Keep hope alive!
SI ICP SV CoM all holding on with 4 losses while ND SP M,H have 5 and need a miracle. Our Lady of Playoff Points ... pray for us!
As for the big boys, LA hopes to even up the all-time series under the high-voltage lines at Baker Stadium; meanwhile MC hopes to extend their 20-game winning streak against Fenwick which goes back to 1979, where both teams finished at 4-5 on the year.


BR @ SL
regular season (neutral field)
[2024] Brother Rice (Chicago, IL) 31 (87%), [2024] St. Laurence (Burbank, IL) 14 (13%)
MC @ F
regular season (neutral field)
[2024] Mount Carmel (Chicago, IL) 28 (65%), [2024] Fenwick (Oak Park, IL) 21 (35%)
SI @ MCHS
regular season (neutral field)
[2024] St. Ignatius (Chicago, IL) 27 (61%), [2024] Montini Catholic (Lombard, IL) 22 (39%)
LA @ CoM
regular season (neutral field)
[2024] Loyola Academy (Wilmette, IL) 41 (98%), [2024] Carmel (Mundelein, IL) 8 (2%)
SP @ SR
regular season (neutral field)
[2024] St. Rita (Chicago, IL) 41 (>99%), [2024] St. Patrick (Chicago, IL) 0 (<1%)
SV @ ICP
regular season (neutral field)
[2024] Immaculate Conception (Elmhurst, IL) 24 (74%), [2024] St. Viator (Arlington Heights, IL) 14 (26%)
BA @ Naz
regular season (neutral field)
[2024] Nazareth Academy (LaGrange Park, IL) 48 (97%), [2024] Benet Academy (Lisle, IL) 19 (3%)
DP @ SF
regular season (neutral field)
[2024] St. Francis (Wheaton, IL) 30 (57%), [2024] DePaul College Prep (Chicago, IL) 28 (43%)
MA @ Marist
regular season (neutral field)
[2024] Marist (Chicago, IL) 50 (>99%), [2024] Marmion Academy (Aurora, IL) 3 (<1%)
DLS @ JC
regular season (neutral field)
[2024] Joliet Catholic Academy (Joliet, IL) 62 (>99%), [2024] De La Salle (Chicago, IL) 0 (<1%)
Marian, Heights @ PC
regular season (neutral field)
[2024] Providence Catholic (New Lenox, IL) 31 (95%), [2024] Marian Catholic (Chicago Heights, IL) 6 (5%)
Leo @ ND
regular season (neutral field)
[2024] Notre Dame (Niles, IL) 31 (95%), [2024] Leo (Chicago, IL) 6 (5%)

Of the 11 contested games last week, Gambletron had 5 cover, 3 upsets, 2 dogs cover and 1 push. Which is to say, if you have inside information from, say, an MRI shop ... that could be useful as the season progresses. Once AI is introduced into the system, we might not have to play the games anymore.

ND @ BR
regular season (neutral field)
[2024] Brother Rice (Chicago, IL) 34 (98%), [2024] Notre Dame (Niles, IL) 0 (2%)
JC @ MC
regular season (neutral field)
[2024] Mount Carmel (Chicago, IL) 28 (81%), [2024] Joliet Catholic Academy (Joliet, IL) 14 (19%)
Marist @ SI
regular season (neutral field)
[2024] Marist (Chicago, IL) 38 (74%), [2024] St. Ignatius (Chicago, IL) 28 (26%)
PC @ LA
regular season (neutral field)
[2024] Loyola Academy (Wilmette, IL) 28 (90%), [2024] Providence Catholic (New Lenox, IL) 7 (10%)
SR @ Leo
regular season (neutral field)
[2024] St. Rita (Chicago, IL) 62 (>99%), [2024] Leo (Chicago, IL) 0 (<1%
IC @ MA
regular season (neutral field)
[2024] Immaculate Conception (Elmhurst, IL) 31 (93%), [2024] Marmion Academy (Aurora, IL) 8 (7%)
Naz @ DLS
regular season (neutral field)
[2024] Nazareth Academy (LaGrange Park, IL) 62 (>99%), [2024] De La Salle (Chicago, IL) 0 (<1%)
SF @ Marian, Heights
regular season (neutral field)
[2024] St. Francis (Wheaton, IL) 38 (98%), [2024] Marian Catholic (Chicago Heights, IL) 3 (2%)
MCHS @ SV
regular season (neutral field)
[2024] Montini Catholic (Lombard, IL) 27 (88%), [2024] St. Viator (Arlington Heights, IL) 8 (12%)
CoM @ DP
regular season (neutral field)
[2024] DePaul College Prep (Chicago, IL) 35 (65%), [2024] Carmel (Mundelein, IL) 28 (35%)
SL @ SP
regular season (neutral field)
[2024] St. Laurence (Burbank, IL) 40 (98%), [2024] St. Patrick (Chicago, IL) 6 (2%)
F @ BA
regular season (neutral field)
[2024] Fenwick (Oak Park, IL) 35 (90%), [2024] Benet Academy (Lisle, IL) 14 (10%)

"Gimme three steps, gimme three steps, mister
And you'll never see me no more"
A couple interesting matchups this week: a 3-point spread in Little Italy (don't forget your passport) and a 1-point spread in the Ashburn neighborhood. Those in the know see a potential upset.

MC @ BR
regular season (neutral field)
[2024] Mount Carmel (Chicago, IL) 48 (98%), [2024] Brother Rice (Chicago, IL) 14 (2%)
LA @ SI
regular season (neutral field)
[2024] Loyola Academy (Wilmette, IL) 31 (58%), [2024] St. Ignatius (Chicago, IL) 28 (42%)
Naz @ SR
regular season (neutral field)
[2024] St. Rita (Chicago, IL) 22 (53%), [2024] Nazareth Academy (LaGrange Park, IL) 21 (47%)
SF @ IC
regular season (neutral field)
[2024] St. Francis (Wheaton, IL) 31 (87%), [2024] Immaculate Conception (Elmhurst, IL) 13 (13%)
PC @ Marist
regular season (neutral field)
[2024] Marist (Chicago, IL) 31 (74%), [2024] Providence Catholic (New Lenox, IL) 21 (26%)
JC @ ND
regular season (neutral field)
[2024] Joliet Catholic Academy (Joliet, IL) 28 (96%), [2024] Notre Dame (Niles, IL) 0 (4%)
DP @ SV
regular season (neutral field)
[2024] DePaul College Prep (Chicago, IL) 27 (74%), [2024] St. Viator (Arlington Heights, IL) 17 (26%)
BA @ SP
regular season (neutral field)
[2024] Benet Academy (Lisle, IL) 35 (97%), [2024] St. Patrick (Chicago, IL) 6 (3%)
Marian, Heights @ MA
regular season (neutral field)
[2024] Marian Catholic (Chicago Heights, IL) 22 (72%), [2024] Marmion Academy (Aurora, IL) 14 (28%)
DLS @ LEO
regular season (neutral field)
[2024] Leo (Chicago, IL) 35 (87%), [2024] De La Salle (Chicago, IL) 17 (13%)
F @ SL
regular season (neutral field)
[2024] Fenwick (Oak Park, IL) 21 (73%), [2024] St. Laurence (Burbank, IL) 12 (27%)
CoM @ MCHS
regular season (neutral field)
[2024] Montini Catholic (Lombard, IL) 26 (57%), [2024] Carmel (Mundelein, IL) 24 (43%)

These recent Montini games are reminiscent of the recent Bears games, as both teams are playing better than they did early in the year. Defense bends early but gets the opposing O measured after a couple possessions. Offense gets humming in the second half. It has been a fun few weeks. Broncos hitting their stride at the right time of year. St. Laurence comes to Lombard next Friday.

Every Monday(-ish), I bracket the 256 playoff teams using the IHSA Playoff Outlook. This is NOT a prediction. These are NOT my opinions. It is simply the most logical way the playoffs would be bracketed, using the IHSA's specific system, if today's standings were the final standings.

Each week I usually have to add/subtract teams to get a true 256. The Outlook doesn't adjust for a conference champion/representative falling below the cutoff. It also rewards forfeit victories before the week that match-up would've been played. I take care of that before proceeding.

The cutoff on the Playoff Outlook is 4-4 with 36 playoff points.

My adjustments....

Check the forfeits first. None that I noticed.

Next, let's check to see if every conference has at least one team representing it in the playoff field. Praise Jesus, THEY ALL DO!

NO ADJUSTMENTS!

NOTES:
In the same quad, BR plays MC while Schaumburg plays Maine West
I'll do more work on this tomorrow night. I'm tired.

** is the smallest team in the class
^^ is the biggest team in the class

~~~ 8A ~~~

Upper Bracket
#32 Homewood-Flossmoor at #1 Naperville Central
#17 Downers Grove South at #16 York
#25 Huntley at #8 Marist
#24 South Elgin at #9 Glenbard East

#29 Plainfield North at #4 Oswego
#20 Sandburg at #13 Loyola
#28 Curie at #5 West Aurora
#21 Maine South at #12 Taft

Lower Bracket
#31 Glenbrook South at #2 Lincoln-Way East
#18 Minooka at #15 Edwardsville
#26 Andrew** (2217) at #7 Palatine
#23 Belleville East at #10 Stevenson

#30 Hinsdale Central at #3 Lyons
#19 Plainfield South at #14 Naperville North
#27 Oswego East at #6 Barrington
#22 Warren at #11 Fremd


~~~ 7A ~~~

Upper Bracket
#32 Wheaton North at #1 Quincy
#17 Jacobs at #16 Pekin** (1820)
#25 Hoffman Estates at #8 Harlem
#24 Guilford at #9 Lincoln Park

#29 Wheaton-Warrenville South at #4 Batavia
#20 Brother Rice at #13 Mount Carmel
#28 West Chicago at #5 Normal
#21 Schaumburg^^ (2189) at #12 Maine West

Lower Bracket
#31 Mundelein at #2 Whitney Young
#18 Moline at #15 Prospect
#26 Rolling Meadows at #7 Hononegah
#23 Lincoln-Way Central at #10 Addison Trail

#30 Collinsville at #3 St. Charles North
#19 Lincoln-Way West at #14 St. Rita
#27 Willowbrook at #6 Downers Grove North
#22 Hersey at #11 Bradley-Bourbannais


~~~ 6A ~~~

Upper Bracket
#16 Amendsen at #1 Geneva
#9 Antioch #8 Lake Forest
#13 Glenbard South at #4 Belvidere North
#12 Grant at #5 Fenwick^^ (1819)

#15 Lake Zurich at #2 Cary-Grove
#10 Fenton at #7 Mather
#14 Senn at #3 Libertyville
#11 Kaneland** (1326) at #6 Wauconda

Lower Bracket
#16 Eisenhower at #1 East St. Louis
#9 Normal West at #8 Washington
#13 Springfield at #4 Kankakee
#12 Lemont at #5 Simeon

#15 Dunlap at #2 Richards
#10 Crete-Monee at #7 Bloomington
#14 Oak Forest at #3 Kennedy
#11 Shepard at #6 Glenwood


~~~ 5A ~~~

Upper Bracket
#16 Freeport at #1 Sycamore
#9 Grayslake North #8 Prosser
#13 Payton at #4 St. Francis
#12 Sterling at #5 Prairie Ridge

#15 Perspectives/Leadership at #2 Nazareth
#10 Benet Academy at #7 Woodstock north
#14 Westinghouse at #3 Rochelle
#11 Corliss at #6 Burlington Central

Lower Bracket
#16 Morton at #1 Peoria
#9 Sacred Heart-Griffin #8 Highland
#13 Jacksonville at #4 Seymour
#12 TF North at #5 Metamora

#15 Providence^^ (1296) at #2 Morgan Park
#10 Hillcrest at #7 Joliet Catholic
#14 Marion at #3 Triad
#11 Centralia at #6 Morris** (848)


~~~ 4A ~~~

Upper Bracket
#16 Marengo at #1 Sullivan
#9 Sandwich #8 St. Laurence^^ (844)
#13 Clemente at #4 Wheaton Academy
#12 Johnsburg at #5 Richmond-Burton

#15 Immaculate Conception at #2 South Shore** (561)
#10 Noble/Comer at #7 DePaul
#14 Noble/Rauner at #3 Dixon
#11 Boylan at #6 Ag Science

Lower Bracket
#16 Effingham at #1 Breese Central
#9 Macomb #8 Coal City
#13 Mt. Zion at #4 Cahokia
#12 Columbia at #5 Manteno

#15 Taylorville at #2 Richland County
#10 Murphysboro at #7 Carterville
#14 Peoria Notre Dame at #3 Waterloo
#11 Normal University at #6 Rochester


~~~ 3A ~~~

Upper Bracket
#16 Genoa-Kingston at #1 Byron
#9 King at #8 Phoenix^^ (559)
#13 Carver at #4 Marshall
#12 Stillman Valley at #5 Monmouth-Roseville

#15 Oregon at #2 Du-Pec Coop
#10 Dyett at #7 Montini
#14 Herscher at #3 Princeton
#11 Peotone at #6 North Lawndale

Lower Bracket
#16 Mt. Carmel at #1 St. Joseph-Ogden
#9 Paxton-Buckley-Loda** (415) at #8 DuQuoin
#13 Olympia at #4 Greenville
#12 Benton at #5 Monticello

#15 Harrisburg at #2 Sullivan-Okaw Valley
#10 Roxana at #7 Eureka
#14 Fairfield at #3 Williamsville
#11 Tolono Unity at #6 New Berlin

So in the Blue - you got LA vs MC - if LA wins they win the Blue outright - if not then perhaps a 3 way tie (if Rice gets by Iggy)
C'mon MC lets beat the Ramblers

In the Green - Naz can win outright with win vs St Francis -Otherwise a loss to SF and even Rita can be part of 3 way championship (if they beat IC)

In the White a Fenwick loss to Carmel opens door for either Montini or Laurence to tie

In Orange - JC can win outright and hurt Provy playoff chances with a W - otherwise itll be a co-champs with Marist and Provy

In Purple - all the marbles in the DePaul vs Benet game

In Red - Marimion beats Leo and the title is theirs

It seems as of right now, Geneva and Cary Grove are in the upper bracket (again) while ESL is in the lower. When ESL loses to IMG, and assuming both Geneva and CG win out, do either/both have a chance to leap frog ESL and shake up the bracket?

Welp, this is it. All the dreams and excitement of a season boiled down to one last regular season game. Hope all the seniors state wide enjoy one last trot on to the field.


Quincy (8-0) @ Capital City (MO) (6-2): The Quincy high flying circus takes it’s show out of state to end the regular season. Capital City looks like a decently tough team who runs mostly split back veer and has some good athletes. Not sure if they have seen an offense like Quincy’s though. If Quincy shows up and does what it has done all season, this should be a win and an undefeated regular season.

Prediction: Quincy by 3 touchdowns


Sterling (5-3) @ Moline (6-2): Last season Sterling won 22-17. This game has quite a bit riding on it. For Sterling, it’s getting that ticket punching 6th win and good momentum heading into the postseason which would be huge for a team that plays a lot of underclassmen. For Moline, a 7th win helps with seeding and possibly hosting round 1. Also for Moline, the memory that Sterling kept the Maroons out of the play offs last season. This should be a good one, but I think Moline eventually overwhelms the Golden Warriors.

Prediction: Moline by 2 touchdowns


Geneseo (4-4) @ Rock Island (1-7): Last season Rocky won 15-12. Geneseo’s entire season boils down to this last game. Win and you are probably in…lose and you’re hanging up the helmets on Monday. For Geneseo, they need consistency if they are going to win and both the offense and defense has sputtered and failed off and on this season. For Rock Island, well, it’s one last game for the seniors and a chance to end a bad season on a high note. Between Geneseo’s urgency and how flat Rocky looked last week, I think the Leafs get that fifth win.

Prediction: Geneseo by 2 touchdowns


Galesburg (1-7) @ United Township (3-5): Last season UT won 63-46. UT’s season has been one of heartbreak with the amount of one possession games they have lost. Even with a win, I don’t think UT has the points to get in, but a win would cap off a season of improvement for the Panthers. For Galesburg, it’s been a rough season and I hope they haven’t packed it in and can put one full game together to send the seniors out on a high note.

Prediction: UT by 17


BONUS!

Monmouth-Roseville (7-1) @ Sterling Newman (7-1): Very rarely does it work out where the two champions of a split conference meet at the end of the season. We get it here though!!! The champion of the Rock and the champion of the Mississippi meet up in Sterling to figure out who the out right champion of the Three Rivers conference will be! Rare stuff, enjoy it while we get it!


Rock Falls (1-8) @ Winnebago (1-8): Two teams. One night. Zero on the field wins (both received a forfeit win from Rockford Christian). Someone is ending the season with the DUB!! Personally I hope it’s Rock Falls…

Dave Bernhard and who? That guy sucks....

Who are they?

How far ahead was this brilliant mind with conference alignments and general advancement of student athlete development. SICA was just one example of his forward thinking which we sure could use about now. Please share stories of this great man.

Yessss! Time to put this miserable conference to bed till next year 🥳 Best of Luck to Wilmington and Coal City in the playoffs!

Herscher @ Peotone - Peotone BIG
Streator @ Wilmington - CATS BIG
Manteno @ Coal City - CC BIG
Lisle @ RC - GOTW in the Toilet Bowl - The winless COMETS slam the door on the winless Lions!

All things SWP.

1st on my list was the shock of Yorkville losing to Plainfield S.

6a looks very good especially up north

Saw another thread on showing projected playoff brackets. Thought I would take a swing at it based on Massey collected data. So, here's how I am doing it:

1. Take current record and add Massey Projected W's , rounding to integer (e.g. a team currently 4-2 with 2.3 projected additional wins is projected to finish 6-3)
2. Use SoS as an estimate of how many opponent wins a team will collect in order to break ties from step 1. I can probably use the projections from step 1 to project opponents wins, but it's a bit more work than I feel like right now 🤷‍♂️

So, here we go...

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First IHSA Playoff Outlook was released this afternoon.


Doesn't mean much this early in the year, but interesting to glance through.

This was a rather interesting week. To quite the great Ricky Bobby, “I’m too drunk to taste this chicken.”

1 - That the NSC is drunk, and I’m the bartender.
2 - That Lyons is dancing like it’s 1956 - the last time the Lions went 9-0.
3 - That a search party has been assembled in the hopes of finding Sandburg.
4 - That ESL looked human for one week (yes they had injuries) - or Edwardsville is pretty good.
5 - That 9 TD’s in a game is better than 4td’s in a game - Jacob Bell take a bow.
6 - That while we are trying to soft through all the zip codes in Grant Township, the Bulldogs pulled off a stunner by taking out The Och.
7 - That Dixon and Byron was a classic in the BNC - both will be tough outs in the playoffs.
8 - That many familiar faces will be on the sidelines come playoff time - New Trier, GBW Carmel to name a few.
9 - That Bishop Mac closed out its stadium in less than a fitting tribute (was there the Friday after 9-11).
10 - That Sycamore did bad things to Morris.

Those are my thoughts for this week. Week 9 will not be paired with a lovely Cab.

Lots of exciting things going on these days for the Fighting Illini

Player: Naperville North QB Jacob Bell

Coach: Lyons Township HC Jon Beutjer

Eville will be 8A

Who can we eliminate from these 58 teams to push Eville to 7A?