Lol, you must live somewhere off of Euclid and Rand Rd. I also am a MSL alum from Hersey. Sadly these teams don't stress defense enough to be successful this time of year. Hersey unfortunately, will most likely be traveling to Batavia in round 2 and that should be a problem. While Coach Nelson has put together the best defense we have seen there in school history it hasn't played anyone good enough outside of Prospect to really test their mettle. No shot in hell LZ gets past Wheaton North in round 2. I have been saying all year LZ doesn't have enough to beat good teams in a win or go home scenario and I will be proven correct in 2 weeks. Mt. Carmel shouldn't even be tested on their road to a title sadly. That's a whole different argument/thread in itself
Mike Donatucci is their DC. I'd say he stresses defense fairly well
Interesting on Prospect/Hersey… those are two really intriguing teams to me. I kept seeing a lotta points their offenses would put up on scoreboards, but never watched the tape. A lot of good records up in that area between them and Palatine in 8A.
It’s funny I’ve been around here long enough to remember the last time the MC guys laughed at Prospect, how did that turn out?
I'd be shocked if BR is standing there in the quarters by the time MC gets there
Based on what was reported here, there are some injuries. Don't get me wrong, I'd love to see another rematch.
Know Tucci well. Stress versus execute is a fine line. While I am certainly rooting for the mid suburban league teams to do well history bears out they're not going to win a 17 to 14 game against these Catholic league teams and many of the West suburban teams.
None of us ever laughed at an opponent, especially in the state finals.
Most of the players now weren't born when that happened. That was 4 Presidents ago and the Sox were coming off a WS Title! I don't think any MC fan will be taking Prospect for granted, they made the semis last year and are very good. Lets wait a few weeks and see if it even happens.
The Mustangs are finally healthy on both sides of the ball, paired with the farewell tour for Kuska. The Mustangs will go toe to toe w/ Prospect. Be prepared for a slugfest..
StN was much improved, Geneva was slightly better but outside of those two every other DuKane team took a pretty sizable step back this year. They have good records but the product on the field isn’t as good.
GBN and WWS were the only teams that took "sizeable" steps backward and to be honest, GBN is usually up and down year to year anyways. There were three teams bunched at the top, Geneva and then everyone else. If you look at non-cons, the conference went 10-6, if you remove Lake Park, 10-4. In those non-cons, they went 8-4 against playoff qualifiers, 8-3 if you remove LP. The conference is fine. SCN & WN have good paths to the semis, Geneva/SR can potentially give us a look into the strength of the conference early on. If Batavia and Hersey meet in round two we will have a really good idea of the strength of the conference. Batavia's three losses came to opponents with a combined record of 23-2. Just like last year when WWS was 5-4 and gave BR all they can handle, I expect all the Dukane teams to be tough in the playoffs.
WN took a sizeable step back this years team isn't any where close to last years team, they have an 8-1 record but they are considerably weaker. Will the Dukane teams be tough out sure they will but this years versions of the these teams have way more flaws then last year.
I think I heard that Dansdill was done for the year unless it was an old tweet or post.
That I had not heard but if true it’s a major blow kids is a stud and a difference maker.
I might have to push back a bit on the "sizeable" comment. Obviously, they're not as good as last year, but I've seen them play 3 times and would say they're still a top-tier team, but not nearly as dominant. Line play might not be as deep and obviously losing their QB was huge, but team speed, athleticism, and intangibles are still there. I wouldn't underestimate this team.
WN is playing a Willowbrook team that lost to DGS which is a team that WN beat 28-7. Not gonna happen this week.
According to this article he is done for the year with a shoulder injury
chicago.suntimes.com
