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Speaker 3: This is State Representative Steve Reich. Since twenty sixteen. It's
Speaker 3: been my privilege to represent the sixty third district in
Speaker 3: the Illinois House. I'd like to continue representing you, and
Speaker 3: I'm asking for your vote on November fifth.
Speaker 4: Thank you pay for by citizens to elect Stephen Reich.
Speaker 2: Hello everybody, and welcome to the Friday Night Drive Western
Speaker 2: Suburbs podcast. I'm Josh Well get here with Joe. Bennett's
Speaker 2: taving this on Monday afternoon, a little bit early this week.
Speaker 2: Obviously a different schedule Thanksgiving, but a lot of football
Speaker 2: to talk about. Joe, how are you doing today?
Speaker 4: I'm still trying to recover from some pretty crazy games
Speaker 4: last week, so I'm excited to talk about them.
Speaker 2: Certainly, a lot of crazy games, a lot of crazy finishes.
Speaker 2: You were there for one of them. We'll talk about
Speaker 2: in a few minutes, But Joe, I want to start
Speaker 2: with that Class eight A semifinal York Napleville Central and
Speaker 2: really one of the craziest finishes I've ever seen. Just
Speaker 2: talking to a colleague of ours, John Sally, he's never
Speaker 2: seen it before either. I don't know if you saw it.
Speaker 2: The game was on to you, so credit to those
Speaker 2: guys for having a game on TV. But to set
Speaker 2: the stage, York was leading the game twenty to thirteen,
Speaker 2: just a few seconds left and they had a fourth
Speaker 2: and one at their forty three yard line, and instead
Speaker 2: of going for the punt and risking everything associated with
Speaker 2: the punt, York snaps the ball to their quarterback, Bruno Massol.
Speaker 2: You know, he's a state caliber sprinter, as you know,
Speaker 2: and he just ran backwards. He ran backwards forty three
Speaker 2: yards all the way to the end zone and fortunately
Speaker 2: there's ten seconds left and time expired right before you know,
Speaker 2: he was tackled, or right as he was being tackled, actually,
Speaker 2: and that was the end of the game and the
Speaker 2: final score was twenty to fifteen. Again, Joel, I have
Speaker 2: never seen that play before. I was talking to a few,
Speaker 2: you know, just kind of hearing from different people. There
Speaker 2: was some people that said that was brilliant, amazing. The
Speaker 2: best thing they've ever seen. There was other people where
Speaker 2: like what was he doing? What would what if he
Speaker 2: fumbled they could have scored. But man, what a wild
Speaker 2: finish and it sends York to state football championship for
Speaker 2: the first time in school history.
Speaker 4: Yeah, I mean credit to that, Credit to brutal massle there.
Speaker 4: And they obviously taking you know, a giant hit in
Speaker 4: the stats department with that rushback. But I mean, you know,
Speaker 4: credit to him for you know, being farm enough to
Speaker 4: you know, have that play happen because obviously there's still
Speaker 4: time left on the clock. You know, anything could happen,
Speaker 4: especially in the state semifinal game. You know, there could
Speaker 4: be a chance of you know, hail Mary, a block
Speaker 4: fund stuff like that, so you know, to be able
Speaker 4: to run out those final ten seconds of the clock.
Speaker 4: And I mean, you know, I was looking at the
Speaker 4: play because I did end up seeing the replay of it,
Speaker 4: and you know, there was a good chance that he
Speaker 4: could have actually been tackled in the end zone with
Speaker 4: like three seconds left. They had a couple of Aporville
Speaker 4: Central guys who you know, we're right on him as
Speaker 4: he made it back there. But you know, he made
Speaker 4: sure to stay elusive stayed up on the seat and
Speaker 4: as soon as the clockhead zero step out of bounds.
Speaker 4: You know, very smart play there, and you know, run
Speaker 4: a way to get to the state title game for
Speaker 4: the first time in school history.
Speaker 2: I know, it's funny. When I was watching live, it's
Speaker 2: one of those things where it's like a horror MOVI
Speaker 2: where the running away from the bad guys and are
Speaker 2: they going to make it, be able to make it
Speaker 2: and be able to make it a tie and and
Speaker 2: get out alive. And obviously they did. But man, Bruno Massel,
Speaker 2: he's a kid that you know. I've had a chance
Speaker 2: to see him live a few times this year. Got
Speaker 2: obviously got to see him on TV. Kid just makes
Speaker 2: plays running the football and passing in football. You mentioned
Speaker 2: took a stats hit. He had about three hundred yards
Speaker 2: of offense before that for that last play, and that
Speaker 2: last play was a pretty good minus forty three for him.
Speaker 2: But he had a big fifty yard run earlier in
Speaker 2: the game that set up York's first touchdown, and then
Speaker 2: a really big play late in the game. They were
Speaker 2: leading by I believe they were leading. Let's see, they
Speaker 2: were leading at the time by one one. I believe
Speaker 2: it was fourteen to thirteen. They had believe it was
Speaker 2: a fourth and fourth and long or third and long.
Speaker 2: He made a play. He threw off one foot off balance,
Speaker 2: under pressure, just a dime thirty yards in the air
Speaker 2: to Simon Kadowski, had set up a touchdown for Jimmy
Speaker 2: Connors and again sends York to State. And again Bruno Massel.
Speaker 2: I mean, like we said before, he's a state state
Speaker 2: caliber sprinter, great running quarterback, but he can make plays
Speaker 2: through the air too, and and and he showed it,
Speaker 2: and he sends York to State. And man, what a
Speaker 2: story for that York program. I mean, they tweeted it
Speaker 2: out Saturday night when those freshmen when they first started
Speaker 2: at York High School, York cannot bend to the playoffs
Speaker 2: in ten years. Their last game is going to be
Speaker 2: in a Class eight A state championship game. Pretty good stuff.
Speaker 4: Yeah, it's really been a great turnaround for York. I mean, obviously,
Speaker 4: you know there's two losses earlier in the season to
Speaker 4: down to show up Northern Lions. You know, we were
Speaker 4: kind of like, you know, kind of questioning, you know,
Speaker 4: how they would be able to perform in the playoffs,
Speaker 4: and they have just emerged as you know, one of
Speaker 4: the top offenses it depenses for that matter, you know,
Speaker 4: throughout the entire playoffs, and they showed it once again
Speaker 4: against a top Naperville Central team. So huge credit to
Speaker 4: York on that on making it to the state title game.
Speaker 2: Yeah. Fun finish there, and fun and finish at lincoln
Speaker 2: Way Central the game that you were at, and man,
Speaker 2: that that was a game that it seemed like found
Speaker 2: on Twitter. There was a few times like I was thinking, okay,
Speaker 2: I was like, okay, well that's probably the game right there,
Speaker 2: including when lincoln Way Central scored late in the game.
Speaker 2: But again Michael vander lewid Gharn the sophomore and Isaiah
Speaker 2: Brown the receiver. Wow, what a game and what a
Speaker 2: finish for those two.
Speaker 4: Yeah, I mean it was. It was so funny because
Speaker 4: I mean, you know, throughout the first half, you know,
Speaker 4: it was a relatively close contest, but lincoln Way Central
Speaker 4: you know, got the lead kind of early and they
Speaker 4: out with it, and third quarter there was nothing that happened.
Speaker 4: As soon as nothing happened in the third quarter, I'm like, oh,
Speaker 4: this fourth quarter is gonna be fun. And that's exactly
Speaker 4: what happened. I mean it was a It was basically
Speaker 4: like a pendulum for that entire fourth court for the
Speaker 4: final like half of that fourth quarter. I mean, you know,
Speaker 4: the Tavia got the lead, I believe it was eighteen
Speaker 4: fourteen at the time with five minutes left, Then Linking
Speaker 4: Wayne Central got the lead once again, made it twenty
Speaker 4: one to eighteen, and then Michael vander Lutgeren, you know,
Speaker 4: helped Batavia eighty two yards down the field and with
Speaker 4: thirty seconds left found Isaiah Brown indi en zone for
Speaker 4: the go ahead touchdown, giving of the twenty five to
Speaker 4: twenty month victory. But man, what a game it was
Speaker 4: for both sides. I mean, you know, especially considering how
Speaker 4: rush dependent both of these teams had been heading into it,
Speaker 4: it was more of a you know, contest of who
Speaker 4: had the better air game. I mean, Drew Woodburn, who's
Speaker 4: you know, usually been the one penny get all. He
Speaker 4: ended up having one hundred and eighty yards through the
Speaker 4: air for Lincoln Way Central, and a good majority of
Speaker 4: it was finding Drew and junior wide receiver Drew in
Speaker 4: Reason the entire time. I believe he had one hundred
Speaker 4: and fifty reception yards in that game. But seemed like
Speaker 4: every single play he had a Batavia defender just kind
Speaker 4: of draped on him, but he still managed to get
Speaker 4: a catch. And it was just it was crazy to
Speaker 4: see down that side. But it was even crazier to see,
Speaker 4: you know, Batavia having success through the success through the
Speaker 4: air once again. I mean, it was just a crazy game.
Speaker 4: I could go on about it forever.
Speaker 2: Well, the passing game is something that at the beginning
Speaker 2: of the year with Batavia, I you know, it was
Speaker 2: it was a reason that gave me pause if they
Speaker 2: were able to have the team that can make a
Speaker 2: run like this, because you know, I remember I covered
Speaker 2: the first game of the year against Gwen bard West,
Speaker 2: the game that you know, Nathan Whitbar thirty five carries in,
Speaker 2: which was a great game for him. But you're kind
Speaker 2: of one, you know, is that really going to be
Speaker 2: sustainable in these deep playoff runs, because eventually they're gonna
Speaker 2: need to make plays through the air, And I just
Speaker 2: wondered if eventually they were going to have a team
Speaker 2: cable of that that. But they found it late in
Speaker 2: the year with with the sophomore Michael Vanner Lewick Garon
Speaker 2: coming up and rotating with body Anderson and Michael vaner Lewickkeren.
Speaker 2: I mean he is he is not h He's become
Speaker 2: a legend in the wrong way for the lincoln Way
Speaker 2: School district because two weeks ago he did it lincoln
Speaker 2: Way West and this year and this week he does
Speaker 2: the Linkway Central with the Lake comebacks.
Speaker 4: Yeah. Yeah. I asked him about that, like, this is
Speaker 4: your second week in a row where you've played, you know,
Speaker 4: game winning drive against the Lincoln Way School. I mean,
Speaker 4: you know, what's what's kind of happened with that? And
Speaker 4: he just told me, he was like, I I just
Speaker 4: remember looking at body Anderson and Sid. I just be like, man,
Speaker 4: this is fun. I like when this happens.
Speaker 2: So yeah, the ignorance of youth. He doesn't know any better.
Speaker 2: He's like, this is just fun. This is just fun. Yeah,
Speaker 2: it's it's fun. It's a semifinals game on the line.
Speaker 2: But great job by him, great job for Batavia. They're
Speaker 2: going back to Stay with a throwing win, so you know,
Speaker 2: hats off to them. They're going to be joined by
Speaker 2: another Ducane Conference team, you know, one of the big wins,
Speaker 2: and if you want to call it a surprise, you
Speaker 2: can then knocking off carry Grove twenty eight to twenty six.
Speaker 2: And boy, you know, last week I read a story
Speaker 2: that Boonethorgenson talked about playing complimentary football. It's something they've
Speaker 2: talked about all year, and darn if they didn't do
Speaker 2: that last week, because I mean, Tony Jahino continued his
Speaker 2: monster year. He threw for three hundred and eighty eight yards.
Speaker 2: He's now thrown for I believe forty six touchdowns on
Speaker 2: the year. Talent Taylor, I think he had eleven catches
Speaker 2: and a couple of touchdowns. But they did things they
Speaker 2: everybody got in on it. They had a huge two
Speaker 2: point conversion stop late in the game that was able
Speaker 2: to keep their two point lead, and then they recovered
Speaker 2: another on site kick. I mean, how many on site
Speaker 2: kicks so they can recover and I think that's the
Speaker 2: fourth one in the last two weeks.
Speaker 4: Three weeks. I mean, yeah, but no, it was just
Speaker 4: an It was just an amazing game and pretty much
Speaker 4: a lot of things went right for Geneva to have
Speaker 4: that happen. You mentioned the two point conversion that they stopped,
Speaker 4: that you know, led to them stopping the tie or
Speaker 4: stopping the tie, But I think the even bigger play
Speaker 4: was near the end of the first half, I believe,
Speaker 4: was it the first half. I think it was. It
Speaker 4: was in the first half. They actually are Geneva's offense
Speaker 4: actually stopped Terry grow from reaching the end zone in
Speaker 4: a goal line stand. I mean, there were three consecutive
Speaker 4: plays that were within Geneva's five yard line and they
Speaker 4: kept them out of the end zone there. They kept
Speaker 4: the triple option out of the end zone, and it
Speaker 4: was just you know, it was a very impressive stop
Speaker 4: and the defense showed up when they needed to. And yeah,
Speaker 4: I mean you mentioned it. Tony Chachino, you know, did
Speaker 4: super well in the game once again, three hundred and
Speaker 4: eighty eight passing yards. Talon Taylor once again, I believe
Speaker 4: he had one hundred and ninety five or section in
Speaker 4: yards and he even had to one hit catches in
Speaker 4: the game. One of them, you know, on the sideline.
Speaker 4: He just basically reached out and grabbed it out of
Speaker 4: the air. It was probably one of the most impressive
Speaker 4: catches I've ever seen. But yeah, I know a lot
Speaker 4: of things went right for Geneva in that game in
Speaker 4: order to reach the state final for the first time
Speaker 4: since two thousand and eight. I mean a lot of
Speaker 4: the players that are on this team weren't even past
Speaker 4: three years old at this point. So a really impressive
Speaker 4: win for Geneva against a really talented Perry Grove team.
Speaker 2: Yeah, I think Tony Kaino was three years old because
Speaker 2: Alex Kentucky are righter and his lead of the story
Speaker 2: he talked about that Tony Chahino says he was there
Speaker 2: and from that two thousand and eight game, and he's
Speaker 2: got the pictures to prove it from when he was,
Speaker 2: you know, three years old or whatever at the time,
Speaker 2: and obviously a big one leading them back. But you
Speaker 2: mentioned Talent Taylor. You know, these teams played last year
Speaker 2: in the playoffs. Kerry Grove beat them rather handily. I
Speaker 2: think it was forty one to seven. Talent Taylor did
Speaker 2: play in that game, but he was coming back from
Speaker 2: that that injury that he'd suffered, the leg injury has
Speaker 2: suffered against Batavia. I don't think he was one hundred
Speaker 2: percent for that game, but he still played. And you know,
Speaker 2: he talked about in the story that that game really
Speaker 2: you know, kind of really has sat with him for
Speaker 2: for obviously a year, and and obviously he comes out
Speaker 2: and he plays the way that he's capable of one
Speaker 2: of the best players in the state. Huge game for him.
Speaker 2: Another one too that I noticed. You know, we talked
Speaker 2: about Michael vander Lui Garran for Batavia coming up. I
Speaker 2: don't have you noticed. There was a sophomore for Geneva,
Speaker 2: Nelson Wendell uh Heason call up from the JV team.
Speaker 2: He had a sack, he had a funnel recovery, and
Speaker 2: he or no, he had a stack and interception and
Speaker 2: he also recovered the the on site kicks. So interesting
Speaker 2: that for both Batavia and Geneva, really big time plays
Speaker 2: for guys that were not on the varsity team for
Speaker 2: a good part of the year.
Speaker 4: Yeah, it's crazy to think that. It's like for some
Speaker 4: of these kids, they were playing in the tav At
Speaker 4: Geneva game, but they were playing in the sophomore game beforehand,
Speaker 4: and now they're making big plays for both of these team.
Speaker 5: Yeah.
Speaker 4: No, it was really impressive showing and actually a funny story.
Speaker 4: I did end up seeing this on a live stream.
Speaker 4: For the on side kick, it wasn't Jade Hodgten who
Speaker 4: actually kicked the ball. It was sophomore Bennett Conky who
Speaker 4: kicked the ball and Nelson Wendell came up and you know,
Speaker 4: secured the on side kick after bombs off of a
Speaker 4: Kerry Grove defender. But I mean, huge, huge game for
Speaker 4: the sophomores overall for the Duk Conference.
Speaker 2: Do any of the kicking.
Speaker 4: I believe it was just for that onside kick. I
Speaker 4: know he I know he did kick an extra point
Speaker 4: earlier in the year after. I believe it was one
Speaker 4: of those games where they were calling all players a
Speaker 4: whole lot for you know, the shin guards or like
Speaker 4: the knee pads being in the wrong position. They did
Speaker 4: that with their kicker at one point they're like, what
Speaker 4: do we do? Send Bennet Khaki and then he take
Speaker 4: the field or the extra point. So he has done
Speaker 4: kicking for them before. But I don't think for an
Speaker 4: onside kick.
Speaker 2: Great great deal, great great excitement for Geneva. It's gonna
Speaker 2: be fun next Senteray with Geneva and Batavia playing at
Speaker 2: back to back games, and we'll talk about, you know
Speaker 2: a little bit later in the podcast. But game that
Speaker 2: I was on I was at on Saturday Nazareth playing
Speaker 2: Saint Francis, a rematch of a week nine Saint Francis
Speaker 2: win also a rematch of last year's semifinal that Nazareth won.
Speaker 2: And Nazareth, I mean, you know, I was talking to
Speaker 2: another writer before the game and I said, you know,
Speaker 2: at St. Francis, they've had a great season. They have
Speaker 2: been nas in Week nine. But Nazareth has six seniors
Speaker 2: that played for the state championship team two years ago
Speaker 2: as sophomores as starters. And they also have their quarterback
Speaker 2: Logan Malchick and their best defensive player, Gab Kamencie. They
Speaker 2: started as freshmen for a quarterfinal team. You know, long
Speaker 2: story short, I was saying, not to take any away
Speaker 2: from Nasare or Saint Francis. I just don't see Nazareth
Speaker 2: losing their last home playoff game. Hey, football fans, listen
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Speaker 5: Hi, I'm State Representative Steve Reich, and I'm here to
Speaker 5: wish everybody a happy Thanksgiving. Let's make it a happy
Speaker 5: Thanksgiving for our neighbors as well. My office is conducting
Speaker 5: a food drive for local food pantries here in McHenry
Speaker 5: County at ten seventy two Lake Avenue. If you're out
Speaker 5: and about, drop some non perishable food items off at
Speaker 5: my office.
Speaker 3: And we'll see that they get delivered.
Speaker 2: Every dollar helps.
Speaker 5: Let's make happy Thanksgiving for.
Speaker 2: You know, with with that kind of experience, and sure enough,
Speaker 2: that experience really boards Solf out. Nazareth was able to
Speaker 2: jump out to a quick fourteen en up in lead.
Speaker 2: Logan Malchick hit a couple you know, deep strikes to
Speaker 2: get off to a really good lead and it really
Speaker 2: kind of set the tone for the game and Nazareth's
Speaker 2: defense that I mean it gave up thirty nine points
Speaker 2: to Saint Francis. You know, they got hit for over
Speaker 2: fifty points against Mount Carmel. Their defense was really good.
Speaker 2: They just they just made things very uncomfortable for Saint Francis.
Speaker 2: Saint Francis was really never to get able to get
Speaker 2: in sync in that game. You know, Brady Palmer just
Speaker 2: kind of struggled. They tried a couple of trick plays
Speaker 2: where they did like a reverse throwback deep pass and
Speaker 2: and Nazareth was all over it. They were ready, they
Speaker 2: were disciplined, They're able to get an incomplete pass the
Speaker 2: first time, and then they were able to get it
Speaker 2: again on a fourth and goal at the end of
Speaker 2: the first half. And then you know, the other big
Speaker 2: part of the game is Saint franc Is actually opened
Speaker 2: the second half with a kickoff return for a touchdown
Speaker 2: for Zach Washington. But then Nazareth comes right back with
Speaker 2: their own kickoff return for a touchdown. That's another thing
Speaker 2: that I've never seen before is back to back kickoff returns.
Speaker 2: Edward McClain for Nazareth gets it, but you know, Nazareth
Speaker 2: never looked back. And now they're going back to stay
Speaker 2: for the third year in a row. And on the
Speaker 2: other side, I'm gonna be honest, Saint Francis was pretty disappointed,
Speaker 2: not only in that they lost, but in how they played.
Speaker 2: I think they felt that they were a better team
Speaker 2: than they showed. The final score was forty to twenty one,
Speaker 2: and Nazareth really controlled that game. And I think that
Speaker 2: loss really did not sit well on the San Francis side,
Speaker 2: just the way they came out and played.
Speaker 4: Yeah, I mean we talked about it in the podcast
Speaker 4: last week. We talked about how each of the last
Speaker 4: three contests were really close between these two programs and
Speaker 4: how we expected it to be close again and for
Speaker 4: Nazareth to come out and basically just dominate the game throughout.
Speaker 4: I obviously it is a tough loss for Saint Francis
Speaker 4: they fall in the semifinals to Nazareth again, but I
Speaker 4: mean it was just a dominant showing from Nazareth all throughout,
Speaker 4: and they're looking they're looking pretty keen to winning another
Speaker 4: state title.
Speaker 2: No doubt. I Mean, they lost a week Week nine
Speaker 2: of Saint Francis, but ever since the playoffs has started,
Speaker 2: they've just been they have They've rolled, They've rolled through
Speaker 2: the first four opponents. They've been very impressive, and they
Speaker 2: look like a team that wants to win a third
Speaker 2: straight state championship. So we'll see what happens with that.
Speaker 2: You know, last semifinal touchdown. Last week, UH, Montini with
Speaker 2: a really good win over Wilmington. Final score was forty
Speaker 2: two to twelve. You know, if Montini is going to
Speaker 2: score forty points in a game, any team is gonna
Speaker 2: be tough to beat, but especially with that defense. That
Speaker 2: defense basically has everybody back from last year's semifinalists. But
Speaker 2: their offense, We've talked about it before in the podcast.
Speaker 2: Offense has really kind of turned the corner since about
Speaker 2: week four or so. They went full time with a sophomore,
Speaker 2: Israel Abraham or Israel Abrams full time quarterback as a sophomore.
Speaker 2: He was rotating early a year, but he had a
Speaker 2: big game. He threw for four touchdown passes.
Speaker 3: UH.
Speaker 2: Santano Florio was one, c J Harkins said, two others,
Speaker 2: and then Jeremiah Peterson. He's a kid that was he
Speaker 2: was Montini's middle linebacker last year. And they've had some
Speaker 2: injuries at running back. He's taken over and and he
Speaker 2: ran for one hundred and forty yards and just kind
Speaker 2: of a dominant win for Montini and and UH first
Speaker 2: time going back to stay since twenty eighteen. I'm not
Speaker 2: surprised that they won and again, if they're gonna score
Speaker 2: that kind of points, it's gonna be pretty difficult to
Speaker 2: beat that team because that defense does not give up
Speaker 2: many points.
Speaker 4: Yeah, I'm sure Montini was kind of happy to have
Speaker 4: another big, you know, scoring game after the past two
Speaker 4: weeks where they kind of you know, had to grind
Speaker 4: out victories in each of the last two rounds. But yeah, no,
Speaker 4: it was definitely a dominance showing from Israel Abrams in
Speaker 4: that game. And you know, they've shown consistently how good
Speaker 4: of a team that they can beat throughout these playoffs,
Speaker 4: and you know, they did it once again in the
Speaker 4: semi finals, and they should definitely be a fun one
Speaker 4: to watch next week.
Speaker 2: Yeah. So I guess we'll look kind of segue right
Speaker 2: out into the championship weekend that we have ahead of us.
Speaker 2: You know, we have local teams and in five of
Speaker 2: the eight five of the eight state championship games, and
Speaker 2: I'll start with a Montini game. They're playing Monticello in
Speaker 2: the Class three of state championship at four o'clock on Friday,
Speaker 2: and Montini I mentioned before. I mean, you know, there
Speaker 2: is about a decade where they were basically like regulars
Speaker 2: every year they were at State. It seemed like I
Speaker 2: think they were there like eight or nine times out
Speaker 2: of ten years, something crazy like that. But they have
Speaker 2: not been back since twenty eighteen. But man, I tell
Speaker 2: you what, everybody was saying that that that game against
Speaker 2: Byron was sort of like the sort of unofficial state
Speaker 2: championship game, and until I'm told otherwise, I think it
Speaker 2: might be. You know, Monticello is a really good story.
Speaker 2: I think they're a state champion in twenty and eighteen.
Speaker 2: I did a little little research Ike Young. He's a
Speaker 2: dual threat quarterback. I think he's thrown for three thousand yards,
Speaker 2: he's run rush for a thousand. I believe he's going
Speaker 2: to Illinois as a baseball commit. Uh So he's kind
Speaker 2: of the player to watch for Monticello. But again, Montini
Speaker 2: coming from that Catholic league, the schedule that they play
Speaker 2: in weekend and week out, then they able to handle Byron.
Speaker 2: It's very hard for me to see Montini losing this
Speaker 2: game on Friday. The one wild card I will say
Speaker 2: is is you know, with the sophomore quarterback, you wonder
Speaker 2: how he's gonna handle the big stage a situation like that.
Speaker 2: Israel Abrams who's a really good player, who's a little
Speaker 2: jittery at times, and that that Byron game a little
Speaker 2: sort of overthrows. He threw an interception early, so you know,
Speaker 2: I think if he can settle down, play his game,
Speaker 2: rely on that defense in that running game, I think
Speaker 2: Montini is a very big favorite in that game.
Speaker 4: Yeah, definitely, And you kind of mentioned, you know, having
Speaker 4: the jitters obviously, you know, playing on that big of
Speaker 4: a stage as a sophomore can sometimes be a little
Speaker 4: bit you know, Anxcity and Ducie, and it'll be interesting
Speaker 4: to see if he can live up to the challenge.
Speaker 4: But I mean, like you mentioned, you know, Montini is
Speaker 4: really battle tested throughout the entire season, I mean going
Speaker 4: through the CCL E s c C. I mean Steve
Speaker 4: Stucy talked about it and his kind of recap talking about,
Speaker 4: you know, how some of these teams have they some
Speaker 4: of those private schools have been tested throughout the majority
Speaker 4: of the season, and Mantini is definitely one of those
Speaker 4: teams that has, you know, faced those challenges throughout the year.
Speaker 4: So it should be really fun to see, you know,
Speaker 4: if they can live up to those expectations in the championship. Round.
Speaker 2: Yeah, there was eight CCL E SCC teams that were
Speaker 2: playing in semifinals last weekend, and six out of the
Speaker 2: eight advanced and the only two that did not advance
Speaker 2: they lost to other ccl CC teams. So, you know,
Speaker 2: quite a weekend for that league, setting the stage for
Speaker 2: quite a final weekend for that league as it continues
Speaker 2: to show itself to be the you know, pre eminent
Speaker 2: league in the States. So that kind of leads us
Speaker 2: into the SAT games and interesting, Joel, I mean, it's
Speaker 2: kind of a you know, kind of unofficial theme is
Speaker 2: a rematch day, and in three other four games, the
Speaker 2: teams are very familiar with each other. You know. I'll
Speaker 2: start with that five A game Nazareth playing Joy at Catholic.
Speaker 2: Nazareth beat Joy at Catholic last year. The final score
Speaker 2: was thirty eight to twenty, but it really wasn't indicative
Speaker 2: of the kind of game it was because Joey Catholic
Speaker 2: actually led at halftime of that game and then Nazareth
Speaker 2: really kind of dominated the second half. They actually played
Speaker 2: early in a year as well, Nazareth beat them in
Speaker 2: a kind of surprisingly low scoring game sixteen to thirteen.
Speaker 2: So you know, Joia Katholic is rolling. They won pretty
Speaker 2: big over over Morris last week. They got a huge
Speaker 2: offensive line that they're run behind. But the one question
Speaker 2: I have is can they contain Nazareth's skill position, their
Speaker 2: speed on the outside When they played in that game
Speaker 2: last year in A five A championship, they just cannot
Speaker 2: handle them. I mean that Nazareth was just hitting them
Speaker 2: with big play after big play. James Penny. They're seeing
Speaker 2: their senior receiver. He was a junior last year. He
Speaker 2: had a huge game in the championship game. Logan Malachik
Speaker 2: did as well. And so if if Joey Katholic can
Speaker 2: kind of, you know, contain that speed on the outside
Speaker 2: and and limit the big play, and then this could
Speaker 2: be a really good game, you know, interesting close game
Speaker 2: down to the wire. I just questioned whether they can
Speaker 2: do that. I think it's a tough matchup for Joey Katholic.
Speaker 4: Yeah, it definitely is a tough matchup for them. I mean, obviously,
Speaker 4: you know, they've had some pretty good winstrout season. I mean,
Speaker 4: you know, Rindy got wins against teams like Fenwick or
Speaker 4: Marris earlier in the season. But I'm not sure how
Speaker 4: they are how they can contain the offense that has
Speaker 4: you know, arisen at massive rich throughout the playoffs. And
Speaker 4: you know last year you kind of mentioned it, you know,
Speaker 4: it was close for half, but you know, I'm I
Speaker 4: don't know if that will be the case again this
Speaker 4: year or not. Well, it'll just be a game that
Speaker 4: we'll have to see to find out.
Speaker 2: Yep, that'll be the Saturday ten am game. That the
Speaker 2: second game on Saturday, the one pm six A game,
Speaker 2: Geneva playing East Saint Louis. I will say that East
Speaker 2: Saint Louis is probably happy not to see Kerry Grove
Speaker 2: because Carry Grove is really proven to be their kryptonite
Speaker 2: at state with a with a couple of state championship
Speaker 2: losses to Carry Grove. But Geneva, you know, obviously they're
Speaker 2: again they're going to this game as a as an undergog,
Speaker 2: as most teams do against East Saint Louis. But you know,
Speaker 2: Geneva's just got something special going on. And and I
Speaker 2: mean obviously East Saint Louis. You know, a few teams
Speaker 2: have the talent that they do, but Geneva will have
Speaker 2: maybe the best player on the field with talent Taylor.
Speaker 4: Yeah, definitely. I mean, they have been battle tested throughout
Speaker 4: you know, these playoffs with the wins against you know,
Speaker 4: Fox Valley Conference opponents, i mean Burlington Central in the
Speaker 4: second round and then also you know that went against
Speaker 4: Terry Grove last week. So it'll be really interesting to
Speaker 4: see how they live up to facing off against arguably
Speaker 4: one of the top are arguably the best team in Illinois,
Speaker 4: but you know, East St. Louis obviously has you know,
Speaker 4: the talent throughout their entire roster, and you know they
Speaker 4: can they can get you in multiple different ways. So
Speaker 4: I'm really interested to see how Geneva kind of tries
Speaker 4: to limit them throughout that game. And you know, if
Speaker 4: we talked about rematches, this is actually the rematch of
Speaker 4: the two thousand and eight state title game, which is
Speaker 4: the last time that Geneva has been in this situation.
Speaker 4: So you know, they've they've been able to kind of
Speaker 4: you know, dope or they've been able to get wins
Speaker 4: against opponents that they have lost to in previous seasons.
Speaker 4: This year, I mean, obviously they're win against Batavia back
Speaker 4: in Week six and then Kerry Grove last week, so
Speaker 4: you know, they'll have another chance to get revenge. But
Speaker 4: you know it's gonna be interesting to see how these
Speaker 4: two teams face off.
Speaker 2: Yeah, I mean, tough, tough assignment there for Geneva, But
Speaker 2: then again, they've proven that they can beat teams and
Speaker 2: maybe teams didn't think. I mean I was questioning whether
Speaker 2: they could be Potato because they hadn't done it and
Speaker 2: in over a decade, and I was questioning they could
Speaker 2: beat Kerry Grove. So you know, we'll see it's it's
Speaker 2: it's a tough assignment for them, it's East Saint Louis,
Speaker 2: But you know that's why they play the game. The
Speaker 2: In seven eight Batavia Mount Carmel, and I tell you what,
Speaker 2: these two programs they know each other pretty well. I
Speaker 2: mean they faced each other in the semifinals last year
Speaker 2: and the CHA Championship two years ago, and in the
Speaker 2: second round three years ago, which was a very good game,
Speaker 2: kind of a controversial ending. My question for Batavia is
Speaker 2: can they slow down Mount Carmel's offense because Mount Carmel's offense,
Speaker 2: especially since Jack Elliott, the Vanderbilt recruit, has you know,
Speaker 2: gotten a lot healthier. They have just not been slowed down.
Speaker 2: They just really rolled past Saint Rital last week and
Speaker 2: when they play Batavio last year in the semifinals. I mean, granted,
Speaker 2: there's some players from Mount Carmel that were in that
Speaker 2: game that are not in the game anymore, but you know,
Speaker 2: I think they dropped about sixty four points or something
Speaker 2: like that in Batavia. Is can Batavia slow that offense down?
Speaker 2: And probably and that probably involves Batavia's offense being on
Speaker 2: the field quite a bit with Nathan whitwell.
Speaker 4: Yeah, no, it's definitely gonna be a game of you know,
Speaker 4: how how much time can Batavia's offense have on the
Speaker 4: field and how little will Mount Carmel be on the
Speaker 4: field with their offense. So you know, that's gonna be
Speaker 4: the game plan of Batavia. That's my guess at least.
Speaker 4: But no, it's it's gonna be a really interesting game.
Speaker 4: I mean, obviously, you know you mentioned it. Jack Elliott
Speaker 4: has really been good throughout these playoffs and is really
Speaker 4: you know, hasn't been challenged throughout, even though they faced
Speaker 4: some pretty good teams earlier down the line, especially like
Speaker 4: you know, Saint Charles North game everybody thought was going
Speaker 4: to be close and then it wasn't, unfortunately, But you know,
Speaker 4: it was. You know, it's gonna be really interesting to
Speaker 4: see because another thing also is that Batavia's defensive back room.
Speaker 4: You know, it's been mentioned a couple of times. They're
Speaker 4: not really big on you know, that pass protection, but
Speaker 4: they're going to be needed a whole lot in that
Speaker 4: game if they want to be able to contain Mount Carmel.
Speaker 4: So you know it's gonna be interesting to watch. Batavia's
Speaker 4: defense has shown time and time again that they can
Speaker 4: live up to tests against big offenses, and you know
Speaker 4: they're gonna have to face the biggest one in the
Speaker 4: state title game. Again.
Speaker 2: Yeah, tough game for them. Obviously, they go in like
Speaker 2: Geneva's underdog in this game. But I will say that
Speaker 2: they are familiar with Mount carl I mean it's the
Speaker 2: fourth in row they played each other, so there's you know,
Speaker 2: there's no secrets. They faced Jack Elliott in the game
Speaker 2: before they did last year. He had a huge game
Speaker 2: last year, and he's obviously going to be a top
Speaker 2: priority for them. So that's seven a game and then
Speaker 2: an eight a game again. Another rematch, York Is playing Loyola.
Speaker 2: Loyola got sort of if you want to call it
Speaker 2: a surprise knocking off Lincoln Weay East, who was a
Speaker 2: number one ranked team in the state. Last week. Loyola
Speaker 2: and York playing each other for the third year in
Speaker 2: a row. They faced each other in the semifinals the
Speaker 2: last two years. I will say again, every year is
Speaker 2: different and the way teams are playing. But York faced
Speaker 2: Loyola two years ago and it was basically not really
Speaker 2: much of the contest. It was thirty to three. Last
Speaker 2: year they faced each other, it was twenty three to fourteen,
Speaker 2: and they were in the game for a good part
Speaker 2: of the game. So I think that gives them a
Speaker 2: little bit more confidence.
Speaker 5: You know.
Speaker 2: I think for me, the big thing is just, you know,
Speaker 2: who controls a line of scrimmage in that game. You know,
Speaker 2: Loyola is a team that they were against at Lincoln
Speaker 2: Way East. It was tough to get them on the
Speaker 2: field or get them off the field with their quarterback
Speaker 2: Zgerald running the football and passing the football. And on
Speaker 2: the other side, you know, can York continue to offensively
Speaker 2: the way they have been with Bruno Massol on their
Speaker 2: running backs.
Speaker 4: Yeah, definitely gonna be a question of who has a
Speaker 4: bigger momentum heading into this game. I mean obviously, or
Speaker 4: has time and time again proven themselves against some elite defenses.
Speaker 4: I mean earlier in the season. You've got Edwards, Bill,
Speaker 4: You've got also shoot my bad, Yeah, I was thinking
Speaker 4: about Sorry, I got an email and I lost my
Speaker 4: train of thought. But you know, it's one of those
Speaker 4: things where you know, Loyola obviously has a really good
Speaker 4: defense to go along with the great offense, and it'll be,
Speaker 4: you know, a question of which offense is gonna you know,
Speaker 4: be better against you know, some pretty good defenses. So
Speaker 4: once again, it should be interesting to see how it
Speaker 4: plays out, and it should be a close game.
Speaker 2: Yeah. I mean the quarterbacks they don't look like each other.
Speaker 2: I mean, Fitzgerald is a big kid. He's going to
Speaker 2: I with Bruno. Massel is not that big of a quarterback.
Speaker 2: But they're both simil are in that, you know. I
Speaker 2: think I think running is their first length. Both of
Speaker 2: them run the football really well, but both of them
Speaker 2: can make plays to the air as well. So obviously
Speaker 2: both offenses start with those two guys and they're gonna,
Speaker 2: you know, be a big part about what happens in
Speaker 2: that game. So it should be fun, a lot of
Speaker 2: excitement looking forward. To it, Joe, We're gonna be there
Speaker 2: all weekend. You'll be there on Saturday. I'll be there
Speaker 2: late Friday into Saturday. You know we're gonna have previous
Speaker 2: features all week. We're gonna full coverage all week. What
Speaker 2: do you think of looking forward to It should be
Speaker 2: a really fun final weekend.
Speaker 4: I'm making my trip back down to normal after being
Speaker 4: there two weeks ago.
Speaker 2: You know, yeah, I'm right.
Speaker 4: I know my way down there, I know my way
Speaker 4: to the walls in between, and you know, I'm excited
Speaker 4: to see how this week turns out.
Speaker 2: Should be a lot of fun. I'll be back here tomorrow. Actually,
Speaker 2: excuse me, I'll be back around Wednesday tape in a
Speaker 2: podcast look Ahead with Steve Sussi again our previous and
Speaker 2: features this week and coverage this week on a Friday
Speaker 2: night Drive for Joe Bennett's I'm Josh Welge. Everybody, have
Speaker 2: a great Monday afternoon. Do you ever wonder where the
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