Speaker 1: The Friday Night Drive podcast, is we recap week one
Speaker 1: of the twenty twenty four IHSA football season on that
Speaker 1: little world as always with Steve Sussi. What a weekend
Speaker 1: we got to witness quite the lidlifter for the both
Speaker 1: of us.
Speaker 2: Yeah, absolutely, just it was one of those situations where
Speaker 2: there were quite a few games that you weren't sure
Speaker 2: what you were going to get. But especially with the
Speaker 2: game that ended my weekend, if you would have told
Speaker 2: me that that's what the score would have been and
Speaker 2: that's what would have happened, I probably would have laughed
Speaker 2: at you. So it's always very interesting to start to
Speaker 2: get some answers to the myriad of questions that we
Speaker 2: have heading into the Illinois high school football season, and
Speaker 2: it was certainly a fun week to be had.
Speaker 1: Yeah, we're gonna get to a chunk of this podcast
Speaker 1: discussing the Flyers, the High Flyers and what they did
Speaker 1: to Loyla. But let's take a total look at the
Speaker 1: weekend because week one is always fun because you have
Speaker 1: the occasional Thursday night on a appetizer and we got
Speaker 1: a good one with Mount Carmel. It feels like forever
Speaker 1: ago now and then a great Friday night slate, A
Speaker 1: Saturday night or Saturday afternoon and night slate that did
Speaker 1: not disappoint with Batavian Gloomberg West followed by East Saint Louis.
Speaker 1: Just how much fun was it? And you were at
Speaker 1: plenty of games? What were the crowds looked.
Speaker 2: Like to you? Pretty solid? I mean, I guess the
Speaker 2: Saturday night one was a little bit less than I
Speaker 2: thought it would be, But other than that, everywhere I
Speaker 2: went seemed to have healthy and ready to watch some
Speaker 2: football fans.
Speaker 1: You got your first taste of Mount Carmel's facility. I
Speaker 1: will have to do that too, because it's still on
Speaker 1: my list. I have not been there, so looking forward to,
Speaker 1: especially after your rate reviews of what it looked like
Speaker 1: for you on Thursday night, East Saint Louis with a
Speaker 1: dominant performance of Loyal at Hancock Stadium. They start the
Speaker 1: season there, they want to end the season there, and Susie,
Speaker 1: you know, I tell you what. That performance left me
Speaker 1: no doubt that they'll be playing Thanksgiving weekend.
Speaker 2: Well, it certainly looked like it. I mean, when you
Speaker 2: went through watching that game, and especially when you consider
Speaker 2: the opponent on the other side, that is that is
Speaker 2: an incredibly talented football team, and to be honest with you,
Speaker 2: I didn't know what we were going to get coming
Speaker 2: out of the Flyers. They had lost some key pieces,
Speaker 2: some guys that had been there for a really long time,
Speaker 2: and you'd gotten kind of used to having them around,
Speaker 2: you know. I didn't know what we were going to
Speaker 2: get from their quarterback play. And in reality, it turned
Speaker 2: out that young man Kendall Vender played a really nice
Speaker 2: game just in the sense of, Hey, if you're gonna
Speaker 2: give me this, I'm gonna take it. He didn't try
Speaker 2: to do too much and allowed the athletes that they
Speaker 2: have on the outside just get them the ball and
Speaker 2: let them do the work. I mean, it seemed like
Speaker 2: a really simple, fundamental game plan. But I guess you're
Speaker 2: kind of used to East Saint Louis these big, flashy,
Speaker 2: over the top plays, and they got one of those
Speaker 2: in the first half. They they took the top off
Speaker 2: the defense for about an eighty yard touchdowns or but
Speaker 2: for the most part, it was a very patient and
Speaker 2: disciplined East Saint Louis offensive attack. That not to say
Speaker 2: that they haven't been capable of doing this before, but
Speaker 2: it really just looked like they were ready for whatever
Speaker 2: loyal they'll plan to throw at them, and Loyola seemed tentative,
Speaker 2: and I understand why they were tentative. You can't really
Speaker 2: guard those guys really tight because they'll do what they
Speaker 2: what they can do, they'll go right past just so
Speaker 2: you're kind of in a catch twenty two if East
Speaker 2: Saint Louis is willing to take the short stuff, and
Speaker 2: they were on Saturday night.
Speaker 3: It's a comfortability with this Flyers team. Again.
Speaker 1: The last time they were on that field, they got
Speaker 1: dominated by Kerry Grove and they had to sit with
Speaker 1: that knowing that their first game would be right back
Speaker 1: on that field. And I would imagine that those young guys,
Speaker 1: especially that youth that was up front a year ago,
Speaker 1: those sophomores, they're now juniors, and I imagine that there
Speaker 1: was a feeling of we're on a mission to prove
Speaker 1: ourselves from what we did last year or what was
Speaker 1: done to us in the title game.
Speaker 3: Then did you get that sense from that defense?
Speaker 2: For sure?
Speaker 1: I mean, I know there's a lot of speed, but
Speaker 1: I would imagine there's probably a mission aspect to this too.
Speaker 2: Well. The one thing about it that was notable about
Speaker 2: the defense. I knew the secondary would be good, but
Speaker 2: that both of the defensive ends for East Saint Louis
Speaker 2: were just blowing up everything like it didn't matter what
Speaker 2: side of the field Loyola ran too. It just seemed
Speaker 2: like there was an East Saint Louis defender waiting to
Speaker 2: take that play apart, and they did it all night long.
Speaker 2: They didn't miss any assignments. They were just clean as day.
Speaker 2: And the other thing that kind of stood out to me.
Speaker 2: I don't want to say that, I feel like East
Speaker 2: Saint Louis has been tentative because what has happened to
Speaker 2: them in state finals in the past, but it felt
Speaker 2: like a little bit of that old school East Saint
Speaker 2: Louis swagger was back again. Yeah, it felt like they
Speaker 2: were playing with a level of confidence that maybe they
Speaker 2: haven't the last couple of times that they've gone into
Speaker 2: those state championship games. It just kind of felt like that.
Speaker 2: It felt like there were, you know, one of one
Speaker 2: of East St. Louis's guys that played really well. Christopher
Speaker 2: Bennett can't be any more than five foot seven, but
Speaker 2: he plays like he's about six foot eight. I mean,
Speaker 2: he just plays with a confidence that that you you've
Speaker 2: gotten to know from kind of past East Saint Louis
Speaker 2: themes that knew they were good, believe they were good,
Speaker 2: and look forward to showing you how good they are.
Speaker 1: So they're going to be in Class six A. And
Speaker 1: what teams probably took notice the most, maybe one of
Speaker 1: them being the one I saw Friday night and Carrie Grove,
Speaker 1: because if they have any visions of doing what they
Speaker 1: did last year, that the the the alteration of that
Speaker 1: probably was was definitely noticeable Saturday night.
Speaker 2: Well, I would imagine that's definitely true in terms of
Speaker 2: who's who's keeping an eye out. But you know, I
Speaker 2: think there's just gonna there's a lot of raised eyebrows
Speaker 2: no matter what classification you're in. That would when it
Speaker 2: really came down to it, because you're looking at Loyola,
Speaker 2: who had won nineteen consecutive games back to back Class
Speaker 2: eight state state tie. Their only loss over the past
Speaker 2: two seasons has been one lost to Mount Carmel and
Speaker 2: Week nine of two years ago, everybody came in believing
Speaker 2: that that was the best team in the state entering
Speaker 2: the entering that Saturday night game, that was the common
Speaker 2: thread you could make maybe a little bit of an
Speaker 2: argument that the basic consensus was it was Loyola, and
Speaker 2: then we left Saturday night believing that we had seen
Speaker 2: the number one team, but it was the team on
Speaker 2: the other side of the sideline.
Speaker 1: Is this a good thing for Loyola overall because they
Speaker 1: have not had adversity like that going into week two
Speaker 1: or any week really in a long time.
Speaker 2: Well, I wasn't able to complete my little statistical project
Speaker 2: yet this weekend, but I wanted to look into it.
Speaker 2: I can't remember the last time Loyola and Mount Carmel
Speaker 2: were both zero to one heading into week two. You
Speaker 2: know that I wasn't able to find the correct answer
Speaker 2: to it. I gotta dig further and see if I
Speaker 2: can drill down and see if it's ever happened for
Speaker 2: that matter. So but yeah, definitely puts a little bit
Speaker 2: of an interesting wrinkle on it. And you look at
Speaker 2: the calendar. I mean, they go to Doucheon Field and
Speaker 2: play Glenbard West next week. I wouldn't want to be
Speaker 2: the team that has to play Loyola coming off a
Speaker 2: loss and looking the way that they did in that
Speaker 2: game against the Saint Louis, because that is that was
Speaker 2: not the Loyola product that I was accustomed to seeing.
Speaker 2: And I'm sure they're looking forward to the opportunity to
Speaker 2: write a whole bunch of those wrongs as soon as possible.
Speaker 1: Loyola drops to Owen one and they'll face Blumbard West
Speaker 1: also one. Because what Batavia did to them at Doucheon
Speaker 1: Field on Saturday, I believe you were able to get
Speaker 1: a little bit a look at that one. But either way,
Speaker 1: Batavia they have some speed, they have some power, They've
Speaker 1: got a running back, and they have some new weapons
Speaker 1: out there. They're a little more they feel a little
Speaker 1: more balanced than maybe they have been in previous seasons.
Speaker 3: On the offensive side of the football.
Speaker 2: Well, it was actually kind of interesting because it was
Speaker 2: it's definitely a little bit of a work in progress
Speaker 2: for Batavia. They have a new quarterback that it seems
Speaker 2: like Ryan bow has been at Batavia for about five
Speaker 2: or six years, which really has so, I mean, he
Speaker 2: wasn't there. So they're breaking in a new quarterback, and
Speaker 2: it seemed like at times they were they were trying
Speaker 2: to ease him in to, you know, into the starting
Speaker 2: varsity quarterback experience. Not exactly the kind of defense that
Speaker 2: you want to try to ease yourself into with a
Speaker 2: Glenbard West defense on the other side. But they, you know,
Speaker 2: they actually did something that I can't remember the last
Speaker 2: time Batavia had done. They put most of the offense
Speaker 2: on their lead running back. I mean, he ended up
Speaker 2: with thirty plus carries in the game, and and just
Speaker 2: that that's something that you're not accustomed to seeing from Batavia.
Speaker 2: They tend to spread it around, and maybe that's something
Speaker 2: that developed over the course of the season, but they
Speaker 2: really want into workhorse mode, especially in the second half,
Speaker 2: to make sure that they fended off Glenbard West at
Speaker 2: the end. They controlled that game most of the way,
Speaker 2: but Glenbard West just kept hanging around, hanging around. They
Speaker 2: had a little bit of alligator blood in that one,
Speaker 2: but a couple of things really kind of broke it
Speaker 2: open for them quite possibly the best on side kick
Speaker 2: I've ever seen at the high school level that they recovered.
Speaker 2: I mean, this was an absolute beauty. I mean, they
Speaker 2: should use this in instructional videos. Glenbard West. Glenbard West
Speaker 2: muffed a punt inside of their own ten yard line,
Speaker 2: so that led directly to a Batavia touchdown. Gave at
Speaker 2: the time Batavia two touchdown lead, but Glenbard West fought back,
Speaker 2: fought back into the game, played well in the second half,
Speaker 2: got a huge return from the Mason Ellens to kind
Speaker 2: of spark them, but got underneath two minutes they got
Speaker 2: they turned the ball over on downs, but they were
Speaker 2: probably at about the thirty five yard line of Batavia
Speaker 2: trying to go in. But Batavia won the football game,
Speaker 2: but did it in a little bit different fashion than
Speaker 2: than you're used to from Batavia.
Speaker 1: He used to seeing some speed running backs from Batavia
Speaker 1: when you go literally twenty years back with Batavia. But
Speaker 1: Nathan Whitwell kind of a different animal with a one
Speaker 1: hundred and seventy nine yards in the ground. I loved
Speaker 1: your note of him being a four hundred sprinter because
Speaker 1: that's just a different.
Speaker 3: Kind of speed when you get out in the open.
Speaker 3: He is just not.
Speaker 1: Going to relinquish any sort of a gap of defenders
Speaker 1: chasing him, and that's something that's certainly going to help
Speaker 1: Batavia's offense. For Glenburg westy, is it me or do
Speaker 1: they feel younger than they had been in years past
Speaker 1: going in and this schedule means they're gonna have to
Speaker 1: grow up quite a bit in these next two weeks.
Speaker 2: Well, I was looking at I guess I knew this,
Speaker 2: but I had kind of forgotten, especially with the Loyola
Speaker 2: Week two game coming up next week. They also have
Speaker 2: Downers Grove North and a very good kind of flying
Speaker 2: under the radar Lions team in the first four weeks
Speaker 2: of the season that I'll put that schedule. We talked
Speaker 2: a lot about the Catholic League schedule on how strong
Speaker 2: that is. I'll put that Glenbard West schedule up against
Speaker 2: anybody in the state over the first four weeks of
Speaker 2: the season, and on top of that, there's some landmines
Speaker 2: later on too, So it's that is a you know,
Speaker 2: that's a schedule right now that I look at before
Speaker 2: the season and I think to myself, that's a fifty
Speaker 2: five point schedule. And if you don't know what I'm
Speaker 2: talking about, like, fifty is a whole heck of a
Speaker 2: lot of playoff points. Fifty five is otherworldly, Like you
Speaker 2: don't maybe one two teams in the state will put
Speaker 2: up that many playoff points at the end of the day,
Speaker 2: at the end of nine weeks, and Glenbard West looks
Speaker 2: like they have that kind of strength.
Speaker 1: And I know Chad Hecklett is not thinking like this,
Speaker 1: but I'll just put the scenario out there. What this
Speaker 1: does is it gives you breathing room save for goodness
Speaker 1: sakes that you gets them to zho to four and
Speaker 1: then they stumble later and it's four and five. All
Speaker 1: those playoff points put you in the playoffs, I would say,
Speaker 1: pretty much, Garret Garantee at this point of where we've
Speaker 1: seen the playoff picture of the last two or three years,
Speaker 1: and then the new public league rules which will talk
Speaker 1: of nauseaum here in later weeks of the season. But
Speaker 1: you schedule this kind of schedule to give yourself breathing room.
Speaker 1: Yes you want to grow, Yes you want to win,
Speaker 1: but if you don't, it's okay because you're learning big
Speaker 1: games so that when you get down Nazareth's style to
Speaker 1: you know, go at a prairie ridge, Well, all of
Speaker 1: a sudden they've got a problem, and then you're on
Speaker 1: your way to a state title at nine and five.
Speaker 2: Yeah, it's one of those it's one of those things
Speaker 2: now that are that's in play, and it's it's definitely
Speaker 2: a situation where, yes, you don't want to play a
Speaker 2: schedule so difficult that you've beaten yourself down during the
Speaker 2: regular season. But then again, if you are forced into
Speaker 2: that situation, you do have to give yourself a little
Speaker 2: bit of a little bit of a respite and a
Speaker 2: little bit of a pause, saying, hey, if it does,
Speaker 2: if we do to accept some losses early in the season,
Speaker 2: if we can make it to four, I think we're
Speaker 2: still going to get in. And I think we're a
Speaker 2: battle tested enough team to where even though you might
Speaker 2: be a four and five team and have a very
Speaker 2: high seed, I mean, one of those top seeds does
Speaker 2: not want to see you on the other side of
Speaker 2: that bracket. So it's definitely kind of a little bit
Speaker 2: of a catch twenty two. But it might be a situation,
Speaker 2: and in the long run, it prepares a team like
Speaker 2: Glenbard West pretty well for whatever level of playoff they
Speaker 2: end up in, whether it be seven or eight, they're
Speaker 2: always a bubble team.
Speaker 1: Can you imagine four and five Blumbard West facing off
Speaker 1: against a nine to zero Barrington That will not be
Speaker 1: That's the last thing that the Broncos would want to see. Well,
Speaker 1: we'll get to some of the impressive teams and leagues
Speaker 1: that we saw. But first off, before we get to
Speaker 1: the other ones, I want to stay with the Tavia
Speaker 1: because they and the Duke Kne did a serious number
Speaker 1: They've got. They got some late wins weak North and
Speaker 1: Saint Charles North, but some dominant performances as well. Lake
Speaker 1: Park got a big win Saint Charles North of course,
Speaker 1: getting that exciting win. Who didn't I didn't have Geneva
Speaker 1: getting putting a sixty three burger on Larkin. I knew
Speaker 1: they'd be good, but not sixty three points better. There's
Speaker 1: what do you make of the Dukene so far, other
Speaker 1: than the fact that poor Saint Charles East is being
Speaker 1: Minnesota right now, the only one that didn't win but
Speaker 1: still put forty points on the board.
Speaker 2: Yeah, I mean, and they appeared to have played pretty
Speaker 2: well in that game as well, losing to a Lincoln
Speaker 2: Way Central team that was the second round playoff team
Speaker 2: last year, so not exactly losing to a slouch there.
Speaker 2: But you mentioned the Geneva situation. They scored five touchdowns
Speaker 2: in the first quarter. I mean it was it was
Speaker 2: their starting quarterback only played a quarter, went six for
Speaker 2: seven with four touchdowns and of almost two hundred yards. Passing.
Speaker 2: So I mean, Geneva is looking like they are ready
Speaker 2: to make that next step and get themselves into the
Speaker 2: conversation as one of the elite teams in the classification
Speaker 2: that they're in. So, you know, with Geneva and everybody
Speaker 2: in that conference, and I've talked about this a lot
Speaker 2: lately the last couple of years, it feels like every
Speaker 2: week once we get into the Dukene Conference schedule, there's
Speaker 2: at least one game that comes down to the wire,
Speaker 2: maybe goes to overtime. I feel like we're gonna have
Speaker 2: so many of those, and it's just a situation where
Speaker 2: we have to consider that. I mean there's teams we're
Speaker 2: not even talking about. I thought Wheaton Warrenville South had
Speaker 2: a good day as well, So I mean on top
Speaker 2: of Wheaton North, top of a prominence team that a
Speaker 2: lot of people like. Granted it was a fourth down
Speaker 2: play in the last second, but eventually you start to
Speaker 2: make a list here and you've got five or six
Speaker 2: teams that you think are definitely playoff caliber, and the
Speaker 2: math ain't mathing. If you start really breaking down, you know,
Speaker 2: some of these teams are gonna have to lose some
Speaker 2: conference games, like potentially you could have one of those
Speaker 2: situations where the conference champion loses one game in the
Speaker 2: league play, maybe even loses two. I mean, that's how
Speaker 2: deep this conference is, where you've got to start figuring
Speaker 2: out like a four way tie or something like that.
Speaker 2: I mean, I really conceivably could see that. And it's
Speaker 2: strange for some of those teams that not necessarily saying
Speaker 2: that they're going to finish at the bottom, but like
Speaker 2: Lake Park got a solid win, but they have a
Speaker 2: mountain to climb just to get to the middle of
Speaker 2: the pack in right way right now. So that's it's
Speaker 2: really really the depth there is really really impressive. And
Speaker 2: then you've got, you know, someone like Wheat and Warnville
Speaker 2: South that maybe has been a little bit back the
Speaker 2: last couple of years, looking like they want to maybe
Speaker 2: punch their way into that conversation too. So every week
Speaker 2: in the Duke Can is going to be crazy, and
Speaker 2: I think and for me to say that it's gonna
Speaker 2: be crazier than it's been in the past is really
Speaker 2: saying something.
Speaker 1: And Batavia and Geneva they have i would say moderate opponents.
Speaker 1: This week with Batavia facing South Elgin, we saw they
Speaker 1: were thirty points less than Barrington, the Broncos putting sixty
Speaker 1: four on the board. Geneva plays a down Lamont team,
Speaker 1: and so those two teams can be five and zero
Speaker 1: going into their October matchup, which would be the game
Speaker 1: of the year in the league, you would imagine at
Speaker 1: this point. But you know, for those other teams, they're
Speaker 1: gonna have to steal some wins somewhere Glenberg North or
Speaker 1: a Lake Park. I mean, you're gonna have to find
Speaker 1: a way to sneak through. And that's where if you're
Speaker 1: a week north, week South, you know that you gotta
Speaker 1: do what you gotta do to make sure you get
Speaker 1: in position. Saint Charles East is one of those teams.
Speaker 1: They have Wheaton Academy next week. They lost to them
Speaker 1: last year. Are the Saints any good? They put forty
Speaker 1: in Linkaway Central. They mean they have to win this
Speaker 1: week against Wheaton Academy and they probably know it, knowing
Speaker 1: their schedule. I want to switch over to the Kishwaukee
Speaker 1: six and two for the Kishwaukee River. How about that
Speaker 1: kind of a new league set up with the Sandwich
Speaker 1: and Planos staying for good?
Speaker 3: What do you make of the KRC at this point?
Speaker 3: Start things off.
Speaker 2: You know, there were there was a couple of situations
Speaker 2: there where you know, I had good expectations for some
Speaker 2: of these teams in this league, but some of them
Speaker 2: were kind of forced into games that, like you know,
Speaker 2: with teams classifications a couple above them, you never know
Speaker 2: how those games are going to go. But but good
Speaker 2: victories out of the box. And ultimately, you know, what
Speaker 2: it came down to is the only two that lost
Speaker 2: where Sandwich, who had a great season last year, maybe
Speaker 2: Mantino's turning the corner there. They put up fifty four
Speaker 2: on Sandwich and and and Woodstock loss to a what
Speaker 2: I believe to be a very good Roachelle team. But
Speaker 2: other than that, you know, Johnsburg went up to Wisconsin
Speaker 2: and claimed to win. Morengo beating Evergreen Park is a
Speaker 2: solid victory in the grand scheme of things. Plano beating
Speaker 2: a bigger school in Ottawa. I mean, granted they just
Speaker 2: got by him, but that's all the matters only got
Speaker 2: to beat him by one. So I mean, I think
Speaker 2: this is another league where you're going to look at
Speaker 2: it at the end of the season and see a
Speaker 2: lot of games in the middle of that pack that
Speaker 2: could go either way. I mean, Richmond Burton is still
Speaker 2: your favorite and will continue to be your favorite in
Speaker 2: that league until someone proves otherwise. But beyond that, it
Speaker 2: looks like there's going to be a week to week
Speaker 2: dog fight, you know, with two or three games in
Speaker 2: that league schedule.
Speaker 1: The Sandwich, of course, has Wilmington and the Wildcats have
Speaker 1: basically told the entire state of like, we'll play anybody
Speaker 1: at this point, so come on down, we don't care.
Speaker 1: And then they'll have Plano at Plano the War in
Speaker 1: thirty four of the following week. And let's give it
Speaker 1: up for Harvard. The Hornets twenty game losing streak snapped.
Speaker 1: They were able to get a win. You like to
Speaker 1: see that. I mean, we don't want to make fun
Speaker 1: of it, but man, I'll tell.
Speaker 3: You what I was. I played on one of those
Speaker 3: teams and lost eighteen in a row.
Speaker 1: When you get that win, it's a relief and a
Speaker 1: feeling that you can play at confidence surge coming after
Speaker 1: a win after twenty straight losses is something else.
Speaker 3: Soon.
Speaker 2: Yeah, not only a win, but a convincing win. I
Speaker 2: mean they won that game forty two to seven over
Speaker 2: lyle so good strong second half effort for them. I
Speaker 2: believe it was fourteen to seven at halftime, and then
Speaker 2: they came out and took care of business. So yeah,
Speaker 2: a nice win for them. You know, there were there
Speaker 2: were several stories around there around the state this weekend
Speaker 2: with teams picking up a win that maybe haven't had
Speaker 2: one in a while. Yeah, programs that programs that the
Speaker 2: expectation was they might have some trouble. So it was,
Speaker 2: it was. It was kind of a good weekend for
Speaker 2: those types of schools. Still some other ones out there
Speaker 2: looking to break through, but yeah, Harbor was a good
Speaker 2: story this weekend.
Speaker 3: Get out for the Fed and Bison.
Speaker 1: Also, they had a ten game losing Street snapped on
Speaker 1: week one. They're above five hundred. All right, to the
Speaker 1: Catholic League, we go. We can talk about the loyalism
Speaker 1: Mount Carmel's to the cows, come home, dig in there
Speaker 1: a little bit, and some of the mess and the
Speaker 1: muck of what really stood out to you. We watched
Speaker 1: Brother Ice and that score come by and go, oh, okay,
Speaker 1: that's there's something there. They got Maris this week the
Speaker 1: Pulaski Super Bowl.
Speaker 2: You know, I was I was interested in a couple
Speaker 2: of things involving the Catholic League this week I expected
Speaker 2: Brother Ice to take care of business in the fashion
Speaker 2: that they did. Phillips is not quite where the program
Speaker 2: has been in previous seasons, so I thought Brother Ice
Speaker 2: would come out and take care of business, maybe not
Speaker 2: in the grand fashion that they did. So that was
Speaker 2: a that was a win for them in a lot
Speaker 2: of ways. But Marris this weekend was kind of a
Speaker 2: little bit of a wild card for me. Had a
Speaker 2: very interesting first round first week game with Morgan Park,
Speaker 2: a team that has a lot of talent, has done,
Speaker 2: has has had some playoff success. You know, I really
Speaker 2: didn't know what we were gonna get in Mike Fitzgerald,
Speaker 2: you know, first game over there after coming over from York.
Speaker 2: But a good, solid effort from that team knocking off
Speaker 2: Morgan Park puts them in a situation now in week
Speaker 2: two where you know they have this Brother Ice game.
Speaker 2: It's at all of these games, all of these non
Speaker 2: conference games are so pivotal for every Chicago Catholic League
Speaker 2: team because you look at Marist and the Orange, They're
Speaker 2: joined with Joliet Catholic, Providence, Niles, Notre Dame, and on paper,
Speaker 2: you look at that none of those games. None of
Speaker 2: those games are a slam dunk winning. And then not
Speaker 2: only are they playing Brother Ice in a non conference,
Speaker 2: non conference game, they've also got another crossover game with
Speaker 2: another Blue team. So this is just a chock full schedule.
Speaker 2: Maris would love to get to two and oh here.
Speaker 2: That would be great for them, same thing with Brother Ice.
Speaker 2: Brother Rice has got to maneuver that Blue division. They've
Speaker 2: got to play sat They've got to play both Loyola
Speaker 2: and Mount Carnival and conference games and a Saint Ignacious
Speaker 2: team that I think put together a nice win over
Speaker 2: Saint Louis Universe City, a pretty solid team but nothing
Speaker 2: spectacular there, but hung a whole bunch of points on
Speaker 2: them and are like, hey, guys, we're still here. I mean,
Speaker 2: justin Scott may not be here, but we still think
Speaker 2: we can be a good football team this year. And
Speaker 2: even though they're in the Blue for them, they have
Speaker 2: another situation this week. They have to go They have
Speaker 2: to go to Fenwick and try to get to two
Speaker 2: and o themselves for the same reason that everybody else
Speaker 2: needs to get to two and oh in the Catholic
Speaker 2: League if they can, because once they get into into
Speaker 2: divisional play, all bets are.
Speaker 1: Off two teams in the Catholic League that I wonder
Speaker 1: about your thoughts on just from what we see in
Speaker 1: the results, Nazareth and Saint Francis. We were watching those
Speaker 1: early on Friday night. Did they do what they needed
Speaker 1: to do to make sure that they're in position and
Speaker 1: what do they need to get better at what you
Speaker 1: were watching?
Speaker 2: Well, Nazareth and Kanka Kee have developed kind of kind
Speaker 2: of a pretty interesting little rivalry over the past. It
Speaker 2: really is. This is the third year of that series.
Speaker 2: You go back two years, it was that wild kan
Speaker 2: Ka Key wins it two to nothing, and of course
Speaker 2: we started we started this game with a safety four
Speaker 2: Kanka Key, so it was an eyebrow raise there. But
Speaker 2: Nazareth did a really nice job what they didn't do
Speaker 2: in last year's game when they lost to Kanka Key.
Speaker 2: I went to that game. They got down and they
Speaker 2: didn't really make a lot of adjustments. They kept trying
Speaker 2: to do the same things that had not been working.
Speaker 2: And it appears that they they got over that because
Speaker 2: they Logan Malichuk through an interception late in the game
Speaker 2: that gave Kanka Ke a lead with about nine minutes
Speaker 2: to play. Bounced back nicely, came back out and just
Speaker 2: didn't back down from it, went on the attack. He's
Speaker 2: a he's a really good dual run pass quarterback threat,
Speaker 2: and he guided them past Kanka Key this time. So
Speaker 2: it was it was one of those situations where I
Speaker 2: think Nazareth is gonna have a lot of games like this.
Speaker 2: I think they're a very talented but in terms of
Speaker 2: their schedule, I think they're gonna have a lot of
Speaker 2: opponents that give them their best shot. But even though
Speaker 2: they are a you know by classification, they are a
Speaker 2: five eighteen, they have a smaller roster than a lot
Speaker 2: of their opponents that they play, so a lot of
Speaker 2: their guys are asked to at least contribute both ways
Speaker 2: and sometimes and sometimes if if nazarethen is a close game,
Speaker 2: you can see them maybe in the in the third
Speaker 2: and fourth quarter, they might be a little low in
Speaker 2: the gas tank. So, but their schedule is such a
Speaker 2: beast and it'll be interesting now because you mentioned Saint Francis,
Speaker 2: who it took a little while to get past Kenwood
Speaker 2: this week, Well, NASA's playing Kenwood this week, so we'll
Speaker 2: have a pretty good measuring scale for like where those
Speaker 2: two teams compare. I mean, they're in the same division.
Speaker 2: They will play later in the year. But that's very interesting.
Speaker 2: You know, it looked like Saint Francis just Saint Francis
Speaker 2: gave up some place, gave up some big plays. So
Speaker 2: that's something that they're gonna have to adjust and and
Speaker 2: try to you know, hem that down a little bit.
Speaker 2: But yes, that's a that's it's a very interesting situation
Speaker 2: in that conference because in the Green you've got you've
Speaker 2: got four teams that I think are all teams that
Speaker 2: fully expect to be in the playoff dance, and all
Speaker 2: four of them are going to have a climb just
Speaker 2: to get just to get into that conversation. It's not
Speaker 2: about whether or not, well, you know, we expect to
Speaker 2: be a quarterfinalist or a semifinals. Can we get in? And
Speaker 2: this set is the first concern. I mean, if you
Speaker 2: look at Saint Rita and IC Catholic, who are the
Speaker 2: other two members of that division. I mean, if it's
Speaker 2: a traditional stacking, one of those teams is going to
Speaker 2: lose three conference games. Yep. So maybe it's not maybe
Speaker 2: you got two two and ones and two to one
Speaker 2: and twos, but that's still two losses, and you've got
Speaker 2: a crossover against the Blue that you have to deal
Speaker 2: with and other difficult games. So it's it's really like
Speaker 2: I said, both of those teams, Saint Francis and Nazareth,
Speaker 2: they would really, really really love to get to two
Speaker 2: and zero this week because that would be a great
Speaker 2: situation for them moving forward, because it basically means, like
Speaker 2: we're talking about before, these teams honestly may only need
Speaker 2: to get to four. So that gives them a nice
Speaker 2: blanket to go into that part of the season knowing
Speaker 2: that if we go five hundred the rest of way,
Speaker 2: we're totally good, or a game under five hundred, we're
Speaker 2: still in. And then you know, if the worst comes
Speaker 2: the worst, we only need to get two more.
Speaker 1: Now you don't want to deal with the four and five,
Speaker 1: but it changes the way you feel and you approach
Speaker 1: things and the panic.
Speaker 3: Attacks, so to speak.
Speaker 1: I remember certain teams you get toed three and it's,
Speaker 1: oh my gosh, we're in big trouble. That doesn't You
Speaker 1: don't have that feeling with some of the bigger classes
Speaker 1: that have schedules like this for this reason now, So
Speaker 1: it'll be interesting to watch that as we go forward,
Speaker 1: one more conference to bring up, will switch gears here
Speaker 1: and kind of talk about some of the surprises. The
Speaker 1: Mid Suburban League West is one play away from being
Speaker 1: five and one after this first opening week, after they
Speaker 1: had a big wins with Barrington, but Schaumber gotta win
Speaker 1: Friend with a thirty eight thirty one to nothing win
Speaker 1: as well. What do you make of the Mid Suburban
Speaker 1: West quite possibly the toughest conference that we're not talking about.
Speaker 2: Yeah, I mean the first thing that raised my eyebrows
Speaker 2: was that Friend win over Lake Zurich. That's that's a
Speaker 2: program that you know, has has reached semi finals in
Speaker 2: six A, seven A very recently, and for them to
Speaker 2: be dominated by a team that is coming off of
Speaker 2: back to back three and six seasons, it's definitely a
Speaker 2: big surprise in my eyes in regards to you know,
Speaker 2: I was basically making sure that that was right. It
Speaker 2: was one of those scores I felt like I had
Speaker 2: to double check just to make sure, because sometimes you
Speaker 2: get you get a bad score out there and you're
Speaker 2: never sure of it.
Speaker 3: Ye.
Speaker 2: But it's definitely definitely one of those games that stood
Speaker 2: out to me. Schomberg was one that I didn't even
Speaker 2: notice until very late in my score collection game on
Speaker 2: Friday night, and that that's a really impressive win for
Speaker 2: a program that has kind of struggled in that division
Speaker 2: over the last couple of years. Antioch just doesn't lose
Speaker 2: regular season games. It feels like almost every year they're
Speaker 2: coming out of there, they're coming out of the regular
Speaker 2: season at nine to zero or at works eight and one.
Speaker 2: It feels like almost every single year. So that was
Speaker 2: you know, that's a really really big win in the
Speaker 2: grand scheme of things. Not only I mean, it's kind
Speaker 2: of double layer because it's like, I mean, winning that
Speaker 2: is really important for Schomberg based on how deep this
Speaker 2: division is just in the quest to get to the
Speaker 2: win total. But you know, having an Antioch on your
Speaker 2: schedule who is more likely going to go back to
Speaker 2: their conference and probably do what they always do, You're
Speaker 2: still going to get seven or eight points out of
Speaker 2: them most likely. So that's a big deal when it
Speaker 2: comes down to moving around later in the year if
Speaker 2: maybe they go five hundred in conference and you know,
Speaker 2: and did they get themselves into a situation where maybe
Speaker 2: they're in that four win group or even in the
Speaker 2: five win group, where the fact that they played this schedule,
Speaker 2: they're gonna go ahead of a lot of five win
Speaker 2: teams on the seat chart because of playing games like Antioch,
Speaker 2: who is going to go back to their schedule and
Speaker 2: win games.
Speaker 1: And when Schaumberg did, When Mark Stilling looks at that schedule,
Speaker 1: he's gonna see Elk Grove, Niles, North, Niles, West, Palatine,
Speaker 1: and Conan before you get to the Barrington and from
Speaker 1: week seven and week eight, so Schauberg has a chance
Speaker 1: to stack up some wins and to get themselves in
Speaker 1: position to potentially compete for a conference title. Could they
Speaker 1: be in that conference conversation that's a little early, but
Speaker 1: the fact that they're in that mix just because of
Speaker 1: one win changes it for them. Hoffman Estate's also victorious
Speaker 1: this weekend. They got one to zero and then Palotine
Speaker 1: lost in that flute play with Saint Charles North and
Speaker 1: Riverboat Robert Palmazak going for it with going for two
Speaker 1: with ten seconds left. So Palatine at zero to one,
Speaker 1: they're still very good. And so this conference overall, and
Speaker 1: oh yeah, Barrington just throwing sixty four points on the board,
Speaker 1: Bronco is gonna be really hard to beat, but they're
Speaker 1: gonna have quite the test up and down the league
Speaker 1: this year, which might farewell for them if they want
Speaker 1: to make a final deep run. Haven't been in the
Speaker 1: state championship game in a long time, and this might
Speaker 1: be the one team that could get there.
Speaker 2: Yeah. I mean, it's definitely one of those situations where
Speaker 2: you just kind of look at what's going on around,
Speaker 2: especially with these early games, just kind of getting a
Speaker 2: feel for what these teams are. You know, when I
Speaker 2: looked at Barrington early in the year, I was wasn't
Speaker 2: sure exactly how I needed to handle that, and and
Speaker 2: maybe South Elgin might be a little bit down, but
Speaker 2: still hanging fifty four I'm in that situation is really impressive.
Speaker 2: I mean, that's a program South Elegion is a program
Speaker 2: has won a lot of football games over the last
Speaker 2: couple of years. So that's a good showing for them.
Speaker 2: I'll admit I just whiffed on them in terms of
Speaker 2: the rankings. I should have been a little bit more,
Speaker 2: a little bit more cognizant of the Broncos in this situation,
Speaker 2: but it's an interesting The fun thing about them is,
Speaker 2: you know, they win that game where South elgim there
Speaker 2: and they go right into Hersey, which is a team
Speaker 2: that you know that is that lost last week, and
Speaker 2: yeah it's Warren, but I still believe is a really
Speaker 2: good football team. So they're gonna be chomping at the
Speaker 2: bit trying to avoid going to zero and two. That's
Speaker 2: a really intriguing Week two matchup right there.
Speaker 1: For me, Hersey's first loss in the regular season in
Speaker 1: like what two or three years at least they've been
Speaker 1: nine and over the last couple of years. Uh, the
Speaker 1: fifty five points from Warren, we did not see that coming.
Speaker 1: What makes them so special an offense.
Speaker 2: Well, Aaron Stewart had a heck of a game on
Speaker 2: Friday night. And this is a team that when I
Speaker 2: talk about them, and evidence has bore this out, you
Speaker 2: start and almost finish your conversation on how good the
Speaker 2: Warren defense is because historically over the last five or
Speaker 2: six years, they just don't give up any points like
Speaker 2: they that's what the team is. So you know, to
Speaker 2: see Stewart knew what he did. He ran for almost
Speaker 2: three hundred yards in the first half of that game
Speaker 2: and then made an early exit just short of four
Speaker 2: hundred yards. So a really really impressive effort for them
Speaker 2: in that game. Just showed that not only the defense
Speaker 2: is something that Warren's gonna hang their hat on, but
Speaker 2: the offense as well.
Speaker 1: Very impressed with the fifty five points and again going
Speaker 1: to one and zero for them. Also one of those
Speaker 1: eight A teams and it's in that second tier waiting
Speaker 1: to get up to the Loyal and Lincoln Way East.
Speaker 3: Do you think they get tired of hearing that up there?
Speaker 1: I don't know how much you've been up to Gurney
Speaker 1: to talk to the folks of that program, but I
Speaker 1: would imagine after years of being in that quarterfinal and
Speaker 1: then getting bounced out, you get sick of feeling like
Speaker 1: you're in that second step and wanting to make that
Speaker 1: next step to try and put themselves in a position
Speaker 1: to get the normal.
Speaker 2: Yeah, they got to got to a final and lost
Speaker 2: to Lincoln Way East, I believe four years ago. But
Speaker 2: you know, other than that, they've been close, but not
Speaker 2: quite at the level. It's hard to be, first of all,
Speaker 2: it's hard to be at the level that Loyal and
Speaker 2: Lincoln Way East are at on a yearly basis. But yeah,
Speaker 2: I'm sure that that's that's that's annoying that you haven't
Speaker 2: been able to kind of transition that and get yourself
Speaker 2: into that upper echelon conversation where it's like everybody starts
Speaker 2: the conversation and ada with those two programs and then
Speaker 2: every time then lumps you in with a with a
Speaker 2: larger group of teams that isn't quite there. So that
Speaker 2: you know, maybe this team does have it. We'll see
Speaker 2: what a very impressive statement to start the season.
Speaker 1: Of course, they'll go to Maine South on in week
Speaker 1: two and you want to talk about a statement game
Speaker 1: mate South is a limping into that one after getting
Speaker 1: toasted by Lincoln Way East. Warren could go in there
Speaker 1: and do some damage to to really set a tone
Speaker 1: for them with their schedule lightning up after that. So
Speaker 1: it'll be interesting to see how the Warre and Blue
Speaker 1: Devils do going on the road down in Park Ridge.
Speaker 1: A couple more minutes with Steve Sussi as we finish
Speaker 1: up for Friday Night Drive podcast.
Speaker 3: Things around the state, even the small schools.
Speaker 4: What jumped out at you from the weekend and what
Speaker 4: did you learn about some of the other things outside
Speaker 4: of the Chicagoland area that they talk about. I'll give
Speaker 4: you one that a little bit polin a really nice
Speaker 4: win at Washington.
Speaker 3: They have a master schedule out of the straggline region
Speaker 3: a little bit. What else did you see?
Speaker 2: You know, you mentioned the Caitlin win. I thought that
Speaker 2: was pretty impressive for them to do what they did.
Speaker 2: I was impressed with Princeton in week one, Uh, taking
Speaker 2: care of Newman Central Catholic in the fashion that they did.
Speaker 2: You know, that's that's a nice win for them. Metamoras
Speaker 2: win over Sterling was was pretty interesting to me just
Speaker 2: in the sense of, uh, you know, I think Sterling
Speaker 2: didn't have the greatest year last year, got in as
Speaker 2: one of those four win playoff teams. But for Metamora,
Speaker 2: I think we're starting to see them maybe come back
Speaker 2: to the age of when Metamora was a thing. I mean,
Speaker 2: I think we're getting back there. I mean with Washington,
Speaker 2: you know, transitioning to a new coaching staff. I think
Speaker 2: Matamora might be now the standard in the middle line
Speaker 2: I conference. That's very you know, that one of those
Speaker 2: situations so very interesting in that sense. You know a
Speaker 2: couple of other teams that really kind of drew my
Speaker 2: eye a little bit. In Week one. I was Columbia
Speaker 2: did not have a very good year last year, but
Speaker 2: they they hammered Breeze Modern Day on front all, which
Speaker 2: I thought that was that was a really interesting game
Speaker 2: that kind of jumped off the page for me. We
Speaker 2: touched on it a little bit earlier. I was impressed
Speaker 2: with what Wheaton Hornville South did this week with their
Speaker 2: win over glen Bard South. Uh, you know, and that's
Speaker 2: those are some of a few of the stories that
Speaker 2: have developed. And the other one that really jumped out
Speaker 2: at me from a one A perspective was Fulton beat
Speaker 2: Forrest in twenty eight to nothing. And Forreston is typically
Speaker 2: the only program that can really give Lena Winslow a
Speaker 2: run right in the upstate of line I. So for
Speaker 2: Fulton to do that to Forrest and in that situation, uh,
Speaker 2: maybe bodes that there might be a changing of the
Speaker 2: guard and who is on the second step in that
Speaker 2: conference this year. So still Lina's conference until someone proves otherwise.
Speaker 2: But Fulton with a very impressive win to kick things off.
Speaker 1: Circle back to a Metamora now one and oh of
Speaker 1: course eight wins last year getting the second round for
Speaker 1: Jared Rebner and company. They're interesting in five a because
Speaker 1: they have La Salperu at home for their home opener,
Speaker 1: So they come off that wild win to play it
Speaker 1: home against lasal Peru and then they go to Washington,
Speaker 1: so right away they're going to figure out how good
Speaker 1: they really are Morton. After that, Pekin had a nice win,
Speaker 1: more so because there's a lot of hypes around the
Speaker 1: other team that was coming in there, with Robbie Gold
Speaker 1: being the head coach of rolling medals. I thought that
Speaker 1: was a nice win for them or to in that
Speaker 1: kind of fashion, dealing with that kind of environment. So
Speaker 1: the middle line I some interesting stories of the folks
Speaker 1: down in Peoria this week. What are you looking forward
Speaker 1: to the most? Is kind of a preview, a little
Speaker 1: snippet preview of what's the week two in store for
Speaker 1: you right now.
Speaker 2: You know, there's there's a lot of games that, like
Speaker 2: I find intriguing just because of what happened. I mean, look,
Speaker 2: I look closer to my area here, Morris is playing
Speaker 2: Joliet West in a game that I think is really
Speaker 2: an interesting little Joliet West only regular season loss last
Speaker 2: year was to Morris. Morris still believes that they have
Speaker 2: the kind of team right now that can make a
Speaker 2: pretty deep postseason run. So that's a really fun game
Speaker 2: for me. I think that's that's one of those things
Speaker 2: where Juliet West still trying to prove that, you know,
Speaker 2: they belong in conversations about the best teams in the
Speaker 2: South suburbs, and a win over Morris would do a
Speaker 2: lot for them. You mentioned it a little bit earlier.
Speaker 2: I'm very interested in that Warren Maine South game because
Speaker 2: I think Maine South is getting put in the rear
Speaker 2: view mirror here a little too quick. I mean, they
Speaker 2: got by a really good football team on Friday night,
Speaker 2: but I don't think I don't think you want to
Speaker 2: bury them. I think the I think they will be
Speaker 2: heard from, maybe not as quick as this week, but
Speaker 2: I don't think they're gonna just go away. I don't
Speaker 2: think they're just gonna curl up and give up. I mean,
Speaker 2: that's still a very talented football team.
Speaker 1: Game that jumps off the two of them, that kind
Speaker 1: of jump off the page one in a bigger fashion.
Speaker 1: Lions at Wheaton South. That is gonna be a very
Speaker 1: key playoff game from a playoff points perspective. If you
Speaker 1: watch the live stream and Friday we talk a lot
Speaker 1: about how those playoff points go based on these non
Speaker 1: conference matchups and who gets that extra point for it.
Speaker 3: So to be very curious to see how the Tigers
Speaker 3: and the Lions do in that one Week one or
Speaker 3: week two, I should say, and Wheat and South and
Speaker 3: up in my area sneaky one. Dundee Crown is one
Speaker 3: and oh.
Speaker 1: By the way they get Central Rockets, they could be
Speaker 1: two and oh here and that league is not really
Speaker 1: dominant if it's Carry Grove and everyone else, it seems.
Speaker 1: And so maybe Dundee Crown can get themselves to five
Speaker 1: and four get in the postseason for the first time
Speaker 1: in a while. They look good in week one, so
Speaker 1: now see if they can carry it over to week two.
Speaker 1: Those are the stories that are catching my eye. Steve Susie,
Speaker 1: it's been a pleasure. Get ready for week two and
Speaker 1: we will see you next time here on Friday Night Drive.
Speaker 1: I hat just a football podcast.