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Speaker 2: This is State Representative Steve Reich. Since twenty sixteen. It's
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Speaker 4: Hello everybody, and welcome to the Friday Night Drive semi
Speaker 4: final preview podcasts. I'm Josh Welge, joined here by Steve
Speaker 4: Susci and Michael duwaljak As. We taped this on Wednesday afternoon.
Speaker 4: And guys, it's one of the best weekends of the year.
Speaker 4: I feel like I see that a lot, but it
Speaker 4: really is. I feel one of the best weekends of
Speaker 4: the year. You know, it's the last games that are
Speaker 4: playing in high schools and obviously everybody wants to get
Speaker 4: to the championship games.
Speaker 5: You know, what's your thoughts on that, guys.
Speaker 6: Well, I think it's it's, like you said, one of
Speaker 6: those weekends where you look forward to it because you're
Speaker 6: pretty certain you're going to get at least, at the
Speaker 6: very least a couple of really really good football games,
Speaker 6: some barn burners, and if you're if you're lucky, you've
Speaker 6: got a whole slate full of them. And I think
Speaker 6: there's there's a potential for that. I do think there
Speaker 6: are a couple of games on here that I don't
Speaker 6: necessarily I'm not that convinced they're going to be all
Speaker 6: that close. But for the most part, I look at
Speaker 6: these games and if they're not fifty to fifty games,
Speaker 6: they're sixty forty games, and those usually lead to some
Speaker 6: pretty good football games too. So just in general, this
Speaker 6: is what you would expect, obviously when all of these
Speaker 6: three playoff games.
Speaker 4: Yeah, so I think we'll do it a little bit
Speaker 4: differently this week, guys, and start with Class one A
Speaker 4: and work our way up to Class aight A. You
Speaker 4: know's start with Class one A and and serious matchup
Speaker 4: that I'm interested in. Got to start with that belve
Speaker 4: All Off Campoint Central game. Uh, you know, to misakem
Speaker 4: did they play in a quarterfinal last year?
Speaker 7: Yes, is that correct?
Speaker 4: And and and a matchup that a result that you know,
Speaker 4: maybe it was a little bit surprising the way Aldholf
Speaker 4: was doing what doing to doing to teams and then
Speaker 4: campoint in Central is able to beat them.
Speaker 5: You know, again similar situation.
Speaker 4: Aldholf looks like a team that you know, looks like,
Speaker 4: if not the one a favorite, at least one a
Speaker 4: co favorite or something. You know, what do you make
Speaker 4: of the rematchin that one?
Speaker 6: You know, it's an interesting situation because you looked at
Speaker 6: like what happened last year, Camp Point Central getting out
Speaker 6: to that giant lead and then kind of carrying that through.
Speaker 6: I think at one point it might have been thirty
Speaker 6: thirty four or thirty five to nothing in that game.
Speaker 6: And that was what really floored me about that initial meeting.
Speaker 6: And it's interesting between these two teams because what I
Speaker 6: know about Altof and what I've witnessed when I've watched
Speaker 6: some tape i haven't seen them live this year, is
Speaker 6: that they're really really fast and really really athletic, to
Speaker 6: the point where they don't they do not resemble a
Speaker 6: one A football team. They they just got too many,
Speaker 6: too many weapons that they can use and utilize. But
Speaker 6: the thing I think that has kind of flown under
Speaker 6: the radar about this Camp Point Central program, it was
Speaker 6: a little bit notable before they won the state championship
Speaker 6: last year. Their coach is kind of an innovator in
Speaker 6: one area in regards to how it applies to football.
Speaker 6: Coach Dixon has been on the speed training UH train
Speaker 6: for a long time. So Camp Point Central is a
Speaker 6: pretty darn fast and athletic team too, and I think
Speaker 6: that was what allowed them to UH to get to
Speaker 6: where they got last year. So you know, on paper,
Speaker 6: you're thinking yourself, all tav isn't gonna let it happen again. Well,
Speaker 6: they might not have a say in that. I think it.
Speaker 6: I think if anybody matches up well with all tof
Speaker 6: in one a at least component wise, it's Camp Point Central.
Speaker 4: The other semifinal Leroy playing Lena Winslow Leroy is you know,
Speaker 4: really they've kind of dominated most most teams in their
Speaker 4: path this season. They're defense has been great, although I
Speaker 4: did notice in the story of the Erou that their
Speaker 4: defense has been you.
Speaker 5: Know, kind of touched a little bit more into playoffs.
Speaker 4: Now that being said, what do you think is can
Speaker 4: can they take care of Lena Winslow, or did Lena
Speaker 4: Winslow do what they do?
Speaker 6: You know, I kind of think Lena Winslow does what
Speaker 6: they do. It was, you know, that that point that
Speaker 6: you just brought up in regards to LeRoy's defense, and
Speaker 6: if you kind of look at the level of competition
Speaker 6: that Leroy played during the regular season, none of them
Speaker 6: did very well in the playoffs. I'm thinking maybe it
Speaker 6: wasn't the best year for that conference, So, you know,
Speaker 6: and if Leroy doesn't come in and give the kind
Speaker 6: of defensive effort that they did during the regular season
Speaker 6: where they were shutting people out, holding people to a
Speaker 6: touchdown or less, you know, I just can't see, especially
Speaker 6: with the way Lena Winslow recently has been playing offense,
Speaker 6: I can't see how Lee Roy is able to kind
Speaker 6: of get into a game where they're going to trade
Speaker 6: punch for punch with Lena Winslow.
Speaker 7: I just can't envision.
Speaker 4: It could set up a Class one A championship game.
Speaker 4: If it's Belle Alina Winslow. I'm gonna brew some coffee
Speaker 4: and be nice and early for that one. I'll tell
Speaker 4: you that. But but we'll see what happens. First things first, uh,
Speaker 4: this weekend moving up to two A and and Sue's
Speaker 4: interesting in that I think I read that that what
Speaker 4: three of the four teams remaining have never been a
Speaker 4: championship game. In fact, two of them who happen to
Speaker 4: play this weekend, Farmington and Chicago Christian, they're playing in
Speaker 4: the semi final for the first time and they play
Speaker 4: each other.
Speaker 5: What do you what do you make of that?
Speaker 2: Yeah?
Speaker 6: I mean you, like you said, you look at this
Speaker 6: this situation. You've just got a lot of teams that
Speaker 6: are in rarefied air right now. You know it's Johnson
Speaker 6: City has made one semi final, Farmington's never gotten to
Speaker 6: this stage, neither his Chicago Christian. In fact, I don't
Speaker 6: think Chicago Christian has ever been pasted the second round.
Speaker 6: And then you've got Morolla, who obviously has a lot
Speaker 6: more playoff pedigree in this situation. But whatever happens here,
Speaker 6: we're going to have an interesting looking final. It's just
Speaker 6: it's going to involve at least one team that has
Speaker 6: never been there before. All of these teams that are left,
Speaker 6: maybe a lesser respect with chicag Christian because it's it's
Speaker 6: kind of more of a recent uprising from them, but Farmington,
Speaker 6: Johnston City, both of these programs have had a fair
Speaker 6: amount of success to the point where you think, you know,
Speaker 6: you know, they're a pretty solid program, but as far
Speaker 6: as going the distance that it really hasn't been a
Speaker 6: conversation for them. So it's going to be really intriguing
Speaker 6: to end up seeing who the two representatives are in
Speaker 6: the state final game in Class two AA.
Speaker 4: The other semifinal, Johnson City playing Morea Forsyth. Johnstity's had
Speaker 4: a great year. Their only loss of believe was to
Speaker 4: Dixon in that interesting non conference game that that materialized
Speaker 4: this season. Great year for them, but man, it's hard
Speaker 4: for me to go against Moreau Forsyth, especially after they
Speaker 4: able to you know, to get by Quincy Notre Dame.
Speaker 4: They put up some just massive numbers this year.
Speaker 6: Yeah, I would agree with that. I think I think
Speaker 6: Morea Foresight is your favorite of these four. But there's
Speaker 6: always a little bit of a vested rooting interest in having,
Speaker 6: you know, one of these these are let's be honest,
Speaker 6: in terms of a state championship. All the other three
Speaker 6: are classic underdogs right now. They don't have any they
Speaker 6: don't have any you know, speculaue they've never been here,
Speaker 6: you know, they've never been to this situation before, you know,
Speaker 6: Jos City's one semi finals. So I think it could
Speaker 6: have the potential of being a really intriguing experience for
Speaker 6: at least one team and maybe two teams come State
Speaker 6: Final day.
Speaker 4: Yeah, moving up to three A. You know, I'll start
Speaker 4: with the matchup, a really fun matchup, Montini playing Wilmington.
Speaker 4: Montini already beat the defending three A stage champion Byron.
Speaker 4: Now they get the defending Class two A stage champion Wilmington,
Speaker 4: who's moved up Montina. I tell you they were there
Speaker 4: is a time for about a decade that they were
Speaker 4: you know, pretty much pencil them in final week end
Speaker 4: of the year on Thanksgiving weekend. It's been a while
Speaker 4: for them though. It's been seventy eight years since they've
Speaker 4: Bennett State. But Michael, you know, this is a tough
Speaker 4: one for them, but I know they're quite motivated get
Speaker 4: back there.
Speaker 8: Yeah, it feels like if there is gonna be a
Speaker 8: year that they were going to get back, it doesn't.
Speaker 8: It feel like it's this year, just based on what
Speaker 8: they've been bringing back this year with the defense that
Speaker 8: they have, their running attack is fairly strong with the
Speaker 8: good offensive line, and you got a young quarterback that
Speaker 8: doesn't know any better, right Like, he hasn't been through
Speaker 8: the experiences of you know, playing in tough playoff pressure
Speaker 8: and situations and that sort of stuff, and you know,
Speaker 8: maybe that ends up being a big, you know, negative,
Speaker 8: but sometimes, you know, sometimes the hot team is when
Speaker 8: they don't know what to do better and they just
Speaker 8: decide to keep playing. And that's what the young kid
Speaker 8: Abrams is for for Montini. So I'm really curious to
Speaker 8: see whether he's able to keep by intensity that he's
Speaker 8: been playing with since he took over midway through. And
Speaker 8: if Montini can get the passing game going here, I
Speaker 8: think that could really be the big difference in this
Speaker 8: game between two teams that you know, historically are really
Speaker 8: good at, you know, running the ball.
Speaker 5: And both of these teams have really strong defense.
Speaker 4: I mean, Mantini, we talked about their quarterback and their
Speaker 4: running back, but their their defense has been since week one,
Speaker 4: the strength of this team. And on the same side,
Speaker 4: you know, I don't as soon as you know, a
Speaker 4: heck of a lot more about Wilmington football than I do,
Speaker 4: and I think that's one of their strengths too.
Speaker 5: You know, what do you make about this matchup?
Speaker 6: You know, it's interesting. I think obviously one of the
Speaker 6: big components for Wilmington heading into this game is that
Speaker 6: they lost Kyle Ferrell on the first play of the
Speaker 6: game against dram Pecatonica last week. And obviously when you
Speaker 6: get into smaller classification sometimes you have one of those
Speaker 6: kids that's intricral to them on both sides of the football,
Speaker 6: and he is, I mean, he's kind of the captain
Speaker 6: of their defense at a line from a linebacker position, is,
Speaker 6: if not their leading rusher, very close to their leading rusher.
Speaker 6: He's got well over a thousand yards on the season
Speaker 6: rushing and it's part of a one two, one two
Speaker 6: combination with Ketman in their backfield. So when you look
Speaker 6: at what Wilmington does, a lot of it goes around him,
Speaker 6: and his status is pretty much up in the air
Speaker 6: for this one. It's it's almost extremely unlikely that he'll
Speaker 6: If he does play, he'll be at one hundred percent
Speaker 6: after that injury, and if he doesn't, it's gonna do
Speaker 6: something to Wilmington that I that I think is an
Speaker 6: interesting factoid. That that coach Reine's pointed out after that
Speaker 6: game against Iran Pakatonica. They got a really good running
Speaker 6: game out of Sean James off the bench. He did
Speaker 6: very well and their defense didn't really seem to miss
Speaker 6: a beat without Farrell.
Speaker 7: Uh.
Speaker 6: Obviously a bigger challenge with Montini on the other side.
Speaker 6: But the one thing about this Wilmington program is those
Speaker 6: kids have been in this system since they were almost
Speaker 6: since they climbed out of the crib. I mean, that's
Speaker 6: that's what we're talking about here. They understand it. So
Speaker 6: they've got kids on the bench that they can put
Speaker 6: into games. Granted, they're gonna lose a little bit without
Speaker 6: Ferrell in there, and maybe a lot in some circumstances,
Speaker 6: but those kids are not going to be clueless about
Speaker 6: what the expectation is for them if they do end
Speaker 6: up having to fill in for Farrell. So they'll they'll
Speaker 6: up and they'll do the best they can. They're not
Speaker 6: going to be not knowledgeable about what the expectation is
Speaker 6: of them.
Speaker 7: It's interesting.
Speaker 4: I mean, I think I bet Wilmington is probably doesn't
Speaker 4: go into many games where they're the team that people
Speaker 4: don't expect to win. The game and this is probably
Speaker 4: that weekend. So I'm interested to see how they they
Speaker 4: kind of handle that dynamic that you know, now they're
Speaker 4: going on the road. They're the littler school, you know,
Speaker 4: you know what I mean, they're in two another three A.
Speaker 4: You know, I bet they relish this opportunity. I'm not
Speaker 4: saying they're gonna win this game, but I'm and now
Speaker 4: you know, they're down potentially down one of their better players.
Speaker 4: So you know, we'll see what happens. I mean, it
Speaker 4: should be a really great game in a three A semifinal.
Speaker 6: Yeah, I'll guarantee one thing. They will not back down there.
Speaker 6: There will not be an ounce of there will be
Speaker 6: nothing left on the field with that. With that football team. However,
Speaker 6: the outcome ends up being they're They're not going They're
Speaker 6: not gonna wilt from this challenge. There's no there's no
Speaker 6: doubt in my mind about that.
Speaker 5: Yeah. No, it should be fun. I'm really looking for it.
Speaker 4: That's one of the matchups of other day for for
Speaker 4: me on Saturday is that that Montini Wimington game. The
Speaker 4: other semifinal three A Tolna Unity against is it Monoicello?
Speaker 5: I'm sorry, uh Tolna Unity.
Speaker 4: So it seems like in three A it's like, oh,
Speaker 4: they're back in the three championship game. They've been such
Speaker 4: a staple over the last several years and and they're
Speaker 4: really coming in this game on quite a role where Monoceello,
Speaker 4: you know, a little bit more of a novice among
Speaker 4: these the three A semi finalists.
Speaker 6: Yeah, I think it's six title game appearances for to
Speaker 6: Lona Unity. They haven't won any of them, which I'm
Speaker 6: sure there's something that just kind of sticks in their
Speaker 6: crawl a little bit. But longtime coach with Scott Hamilton
Speaker 6: down there, there's been rumors down in that area that
Speaker 6: this might be his last ride at it. And their
Speaker 6: kids have really really played really good football over the
Speaker 6: second half of the year especially. I think they started
Speaker 6: one in three on the year, but over the course
Speaker 6: of the second half they just went into another gear,
Speaker 6: including a two touchdown win over Monticello in Week nine.
Speaker 6: So as far as who's playing the best at the
Speaker 6: right time, it very well might be Tolna Unity. So
Speaker 6: that's that's kind of the interesting thing that goes in there.
Speaker 5: You know.
Speaker 6: Monicello has also got a pretty good track record in
Speaker 6: the postseason of pulling out wins like this. So I
Speaker 6: think this is kind of an interesting game to look
Speaker 6: at to see if Manicella can flip the script a
Speaker 6: little bit, or does Tolono just keep on crushing everything
Speaker 6: in its path like it has been over the last
Speaker 6: six to seven weeks.
Speaker 5: You know.
Speaker 4: Moving up to four A a really fascinating matchup De
Speaker 4: Paul Prepp playing at Cole City.
Speaker 5: It is see cul City cred.
Speaker 4: You know De Paul Prep quite a story in the
Speaker 4: publicly in the Catholic lade this year. I think they
Speaker 4: had not won a playoff games since twenty fifteen, and
Speaker 4: they had not been in a playoff since twenty fifteen.
Speaker 5: They had a one one since they were Gordon Tech.
Speaker 4: And Michael, you wrote about in your notebook this week
Speaker 4: about you know, them bringing a lot of the Gordon
Speaker 4: Tech guys back for their playoff game last week. You know,
Speaker 4: what do you make about their run so far? And
Speaker 4: really it is it is quite a story.
Speaker 8: Yeah, it's a really fun story just to kind of
Speaker 8: watch the way that they've kind of grown the program.
Speaker 8: Head coach Mike Pasarella has been there for a little
Speaker 8: bit now. But like you said, they made the playoffs
Speaker 8: for the first time since twenty fifteen. They won their
Speaker 8: first ever playoff game as the Paul this year, and
Speaker 8: now they're obviously in their first ever semi final game,
Speaker 8: and they did it in pretty dramatic fashion. I mean,
Speaker 8: they scored twenty six unanswered points against a good Saint
Speaker 8: Lawrence team in the second half in the quarterfinals. And
Speaker 8: it's just interesting just to kind of see how the
Speaker 8: community is kind of coming together behind this team. They're
Speaker 8: really into it. The pans, the stands were packed on Saturday.
Speaker 8: Just a really cool, you know environment to be a
Speaker 8: part of when you got these you know, kind of
Speaker 8: this story last year when they were kind of coming
Speaker 8: into their own and they eventually went to the four
Speaker 8: A state championship game. So it's always fun when we
Speaker 8: have one of those teams just you know, kind of
Speaker 8: having a good historical year.
Speaker 7: But it'll be interesting to see how they kind of, you.
Speaker 8: Know, deal with having to go to Cole City, you know,
Speaker 8: going into an environment like that, and can they not
Speaker 8: start slow. I think that's gonna be the big thing where,
Speaker 8: you know, that offense, you know, I don't think they
Speaker 8: changed anything dramatically in the second half to score twenty
Speaker 8: six points unanswered points.
Speaker 7: It was pretty much just execution and if you.
Speaker 8: Know Juju Rodriguez, their quarterback, can really get things going,
Speaker 8: especially off the scramble. I'll be really interesting to see
Speaker 8: if if Cole City can kind of keep up with
Speaker 8: that pass attack. But it really will be down to
Speaker 8: can this team start out fast and avoid a cold
Speaker 8: start like they've had in the playoffs and a lot
Speaker 8: of these games, because you know it worked one time,
Speaker 8: you know, coming back from fourteen down nothing, But I
Speaker 8: don't know if you can do that in the semi finals.
Speaker 8: You got to start out hot and you've got to
Speaker 8: make sure that you're firing on all cylinders if you
Speaker 8: want to go to the state championship game.
Speaker 4: I was gonna say it was interesting last week there
Speaker 4: was a couple of CCL teams that had to go
Speaker 4: on a road in five ays, Saint France and Nazareth.
Speaker 4: But there's situations where I was like, I just I
Speaker 4: can't bet against those teams even.
Speaker 5: Though they're on road.
Speaker 4: Sus I feel a little bit differently about this with
Speaker 4: DePaul Prepp with with respect to them going on a
Speaker 4: road at Cole City, it's a tough matchup I mean,
Speaker 4: I think it's a game to go either way. But man,
Speaker 4: at Cole City pretty tough at home.
Speaker 6: Yeah, they're tough at home. And really when you look
Speaker 6: at kind of what they've done over the course of
Speaker 6: the season, They've had a couple of close calls here
Speaker 6: in the playoffs, but for the most part, what Cole
Speaker 6: City does so well, and I think that goes back
Speaker 6: to Michael's point about them being at Paul has to
Speaker 6: start well here because Cole City is the kind of
Speaker 6: team that, seriously, if they taken advantage on you, they
Speaker 6: will they will, they will finish you. They will do
Speaker 6: it whatever way that they have to do it. They
Speaker 6: will clamp down on defense, they will, they will put
Speaker 6: together a punishing drive that kind of squeezes the life
Speaker 6: out of you. That's the kind of football team Cole
Speaker 6: City is. And they did it to almost everybody other
Speaker 6: than their two regular season losses, which of course are
Speaker 6: to two teams that are still playing in the playoffs.
Speaker 6: They they lost in Week one to Morris, they lost
Speaker 6: mid season to Wilmington. So I mean in every other
Speaker 6: game this year, barring last week's close call against Dixon,
Speaker 6: they have imposed their will and in a serious fashion.
Speaker 6: They have really basically said we're gonna score forty five
Speaker 6: points in the first half and end this I mean
Speaker 6: just and and go about doing it in a quick,
Speaker 6: efficient manner. So, like I said, Michael's talking about De
Speaker 6: Paul's starting well because they have to because if they don't,
Speaker 6: Cole City will take advantage of that.
Speaker 4: Other for a semifinal. Mountain Zion and Normal University suits.
Speaker 4: A thought on that Mount Zion I believe, I think
Speaker 4: I saw you wrote they were three and three at
Speaker 4: one point. They've recovered, but Normal it seems to be,
Speaker 4: you know, kind of rolling right now.
Speaker 5: Well.
Speaker 6: Mount Zion was a team that I had high hopes
Speaker 6: for at the beginning of the season, and then some
Speaker 6: of the results were really kind of throwing me. I
Speaker 6: didn't really know what was going on. I did a
Speaker 6: little bit of digging and found out there were some
Speaker 6: key injuries that they really they had trouble getting those
Speaker 6: things fixed. Because the thing about Mount Zion is they
Speaker 6: have two excellent weapons on the outside. Brayden Trimbles committed
Speaker 6: to Illinois at the wide receiver position. He's a very
Speaker 6: talented player.
Speaker 5: J C.
Speaker 6: Anderson is a junior tight end that is literally being
Speaker 6: recruited by every power program in the nation. So those
Speaker 6: two guys alone make Mount Zion extremely dangerous. And I
Speaker 6: think now they're finally they finally have all their pieces
Speaker 6: in place, they're healthy, and that now they're showing what
Speaker 6: they're capable of as what they've done through here in
Speaker 6: the playoffs. As far as normal university goes, I think
Speaker 6: they were one of the one of the biggest fly
Speaker 6: under the radar stories of the season at this point
Speaker 6: in time. Played in a difficult conference with schools you
Speaker 6: know that were larger than them, put up a bunch
Speaker 6: of points, played very very well even in their losses
Speaker 6: to some pretty good teams. I think this is a
Speaker 6: really good football team capable of scoring a lot of points.
Speaker 6: I really expect this game to be an interesting little shootout.
Speaker 4: In five A man, a couple couple games between teams
Speaker 4: that know each other really well. Saint Francis now Nazareth,
Speaker 4: Joliet Kathleen Morris, I'll start with the Saint Francis Nazareth game,
Speaker 4: and man, the storyline just kind of right themselves. I mean,
Speaker 4: you know, last year they played in Week nine, they
Speaker 4: played again in the Semis Montini or not Mantini, Nazareth
Speaker 4: beat him. They went on to repeat the state champs.
Speaker 4: They played again this year, you know, late late in
Speaker 4: the year, I believe, with the Week nine as well,
Speaker 4: very high scoring, memorable game. Brady Palmer had a great game.
Speaker 4: But now they got to do it again. They got
Speaker 4: to go to Nazareth again. Nazareth has all that experience,
Speaker 4: all those seniors that have played in a lot of
Speaker 4: big games.
Speaker 5: Saint Francis is a little bit more junior dominant with
Speaker 5: some of their guys.
Speaker 4: You know, what do you make about that matchup, Michael,
Speaker 4: just a what a fascinating matchup?
Speaker 7: Yeah, really interesting.
Speaker 8: Obviously Saint France has survived in the thirty nine to
Speaker 8: thirty six shootout in Week nine, and based on you
Speaker 8: know what I saw and kind of read from Eddie's
Speaker 8: story against Sycamore, it seems like Saint Francis has kind
Speaker 8: of heard here. Offensively, Gavin Mueller, their tight end, who
Speaker 8: who's getting a lot of you know, Division one power
Speaker 8: for looks. He's out for the rest of the regular
Speaker 8: season with the torn labram. He had surgery last week,
Speaker 8: so that's obviously a major target that you're missing here,
Speaker 8: and it seems like offensively that you know, this has
Speaker 8: been something Saint Francis has dealt with pretty much since
Speaker 8: they played Loyola in Week three. They've just had to
Speaker 8: overcome different injuries and that sort of stuff. So I'm
Speaker 8: curious to see whether they can do that keep this
Speaker 8: train going because Nazareth, you know, they've ever since. You know,
Speaker 8: it's not like they look bad and that lost to
Speaker 8: Saint Francis by any means. I mean, they scored thirty
Speaker 8: six points. Then they've kept it going here in the playoffs.
Speaker 8: But I'm interesting to see, you know, if it's the
Speaker 8: same certain you know, same type of matchup as we
Speaker 8: saw in week nine, Does you know Saint Francis have
Speaker 8: enough to keep up because they're injured and they've got
Speaker 8: a lot of different things going on.
Speaker 7: Obviously, they've got a lot.
Speaker 8: Of talent, you know, their quarterback is still there, and
Speaker 8: they've got a lot of playmakers there. But I'm curious
Speaker 8: to see how much familiarity and how much experience kind
Speaker 8: of helps in the big matchup like this. Obviously they
Speaker 8: know each other, playing each other couple of weeks, but
Speaker 8: you know, nas has won two state championships, has you know,
Speaker 8: found different ways to win those state championships, and I'm
Speaker 8: curious to see, you know, whether it's coaching, whether it's
Speaker 8: schematics or anything like that, whether something changes Saturday for
Speaker 8: two teams that know each other fairly well.
Speaker 4: It's a little bit hard for me to imagine Nazareth,
Speaker 4: after winning two state titles to lose in a semi
Speaker 4: final on their home field to a team that they
Speaker 4: lost to by three points in the Week nine. But
Speaker 4: that being said, Saint Francis has a ton of experience.
Speaker 4: They're a junior, a lot of juniors, but they've been
Speaker 4: in the semis the last couple of years. They've been
Speaker 4: in a couple of close games the last two years,
Speaker 4: So you know, I can make a case probably for
Speaker 4: either one of them, a very good game on that
Speaker 4: one semifinal the other one.
Speaker 5: SU's joyed Kathlic Morris.
Speaker 4: A ton of history there between those two programs over
Speaker 4: several years.
Speaker 5: You know, what do you make about that matchup?
Speaker 6: This is the eleventh time these two programs have been
Speaker 6: in the postseason, which I think says something about the situation.
Speaker 6: But the rival rivalry, at least, you know, in recent vintage,
Speaker 6: has been dominated by Joliet Catholic, including a win last year.
Speaker 6: I believe it was in the second round over Morris
Speaker 6: where they won comfortably. You know, I have a hard
Speaker 6: time seeing a situation where Juliet Catholic doesn't continue to
Speaker 6: impose its will on its opponents as it has been
Speaker 6: the first three rounds of playoffs. They've been as dominant
Speaker 6: as any team in the state right now. Granted, I
Speaker 6: don't think the opponent. I think they caught a few
Speaker 6: breaks in the bracket too. I think they they really
Speaker 6: haven't seen a really quality opponent like I think that
Speaker 6: the team that comes out of the north side of
Speaker 6: this bracket's obviously seen a few more challenges than Joliott Catholic.
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Speaker 7: That's to this point.
Speaker 6: So but in saying that, you know, I've really been
Speaker 6: impressed with what Morris has done since the calendar has
Speaker 6: turned to the postseason as well. I frankly didn't give
Speaker 6: them very much of a chance to beat Morgan Park
Speaker 6: last week, and they they pretty much handled and did
Speaker 6: what they needed to do in that game. I think
Speaker 6: they'll they'll slow joel At Catholic down a little bit
Speaker 6: better than the opponents that Joey Catholic has faced so far,
Speaker 6: but I'm not sure if that's going to be enough.
Speaker 4: It's interesting both of these teams were teams that earlier
Speaker 4: in the year I had a few questions about. I mean,
Speaker 4: when Joey Katholic lost to uswego seventeen and nothing, I
Speaker 4: was kind of like, huh, are they maybe what they
Speaker 4: have been last you know whatever many years?
Speaker 7: And Morris too.
Speaker 4: They they took a couple of hits as well, but
Speaker 4: obviously they've responded.
Speaker 5: You know, gang festers, you know, Michael Joycatholic.
Speaker 4: What have you seen out of them that they've been
Speaker 4: able to you know, kind of turn it on.
Speaker 8: I feel like I've used this line a lot with
Speaker 8: Benwick throughout the year, and now I get I'll give
Speaker 8: it to Julia Katholick. Now I feel like they're probably
Speaker 8: the best team, like a lot of people aren't talking
Speaker 8: about just based on the path that.
Speaker 7: They've kind of had.
Speaker 8: But you know that their losses have been good losses, right, Like,
Speaker 8: I mean they lost to NAS and then that was
Speaker 8: a tight battle, and they lost to Mount Carmel, Like
Speaker 8: those aren't anything to sneeze at or anything like that.
Speaker 7: And obviously I agree with SEUs.
Speaker 8: I think that the matchups are a little bit easier
Speaker 8: here in the South bracket for them, and maybe they've
Speaker 8: got some favorable matchups, but you know, I don't think
Speaker 8: that should really take away from how talented this team is,
Speaker 8: how well they're coach, how good the defense is, how
Speaker 8: well they can run the ball.
Speaker 7: You know, they can take shots passing the balls sometimes
Speaker 7: as well.
Speaker 8: So I'm really interested to see, you know, do we
Speaker 8: get that Nas, you know, Juliet Catholick rematch that we
Speaker 8: had from last season, and how much, you know, do
Speaker 8: both teams kind of look from what happened last year,
Speaker 8: and how much do you kind of change for a
Speaker 8: potential matchup with nas if you're Juliet Katholic moving up.
Speaker 5: To six A.
Speaker 4: Obviously, a lot of people since the practice come out, Okay,
Speaker 4: where's Carry Grove, where's he St?
Speaker 5: Louis?
Speaker 4: And and will we get another matchup in the six
Speaker 4: A Championship. Carry Grove in particular has got a tricky
Speaker 4: little six A semifinal this weekend, going to Geneva. Carry
Speaker 4: Grove handled them pretty good last year, but it was
Speaker 4: forty one to seven something like that. But Geneva is
Speaker 4: just impressed all year long. I mean they beat Batavia
Speaker 4: for the first time in a decade or so, just
Speaker 4: rolled through the regular season, rolled through the playoffs. Obviously
Speaker 4: a ton of talent, talent Taylor one of the best
Speaker 4: players in the state of receiver. But Carry Grove, I
Speaker 4: mean serious, they lost their all state fullback Logan Abrams,
Speaker 4: and it's like, yeah, we'll just plug other guys and
Speaker 4: we'll continue to roll.
Speaker 6: Yeah, there are some parallels I think between what we
Speaker 6: were talking about a little bit with Wilmington and with
Speaker 6: Carrie Grove. You know, these kids know that program, they
Speaker 6: know what the expectation is so the when they have
Speaker 6: basically what i'd classify as a pretty catastrophic injury to
Speaker 6: their roster, it's not something that they're gonna go, oh,
Speaker 6: no problem, we got it fixed. But they do have
Speaker 6: at least some, you know, some sympathy in the fact
Speaker 6: that they can go to their bench and find a
Speaker 6: player that is probably pretty prepared for what's going to
Speaker 6: be asked of them. And I think that's what's happening here,
Speaker 6: is that those kids have such a good understanding of
Speaker 6: what the expectations are in their program and what's what
Speaker 6: they are expected to do if they're put in that
Speaker 6: situation that the transition to replacing an injury may not
Speaker 6: be as significant in that program as it is a
Speaker 6: lot of others.
Speaker 4: No, no, I would agree with the way their system is.
Speaker 4: And again, Geneva, I mean, great year. I just wonder
Speaker 4: it's one of those things that they lost rather handling
Speaker 4: last year in the semifinals. How much has that gap
Speaker 4: closed that they can beat them. I think this is
Speaker 4: definitely a better Geneva team. Well, I know this is
Speaker 4: the better Geneva team the last year. It's just how
Speaker 4: much better for this particular matchup.
Speaker 6: Yeah, and I think one of the things about that
Speaker 6: is that that's pretty important is that Geneva has been
Speaker 6: pretty dominant in getting to this game, and that probably
Speaker 6: gives them a little bit more confidence heading into it
Speaker 6: that yes, we have bridged the gap. Maybe they haven't
Speaker 6: bridged it all all the way, but maybe they bridged
Speaker 6: it enough where if they catch a break or two
Speaker 6: that there's the belief starts going, the momentum starts rolling,
Speaker 6: and then you never know what can happen. But if
Speaker 6: they hadn't, if they had gone into the gone into
Speaker 6: this game with a couple of squeakers and games where
Speaker 6: they barely got through them, I don't necessarily think they'd
Speaker 6: be in a good place to play this game. But
Speaker 6: that has not happened, and they are in a good place.
Speaker 6: They have a lot of confidence. Like I said, an
Speaker 6: early break or two could go a long way, and
Speaker 6: making sure that that chasm between the two teams from
Speaker 6: last year has closed up almost to the point where
Speaker 6: they're almost in the same place.
Speaker 4: The other semifinal and six A. I thought we were
Speaker 4: gonna be talking about's East St. Louis against Kikoki.
Speaker 7: We are not.
Speaker 5: We are talking about East Saint Louis and Richards. You know,
Speaker 5: Richards was a.
Speaker 4: Great win for them last week beating Kankakee, but this
Speaker 4: could be a pretty tall mountain decline for them, you know.
Speaker 6: Yeah, And on top of it, going down to a
Speaker 6: Saint Louis and I think it's either three out of
Speaker 6: the last four years or or three out of the
Speaker 6: last five years Richards has met East Saint Louis in
Speaker 6: the playoffs in various rounds. In those three matchups, they've
Speaker 6: been outscored one hundred and forty five to nothing. So that,
Speaker 6: I mean, I know these are different teams, but that
Speaker 6: just kind of shows you the gap that we're talking
Speaker 6: about between these two programs that, to be honest, maybe
Speaker 6: it's closed a little bit, but I'm not sure it's
Speaker 6: closed anywhere near enough to where this will be a
Speaker 6: competitive game, right.
Speaker 4: Moving up to seven A and obviously, Michael, the matchup
Speaker 4: that stands out to me Mount Carmel playing Saint Rita,
Speaker 4: a rematch up I believe it was week two.
Speaker 5: Mount Carmel beat him twenty eight to nothing.
Speaker 4: Sat Reata, it seems like they've really come on as
Speaker 4: a very good win over Quincy last week. Unfortunately for them,
Speaker 4: I think Mount Carmel is coming on it and playing
Speaker 4: well as well, with with Jack Elliott healthy and doing
Speaker 4: what he does.
Speaker 5: You know, what do you make of the matchup that
Speaker 5: you're going to be on Saturday?
Speaker 8: You know, it's another fun you know, sau said, rivalry
Speaker 8: matchup the second time they're meeting each other in the
Speaker 8: semi finals in the past three season postseasons. And yeah,
Speaker 8: it's tough because you know, this could be a championship
Speaker 8: caliber game just based on what we've seen. I feel
Speaker 8: like we've kind of seen throughout the year, we've kind
Speaker 8: of been like, well, you know, how good is seeing Rita?
Speaker 8: Right Like we're kind of be like, well, is the
Speaker 8: defense really that good? Is they're running attack that good?
Speaker 8: Can they throw it? And I feel like every single
Speaker 8: time you know, I've questioned or you know, anyone who's
Speaker 8: questioned seeing Rita, they just have consistently shown us that
Speaker 8: they're a very good team.
Speaker 7: I mean, they've dominated so far in the playoffs.
Speaker 8: They picked the good win against Willibrook in the second round,
Speaker 8: and now your reward is you have to play Mount Carmel,
Speaker 8: a team that they've lost to five straight times, including
Speaker 8: that semi final.
Speaker 7: Matchup a couple of years ago.
Speaker 8: I don't think it'll be a twenty eight to nothing
Speaker 8: blowout like it was last time. I think both these
Speaker 8: teams are different.
Speaker 7: I just don't know.
Speaker 8: You know, Saint Rita's defense is physical and it's very good.
Speaker 8: Can they kind of look at what Loyola did against
Speaker 8: Malt Carmel and kind of get after, you know, take
Speaker 8: away the passing lanes for Jack Elliott, or and can
Speaker 8: they kind of force them to kind of run the ball,
Speaker 8: because that's something that you know, they've done a really
Speaker 8: good job of Mount Carmel being you know, throwing the ball.
Speaker 8: They've been averaging fifty one points a game. The passing
Speaker 8: attack has really, you know, done well since Elliott has
Speaker 8: kind of gone into a better rapport with his top
Speaker 8: three wide receivers. But can that continue if Saint Rita
Speaker 8: is able to kind of take that away and the
Speaker 8: passing lanes are able to take that away. So that's
Speaker 8: gonna be the biggest thing. I'm sure, you know, Martin Hopkins,
Speaker 8: that Saint Rita has watched all the Loyola tape. I'm
Speaker 8: sure he's trying to look at every single thing that
Speaker 8: Loyola did and then matchup and try to replicate it
Speaker 8: as best as he can with the talent that he
Speaker 8: has on his team, because that's gonna be the recipe
Speaker 8: if he wants to pull off, you know, a moderate
Speaker 8: upset here to go to the stagechampionship game.
Speaker 4: The other semifinal on seven eight, Patavia Lincolnway Central and Suits.
Speaker 4: And the last week you and I were joking, you know,
Speaker 4: even though I think we picked against Patavio, we were like,
Speaker 4: we don't like betty against Batavia and they proved us
Speaker 4: wide what they were able to do last week against
Speaker 4: down as Go North, and this week.
Speaker 5: I will not bet against them. Uh what do you
Speaker 5: what do you make about this matchup?
Speaker 4: I love the way Batavia is taking shape as the playoffs, well,
Speaker 4: they won that they had to pull that one out
Speaker 4: of the rabbit at their head in second round, but
Speaker 4: they seem like they've pick an up steam now.
Speaker 6: I think the interesting thing about these two teams in
Speaker 6: this particular game is I think both of them do
Speaker 6: a really excellent job of what I call, you know,
Speaker 6: metamorphosizing themselves into what they need to be at that time.
Speaker 6: They're not going to sit here and try to say, Okay,
Speaker 6: the only way we can win this game is we're
Speaker 6: going to run the ball and then go out there
Speaker 6: and get stopped three times, three drives in a row,
Speaker 6: and there aren't going to make any adjustments. Both of
Speaker 6: these two teams great at a settling into a situation
Speaker 6: where it's like, Hey, this is how I think we're
Speaker 6: going to give ourselves the best opportunity to win, and
Speaker 6: this is how we're going to use the personnel that
Speaker 6: we have to do it. We're not going to go
Speaker 6: outside of what we do, but we're going to accent
Speaker 6: and highlight the things that we do the best that
Speaker 6: is going to work the best against our opponent. So
Speaker 6: one one week, both of these teams. One week, this
Speaker 6: team might not throw at all. The next week they
Speaker 6: might end up saying, well, this is an opportunity where
Speaker 6: we might be able to use the passing game a
Speaker 6: little bit more or in a different way. And I
Speaker 6: think both of these coaching staffs do an excellent job
Speaker 6: of recognizing what their team will do well against the
Speaker 6: opponent and utilizing it inside of their game plans. And
Speaker 6: I think that's it's going to be a really interesting
Speaker 6: chess match to see how these two teams counter each
Speaker 6: other when maybe something they thought was going to work doesn't,
Speaker 6: and and how often they go to the things that
Speaker 6: are really going to kind of keeping them afloat.
Speaker 4: Moving up to Class eight A, the first one will
Speaker 4: talk about York in Napril Central York Man, this is
Speaker 4: their third straight semifinal appearance. It's pretty oppressive for a
Speaker 4: program that they were a pretty middle in program for
Speaker 4: a long time and now they're in their third straight semifinal.
Speaker 4: Of course they lost the last two years to the
Speaker 4: Loyola but the way they're playing right now, and not
Speaker 4: to take anything away from Naprile Central, but to York
Speaker 4: has just as much as anybody flipped the switch once
Speaker 4: the playoffs has start.
Speaker 6: It's been a pretty incredible postseason for them. And not
Speaker 6: that I thought that they were gonna go and get
Speaker 6: you know, routed when they got into the postseason, but
Speaker 6: you just kind of looked at it. After the regular season.
Speaker 6: They had two losses some pretty good teams, granted, but
Speaker 6: you know, I did I see you know, a potential
Speaker 6: semi final running the cards for them. I really didn't.
Speaker 6: I was kind of like, well, you know, I think
Speaker 6: they're good. I think they'll be competitive in whatever's thrown
Speaker 6: in front of them, But can they make this run
Speaker 6: where I'm thinking seriously that they might end up in
Speaker 6: a title game. I wouldn't have put that on my
Speaker 6: big go card to start at the postseason. But it's
Speaker 6: credit to them they've done. Not only have they won
Speaker 6: these games, they've done in the dominant fashion. So it's
Speaker 6: it's been really impressive to see what they've been able
Speaker 6: to do.
Speaker 7: Kudos to them.
Speaker 6: Tip the cap.
Speaker 4: Yeah, you know, I don't know if this is their
Speaker 4: best team last three years, but I do think that
Speaker 4: this is mean Again, this is not to go in
Speaker 4: through from April Central. This is their best chance to
Speaker 4: get through the finals, you know, to play in April
Speaker 4: Central not having to face Loyola in the semi finals.
Speaker 4: And that being said, this April Central team is complete.
Speaker 4: They have a great defense, they have a very good
Speaker 4: running back and then their quarterback, Sebastian Hayes two torny
Speaker 4: ACL has come back, had a great year. I mean,
Speaker 4: this is one of the toughest games of the weekend
Speaker 4: for me to pick.
Speaker 6: Oh, I'd agree, And I mean I really like what
Speaker 6: Naperville Central has done, and I you know, I keep
Speaker 6: going back to the fact that you know, their lone
Speaker 6: loss of the year to the day, just to Lincoln
Speaker 6: Way East. They were okay in that game, but the
Speaker 6: outcome was never really in doubt. But the fact that
Speaker 6: they were okay in that game, I think says so
Speaker 6: thing about how good this football team is because nobody
Speaker 6: else has managed to be in my classification okay against them.
Speaker 6: Everyone else has looked pretty much overwhelmed. So that's that's
Speaker 6: a sign to Naperville Central and what they've been able
Speaker 6: to do. And they and they really have also done it.
Speaker 6: And going back to what we were talking about in
Speaker 6: seven eight, they've done a really nice job of recognizing
Speaker 6: what it's going to take to get them a W,
Speaker 6: and that's all they're concerned with. They don't care if
Speaker 6: it's a three point victory or a twenty three point victory,
Speaker 6: especially this time of the year. That's a that's a
Speaker 6: good function to have do what you have to to
Speaker 6: get the W. And I don't think very few teams
Speaker 6: have been as good at that as Naperville Central has
Speaker 6: this year.
Speaker 4: Last matchup, we'll talk about the marquee matchup the week
Speaker 4: and I would say, uh, Loyola playing at Lincoln Wa
Speaker 4: East again. A ton of familiarity here. Believe it's the
Speaker 4: fifth Is it the fifth time in the last six
Speaker 4: post seasons. Yes, they've pat each other. Loyola's sort of
Speaker 4: had the upper hand this uh throughout that rivalry, winning
Speaker 4: all but one of them. But Lincoln Way East, I
Speaker 4: don't know. They're They're gonna be pretty tough to beat too.
Speaker 4: It's the way they're playing. Jonas Williams good at football.
Speaker 6: Yeah, I mean that's an understatement. It was last week
Speaker 6: was I knew he was capable of some of these
Speaker 6: things that he was doing last week week, I just
Speaker 6: didn't know that it was he was that capable. If
Speaker 6: you're understanding what I'm saying, it's like ends up running
Speaker 6: for three touchdowns the last year and you're thinking to yourself, oh, yeah,
Speaker 6: they're probably short touchdown runs. When when the when things
Speaker 6: broke down? No, the first one, the first one was
Speaker 6: eleven yards, Okay, I get it. The second one was sixty,
Speaker 6: the last one was eighty four. And he just weaved
Speaker 6: and bobbed and ran around people and broke tackles and
Speaker 6: and basically you know, I was laughing as I was
Speaker 6: walking out of Lincoln Way East after their winning the
Speaker 6: quarterfinal round against Stevenson. I was walking past a couple
Speaker 6: of kids in one of them was Jonas Williams, and
Speaker 6: a fan that, obviously Jonas Williams knew, raised his head
Speaker 6: up and goes, hey, Mike Vick, how you doing. And
Speaker 6: I just I and I knew that's what he was
Speaker 6: referring to, and I just kind of laughed because it
Speaker 6: was very It was very mike vic esque in performance.
Speaker 6: It was one of those things where I mean, he's
Speaker 6: just He's incredible. That's really what it comes down to.
Speaker 6: He's just so good. And the thing that everybody talks
Speaker 6: about is all this passing game. He didn't throw a
Speaker 6: touchdown pass until the third quarter in that game, and
Speaker 6: they were winning thirty five to nothing when he did it. So,
Speaker 6: I mean, there's just there's so many things about this
Speaker 6: football team to like. And we talk about Jonas a
Speaker 6: lot and deservedly so. The other thing that has been
Speaker 6: an absolute nightmare for the opponents is, gosh, this is
Speaker 6: a really good defensive unit on all levels. The defensive
Speaker 6: line is outstanding. They're led by Caden Rourke, the Northwestern commit.
Speaker 6: Jacob Alexander's also very very good. The linebacking group is
Speaker 6: what Lincoln Way East linebacking group always is. They make
Speaker 6: every single play that they can, and the secondary is tremendous,
Speaker 6: and I just teams just do not have a lot
Speaker 6: of luck out of them, and you're thinking to yourself, Hey,
Speaker 6: you know, how do I move the football on these guys?
Speaker 6: And then sometimes it becomes how do I avoid a
Speaker 6: three and out? Because it feels like that's happening so
Speaker 6: often with Lincoln Way East right now, where teams get
Speaker 6: three cracks at him and then they're putting the ball away.
Speaker 6: That's that's where this team is at right now, and
Speaker 6: when they're playing at their best, and I'm not even
Speaker 6: sure we've gotten there yet, that is that's something to
Speaker 6: behold because I think I've seen him get pretty close.
Speaker 6: I still don't think they've met their their max potential.
Speaker 6: And if there's anything that's going to bring that game
Speaker 6: out of them, I think it's Loyola.
Speaker 5: Good to say.
Speaker 4: And if anybody hasn't seen an eighty four yard touchdown run,
Speaker 4: I'd see just that you google it or whatever you
Speaker 4: want to do to check out. It's pretty pretty darn
Speaker 4: impressive for a high school quarterback to do that. But
Speaker 4: Michael Loyola the two time defending state champions. It's not
Speaker 4: too often you go and imagine me.
Speaker 5: You're like, you know, how is Loyola gonna beat Lincoln
Speaker 5: Lee East? But Loyola's got a lot of talent to
Speaker 5: you know what, what do you make about this man?
Speaker 5: From their perspective?
Speaker 8: Yeah, I think you know, it's interesting just because obviously
Speaker 8: you look at the two losses and you're like, O,
Speaker 8: loyal must they had a bad year or something like that.
Speaker 8: But I think that the biggest thing you can kind
Speaker 8: of say about this Loyola team is that they're this
Speaker 8: is a team that's been battle tested, right. I mean
Speaker 8: they got like they they i mean they got clowned
Speaker 8: in Week one against eat Saint Louis.
Speaker 7: Obviously it wasn't the way they wanted it to go.
Speaker 7: They got upset without Ryan.
Speaker 8: Fitzgerald in Week three against Saint Francis, And you know this,
Speaker 8: this is a team that I've I've heard a couple
Speaker 8: of times now, whether it's coaches or players saying it
Speaker 8: throughout the games that I've covered this week this year.
Speaker 8: But you know a lot of players said that that
Speaker 8: was a good punch in the mouth and just to
Speaker 8: be like, listen, like, teams aren't going to roll over
Speaker 8: for you because you're Loyola.
Speaker 5: Like.
Speaker 8: I think that was something that this group really needed
Speaker 8: to understand, and clearly they've understood it. I mean that
Speaker 8: they blew out Mount Carmelton in the regular season, they
Speaker 8: found ways to survive against Marist, a really good team.
Speaker 8: In the second round, they be May South after it
Speaker 8: being tied with them at halftime, and made it look
Speaker 8: pretty easy in the second half of the thirty five
Speaker 8: or fourteen wins. So listen, I know, you know, this
Speaker 8: is definitely the most talented team that Loyal has played.
Speaker 8: You know, Lincoln Way East Jonas Williams is obviously going
Speaker 8: to Oregon, is a very talented quarterback. That's a very
Speaker 8: big understatement. But I do think that with the experiences
Speaker 8: that Loyal has kind of gone through, I think those
Speaker 8: are experiences that maybe Lincoln We East hasn't had through
Speaker 8: this year.
Speaker 7: You know, with them blowing out everyone every single game
Speaker 7: this year.
Speaker 8: You know, that's not to say that they haven't been
Speaker 8: anyone good, but I think Loyal has been battle tested.
Speaker 8: Their offensive line has been battle tests that their defensive
Speaker 8: line has been forced to make changes without their top
Speaker 8: player after you know, the first snap of the season.
Speaker 8: So I think that it's going to be a really
Speaker 8: fun game. I don't think that it's going to be
Speaker 8: a blowout one way or another. And I'm really interested
Speaker 8: to see. You know, there are a lot of fun
Speaker 8: matchups in this game, but I am really curious to
Speaker 8: see can the defense that Loyally used against Mount Carmel
Speaker 8: to take Jack Elliott away and that defense that kind
Speaker 8: of turned away Jack Jacob Rider from Maris in Week
Speaker 8: two and obviously turned down the hot main South quarterback
Speaker 8: in the quarterfinals, does that defense work against Jonas Williams
Speaker 8: or is Jonas Williams?
Speaker 5: That could should be a lot of fun.
Speaker 4: I mean one thing, I will say, these metrics are
Speaker 4: never blowout, at least a traditionally not been, so we'll
Speaker 4: see how transpor.
Speaker 6: And I can say another thing about about this one.
Speaker 6: In general, Lincoln Way East couldn't be more thrilled about
Speaker 6: one factor of this game the fact that the game
Speaker 6: is being played in Frankfurt, because there have been some
Speaker 6: real horror stories for Lincoln Way East when they've made
Speaker 6: that trip up to Loyola. I'll be honest, quite possibly
Speaker 6: the best high school kicker that I've seen in my
Speaker 6: life went up there and clanked a potential game time
Speaker 6: field goal off and upright, and I I like had
Speaker 6: to look and I taped it on my phone. I
Speaker 6: had to look at it like three different times because
Speaker 6: I couldn't believe that that actually happened. I mean, tremendous
Speaker 6: kicker for Lincoln Way East. I thought it was absolute money,
Speaker 6: it was well within his range and clanks it off
Speaker 6: the upright and Lincoln Way East goes home disappointed. So
Speaker 6: every time that they've gone up there and played at
Speaker 6: that place, something has gone horribly wrong for them. So
Speaker 6: I think that in fairness, it's it's fair to the
Speaker 6: Lincoln Way East if they finally get a chance to
Speaker 6: play them on their turf, because that has never happened.
Speaker 6: There have been two of them that have been at
Speaker 6: the State finals. The other ones have all been up
Speaker 6: there at Loyola. So I mean it's actually it's three
Speaker 6: and two, three state finals and two at Loyola. So
Speaker 6: for them, I'm sure they they're delighted that the bracket
Speaker 6: broke down in a way that the Ramblers have to
Speaker 6: make a trip down to Frankfort instead of going back
Speaker 6: up to will Met.
Speaker 4: It's gonna be a lot of fun both of those
Speaker 4: A day games with Saturday night it's kind of cool
Speaker 4: as well under the white, so it should be a
Speaker 4: lot of fun. Got a great weekend, of course, follow
Speaker 4: everything at Friday Night Drive everything covered on Saturday for
Speaker 4: Steve Susie and Michael du Wojack. I'm Josh Welby. Thanks
Speaker 4: again for everybody for joining us.
Speaker 3: Do you ever wonder where the profits go when you
Speaker 3: shop at a big box store? Hi, this is Patty
Speaker 3: from Oliver's Corner Market. When you shop at Oliver's you
Speaker 3: can rest assured that the profits stay local, supporting other
Speaker 3: local businesses and charities. Find us at the Corner Britton,
Speaker 3: Bradshaw and Dixon