Five Friday night games to end the regular season. MacArthur travels to Jacksonville with the winner making the 5A playoffs and the loser likely seeing their season end. SHG and Chatham have their rivalry game, while Eisenhower and Lanphier clash with one team getting their first win and the other going 0-9.
Lanphier (0-8) at Eisenhower (0-8)
Both teams have had very difficult seasons, with almost all of their games being running clocks. Eisenhower did almost beat Southeast Week 1, while Lanphier lost to them by 42 points in Week 7. Eisenhower also has the home field advantage and should get Coach Dampeer his first win. Eisenhower 22 Lanphier 12
Southeast (3-5) at Springfield (5-3)
Springfield should get its 6th win pretty easily. Southeast is starting Sophomores at QB and RB, so there is some hope for 2022. Springfield 46 Southeast 14
Rochester (7-1) at U High (3-5)
There is still a significant gap between U High as the 7th best team in the CS8 versus the top 6 teams. Rochester will try to get a running clock as soon as possible and get the reserves in. Rochester 45 U High 7
SHG (7-1) at Chatham (6-2)
Chatham’s best chance to win this rivalry game is to grind out long drives with the running of QB Ahlberg and RB Smith. Their defense does not match up that well against SHG’s offense. Chatham is aggressive, and they gang tackle on defense. However, they lack the size and athleticism of their 2018 and 2019 teams. SHG should be able to run or pass on them. SHG would like to go up several scores early and take the expected large home crowd out of the game. Chatham wants to stay close early and then catch a break or two later. SHG has only given up more than 13 points once. Chatham could keep it closer than my prediction but the more likely outcome is a fairly comfortable SHG win. SHG 45 Chatham 20
MacArthur (4-4) at Jacksonville (4-4)
The winner makes the playoffs and the loser is probably out. I thought in August that Jacksonville had the best schedule in the CS8, with all 5 playoff teams from 2019 at home. 1 win against a 2019 playoff team would likely get the Crimsons into the 5A playoffs. They are 0-4 so far, coming close but losing narrowly to Chatham and Springfield and getting thumped by Rochester and SHG. Jacksonville’s best chance, like Chatham, is to grind out drives, not get behind too much early, and rely on a large noisy home crowd for support. Though it didn’t impact last week’s outcome against Springfield, MacArthur had very few fans at the game. Mac has a balanced offense which should give Jacksonville trouble. One missed tackle on a short pass can lead to a TD by several Mac players. Mac QB Brylan Phillips played a great game last week. If he can duplicate that or even come close, Mac should be heading to the 5A playoffs. MacArthur 37 Jacksonville 27
Lanphier (0-8) at Eisenhower (0-8)
Both teams have had very difficult seasons, with almost all of their games being running clocks. Eisenhower did almost beat Southeast Week 1, while Lanphier lost to them by 42 points in Week 7. Eisenhower also has the home field advantage and should get Coach Dampeer his first win. Eisenhower 22 Lanphier 12
Southeast (3-5) at Springfield (5-3)
Springfield should get its 6th win pretty easily. Southeast is starting Sophomores at QB and RB, so there is some hope for 2022. Springfield 46 Southeast 14
Rochester (7-1) at U High (3-5)
There is still a significant gap between U High as the 7th best team in the CS8 versus the top 6 teams. Rochester will try to get a running clock as soon as possible and get the reserves in. Rochester 45 U High 7
SHG (7-1) at Chatham (6-2)
Chatham’s best chance to win this rivalry game is to grind out long drives with the running of QB Ahlberg and RB Smith. Their defense does not match up that well against SHG’s offense. Chatham is aggressive, and they gang tackle on defense. However, they lack the size and athleticism of their 2018 and 2019 teams. SHG should be able to run or pass on them. SHG would like to go up several scores early and take the expected large home crowd out of the game. Chatham wants to stay close early and then catch a break or two later. SHG has only given up more than 13 points once. Chatham could keep it closer than my prediction but the more likely outcome is a fairly comfortable SHG win. SHG 45 Chatham 20
MacArthur (4-4) at Jacksonville (4-4)
The winner makes the playoffs and the loser is probably out. I thought in August that Jacksonville had the best schedule in the CS8, with all 5 playoff teams from 2019 at home. 1 win against a 2019 playoff team would likely get the Crimsons into the 5A playoffs. They are 0-4 so far, coming close but losing narrowly to Chatham and Springfield and getting thumped by Rochester and SHG. Jacksonville’s best chance, like Chatham, is to grind out drives, not get behind too much early, and rely on a large noisy home crowd for support. Though it didn’t impact last week’s outcome against Springfield, MacArthur had very few fans at the game. Mac has a balanced offense which should give Jacksonville trouble. One missed tackle on a short pass can lead to a TD by several Mac players. Mac QB Brylan Phillips played a great game last week. If he can duplicate that or even come close, Mac should be heading to the 5A playoffs. MacArthur 37 Jacksonville 27
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