1. You still won't find a better setting than Duchon Field on a sunny Saturday - Duchon Field on the shores of Lake Ellyn, home of the Glenbard West Hilltoppers is still the best overall on campus home field setting you'll find. End of story. Sure several others across the state can and will make a case for others....yet the overall setting of the lake and trees plus the mixture of old school buildings plus the newer additions all just make this an amazing place to see a game. Sure, they have way too much goose poop, the surrounding streets are too narrow and the field is under constant threats of flooding....oh and it's also in need of some serious renovations especially the seating portion....but it's still the place for me.
2. Glenbard West is still very much Glenbard West this season- The last few years it just seemed like Glenbard West just wasn't the same team and program that Chad Hetlet has built up over the last several seasons to become a 8A-7A power, and while this is still a very young season...this 2022 Glenbard West team sure looks a lot closer to the old Glenbard West of old. The speed is there on both sides of the football, and the overall attitude and attack mentality also looks to be there most of the time in this 35-14 win over a very good OPRF team. Glenbard West however in some ways remains the same...as in too many penalties at the wrong time and basically slowing themselves down and putting themselves in not good situations....situations that very good teams ahead on the schedule will take full advantage of this season. More coming soon on this in the 2022 Breakdown series later this week.
3. Glenbard West Joey Pope was missed on Saturday- Pope is recovering for an earlier injury and was in street clothes on Saturday. Pope said he will be back very soon but he's a dynamic playmaker on both sides of the football for the Hilltoppers. No question others stepped up including junior RB Julius Ellens who had another big day for West...but mix in Pope along with Ellens in the backfield and look out. Pope also just has big play ability on either side of the football and is one of those glue guys the Hilltoppers will need sooner rather than later.
4. OPRF has some serious talent but they need more- OPRF and head coach John Horester talked after the game about how much he likes this team and how hard they work.....and the Huskies have a ton of talent to watch (more on those kids in 2022 Breakdown series later this week)
but they also have ay my count 6-7 kids playing both ways especially on the line....and that just does not cut it in the West Suburban Silver and in 8A to have any sort of sustained success. In many ways the Huskies I feel will compete and have a chance to beat more than a few of the higher ranked teams this season. Yer the overall lack of depth is a huge concern for the Huskies the rest of the season.
5. So how good was Glenbard West OL Chris Terek? Chris Terek, who is already committed to Wisconsin is a four star ranked OL by Rivals. Terek played well here against OPRF and saw some action on both sides of the football in this win. Terek's overall strength, motor and physicality remains impressive here and also he's become a much more vocal leader this season for the Hilltoppers. Terek I feel is still a bit of work in progress physically and will need to continue to improve and cut some additional weight before he gets to Big Ten level of conditioning. Yet when it comes to his conditioning, Terek plays hard, never took very many breaks and still had enough energy to run "up the hill" to ring the victory bell at Glenbard West...which tells you plenty. Terek is truly just a large human being and when you combine it all together you can easily see why the Badgers wanted this kid.
7. The West Suburban Silver race is going to be a grind- So I was able to see 4 West Suburban Silver teams in one weekend...and I saw four good teams...all four are playoff caliber teams this fall. Throw in a handful of others I've not seen yet (York/DGN/Proviso West) and no question someone is going to not make the state playoff field that should as say a 4-5 team. The difference between being 1st in the Silver and say 6th could be as small as a touchdown or less.
2. Glenbard West is still very much Glenbard West this season- The last few years it just seemed like Glenbard West just wasn't the same team and program that Chad Hetlet has built up over the last several seasons to become a 8A-7A power, and while this is still a very young season...this 2022 Glenbard West team sure looks a lot closer to the old Glenbard West of old. The speed is there on both sides of the football, and the overall attitude and attack mentality also looks to be there most of the time in this 35-14 win over a very good OPRF team. Glenbard West however in some ways remains the same...as in too many penalties at the wrong time and basically slowing themselves down and putting themselves in not good situations....situations that very good teams ahead on the schedule will take full advantage of this season. More coming soon on this in the 2022 Breakdown series later this week.
3. Glenbard West Joey Pope was missed on Saturday- Pope is recovering for an earlier injury and was in street clothes on Saturday. Pope said he will be back very soon but he's a dynamic playmaker on both sides of the football for the Hilltoppers. No question others stepped up including junior RB Julius Ellens who had another big day for West...but mix in Pope along with Ellens in the backfield and look out. Pope also just has big play ability on either side of the football and is one of those glue guys the Hilltoppers will need sooner rather than later.
4. OPRF has some serious talent but they need more- OPRF and head coach John Horester talked after the game about how much he likes this team and how hard they work.....and the Huskies have a ton of talent to watch (more on those kids in 2022 Breakdown series later this week)
but they also have ay my count 6-7 kids playing both ways especially on the line....and that just does not cut it in the West Suburban Silver and in 8A to have any sort of sustained success. In many ways the Huskies I feel will compete and have a chance to beat more than a few of the higher ranked teams this season. Yer the overall lack of depth is a huge concern for the Huskies the rest of the season.
5. So how good was Glenbard West OL Chris Terek? Chris Terek, who is already committed to Wisconsin is a four star ranked OL by Rivals. Terek played well here against OPRF and saw some action on both sides of the football in this win. Terek's overall strength, motor and physicality remains impressive here and also he's become a much more vocal leader this season for the Hilltoppers. Terek I feel is still a bit of work in progress physically and will need to continue to improve and cut some additional weight before he gets to Big Ten level of conditioning. Yet when it comes to his conditioning, Terek plays hard, never took very many breaks and still had enough energy to run "up the hill" to ring the victory bell at Glenbard West...which tells you plenty. Terek is truly just a large human being and when you combine it all together you can easily see why the Badgers wanted this kid.
7. The West Suburban Silver race is going to be a grind- So I was able to see 4 West Suburban Silver teams in one weekend...and I saw four good teams...all four are playoff caliber teams this fall. Throw in a handful of others I've not seen yet (York/DGN/Proviso West) and no question someone is going to not make the state playoff field that should as say a 4-5 team. The difference between being 1st in the Silver and say 6th could be as small as a touchdown or less.
