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Speaker 4: This is State Representative Steve Reich. Since twenty sixteen. It's
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Speaker 1: All right, and welcome into the Weekly Conversation. Week four
Speaker 1: the recap here on Friday Night Drive. I met Littlewald
Speaker 1: and good to be with Steve SUSSI once again, hard
Speaker 1: to believe we already get to the halfway point, and there's.
Speaker 5: Been a lot of data points we've learned to get
Speaker 5: to this point.
Speaker 3: I would say, so, right, yeah, I mean, I guess
Speaker 3: when you look back at Week four and what we
Speaker 3: picked up out of that, it was as far as
Speaker 3: a week can be. It was kind of calm for
Speaker 3: the most part. Didn't feel like there were a lot
Speaker 3: of monumental upsets at the top of the board, but
Speaker 3: where I found interesting as we dug more into it,
Speaker 3: there were some games in the middle of the pack
Speaker 3: that kind of sorted out in a different way than
Speaker 3: maybe I was anticipating. And it's led to some uh,
Speaker 3: I guess, some chaotic reads and trying to figure out
Speaker 3: how this might go.
Speaker 5: Yeah, I think that's been the tough part.
Speaker 1: And you know, we're gonna touch a lot of different
Speaker 1: bases here in these next forty minutes or so. But
Speaker 1: the one thing that stood out was when I read
Speaker 1: what you had today in Nashaw Local, and if you
Speaker 1: haven't read it, do so. Just the idea of parody
Speaker 1: at the high school level and just kind of that
Speaker 1: evening things out. I'm trying to think of dominant teams
Speaker 1: right now. I think A one E Saint Louis, and
Speaker 1: then I think everyone else. Really, you know, normally the
Speaker 1: Mount Carmel's, normally the Loyals, but they all have a
Speaker 1: blemish at this point and it seems like there is
Speaker 1: more parody. What do you attribute that to if you
Speaker 1: can guess, even at this point, just four weeks the season.
Speaker 3: Yeah, I'm not really sure if I can put my
Speaker 3: finger on exactly why that is. But It definitely feels like,
Speaker 3: especially in a lot of conferences in the middle classifications,
Speaker 3: when I'm talking about like three to six A six A,
Speaker 3: it feels like the gap is closed a little bit
Speaker 3: between the top teams and the middle tier teams. The
Speaker 3: top tier teams might still be the same teams, but
Speaker 3: it's not as easy to sled as it maybe has
Speaker 3: been in years past.
Speaker 1: I think of the matchup between like an All Tough
Speaker 1: and Unity. I mean, that's A three A and A
Speaker 1: one A, and that thing was a barnburder back forth
Speaker 1: back forth. Is that a good example of what you're
Speaker 1: kind of talking about in terms of just like people
Speaker 1: can go play up and down maybe one class size,
Speaker 1: but we're seeing the two class sizes where they're ranked
Speaker 1: and they're playing barn burner games against each other.
Speaker 3: I think there are two things that, like I can
Speaker 3: point to just kind of looking at where we're at
Speaker 3: right now that speak to something almost entirely different than
Speaker 3: what we've seen before. The first, and we talked about
Speaker 3: this a little bit on Friday night. The CCL Blue
Speaker 3: is a conference that we usually expect dominance from, and
Speaker 3: we look at it now, the collective record of the
Speaker 3: conference is eight and eight. So that says something about
Speaker 3: where we're at right now, just in general. And I
Speaker 3: think the other thing, and I was looking at this
Speaker 3: a little bit earlier. Let's take the Kishwaukie River Conference
Speaker 3: as an example. Granted it's an extreme example, but you've
Speaker 3: got one team at four and oh, and then you've
Speaker 3: got six teams at two and two. Four of those
Speaker 3: six teams have been outscored by their opponents this year,
Speaker 3: so it's kind of all over the place. It's like,
Speaker 3: you can't you can't just pinpoint it and make a
Speaker 3: clear pecking order in a lot of these conferences. And
Speaker 3: that's what's I think making it real interesting because that's
Speaker 3: I mean, that's what I do on a regular basis.
Speaker 3: I look at these and I'm trying to put together
Speaker 3: what is a comprehensive pecking order, and I can't do
Speaker 3: it because it's there's so many conflicting information, well like
Speaker 3: pieces of information that through four weeks, maybe we haven't
Speaker 3: got complete resolution to it. Maybe we'll get it in
Speaker 3: a couple of weeks. Maybe we won't. I mean, maybe
Speaker 3: it'll just like this all year long.
Speaker 1: I wonder if it's gonna be like this until we
Speaker 1: get to say a second or a quarterfinal round where
Speaker 1: the entire day is just dynamite games because of the
Speaker 1: fact that there's so much even keel and you know,
Speaker 1: you get the element of non conference teams playing it's
Speaker 1: against each other, especially when you go seven weeks in
Speaker 1: a row with.
Speaker 5: Your conference opponent.
Speaker 1: Yeah, you're depending on how the brackets sort out, fine,
Speaker 1: but all of a sudden, you're gonna get that. You're
Speaker 1: gonna get that Geneva Canlin matchup in a quarterfinal, which
Speaker 1: could be really good. For example, in Class six A,
Speaker 1: and I'll give you another point is when I go
Speaker 1: through the six A top ten rankings statewide. Here, you
Speaker 1: know you have an opponent. You have teams that play
Speaker 1: seven eighteen another seven EIGHTEAM. These are ranked teams by
Speaker 1: the way three A, four A, and then in their
Speaker 1: class at six that's just Class six A. So they're
Speaker 1: willing to play all over the place. Fenwick having to
Speaker 1: play Montini. So you have the enrollment disparity there, close game,
Speaker 1: you had Belvidere North and Boiling kind of a close
Speaker 1: game for a while, and they're in conference fos and
Speaker 1: you have enrollment changes, so you know the rolements may
Speaker 1: not matter as much as just the fact that the
Speaker 1: football seems to be pretty even all the way around.
Speaker 3: Yeah, and I think that we're gonna see it kind
Speaker 3: of work gets way, excuse me, work its way towards
Speaker 3: that you've got you know, well over one hundred teams
Speaker 3: right now that are sitting at the five hundred mark.
Speaker 3: The pools of teams that are sitting at three and
Speaker 3: one are smaller than they usually are. The four and
Speaker 3: oh group is staying pretty much the same, But I
Speaker 3: think that's really telling. The pool of the two and
Speaker 3: two teams is so much larger than it usually is,
Speaker 3: and I think that speaks to the general overall argument,
Speaker 3: are we experiencing more parody? The list of teams that
Speaker 3: we have at one in three right now includes some
Speaker 3: heavy hitters. I mean, so it's like we've got you know,
Speaker 3: it's almost feels like it's like a new era where
Speaker 3: you're like you can't take a lot for granted anymore.
Speaker 3: You can't sit here and say, well, these are the
Speaker 3: teams that I think are gonna be four and oh
Speaker 3: and three and one, and know you're pretty much gonna
Speaker 3: be right when we start the season. That is not
Speaker 3: the case this year. We did have some of those
Speaker 3: three and oh teams fall off last week that maybe
Speaker 3: we're not that we're not ready to, you know, kind
Speaker 3: of make that leap into the elite group, but there
Speaker 3: were some that continued on. I mean, so it's I
Speaker 3: think we're having some flip the script situations with several teams,
Speaker 3: and that's what we've talked about this before. We both
Speaker 3: really enjoy those stories. But not only is that is
Speaker 3: that interesting for those schools and also has a very
Speaker 3: interesting effect on what these brackets are going to look
Speaker 3: like too, because some of these teams that we're talking
Speaker 3: about that are emerging are gonna take the spots that
Speaker 3: we're accustomed to much different programs being on those lines,
Speaker 3: and then those programs are either gonna maybe not be
Speaker 3: in the field or on much lower lines because of it.
Speaker 3: So it's gonna make for a really interesting playoff field.
Speaker 3: I think that we're gonna get and I thought we
Speaker 3: saw it a little bit last year. I think we're
Speaker 3: gonna see even more this year where you're gonna get
Speaker 3: to the second round and you're gonna feel like this
Speaker 3: is a second round game. Yeah.
Speaker 5: Now it's just gonna say that you know.
Speaker 3: I mean that I feel like that's what we're gonna
Speaker 3: We're gonna end up having this year. Obviously, there's gonna
Speaker 3: be bracket situations that don't provide for that, but I
Speaker 3: do think there's gonna be several scenarios where you just
Speaker 3: look at it and say, this does not feel like
Speaker 3: a Round two game to me.
Speaker 1: It's just gonna be a different look all the way around,
Speaker 1: because you know, at this point with Loylo two losses,
Speaker 1: it's gonna slip down a little bit here. You know, uh,
Speaker 1: they're gonna be in a different spot than you're normally
Speaker 1: seeing them.
Speaker 5: You've got Glenbard West at zero and four.
Speaker 1: That's a different story altogether. But you know a lot
Speaker 1: of those one in threes, and we'll get to the
Speaker 1: one in threes, you know, are gonna be teams that
Speaker 1: you're not accustomed to seeing on the road in the
Speaker 1: first round. And you're gonna have a lot of coaches
Speaker 1: and I know there are a lot of assistant coaches
Speaker 1: a gonna pay attention to this line is you know,
Speaker 1: see those jerseys, the teams you see on TV the
Speaker 1: last ten years, those guys aren't on the field. It's
Speaker 1: this group you know, it's you're seeing a different group
Speaker 1: out that matters. To kind of illustrate it that way,
Speaker 1: you mentioned three and oh teams that kind of slipped back,
Speaker 1: Maris being one of them, down to three and one.
Speaker 1: Seven A was riddled with him with Saint Charles North
Speaker 1: Lincoln Way West Normal Community that you watched a little
Speaker 1: bit in person in terms of drive moving back to
Speaker 1: three and one, and Saint Francis one of those teams
Speaker 1: where you thought, oh, okay, three and oh after going
Speaker 1: into will Met and getting a win and then finding
Speaker 1: themselves losing at home to Saint Rita. So there are
Speaker 1: a lot of surprises that and just look in the
Speaker 1: surface and go, this is gonna be really hard to
Speaker 1: figure out.
Speaker 3: Yeah, and it has been, and it just the thing
Speaker 3: that keeps coming at is that, like there are several
Speaker 3: teams that like maybe got back to the five hundred
Speaker 3: mark on on Friday night, and then you look at
Speaker 3: their schedule that's right in front of them the next
Speaker 3: two or three games, and you're like, oh boy, oh no,
Speaker 3: I mean, so just maintaining that five hundred record is
Speaker 3: gonna be difficult. I mean, just based on what's coming
Speaker 3: ahead of them. So and that's what happens when you have,
Speaker 3: like I said, a larger group of these two and
Speaker 3: two teams. You look on your schedule, there's obviously gonna
Speaker 3: be a lot of teams in there that are gonna
Speaker 3: be sitting kind of in the same boat as you all.
Speaker 3: So getting that separation and maybe putting together a string
Speaker 3: of wins against teams that are kind of like in
Speaker 3: that same situation, it's gonna be critical for a lot
Speaker 3: of programs. I'd like you might look at your schedules
Speaker 3: two and two, two and two, three and one and think, well, well,
Speaker 3: I got to get two of the three. But if
Speaker 3: you string together those three, you're you're in real good shape.
Speaker 3: But if you don't and you lose them all, you're
Speaker 3: in terrible shape. So and that's I mean, it's there
Speaker 3: are it seems like they're just so so few breathers
Speaker 3: on a lot of team schedules. This year, it's like
Speaker 3: every time you look up, it's another it's another guy
Speaker 3: ready to take a swing at you.
Speaker 1: It grind, it really is.
Speaker 3: This year.
Speaker 1: I switch here is just a tad bit and ask
Speaker 1: you because I'm gonna put you on the spot just
Speaker 1: a little bit here Okay, So of the four and
Speaker 1: oh teams, which one is the most surprising one to
Speaker 1: you or which one comes to mind first? Is a
Speaker 1: surprising team that's four and oh this year so far?
Speaker 1: I think I would probably answer that question with I
Speaker 1: think it's De Paul prep yep. I think that's the
Speaker 1: team that I'm gonna go with, just because of the
Speaker 1: I guess the you know, they they haven't played the
Speaker 1: the real meat of their schedule yet, but they've also
Speaker 1: some solid teams that they've had a lot of trouble
Speaker 1: with in the past. So getting them to four and
Speaker 1: oh and you know, and impress it the way that
Speaker 1: they just kind of took care of business on Friday
Speaker 1: night and getting to four and oh, that's the actions
Speaker 1: of a team that's ready to make the next step.
Speaker 1: If you're if you're getting to four and oh and
Speaker 1: you're squeaking them out every week, congratulations, you've done what
Speaker 1: you needed to do. But when you when you're up
Speaker 1: against a team that maybe in the past has given
Speaker 1: me a little bit of trouble and you just kind
Speaker 1: of take care of the business and just kind of
Speaker 1: roll them off the field, that's the sign of a
Speaker 1: team that I think is ready to maybe make that
Speaker 1: next step. And I think the Paul Prepp might be
Speaker 1: that team squeaking it out and getting to four. And oh,
Speaker 1: I'm looking at you, Sycamore exactly. I mean, they're a
Speaker 1: good team. We know that that's a tough schedule, but hey,
Speaker 1: a wins and wins a win.
Speaker 5: But you know my surprising team at four And oh.
Speaker 1: The Oswego Panthers a bit. And it's not the fact
Speaker 1: that you know they are for and oh, it's the
Speaker 1: fact that they are looking as scary of an Oswego
Speaker 1: team as I've seen in thirty years coming out of
Speaker 1: that place. You know, that defense is roaring, that offense
Speaker 1: is frightening because they're putting points on the board. What
Speaker 1: they did to JCA is clearly making some noise in
Speaker 1: that region about what's going on there. So I think
Speaker 1: I think the Oswego Panthers look like an eight A
Speaker 1: state title contender right this minute. And I cannot wait
Speaker 1: to see them in Minoca Tangle in week eight.
Speaker 3: Well, we know how unsafe this is. We've talked about
Speaker 3: this before, but if you start doing transitive property studies,
Speaker 3: Catholic has beaten Fenwick, They've beaten Maris. Now. Granted those
Speaker 3: both of those games came down to the wire, but
Speaker 3: Oswego handled Jolia Catholic when they played was a dominant performance.
Speaker 3: And you know, in years past, I've kind of looked
Speaker 3: at Oswego's conference and said and kind of thrown my
Speaker 3: hands up and said, you guys, figure it out because
Speaker 3: I can't. But right now, I think Oswego goes into
Speaker 3: that conference as the clear favorite to win it. And
Speaker 3: I'm sure that you know Knokah is looking at that saying, hey,
Speaker 3: what about us? I mean, we're undefeated, we're doing good
Speaker 3: things too, and they score a ton of points too. Yes,
Speaker 3: but I still think that Oswego is your clear favorite
Speaker 3: in that conference. And it's been a few years since
Speaker 3: I can say that's clearly the situation. I mean, you
Speaker 3: probably have to go back to past the era Oswego,
Speaker 3: before this recent blip, and before you have a team
Speaker 3: that you would say that's the clear favorite in that conference.
Speaker 1: I mean, you're talking the ninety two, the two thousand
Speaker 1: and three, and then this team I think probably in
Speaker 1: that conversation in terms of how good that program is
Speaker 1: historically speaking. But ever since the split, it's been just
Speaker 1: kind of can we get one of these teams going?
Speaker 1: This might be the year that one of them finally does.
Speaker 1: And it's the Panther group, I think more than anything else.
Speaker 1: Speaking of scary, the mid suburban West is just nasty
Speaker 1: this year. I mean, I could have picked friend to
Speaker 1: answer that question. Hello friend, the friend Vikings. But you know,
Speaker 1: there's a lot of four and no fun in that
Speaker 1: league right now, and Barrington is the least talked about
Speaker 1: team of that group.
Speaker 3: It's interesting, you know that you mentioned the four and
Speaker 3: oh's in that type of situation, and you know, when
Speaker 3: it really comes down to it, and we haven't talked
Speaker 3: about it either, Palatine's three and one and they're a
Speaker 3: really good football team.
Speaker 1: I mean, you've got four four and oh's and Palatine
Speaker 1: in that conference right now.
Speaker 3: That is crazy town. I mean it's like you just
Speaker 3: kind of look at it and you're like, well, jeez.
Speaker 3: I mean, I mean, you got this week, you've got
Speaker 3: four and oh against four and oh, four and oh
Speaker 3: against three and one, and Barrington has Conan who hasn't
Speaker 3: won yet. But that's but that's the breakdown of the
Speaker 3: I mean, there's no other conference in the state that
Speaker 3: can say that we've got undefeated, undefeated four and oh
Speaker 3: three and one, and then the other four and oh
Speaker 3: is playing in the other game. I mean, it's it's
Speaker 3: a six team conference, but it's just it's absolutely nuts.
Speaker 1: Right now, I'm in Genevas, so I'm not too far
Speaker 1: from that area. So yeah, I did a little bit
Speaker 1: of a like ahead of time because of the Jewish Holiday.
Speaker 1: The best part about the Jewish Holiday is that they
Speaker 1: moved the games a Thursday, so I get to go
Speaker 1: see games on Thursday and Friday and Saturday. If Mebee
Speaker 1: and Barrington and Schomberg in Barrington on that Thursday, that
Speaker 1: sounds like that might be the place for me to
Speaker 1: be that Thursday night. I mean, yeah, you got the
Speaker 1: Palatine Crosstown, but you know, I think to see that
Speaker 1: Schomberg defense, try and figure out that Barrington offense on
Speaker 1: a Thursday night, that might be a good appetizer for
Speaker 1: the for the weekend.
Speaker 3: Thursday night as a couple of weeks, so you know, yeah,
Speaker 3: Thursday night is an option when I can actually go somewhere.
Speaker 3: So we might have to suit. We're each at one,
Speaker 3: so we can you know, so exactly saying but that.
Speaker 3: That's another thing that I always look forward to is
Speaker 3: that week that I can sneak out in maybe catch
Speaker 3: a Thursday night game that is outside of my my
Speaker 3: little umbrella area here. So that's something I'm definitely looking
Speaker 3: forward to, and definitely that conference is delivering a lot
Speaker 3: of intriguing matchups every single week. The rest of the.
Speaker 1: Way, Schaumberg is four and oh, we have no idea
Speaker 1: how good they are, do we?
Speaker 3: No, I really don't know for And like I said,
Speaker 3: that's how we're gonna We're gonna We're gonna learn a
Speaker 3: lot more about them now because we can start stacking them.
Speaker 3: The Men Suburban along with the Central Suburban are two
Speaker 3: of the conferences that you just kind of have to say,
Speaker 3: hold your horses before you really kind of figure out
Speaker 3: what they are because they don't start playing one another
Speaker 3: until week five, so that that's the first time you
Speaker 3: get the chance to kind of stack them up in
Speaker 3: their own element. Because I'll be honest, this conference, historically
Speaker 3: they've played wildly desparate non conference schedules, So and I
Speaker 3: know why they do it the way that they do it,
Speaker 3: but we talked about a little bit. It's just it's
Speaker 3: just one of those things where, yeah, you can get
Speaker 3: out to a four and oh start, but that four
Speaker 3: and oh start might be a lot different than someone
Speaker 3: else's foreign oh start based on who you played, what
Speaker 3: you did in those games. So now is kind of
Speaker 3: the proving ground. Most other conferences, you start getting that
Speaker 3: proving ground last week, the week before. In some cases
Speaker 3: in the lock conferences, obviously they start coming at you
Speaker 3: right away, but you won't really get a clear packing
Speaker 3: order on how good these teams are. Maybe not this week,
Speaker 3: but I think next week we'll kind of have a
Speaker 3: concrete picture of what we're looking.
Speaker 1: Yeah, and with the MSL CSL partnership. The exception of
Speaker 1: that rule last year was Bumbrook South, who actually piled
Speaker 1: up just a ton of points got to four and five,
Speaker 1: but they were three and five, having to win that
Speaker 1: game to get to four four and five, which is
Speaker 1: gonna make it just even messier for us in Week
Speaker 1: nine this year is we're gonna have to watch more
Speaker 1: three and five teams to see which ones kind of
Speaker 1: slip into that back door slot if they get into
Speaker 1: the postseason. So we go from four and oh and
Speaker 1: poor conit, you get Barrington this weekend for home coming
Speaker 1: up there. That's the one exception of the rule in
Speaker 1: that too, we go from four and oh teams to
Speaker 1: the one in three teams, and there's a bunch of
Speaker 1: teams that sort of surprises. I would say, which one
Speaker 1: surprised you the most in terms of which one should
Speaker 1: may have to panic the most? Uh, in terms of
Speaker 1: what they have to build on the rest of the way.
Speaker 3: Well, I think Brother Rice is obviously in a in
Speaker 3: a not great situation right now, you know, sitting sitting
Speaker 3: there at one in three Mount Carmel in week six,
Speaker 3: undefeated Saint Lawrence team in week eight, you finish up
Speaker 3: with Saint Ignatius in week nine. I mean right, there's
Speaker 3: three games that are that are in utero if you would,
Speaker 3: So that's I mean, that's that's definitely an uphill climb
Speaker 3: for them. We talked about this before. Obviously, they're in
Speaker 3: fairly good shape if they end up being one of
Speaker 3: those four win teams. We need four win teams. Brother
Speaker 3: Rice is gonna have a truckload of points, so they're
Speaker 3: gonna be in a good situation there. Obviously they don't
Speaker 3: want to put themselves in that situation, but in order
Speaker 3: to avoid it that at minimum over the last you know,
Speaker 3: five weeks of the season, they've got to go four
Speaker 3: and one in that schedule that we just talked about.
Speaker 3: Doesn't seem very likely.
Speaker 1: Yeah, and one team that is one in three that
Speaker 1: might have a ton of points, a truckload of points,
Speaker 1: as you would say, is South Elgin. I did not
Speaker 1: see them going one and three to start, but they
Speaker 1: better figure things out fast. Yes, it's nice to have
Speaker 1: Barrington and Batavia, which could easily get you eighteen playoff
Speaker 1: points just those two, but you know, we haven't really
Speaker 1: seen what that team could turn into, and it's clearly
Speaker 1: taking a step back. The only question is how far
Speaker 1: back have they gone.
Speaker 3: Yeah, I don't know if it's gone all the way
Speaker 3: back to where where they're going to have troubles with
Speaker 3: the remaining teams on their on their schedule. I guess
Speaker 3: we'll find out. But you want to talk about a
Speaker 3: program that has a softened schedule over the last five
Speaker 3: weeks of the season, that's that's a good place to start.
Speaker 3: I mean, they they played as they played up in
Speaker 3: the non conference. It did not work out very well
Speaker 3: for them, but over the you know, I think honestly,
Speaker 3: if they think we're talking about it bluntly, there might
Speaker 3: be one other team left down their schedule that might
Speaker 3: make the playoffs, and the rest of them are are
Speaker 3: are not going to make it.
Speaker 1: So looking at it now, West Chicago got to three
Speaker 1: and one, which is a surprise to me, and they
Speaker 1: might do something, but I think they run the table
Speaker 1: here the rest of the way. But still a surprise
Speaker 1: to see them slip back, and I'm going to be
Speaker 1: very curious to see if they have a good matchup
Speaker 1: or a favorable matchup, you know, say at a six
Speaker 1: and three clip on the road for a team like
Speaker 1: that in the first round. That's no fun or no
Speaker 1: picnic for anybody who was used to winning a lot
Speaker 1: and then having to go on the road in the
Speaker 1: postseason should be fun.
Speaker 3: Yeah, They're kind of a role reversal type of team
Speaker 3: in terms of what we used to do from them
Speaker 3: is usually they just ramble through their old schedule. They'd
Speaker 3: end up as a four or five seed, and then
Speaker 3: you'd be looking to see who that underseeed was against
Speaker 3: them as a potential upset bid because South Elgin hadn't
Speaker 3: really played anybody during the regular season. Now, might the
Speaker 3: shoot might be on the other foot, they might be
Speaker 3: that twenty the eight seed. To be honest, we did
Speaker 3: and they might have to play a five. And who's
Speaker 3: the five gonna be? I mean, that's that's really what
Speaker 3: it comes down to. Could be anyone across the spectrum.
Speaker 3: It could be someone who's emerged. It could be a superpower.
Speaker 3: I mean, that's just the way that it That's the
Speaker 3: way that it's gonna break down an eight A this year.
Speaker 1: The other surprise, I would say lake Zurch I didn't
Speaker 1: expect them to come out at one and three either,
Speaker 1: And yeah, friend kind of opened everyone's eyes. But the
Speaker 1: flip side of that coin was was was the slow
Speaker 1: start that lake zurch and the guys of Bryce Erkman
Speaker 1: a company. It kind of struggled out of the gate.
Speaker 3: There.
Speaker 1: There's just not enough offense for them right now. They're
Speaker 1: gonna need that in a league that has a lot
Speaker 1: of offense.
Speaker 3: Yeah, and there's I mean, and there's new challengers to
Speaker 3: that throne too. Usually you would look at maybe a
Speaker 3: slow start for lake Zurich and say, Okay, they'll be
Speaker 3: they'll ultimately they'll be fine once they get back into
Speaker 3: conference play. But now You've got lake Forest playing better
Speaker 3: than they have in years. Libertyville is now a legitimate,
Speaker 3: a legitimate rat to picking them off. It's just like,
Speaker 3: so you just don't have Warren to worry about anymore.
Speaker 3: In that league. There's there's more problems lying there in
Speaker 3: front of you. Stevenson seems to be at least a
Speaker 3: viable threat to lake Zurich there too. So, I mean,
Speaker 3: there's just more teams that if lake Zurich isn't you know,
Speaker 3: isn't able to get on a second half run. The
Speaker 3: reason for that is going to be that depth of
Speaker 3: that conference has improved so much over the last you know,
Speaker 3: two three years. Uh lke Zerk couldn't afford a slow
Speaker 3: start here. It's gonna there's gonna be more hurdles for
Speaker 3: them to have to clear than years past.
Speaker 1: At this point, you cheer friend as much as you
Speaker 1: can to get all those points to help you, because
Speaker 1: if you have to get to four and five, that's
Speaker 1: gonna be a help too. But after this week, they
Speaker 1: got they have lake Forest this week. It's the fourth
Speaker 1: of four straight road games for lake Zurich, which is
Speaker 1: a mess. They get a couple of get well games
Speaker 1: with Zion, Bitton and munda line. So you'd imagine at
Speaker 1: this point, you know, you're looking at potentially three and
Speaker 1: four going into Warren and Stevenson. You need both of them,
Speaker 1: I think at that point, and that might not be
Speaker 1: easy to get.
Speaker 3: Yeah, I mean, that's what I'm saying. It's just like
Speaker 3: you just have so many obstacles that are in your
Speaker 3: path right now in that conference, and in the past
Speaker 3: you might have one or two games where you know,
Speaker 3: you felt like we're we're going to be a test
Speaker 3: for you. Now you got five. So it's like that's
Speaker 3: just the escalation of that and once again circling back.
Speaker 3: I don't think parody's a fair word here. I think
Speaker 3: that it's just gotten better. Like yeah, I mean that
Speaker 3: that's really what it comes down to. It's just become
Speaker 3: a better, deeper conference than it was, say four or
Speaker 3: five years ago.
Speaker 5: Let's spread around the state a little bit.
Speaker 1: So what are some of the results that jumped out
Speaker 1: to you other way to hang on a second, Wait, Yeah,
Speaker 1: Peoria just scored again. I just wanted to add that
Speaker 1: in there. Eighty six points Peoria company. What shocked you
Speaker 1: want what kind of raised your eyebrows to go oh,
Speaker 1: that's interesting. Outside of the Chicagoland.
Speaker 3: Area, there were a couple in the Central State eight
Speaker 3: that really raised my eyebrows this week. Rochester falling to Chatham.
Speaker 3: I know Glenwood's a good team, I didn't dispute that,
Speaker 3: but seeing that the way that they kind of hemmed
Speaker 3: in Rochester and just really kind of took them out
Speaker 3: of their flow offensively, that's that's something that almost no
Speaker 3: one can do against a Derek Leonard coach team. So
Speaker 3: that was a little bit surprising to me. The one
Speaker 3: that really jumped off the page to me in that
Speaker 3: late this week was Quincy Notre Dame beating Sacred Hog
Speaker 3: Griffin as badly as they did. Like I know, Sacred
Speaker 3: Hog Griffin is not where we're used to from that program,
Speaker 3: but like we talked about before, Quincy Notre Dame, if
Speaker 3: they get into playoffs, is a two way team, and
Speaker 3: for them to do that it cemented in my mind
Speaker 3: that they are good enough to compete in that conference
Speaker 3: that is largely made up of five A and six
Speaker 3: A schools and certainly get themselves a playoff berth. That
Speaker 3: win and the ease that they did it with leads
Speaker 3: me to believe they might be able to do a
Speaker 3: little bit more like and get themselves actually a pretty
Speaker 3: decent seed out of this. So they really raised raised
Speaker 3: my eyeball in another little minor shout out Bloomington moving
Speaker 3: to four and other but the Raiders, Yeah, that's something
Speaker 3: that I did not see coming, to be completely honest
Speaker 3: with you, because it was, you know, when they when
Speaker 3: you look at what I mean they've been, you know,
Speaker 3: sitting around, you know, qualifying as a five win team.
Speaker 3: They went to Normal West and beat them badly. I
Speaker 3: mean they didn't just beat them, they beat them soundly.
Speaker 3: So that that was Those were kind of the three
Speaker 3: right there that really kind of raised my eyebrow in
Speaker 3: central to southern Illinois. It was like they but those
Speaker 3: are those were the big ones.
Speaker 1: Looking forward to week six because Normal Community goes to
Speaker 1: Bloomington and that will be that will be a dynamite event.
Speaker 1: And then they have Piorius on the schedule, so whoever
Speaker 1: is the ball last could possibly win that game. Quincy
Speaker 1: Notre Dame, by the way, starting their first four games
Speaker 1: all at home. I've never seen the four in a row,
Speaker 1: and we've seen a couple times here just tonight talking
Speaker 1: about it. It's very odd to see four in a
Speaker 1: row in one way or the other. Usually the extreme
Speaker 1: is three, and you know, alternating is one thing, but
Speaker 1: to have two in a row of anything is kind
Speaker 1: of a surprise.
Speaker 5: But three is the is an odd one in four
Speaker 5: is insane.
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Speaker 3: They have it all. Yeah, it's It's one of those
Speaker 3: things that I realized was happening a little bit last
Speaker 3: year where there were teams like looking for games and
Speaker 3: a lot of them were like adamant that they had
Speaker 3: to have a home game, and I'm like, well it
Speaker 3: may not work out for you. You don't understand. We've
Speaker 3: got seven road games this year, I'm like, what are
Speaker 3: you talking about? You've got seven road games. So it's like,
Speaker 3: I mean, at some point the schedule maker glitch because
Speaker 3: we had a lot of these teams that were like
Speaker 3: there were lopsided one way or the other, and then
Speaker 3: now it's it's you know, it's flipping back. So now
Speaker 3: they're lopsided in the other direction.
Speaker 5: That's the coach knocking on the ads door.
Speaker 3: Can we talk?
Speaker 1: I got a problem here and I'm just looking at
Speaker 1: the central State eight West. Can I just go through
Speaker 1: this with you real quick? Because we mentioned Quincy Notre Dame.
Speaker 1: Jacksonville has a situation where they're four in five games
Speaker 1: at home. That's that seems like a lot hold on
Speaker 1: a second. So Quincy Notre Dame started with four straight
Speaker 1: road games. Springfield is in a stretch right now. They
Speaker 1: just finished three straight road games. Now they'll have their
Speaker 1: next four at home. So and that starts with Quincy
Speaker 1: Notre Dame Springfield lamp here. They had four to roll
Speaker 1: on the road and that started last week losing to Jacksonville,
Speaker 1: giving up seventy six, which is not gonna be pleasant
Speaker 1: for the next three weeks in that stretch. And so
Speaker 1: that whole conference is a mess, and they're not the
Speaker 1: only one. But yeah, so I think the fact that
Speaker 1: you know, we've talked about, you know, we kind of
Speaker 1: stumble into the to the discussion on scheduling and everybody
Speaker 1: chasing five wins a little bit too. And what that
Speaker 1: does is it throws conferences for a loop and you're
Speaker 1: changing conference schedules. So all of a sudden, those those
Speaker 1: four year contracts that you have with your non conference
Speaker 1: opponent where you go home way, home way, home way,
Speaker 1: well they don't line up nearly as well as you
Speaker 1: thought they would four years ago or six years ago
Speaker 1: when you started the series with that team down the
Speaker 1: road that you thought might be a good neighborhood matchup
Speaker 1: but also a good competitive matchup too. So I'm sure
Speaker 1: eighties and coaches are all not in their head going,
Speaker 1: yeah see, it's not that easy to do.
Speaker 3: Yeah, Yeah, It's definitely one of those things. And I
Speaker 3: think some of some of what happened in the Central
Speaker 3: State eight was they had to adapt to like the
Speaker 3: old schedules involve the teams in their matchups the previous years,
Speaker 3: So some of that didn't carry over real well with
Speaker 3: the divisions, and some of them were probably like, well,
Speaker 3: wait a minute, we played we played that team on
Speaker 3: the road last year. Why are we playing them on
Speaker 3: the road again, So that might have been something that
Speaker 3: had to do with that as well.
Speaker 1: I could do this all day, Stevenson in the midst
Speaker 1: of five games at home out of the next six weeks.
Speaker 1: So it's just like, I've never seen this much of it.
Speaker 1: So all right, let's get away from that for a
Speaker 1: minute and talk about some of some of the offenses
Speaker 1: that we've seen. How about Kerry Grove this past week,
Speaker 1: there's something that says, oh my goodness, their.
Speaker 5: Starters actually gave up points that they hadn't done that.
Speaker 1: All year, and so they didn't give up a touchdown
Speaker 1: central in the Rockets, they got a field goal, and
Speaker 1: that was kind of it in.
Speaker 5: Terms of their first teams.
Speaker 1: But it was the reaction they had after that to
Speaker 1: put four hundred on the ground and just score what
Speaker 1: thirty five straight points on a decent Jacob's team that
Speaker 1: kind of turned your head and go, Okay, that's the
Speaker 1: carrier Grove.
Speaker 3: I'm used to. Yeah, and it was you looked at
Speaker 3: it early on in the game. I was kind of
Speaker 3: following along with it like as I was out watching
Speaker 3: another game, but you know, it seemed like Jacobs was
Speaker 3: off to a good start in that game, and then
Speaker 3: I went away from it a while, I was looking
Speaker 3: at other stuff, and then all of a sudden, I
Speaker 3: was like, whoa, what just happened? Then it was a
Speaker 3: tornado of scoring. It was like, I mean, just like
Speaker 3: it seemed like maybe five or ten minutes had passed
Speaker 3: and all of a sudden, it was just this violent
Speaker 3: swing in the other directions. So, you know, I think
Speaker 3: there were all quite a few of those, maybe not
Speaker 3: quite so many where you felt like the team that
Speaker 3: was having that done to them is still a pretty
Speaker 3: good quality So, I mean, that was one. I mean,
Speaker 3: there were a lot of the those flurries of scoring,
Speaker 3: but it was usually in a matchup where they were
Speaker 3: two pretty opposite end of the spectrum things. Jacobs is
Speaker 3: still a playoff team in my mind, and I'd be
Speaker 3: really surprised if they weren't. So, you know, that's basically
Speaker 3: what it comes down to is, you know, not only
Speaker 3: was that impressive, they did it against a pretty good
Speaker 3: opponent too.
Speaker 1: Very intriguing to see if because Jacobs goes to Central
Speaker 1: here in two weeks and those two teams all of
Speaker 1: a sudden, Central has figured things out after years.
Speaker 5: They haven't been in the playoffs in ten years.
Speaker 1: Jacob's kind of on that always that six and three,
Speaker 1: seven to two, five and four element. Will there be
Speaker 1: a spot taken or will it just be like one
Speaker 1: of those two teams kind of measuring themselves up for
Speaker 1: a playoff berth.
Speaker 5: But first Central has to get Pat mckenry.
Speaker 1: And I want to bring up mckenry just because I
Speaker 1: saw this nugget and what they did the Dundee Crown
Speaker 1: to win the game.
Speaker 5: You saw this, I would imagine, right how many plays
Speaker 5: did that drive take for the game winning drive?
Speaker 3: I don't remember specifically, but I never written down you
Speaker 3: want to, Yes, I don't, twenty twenty one.
Speaker 5: Not that many. Sixteen is still a lot, though, But
Speaker 5: Kerry Groves over.
Speaker 1: Here going, hey, wait, we've done this before. Yeah, but
Speaker 1: mckenry to put a sixteen play drive together for a
Speaker 1: winless team to go get their first win of the season.
Speaker 1: Bravo coaches at whoever offensive line coaches, I'm giving you
Speaker 1: kudos right now for that because that is fourth quarter mojo,
Speaker 1: just like you teach it in August.
Speaker 3: Yeah, definitely, And that's the Fox Valley is another example
Speaker 3: of that, where it's like you look at a close
Speaker 3: conference like that, usually a pecking order kind of establishes itself.
Speaker 3: I don't know if we've really done that yet other
Speaker 3: than at the top where I think we've managed that,
Speaker 3: but like in that middle group, so maybe where the
Speaker 3: bottom is, are we sure like on a week to
Speaker 3: week basis, I don't think we all.
Speaker 5: I don't think it's that good.
Speaker 1: That's the other thing I think. But the Fox Valley's
Speaker 1: got a lot of bottom and trying to figure out
Speaker 1: who's the best of them right now. And I think
Speaker 1: that's where Central and Jacobs and maybe a Huntly slip
Speaker 1: back down that way because the two Crystal Lakes are
Speaker 1: not very good right now, trying to figure out where
Speaker 1: Hampshire is gonna go, and they have They didn't score
Speaker 1: anything on Crystal Lake South. So yeah, that there's a
Speaker 1: third and fourth playoff bid that's just kind of upper
Speaker 1: grabs and whoever wants is gonna get it.
Speaker 5: Kerry Grove and.
Speaker 1: Peer Ridge are both sitting there saying, well, you all
Speaker 1: figure that out this because this week we've got an
Speaker 1: hour and a half game to play with the single
Speaker 1: wing options. It'll be done before eight thirty.
Speaker 3: Yeah, yeah, it'll be done. It'll be done well before
Speaker 3: we get on air on Friday night mat.
Speaker 1: Yes, we'll have a full recap ready to go nine
Speaker 1: thirty for that. I want to get to the small
Speaker 1: school stuff too, and I also want to break down
Speaker 1: the I eight and see if we can get some
Speaker 1: Duquine Conference conversation real quick before we wrap things up.
Speaker 5: Cole City seventy four points.
Speaker 1: We love that. Nineteen plays. It's all he ran to
Speaker 1: get seventy four point I've never heard that before.
Speaker 3: Yeah, I can't remember the exact stat, but I think
Speaker 3: it was they're leading rusher and in Benson had four
Speaker 3: touchdowns on seven carries.
Speaker 1: It's good percent.
Speaker 3: Yeah, so I mean that that was that was what
Speaker 3: before he had an early obviously, but yeah, that was
Speaker 3: one of those things where I looked at it and
Speaker 3: I'm like, boy, there's probably should have been some impressive
Speaker 3: yardage totals in that game. And then I was like, no,
Speaker 3: there really wasn't. And then I looked at the drive
Speaker 3: chart and I was like, oh, they seem to be
Speaker 3: getting the ball at around the thirty five yard line
Speaker 3: scoring in one play, So that's why we weren't amassing
Speaker 3: too many yardage totals.
Speaker 1: So make makes sense.
Speaker 3: Yeah, but definitely uh, definitely interesting with the Kohlers moving
Speaker 3: forward because you know, Pe don't dropped out of the
Speaker 3: ranks of the undefeated. Mantino's still in it. I mean,
Speaker 3: so it's not like we're we are, you know, having
Speaker 3: this situation where it's Wilmington and Cole City, and maybe
Speaker 3: it will still be that way, but at least there
Speaker 3: I think are there's some teams in that second tier
Speaker 3: that are ready to maybe maybe push the Coohlers a
Speaker 3: little bit if given the opportunity. So that makes for
Speaker 3: a little bit more interesting conversation in the Illinois Central eight.
Speaker 3: Then when is Wilmington playing Cole City.
Speaker 1: I love that conference and I will I will say
Speaker 1: this for years. You know, you and I have been
Speaker 1: doing this a long time, and I've covered enough playoff
Speaker 1: games as both a writer and a broadcaster. There's nothing
Speaker 1: quite like a Wilmington playoff game. A quarter final, semi
Speaker 1: final game in that building is just really really hard
Speaker 1: to beat. I encourage anyone to get a chance to go.
Speaker 1: You gotta go see it for sure. And I'm talking
Speaker 1: especially to the seventeen and eighteen year olds that are
Speaker 1: at the big schools. If you can get a couple
Speaker 1: of your football buddies in the car and go drive
Speaker 1: down to a six o'clock Wilmington start on a Saturday.
Speaker 1: See that smoke in the motorcycles, You're gonna be like, oh,
Speaker 1: so this is what we're missing out on in the playoffs.
Speaker 1: This is awesome.
Speaker 3: Very yeah. I can't recommend that experience enough. That's I mean.
Speaker 3: I've also had several experiences where I was almost taken
Speaker 3: out on the narrow sidelines that was like, well hey,
Speaker 3: I was like, hey, that's just the price of doing
Speaker 3: business here, this is Wilmington. I got to deal with it,
Speaker 3: and they got to pay more attention.
Speaker 1: I covered a game against it was Chicago Christian in
Speaker 1: the second round. It was a Saturday at six o'clock
Speaker 1: and it was a blowout. But that press box so small,
Speaker 1: twenty degrees out, just nowhere to go. You're going downstairs
Speaker 1: to stand on the field like everybody else.
Speaker 3: Yep, exactly.
Speaker 1: You shared that experience, but you are right on top
Speaker 1: of everybody down there. So, speaking of small schools, let's
Speaker 1: switch over to the Big Northern a little bit, because
Speaker 1: I keep starting to see that the Byron and Dixon
Speaker 1: kind of you know, comments and you know, looking to
Speaker 1: meet each other, media is heading towards each other. Dixon's
Speaker 1: a good football team. Do we really know how good
Speaker 1: they are?
Speaker 3: You know, it's interesting because with the close conference, you
Speaker 3: can't really figure it out very well. Just while we're
Speaker 3: on the topic of the Big Northern, I think there's
Speaker 3: another team there that's kind of flying a little bit
Speaker 3: under the radar. I think Rockford Lutheran might be pretty good. Like,
Speaker 3: just based on what they've been able to do so far,
Speaker 3: I think they might be pretty good. I don't know
Speaker 3: if they're quite at the at the Byron Dixon level yet,
Speaker 3: but I think they're They're in the neighborhood that they're
Speaker 3: waving from the window. I'll give them that. But you know,
Speaker 3: Byron and Dixon, like, I still think Byron's is a
Speaker 3: pretty substantial favorite when they run into each other, but
Speaker 3: Dixon continues to put together a pretty good, you know,
Speaker 3: pretty good run. They've had a little bit of success
Speaker 3: in the playoffs. I think this is a group that
Speaker 3: it's one of the situations. We've talked about this before.
Speaker 3: The success is kind of reading upon itself at this point. Yeah,
Speaker 3: where I feel like they are, you know, are you know,
Speaker 3: the the previous group is seeing, Hey, you know, let's
Speaker 3: let's keep this going. Let's keep this going, and it's
Speaker 3: working for them. So Byron's obviously gonna be a massive challenge.
Speaker 3: But uh, but I think Dixon is, you know, at
Speaker 3: least worthy of stepping on the field feeling like, if
Speaker 3: things go perfectly for us tonight, Rick breaks, we can
Speaker 3: be in this football game. Yeah. I think so too.
Speaker 1: I think the Shaner family nine to two last year
Speaker 1: they got to the second round in Class four A.
Speaker 1: They're gonna find out because they have Rockford Lutheran this week,
Speaker 1: coming down to Dixon for that one, and then again,
Speaker 1: Dixon's schedules fascinating because they picked up Johnston City, as
Speaker 1: we talked about, at five and a half hour drive
Speaker 1: the week before hosting Byron. So you're gonna have that
Speaker 1: playoff intensity, but you're also gonna have that playoff fatigue
Speaker 1: of having that long road trip and then Monday having
Speaker 1: to go back to work. And that's gonna be interesting
Speaker 1: to see how that whole week goes that coaching staff's
Speaker 1: gonna have a good feel come Wednesday Thursday leading into
Speaker 1: that Byron game for sure, and again both Johnson City
Speaker 1: and Byron four to oh heading into this week. So
Speaker 1: let's go to the I eight real quick, because Sycamore
Speaker 1: they got the eat win at Rochelle not an easy
Speaker 1: place to go get a win. Caitlan keeps rolling trying
Speaker 1: to figure out if Morris is still in the mix
Speaker 1: there as well. So what have we learned from that
Speaker 1: conference in the last week to make you say that
Speaker 1: it's it's someone else and it's going to be in
Speaker 1: the mix this year of those three.
Speaker 3: You know, I don't know, Like I really am. I'm like,
Speaker 3: I don't know if we learned that much last week.
Speaker 3: I think with Rochelle losing, you know, the way that
Speaker 3: they did, where they were never really a huge threat
Speaker 3: in that game, I thought that was a little interesting,
Speaker 3: you know. I think we'll find out a little bit
Speaker 3: more this week with Morris playing Cainland. I think that
Speaker 3: might that might show us where those two teams are
Speaker 3: at right now, because I can't get a great read
Speaker 3: on Caitland right now, so I'm not really sure, Like
Speaker 3: Are they up there? I mean, you know, they they
Speaker 3: do have a couple of impressive you know what looked
Speaker 3: like impressive non conference wins Washington, Wakanda. I mean, yeah,
Speaker 3: those are those are good, solid, good ones they took
Speaker 3: to cal the task. But I mean they've they've beaten
Speaker 3: who's in front of them. But you know, I'm not
Speaker 3: I'm just not really sure if they're ready to make
Speaker 3: that bridge, that gap to Morris, because it's been in
Speaker 3: the past, it's been like we've seen this situation before,
Speaker 3: like they going to Morris, good record and then Morris
Speaker 3: beats them handily. Are they ready to take that and
Speaker 3: then you know, go to the next step. I don't know.
Speaker 1: I mean, in the last I would say in the
Speaker 1: last fifty years, Caitlin's going to Morris maybe a handful
Speaker 1: of times and one down there and I'm talking PJ.
Speaker 1: Fleckears and that might be it. I honestly, I don't know,
Speaker 1: because Morris has always been competitive in that stretch too.
Speaker 1: Caitlin says, these ebbs and flows a little bit although
Speaker 1: more sustained now. But Carter Grubowski, you can't ask him
Speaker 1: to do more. He's doing, He's getting interceptions, getting fumbles,
Speaker 1: he's running kickoffs back, he's you know, the star as
Speaker 1: your star running back. So you know, in terms of
Speaker 1: what coach Thorgison wants him to do.
Speaker 5: You know, he can't do everything.
Speaker 1: So it'll be curious to see how this collective defense
Speaker 1: goes against this Morse offense, who can score some points
Speaker 1: as we saw against that Peoria matchup a couple of
Speaker 1: weeks ago. So that'll be a good one for sure. Sycamore,
Speaker 1: you know, again, they have the talent and it'll be
Speaker 1: fascinating to see what they continue to do as they
Speaker 1: keep rolling back to Kaitlin for a second. Are you
Speaker 1: ready for Kaitlin an alto off week nine to just
Speaker 1: completely mess up your brackets as you see that game
Speaker 1: going full.
Speaker 3: Yeah, it's it's one of the like, that's very interesting
Speaker 3: what's going on there with you know, the the Interstate
Speaker 3: eight play in those Week nine non conference games and
Speaker 3: kind of all over the map. I mean there are games,
Speaker 3: there are matchups that you would never conceive would be happening,
Speaker 3: like the sal Peru's playing O Fallen. I mean, like
Speaker 3: these are guests. You know, I like my track records
Speaker 3: when I'm looking at these things. And I know every
Speaker 3: team is every year, every team is different, but you
Speaker 3: you can get a you can get a feel, you know,
Speaker 3: over a decade of time, you're like, hey, this is
Speaker 3: usually how this goes. I mean, but with games like that,
Speaker 3: I'm like it just kind of throw my hands up
Speaker 3: and be like, well, yues, we just got to wait
Speaker 3: and see what happens.
Speaker 5: So HOOKI it goes to Sycamore. That makes sense. And
Speaker 5: then you have and my favorite one is is Ottawa
Speaker 5: and Saint Bebe and they hadn't played each other, I
Speaker 5: think since.
Speaker 1: The seventies, and they're the whole, the whole Illinois Valley's going, oh,
Speaker 1: this will be fun. So you know, maybe there's no
Speaker 1: playoffs at stake for either one of those teams, but
Speaker 1: you know that'll be fun for them. A couple of
Speaker 1: seconds left before we rep up, Batavia looked really good.
Speaker 1: Uh in that second half against Saint Charles North. What
Speaker 1: do you make of the Bulldogs? Nathan Whitwell is a tank.
Speaker 1: You can't stop him, and Saint Charles North could not
Speaker 1: do so in the second half.
Speaker 3: Yeah, I mean, it's interesting to watch Batavia do this
Speaker 3: because you've seen such a varied offense from them, but
Speaker 3: when they need to, they kind of turtle up and
Speaker 3: go to their man, and that's what they're doing already
Speaker 3: early in this year. So I mean, at this rate,
Speaker 3: he's going to post massive numbers. I mean, just ridiculous numbers.
Speaker 3: But it'll be interesting to see as we go further
Speaker 3: into the season. Do they look to diversify a little
Speaker 3: bit so you know, or or will they continue to
Speaker 3: have him shoulder as much as the load that he
Speaker 3: has to this point, because so far, nobody's figured out
Speaker 3: a way to stop it. And I know that most
Speaker 3: coaches are like, I'm not going to try to ram
Speaker 3: this square peg into this round hole. So if this
Speaker 3: is working for us, let's just keep doing it. But
Speaker 3: it'll be interesting to see because I think Batavia is
Speaker 3: at its best when it has a little bit of
Speaker 3: offensive diversification. But you know, hey, if this is what works,
Speaker 3: it's hard to argue with it as well.
Speaker 1: Yep. And no real game of the week, so to speak,
Speaker 1: in the Duquee this week, I guess you call Batavia
Speaker 1: at Wheaton North, Saint Charles North, Wheaton South. Those are
Speaker 1: the games that Geneva's got homecoming, So there's buildings down
Speaker 1: the street here that are painted it up and you know,
Speaker 1: pulling the kids out for the parade on Friday, so
Speaker 1: to speak. So that'll be the vibes are good, you
Speaker 1: know for the Vikings. But you know, sixty points they've
Speaker 1: scored now twice. They've just got one more hurdle before
Speaker 1: all hell breaks loose around here with a certain matchup
Speaker 1: and the Team of the South next week here against
Speaker 1: the Tavy Bulldogs.
Speaker 3: Yeah, Geneva, I feel like, you know, they're getting a
Speaker 3: lot of respect and understandably so I would agree. Yeah,
Speaker 3: I still feel like it's weird. I mean, they're like
Speaker 3: a top fifteen team, but I still feel like maybe
Speaker 3: they're still flying under the radar just a little bit.
Speaker 3: I mean, they need this Potavia game gives them an
Speaker 3: opportunity to really plan a flag and it'll be interesting
Speaker 3: if they do.
Speaker 1: So.
Speaker 3: I mean, that's that's what it comes down to.
Speaker 1: Who are you interested in watching this week? Where were
Speaker 1: you might step out to? I have not decided yet
Speaker 1: what I was gonna do. I mean I'm trying to
Speaker 1: figure out like who's who's gonna make it happen, But
Speaker 1: like like the closest, like the closest top teams to
Speaker 1: me right now, all don't have very attractive matchups this week,
Speaker 1: so I'm not really sure what I'm gonna do yet.
Speaker 1: I gotta, I gotta, I guess I gotta do some digging.
Speaker 1: You and I are tethered a little bit to this show,
Speaker 1: so that's that's sort of why we can't really go anywhere.
Speaker 1: And me, I mean, I don't really want to go
Speaker 1: see Geneva Glenbard North. I'm just not really interested in
Speaker 1: that because that might be done in about a minute.
Speaker 1: But Saint Francis down the street has Providence, and that
Speaker 1: might be one where I kind of go take a
Speaker 1: couple of minutes of that and get over there and
Speaker 1: see if I can evaluate the Spartans, especially after they
Speaker 1: lost to Providence, to see art lost to Saint Rita,
Speaker 1: to see if they can kind of turn the corner
Speaker 1: and are they for real? So we'll see this.
Speaker 3: Shoot up Interstate fifty seven and go seep a town,
Speaker 3: whole city that that might be what I might want
Speaker 3: to hit.
Speaker 1: All right, Well, that's our week, that's our show. Thanks
Speaker 1: for joining us today for Steve Susi, I'm Matt Roda Wald.
Speaker 5: Week five coming up.
Speaker 1: This has been the week four recap on Friday Night
Speaker 1: Drive on Shaw Local.
Speaker 4: This is State Representative Steve Reich and I'm happy to
Speaker 4: sponsor this year's Friday Night Drive. There'll be plenty of
Speaker 4: time for politics down the road, but for now, let's
Speaker 4: enjoy some high school football. Whichever school you follow, give
Speaker 4: him your support.
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