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Speaker 2: This is State Representative Steve Reich. Since twenty sixteen. It's
Speaker 2: been my privilege to represent the sixty third district in
Speaker 2: the Illinois House. I'd like to continue representing you, and
Speaker 2: I'm asking for your vote on November fifth. Thank you
Speaker 2: pay for my citizens to elect Stephen Reich.
Speaker 3: Hello everybody, and welcome to the Friday Night Drive Western
Speaker 3: Suburbs podcast. I'm Josh Welge here with Joel Bennett's as
Speaker 3: we're taking it here on a very dreary Tuesday afternoon. Joel,
Speaker 3: you were supposed to be covering golf. It got rained out.
Speaker 3: It's too bad. You're here talking football. That's pretty good.
Speaker 3: How you doing. I'm very good.
Speaker 4: I'm pretty happy that I got to stay indoors today.
Speaker 4: Obviously it's very wet outside, and so you know, I'd
Speaker 4: much rather be here kind of talking about football in
Speaker 4: the company of my own heme prior than out there
Speaker 4: to be completely.
Speaker 3: Unished save the umbrella for the day, and that that
Speaker 3: leads remind me and I'm probably testing the football and
Speaker 3: weather gods, but we've had really good weather, I think,
Speaker 3: so far for football so far, and it looks pretty
Speaker 3: good for Friday too. I mean, I covered a game
Speaker 3: on Saturday on September twenty first or whatever, and it
Speaker 3: was almost ninety degrees, which is a little bit on
Speaker 3: the warm side, but sunny and ninety is a lot
Speaker 3: better than rain like today. So anyway, that's the weather
Speaker 3: forecast for today. We're through four weeks at high school
Speaker 3: football season. A lot of great stuff to talk about.
Speaker 3: Before we get started with that, I want to remind
Speaker 3: everybody what's on Friday Night Drive. Steve Seussy's updated power
Speaker 3: rankings is out there. Got a little bit of movement
Speaker 3: on some teams astwego, I'm talking to you. Had a
Speaker 3: pretty good week, so pretty good started the season. So
Speaker 3: check that out. And then Steve's updated playoff projections will
Speaker 3: be dropping tomorrow morning, Wednesday morning. So a lot of
Speaker 3: good stuff coming your way, a lot of good you know,
Speaker 3: football notebooks from over markets. Joel had a really good
Speaker 3: one with the Kane County market as well, so I
Speaker 3: definitely want to check that out, Joel. I think we
Speaker 3: got to definitely start as we review week four of
Speaker 3: the game that you were at last Friday, Tavia Saint
Speaker 3: Charles North always one of the games of the year,
Speaker 3: and the Duke kne Conference and honestly around you know
Speaker 3: the area period. And I got to tell you, you know,
Speaker 3: sometimes when you're not at a game, you know, you
Speaker 3: check your Twitter every so often see what's going on.
Speaker 3: And obviously your game was really the one I was
Speaker 3: paying attention to. And I think it was like end
Speaker 3: of the third quarter, and and it was around end
Speaker 3: of the third quarter and North led twenty one to seventeen.
Speaker 3: I'm thinking, okay, yeah, that that makes it. That makes sense.
Speaker 3: That set up for a really kind of down to
Speaker 3: the wire finish and next thing I knew, I think
Speaker 3: it was forty five to twenty one final Batavian, I'm like,
Speaker 3: what what happened there? I guess Nathan Whitwell happened for one,
Speaker 3: you know what happened in that game?
Speaker 4: Yeah, I mean it's just a completely awesome game to experience.
Speaker 4: I mean, for the first three quarters, it really looked
Speaker 4: like Saint Charles North came in like truly prepared. They
Speaker 4: got two touchdown scores in the first half thanks to
Speaker 4: Joel Holloman, and you know, it kind of looked like
Speaker 4: they were going to potentially run away with it. I mean,
Speaker 4: at halftime it was fourteen to three. But you know,
Speaker 4: coming out of the locker rooms, Batavia really had one
Speaker 4: plan and that was get Nathan Whitwell going, and that's
Speaker 4: exactly what he did. I mean, he found this after
Speaker 4: not finding the end zone in the entire first half,
Speaker 4: he found it five times in the second half, and
Speaker 4: you know, three times in the fourth quarter in to
Speaker 4: score twenty eight unanswered points, and it kind of just
Speaker 4: blew the game out of proportion. Like you mentioned, the
Speaker 4: final score was forty five pointy one, but you know,
Speaker 4: it really doesn't tell the entire story of the game.
Speaker 4: It was a really great game for those first three quarters,
Speaker 4: but that fourth quarter for Batavia was just absolutely dominant,
Speaker 4: and it really did show what they could do as
Speaker 4: an offense when everything gets clicking. I mean, offensive line
Speaker 4: was just kind of dominating. The entire front force body
Speaker 4: Anderson was finding wide receivers after not finding any for
Speaker 4: pretty much the entire first half, and well once again,
Speaker 4: Nathan Whitwell just was running everywhere and just controlling the
Speaker 4: entire show. So that fourth quarter just was a really
Speaker 4: dominant showing by Batavia and it just was a great
Speaker 4: conclusion to a great game.
Speaker 3: Nathan Whitwell, I mean, my goodness, kids just off to
Speaker 3: a monster start. I mean I was there for week
Speaker 3: one in going Bard West when he ran and I
Speaker 3: think he had twenty carries in the first half alone,
Speaker 3: it ran for over two hundred yards and thinking, well,
Speaker 3: you know, maybe it's one week, maybe you know, maybe
Speaker 3: that was just a matchup thing, you know, with Nathan Whitlow.
Speaker 3: But they've really, you know, gone back to that well
Speaker 3: and he's over eight hundred yards already through four games,
Speaker 3: and you know, he's just on his way to a
Speaker 3: monster season for them, you know, for people that haven't
Speaker 3: seen him play. What strikes you about him as a
Speaker 3: running back.
Speaker 4: Thing about him is that, you know, usually when you
Speaker 4: have a running back, you can either describe him as
Speaker 4: a speedback who's usually you know, somebody who whenever you
Speaker 4: find out or whenever he finds the open space, you
Speaker 4: just go right out of the gate and just go everywhere,
Speaker 4: or you have a power back he can just power through,
Speaker 4: you know, the entire offensive lines and find open space.
Speaker 4: He's a combination of both. If you if he finds
Speaker 4: even a little bit of space in the middle of
Speaker 4: the field and goes through that gap, he's gone and
Speaker 4: he can just make big games happen from something that
Speaker 4: looks like he may even gain just like two yards
Speaker 4: or something like that. But he's just a great combination.
Speaker 4: And the best part is he gets every single week.
Speaker 4: He kind of talked about how he had one hundred
Speaker 4: and seventy yards in that first week against Batavia or
Speaker 4: against Glenbard West. I mean, he had one hundred and
Speaker 4: twenty yards and is in one half against South Algid.
Speaker 4: But after that he's had two straight two hundred yard
Speaker 4: rushing games against pretty quality opponents Lake Park and then
Speaker 4: Saint Charles North. And in case you're wondering, because I
Speaker 4: know it's a question the scoring record underneath Dennis Pyron,
Speaker 4: it's from Anthony Skasha in twenty twenty three or in
Speaker 4: twenty thirteen when he rushed for one nine hundred and
Speaker 4: thirteen yards in fourteen games. So he's well on his
Speaker 4: way to doing that, and it's gonna be really interesting
Speaker 4: to see what he does, especially through the rest of
Speaker 4: the season.
Speaker 3: Yeah, that record is definitely in trouble when you have
Speaker 3: a kid eight hundred yards through four games. And I'm
Speaker 3: just gonna say, I think Batavia is gonna be playing
Speaker 3: a few more than nine games this year. The way
Speaker 3: the way they're going, I think they have a lot
Speaker 3: of games ahead of them. But uh but yeah, I mean,
Speaker 3: you know, with with with Nathan Whitwell, I mean, I
Speaker 3: know after week one when we talked to coach Pieran afterwards,
Speaker 3: he noted about Nathan Whitwell, I mean, he's a track
Speaker 3: kid at a lot as a lot of the Bay
Speaker 3: Tavia guys are, they run track. So he's got that
Speaker 3: that kind of breakaway speed that if he can get
Speaker 3: to the outside, he can that he can run away
Speaker 3: from defenses. That he had a long touchdown run against
Speaker 3: Glenbard West. But then he's got that power too. I mean,
Speaker 3: he's just any and he's and he's a he's a
Speaker 3: guy that can take twenty five thirty carries in a game.
Speaker 3: He's got that endurance level. So yeah, I mean I
Speaker 3: think he's really really established himself early. I think Batavia,
Speaker 3: you're gonna see body Anderson continue to grow week by
Speaker 3: week and finance receivers. But when you got Nathan will
Speaker 3: out to turn two and in a close game that
Speaker 3: that we're just going to give it to him and
Speaker 3: lean on our offensive line, you know, really really impressed performance.
Speaker 3: I mean, to be able to to take a close
Speaker 3: game like that against one of your biggest rivals and
Speaker 3: just run away from them, that's that's pretty impressive and
Speaker 3: a lot of good things to build on. And then
Speaker 3: you know, their their neighboring rival, Geneva, they continue to roll.
Speaker 3: I think in their notebook this week he wrote about
Speaker 3: their quarterback Tony Chaino, he just keeps impressing and impressing
Speaker 3: week after week. I know at the start of the year,
Speaker 3: you know, the thought was, Okay, they had talent Taylor,
Speaker 3: but who's gonna throw him the ball because they had
Speaker 3: a new quarterback. Well, he's he's shown that he's pretty
Speaker 3: good Tonyo.
Speaker 4: Yeah, definitely. I mean, you know, I kind of mentioned
Speaker 4: it in my notebook. He has over a thousand receiving
Speaker 4: yard or a thousand passing yard through four games this year,
Speaker 4: and only three hundred and ninety of them had been
Speaker 4: to Talon Taylor. A bunch of other receivers have gotten,
Speaker 4: you know, a bunch of production out of it. And
Speaker 4: it's not like it's a bunch of small completions that
Speaker 4: are all combining into that. He only has thirty six
Speaker 4: completions this year. He's averaging twenty two yards a completion
Speaker 4: so far this year. And all of all of his stats,
Speaker 4: probably the craziest one I didn't even mention in my notebook.
Speaker 4: He's only played nine and a half quarters. He's only
Speaker 4: completed one game this entire year he's played. He played
Speaker 4: one quarter in the season opener against Larkin, three quarters
Speaker 4: against Lamont, played all four quarters against Wheat and Oneville South,
Speaker 4: and he played a quarter and a half against Lake
Speaker 4: Parks last week. I mean, it's insane to see some
Speaker 4: of the offensive production that they've had so far this
Speaker 4: year in such a limited space, to see if what
Speaker 4: they can do in all four quarters is gonna be
Speaker 4: absolutely credible, especially when they go up against Batavia next week.
Speaker 4: I think that based off of, you know, the production
Speaker 4: of Nathan Whitwell on Batavia and then Tony Chikino and Geneva,
Speaker 4: it's just gonna be insane to see what happens at
Speaker 4: the next week, and I'm really excited to see what
Speaker 4: happens whenever that game comes around.
Speaker 3: Yeah, I mean, obviously they have to get through this week,
Speaker 3: but spoiler or we're gonna be talking about Batavian Geneva
Speaker 3: a little bit next week on this podcast because a
Speaker 3: week for Friday, Week six, Batavian Geneva they meet up,
Speaker 3: and man, I mean if they both go into that
Speaker 3: game undefeated, which I think there's a pretty good chance
Speaker 3: they will go into that game undefeated, it's gonna make
Speaker 3: for quite an environment and quite a matchup with those
Speaker 3: two teams really rolling. So yeah, they're off to the
Speaker 3: great starts, both of those programs. Four and Oh another
Speaker 3: program that I got to see last Saturday. They are
Speaker 3: four and Oh talking about Lions Township and in the
Speaker 3: West Suburban Silver. You know, a really really strong game
Speaker 3: for them playing Glenbard West. You know, obviously we've talked
Speaker 3: about in this podcast before. Glenbard West has had it
Speaker 3: struggles this year, very uncharacteristic struggles. They're now they were
Speaker 3: oh and three for the first time since nineteen ninety nine.
Speaker 3: Well now they're oh on four for the first time
Speaker 3: since since ninety nine. Nineteen ninety nine. But still, I mean,
Speaker 3: even with those struggles, that was a big that was
Speaker 3: a big hurdle I think for Lions Township too clear
Speaker 3: to be able to beat a team like that. They
Speaker 3: had not beaten Glenbard West since twenty sixteen, they had
Speaker 3: not beat Glenbard West at home since two thousand and seven.
Speaker 3: And it was not an easy game. I mean it was.
Speaker 3: It was at seven to seven game late in the
Speaker 3: first half, but then Lions Township they had a really
Speaker 3: good drive in the third quarter to open up a
Speaker 3: ten point lead. And then Travis stam who's a kid
Speaker 3: going to Illinois State, he had nine catches in the
Speaker 3: first half. He had a pick six at the end
Speaker 3: of the game that, you know, kind of put the
Speaker 3: cherry on top of it. And Travis Stamon kidd that
Speaker 3: he's an all time leading receiver at Lions Township, and
Speaker 3: you know, he was really emotional afterwards talking about about
Speaker 3: beating Glenbard West. I mean, he's a kid that grew
Speaker 3: up following Lions Township watching games, and he's like, you know,
Speaker 3: I'd never seen us beat Glenbard West as a kid,
Speaker 3: as a fan and as a player, He'd never done it.
Speaker 3: Before and you know, I mean after the game, and
Speaker 3: you know, it was homecoming, so there's a lot of
Speaker 3: emotion there with former players coming back, and then they
Speaker 3: were taking pictures at the fifty yard line after the game,
Speaker 3: after the wins, so I mean, you know, part of
Speaker 3: me is like, man, really, I mean it's September. Do
Speaker 3: you really take pictures of September? But that's a big win,
Speaker 3: so you know, you can't really take it away from
Speaker 3: them to be able to beat a team point Glenbard West.
Speaker 3: And it's a program that I mean two years ago,
Speaker 3: I felt like Our York was really a team that
Speaker 3: was emerging that league. And then last year it was
Speaker 3: Downers Grove North that did and they went to the
Speaker 3: semini final. Lions Township has kind of been like the
Speaker 3: next maybe step behind those two programs. John Butcher has
Speaker 3: done a great job there. They've been to the playoffs
Speaker 3: the last three years. They made a quarterfinals two years ago.
Speaker 3: But they're a program theer now four and oh and
Speaker 3: they got nice win over Prospect, the beat Wheaton South,
Speaker 3: to beat Glenbard West. Now they're gonna be a team
Speaker 3: to watch going forward. They still play York, They still
Speaker 3: played Downers North. All three of those teams still play
Speaker 3: each other last It's gonna be the last four of
Speaker 3: the weeks of the season, so you know, gonna be
Speaker 3: a lot of fun stuff. So there's a great win
Speaker 3: for Lions Township. On the other side, obviously, Glenbard West
Speaker 3: on four not to start they wanted. They played just
Speaker 3: the absolute bear of his schedule the first four weeks,
Speaker 3: and on top of it, their star running back to
Speaker 3: on Oriental. He hurt his hand week one against Batavia.
Speaker 3: I will say I asked their coach Chad had laid afterwards,
Speaker 3: and he said that that he is expecting him back
Speaker 3: week six against Hinsdale Central. They play Lighten this week,
Speaker 3: which on paper it looks like it'll be their first win.
Speaker 3: We'll see what happens with that. And then they get
Speaker 3: their star running back the last four games, and obviously
Speaker 3: it's kind of got kind of go time for them.
Speaker 3: They're gonna really need to get going. But but I
Speaker 3: still I'm not shutting the door on them, even in
Speaker 3: oh one four and running the table. Especially we saw
Speaker 3: what Nazareth did a couple you know last year, going
Speaker 3: on four and then getting the playoffs and making a
Speaker 3: run I don't know if Glenbard West can make a
Speaker 3: run like that, but I think getting the playoffs is
Speaker 3: not completely unraised realistic. So so, yeah, really good football
Speaker 3: last aretay.
Speaker 4: Yeah, okay, I mean obviously, you know you mentioned Lions,
Speaker 4: you know, first time beating you know program, a historic
Speaker 4: program with Glenbard West in such a long time, it's
Speaker 4: definitely there to be a big confidence booster, especially whenever
Speaker 4: it comes to facing teams like downs Grove North in York.
Speaker 4: I think they're facing them back back weeks in week
Speaker 4: seven and week eight, so they've got a couple of
Speaker 4: weeks where they can you know, kind of keep building
Speaker 4: that resume and maybe heading to the towns Grove North
Speaker 4: with the six and er record, that would be a
Speaker 4: very interesting game to watch whenever that comes and whenever
Speaker 4: and with Glenbard West obviously they are oh and four
Speaker 4: to start this season, but I think three of the
Speaker 4: teams that they've lost to have a four to no record,
Speaker 4: So I mean, running the table is definitely going to
Speaker 4: be hard, especially with York still in you know, their
Speaker 4: schedule later on. But you know, obviously there's been talks
Speaker 4: about you know, potentially having four and five teams making
Speaker 4: it into the playoffs this year, and it wouldn't be
Speaker 4: surprising to see Glenbard West, you know, with a four
Speaker 4: and five record, especially against some of the teams that
Speaker 4: they've lost to, obviously Batavia, Mount Carmel and you know,
Speaker 4: just kind of teams like that downs Grove North or
Speaker 4: not Mount Carmel loyal but my bad, and then downalds
Speaker 4: Grove North. I mean, with those three there alone, that
Speaker 4: may be you know, enough to get them the points
Speaker 4: that they need in order to potentially sneak in at
Speaker 4: that number thirty or at that thirty two seed potentially.
Speaker 4: So you know, it's not over yet for Glenbard West,
Speaker 4: even if they two end up losing the game. So
Speaker 4: it's that's gonna be interesting to see.
Speaker 3: Yeah, I mean again it's getting ahead of ourselves. But
Speaker 3: Week six, their game with hins Zeale Central, it's gonna
Speaker 3: be a game played on Saturday. I mean, in my mind,
Speaker 3: it's gonna be that could be a playoff game right there.
Speaker 3: Those are two teams that when the season's over, they're
Speaker 3: gonna be right on that line of potentially being four
Speaker 3: and five, or if one of them loses, you know,
Speaker 3: maybe even dropp into three and six. So that's gonna
Speaker 3: be for both of those teams an absolute you have
Speaker 3: to win that if you want to get to the playoffs.
Speaker 3: I mean, there's just there's honestly probably no two ways
Speaker 3: about it. You know, both of them need are gonna
Speaker 3: need that win. A couple other teams that are after
Speaker 3: a really nice starts that you're familiar with. Uh, you know.
Speaker 3: Caitlin continues to impress and Burlington Central continues to impress
Speaker 3: in the Fox Valley. Hey, football fans, listen up. I'm
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Speaker 3: They have it all.
Speaker 2: Yeah.
Speaker 4: I mean, Burlington Central pulled off a very impressive win
Speaker 4: last week, and their homecoming came up forty nine to
Speaker 4: nothing win over Crystal Lake Central, and it's the first
Speaker 4: time that they've beaten them in you know, three seasons.
Speaker 4: Last year, you know, their loss against them, they was
Speaker 4: most likely the game where you know, they were looking
Speaker 4: back at the schedule and being like, if there's one
Speaker 4: team we could have beat in order to make it
Speaker 4: to the playoffs, it probably would have been that game.
Speaker 4: But they had a statement victory against them this year.
Speaker 4: It's their first shutout win since twenty sixteen, and it's
Speaker 4: their most lopsided win since a fifty five to three
Speaker 4: victory over Marnego in twenty eleven. And you know, it's
Speaker 4: a really hot start for this team who hasn't made
Speaker 4: the playoffs since twenty fourteen. They're trying to make sure
Speaker 4: that they can get to that five win threshold this
Speaker 4: year and hopefully make it back. They've had a winning
Speaker 4: season since they last made the playoffs in twenty seventeen.
Speaker 4: Cou they miss the playoffs but two points. So if
Speaker 4: they keep rattling off these victories, you know, and they
Speaker 4: give them, you know, that chance to make it back
Speaker 4: to the playoffs for the first time in the decade.
Speaker 4: And they're making a really strong case so far. As
Speaker 4: special after bouncing back from that Week one loss to
Speaker 4: Carry Grove.
Speaker 3: Yeah, I mean that's that Fox is a tough conference,
Speaker 3: and you know they're relatively new to that league, and
Speaker 3: but they've shown they compete, they can compete. It's just
Speaker 3: you know, not quite getting to the playoff level. So
Speaker 3: but you know they're off to obviously off to a
Speaker 3: really nice start with them in Caitlin. Both another team
Speaker 3: that that's four and oh. I wanted to note it's
Speaker 3: a team that similar they've been in a very difficult league.
Speaker 3: So they've been very very close to the playoffs last years,
Speaker 3: haven't quite made it. I'm talking about Bennett there now
Speaker 3: four and oh. They had a really nice win over
Speaker 3: Saint Viider, a matchup of three and oh teams. Their
Speaker 3: quarterback Ryan Kabaki through for two hundred and sixty five
Speaker 3: yards and two touchdowns. So Bennet is now four and oh.
Speaker 3: Interesting game, you know, kind of observing it. They were
Speaker 3: actually I think they're up twenty three to nothing and
Speaker 3: a half. They had to hold on to win twenty
Speaker 3: three to sixteen. But but yeah, I mean, Bennett, you know,
Speaker 3: feeling pretty good about themselves. They have a very experienced
Speaker 3: quarterback with Ryan Kabaki. He's got a couple of pretty
Speaker 3: good receivers. I heard. I think they're both named Luke
Speaker 3: because in the story they were talking about Luke and Luke,
Speaker 3: and I was getting confused about which one is which.
Speaker 3: But but, but Bennett is off to a nice start
Speaker 3: four and oh. They got Mount Carnival this week, so
Speaker 3: it's gonna be a little bit of a grind to
Speaker 3: get to five and oh. But nevertheless, you know, Bennett's
Speaker 3: got to be feeling pretty good about themselves at four
Speaker 3: and oh before you kind of look at it to
Speaker 3: tweek five. There there was some teams that got to
Speaker 3: two and two that really kind of needed to going
Speaker 3: into the second half of the season. Game that I
Speaker 3: got to see last Friday, Askquigu East. They played Plaintfield South.
Speaker 3: They came away with a thirteen to seven win. They
Speaker 3: started the season zher and two, and you know, you
Speaker 3: never want to get in that situation. But but their
Speaker 3: defense has been really strong this year. I think they've
Speaker 3: only given up four touchdowns all year. The defense has
Speaker 3: been kind of their calling card. They had a you know,
Speaker 3: game saving interception by Andy Pullman at the end of
Speaker 3: the game. That that preserved it. And they had a
Speaker 3: big interception earlier in the game by a kid that
Speaker 3: you know, I talked about it as my football note,
Speaker 3: but Jamari McKay. He's a kid that he says he's
Speaker 3: five foot four, which that's pretty that's pretty amazing. His coach,
Speaker 3: Tyson le Block was like, no, he's he's not five
Speaker 3: foot four, but the kid was pretty insistent that he
Speaker 3: was five and four. But he had a pretty nice
Speaker 3: interception on a big leaping interception at the end zone.
Speaker 3: And man, to see a kid like that, you know,
Speaker 3: kind of like really kind of you know, step up
Speaker 3: and make plays like that at that size, that was
Speaker 3: that was pretty pretty impressive there. And then also Sandwich
Speaker 3: they started zero and two and they were coming off
Speaker 3: of a quarterfinal season last year, and I was getting
Speaker 3: a little bit worried about them because I'm thinking, you know,
Speaker 3: maybe they're not maybe quite what they were last year.
Speaker 3: But they've they've come back strong. I mean, they beat
Speaker 3: playing plaint zero in week three and then they got
Speaker 3: a really close win at Johnsburg last week. So so
Speaker 3: so Sandwich feeling a lot better without themselves now at
Speaker 3: two and two. Were there any other games from Week
Speaker 3: four that you saw that stood out to.
Speaker 4: You, stood up for me, for both teams for that matter,
Speaker 4: Wheaton North and Saint Charles East. That was a game
Speaker 4: that was a lot closer than I think anybody was suspecting.
Speaker 4: I mean, Saint Charles East had the lead heading into
Speaker 4: that third core, heading into the fourth quarter. I think
Speaker 4: that score was honestly like nineteen to nineteen fourteen in
Speaker 4: favor of the Saints. But Wayton North once again got
Speaker 4: that fourth quarter comeback and with thirteen unentered points in
Speaker 4: that fourth quarter here a twenty seven nineteen victory. I
Speaker 4: think that's a good win, or that's a win for
Speaker 4: Wheaton North that you know, obviously got to be proud
Speaker 4: of the fourth quarter comeback, but even with the loss,
Speaker 4: I think that's something that Saint Charles's should be proud
Speaker 4: of because, especially considering you know, the history of Wheaton
Speaker 4: North and the decaying conference, getting or pushing them as
Speaker 4: close as they were, pushing them to the very end,
Speaker 4: I think that's a very good sign for that Saint
Speaker 4: Charles East team that's relatively young, if I remember correctually,
Speaker 4: I think most of their team consent juniors, so that
Speaker 4: may show what the potential that they have not just
Speaker 4: for this year, gets more more impressive teams like you know, St.
Speaker 4: Charles North, Geneva and stuff like that, but it will
Speaker 4: also proved to be good for next year as well.
Speaker 3: Definitely encouraging. I mean, they were able to stamp it
Speaker 3: that losing streak beating Glenbar North and then they'll lead
Speaker 3: Wheaton North that's been one of the better teams in
Speaker 3: that league for most of the game. I mean, it's
Speaker 3: probably discouraging that they lost that game, but you know,
Speaker 3: if they wanted to take the glass half full, look,
Speaker 3: definitely sign a progress and for a team that's in
Speaker 3: a program that's really kind of struggling in that league
Speaker 3: for the last probably three four five years, that's a
Speaker 3: good sign. And on the other side, Weedon North, but
Speaker 3: they have been living I don't want to say, maybe
Speaker 3: living dangerously, living higher wire, whatever the case. I mean,
Speaker 3: they've had three games that they won. They were decided
Speaker 3: in the fourth quarter, two of them really came down
Speaker 3: to the end. In fact, one of them I think
Speaker 3: came down to the final play. So they have they
Speaker 3: have three wins and they're three and one. So you know,
Speaker 3: on the one hand, they're feeling good about themselves, when
Speaker 3: the other hand, their coach, Soulwardinsky is like, guys, I'm
Speaker 3: losing whatever hair I have left. I'm losing right now.
Speaker 3: You guys quite quit doing it to me. And now
Speaker 3: he's got a gatst Patavia this week, So that that's
Speaker 3: a that's a tough challenge for that and I guess
Speaker 3: segue into this week, what do you what do you
Speaker 3: think about that matchup? It's gonna be a game that
Speaker 3: you're at I believe.
Speaker 4: Yeah, definitely, I think it's a It's kind of one
Speaker 4: of those matchups that kind of pegged at the beginning
Speaker 4: of the season that it's like, this is gonna be
Speaker 4: a good matchup to see how much polant of the
Speaker 4: programs have grown. I mean, they saw both teams saw
Speaker 4: a lot of their you know, offensive production from last
Speaker 4: year graduate. So it's kind of a good point to see,
Speaker 4: you know, where exactly has the talent or how much
Speaker 4: has the talent grown between seasons. I mean, obviously, you
Speaker 4: know Batavia, you got Nathan Whitwell who has been wrecking everybody.
Speaker 4: So it's gonna be interesting to see if how Wheaton
Speaker 4: North can try and limit that production as much as
Speaker 4: it can. And then on eating North Side, you know,
Speaker 4: based off of how all three of their wins have gone,
Speaker 4: if they can keep it close into the fourth quarter,
Speaker 4: they have a shot of winning. It's just gonna be
Speaker 4: that question of if they can keep it close within those.
Speaker 3: First three quarters.
Speaker 4: So I'm really interested to see how this team or
Speaker 4: how this game goes against arguably two of the top
Speaker 4: teams of the Duquane Conference over the past couple of seasons.
Speaker 3: Yeah, those two teams have played some really good games
Speaker 3: over the years, and obviously they've had a lot of
Speaker 3: postly success to Wheaton North winning seven eight few years ago,
Speaker 3: Batavia getting into the Semis, and but they reached the
Speaker 3: final one year as well. So yeah, it should be
Speaker 3: a fun one. I mean, unlike Batavia, where I'm like,
Speaker 3: all right, Nathan Whitwell, Uh, he's a guy to get
Speaker 3: a look out for. I'm not quite as sure about
Speaker 3: Wheaton nor that it seems like they they kind of
Speaker 3: shared a little bit more. I know, uh de Rix,
Speaker 3: I forget his first name, but he's had a couple
Speaker 3: of big plays uh for them late in games. And
Speaker 3: and but like you said, similar to Batavia, they're a
Speaker 3: team that you know there there's some question about them
Speaker 3: personnel wise offensively, uh coming this year, and obviously they've
Speaker 3: answered them so far. I don't know if they've answered
Speaker 3: them quite in the affirmative that Batavia has. But still,
Speaker 3: you know three and one with three you know, they
Speaker 3: beat Providence, they beat Lockport. Those are two really quality
Speaker 3: and wins in the non conference. I know they lost St. St.
Speaker 3: Charles North, but uh but but but yeah, no that
Speaker 3: that should be uh, definitely a game to follow in
Speaker 3: the league this this week is Batavian Wheaton North. You know,
Speaker 3: another marquee matchup in the area this week, uh, rematch
Speaker 3: of last year's Class five A state championship. Joyed Catholic
Speaker 3: is going to be at Nazareth. Really a game that
Speaker 3: I'm gonna really kind of keep my eye on, you know,
Speaker 3: Joey Kathy, I'm not really sure what to make of them.
Speaker 3: They they've kind of they've had some kind of tough games.
Speaker 3: I mean, Oswego beat them rather handily seventeen to nothing.
Speaker 3: They had a really close game with Fenwick. But then
Speaker 3: again they they if I'm not mistaken, they'd beat Maris
Speaker 3: in a really wild down to the wire finish. So
Speaker 3: maybe they're kind of growing. That's the big win to
Speaker 3: be able to beat Maris like that. On the other side, Nazareth,
Speaker 3: I mean they had that tough game against Mount Carmel
Speaker 3: because Mount Carmel is just a juggernaut offensively, but really
Speaker 3: came back and took it to Ic Catholic last week
Speaker 3: to beat them thirty three to nothing. And you know,
Speaker 3: while Joey Kathleic they have some different guys. You know,
Speaker 3: some of the faces are a lot different from last
Speaker 3: year's five A final. On the Nazareth side, it's a
Speaker 3: lot of the same guys. I mean, you know, Logan
Speaker 3: mouch At their quarterback. He had a really big game
Speaker 3: against Joey Catholic. He's back. I mean, James Penley, they're
Speaker 3: senior receiver. He had a huge game in the five
Speaker 3: A final. I mean he's still their guy so at receivers.
Speaker 3: So so yeah, it should be a fun one. You know,
Speaker 3: that five A final last year, I wasn't sure what
Speaker 3: to make it as far as who was a team
Speaker 3: to be where in this game. I think Nasa is
Speaker 3: definitely the favorite, you know, going into this one. But
Speaker 3: with that Jolia Catholic pedigree, I'm not going to count
Speaker 3: that team out, but uh, definitely getting to be watched
Speaker 3: on Friday.
Speaker 4: Yeah, definitely. I mean obviously returning a lot of you know,
Speaker 4: key players in that five A championship game definitely does
Speaker 4: give NASA at the big confidence boost. But I actually,
Speaker 4: uh double check just to make sure. Julia Katholic got
Speaker 4: the thirty one thirty victory in overtime over Marius last week.
Speaker 4: So back to back one point victories for Jolia Catholic.
Speaker 4: And I mean, while they do have a lot of
Speaker 4: while they do have a lot of new faces this
Speaker 4: time around, it's still gonna be you've seen see because
Speaker 4: we have seen time and time again. Even if you know,
Speaker 4: offenses do have new players, you know, on the offense,
Speaker 4: you can still have a lot of big success. Take
Speaker 4: a note, p takea.
Speaker 3: Yeah, I'm quite sure they have a lot of talented Joey.
Speaker 3: I'm not really worried about joy the Joey Catholic side
Speaker 3: of talent wise, I just don't know the names quite
Speaker 3: as much, uh that they've had. But uh but but yeah,
Speaker 3: that that that should be a fun one. Uh A
Speaker 3: good matchup. There another kind of sneaky good game that
Speaker 3: I'm curious about uh, Caitlin playing Morris this week. Caitlin
Speaker 3: is obviously off to a really good start, but now
Speaker 3: they go into the Interstate Eight, which is more like
Speaker 3: the Interstate six the way that league is now with
Speaker 3: the number of teams in there. You know, we'll see.
Speaker 3: I mean, Morris and Sycamore are kind of like the
Speaker 3: the top dogs in that league, at least they have
Speaker 3: been the last few years, and they've kind of pushed
Speaker 3: maybe not pushed around Kaitlin. They definitely beaten Kaitlin. You know,
Speaker 3: we'll see. I think we're gonna get a really good
Speaker 3: idea about what Caitlyn is all about. I know Morris,
Speaker 3: I mean I believe they have at least they have
Speaker 3: one loss. There's still Morris. Morris is still really tough,
Speaker 3: and I think we're gonna find out a lot more
Speaker 3: about Caitlin after this week.
Speaker 4: I mean, obviously Morris is, you know, the big dog
Speaker 4: of or one of the big dogs of the Interstate Eight,
Speaker 4: obviously taking home the championship or the conference championship last year.
Speaker 4: They do have that one loss to Peoria back in
Speaker 4: Week three, but I mean it was a fifty eight
Speaker 4: to fifty two, Uh, basically a shootout game in that one.
Speaker 4: So it's definitely gonna be interesting to see how both
Speaker 4: these teams play. Obviously, Caitlin has kind of gotten their
Speaker 4: offense going over these past two weeks, scoring forty nine
Speaker 4: points in both of their victories over these past two weeks,
Speaker 4: So this is going to be a really good test
Speaker 4: for them to see, you know, where they stand in
Speaker 4: the Interstate eight. Are they, you know, just a little
Speaker 4: bit behind or are they you know, a real big
Speaker 4: contender and have a chance to take off Sycamore. And
Speaker 4: that game is gonna be happening next week as well,
Speaker 4: so they're gonna be facing back to back, you know,
Speaker 4: big conference teams. So it's gonna be really interesting to
Speaker 4: see how the Knights play and if they can keep
Speaker 4: their unbeat or if they can keep their streak alive.
Speaker 3: Yeah, no, those are gonna be good measuring stick games
Speaker 3: for Kanitelin in that league. Should be a lot of
Speaker 3: fun the next two weeks in that league game, I'm
Speaker 3: gonna be out on Friday, uh Oswego's hosting Plainfield North.
Speaker 3: Oswego is undefeated at fourn oh. Plainfield North comes in
Speaker 3: at two and two as the Southwest Pray West begins
Speaker 3: uh divisional play and should should that should be a
Speaker 3: fun game. I mean that that's a matchup that I
Speaker 3: would say as we go uh in that league, they're
Speaker 3: They're games with Plainfield North and probably Minoka have been
Speaker 3: some of their better games. I look back, I think
Speaker 3: three o their lasts for five games between them and
Speaker 3: Plainfield North have been come down to one one score games.
Speaker 3: I know they're there's an over time or double overtime
Speaker 3: game about three years ago that I was at that
Speaker 3: was a really fun one. But you know, it should
Speaker 3: be a good matchup. Oswego is rolling, their defense has
Speaker 3: been tremendous, their offense is starting to pick it up.
Speaker 3: Just everything is working for them. And then a get
Speaker 3: Plainfield North, who you know, maybe they're not quite as
Speaker 3: talented playing Field North team as they were a couple
Speaker 3: of years ago, but they still play pretty good defense.
Speaker 3: They have a pretty good receiver on the outside, and
Speaker 3: they also know Asweg I mean their coach Anthony and
Speaker 3: Bedina used to be the defensive cordner as a defensive
Speaker 3: coordinator at Oswego, so those two teams know each other
Speaker 3: really well. You know, should should be should be a
Speaker 3: good one. You know, if Asueo comes in and just
Speaker 3: kind of blows the doors off of them again, then man,
Speaker 3: I mean, you know, they're reaffirming my thought that they
Speaker 3: probably are going to go nine to zero. But uh,
Speaker 3: but I'm looking forward to seeing just what kind of
Speaker 3: game it is. Is it another typical close game between
Speaker 3: those two team teams or AS or AS does Oswego
Speaker 3: really you know, kind of take it to them and
Speaker 3: again show that they're one of the better teams in
Speaker 3: eight A, which with Loyola's I'm just gonna say their struggles,
Speaker 3: they've had a couple losses. Maybe eight A is a
Speaker 3: little bit more wide open than it has been in
Speaker 3: the past. I mean, Lincoln E East is really good,
Speaker 3: but maybe teams like US WeGo can kind of sneak
Speaker 3: in there and be a threat in a A. And
Speaker 3: the other game in the that SBC West that I'm
Speaker 3: kind of interested to see is bowling Brook playing in
Speaker 3: the Yorkville. Bowing Brook is a newcomer to that league
Speaker 3: on joining them. Both bowling Brook and the Yorkville started
Speaker 3: zero and two. They've since won two games in ROWLSE
Speaker 3: and now they're two and two. Big game. I mean,
Speaker 3: it's a game that. You know, both of them still
Speaker 3: have a Swig on their schedule, both of them still
Speaker 3: have Minook on their schedule, so those are tough games,
Speaker 3: so they both really need that win. And and bowling Brook,
Speaker 3: while I don't think they have the talent they've had
Speaker 3: in recent years obviously Jonas Williams now is that Lincoln
Speaker 3: Way East, It's still bowling Brook. And I just don't
Speaker 3: know when a team joins a new league, you know,
Speaker 3: how are they going to fit in, how are they
Speaker 3: going to compete? You know, what are they going to
Speaker 3: do when they get in games with some of these teams?
Speaker 3: And I'm interested to see, you know, how that matchup
Speaker 3: is going to transpire.
Speaker 4: Yeah, definitely, I think it's going to be, you know,
Speaker 4: really interesting to see because obviously, like you mentioned, both
Speaker 4: these teams started zero to two and are now two
Speaker 4: and two, So it's going to be interesting to see,
Speaker 4: you know, who's gotten their stuff together to you know,
Speaker 4: push forward and keep that momentum going, and who's gonna
Speaker 4: have to restart all over again and you know, try
Speaker 4: and find the momentum again.
Speaker 3: You know, any other games for upcoming this week? I know, uh,
Speaker 3: I know Saint Francis is hosting Providence. Saint Francis obviously
Speaker 3: going to be looking to bounce back from their first
Speaker 3: loss to Saint Rita. And I mean that league is
Speaker 3: just week in and week out. I mean, they had
Speaker 3: that big win over for Loyola and there they're riding high,
Speaker 3: feeling great, and Saint Rita comes in and you know,
Speaker 3: I don't want to say slaps him around, but they
Speaker 3: Saint Rita was leaving that game pretty much the whole way.
Speaker 3: So curious to see how San Francis will bounce back
Speaker 3: with Providence coming in.
Speaker 4: Yeah, definitely. I mean obviously Saint Providence had that you know,
Speaker 4: big loss in the uh earth hold on, I think
Speaker 4: that's right big. Or they had that loss to Wheaton
Speaker 4: North to start the season.
Speaker 3: Is that correct?
Speaker 4: Yeah, last last second loss, and so you know they've
Speaker 4: kind of turned it around since then. But it'll be
Speaker 4: interesting to see how they face off against you know,
Speaker 4: a team like Saint Francis too has something a little
Speaker 4: something to prove after you know what happened last week.
Speaker 4: But another matchup that I have in mind, Saint Charles
Speaker 4: North and Wheaton Worfville South. That was something I kind
Speaker 4: of tagged at the game of season as well. Obviously
Speaker 4: the matchup between the two returning quarterbacks Drum last year
Speaker 4: and Ethan Plumb on the North Stars and Luca Carbonaro
Speaker 4: from the Tigers. Both teams have been playing relatively pretty well,
Speaker 4: you know, throughout these first four games week more Go
Speaker 4: South is obviously two and two, Saint Charles North sufferingk
Speaker 4: their first loss last week's Batavia, so it's gonna be
Speaker 4: really interesting to see, you know, how this game transpires. Obviously,
Speaker 4: Saint Charles North is in the upper echelons of the
Speaker 4: Ducune Conference, so it's gonna be interesting to see if
Speaker 4: the Tigers can you know, bop up and you know
Speaker 4: gate to that upper echelon as well. Game last year
Speaker 4: made into overtime four two thirty five victory for the
Speaker 4: Most Stars, so baby will have another overtime game in
Speaker 4: that one as well.
Speaker 3: Yep. A lot of good football coming this weekend, a
Speaker 3: lot of good stuff coming on Friday Night Drive. I'll
Speaker 3: be back here tomorrow with Stee Susie as we look
Speaker 3: at some of the top games around the state. Of course,
Speaker 3: Eddie Criffio and JT. Penalty will be here on Thursday
Speaker 3: looking at the teams in the North and Western Illinois,
Speaker 3: and then, of course Steve. We'll be back on Friday
Speaker 3: Night with Matt Rodewald the live stream from nine thirty
Speaker 3: to eleven. We'll be covering a ton of football this
Speaker 3: weekend again for Joe Bennett's I'm Josh Welgy. Thanks for
Speaker 3: joining us. You have a great Tuesday afternoon.
Speaker 2: This is State Representative Steve Reich and I'm happy to
Speaker 2: sponsor this year's Friday Night Drive. There'll be plenty of
Speaker 2: time for politics down the road, but for now, let's
Speaker 2: enjoy some high school football. Whichever school you follow, give
Speaker 2: him your support.
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