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4A...The Publics Take Back Control

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PanthersWildcats86

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Going into the quarterfinals, the possibility of the Metro Suburban Blue dominating 4A was certainly present. After knocking off the 4A Big Northern powers Round 2, it certainly looked as if IC and St. Francis could be the North semifinal rematch, and many believed McNamara & Effingham would renew their quarters shootout from last year in the semis...But all of that was smothered by the public powers.

12-0 Richmond-Burton @ 12-0 Coal City...The public standards in the North...RB beat CC in the quarters last year. Two teams of destiny? The St. Francis "upset" of IC in the regular season made them the 1 & 2 seeds and kept them away from a monumental quarters game against a Metro Blue or Big Northern team...These teams know each other. The Coalers are going to provide a healthy dose of power run, Jezik & friends, setting up play action. Rockets are just going to keep rocketing. But CC's defense has been just smothering...6th straight home game for the Coalers. I have to think the Coalers D will again shut down their opponent and take them to the title game.

10-2 Murphysboro @ 11-1 Effingham... When Rochester & Mt. Zion got pushed into 5A, Effingham was likely the favorite to come out of the South bottom bracket. But the South top bracket? Murphysboro has slain everyone, showing that their school district did a good job in not extending their teacher's strike and wrecking this season. Week 1 loss to 5A Carbondale, forfeit loss is it. Effingham has a 14 point loss to Mt. Zion as its only blemish. This should be an excellent game...I think the Red Devils are going to go into Effingham and steal their Flaming Hearts...
 
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Big wins yesterday by Coal City, Richmond-Burton and Murphysboro. The top four teams are set and both games will be excellent matchups.

#9 Murphysboro (10-2) @ #3 Effingham (11-1): Murphysboro has had a great run so far and a big win over Bishop Mac Saturday. Effingham has had a great season with one loss coming from Mt Zion. I like the Flaming Hearts at home here. Can’t say I know much about Murphysboro but they are obviously playing good. Effingham 27 Murphysboro 21

#2 Richmond-Burton (12-0) @ #1 Coal City (12-0): Both teams had great wins Saturday. Richmond-Burton won a close game with IC 24-14 and Coal City disposed of St Francis 25-7. These two met up in the quarter finals last year with RB winning 17-14. Both teams are better than they were last year. Both have very good running backs, both teams have a nice balance of passing to compliment their run games and both teams have dominating defenses. These two are so similar it’s scary. Coalers get their 4th playoff game in a row at home and it proves to make a difference. I like the Coalers in a similar ending like last season. Coalers 21 Rockets 14
 
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Coalertown44 said:
Big wins yesterday by Coal City, Richmond-Burton and Murphysboro. The top four teams are set and both games will be excellent matchups.

#9 Murphysboro (10-2) @ #3 Effingham (11-1): Murphysboro has had a great run so far and a big win over Bishop Mac Saturday. Effingham has had a great season with one loss coming from Mt Zion. I like the Flaming Hearts at home here. Can’t say I know much about Murphysboro but they are obviously playing good. Effingham 27 Murphysboro 21

#2 Richmond-Burton (12-0) @ #1 Coal City (12-0): Both teams had great wins Saturday. Richmond-Burton won a close game with IC 24-14 and Coal City disposed of St Francis 25-7. These two met up in the quarter finals last year with RB winning 17-14. Both teams are better than they were last year. Both have very good running backs, both teams have a nice balance of passing to compliment their run games and both teams have dominating defenses. These two are so similar it’s scary. Coalers get their 4th playoff game in a row at home and it proves to make a difference. I like the Coalers in a similar ending like last season. Coalers 21 Rockets 14
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I recognize St. Francis edged out IC Catholic for the conference championship this year. Still, to me, beating a three-time defending state champion in the quarterfinals is the more impressive victory. That coupled with the way Byron handled Wilmington is enough for me to think Richmond-Burton will edge past Coal City in the semifinals.
 
Alexander32 said:
I recognize St. Francis edged out IC Catholic for the conference championship this year. Still, to me, beating a three-time defending state champion in the quarterfinals is the more impressive victory. That coupled with the way Byron handled Wilmington is enough for me to think Richmond-Burton will edge past Coal City in the semifinals.
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Coal City beat 3 quarterfinal teams this year...McNamara by 14, Wilmington by 15, and St. Francis by 18 in the quarters. IC was 2-2 against quarterfinal teams...beat JCA & Mac, lost to SF & RB. Mac is 0-4 against quarters teams. RB is 2-0 against quarters teams...beat Quincy ND & IC. All the jokes about the big schools flooding their field sound true for Byron as well - the Tigers holder fell over on an xp attempt...second big late playoff game in 3 years where just standing on the field is a feat in and of itself (IC semis 17).

I've said for a long time that IC's kryptonite is a late season grass field - since they had all sorts of trouble at Peotone in 17. Their speed & running styles are best suited for turf...

RB's conference was a little down this year. I still wonder why RB played Johnsburg twice. Marengo absolutely torched Manteno Round 1 - which isn't too unusual since most power run teams bulldoze my Panthers.

ICE for its first year was a bit down...Coalers were clearly the class of the conference. But thumping Morris & Mac non-con, with Jezik getting 500+ yards rushing against those two teams? They played 6 playoff teams in the regular season... They held the high-flying spreads of Manteno & St. Francis to 7 points each. They caged the Wildcats week 8 in the conference title game. They haven't given up more than 7 points on defense since week 2 (Wilmo's second td was on D).

This will be a great game. These are the 4A North public school standard bearers. Hopefully the weather cooperates and the field stays decent...
 
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Alexander32 said:
I recognize St. Francis edged out IC Catholic for the conference championship this year. Still, to me, beating a three-time defending state champion in the quarterfinals is the more impressive victory. That coupled with the way Byron handled Wilmington is enough for me to think Richmond-Burton will edge past Coal City in the semifinals.
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I could see that happening also. This game is going to be decided by special teams or filed position or a big turnover. Very similar teams, its 50/50 to me but I am obviously a homer.
 
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Alexander32 said:
I recognize St. Francis edged out IC Catholic for the conference championship this year. Still, to me, beating a three-time defending state champion in the quarterfinals is the more impressive victory. That coupled with the way Byron handled Wilmington is enough for me to think Richmond-Burton will edge past Coal City in the semifinals.
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I agree Richmond-Burton is the team to beat. This team shut down IC. The score didn’t show what actually happened in the game. Richmond ran and passed with ease on IC and in very poor field conditions. Byron handling Wilmington has me agreeing that Richmond-Burton is the better team. Richmond-Burton was after the QB all day and IC passing was not successful. Good game but Richmond-Burton wins 28-13.
 
PanthersWildcats86 said:
Going into the quarterfinals, the possibility of the Metro Suburban Blue dominating 4A was certainly present. After knocking off the 4A Big Northern powers Round 2, it certainly looked as if IC and St. Francis could be the North semifinal rematch, and many believed McNamara & Effingham would renew their quarters shootout from last year in the semis...But all of that was smothered by the public powers.

12-0 Richmond-Burton @ 12-0 Coal City...The public standards in the North...RB beat CC in the quarters last year. Two teams of destiny? The St. Francis "upset" of IC in the regular season made them the 1 & 2 seeds and kept them away from a monumental quarters game against a Metro Blue or Big Northern team...These teams know each other. The Coalers are going to provide a healthy dose of power run, Jezik & friends, setting up play action. Rockets are just going to keep rocketing. But CC's defense has been just smothering...6th straight home game for the Coalers. I have to think the Coalers D will again shut down their opponent and take them to the title game.

10-2 Murphysboro @ 11-1 Effingham... When Rochester & Mt. Zion got pushed into 5A, Effingham was likely the favorite to come out of the South bottom bracket. But the South top bracket? Murphysboro has slain everyone, showing that their school district did a good job in not extending their teacher's strike and wrecking this season. Week 1 loss to 5A Carbondale, forfeit loss is it. Effingham has a 14 point loss to Mt. Zion as its only blemish. This should be an excellent game...I think the Red Devils are going to go into Effingham and steal their Flaming Hearts...
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The game in the southern portion of the bracket, like in the north, should be very competitive. Murphysboro's conference has had a bit more success in the playoffs over the last decade and their playoff opponents this year have been a higher quality than Effingham's. I will hazard a guess that Murphysboro wins on the road 27 - 24.

However the semifinals turn out, the state champion will very likely come from the north.
 
Football fan 1944 said:
I agree Richmond-Burton is the team to beat. This team shut down IC. The score didn’t show what actually happened in the game. Richmond ran and passed with ease on IC and in very poor field conditions. Byron handling Wilmington has me agreeing that Richmond-Burton is the better team. Richmond-Burton was after the QB all day and IC passing was not successful. Good game but Richmond-Burton wins 28-13.
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I agree that Coal City is the underdogs here. Richmond Burton dethroned the King of 4A to her here and Coal City beat the team that beat the Kings of 4A during the season. But watching film from that game yes the Rockets pretty much had their way with IC on both sides of the ball. Richmond Burton is the real deal and will be Coal Citys toughest opponent. My only counter to that is that Coal Citys defense is much better than IC. St a Francis came in averaging over 40 points and the Coalers held them to 7. I feel this will be a low scoring affair
 
And I wouldn’t use Byron beating up on Wilmington as a measuring point. Coal City had that game under control for the entire 48 minutes. It’s a big rivalry and is rarely a blowout.
 
Coalertown44 said:
I agree that Coal City is the underdogs here. Richmond Burton dethroned the King of 4A to her here and Coal City beat the team that beat the Kings of 4A during the season. But watching film from that game yes the Rockets pretty much had their way with IC on both sides of the ball. Richmond Burton is the real deal and will be Coal Citys toughest opponent. My only counter to that is that Coal Citys defense is much better than IC. St a Francis came in averaging over 40 points and the Coalers held them to 7. I feel this will be a low scoring affair
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Any defense that can hold St. Francis to seven points is outstanding. This should be a very tight game.
 
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crusader_of_90 said:
Isn’t Rochester a taxpayer funded institution? Were they not the 4A Title Holders for a bit?
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Agreed. The Rockets had a stranglehold on 4A for about 10 years, so not sure what the whole "taking back" is about lol. Congrats to all 4 semi finalist. Very deserving teams!
 
crusader_of_90 said:
Isn’t Rochester a taxpayer funded institution? Were they not the 4A Title Holders for a bit?
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McEvergreen said:
Agreed. The Rockets had a stranglehold on 4A for about 10 years, so not sure what the whole "taking back" is about lol. Congrats to all 4 semi finalist. Very deserving teams!
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And if I recall properly IC and McNamara beat RB & Rochester in the semis last year for an all-Metro Blue 4A title game...and the Metro Blue had three Catholic school teams in the 4A quarters this weekend...How many of you CCL type guys thought 4A would have 3 of the 4 semi-final teams from the Metro Blue...hmmm...
 
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Coalertown44 said:
And I wouldn’t use Byron beating up on Wilmington as a measuring point. Coal City had that game under control for the entire 48 minutes. It’s a big rivalry and is rarely a blowout.
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The Coalers had Wilmington under control pretty much the entire game - the game was basically over when the Wildcats missed the FG on their second possession. But there's a factor from that game which CC hasn't had to deal with otherwise...Wilmington brought a full house of fans - and then some...visitors bleachers were SRO at halftime of the soph game...parking in the farm fields and businesses across the street from the school...and the first three playoff games haven't brought that many fans combined to the game as there were for Wilmo. And the Coalers took multiple knees in victory formation rather than score again in the fourth quarter on first down inside the 5...

And the McNamara-Coal City game week 2, being the first non-playoff game Mac has played against a Kankakee area school other than Kankakee or Bradley in forever, brought another massive visitors crowd for their first ever game against each other.

RB will likely not even be close to bringing the visiting crowds that those two games brought.

CC is ready. Their defense has been knocking out offenses all year. Jezik may be making people wonder if there isn't a football ride out there to replace the wrestling ride to Oklahoma State...And Jezik didn't play defense at all in the heart of the conference season and they still had 3 shutouts and gave up no more than 7 points...Pullara, because of the hand in a cast, dropped two interceptions against St. Francis. I just don't see the Coaler defense giving up 14 points.
 
Coalertown44 said:
Always, you are more than invited. Garage will be open at Noon
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Awesome, I will try to make it.

Also, for my prediction..........

I like where CC defense is at right now. I think this is a low-scoring, run heavy affair. Special teams, big plays, and penalties will play a huge role in this one. I will take the semi-homer stance and say CC 20 RB 18
 
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SiuCubFan8 said:
The two playoff wins bump SFHS up to at least 5A with the multiplayer next year, right?
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I'm no expert on this subject, but I believe 2018 & 2019 fall into 2 completely different 2 year periods according to the IHSA. AKA they may not receive the success multiplier in 2020.

Besides, I think you have that backward. The two+ wins in the playoffs just insures that they keep their 1.65 multiplier.
 
Kevin JCHS 81 said:
I'm no expert on this subject, but I believe 2018 & 2019 fall into 2 completely different 2 year periods according to the IHSA. AKA they may not receive the success multiplier in 2020.

Besides, I think you have that backward. The two+ wins in the playoffs just insures that they keep their 1.65 multiplier.
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Pretty sure they didn’t have multiplier this year.
They have 730ish enrollment, with multiplier that puts them firmly in 5A, right?
 
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SiuCubFan8 said:
Pretty sure they didn’t have multiplier this year.
They have 730ish enrollment, with multiplier that puts them firmly in 5A, right?
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That makes sense. We were just having this discussion regarding St Rita and whether they would move back up to their regular (multiplied) class next year or in 2021.

The final answer from the not so clear wording in the IHSA rules was "we don't know" whether St Rita will be re-multiplied in 2020 or wait til 2021. So the same would apply to SFHS.
 
Kevin JCHS 81 said:
That makes sense. We were just having this discussion regarding St Rita and whether they would move back up to their regular (multiplied) class next year or in 2021.

The final answer from the not so clear wording in the IHSA rules was "we don't know" whether St Rita will be re-multiplied in 2020 or wait til 2021. So the same would apply to SFHS.
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Ok then, who knows?!?!?
 
Wilmatucky said:
@Coalertown44 you should start a thread detailing your sons recruiting process. Interesting to me since he’s from a smaller school and I often feel like small class kids don’t get a ton of love. If you’re bored that is.
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@Wilmatucky I don't want to make a thread of it and seem like I am puffing my chest about about my son but I will give some insight on the process.

Having gone through the recruiting process, on a smaller level, with my oldest son I learned some does and don'ts. Being from a mid sized 4A school we don't get the type of press or hype the kids from the big boy schools get. I unfortunately paid a couple thousand dollars for a recruiting service with my oldest. After the fact I found out that the things they did, I could of done on my own for free. (This is where I put on my dunce cap) but it did open my eyes to a lot of things. First of all if you at between 6'4" - 6'7" and 250 lb - 280 lb it doesn't matter how big your schools are the colleges will find you. For Brady who's 6'3" and 215 its a little but tougher.

First thing I learned is to have a really good Junior/Sophomore highlight film. One that isn't 6 to 10 minutes long but more like 3 to 4. Put your best impact plays in the first minute of the highlight. Brady only played minimal on Varsity his Soph year so we were a year behind going in to his Junior year. TO be honest his moment when his name got out there was against Herscher his Junior year. Deep Dish Football (Coach Big Pete) made it his game of the week and was there. Brady happened to have one of his better games that night and Coach Big Pete interviewed him and put his name on his 2020 prospect watch list. Brady had a really good Junior year and it helped that we had a great season as a team. The Spring really opened his eyes when he got interests from some bigger schools like EIU, NIU, ISU, WIU and Air Force. All of them made school visits and made contact to let him know they were interested in him. Columbia and Yale showed interest also, he has good grades and a good SAT score but not that level good, I blame his mom lol

The big thing over the Summer was to hit the right camps. My two cousins are involved in college football. One is a D Line coach at McNeese St and the other is the Director of Football Operations at Kent St. So I leaned on them pretty heavy for advice. Brady hit an early Rivals camp and one of the Nortwestern camps. He made some Junior visit days to some of the schools he was really interested in also. The best advice they gave me was not to spend the summer and a butt load of money travelling around to all these different camps but find one or two that had the teams there that you are interested in and preform. Brady had a really good camp at Nortwestern (even started getting noticed and interviewed by Edgy himself lol). That was a huge bump also. He got his first offer from Sioux Falls and then from Northern Michigan a few weeks later.

We made a trip out to Sioux Falls for a weekend on a BBQ/recruiting visit around the end of July. At this point the FCS schools were still interested but we were getting told he would get some PWO offers and to put a good 5 to 6 weeks of Senior film together and maybe get an offer. Sioux Falls really wanted him and made no bones about it. They actually have a pretty decent pipeline to the Chicagoland area. They have three defensive coaches from the suburbs. About a week later Brady gave his verbal to USF. And once he did, he knew he made the right choice because every coach on the staff either called or text him that night to welcome him and congratulate him. They have kept in touch and monitored his and the Coalers season the whole time. He will take his official visit this Winter and sign on Signing Day.

Being from a smaller school is tough. Especially when your son plays three sports and still wants to somewhat enjoy his Summer. But the biggest thing is to get your film in to Coaches email. We sent countless film to a lot of schools. To the point where we were sending them out form each game every Saturday to the coaches that were interested in him. He is very happy with his decision and he has gotten a lot of support for the Coal City staff and coaches. His biggest cool moments were calls to the Guidance Counselor from Northwestern and Stanford recruiting coordinators. There again I get to blame his Mom haha. I do think quite a bit of really good talent gets looked over because they are playing 4A and below but in the day and age of social media and the internet it is getting easier. Good luck to all the smaller school kids who want to play at the next level
 
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Coalertown44 said:
@WilmatuckyAbout a week later Brady gave his verbal to USF. And once he did, he knew he made the right choice because every coach on the staff either called or text him that night to welcome him and congratulate him. They have kept in touch and monitored his and the Coalers season the whole time. He will take his official visit this Winter and sign on Signing Day.
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Is that the University of South Florida?
https://gousfbulls.com/sports/football/schedule/2019
 
Coalertown44 said:
@Wilmatucky I
Being from a smaller school is tough. Especially when your son plays three sports and still wants to somewhat enjoy his Summer. But the biggest thing is to get your film in to Coaches email. We sent countless film to a lot of schools. To the point where we were sending them out form each game every Saturday to the coaches that were interested in him. He is very happy with his decision and he has gotten a lot of support for the Coal City staff and coaches. His biggest cool moments were calls to the Guidance Counselor from Northwestern and Stanford recruiting coordinators. There again I get to blame his Mom haha. I do think quite a bit of really good talent gets looked over because they are playing 4A and below but in the day and age of social media and the internet it is getting easier. Good luck to all the smaller school kids who want to play at the next level
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Excellent post. Congrats to your son and your family, very exciting. My son went through a similar recruiting process. He played at Tolono Unity. Varsity QB soph - senior year, state runner up sophomore year. 3A and 4A over that time. Edgy was great to him since he saw him at countless camps. Also Big Pete and Matt Lemming. I am so thankful to all of them. FCS schools also praised him but wanted senior tape. Loved his athleticism ( 12 state track medals, including 300 m hurdle state champ), however the small school thing affected him since he is 6 ft. (He was wiling to be recruited at any position). He wound up with quite a few D2 & NAIA offers. Utimately Army West Point offered. Though it seemed like a slam dunk, he did a lot of research and had a tough choice. He is currently at Army West Point and this year is a scout team QB. The recruiting process is definitely complicated and I would not call it fun.
 
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denmig said:
Excellent post. Congrats to your son and your family, very exciting. My son went through a similar recruiting process. He played at Tolono Unity. Varsity QB soph - senior year, state runner up sophomore year. 3A and 4A over that time. Edgy was great to him since he saw him at countless camps. Also Big Pete and Matt Lemming. I am so thankful to all of them. FCS schools also praised him but wanted senior tape. Loved his athleticism ( 12 state track medals, including 300 m hurdle state champ), however the small school thing affected him since he is 6 ft. (He was wiling to be recruited at any position). He wound up with quite a few D2 & NAIA offers. Utimately Army West Point offered. Though it seemed like a slam dunk, he did a lot of research and had a tough choice. He is currently at Army West Point and this year is a scout team QB. The recruiting process is definitely complicated and I would not call it fun.
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Congrats to him. That’s awesome. It takes a lot of courage to take on that mission and I commend him.
 
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