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Brook @ Grayslake Central week 1

SPC has been playing Non-cons for a couple years now.
Did they up it to 2? I was under the assumption they still forced 4 crossovers in addition to 4 conference games.

Either way I am not looking forward to most of those games.
 
Yes, it’s been 2 for two seasons and would have been the Covid year too. For some reason I think I Oswego played three last year. However I get your point playing Romeoville Plainfield Central and Joliet Central typically isn’t worth your time
 
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A total thumb's up to "Missingwalter" for mentioning the disparity in football across the state.
For the purposes of this exercise, I will use the Northern Lake County Conference, which is where Grayslake Central competes.
It's an eight-team league and. ignoring the "pretend" 2020 season, the league has been together for 6 years.
In that 6-year span, the league has qualified 23 teams for the playoffs.
The list includes Antioch (6 times), Lakes (5 times), Grayslake North (4 times), Wauconda (4 times), Grayslake Central (2 times), Grant (1 time), North Chicago (1 time) and Round Lake (zero times).
Taking the conference as a whole, in the six-year span of the league, Northern Lake County teams are 9-18 in. playoff games when they did NOT play against each other.
Of the 9 victories, FIVE of them occurred when the opponent was a member of the Chicago. Public League. So, right from the top, if you're looking for where to slot the Northern Lake County Conference in in regard to level of play, in its history it has bagged lopsided wins over Mather (2 times), Westinghouse, Senn, and Schurz.
As far as individual schools are concerned, Antioch is 2-6 in playoffs when not playing another Northern Lake County school with one win vs. a CPL team.
Lakes is 2-3 in the playoffs when not facing another league foe, and has one win over a CPL team.
Grayslake North is 2-3 in playoffs when not facing another league foe and both wins are over CPL teams.
Grayslake Central is 2-2 in the playoffs and literally is the only team in the league with two playoff wins over teams not in the CPL.
Wauconda is 1-3 in the playoffs when not facing a league foe and it's only win was over a CPL team.
Grant and North Chicago are both 0-1 in playoff football as a member of this league.
I have no knowledge of ranking conferences in terms of strength in the sport of football. I think it's safe to say that the Northern Lake County Conference would rank way ahead of some of the middlin' conferences in the Chicago Public League.
From this side of the room, the guess is that both the Northern Lake County and Southwest Suburban Blue leagues have bottom feeders that are pretty-much built-in wins. The difference appears to be at the top end where obviously Lincoln-Way East resides, and I would say Homewood-Flossmoor and Lockport aren't actually middlin' programs. There appears to be nothing like those teams in the Northern Lake County.
Plus, there's the huge disparity in enrollment (3,340 to 1,333).
I think Grayslake Central would have done better scheduling a game vs. a team from the Central Suburban North (Deerfield, Highland Park, Vernon Hills, Maine East, Maine West, Niles North).
But I'm just a fan who'se growing older by the minute.
 
Great analysis! A few comments: Antioch and Lakes have had some good teams, but I am not sure if they fall within the 6 year span you mention. Wauconda had a good team last year but lost to ND in the playoffs, nothing to be ashamed of. In fact, didn't the ND HC come from Lakes? Pearlman is at Grayslake? Did not know that. As I stated in previous post, the historically strong teams from Lake County are in one conference (Libertyville, Stevenson, LZ and Warren). Carmel was, maybe they will be again. I should mention Johnsburg as a good program as well. Sorry if I left anyone out.
 
All..... Falling under the fwiw category. Calpreps for 2022 Ratsy

Grayslake (Central)
184 out of the 528 teams listed.
Class 6A #24 out of the 32 teams listed
Conference strength 42 out of the 74 listed.

Bolingbrook
53 out of the 528 teams listed.
Class 8A 16 out of the 32 teams listed
Conference strength 4 out of the 74 listed.

With a small drop of enrollment 1347.00 to now 1333.00 should the Rams qualify for postseason play depending upon how the 256 teams are broken down (8 classes) they could go 5A.
 
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I think it will be a "learning experience" for GC. Better than beating up on a CPL team I suppose.
 
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Great analysis! A few comments: Antioch and Lakes have had some good teams, but I am not sure if they fall within the 6 year span you mention. Wauconda had a good team last year but lost to ND in the playoffs, nothing to be ashamed of. In fact, didn't the ND HC come from Lakes? Pearlman is at Grayslake? Did not know that. As I stated in previous post, the historically strong teams from Lake County are in one conference (Libertyville, Stevenson, LZ and Warren). Carmel was, maybe they will be again. I should mention Johnsburg as a good program as well. Sorry if I left anyone out.
Lake Forest and Deerfield deserve to be mentioned among the historically strong teams from Lake County. LF doesn't have a state title but 29 playoff appearances and a winning playoff record matters.

By the way, isn't Deerfield the smallest school in the CSL? (Just as LF is the smallest school in the NSC). So how does the smallest school in the CSL get moved to the big school division? Niles West, which has a thousand more students than Deerfield, moves to the small school division... I'm surprised by this change. Hopefully, Deerfield is okay with it.

I believe it's the St. Pat's coach who used to coach at Lakes and Lake Zurich.
 
Congrats to the Brook from going from an almost sure week one L to an assured W in late spring. Hard to do.
It’s easy to do just reschedule. Lol
Seriously this might be the smartest move for Bolingbrook. The way the season ended last year along with a new head coach it’s probably the best for their program. Bones knows the Raiders better than just about anyone so he made a lot of sense. I no nothing about GL so I am a little surprised at the competitive disparity in the conferences. This game will still be interesting for me.
 
Lake Forest and Deerfield deserve to be mentioned among the historically strong teams from Lake County. LF doesn't have a state title but 29 playoff appearances and a winning playoff record matters.

By the way, isn't Deerfield the smallest school in the CSL? (Just as LF is the smallest school in the NSC). So how does the smallest school in the CSL get moved to the big school division? Niles West, which has a thousand more students than Deerfield, moves to the small school division... I'm surprised by this change. Hopefully, Deerfield is okay with it.

I believe it's the St. Pat's coach who used to coach at Lakes and Lake Zurich.
You are certainly right about LF, not sure how I forgot them, having gone to 3 of their playoff games in the past 2 years. Deerfield is ancient history, although they were quite the power at the time.
 
A total thumb's up to "Missingwalter" for mentioning the disparity in football across the state.
For the purposes of this exercise, I will use the Northern Lake County Conference, which is where Grayslake Central competes.
It's an eight-team league and. ignoring the "pretend" 2020 season, the league has been together for 6 years.
In that 6-year span, the league has qualified 23 teams for the playoffs.
The list includes Antioch (6 times), Lakes (5 times), Grayslake North (4 times), Wauconda (4 times), Grayslake Central (2 times), Grant (1 time), North Chicago (1 time) and Round Lake (zero times).
Taking the conference as a whole, in the six-year span of the league, Northern Lake County teams are 9-18 in. playoff games when they did NOT play against each other.
Of the 9 victories, FIVE of them occurred when the opponent was a member of the Chicago. Public League. So, right from the top, if you're looking for where to slot the Northern Lake County Conference in in regard to level of play, in its history it has bagged lopsided wins over Mather (2 times), Westinghouse, Senn, and Schurz.
As far as individual schools are concerned, Antioch is 2-6 in playoffs when not playing another Northern Lake County school with one win vs. a CPL team.
Lakes is 2-3 in the playoffs when not facing another league foe, and has one win over a CPL team.
Grayslake North is 2-3 in playoffs when not facing another league foe and both wins are over CPL teams.
Grayslake Central is 2-2 in the playoffs and literally is the only team in the league with two playoff wins over teams not in the CPL.
Wauconda is 1-3 in the playoffs when not facing a league foe and it's only win was over a CPL team.
Grant and North Chicago are both 0-1 in playoff football as a member of this league.
I have no knowledge of ranking conferences in terms of strength in the sport of football. I think it's safe to say that the Northern Lake County Conference would rank way ahead of some of the middlin' conferences in the Chicago Public League.
From this side of the room, the guess is that both the Northern Lake County and Southwest Suburban Blue leagues have bottom feeders that are pretty-much built-in wins. The difference appears to be at the top end where obviously Lincoln-Way East resides, and I would say Homewood-Flossmoor and Lockport aren't actually middlin' programs. There appears to be nothing like those teams in the Northern Lake County.
Plus, there's the huge disparity in enrollment (3,340 to 1,333).
I think Grayslake Central would have done better scheduling a game vs. a team from the Central Suburban North (Deerfield, Highland Park, Vernon Hills, Maine East, Maine West, Niles North).
But I'm just a fan who'se growing older by the minute.
I'm a parent of a kid in this conference, and this is a great analysis, and I still have no idea why GLC ever though this was a good idea. FWIW, I would be curious how many of those playoff L's were from 7/8A teams working off a waiver. I know of at least 3 specifically.
 
Grayslake has an excellent downtown. I am sure it compares favorably to downtown Bolingbrook.

Why does everyone talk as if the south suburbs are where things are centrally located and everything else is far away?

Grayslake Central just had their best two seasons in their history, with limited talent. They convinced a three time state champion coach to come there, who I happened to play with in high school (he won’t remember me).

Credit them for scheduling a tough opening game. Enjoy Emil’s or First Draft on Center Street before the game. Go to The Freeze after the game for ice cream. Enjoy our hidden gem of a town.

Sincerely,

Everyone in Grayslake
 
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Just be aware that at the same time Grayslake Central is playing Bolingbrook on the west side of town, it appears that Grayslake North will be playing a home game on the east side of town (technically 18-inches into Round Lake Beach but you get the general idea).
I am not positive about this, but it seems like when Grayslake North first opened, that an effort was made so that the two schools didn't play home games on the same night.
And I could be mistaken as my brain is getting older by the minute, but I seem to recall that in the first years of there being two schools, that when Grayslake North was the road team, that its varsity squad walked from its school after suiting up in its locker room across town to Grayslake Central High for the varsity game.
 
I totally believe what You are saying about the Rams’ new coach.
The flip side of that is Bob Stone who won 80 of 99 games and one state title and two second place trophies at Joliet Catholic and later won 4 games total in 4 years at mundelein.
 
If I was reading correctly it seems GLC sprinters outperformed Brook sprinters at state.
Why does everyone talk as if the south suburbs are where things are centrally located and everything else is far away?
West.
 
Everything is south to us. We are called Grayslake Central because Grayslake is centrally located. ;)
I am not exactly sure that being Centrally located is the only reason why Grayslake Central is called what it is.
When there was just one high school, it was called Grayslake Community High School and on what is an old school building was giant letters G-C-H-S to reflect the school name forever. When Grayslake North opened,, I suppose it could have given the school name a West direction. That said, picking the name Central allowed the school to keep the long-familiar G-C-H-S name. The team nickname remained the Rams so by keeping GCHS it reflects the long tradition of that school building. That is the story I was told way back in the day.
 
Nobody is dissing Grayslake or Grayslake Central. It is just the opinion of most here that Bolingbrook will win. Grayslake has a nice downtown, now. Wasn't always like that, kudos to the town for the nice job. Being from Lake County myself, I hope Central wins,
 
I am not exactly sure that being Centrally located is the only reason why Grayslake Central is called what it is.
When there was just one high school, it was called Grayslake Community High School and on what is an old school building was giant letters G-C-H-S to reflect the school name forever. When Grayslake North opened,, I suppose it could have given the school name a West direction. That said, picking the name Central allowed the school to keep the long-familiar G-C-H-S name. The team nickname remained the Rams so by keeping GCHS it reflects the long tradition of that school building. That is the story I was told way back in the day.
All true.
 
50 give or take a few. Saw some big guys numbers in the 50's and 70's and some athletic looking guys.
Does Grayslake have a Delany Road type of area? Google Map it and move northward from US 41 on its west side for a couple miles.
 
Does Grayslake have a Delany Road type of area? Google Map it and move northward from US 41 on its west side for a couple miles.
I dont know anything about Grayslake other than what I learned in this thread and that they're Brewers and Packers fans.
 
I dont know anything about Grayslake other than what I learned in this thread and that they're Brewers and Packers fans.
Prime auntie/cousin address area for Warren Twp but the entirety of the district is kind of a LWN/LWE analog.
 
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