Game of the Week

Somebody, either they or them, is going to bed tonight knowing that their undefeated season is now over. It was a good run, boys, strap it on again, the second season starts in two weeks. Maybe you have no idea who I'm talking about? Only the undefeated Glenbard North and WW South teams who will be smashing heads tonight at 7:30. Both teams are well coached and both teams are fast. Should be a real barn burner tonight. But lets not forget about Kaneland and Sycamore. Both without a loss. Both battling for the first ever Northern Illinois Big 12 East championship trophy. Maple park will be all the buzz Friday night.

Will the Mid-Suburban East championship be decided tonight when Prospect lines up against Elk Grove at 7:30? Both teams are 6-1 and still undefeated in conference play.

Will the streak continue tonight? We'll find out sometime after 7:30 tonight when Vernon Hills defends their home turf against Lake Forest. In case you didn't know, Vernon Hills is 7-0 and has yet to allow any team they've played this year score a single point. They've outscored their opponents 310-0. But tonight they're playing a team that averages 36 points a game. Stay tuned Batfans.

Games of the Week

Some may say that the Bears playing the Cowboys this weekend will be the Game of the Week. Seriously, both teams played like piles of manure which has been festering in Mid-West heat for months. The Bears lost, no matter what the league says. How does one 'go for extra yards' in the end zone? Amend the rule. The Cowboys, well, I really couldn't care less what that two-beer-drinkin-s.o.b-from-Eastern Illinois does either way. But this is about high school football. And these are my Games of the Week.

1. (4)Joliet Catholic pays a visit to (11)Carmel on Friday night at 7:30. Both teams are stacked with crushing backfields and, with no doubt in my mind, this one will come down to which defense turns in the toughest kid on the playground performance.

Catholic wins by 6.

2. (5)Wheaton North, at 7:30 on Friday, busts heads with (9)Glenbard North. Will Reece Butler add huge numbers to his three game total of 756 passing yards and 10 touchdowns? Or will that dominate Panther 'D' keep its 5.6 points a game average in tact?

Glen-North will keep inching up the Top 20 ladder with a 6 point win.

3. (10)Loyola plays host to Mount Carmel at 1:30 Saturday afternoon. Will Malcolm Weaver and E.J. Webb help Loyola to down the Caravan for the third time in two years?

The Caravan plays the role of up-setter in this match-up, downing Loyola by 10.

4. (14)Minooka heads north to battle Mike Romeli's Plainfield East Bengals Friday night. Can the cats scalp the Indians or will Bert Kooi's boys tame the cats like they've done to opponents the three previous games this season?

Minooka walks with the win by 30.

Area Leaders From Week 10

These are the leaders from Round 1 of the 2009 IHSA Football Playoffs

QB:

1. Miles Osei, Prospect: 217 yards rushing, 4 tds
2. Ryne Van Gennep, Lincoln-Way East: 186 yards, 2 tds
3. Tom Traficanti, Glenbard North: 164 yards, 2 tds
4. Reilly O'Toole, WW South: 158 yards, 4 tds
5. Nick Linne, Naperville Central: 118 yards, 4 tds; 117 yards rushing

RB:

1. Ronnie Oliver, Hubbard: 256 yards, 4 tds
2. Travis Starks, St. Rita: 250 yards, 4 tds
3. Angel Maldonado, Leyden: 248 yards, 3
4. Josh Ferguson, Joliet Catholic: 210 yards, 4 tds
5. Tim Hanrahan, Providence: 209 yards, 3 tds

WR:

1. Dan Piko, Marist: 234 yards, 3 tds
2. Jason Jozaites,Downers South: 150 yards, 2 tds
3. Maike Carev, Glenbard North: 124 yards, td
4. ???
5. ???

DEFENSE:

1. Crystal Lake South: allows just 19 total yards
2. Providence: 79 total yards--77 of them came on a final minute td scamper
3. WW South: fumble recovery for td, 3 take aways, only 74 total yards, 3 sacks
4. Marian Catholic: 6 ints, 83 total yds allowed
5. Amin Truss, Hubbard: 12 tackles

HESTERISH:

1. Justin Miller, St. Charles North: 95-yard kickoff return for td
2. Joe Ryan, Cary-Grove: 92-yard kickoff return for td
3. Vance St. George, Bogan: 85-yard kickoff return for td
4. Nick Meyer, Elk Grove: 80-yard kickoff return for td
5. Pete Houlihan, Providence: 52-yard punt return for td

Game of the Week

The end of the regular season is this weekend. A wonderful year of great high school football is ending. Well, for some teams it is ending. The 2nd season starts this Saturday with the playoff pairings. And then it's all fair game, no holds barred, smash mouth football. Sorry, getting ahead of myself. We still need to finish Week 9.

Let's see, who do we have knocking heads this weekend that is worthy of the Game of the Week Title?

Well, (15)Mount Carmel is heading South to battle (5)Providence in New Lenox Friday night. If the games I've witnessed these two schools play against each other means anything to you, which it probably doesn't, this should shape up to be a great game.

But then there's (17)Glenbard North going to visit (10)Naperville Central to try and start their weekend off right.

And (6)St. Rita knocks heads with (7)Loyola that everybody and their mother is going to be claiming as their Game of the Week because they are both so highly ranked. Blah. Blah. And. Blah.

I'm going with (16)Stevenson stopping by the house of higher ranked (13)Warren for a visit and again moving up the list of ranked teams after their win.

My Picks:

Providence 37, Mount Carmel 35
Naperville Central 28, Glenbard North 14
Loyola 21, St. Rita 10
Stevenson 53, Warren 21

and of course...

Minooka 45, Plainfield Central 24

p.s.

Hey Indians, you remember that Plainfield Central knocked your heads around last year 53-15 to lock up the conference championship, right? Well, you win this one, the championship's yours. Well, at least a share of it depending on what Oswego does. Unless, of course, since you smoked them last week, the conference board memebers will just give it to you. Anyway, I'm pretty sure that Cookie's wants to serve Wildcat this weekend as a special, so bring 'em the meat.

p.s.s. Unless some unthinkalbe phenomenon goes down Friday afternoon, the Steelmen of Joliet or the Homewood-Flossmoor Vikings will pick up their first win of the season. Not too bad, I suppose. Practice all summer to get ready for the season, have your butt handed to you each of the eight times you took the field and then, finally, the last game of the season, you pull your first "W". Whoever wins, it'll be a low scorer: H-f is averaging 8.6 points a game, while Joliet, a lowly 6. Good luck fellas.

Game of the Week

So, it's Week 8 and it's pretty much determined who it is that will be playing in the playoffs at the end of the month. What class these teams will actually land is yet to be determined, but, that never really has mattered to me. If a team is good enough to get to the dance, it doesn't matter who they're dancing with, all they need to do is dance. If you didn't pick up on it, the dance is the playoffs.

This coming weekend will be big, with explosive game after explosive game.

Somebody's door to a beautiful, undefeated season will be closed this weekend when
(22)Crystal Lake South goes to (19)Cary-Grove Friday night to battle at 7:15.

(9)Glenbard North plays host and hopes to derail (3)WW South Friday night at 7:30.

Two of the L-W schools will do the dance Friday as well as (25)L-W Central hosts (10)L-W East at 7 o'clock.

Dan Sharp's boys at (13)Joliet Catholic go to (21)Marian Catholic to try and better their playoff spot.

And a newby to Steve Tucker's Top 25, (20)Glenbrook South will try to upset (1)Maine South Saturday at 1:30 in the afternoon.

But then there is the game that matters most to me, and since this is my blog, I can admit this game to the list; Minooka at Oswego, 7 p.m. Friday.

With a win, 5-2 Minooka will lock up a spot in the dance. With a loss, they'll have to really step it up for their season ender. Oswego, also 5-2, is sitting in the same boat as the Indians. If the Panthers win, they're in, with a loss, they've got to step it up as well.

Predictions:

Cary-Grove 28, Crystal Lake South 26
Glenbard North 37, WW South 21
L-W East 39, L-W Central 12
Joliet Catholic 56, Marian Catholic 38
Maine South 35, Glenbrook South 32
Minooka 49, Oswego 37