Speaker 1: SGKR Injury Attorneys proudly sponsors the Friday Night Drive. I
Speaker 1: met Roundio. We are ready to take on the insurance
Speaker 1: company for you and get you to.
Speaker 2: The end zone.
Speaker 1: Visit us G A N A s SI N dot com,
Speaker 1: Gannison dot com.
Speaker 3: This is State Representative Steve Reich. Since twenty sixteen. It's
Speaker 3: been my privilege to represent the sixty third district in
Speaker 3: the Illinois House. I'd like to continue representing you, and
Speaker 3: I'm asking for your vote on November fifth.
Speaker 4: Thank you pay for by citizens to elect Stephen Reich.
Speaker 5: Hello everybody, and welcome to the Friday Night Drive Week
Speaker 5: five preview podcasts. I'm Josh Walge here with Stecie Taming
Speaker 5: here on Wednesday Night and Steve. I think I say
Speaker 5: it every week. I can't believe we're this far along,
Speaker 5: especially considering I covered a game last Saturday in darn
Speaker 5: near ninety degree weather. It felt like week one. Kind
Speaker 5: of wish it was week one, But we're here in
Speaker 5: week five, and it is an exciting time of year
Speaker 5: as we kind of hit the stretch run so field
Speaker 5: right now.
Speaker 6: Yeah, it's always interesting. I mean I always feel like
Speaker 6: we get here really really fast because after this week. Fundamentally,
Speaker 6: I mean it's not technically true, but we're gonna have
Speaker 6: a handful of teams, you know, probably you know, sixty
Speaker 6: so teams that have effectively clinched a playoff berth after
Speaker 6: this week, if they get they managed to get to
Speaker 6: five and zero, because as we've talked about a great length,
Speaker 6: I don't think we're gonna have five win teams missing
Speaker 6: this year. So if you get to five, you're in.
Speaker 6: And we're already going to have a group of teams
Speaker 6: that have effectively punched their playoff tickets. And it really
Speaker 6: seems like you know, we started a couple of weeks ago.
Speaker 5: Yeah, yeah, it really does. But yeah, you mentioned that
Speaker 5: there's gonna be some teams that that will be clinching
Speaker 5: their their well become playoff eligible. Let's put it that way.
Speaker 5: That's kind of the way I always put it, playoff eligible.
Speaker 5: But I think they're going to be in a playoffs
Speaker 5: five wins this week. You touched on that a little
Speaker 5: bit in your playoff projections that if people haven't seen already,
Speaker 5: they dropped this morning Wednesday morning. Looks like a lot
Speaker 5: of relativity in the bracket this week. But then again,
Speaker 5: as always there's a situation. It's as I was looking
Speaker 5: at it that you know, one team joins the playoff
Speaker 5: field and then it kind of throws everybody else for
Speaker 5: a little bit of a loop as you look at it.
Speaker 6: Yeah, I think what happened a little bit this week
Speaker 6: was we had some small schools that ended up losing
Speaker 6: games that I didn't think that they would lose. And
Speaker 6: then what that led to, and what it almost always
Speaker 6: does leads to happening, is if you look at the
Speaker 6: teams that are that are going to be potential for
Speaker 6: win qualifiers, they tend to be from the larger classifications.
Speaker 6: There are some that break that mold, but for the
Speaker 6: most part, they're from the larger classifications, and that's there's
Speaker 6: there's reasons for that, and I could go into a
Speaker 6: dissertation of that for about ten minutes, but the history
Speaker 6: of it shows that the teams that accumulate the most
Speaker 6: points tend to be from classifications for through eight A,
Speaker 6: with a heavier concentration towards six and eight aay school.
Speaker 6: So when those small schools started losing, that left more
Speaker 6: bids open for four win teams this week than the
Speaker 6: previous week. They were bigger schools, so those bigger stools
Speaker 6: start going into the field, they start pushing those schools
Speaker 6: on the bubbles of all the classes down a class.
Speaker 6: And what you saw this week I thought was most notable.
Speaker 6: In six A you saw somebody like Quincy sliding into
Speaker 6: the six A bracket from the seven. Bradley Bourbone was
Speaker 6: another one. They're another team that has been in the
Speaker 6: seven A bracket forever. But based on the the you know,
Speaker 6: kind of the the formation of who the two fifty
Speaker 6: six were this week, some of those schools that you're
Speaker 6: used to seeing in certain classifications started to get pushed down.
Speaker 6: We already saw it the week before with like Morris
Speaker 6: sliding to four. You saw Wilmington going back down to two.
Speaker 6: They're still very precarious, they're both they're sitting on those bubbles.
Speaker 6: I believe Morris is the largest tour right now, Wilmington
Speaker 6: is the second largest two. But that's what we're going
Speaker 6: to see. We see the same teams on the bubbles
Speaker 6: all the time, but when you see small schools not
Speaker 6: coming through with those wins, it leads to larger schools
Speaker 6: getting in as four win teams and pushing everybody down.
Speaker 5: You mentioned or you talked about teams on a bubble,
Speaker 5: and you know, obviously again teams that are four and
Speaker 5: er are gonna have a chance to pretty much flock
Speaker 5: up a bit this week. But then you look at
Speaker 5: the two and two's and the one and three's out
Speaker 5: there that have some work to do. And there's some
Speaker 5: leagues that there are a whole heck of a lot
Speaker 5: of those type of teams you touched on in your
Speaker 5: in your story today. The Kishwaukee River Conference they have
Speaker 5: six too and two teams I believe. Yeah, there's gonna
Speaker 5: be a whole lot of a lot of stuff going
Speaker 5: on in the last five weeks of the season in
Speaker 5: that league.
Speaker 6: You know, like I said, when we get into the
Speaker 6: conference season, somebody has to take those losses. It's all
Speaker 6: well and good if you do well in the non conference,
Speaker 6: but when you get into that conference schedule, especially in
Speaker 6: eighteen conference, four wins and four losses, that's the way
Speaker 6: it's going to be dispensed on a weekly basis. So
Speaker 6: you need to find yourself on the side of that ledger,
Speaker 6: you know, the right side of that ledger, as often
Speaker 6: as you can. But if you are in one of
Speaker 6: these conferences that is jumbled like the Kishwaukee River is.
Speaker 6: Every single week, you're probably gonna have a team on
Speaker 6: the other side of the field that's in very much
Speaker 6: the same situation that you are needing that win really
Speaker 6: really bad, and that loss can be potentially extremely damaging
Speaker 6: in terms of getting yourself into the playoffs. So that league,
Speaker 6: and there are several others that are sitting right now.
Speaker 6: There are one hundred and twenty schools in the state
Speaker 6: right now that have two wins and numbers a little
Speaker 6: higher than it usually is. But some of them are
Speaker 6: heavily concentrated in one conference. But there are some with six,
Speaker 6: there are some with five, couple with four. You know,
Speaker 6: so those teams are all probably running into each other
Speaker 6: over the course of the rest of the season, and
Speaker 6: as we go along, those teams become three loss teams
Speaker 6: and maybe four loss teams, and they, I mean, that's
Speaker 6: just what that's just ultimately what's gonna end up happening.
Speaker 6: So I think there's gonna be a lot of chaos
Speaker 6: on that last night. I think what's gonna be weird
Speaker 6: is we usually have, you know, twenty or so games
Speaker 6: where it's four and four against four and four. I
Speaker 6: think there's gonna be more than that this year, just
Speaker 6: because of that's the way the math is leaning.
Speaker 5: What's your thoughts on chaos week nine Friday Night.
Speaker 6: Oh, I think it's gonna be really high. I think
Speaker 6: it's I think it's gonna be real, real high. I
Speaker 6: think we're gonna have one of those situations because I
Speaker 6: think we're slowly getting people adjusted to the concept of
Speaker 6: we need four win teams in this playoff. But I
Speaker 6: think that I think that number is gonna end up
Speaker 6: being pretty high. So there's gonna be a lot of
Speaker 6: teams that have four wins after Week nine. They're gonna
Speaker 6: be like, do we have a chance or do we
Speaker 6: not have a chance? And I think that's gonna be
Speaker 6: a very interesting thing to watch because Week nine always
Speaker 6: presents a lot of chaos, if you will. But I
Speaker 6: think this year we're gonna be in a situation where
Speaker 6: it's gonna be like, there's gonna be instead of there
Speaker 6: being like five to ten teams that are gonna be like, hey,
Speaker 6: can we get in? That list might grow to as
Speaker 6: much as twenty where it's like do we have a
Speaker 6: chance here? Do we have enough points? A point might
Speaker 6: save you one way or another. I think that I
Speaker 6: think it's going to be really wild.
Speaker 5: Mixed for a lot of anxious moments for coaches and
Speaker 5: players and whatnot. But you know, for fans, and I
Speaker 5: count myself as a fan even though I'm a I'm
Speaker 5: a writer. It's it's it's a lot of fun. I'm
Speaker 5: looking looking forward to the last few weeks in the season,
Speaker 5: you know, before we as we kind of look into
Speaker 5: week five and kind of reflect on the first four weeks.
Speaker 5: I want to bring in Michael duel Jack who covers
Speaker 5: the c cl E SDC for me U for us. Michael,
Speaker 5: how you doing tonight?
Speaker 7: Okay, guys, how are you doing a little after Dark podcast?
Speaker 5: Huh, little little little after Dark podcast? Exactly exactly, So
Speaker 5: thanks for joining us. See I touched Michael covers the
Speaker 5: CCL for us and Michael and your notebook. We this
Speaker 5: week you talked about some teams in that league that
Speaker 5: are four and also so far and maybe not you know,
Speaker 5: sort of the normal kind of cast, the characters that
Speaker 5: you would associate with. I mean, I know one of
Speaker 5: them at a really great run last year in the playoffs.
Speaker 5: But but some of those other teams, you know, different,
Speaker 5: different group there.
Speaker 7: Yeah, it's an interesting bunch. It's not your you know,
Speaker 7: your usual guys who are in it. Uh, for those
Speaker 7: of you who haven't you know, read the notebook. Obviously,
Speaker 7: I'm talking about Saint Lawrence, Ben and the Paul prep
Speaker 7: are the undefeated teams in the c C l C
Speaker 7: like we all kind of expected, right, but you know,
Speaker 7: for you know, when we're talking about Saint Lawrence, I
Speaker 7: feel like all these different stories are kind of interesting.
Speaker 7: Where for Saint Lawrence, you know, they started, they made
Speaker 7: it to the four A title game, lost to Rochester
Speaker 7: and they lost a bunch of guys they lost, you know,
Speaker 7: and we got four returning defensive players, they got two
Speaker 7: returning offensive players, and you know, they started the season
Speaker 7: four no and you know, obviously you know they beat
Speaker 7: they beat Saint byder uh to pick up a fairly
Speaker 7: good win, you know, a good rankable win. But listen,
Speaker 7: when you got so many new guys on the roster,
Speaker 7: it would be pretty easy for you to just say, well,
Speaker 7: you know, it's not gonna happen. It's easy to have
Speaker 7: a blimp in that kind of stuff. And Set Lawrence
Speaker 7: has kind of had a chip on their shoulder this year.
Speaker 7: And they're trying to prove that, you know that they're
Speaker 7: trying to build a program here I am neson is
Speaker 7: to continuously succeed. So they're off to a four and
Speaker 7: oh start. Obviously, they were ranked number one in the
Speaker 7: AP four A POL so they've got tough fitting at
Speaker 7: that point. For de Paul Prepp, this is the first
Speaker 7: time ever the program has been four and o as
Speaker 7: the Paul prep I try to look back at the
Speaker 7: Gordon Tech records, but they only went back until nineteen
Speaker 7: eight ninety eight, so I can't go all the way
Speaker 7: back to the Gordon Tech days pre that to see
Speaker 7: when the last time they were four and oh. But
Speaker 7: for that program too, I mean, it's just a big
Speaker 7: accomplishment for them to get to four and oh. A
Speaker 7: lot of good things are happening, a lot of good experience,
Speaker 7: they've got tough tests. They last five teams that they
Speaker 7: play are all ranked starting with Loyola. This stuff coming Friday,
Speaker 7: so it'll be tough sledding for a team that's trying
Speaker 7: to make it to the playoffs. And you know, for Bennett,
Speaker 7: you know, reaching four and oh for the first time
Speaker 7: since twenty nineteen, they've been in four and five. For
Speaker 7: the past three days, they've been knocking on that door.
Speaker 7: They're trying to get trying to get through, and they
Speaker 7: got Mount Carmel this Friday, so that should be, Ah,
Speaker 7: that'll be an interesting test. But you know, for these programs,
Speaker 7: you know, it's it's fun just to kind of see
Speaker 7: these guys, you know, start off at four and oh.
Speaker 7: I got the same message every time talking to those
Speaker 7: coaches though, like they're not looking ahead or righty, they're
Speaker 7: not looking at playoff earts or anything like that. They
Speaker 7: know they need to get that fifth win and they
Speaker 7: know it won't come easy in that c c L
Speaker 7: E SEC schedule.
Speaker 5: Yeah, no, Benn, it's the program that's a lot of
Speaker 5: success really. You know, I've covered several o their playoff
Speaker 5: games over the years, but it seems like when they
Speaker 5: went to that Mega conference, they've just just just to grind.
Speaker 5: They they've struggled to put together the requisite wins to
Speaker 5: get to the playoffs. But so, I mean, at this point,
Speaker 5: looking pretty good for them. So good starts for those teams. Michael.
Speaker 5: Another story that you that you report on today, you know,
Speaker 5: unfortunate Delasal suspending the rest of their football season. What
Speaker 5: did you learn there and what kind of effects does
Speaker 5: that have for the rest of the league over the
Speaker 5: last you know what five weeks of the season.
Speaker 7: Yeah, it was a tough situation. I talked to you know,
Speaker 7: phili SLA head coach Harold Lackman. He's in his first
Speaker 7: year as their head coach, and I mean he just
Speaker 7: put it bluntly like they just don't have enough guys
Speaker 7: to play. You know, it just comes to a level
Speaker 7: where you just can't keep putting guys out, playing them
Speaker 7: both ways and not really giving them any rest or.
Speaker 7: You know, they started the year with twenty three players
Speaker 7: on their varsity roster. Injuries got in the way. After
Speaker 7: Friday's lost in Marmion, they ended up with seventeen guys,
Speaker 7: and they just came to the decision as a school
Speaker 7: on Monday that listen, like it's it's in the best
Speaker 7: interest for everybody if they just you know, suspend the
Speaker 7: rest of the season. They're gonna play freshman football. Apparently
Speaker 7: those levels are pretty good, so they'll continue with that
Speaker 7: for all the underclassmen coming back. They'll play, they'll do
Speaker 7: some you know lifting, they're gonna kind of work on,
Speaker 7: you know, kind of getting at the level that they
Speaker 7: want to get to and kind of prepare. It's a
Speaker 7: pre off season pretty much as coach Blackman talked about.
Speaker 7: But yeah, it's tough news for you know, tough news
Speaker 7: for that program obviously, just you hate to see when
Speaker 7: a program doesn't have enough players, and it seems like
Speaker 7: it was kind of the right move for the program
Speaker 7: to just kind of be like, you know, be smart
Speaker 7: and put the kids interests ahead of everything else. And
Speaker 7: you just can't have guys playing both ways all the
Speaker 7: time and that getting rest or risking injury or anything
Speaker 7: like that. But for the rest of the teams, they
Speaker 7: have five more game. They were supposed to have five
Speaker 7: more games. Friday's game was already a forfeit between Fenwick.
Speaker 7: They have Nazareth, Julie Kathlick, and I forget the other
Speaker 7: two off the top of my head right now, but
Speaker 7: those will obviously be forfeit wins for those teams as well.
Speaker 7: So a lot of those teams already picked up a
Speaker 7: wins and obviously a tough situation, but phil a Cell
Speaker 7: coach Harold Blackman said that he was pretty confident that
Speaker 7: they would be able to field the team next year,
Speaker 7: just the way with things kind of went that they
Speaker 7: knew this was going to be a low year for them,
Speaker 7: and once those injuries kind of started to stack, copices
Speaker 7: became too much to deal with.
Speaker 5: You mentioned the names Joey at Catholic and Nazareth, and
Speaker 5: then those are two teams are going to be, you know,
Speaker 5: meeting up this Friday, and you'll be there for that one. Obviously,
Speaker 5: the rematch of last year's class by the state championship game.
Speaker 5: Nazareth a lot of guys back from that team that
Speaker 5: were big parts of that team. Joey at Katholic. I'm
Speaker 5: gonna be honest, you probably know a lot more about
Speaker 5: them than I do. I do know that they've been
Speaker 5: I don't want to say living dangerously or winning winning
Speaker 5: wild at the end, but they've had some you know,
Speaker 5: kind of close finishes the last couple of weeks. You know,
Speaker 5: what do you think about that matchup?
Speaker 7: You can say that they've been they have been living dangerous,
Speaker 7: ye and they won by one point in overtime against
Speaker 7: Marist on Friday with the mixed mixed extra point. There
Speaker 7: should be a fun matchup. I don't you know, it's
Speaker 7: funny because Nazareth is obviously pretty much bringing at a
Speaker 7: majority of its team from last year's state title game.
Speaker 7: A lot of linemen are back for Juliet Katholick, but
Speaker 7: a lot of the skilled players and a lot of
Speaker 7: the guys that you know, we saw a little bit
Speaker 7: last year when the h J Grisby got a little hurt. Obviously,
Speaker 7: we saw some depth in that in Arab Dards, we
Speaker 7: saw some of those guys kind of step into that scenario.
Speaker 7: But it should be a fun matchup. It's honestly the
Speaker 7: best CCL E SEC matchup of the week. You've got
Speaker 7: obviously the two highly ranked teams in their respective classes. Obviously,
Speaker 7: then I feel like a lot of a couple of
Speaker 7: teams that want maybe want to prove something obviously just
Speaker 7: to get a crossover win over here. Nas obviously was
Speaker 7: off to a good three and one start, very different
Speaker 7: from the last couple of years. But I think, you know,
Speaker 7: it feels like they want to pick up a you know,
Speaker 7: kind of a statement win to start the year where
Speaker 7: you know, obviously they fell to Mount Carmel by a
Speaker 7: couple of scores, and I feel like this could be
Speaker 7: a good test for them just to kind of show
Speaker 7: you know where they are at this point, and you
Speaker 7: know how talented they can get to this point and
Speaker 7: pick up a pretty marquee win. And you know, for
Speaker 7: Julia Kathock being able to be Mariss, I think you
Speaker 7: can't really have you know, you can't really you know,
Speaker 7: be like, well we just be Maris, we can be Nasreth. Obviously,
Speaker 7: they're gonna head into that matchup, you know, prepared for
Speaker 7: a tough battle, and they probably want another marquee when
Speaker 7: to kind of add to their resume. So it should
Speaker 7: be a really fun matchup. But I think it'll test
Speaker 7: some you know, some some interesting skills obviously with the
Speaker 7: strong line that Julia Katholck has and some skill players
Speaker 7: against mass obviously size and their skill players. So that
Speaker 7: should be a really fun matchup in the Breage Park
Speaker 7: on Friday.
Speaker 5: You know, what are some of the other matchups that
Speaker 5: you're looking at. I know you touched on some of
Speaker 5: the unbeatens like de Paul Preppen Bennett. They're respectfully playing
Speaker 5: Loyal on Mount Carnial this week, so those will be
Speaker 5: tough tests. And then another one that I saw, I mean,
Speaker 5: you know, Providence sitting two and two plays Saint Francis,
Speaker 5: you know, big one for them. You know what, what
Speaker 5: else are you looking at this week?
Speaker 7: I think that's pretty much the matchup that I'm looking
Speaker 7: at this week. It's one of those crossover weeks where
Speaker 7: you got you got the Blue playing the Purple and
Speaker 7: then you got the White playing the reds. So some
Speaker 7: you know, some maybe mismatches here and there, but listen,
Speaker 7: you know that that is very ripe for a lot
Speaker 7: of blood debate, David and Goliath moments and you know,
Speaker 7: upsets in that side of stuff. And that's obviously what
Speaker 7: makes high school football interesting. And I am curious to
Speaker 7: see how Bennett competes against Mount Carmel. Talking with coach
Speaker 7: Patrick Knew, he said that he was curious to see,
Speaker 7: you know, when they're at their best, how they are
Speaker 7: against Mount Carmel, who he considers one of the best
Speaker 7: teams in the Midwest. And for the ball Prep against Loyola,
Speaker 7: that'll be a really interesting matchup as well, just to
Speaker 7: kind of see how the Paul Prep matches with Loyola
Speaker 7: and how Loyola kind of tries to build off their
Speaker 7: brother Rice. But but yeah, Saint Francis in Providence should
Speaker 7: be really interesting Providence in at two and two. Right now,
Speaker 7: Saint France is coming off that scene rita loss, I
Speaker 7: would I wouldn't say it's obviously not a must win
Speaker 7: game for either of these teams, but I do feel
Speaker 7: like it's a it's a good win for if either
Speaker 7: of these teams win these games. I feel like it's
Speaker 7: a boost win, you know what I mean, where you're
Speaker 7: just kind of like, okay, like I'm starting to get
Speaker 7: confidence in you and I'm starting to see things for you.
Speaker 7: And obviously, you know, if Saint Francis falls down to
Speaker 7: three and two, not you know, people are going to
Speaker 7: be chumping ship or any human calf. But you know,
Speaker 7: it is it is a tougher situation for Providence to
Speaker 7: jump out of two and three and then jumping back
Speaker 7: into Division play the next week. So you know, it's
Speaker 7: not a best win game. But I do think that
Speaker 7: both of those programs are going to be looking for
Speaker 7: bounce back wins just to kind of you know, pick
Speaker 7: up another mark you win and try to you know,
Speaker 7: scratch another win as they try to get the five here.
Speaker 6: I think the interesting thing about Providence's situation is this end,
Speaker 6: this starts a significant road gauntlet for them with Saint Francis.
Speaker 6: It's followed up with a road trip to Marist, and
Speaker 6: then they've got a Saturday afternoon date in Loyola. So
Speaker 6: I'm actually kind of the opinion that this is kind
Speaker 6: of a must win for them, just looking at that schedule,
Speaker 6: and you have to consider that they close the season
Speaker 6: with Joliet Catholic, So absolutely no joke on the back
Speaker 6: half of this Providence schedule. So for them to be
Speaker 6: sitting at two and two, they got to find they
Speaker 6: got to find, you know, at least at least one
Speaker 6: out of those those four games that I just mentioned,
Speaker 6: and probably two. So it's just as as good to
Speaker 6: try to get one here then to put it in
Speaker 6: the hands of oh, I've got to go up to
Speaker 6: will Met and beat Loyola, or I've got to go
Speaker 6: up to Marist and beat Marist. So I mean, I
Speaker 6: think they I think ultimately if they finish four and five,
Speaker 6: they're obviously going to have a treasure trovel playoff points.
Speaker 6: But I think this is pretty close to him must
Speaker 6: win for Providence.
Speaker 7: Yeah, I think we'll learn a lot about them too, right,
Speaker 7: I think we'll see, you know, obviously We've seen the
Speaker 7: highlights of Gavin Hagen. He's obviously one of the top
Speaker 7: players in the state. But I do want to see more,
Speaker 7: you know, from the offense and the defense, honestly, just
Speaker 7: to kind of get a good grasp it because we're
Speaker 7: you know, we're almost halfway through. Obviously we'll be passed
Speaker 7: a halfway point and Providence is definitely a school and
Speaker 7: I'm kind of curious just to kind of see, you know,
Speaker 7: who are we at this point, and you know, how
Speaker 7: far Canadas team really goal day warming, you know, have
Speaker 7: a deep postseason run like they have in the last
Speaker 7: couple of years.
Speaker 5: Michael, thanks again for joining us.
Speaker 6: Uh.
Speaker 5: Michael Jorge back covers the CEC l E SEC for
Speaker 5: Friday Night Drive again and check out his notebook. It's
Speaker 5: on Friday Night Drive dot Com today and he'll be
Speaker 5: at the Nazareth and enjoyed Catholic game Friday. Michael, thanks
Speaker 5: a lot for joining us.
Speaker 6: Yep, he have me go on guys, you too, Hey,
Speaker 6: football fans, listen up.
Speaker 5: I'm top there and I drive a Hawk. I got
Speaker 5: it from my friends at Hawk Folkswagon.
Speaker 6: So drive what I drive? Drive a Hawk off Volkswagon
Speaker 6: on Jefferson Street in Joiett or online at HAWKVW dot com.
Speaker 8: Be the Hass clothing brand based right here in Chicago,
Speaker 8: Land that specializes in custom apparel. So if you need
Speaker 8: your logo on team apparel, hoss co is the place
Speaker 8: to go. Visit Bethehass dot com and use code Friday
Speaker 8: Night for twenty percent off your order. They have it all.
Speaker 5: Uh, Steve, As I look outside of the lead that
Speaker 5: Michael was discussing, the that maybe stands out. As I
Speaker 5: was looking at some of the top Week five games,
Speaker 5: it seems like it's in the Foxfy Conference. It's sad matchup.
Speaker 5: You're always like a right, when does Prairie Ridge play
Speaker 5: Kerry Grove? Well, it's this week? What do you think
Speaker 5: about that matchup?
Speaker 6: Yeah, And it really feels like this year, more so
Speaker 6: than maybe some other years, is those two have really
Speaker 6: kind of separated themselves from the rest of the pack.
Speaker 6: Usually maybe you've got another team kind of nipping at
Speaker 6: their heels or maybe kind of in there. It really
Speaker 6: feels like Carry Carry Grove and Prairie Ridge are clearly
Speaker 6: the class of this of this conference this year. So
Speaker 6: you know, it was already it was already interesting coming
Speaker 6: to the season. This carry Grove, you know, maintain what
Speaker 6: they were able to do last year, you know, and
Speaker 6: finishing off and winning another six A title. Will Prairie
Speaker 6: Ridge keep the same standard that they did with a
Speaker 6: coaching change in the offseason. It really kind of looks
Speaker 6: like they have. I mean, both of these two teams
Speaker 6: are trying to position themselves as well as they possibly can.
Speaker 6: Carrie Griven the six A bracket Prairie Ridge and the
Speaker 6: five A bracket. You know, it's a pivotal game in
Speaker 6: regards to that. But it really looks like this is
Speaker 6: ultimately probably going to decide this conference of the conference
Speaker 6: title here in week five. I mean, that's a little
Speaker 6: early to be saying, Okay, I think we've probably won
Speaker 6: the conference championship tonight, but it sure kind of looks
Speaker 6: like that on paper.
Speaker 5: So a league that will definitely not be decided in
Speaker 5: Week five that's been darn impressive through the first four
Speaker 5: weeks has been the Mid Suburban West. I mean, my goodness,
Speaker 5: they have four undefeated teams a fifteen Palatine is three
Speaker 5: and one, and the one game that sit out to
Speaker 5: you and stands out to me from Week five is
Speaker 5: Hoffman Estate's playing at Frem Frem. They got the quarterback
Speaker 5: that's going to Northwestern. But they've really been at They've
Speaker 5: been an eye opening team the first four weeks of
Speaker 5: this season. You know, what do you think about that
Speaker 5: matchup and what do you think about that league? I mean,
Speaker 5: it's been as impressive as any league the first four
Speaker 5: weeks of the season.
Speaker 6: Well, I mean you usually look at that league in
Speaker 6: the past, it's Barrington and then it's everybody else. And
Speaker 6: maybe maybe Palatine slips into the conversation a little bit there.
Speaker 6: You know, being four and oh a pretty big surprise.
Speaker 6: Schomberg being four and oh an even bigger surprise. Hoffman
Speaker 6: Estates is a team that is not being talked about
Speaker 6: at all right now. But this is a program that
Speaker 6: has been pretty successful. They've they've made a couple of
Speaker 6: round advancement in the playoffs. They're just kind of looking
Speaker 6: at that radar and just flying right underneath it. And
Speaker 6: it wouldn't surprise me a lot if they came out
Speaker 6: and won that game on Friday night and moved to
Speaker 6: five and oh, that would not surprise me. I do
Speaker 6: think that's gonna be a very good game. I think
Speaker 6: we're gonna be talking about this league and the construct
Speaker 6: of Oh, all three of those games are good this week.
Speaker 6: I mean, I think that's gonna happen a lot. I mean,
Speaker 6: we're just just gonna have a lot of teams in
Speaker 6: there that I mean, at the end of the year,
Speaker 6: you know, maybe Barrington runs the table. Maybe they don't.
Speaker 6: I don't know, but I think that's more in question
Speaker 6: than it's been in a while. I think I feel
Speaker 6: like maybe maybe there's an opportunity or maybe two opportunities
Speaker 6: for Barrington to get picked off in league play. And
Speaker 6: in the past you really been able to say.
Speaker 5: That, yeah, that's the league that I mean, a lot
Speaker 5: of good teams and my good they just score crazy
Speaker 5: points every week, let's be honest. I mean, those are
Speaker 5: games that when I look to read this the game story,
Speaker 5: you know, at eleven thirty twelve at night, I'm not
Speaker 5: surprised when it's fifty to forty nine. I'm not surprised
Speaker 5: when the quarterback throws a five hundred yards. That's just
Speaker 5: the way they play footballup there.
Speaker 6: Yeah, it really is. And it's and the funny thing
Speaker 6: is about it, too, is that they usually have some
Speaker 6: pretty good defensive players too. It's not like they're just
Speaker 6: laying down on defense. They've got some defensive players. It's
Speaker 6: just they've got such exceptional offensive offensive players that you
Speaker 6: know that they're gonna put up points like that, and
Speaker 6: it's it's very interesting to see how that that develops
Speaker 6: on a year.
Speaker 5: To your basis, another matchup to the West with another
Speaker 5: team that's been I'm gonna say a bit of a
Speaker 5: surprise so far. Kaitlin is off to a four to
Speaker 5: noh start. But now they play Morris and Sycamore back
Speaker 5: to back in Interstate eight, and Morris and Sycamore, that's
Speaker 5: that's what the bread is butter in that league. You know,
Speaker 5: Morris as a loss already, but I'm you know, it's
Speaker 5: just one loss as to Peoria, I believe, but they've
Speaker 5: been putting up some huge points. You know, what do
Speaker 5: you make out of that matchup? I think we'll warn
Speaker 5: a lot more about Caitlin, But even if they weren't
Speaker 5: able to get a win, I still feel pretty good
Speaker 5: about them so far.
Speaker 6: Yeah, I feel kind of good about both of these
Speaker 6: two teams. Like you said, Morris does have a loss,
Speaker 6: but oh yeah, they scored fifty points in that game too.
Speaker 6: I mean, so it's like even in a loss, they're
Speaker 6: they're still doing a lot of good things. And they
Speaker 6: played a really good team in Peoria. I mean, that's
Speaker 6: that's being really clear that they that's a good football team. So,
Speaker 6: you know, looking at this conference, I think there's gonna
Speaker 6: be a lot of a lot of rock fights here.
Speaker 6: But I think this is one where we're gonna find out.
Speaker 6: I think we're gonna find out a lot more about
Speaker 6: Kanelan than we I think we know more about Morris
Speaker 6: right now. We know what to expect and and Morris
Speaker 6: is kind of like, hey, they're kind of the king
Speaker 6: of this group until proven otherwise in my mind. So
Speaker 6: I mean, Caitlin might take a good shot at him,
Speaker 6: but for me and until someone knocks them off the
Speaker 6: top of that mountain, it's still Morris's league until someone
Speaker 6: proves otherwise.
Speaker 5: So yeah, obviously a lot of leagues are starting conference play, well,
Speaker 5: if they haven't already, they're starting this week. And oneed
Speaker 5: that you and I are pretty familiar with the Southwest
Speaker 5: Prairie Conference. Plainfield norths is at Oswego this Friday. As
Speaker 5: we goes off to a great start, you know if
Speaker 5: eight Days a little bit more wide open than maybe
Speaker 5: people thought. I don't know, maybe maybe it's not. They've
Speaker 5: kind of established themselves as a team to kind of
Speaker 5: look out for. But Plainfield North those are always good
Speaker 5: games when they play each other, and sometimes they are
Speaker 5: rock fights. It might be this week because they both
Speaker 5: like to play good defense. I don't know what's your
Speaker 5: thoughts in that league in general.
Speaker 6: In that match, I think that it's kind of an
Speaker 6: interesting thing that I think we're going to have to
Speaker 6: take a couple of weeks to figure out, because, you know,
Speaker 6: with the addition of Bowling Brook in that conference, I
Speaker 6: don't think this is as strong a Bowling Berk team
Speaker 6: as maybe would have gotten a couple of years ago
Speaker 6: if they would have came into the league. But I
Speaker 6: still think they're interesting in some ways, and I don't
Speaker 6: know how they really blend with a lot of these teams.
Speaker 6: I mean a few years ago when it was a
Speaker 6: different Bowlingberg team, and I think a better bowling Berg team,
Speaker 6: to be completely honest with you, they worked over Minooka
Speaker 6: at a non conference game, so I don't know how
Speaker 6: they transition into this league. I'm still kind of I mean,
Speaker 6: and you can speak to this maybe better than I can.
Speaker 6: I'm still kind of confused on what I'm gonna get
Speaker 6: from Yorkville on a night to night basis Oswego East.
Speaker 6: I think it's a solid football team, but I think
Speaker 6: maybe the rigors of this conference might be a little
Speaker 6: too much for them to get to the five win platzau.
Speaker 6: You know, Monooka is off to a really good start.
Speaker 6: They're four and zero. The competition level hasn't been really
Speaker 6: good so far, so I don't really know how good
Speaker 6: they are. You know, they had to squeak out a win,
Speaker 6: you know, against a team that I don't really know
Speaker 6: is that strong either, So it's hard to tell exactly
Speaker 6: where they're at in the grand scheme of things. I
Speaker 6: really like Osuego a lot. I like where their defense
Speaker 6: is at, but Plainfield North is tricky. You try to
Speaker 6: count them out. You might look at their stats and say, well,
Speaker 6: they don't have a standout offensive guy or whatever. They're
Speaker 6: starting to piece some things together there. I mean, it's
Speaker 6: that their quarterback is starting to play a little bit better,
Speaker 6: They're getting a little bit of work on the ground game,
Speaker 6: and they're always going to be good defensively, and I
Speaker 6: know that's that's the crux of what Anthony and Bordino
Speaker 6: believes over there. He's like, I'm gonna put my guys
Speaker 6: on defense and we'll figure it out on offense. And
Speaker 6: while that sounds a little wild, sometimes it's worked for
Speaker 6: this program. I mean they they're perfectly content to try
Speaker 6: to beat you ten to six. I mean they're all
Speaker 6: right with that, and they play that way, so they're
Speaker 6: comfortable in that. So it should make for an interesting
Speaker 6: kind of field combat between them and Oswego because Oswego
Speaker 6: likes to lean on their defense too. I think they're
Speaker 6: a little bit more capable on the offensive side of
Speaker 6: the ball. The point good North is right now, but
Speaker 6: when you have two good defenses going together, maybe it
Speaker 6: just one or two plays and it turns the tide.
Speaker 5: So and I mean interesting game and playing for North
Speaker 5: is battle. I mean they stepped down. They played lockpart
Speaker 5: in your first two weeks of the season. They played
Speaker 5: good teams. I mean in that league though, I mean
Speaker 5: we talked about teams that have a lot of two
Speaker 5: and twos. They got four two and two's in that
Speaker 5: league that it can be scratching. And Klawn to get
Speaker 5: to that four or five wins. You know, the second
Speaker 5: half of the year should be it should be very
Speaker 5: interesting in that lead to watch the second half. Uh,
Speaker 5: you know, before you get out of here, I want
Speaker 5: to maybe touch on any you know, kind of smaller
Speaker 5: school games that stand out. I know Piatone and col
Speaker 5: City is a good one. Uh. You know, what are
Speaker 5: you looking at this week?
Speaker 6: You know, it's surprising that we when we look at,
Speaker 6: you know, the four and o's that are left in
Speaker 6: the state, there's only eight games statewide that are pitting
Speaker 6: a four and oh against a four and oh. That's
Speaker 6: a pretty low number. I mean, there are some interesting games.
Speaker 6: We've already talked about a couple of them in that
Speaker 6: four and oh four and oh group. You know, I
Speaker 6: think there's some other ones that are kind of floating
Speaker 6: around out there, maybe not so much small school, but
Speaker 6: just like trying to kind of maybe get a better
Speaker 6: grasp on like where these teams really fit. You know,
Speaker 6: I look at like a Naperville Central Lincoln Way West game.
Speaker 6: That's a game that it like has never really happened before.
Speaker 6: Because we've got this new conference alignment. I think both
Speaker 6: of those two teams are pretty good football teams. I
Speaker 6: think Naperville Central's ahead of them, but how far ahead
Speaker 6: of them all day? I mean, I don't know. Maybe
Speaker 6: maybe I'm totally wrong. Maybe Lincoln Way West will get them.
Speaker 6: And I think that that Southwest Valley is creating a
Speaker 6: lot of matchups that you would have thought maybe these
Speaker 6: two teams met before, but they haven't. I mean, it's
Speaker 6: it's creating a lot of these new interesting games. I mean,
Speaker 6: Lockport is playing Naperville North. I'm gonna be honest with you,
Speaker 6: on paper, that looks like a total toss up. So
Speaker 6: I mean, but it's creating a lot of these interesting
Speaker 6: matchups with these teams that used to be in to
Speaker 6: Do Page Valley and the teams that used to be
Speaker 6: in the Southwest Suburban. Then maybe maybe ten years ago
Speaker 6: they met in a non conference game, but they've never
Speaker 6: really played each other before. It's creating a lot of
Speaker 6: permutations that I think are really interesting.
Speaker 5: Yeah, that's definitely a lead. I'm kind of keeping an
Speaker 5: eye on as the season wears on, just to see,
Speaker 5: like you said, how these teams kind of match up
Speaker 5: because they've never really seen them on the football field together.
Speaker 5: And they got good programs, but they've just coming from
Speaker 5: different directions, so it should be fun to watch, you know,
Speaker 5: before we get out of here week five, if you
Speaker 5: want to put a bow on it, you know, what
Speaker 5: does week five mean? And what are you going to
Speaker 5: be looking for on Friday night?
Speaker 6: Well, I mean, obviously the teams that are gonna, you know,
Speaker 6: get themselves to five wins. The expectation is once you
Speaker 6: get to five wins through five weeks, you've got your
Speaker 6: sets set on a higher goal. So while that's impressive,
Speaker 6: that's not where my focus is going to be this week.
Speaker 6: We talked about it a little bit earlier. For me,
Speaker 6: it's all about that to win group. It's all about
Speaker 6: those teams in there, which side of the ledger you on.
Speaker 6: If you fall on the wrong side of that ledger
Speaker 6: this week, take a loss, drop the two and three.
Speaker 6: You know, to get to five, you've got to finish three,
Speaker 6: and you've got to finish at least three and one.
Speaker 6: And you know, some of these teams that might drop
Speaker 6: the two and three this week three and one will
Speaker 6: be real difficult with what they have of their remaining schedules.
Speaker 6: So for me, it's the fight to stay above that
Speaker 6: five hundred line. If you can, if you can stay
Speaker 6: above it, you put yourself in really good shape the
Speaker 6: rest of the way. Basically, just got to play five
Speaker 6: hundred ball the rest of the way to get to five.
Speaker 6: But if you fall below it, boy, it gets real
Speaker 6: tricky for you. I mean. And then just kind of
Speaker 6: keeping an eye on those one in three teams that
Speaker 6: are that you expect better from, like are is it
Speaker 6: is it gonna be a disaster? And are they gonna
Speaker 6: drop the one and four? I mean, that's really what
Speaker 6: it comes down to. So I think those are what
Speaker 6: those are what I'm gonna be looking at real with
Speaker 6: a lot of interest this week. The top teams are
Speaker 6: gonna take care of themselves when they've gotten when they've
Speaker 6: got to four and other through you know, they get
Speaker 6: that five and zero, that's an accomplishment. I'm not gonna
Speaker 6: dispute that. But for me, in terms of constructing what
Speaker 6: I think the playoff field is going to look like,
Speaker 6: the interest level is definitely with the two and two's.
Speaker 5: Yeah, that's the thing is that the must win games
Speaker 5: might not be the Week nine games. They might be
Speaker 5: the Week five or Week six games. Week nine, you
Speaker 5: might be paying playing a team that you know that
Speaker 5: you're either gonna beat Handley or lose Handy two. But
Speaker 5: there might be that game that is a toss up
Speaker 5: in week five or week six that you got to
Speaker 5: get and there's a lot of good ones like that
Speaker 5: out there.
Speaker 6: Yeah, I couldn't agree with you more on that sentiment.
Speaker 6: That's definitely a situation that I'm noticing. When I'm looking
Speaker 6: at I'm like going, well, you know, I hate to
Speaker 6: call a week five game a must win, but when
Speaker 6: you start looking at what's after week five, you can
Speaker 6: get a handle on games that I feel like are
Speaker 6: probably a must win. I mean, it's not technically a
Speaker 6: must win because there's the only the only teams right
Speaker 6: now that are in muscle waring situation are zero and fours.
Speaker 6: I mean that to be completely honest. But if you're
Speaker 6: a one in three with you know, three games on
Speaker 6: the back half of your schedule, they are going to
Speaker 6: be challenging, then Week five might neil must win for you.
Speaker 6: I mean, that's that's the reality of the situation.
Speaker 5: Thanks everybody again for joining the Friday Night Drive Week
Speaker 5: five preview podcasts. Again for everyone, make sure to look
Speaker 5: out for Week five previous They're gonna be on Friday
Speaker 5: Night Drive dot Com on Thursday and Wednesday and Thursday,
Speaker 5: and then Steve will be back on Friday Night with
Speaker 5: Matt Rudofald rat Roodowald from nine thirty to eleven as
Speaker 5: a break everything down, and then we'll be back here
Speaker 5: next week. So again for Steve Susci, I'm Josh Welgy.
Speaker 5: You have a good week everyone.
Speaker 4: Do you ever wonder where the profits go when you
Speaker 4: shop at a big box store? Hi, this is Patty
Speaker 4: from Oliver's Corner Market. When you shop at Oliver's you
Speaker 4: can rest assured that the profits stay local, supporting other
Speaker 4: local businesses and charities. Find us at the Corner Brittain,
Speaker 4: Bradshaw and Dixon.
Speaker 2: My property taxes have gone Y're the roof. I spend
Speaker 2: more and get less every time I go to the
Speaker 2: grocery store. Democrats in Springfields keep telling me that inflation
Speaker 2: is due to greed instead of out of control spending,
Speaker 2: and that high property taxes are the price we pay
Speaker 2: for good schools, not because of unfunded mandates. Democrats have
Speaker 2: run this state for years and all we have to
Speaker 2: show for it is higher taxes and less money in
Speaker 2: our wallets. This year, I'm voting to throw out my
Speaker 2: Democratic state rep I'm voting Republican
Speaker 3: Paid for by citizens, to alect Stephen Reich