Some interesting opponents this week, mixed in with a very familiar MS/LA matchup.

Normal +23 vs MC. Think this one is close until late. MC wears them down eventually. Caravan 35-17.

MS +15 vs Loyola. Hawks offense seems to be buzzing. Loyola's defense is certainly buzzing (is that the right word when a defense is playing well...'buzzing'?). Two programs that always seem on inevitable paths. Ramblers 24-16.

Quincy +7 vs Rita. Agree with Rock here. I see Quincy pushing all the chips in here. A chance to knock off a CCL blue blood. They aren't completely untested. And all their wins have been by double digits. Quincy in the upset 35-34.

Rochelle +20 vs Naz. Also done doubting Rochelle after seeing what they did to a decent Benet team last week. This one will be a fight. Roadrunners 38-28.

WSF -3 vs Sycamore. This will be Sycamore's biggest test, by far. They had a nice win over Rochelle earlier in the year, but other than that, not a ton there. Two CPS schools thus far in the playoffs. I think this one might be relatively easy for WSF. Catholic Spartans 38-14.

JCA -23 vs Peoria. The Hilltopper train is rolling. Won't slow down until they run into Naz or WSF in the state championship. JCA 47-7.

DePaul +10 vs StL. Both of these team are capable of winning the 4A championship. Healthy Vikings get it done. Larry's 24-17.

Princeton +34 vs Montini. Agree with Rock again. Think the Broncos will come out sluggish, but their defense will keep it low scoring and tight. They'll make some adjustments at half and wake up. Montini 28-7.


Iggy -10 vs CoM. So hard to predict the Prep Bowl. Understand Carmel played a ton of underclassmen last week. If that's the case this week, I expect them to get optioned to death. Wolfpack 35-14.

Providence -18 vs ND. Dons were shut out the first time these teams met. I think the boys in green get a TD this time around. Celtics 35-7.

The baffling part about Poles is his general inattentiveness to the line when he PLAYED OL

MC -23
MS +15
Rita -7
Rochelle +20
Sycamore +3
Peoria +23
STL -10
Montini -34
Ignatius -10
Provi -18

LWE
LA
Lyons
York

And I just realized after my picks, that I'm picking all 4 Home teams.

Yes Home Field played a factor in 2 or 3 of my picks, adding a little fuel to the whole seeding / home field argument. I still kind of like Maine South over LA, but had to give LA the edge with their home field.

Prep writer said:

Lived at 99 East Cherry from 96-98. We had a fire that knocked us out of there for a few months in August '97.

I think this one is closer than many think. Normal has some high level athletes on offense.

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Looking at scores alone

- I am trying not to subscribe to NFHS and there is no videos online that I can find on them

It appears to have a really high powered offense

USD24 said:

Yah, that dreadful pre-Lynch era, when they only won 11 state championships.

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and had a defense that was able to keep their opponents under 30 points

lweastdad said:

Add the worst o-line in the league and its no wonder that he is failing.

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And they released Nate Davis today. How much of a cancer was that guy when a team that is desperate for O-linemen shows you the door? Davis got 30 million for 3 years. Chalk that up as another personnel blunder for Poles. It was worse than the Chase Claypool trade.

Lion4Life01 said:

That was MC pre-Jordan Lynch. No comparison to today's MC.

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Yah, that dreadful pre-Lynch era, when they only won 11 state championships.

DeanOfSelection said:

MC only beat them 14-13 on a missed PAT in 2017 so I'm not overconfident.

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That was MC pre-Jordan Lynch. No comparison to today's MC.

ramblinman said:

Don't get me started. I'm quite happy being an observer in this thread.

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I give you these perfect fast break alley-oops and you pull back and hold onto the ball and run the clock down.

This is a metaphor of our basketball teams

MC -23 When I watch the Caravan hitting on all cylinders, I say that's a ton of hard work put in to make it look so easy.

LA -15 Ramblers got a playoff 'gift' last weekend, the gift of being outplayed for 44 of the 48 minutes on the road vs a worthy opponent and still continue on to this week. Ramblers, at home, fix what needs fixin' at the correct intensity beginning at kick off.

Quincy +7 I've seen this script before. Small town with the proper senior class the town and program has been waiting for, whose only goal is to come in and take a CCL blue blood pelt back home vs a young St. Rita team. Not much to like from last week's Mustang victory except for the effort from the handful of seniors the team depends on. You'd hope the Mustang's would be clocking on schedule by now but I will take the points until I see much better flow and execution and less hands turned up in the air after dropped passes. Get back to the huddle.

Rochelle +20 Road playoff games are hard. The Roadrunners are really good but they take control much later in the game than they are, and we are used to.

Sycamore +3 Another road test for our CCL brethren. St. Francis probably a year away which speaks to some of the inconsistencies we have seen from them this year. Some drives, quarters, halves and/or games, they look unstoppable and at other times, they hurt themselves. Add in a talented Sycamore team and we have a great match up.

Peoria +23 The Hilltoppers have answered the bell plenty this season but I'm banking on a ball control 2-3 score victory vs an unconventional philosophy that can't really be simulated at practice.

St. Laurence -10 Algo can't get a feel for a full-strength Viking squad. Should this line be 13-14? I don't know. What I do know is that I can't wait to watch the rematch in Class 9A next year.

Princeton +34 Montini with the emotional slobber-knocker last weekend allows Princeton to hang with them longer than we'd expect.

SICP -10 Wolfpack's offense difficult to prepare for if not seen weekly. Future is bright for the Corsairs but their season ends Friday night on Rooselvelt

PC -18 I'll call it here first. The 2024 Prep Bowl Champ Celtics that have accepted the invitation at the correct time in their program's arc, dispense the Dons with little drama to face the Wolfpack next weekend in an extremely hard hitting affair.

Normal @ MC
The Caravan are rolling and they continue to roll along, MC covers.
MS @ LA
Old foes meet again. Way too many points, MS and the points.
Quincy @ SR
"stangs cover
tucs @ Rochelle
I think the Hubs can keep the score close for a bit but ultimately tucs figures them out, tucs to cover.
SF @ Sycamore
Syc and the points. Might come down to last play.
JC @ Peoria
I'll take the non-punting team and the points.
SL @ DP
SiuCubFan8 GOTW! DePaul and the points, though I think Larry wins and wins 4A.
MCHS @ Princeton
Bronco on a mission and they cover.

CoM @ SI - FRIDAY
I'll take CoM and the points
ND @ PC - THURSDAY
Provi covers

Question, is Williams holding on to the ball a function of the play calling and the receivers not getting open? Add the worst o-line in the league and its no wonder that he is failing.

Beast-I think this one will get ugly. Lincoln Way East halftime adjustments are top notch.
Swagger-no explanation needed.
NC-lots of former Maine South representation on staff. Also Lyons is getting no respect. If I knew more about them, maybe I would pick them.
York-if Warren gets behind, they are doomed! If not, they’ve got a chance.

Mount Carmel 49 (-23) Normal 17: Like last week for Saint Charles North, Normal should look back at this season fondly. There is 0 shame to losing to Mount Carmel in the playoffs.

Loyola 40 (-15) Maine South 17: This will be very weird for me to type: Maine South just doesn't have the horses this year to run with Loyola

Saint Rita 34 (-7) Quincy 21: This is just too long of a drive against too strong of an opponent for Quincy. Real talk though, it's good to see Quincy, a school that goes back over 150 years and a Mount Rushmore basketball program, playing very solid football the last few years. I hope it continues.

Nazareth 38 Rochelle 27 (+20): I was so, so wrong about the Benet game last week. I am probably going to be wrong again this week, but I am DONE going against the Hubs (in regards to not covering against CCL/ESCC teams).

Sycamore 30 (+3) Saint Francis 28: GOTW! Winner gets to claim themselves as the "real" Spartans! I am taking Sycamore as they have gotten essentially 2 scrimmages leading up to this game. If SF plays to their peak, they will win, but I just feel as if Sycamore eeks this one out.

Joliet Catholic 56 (-23) Peoria 20: This is not the Peoria that is dropping 77 points a half.

Saint Laurence 34 (-10) DePaul 20: I am going with the more battle tested and stronger pedigree of a program in this one. I do think it is a close game going into the 4th, but Larry's is in their playoff form.

Montini 42 Princeton 10 (+34): Montini doesn't have any stress in this one.

Saint Ignatius 28 (-10) Carmel 13: Just exactly where Carmel wants to be. Fighting traffic on a Friday night to go play for an opportunity to play at Lane Stadium in a few weeks.

Providence 21 (-18) Notre Dame 0: I'm sure the Don's are so fired up waiting 2 weeks to go play on a Thursday night in New Lenox

gobears25 said:

they're power ranking the entire top 25 and therefore the entire playoff field of 12, what do you mean "pick another 8 teams"? this is not comparable to power ranking the top 4 then adding 8 based on a different criteria.

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Sigh. You were so close. The top 12 seeds didnt come from the top 12 "power ranked" teams. Several teams seeds and "power rankings" are different. Only 2 of the top 4 seeds (automatic bids) came from the top 4 "power ranked" teams. Georgia is "power ranked" #12 but isn't in the CFP field of 12 teams. How would that happen if they didnt seed and rank teams based on different criteria? I really didnt think I needed to explain it out that far.

Cross Bones said:

Personally I want to see that 9-0 top ranked public school with 400 kids that somehow snuck into the computer's top 10 against the 8-1 school with 3000 students with the 14 point loss to LWE.

That's the game I want to see with the calpreps classes and seeding.

how about you ramb, which games would you look forward to?

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Don't get me started. I'm quite happy being an observer in this thread.

LWE
LA
NC
York

ramblinman said:

So glad I'm sitting this one out.

Interesting ideas here, though - some of which are close to what I've been saying here for years. I think because others are offering these ideas though, they are being better received than when I propose them. 🤣

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Personally I want to see that 9-0 top ranked public school with 400 kids that somehow snuck into the computer's top 10 against the 8-1 school with 3000 students with the 14 point loss to LWE.

That's the game I want to see with the calpreps classes and seeding.

how about you ramb, which games would you look forward to?

The battle of 2025’s 6A schools.

Lawrence is healthy and on a roll. Can they keep it going? DePaul is on the rise and looking to make a statement in the CCL and the state, this will be a great game to watch.

Does anyone know who will be broadcasting the game, YouTube or NFHS Network?

The Beast
LA
Lyons
Warren

Nathan Downey from Wheaton Academy has posted impressive numbers, especially considering he only played in the second half of four out of eleven games this season.
24 Total TDs
109/170
1700 Passing Yds.
21 TD Passes
129 QBR

LW East
Maine South
Naperville Central
York

So glad I'm sitting this one out.

Interesting ideas here, though - some of which are close to what I've been saying here for years. I think because others are offering these ideas though, they are being better received than when I propose them. 🤣

1A - best matchup is probably CPC @ Calhoun. Althoff should roll. I expect L-W and LeRoy to win.

2A - definitely QND @ Maroa. Might be the “title game”.

3A - Montini should roll. Wilmo @ Du-Pec could get interesting for sure. Both south bracket games look competitive.