Coal City was the #1 seed in 4A. Period. Why? Because they played a 7 win and 6 win team non-conference, and ended up with 43 playoff points. Five of the eight schools in the conference made the playoffs, meaning CC played six playoff teams in the regular season. The only 9-0 teams with more playoff points were Mt. Carmel and Mt. Zion, with several tied with the Coalers...
RB clearly proved to the the best in 4A. The bottom of the 4A quarter teams is easy to figure out...McNamara was 0-4 against teams in the quarters (CC, SF, IC, Murphy). Prairie Central was the other relatively easy to figure out, third in their conference where 1 & 2 lost to Mac & Murphy. SF beat IC without their star QB, while CC beat SF his first game back...what does a game between IC & CC look like? At CC, probably not different from the CC-SF game; at Plunkett on turf, ?
CC was the second best in 4A. They played their worst game of the season in the semis against RB. If the early drive results in the TD instead of the penalty calling it back and missing the FG, who knows? But RB sustained several drives with great catches on third down. Turn the ball over, and who knows? RB showed sufficient balance on offense to get the job done. If RB & CC played ten times, I figure each likely wins 4 games...the other two probably are up to penalties, turnovers, the vagaries of a bouncing football.