a fun athlete
just you know, with his build and what he's able to do. He
should be really fun and really helped Fenwick create a lot of problems. And
I think those two teams, I forget what oh they played week two,
that should be really fun to watch, you know, justin Scott go against
Nathaniel Marshall on the offensive and defensive line, that'll be a really fun matchup
as well. But you got Dylan Johnson the at Juliet Kaplack. He's obviously
a very talented not only on the line but also as a wrestler. Recently
committed to Wisconsin, flipping from Northwestern. So Dylan Johnson is a really fun
guy to watch. And obviously Darian dupri he's going to Wisconsin. A foot
injury took away his postseason last year, which was you know, Mount Carmelo
didn't now that Mount Carmelo didn't need him, but like they were fine,
you know, with the talent that they have to replace him. But Darien
can do it all man Like. He can run the ball, he can
sprint it, he can you can know. He can play as a play
as a pass catcher, two as a running back. And that's something that
Jordan Lynch, you know, he loves to create different offense sinces for Mount
Carmel, and that's exactly how they're going to incorporate Dairy and they're going to
use them as a rutner. They're going to use them as a pass catcher.
He can block as well. So I'm really excited to see what a
healthy season hopefully looks for him, because you know, Alabama has offered,
so obviously he's a Wisconsin commit, but when Alabama offers, I don't know
how. I'm not trying to break any news here or anything like that,
but obviously you start to listen when Alabama calls your name, and I think
Alabama sees what a lot of us have seen with Dairy and then just you
know how talented he is and what can he what he can do for that
program? Coming back all right, Well, you know, we could really
sit here and talk players to watch this this league all day if we had
the time, but we gotta get going here. We've got Joe Stevenson going
to join us a little bit to talk about the Fox Valley conference with Michael.
Tell us a little bit about the two games you got this weekend.
Yeah, I'll be seeing I'll be staying in the city on Friday night.
I'll be going to sing Ignatius and checking out a game there. I'm kind
of excited to see that one. Obviously. For those who know, you
know, Ignatius is pretty close to downtown. You get a beautiful view of
the skyline and that's kind of The campus is kind of like Hogwarts, so
it's kind of fun. It's kind of you know, you've got a football
field with the skyline in one end and then you've got Hogwarts in the other
end. So I've never covered a game there, and that'll be a lot
of fun. But I've got Saint Patrick and Saint Ignatius playing against each other.
Saint Patrick finished four and five, just missed odd on the playoffs with
second year coach Luke Meurns. And for Ignatious, obviously it starts with Justin
Scott. They're in Class eight A now. But man, there's a lot
to replace with this team and Saint Ignatius. They lose Viney Rouge, they
lose Jake Petro, they lose a lot of talent. So I'm really curious
to see, you know, how does this program reload after back to back
historic seasons, making the state semifinals last year for the first time, how
do they reload? So I'm kind of curious to see what happens there,
and kind kind of a similar story with Marist and Glembard West on Saturday.
Marist only has a few returners on their team, like they only have Mark
Coy coming back. They got Brad fitz Gimming, Duke k Whit coming back,
but that is pretty much it. So I'm really curious to see what
does Maris look like against a Glembard West team that's pretty talented. Joe Steve
and I, you know, saw that game last year and that was such
a thriller. It'll be really interesting see what happens this year, just to
see how Maris is kind of able to reload with so many new players.
I know that obviously they finished and what were they they like were number nine
and the eight people. I'm kind of curious to see how they kind of
you know, how they look just based on I think a lot of it
is, you know, maris reloading as a program, and I think that
they have the talent to do it, but I just think there are a
lot of uncertainties and they kind of used that as fuel to start the season
trying to prove a lot of people wrong and be like, well, a
lot of people don't know what we are, but we know who we are
and we're going to play a lot of games. So I think those two
games should be a lot of fun to kind of start the season, to
kind of see what those two programs are, what three CCL ECC programs are
going to be like this year. Before we let you go, I want
to put you on the spot. I'm gonna take Mount Carmel and Loyola off
the table as answers here, because I mean, there are two of the
top ranked teams in the state. We know we're going to see multiple teams
from this league down in Bloomington on state championship weekend. Give me two other
teams. Give me two predictions of two other teams from this league we will
be watching on the final weekend. I think I think it feels right to
say Nazareth because they just bring so much talent, just so much, like
they have so much Division one talent, so much college talent, and they
figured it out last year. They needed to win the remaining games of last
year in order to make the playoffs, and they took it all the way
to winning a state championship. I asked Tim Raki, you know, do
you kind of get complacent when you kind of do that? And he's like,
no, Like these guys know what it was like, like barely been
making the playoffs and going on a run like that. So I think I'm
really interested to see what Nazareth is able to do. They have a lot
of talent, they have so much you know, offensive power. I think
they're going to be able to score a lot of people out of the building,
and that defense should be really good as well. For another team,
I think, you know, I'm really timed and caught in between Providence and
Juliet Catholic. I think Providence, you know, made the state championship game
last year. Tyler Plants brought a fresh of a breadth of fresh air to
that program, you know, the way he's doing stuff. I think they
bring back a lot of talent, So I think I'll go with Providence just
getting back there. Yeah, they have to replace a lot of guys,
and listen, there are other teams. I see. Catholic isn't very easy
as team to say. They're like a lot of programs saying Rita, Brother
Rice. I would not be surprised if they made a push toward the state
championship. Like, there are a lot of teams that I'm really excited to
see what they can do. It is here, But you know, if
you're putting me on the spot, I'm definitely gonna say Nazareth, then I'll
go with Providence kind of being there with Mount Carmel loyal of that weekend.
This is a loaded question because you might not be able to get both of
those teams that you just potentially predicted into this into the state the same state
final game, because if Providence ends up in five A, they might end
up in six A, Joliet Catholic could end up in five A and the
same bracket with all these teams could potentially all end up in the same North
South bracket, which is why once again, one to thirty two is the
best formula for everything. Let's let's do it immediately. Let's get rid of
the North South. But that's an argument for another day. But I think
I kind of agree with your choices. I think Nazareth would be the favorite
if I had to make that answer that same question. Kyle didn't ask me
the question, but I'm gonna answer it anyway. Sleeper for me here that
we didn't mention at all on this list. And this might sound a little
crazy, Carmel, No, I am. I am definitely there with you.
They have the talent. I yes, I am definitely there with you.
I think they have their talent in order to make a deep run.
Suits You had your mic off so quickly there that I thought you were about
to pull a lead course Old Not so fast, my friend, and have
a helmet ready to go there for Carmel, that's why I thought you were
doing there. Yeah, it's just one of those things when you look at
it and you look at where they factor in, and I mean, granted,
it's one of another one of those bracket challenges, but yeah, I
mean five is going to look so much different than it has looked in the
past. No matter how the class breaks the last couple of years, you
would be hard pressed to, you know, come up with four or five
legitimate threats to win the state championship. I think that bracket is going to
be super fun, but especially if the bracket breaks from a geographic perspective the
way I think it might. Yeah, I'm definitely Brett glad you brought up
Carmo because they they've got talent and they should you know. I know that
they're in the Purple and some people but might overlook them or something like that.
But I just think that that program is has the talent. They got
the college talent on there, and I think that they've They're definitely someone that
people should keep I un throughout the year. All right, Michael, Well,
enjoy the first weekend of high school football, and thanks for joining us
this morning. Yeah, thanks for having me. Hopefully maybe we can talk
some White Sox the next time you guys have me on weekend. Us spend
an out around that organization. No, I've just I've turned in my fan
card for now at least. But yeah, make sure to follow Michael on
Twitter, Facebook, threads, Instagram. He's pretty much everywhere, right,
pretty much anywhere, all right, I go to see that goes all right?
Stick with us. We're gonna take a quick commercial break and then Joe
Stevenson will join us to talk about the Fox Valley Conference. Schweiker, Gannison,
Krazak Rundio Proudley 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. All right, welcome back,
and now we bring in Joe Stevenson, who covered McHenry County for Friday Night
Drive dot com and the Northwest Harold, Joe, you get a fun double
dip in week one this week and write two games. I do. Yeah,
I'm really looking forward to it. Richmond Burton at Marion Central on Friday
and then Johnsburg at Woodstock North in a Kishwonkee River conference. Slash interstated on
Saturday that is that Friday Night game is such an intriguing matchup because I think
all three of us have a high opinion of Mary and Central as a team
to begin with, and then their potential if they're able to get into the
to a playoff, which I'm sure you can fill us in on a little
bit more, Joe. But this it's kind of a let's see where the
Hurricanes are at, because this isn't not just going up against a larger for
a program. This is going up against a program that has lost what five
times under Mike Nol Yeah, only four I think, I mean fifty four
and four in his five years there s Sorry, I don't mean to tag
an extra extra loss on Mike. Yeah, yeah, it's it's pretty amazing.
I remember well when when he was hired their, their principle up there
said what do you what do you think of this? I said, I
don't think you could hire anyone better. I don't know how you could.
Here's a guy that's going to be in the Hall of Fame and he's retiring
from teaching, and it's it's a great program anyway, and that now now
we see what's what's you know, become of it? Now that he's there,
they're they're even better. And yeah, I mean I really, I
truly believed that the COVID year, had it not been for that, they
would have won two in a row. So yeah, I was looking I
was looking at Richmond Burton just kind of trying to get a track record for
the last time they lost a regular season game. You know when that was,
Joe, just out of curiosity because I do, because I looked it
up. It was. Yeah, it was Maringo and Knowl's first year,
right, Yeah, fourteen thirteen lost in two thousand and eighteen. Yeah,
that's that's what we're talking about for random season dominance. That was a really
good Maringo team. They had Finn Sherman who was winning all kinds of state
track titles and went on and had a tremendous track career at Minnesota. That
was their their big ball carrier. And so yeah, yeah, that's the
only that's the only regular season game Richmond has lost under Noel Crazy. Did
they come back in speed Maringo in the playoffs? I believe they did,
or they might they might. No, No, they didn't. They didn't.
They didn't, they didn't. They went in different ways. Okay,
Yeah, So Joe, let's let's dive into the Fox Valley Conference because it
finished last year in a three way tie between Prayer Ridge, Jacobs and Huntley
at eight and one. Those are three teams coming into the year that I
think we could justify. As in the conversation, Crystal Lake, Central,
despite you know, not making the playoffs last year, has a lot coming
back. You know, it seems to be right in the conversation, I
know you're really high on them. And then you have a carry Grove program
that was really really young after winning a state title in twenty twenty one,
now with a lot back, it's this feels about as wide open as the
conference has been. I completely agree with you. I think, you know,
most years we're look, okay, is it gonna be Carrie Grover or
Prairie Ridge this year? And they seem to kind of trade off. And
I completely agree with you. I think it's really wide open. It should
should make for a really fun season and interesting season. I really like Central.
I think, you know, Central with Jason Penza coming back at quarterback,
a dynamic runner and thrower, and they got some guys that can catch
the ball. With George Demopolis, who's going to Northern Illinois. Uh,
you know, good for George. Last year he had to play out of
position after Penza got hurt in the opener. He played quarterback because he was
all they had to play a quarterback. And you know now he's back at
his regular position and he got his Division one scholarship, so good, great
for him. Griffin Bueller's another guy, Tommy Hammond. They got some guys
that can catch the ball. I think I think Central is really going to
be I don't know for sure what it has on defense, but the Tigers
could could be one of those teams, you know a little bit like Prai
Ridge last year, where they just go out and score forty or forty five
or fifty points on you every night. Yeah. The question I've always had
with Central is are they going to be able to stop anyone go? I
think, you know, they have some people back on defense too. They
got a lot of guys, a lot of guys back on defense. So
I think this is a team. You know, we're used to the FEC,
you know, sending someone to that six A state championship game. Maybe
it's the Tigers this year. Wow. I mean that's I know that's a
lot to say, but I mean we've seen how well the FEC's done in
the north half of six A. I mean, particularly, you could have
a scenario here, Let's say like you have a bunch of them go seven
and two. Right, they split some of these games. Get every Ridge
in five A, Crystal Lake Central and carry grow baling Out in six A,
Jacobs and seven A and Huntley in eight A. That'd be fun,
right, SEUs. Yeah. But the thing that kind of was a really
frustrating endeavor for me, Like looking through this conference, you know, heading
into the season, is you just listed five teams, and if math works
the way that math works, unless it stacks perfectly and you have no upsets
from any of the teams that are underneath there, do they all get to
five? Like it becomes a really complicated thing, like like you just listed
five teams that you think, okay, maybe they can make some post season
noise. It's really mathematically difficult to make sure in a conference with this much
potential up people that you get the five that you're guaranteed to get. I
think there's a real concern here that you could end up with a bunch of
seven and two, six and three and then get down to that last week
of the season and you've got a team with three wins playing a team with
four wins. The team with three wins knocks that team out of the hunt,
and you get where you only have maybe four teams get through this gauntlet,
because when I looked at it became very very difficult. I like Joe,
I like Crystal Lake Central and a lot of the things that they have.
How many times do you think Prayer Ridge is gonna lose? I mean,
it's it's not a safe bet to you know, keep them out of
the mix. What do you do with Huntley? Huntley's kind of a wild
card. Like I was taking a lot of criticism from the folks at Burlington
Central because I picked them as a non playoff team and I look at I
mean, I know they had some success against some of these teams that we
were talking about as you know, probably going to the playoffs, but it's
such a there's such a churn there. I think in the middle of this
conference potentially that I mean, I think we're gonna have a scenario, it's
you that potentially could play out in this league where we get to Week nine
and there are three teams that like have to win just to get to the
five win plateau and then maybe playing each other. So it's it's gonna get
I think this is gonna be potentially one of the messier locked conferences that you
can find this year. Yeah, I think you're right, Steven, And
unless you get you get some runk paper scissors going on. You have like
three or four teams that are at five and four, and you get a
couple extra in at You're right, Yeah, it's it's gonna be It's gonna
be tough. I really like you know, another team I really like that
I think is going to put up a lot of points is Chris Lake South.
We haven't mentioned them yet, and that's you know, they lost a
terrific running back in Nate van Witzenberg, but Cayton Casamino is a really good
quarterback. And I love wide receiver Michael Prokost. That kid, he's he's
over the last two years. I think he has something like one hundred ten
catches over the last two years. I think maybe he's a little under recruited.
I know, he's not real big, he's really fast, he gets
a lot of yards after the catch. He plays, plays really hard.
He's fun to watch, and I think he could. I think he,
you know, maybe should get some more division. One looks that guy.
That guy is tough, and they got a really one of the better linemen
in the area and Andy Berberia, who's a state placer in wrestling as well.
And I think South's going to be really good. And and you know
you mentioned pray Ridge pretty rich. I don't think you know last year with
Tyler Vasy that you're losing obviously a lot there, but I think pray Ridge
has a lot back on defense and still is going to be in the mix
at the end of the day you go through him, and I think we've
done a pretty good job already. But just because out of the summarize all
these teams, even the top five teams, there are question marks a despite
as you know, as high they are. As I said earlier Crystal Lake
Central, we mentioned the defense, is it gonna be where it needs to
be? South? The same thing, right, Prairie Ridge replacing Tyler Vacy
and their defense last year. While they have a lot back, they gave
up a lot of points last year, they had a lot of things that
they were trying to figure out on the defensive side of the ball. Will
carry Grove progress the way that you know I expect they will because their carry
Grove It's a fantastic program. I with so much back, I just assume
they're going to do that, but they still have to prove it and Huntley
great Defensively, the offense has to get better. It has to get more
consistent, it has to get more you know, they have to get more
out of the passing game, and it has to be more vertical at times.
If they can get that, there are a lot more dangerous teams.
So there's there's a lot of question marks through these teams. It's gonna be
it's gonna be a dog fight, and it's probably gonna be a month or
so before these teams really put it together. We know who they are exactly.
Yeah, I agree, all right, Joe. Before we let you
go, I'm gonna put you on the spot though, at the end of
the day, who are you taking to win the FBC. I'm taking Chris
Lake Central Chris. Yeah. I just I like I like what the Tigers
have. I think they're going to be really difficult to stop. All right,
well, Joe, thank you for joining us. Enjoy the first weekend.
I will, I will so glad it's back. All right. Make
sure to follow Joe on Twitter at NWAH Underscore, Joe Prep Zone, and
again you can find all of Joe's work at Friday Night Drive dot com.
You can also read Joe in the Northwest, Harold stick with us, Susan,
are gonna come back one more time to wrap up with some of our
top games to watch in Week one. Schweiker, Gannison, Krazak Rundio Proudley
sponsors the 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's all right, sus Well, let's finish this first episode of the season,
or the week first preview episode of the season with our top games to
watch of the week. And you know it's you gotta start this conversation with
that game down in Bloomington on Saturday night with E Saint Louis and Mount Carmel.
You'll be down there. I'm not gonna make the trek down, but
definitely hit game that I'll be following along watching. Well, you know,
it's one of those games that you just don't often see in this environment.
A creation of two of the if not the the two marquee programs in Illinois
right now agreeing to play in an on con game in a situation where,
you know, scheduling you have to do it so carefully and so precisely,
and especially just having it kick off the season, so you're not gonna give
either of these teams to you know, get get in their groove or finding.
They gotta go from the drop, and both of these two teams have
a lot of talent on both sides, both have some issues that they have
to make sure that they've resolved from. So just a fascinating matchup of you
know, two of the best programs that you're gonna find. I was delighted
when they scheduled it because you, just like I said, don't usually see
games like this, and I'm really happy that it's stayed true and we're going
to have an opportunity to see it a game that I really want to I'm
really looking forward to see how it plays out. Is an old rivalry game
being renewed between Wilmington and Seneca and the last time these two teams played,
oh it goes back to when they were both members of the Interstate eight Conference,
so that's been a while because we've had a Seneca has been gone from
the league for a while, so interesting matchup right now. In years past,
you would have looked at this game on the schedule and said it was
a slam dunk win for Wilmington's. You have to go all the way back
into the nineteen nine to find when this was a competitive rivalry where the outcome
was was in doubt. But now it's this is a very interesting game.
Yeah, let's say the last time, you know, you talk about when
seeing these two teams on the schedule, and I don't mean this as any
disrespect to Seneca, but this was usually one where I just, you know,
kind of crossed it off, Like I know, I know the outcome
of this game. This is a really like these are gonna be two teams
that are just gonna pound the ball at each other. Yeah. I was
talking to coach Jeff Ren's about this earlier this week and uh, and he
was like, yeah, we figured we're gonna get this game done in about
an hour and a half. And I and I actually and I actually think
if if, if you could bet on such ridiculous things, I take the
under. I don't think either one of these two teams really have any interest
in throwing the ball in this game. Both of these teams, especially Seneca,
have experienced offensive lines that are going to try to estab I wish themselves
and say, hey, we're gonna do this, And both of these two
teams know what the other one's gonna do. It's just a matter of hey,
who can establish that dominance in the trenches. I think it's gonna be
a tremendous battle, a real fun one. Like like, if I could
somehow teleport myself the multiple games on Friday Night, I would end up in
Seneca in some capacity because I'm really interested to see how that one plays out.
Yeah. I will be of course Live with Jimmy Musual from eight to
eleven PM as we do Friday or Live with Friday Night Drive for the first
week, and we'll be doing it all season long with you. Friday Night,
we'll have live looking with our reporters at halftime from games. They'll be
joining us after with some coach interviews as well. It's gonna be a lot
of fun throughout the season. We hope you'll join us live on YouTube at
Friday Night Drive dot com and across all of Shaw Local suits. What other
games are you really? What are standing out? Which game they're standing out
to you this weekend? You know, there's there was a fun one that
we were talking about before with Rochester and Peoria. I think that will be
an interesting determiner or the way things go. A lot of people seem to
think Peoria isn't going to skip a beat. I am interested to see how
they replace Maliki Washington, the absolute taint that was running all over the place
in the five A state championship game. But I think that's one where I
think it would not surprise me if that came back with like a sixty to
fifty five score or something ridiculous of that nature. It's just a it's a
it's it's a lot of interesting things that potentially play out in that game.
I'll be at Nazareth and kanky Key on Friday night, which is kind of
an odd game to get a handle on it. You know, we looked
at it a lot of different ways and saw things. Uh, you know
this last year year. Last year there was a two to nothing game last
year, So you never know what you're gonna get. But I love the
way that that group of underclassmen matured at Nazareth over the course of the season.
Last year, they were two and four at one point, ran the
table to get into the postseason, and then won the state championship that had
never been done in state history before. And a whole bunch of that team
is back, and a lot of them at key positions. So I'm interested
to see them now with a little bit more experience and a little better footing
under there. I don't expect them to be held at two points on Friday
night, key another interesting story. I mean, they've got a new coach
in that situation, They've still got some talent back, some top shelf talent,
you know. Offensive lineman Marquise Easily has committed to Georgia. Obviously a
program that has been on the rise for several seasons. It's going to be
interesting to see if they can keep that momentum. Yeah, you mentioned a
new coach over there and Miles oc coming over from Elk Grove. What changes
to their philosophy do you expect, you know, from what I've what I've
taken in, I think that, you know, there might be some changes
on the horizon, but a lot of a lot of things just in terms
of how that program will function and try to utilize the athletics, the athletic
players that they have at their skill positions to the best of their ability.
They still have a stable of those they lost a few graduation but you know,
Tony Phillips is still back in the backfield for them. Expect him to
kind of take leadership of the running back room. But they have a lot
of talented guys. It could be one of those situations where it's a different
k every week because there are a lot of different guys that could potentially step
up. They're obviously gonna miss They're gonna miss Hill, who's at Michigan now.
But it's one of those situations where Kankie still has a lot of talent
in that program and this is going to provide, once again an excellent measuring
stick for both of these two teams. One of the couple more obs just
throw out there before we sign off, SS Warren at Barrington a pretty good
matchup up in the North Suburbs, and then another one Palatine at Saint Charlos
North. Got any prediction from those two games? You know, those are
both interesting games. I mean, I still need to have it proven to
me that Warren is not a team to be in the North suburban. So
out of the gate, I'm gonna go with Warren and that one really really
interested in that Palotine Saint Charles North game. That is a bold Week one
schedule game for both teams, particularly for Saint Charles North who faces a brutal
Dukane schedule down the line. So I like. I only saw Palatine live
once last year, they pretty much dismantled Minook in a playoff game in an
eight a second round playoff game. I like everything about that team, and
a lot of it is back. They are one of my favorite teams coming
into this season. As much as I like what Saint Charles North could be,
I think out of the box, Palotine looks to be primed and ready
to go, and I'll take Palatine in that one. All right, Well,
here we go everyone, It is finally upon us Week one the twenty
twenty three season. Make sure stick what with Us at Friday Night dot com
all weekend long, and of course join us eight to eleven pm live on
YouTube live at Friday Night Drive dot com across all of the SHAW local platforms.
We'll be with you Live Jimmy Musual and myself and then stick with us
all weekend. We'll have coverage from well over three dozen games, tons of
photos. All of our reporters will be out and about Friday and Saturday,
and then you know what, come back with us on Saturday. On Monday,
Susan, I'll be back here to recap week one. Enjoy the weekend.
Schweiker Gannison, Krazik Rundio. Fradley sponsors the 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.