There were some tough losses last week for 618 teams for teams such as Nashville, Edwardsville and Althoff. However, we still had four teams break through to semis: East St. Louis, Roxana, Mt. Carmel, and Murphysboro. Roxana and Mt. Carmel are both in 3A, so that means there will be at least one 618 representative next weekend.
6A
#4 East St. Louis (9-2) at #2 Washington (11-1) SATURDAY 1:00 pm
When the 6A brackets came out, the quarterfinal matchup between East Side and Kankakee jumped out to many. Some pre-game kickoff talk from the Kays added to the hype, but did the game live up to the anticipation? For at least a quarter it did, with neither team changing the scoreboard. Flyer quarterback "Pops" Battle broke the stalemate with a 32 rush into the endzone with four minutes remaining. Two minutes later, he connected with Jesse Watson for a 33 yard scoring pass to go ahead 12-0. Kankakee responded with a touchdown to pull withing 12-7 in the final seconds of the half before the Flyers zoomed away in a 39-13 final.
East St. Louis will hit the road again this weekend to take on a strong Panther lineup. Washington has now made 16 consecutive postseasons and has been bumped up to 6A for their last 5 runs. Their defense really jumps off the page, having kept 8 of their opponents to one score or less. Washington is also averaging over 41 ppg of offense on the year.
Scanning back to week 2, the Panthers took their lone loss in a 7-3 slugfest with Kankakee. Even with the 10 week gap, it's certainly concerning for Washington to see East Side take down Kankakee 39-13. I see Washington's defense keeping them in this for awhile, especially since the Flyers offense has started slow multiple times, but East Side should pull away.
4A
#1 Rochester (12-0) at #2 Murphysboro (11-1) SATURDAY 3:00 pm
Murphysboro's 25-20 win over Harrisburg may have been the best quarterfinal game. The halftime score was 7-0 for Murphy, who scored via a fumble returned to the end zone. These conference rivals found themselves tied at 13 late before the Red Devils regained the lead at 19-13 with 3 minutes to play. Harrisburg took a 20-19 advantage with 40 seconds to play, leading to a 33 yard touchdown pass as time expired for Murphysboro. Here's video of the winner-
The question to ask now is, does Murphysboro have enough magic left to knockoff a heavily favorited Rochester lineup? It can't hurt that the Rockets will need to ride a bus for three hours. Still, it's hard to see Murphysboro making much of a game out of this one. The Red Devils have played a much weaker schedule and have less impressive results to show for it.
3A
#4 Mt. Carmel (11-1) at #3 Roxana (12-0) SATURDAY 3:00 pm
While both these teams are in Southern Illinois, Mt. Carmel is on the Eastern border of the state and Roxana is close to the Western border. These teams are also greatly separated by their offensive styles. On one hand, Roxana has two players over 1,000 yards rushing in Evan Wells (1526) and Andruw Ellis (1070). Terrel Graves isn't far off either with 921 ground yards.
Mt. Carmel has been led largely by quarterback Blayne Sisson. Sisson, who recently flipped his commitment from SIU to Illinois, has over 9000 career yards as a dual-threat snap taker. Understandably, people tend to favor rushing teams over their passing counterparts at this time of the year. Yet, the forecast is sunny and in the mid 50's for Roxana on gameday.
This is a tough game to pick for many reasons. As already said, these teams are on opposite sides of the state, so we don't have too much to go on. Both teams have played Paris this year, with Mt. Carmel winning 49-7 and Roxana winning 50-22. It's worth noting the Shells led 50-6 at halftime of their matchup. We can also look at what Massey's rankings that have Roxana as #111 in Illinois and Mt. Carmel at #112. Roxana has homefield in this advantage. Mt. Carmel has had much more postseason success in recent years.
This should be a very even game, but Roxana feels like a slight favorite with a marginally more impressive defense. Both teams can score some points, so this may be a game that can be won with 3-4 stops.
6A
#4 East St. Louis (9-2) at #2 Washington (11-1) SATURDAY 1:00 pm
When the 6A brackets came out, the quarterfinal matchup between East Side and Kankakee jumped out to many. Some pre-game kickoff talk from the Kays added to the hype, but did the game live up to the anticipation? For at least a quarter it did, with neither team changing the scoreboard. Flyer quarterback "Pops" Battle broke the stalemate with a 32 rush into the endzone with four minutes remaining. Two minutes later, he connected with Jesse Watson for a 33 yard scoring pass to go ahead 12-0. Kankakee responded with a touchdown to pull withing 12-7 in the final seconds of the half before the Flyers zoomed away in a 39-13 final.
East St. Louis will hit the road again this weekend to take on a strong Panther lineup. Washington has now made 16 consecutive postseasons and has been bumped up to 6A for their last 5 runs. Their defense really jumps off the page, having kept 8 of their opponents to one score or less. Washington is also averaging over 41 ppg of offense on the year.
Scanning back to week 2, the Panthers took their lone loss in a 7-3 slugfest with Kankakee. Even with the 10 week gap, it's certainly concerning for Washington to see East Side take down Kankakee 39-13. I see Washington's defense keeping them in this for awhile, especially since the Flyers offense has started slow multiple times, but East Side should pull away.
4A
#1 Rochester (12-0) at #2 Murphysboro (11-1) SATURDAY 3:00 pm
Murphysboro's 25-20 win over Harrisburg may have been the best quarterfinal game. The halftime score was 7-0 for Murphy, who scored via a fumble returned to the end zone. These conference rivals found themselves tied at 13 late before the Red Devils regained the lead at 19-13 with 3 minutes to play. Harrisburg took a 20-19 advantage with 40 seconds to play, leading to a 33 yard touchdown pass as time expired for Murphysboro. Here's video of the winner-
The question to ask now is, does Murphysboro have enough magic left to knockoff a heavily favorited Rochester lineup? It can't hurt that the Rockets will need to ride a bus for three hours. Still, it's hard to see Murphysboro making much of a game out of this one. The Red Devils have played a much weaker schedule and have less impressive results to show for it.
3A
#4 Mt. Carmel (11-1) at #3 Roxana (12-0) SATURDAY 3:00 pm
While both these teams are in Southern Illinois, Mt. Carmel is on the Eastern border of the state and Roxana is close to the Western border. These teams are also greatly separated by their offensive styles. On one hand, Roxana has two players over 1,000 yards rushing in Evan Wells (1526) and Andruw Ellis (1070). Terrel Graves isn't far off either with 921 ground yards.
Mt. Carmel has been led largely by quarterback Blayne Sisson. Sisson, who recently flipped his commitment from SIU to Illinois, has over 9000 career yards as a dual-threat snap taker. Understandably, people tend to favor rushing teams over their passing counterparts at this time of the year. Yet, the forecast is sunny and in the mid 50's for Roxana on gameday.
This is a tough game to pick for many reasons. As already said, these teams are on opposite sides of the state, so we don't have too much to go on. Both teams have played Paris this year, with Mt. Carmel winning 49-7 and Roxana winning 50-22. It's worth noting the Shells led 50-6 at halftime of their matchup. We can also look at what Massey's rankings that have Roxana as #111 in Illinois and Mt. Carmel at #112. Roxana has homefield in this advantage. Mt. Carmel has had much more postseason success in recent years.
This should be a very even game, but Roxana feels like a slight favorite with a marginally more impressive defense. Both teams can score some points, so this may be a game that can be won with 3-4 stops.
