I gotta look at what the actual divisions are again, but LWE drawing Andrew and Stagg instead of the other Lincoln Ways make no sense to me. Thought this arrangement would bring more competition at the top (sounds like it does for the Naperville schools).
Doubtful.
It’s obvious he doesn’t follow LWE. The 2nd string players get almost as much playing time as the 1st string. Year in and year out Coach Z gets those players in just after half time almost every game.
And that is exactly why their sidelines are always filled with kids and why that program is elite. When you can get those 2nd/3rd string kids valuable experience/reps it's not only beneficial to the kids confidence and abilities, but it's also beneficial to the Griffins depth. Win-Win.
As someone who has a lot of inside information about LWE, I can tell you this. They did not want to play Stagg or Andrew. That was out of their control since it is a conference crossover. They were hoping those two games were going to be teams like Bradley or even one of the other Lincoln Ways that would give them a good test. Bradley always gives them a run for their money every year. Every year they try to go out and play a really tough non conference schedule. This year is no exception. First game of the year is Maine South who is always a juggernaut every year. Second game they play a team from Florida at the East St Louis classic who made it to the state championship game last year and faced IMG Academy. Now there is limited film and knowledge about them so we would have to wait and see what kind of team they are but to get a state championship game in the state of Florida is no easy task. For the rest of their schedule, there will be many tests for them this season. All 3 Naperville schools will be quality opponents with Naperville North being the best one out of the 3 in my opinion. Great QB and skill positions and a defensive line on the rise. HF every year will be talented and a tough team to beat as well. Schedule definitely is not easy. But those 2 games were not their choice. They will most likely use Stagg as the game to rest some key players if they have injuries and get others some playing time and experience that they may need down the road in the season if a starter gets injured. They don’t like playing those teams but might as well use the game for those situations.
It’s not on the Max Preps or other website schedules correct. They didn’t officially schedule the game until around a month ago so they probably have not updated it yet. The game will be played at East St Louis so it’ll be a neutral playing field.
During the '21, '22 and '23 seasons, plus the upcoming '24 season, East will have been in a position to "draw" 2 potential division cross-overs each year with sister schools Central & West and/or different district schools Stagg & Andrew. NOT ONCE over this 4-season span will East have "drawn" Central or West. Yet, in this same interval, East will have "drawn" Stagg or Andrew 7 TIMES (the latter every one of the 4 seasons and Stagg 3 out of 4). Now this is seemingly intriguing, as the thread title indicates.
Always found it strange why they stopped scheduling East with the other Lincoln Way schools. Those games used to be electrifying when Central had that good run a little before Covid and would go up against East. Same with West. Now all 3 Lincoln way schools will be good this year. Stagg or Andrew haven’t come close to beating East. Thought the conference realignment was to get those teams away from the elite teams? Seems odd
Of the 5 cross-over games played between East and Stagg or Andrew the last 3 seasons (while none were played against Central or West), all were East wins by an average margin of 38+ points including 4 running clocks. I really wonder what metric or algorithm allowed this cross-over scheduling to begin and persist along with the prospect for the same again here in '24. Who exactly is the "they stopped scheduling" entity you reference?
Whoever schedules those games. Whether that would be who’s in charge of the SWSC or IHSA themselves. Not exactly sure who runs that. And I think the crossover was implemented to prevent any repeat games from happening. Since they split it into 3 different divisions
Then the natural follow-up question is how the Stagg and Andrew reps to the conference (AD, Principal?) allow this annual crossover inequity to continue for a 4th consecutive season and likely produce additional beat-downs?
Andrew is too busy drafting next years edition of anti-private school IHSA proposals to worry about getting shellacked this season by their public peers
A "truly random" process that has resulted in 4 consecutive seasons where neither Central or West draw East even once while Stagg (3) and Andrew (4) get the Griffins 7 times between them in the same period seems exceptionally improbable.
