4A Round Two...Woodchipper Week

[PanthersWildcats86]

Big games all over the 4A bracket this week, setting up a meatgrinder next week...

4A North had no seed upsets week 1...Making this week Big Northern vs. the Metro Suburban Blue...9-1 Genoa-Kingston, three way tied for the Big Northern title, goes to Metro Blue Champ 9-1 Wheaton St. Francis at Naperville North...9-1 Stillman Valley, also part of that 3 way tie, goes to 9-1 Elmhurst IC...10-0 RB hosts conference rival 8-2 Marengo, and 10-0 Coal City hosts Kewanee...

The South isn't slouching...10-0 Chilicothe IVC goes to 8-2 (one strike forfeit loss) Murphysboro; 9-1 Tolono Unity @ 7-3 Kankakee Bishop McNamara; 10-0 Columbia goes to 8-2 Prairie Central; and 9-1 Benton goes to 9-1 Effingham.

All sorts of stories here...

 

[stl705]

Throw a dart, I think most all of these games will be close.

Coal City over Kewanee
Richmond-Burton over Marengo
Stillman Valley over IC Elmhurst
Genoa-Kingston over St Francis

IVC over murpheesboro
Bishop Mac Kankakee over Tolono Unity
Prairie Central over Columbia
Effingham over Benton

 

[Coalertown44]

Kewanee has some athletic skill players and a good size line. They will give the Coalers a run for their money

Stillman Valley and Genoa Kingston will most likely have the same game plan. Grind out yards, move the sticks and take their shots when they are there. It’s a tall task against a very fast and athletic St Francis and IC Prep

Richmond Burton already handily beat Marengo. I see Marengo making some adjustments and keeping this close but this might be Richmond-Burtons year

Don’t be surprised if Murphysboro wins this round two matchup. They have a quality team

Tolono and Mac is a very interesting match up. I like the Irish at home but I wouldn’t be surprised if Tolono Unity picks up the road win

Prairie Central picked up a nice round 1 win but I think Columbia is the best team in the south and cruises through this win

Effingham and Benton. Benton picked up a one point win in a defensive battle with Salem. Effingham is good, real good and more battle tested then Benton. I like Effingham winning this comfortably

 

[Curtain 25]

Is this the wood chipper round or meat grinder round...? I'm voting for meat grinder.... seems like the wood chipper round would be the quarters...just envisioning my hand being caught in either...think I'd sustain injury in the meat grinder but definitely lose most if not all of the hand in the chipper...lol...just thinking out loud...great posts by the way...

 

[Curtain 25]

To add...I like CC, RB, IC and GK in the North...Murph, Effingham, Mac and a 1 point win for Columbia in the South...

 

[jgal3]

My 2 Cents on the South:



Murphy over IVC- Murphy to much to handle

Bishop Mac over Tolono Unity- maybe the best game of weekend. Will go with the home team

Columbia over Prairie Central- Columbia banged up but they pull it out. Best set of skill players they have ever had

Effingham over Benton- Effingham by 3 TD's

 

[ex uncouth sloth]

Round 1 was the Chainsaw round, considering all the 50-point whackings of Chicago schools.
Round 2 definitely is Woodchipper round, I believe there will still be some vicious beatings.
Round 3 is Meatgrinder, the big matchups, nothing comes easy going forward.
Round 4? I'm thinking some type of military ordnance.

 

[DeanVictor]

My 2 Cents on the South:



Murphy over IVC- Murphy to much to handle

Bishop Mac over Tolono Unity- maybe the best game of weekend. Will go with the home team

Columbia over Prairie Central- Columbia banged up but they pull it out. Best set of skill players they have ever had

Effingham over Benton- Effingham by 3 TD's

I agree with all of that...I think you mean Nic and Sam Horner, QB and WR for Columbia, they are twins and the sons of the head coach Scott Horner. Scott was the QB for 2A Champ in 1988 Carlyle...Carlyle was coached by my cousin Gary Wheeler from Flora, Illinois. Gary was on the 10-0 Flora team as a QB in 1966..played at North Texas.

 

[doctor_d]

I’ll take all the home teams in the north bracket.

 

[PanthersWildcats86]

Is this wood chipper round or meat grinder round...? I'm voting for meat grinder.... seems like the wood chipper round would be the quarters...just envisioning my hand being caught in either...think I'd sustain injury in the meat grinder but definitely lose most if not all of the hand in the chipper...lol...just thinking out loud...great posts by the way...

Wood chipper...not every game is going to result in hamburger, but lots of teams chopped up into pieces...win or lose. Next week is the meat grinder, grinding up the chips...

 

[PanthersWildcats86]

I'm always on the north...my south view...Illini Prairie bracket??

IVC @ Murphysboro... I lived in Murphysboro the last two years of law school at SIU. Nice, laid back place. Stay away from the Chalet, though... IVC was the Illini Prairie champ, Murphy the So. Ill. River to River Ohio champ despite the forfeit due to their teacher's strike and the week 1 32-29 loss to 5A C-dale. The Grey Ghosts and Red Devils might have been a more appropriate game last weekend for Halloween . Long drive for the Ghosts...but I really think the Illini Prairie is much deeper than the Ohio division (which is vastly deeper than its sister Mississippi division). Lets go with IVC ghosting past the devils trident...

Unity @ McNamara... Illini Prairie runner up travels up 57 to the Metro Blue third place team...Mac lost 3 games to teams with combined records of 28-2, all beating the crap outta each other in the northern bracket. Unity lost week 1 at home to IVC 21-20...Unity will not be intimidated by Mac, as they have their own host of championship game trips. The question is, can the Rockets keep the game close? Irish losses to St. Francis & IC were both on scores in the last 30 seconds of the game. I'm going to go with the Leprechauns here, as the Rockets get stuck in the rainbow...

Columbia @ Prairie Central... The Eagles have yet to be seriously challenged this season, having soundly beaten four playoff teams in the regular season and three 5A schools. The Hawks were third in the Illini Prairie, losing 27-7 to IVC and 22-0 to Unity. My gut wants to think the Eagles had a more difficult schedule, but then Salem (Cahokia conference runners up) lost 8-7 to Benton round 1. My head thinks the battle of the raptors goes to the Eagles...largely because of their pounding the three 5A schools.

Benton @ Effingham... Flaming Hearts only loss is the Mt. Zion, pushed into 5A and the #1 seed in 5A south. Benton was hammered by Murphysboro week 8 41-0, and only played 2 teams with winning records in the regular season - and West Frankfort, the other team with a winning record, lost 56-0 in 3A round 1. The Rangers are going home with a Flaming Heart arrow through their chest...

 

[jgal3]

Correct- little, Bieber, and hunsaker are all great athletes as well in that side of the ball. Lot of juice between those 3...

I agree with all of that...I think you mean Nic and Sam Horner, QB and WR for Columbia, they are twins and the sons of the head coach Scott Horner. Scott was the QB for 2A Champ in 1988 Carlyle...Carlyle was coached by my cousin Gary Wheeler from Flora, Illinois. Gary was on the 10-0 Flora team as a QB in 1966..played at North Texas.

 

[Coalertown44]

Any would on St Francis QB Tommy Rittenhouse. Any word if he will be coming back any time soon?

 

[630Villain]

Any would on St Francis QB Tommy Rittenhouse. Any word if he will be coming back any time soon?

Cast is off, stiches are out, should be good to go come round 3.

 

[ex uncouth sloth]

Cast is off, stiches are out, should be good to go come round 3.

IF they get past Genoa...muahahahaha!!

 

[PanthersWildcats86]

In the North...truly the woodchipper, two title quality teams are going to have their season end no matter what...

#8 Kewanee @ #1 Coal City... my thorough analysis is on the ICE thread...Kewanee would be a really tough out in 3A, don't think they can stick with the Coalers...Coalers big...


#5 Genoa-Kingston vs. #4 Wheaton St. Francis @ Naperville North... SF has a home game but on a neutral field due to SF's stadium problems. SF lost a shootout 49-46 to 6A Shepard, beat Mac 46-43 on a last second TD, squeaked by IC 20-19. GK beat 2 1st round outs, beat Stillman Valley 18-7 week 9, lost 42-13 to Byron week 8. St. Francis only game under 40 points was the IC game...The Cogs scored 35 or more 6 times. But the Big Northern is primarily a power run conference. I don't see this being overly high scoring because GK is going to want to shorten the game. St. Francis' QB is still out until next week it sounds. So I foresee maybe a 24-21 game in favor of...GK.

#7 Marengo @ #2 Richmond-Burton... conference rematch, RB won 38-13. Marengo crushed Manteno last week...RB trashed the CPS team with a sub-500 record. Closer than the first game, but I don't see anything different from what happened the first time...RB by 14


#6 Stillman Valley @ #3 Elmhurst IC... SV has scored 32 or more in every game but a 18-16 win over Byron and a 18-7 loss to GK. IC lost 20-19 to St. Francis, beat Mac on a TD in the last 30 seconds 31-27. Cardinals are going to ground & pound...and try to run clock. But Plunkett is a difficult place to play. I've got to go with the Knights 28-21...

 

[630Villain]

IF they get past Genoa...muahahahaha!!

Lmao Genoa better be able to put up points.. and ALOT of them because SF will..

 

[SiuCubFan8]

IC wins by a few TDs.
SF gets by GK, SFs athleticism will be too much.

 

[mc140]

Lmao Genoa better be able to put up points.. and ALOT of them because SF will..

Not as easy to put up those points without your QB when playing good teams.

 

[630Villain]

Not as easy to put up those points without your QB when playing good teams.

They have 3 QB's who can play. I can assure you, they will put up 35+ points. DiFusco's offense has proven time and time again, no matter the personnel hes going to put up points. And if I remember correctly they beat the IC team that won 33 straight with 3 state championships in a row without their starting QB the whole 2nd half. They will be just fine, teams just cant adjust, and keep up with that tempo offense especially these smallers schools when they're snapping the ball every 17-20 seconds

 

[doctor_d]

Somebody better tell Marengo and Richmond-Burton....

I was looking on ihsa website - in 4A it shows Marengo playing @ a CPS school today (scorezone and brackets)
I can’t remember seeing an error like this other than maybe a botched score that gets corrected. Did I miss something?

 

[Coalertown44]

They have 3 QB's who can play. I can assure you, they will put up 35+ points. DiFusco's offense has proven time and time again, no matter the personnel hes going to put up points. And if I remember correctly they beat the IC team that won 33 straight with 3 state championships in a row without their starting QB the whole 2nd half. They will be just fine, teams just cant adjust, and keep up with that tempo offense especially these smallers schools when they're snapping the ball every 17-20 seconds

Tall task indeed. They are very talented. I think each team remaining has their own niche. I keep hearing all you have to do is stop Jezik for Coal City to beat them, problem is nobody has. Think CC passing game is underrated. Hitchings has 18 or 19 TD and 1 INT. Plus CC defense isn’t as good as last year but they are close. Averaging 40 on offense and giving up 8 a game on defense with their schedule is pretty impressive

 

[SiuCubFan8]

Spartans and Coalers in Quarters.

 

[PanthersWildcats86]

Spartans @ Coalers in quarters next week...

 

[PanthersWildcats86]

Tall task indeed. They are very talented. I think each team remaining has their own niche. I keep hearing all you have to do is stop Jezik for Coal City to beat them, problem is nobody has. Think CC passing game is underrated. Hitchings has 18 or 19 TD and 1 INT. Plus CC defense isn’t as good as last year but they are close. Averaging 40 on offense and giving up 8 a game on defense with their schedule is pretty impressive

Coal City, with Hutchings, could run Manteno's pass first spread with little trouble. Jezik would just run wild in the read-option with nobody left in the middle of the field...but wait, he does that already and everybody is stacked ready for him. The Coalers are where they should be...

 

[PanthersWildcats86]

Somebody better tell Marengo and Richmond-Burton....

I was looking on ihsa website - in 4A it shows Marengo playing @ a CPS school today (scorezone and brackets)
I can’t remember seeing an error like this other than maybe a botched score that gets corrected. Did I miss something?

Scorezone for week 1 has RB winning 56-6. The brackets have the score backwards somehow. No, the sub-500 CPS team did not make the second round...lol

 

[DMurph11]

Looks like some big upsets in the South. Chalk so far in the North with seeds 1-4 in the Quarters.

 

[PanthersWildcats86]

I just realized something kind of ironic. 6 of the 8 teams in the 4A north second round were the same in 2018 & 2019...Coal City, GK, RB, IC, Marengo, SV. The others: Johnsburg missed the playoffs after 2 regular season losses to RB, Urban Prep Bronzeville lost to RB round 1.

IC beat SV again.
RB beat Marengo instead of GK
CC beat Kewanee instead of Johnsburg
SF beat GK

So 3 of the 4 in last years quarters return, but no rematches.

And in the south...Mac had Murphysboro round 2, Effingham quarters...Mac gets the beastly 4+ hour drive this year to play the Red Devils Round 3...

 

[630Villain]

Tall task indeed. They are very talented. I think each team remaining has their own niche. I keep hearing all you have to do is stop Jezik for Coal City to beat them, problem is nobody has. Think CC passing game is underrated. Hitchings has 18 or 19 TD and 1 INT. Plus CC defense isn’t as good as last year but they are close. Averaging 40 on offense and giving up 8 a game on defense with their schedule is pretty impressive

Should be a great game. Will be in attendance. Best of luck. I feel whoever wins that game will win state.

 

[SiuCubFan8]

Coalers -5, early line....

 

[doctor_d]

Coalers -5, early line....

Sounds reasonable. Common opponent BMac.

 

[DMurph11]

I’ve got Coalers -3 if Rittenhouse is fully healthy and ready to go come Saturday (I think SF’s D and confidence in their run game is vastly improved since B Mac game). If not, that line moves up to -6.5 Coalers IMO.

 

[Gene K.]

Still like the Coalers to go all the way. Where is the game being played? Coal City or St. Francis?

 

[SiuCubFan8]

Coal City

 

[Coalertown44]

At Coal City. Looks like a 2 o’clock kickoff

 

[Simon "GHOST' Riley]

Coalers -5, early line....

I'm confident in SF but Coal City really, really, really worries me.

 

[DMurph11]

I'm confident in SF but Coal City really, really, really worries me.

They’re the hands down favorite in 4A IMO. That kid Jezik looks like an elite high school RB and their defense looks stout. Just a high level high school football team and it feels like “their year”. Spartans will have to be fully healthy and play their A game from start to finish to pull the upset.

Containing Jezik and moving the ball through the air in chunks will be key for SF.

Baffa made some really nice throws and is certainly a tough young man but the SF offense just operates on another level with Rittenhouse behind center. His health going into this game is storylines 1-10 IMO.

 

[Simon "GHOST' Riley]

I'm making the trek so I hope it's as good as I think it will be.

 

[DMurph11]

I'm making the trek so I hope it's as good as I think it will be.

Likewise. Go Spartans.

 

[Coalertown44]

I'm confident in SF but Coal City really, really, really worries me.

I’m confident in Coal City but SF really worries me. Defense is in for a track meet with SF offense. Going to be a fun game for sure.