Five Friday and one Saturday contest this week. Jacksonville at Lincoln has playoff implications, but the clear game of the week is SHG at Chatham. The rest of the conference will be watching SHG-Chatham closely. There may be a fair number of Rocket fans at the game since Rochester does not play until Saturday.
Friday
Urbana (0-5) at U High (4-1)
U High should win easily, clinching a playoff spot and tying the CS8 and Big 12 series at 4-4. The Pioneers have been the surprise of the conference. Kudos to Coach Walworth. The question for U High is how many more wins are realistic after this week. They should be favored to get at least 6 victories but 7 and even 8 are possible. U High 50 Urbana 0
Southeast (0-5) at Springfield (1-4)
Springfield has to win out to make the playoffs and can't look ahead to Week 7 on the road at Normal West. Southeast has yet to win but did score 26 points in both their losses to U High and Lincoln and is showing some improvement from the beginning of the season. As long as Springfield takes care of the ball, they should get their second win. Springfield 32 Southeast 16
MacArthur (2-3) at Eisenhower (1-4)
I've been wrong three times about Mac so far this season, picking them to win against Jacksonville and U High and to lose to Chatham. Not expecting to be wrong this week. This should be a big game for RB Johnson-Cook. Mac's playoff hopes likely to come down to Week 9 at Bloomington. MacArthur 45 Eisenhower 6
Jacksonville (2-3) at Lincoln (4-1)
Lincoln is one win away from making the playoffs for the first time since 1984. However, they have played an extremely favorable schedule so far. They close against Jacksonville, Rochester, U High, and Chatham. This is likely their best chance to get the 5th win, at home with hopefully an excited crowd. The Railers have been a run-first team, relying on the Carson twins for most of their offense. Jacksonville has lost three in a row, including a tough 27-22 contest last week against Peoria Notre Dame. The Crimsons led into the 4th quarter before the Irish scored the last 2 TD's. Jacksonville did get their QB Mani Moore back last week after missing most of the last two games and it made a difference. As long as Jacksonville can withstand a quick start by the Railers, they should come out on top in a close one. The Crimsons also need this game badly if they want to have a chance at making the playoffs. Jacksonville 31 Lincoln 22
SHG (4-1) at Chatham (4-1)
Chatham's 14-12 loss to Mac last week takes a little excitement away from this match up but it's still an important rivalry game. Chatham has shown a conservative mostly run between the tackles approach this season. It worked until last week. The time has arrived to see how far their Sophomore QB has progressed and throw the ball more. The Titan's defense has only allowed an impressive 26 points this season. However, I don't expect them to be able to hold the SHG offense to the 14 they gave up last week. SHG has shown more big play ability than Chatham, both on the ground and in the air. I believe RB Christian Pollard is the difference maker in this contest. He has 10 or so TD's the last three weeks and had an impressive 50+ yard score last week on a screen pass that looked like it was going nowhere. Chatham can't fall behind too far early and also won't win with their point production of last week. If SHG has a quick start that quiets the home crowd and avoids turnovers, they should win. I don't expect this, though, to be a running clock situation that occurred last season. SHG 27 Chatham 16
Saturday
Rochester (5-0) at Lanphier (0-5)
This will be my first trip to the renovated Memorial Stadium. Hoping the parking situation is better than I've heard. Lanphier has really struggled this season, particularly on defense. Rochester will try to get a running clock quickly and get the reserves in by the 2nd quarter. Rochester 57 Lanphier 6
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