Last week I had Teams With Something to Prove and today I take a look at a handful of conferences I feel will have something to prove for the 2022 IHSA Football season.
Feel free to add your thoughts etc here as well.
Conferences With Something to Prove in 2022
Chicago Public League- Sure everyone picks on the CPL for various issues and reasons.....but I feel I've tried to be fair and pretty realistic with the CPL football over the years. The CPL in 2021 was not good....and after seeing a few of the top CPL teams in the spring of 2021 season....it was not a very big surprise. The COVID delay in the 2020 season, along with being locked out of everything due to Chicago's higher COVID restrictions no question in my opinion hit the CPL harder than any other conference in several ways.
Phillips had the most playoff success, but the Wildcats also played down in 4A after backing off of it's two year deal to play "up" in 7A...which the IHSA allowed them to get out of in the fall season. Again no hate here for Phillips and they are still a very good small school program....but can they still "hang" with the bigger boys or will those days start to slip away? Morgan Park and head coach Chris James has a stable of young and talented kids who saw a ton of playing time and the Mustangs have some better days ahead. Kenwood in my eyes also has a ton of talent but they still need a bit more help and the playoff loss in my eyes to Centennial was pretty shocking to be honest. Simeon and head coach Dante Culbreth is down to just a handful of loyal long time assistants and the overall roster numbers are also down at Simeon. Simeon still plays hard....but I just don't see anywhere close to the talent level they have had in the past. The CPL will need more than a year or so to turn things around here....but hopefully 2022 can be the first year of a CPL wide improvement.
West Suburban Silver- The Silver has been falling short in my opinion when it comes to playoff success over the past few years and most expect this conference to be a part of the elite larger conferences in Chicagoland. The 2021 season saw early playoff exits from both York and Lyons Township....while both Glenbard West and Hinsdale Central got out of the opening round but then both lost in Round 2. The good news is that both Glenbard West and Lyons Township will return quite a bit of underclassmen talent back for this fall....and Hinsdale Central and York will reload once again and contend....but contending is fine for most conferences but this conference expects much more as do I.
Mid Suburban West- I can say pretty much for certain the Mid Suburban East has continued to close the gap between The Mid Suburban West and 2021 was another example of the East just having a better playoff run. Hoffman Estates in 7A went two round, Palatine also went two rounds in 8A while Barrington had a tough Round 1 draw at Warren and lost to the Blue Devils. Again not a horrible showing but the West has had much better teams and talent than we've seen the last handful of seasons.
Upstate 8- The Upstate 8 has been a punching bag for many pundits when it comes to post-season success, The Upstate 8 again did not fare well in the post-season in 2021. Sure both South Elgin and Glenbard South won Round 1 games to advance....and South Elgin keeps showing signs of progress overall as a program under Dragan Teonic including beating a solid Edwardsville program 24-13 in a rain storm. Yet seeing opening round scores from Bartlett. Larkin and Glenbard East (a combined score of 144-6 in the three losses) is not good. So what's the fix? I'm not sure to be honest. Is it time to split up the Upstate 8 into two separate divisions and ket the conference begin to play some non conference opponents? At this stage something has to be addressed....and why not at least give this a thought or two? We've also seen other Upstate 8 programs have small pockets of success (Larkin/Elgin/Streamwood/East Aurora) at times.
Southwest Suburban Red- 2021 was just not a good year for the SWS Red as Lincoln way West was the only state playoff team and the Warriors lost to Buffalo Grove 22-19 in Round 1 of the Class 7A state playoffs. The biggest surprise in my opinion was a 2-7 Lincoln Way Central team and if the Red doesn't have a strong LWC team it no question will impact this conference overall. Look for the likes of Andrew and Bradley to bounce back from 4-5 records in 2022.
Southwest Prairie East- The Eat has been the weaker of the two conferences since this conference inception a few years back. In 2021 Plainfield Central and Plainfield East both made the state playoff field. Plainfield Central and first year head coach Rob Keane had a very year season including losing a tight Round 1 game to crossover rival Yorkville. Plainfield East made the 7A state playoffs and was walloped by Hononegah in Round 1. The good news is that Plainfield East and head coach Brad Kunz had a very young team in 2021 and will bring back a ton of experience on both sides of the football. The not so good news is that Joliet West and Joliet Central got walloped by various COVID shutdowns and restrictions in 2021 and both have a ton of work to do this off season. Plainfield South was down for the first time in years and I expect Bill Bicker to have the Cougars playing better in 2022. Romeoville and head coach Justin Trovato is working hard but is still struggling with overall numbers program wide. The SWP East sadly is still a ways off to truly competing against the bigger boys in Class 8A.
Western Big 6- Moline and head coach Mike Morrissey lived up to early expectations and was able to win the Western Big 6, beat Hampshire in Round 1 in Class 7A then lost a tight game to Willowbrook in Round 2. Sterling struggled through what seemed to be an endless rash of injuries in 2021 yet still found a way to get into the 5A state playoff field and lost to a better than we all thought St Patrick team in Round 1 action. Rock Island also had high hopes in 2021, and finished with a 5-2 WB6 record. The good news for Rocky is that they scored 72 points in it's opening round game against Springfield, but unfortunately gave up 94 points in the opening round loss to the Senators who was led by Rutgers commit QB Rashad Rochelle. The WB6 will be looking for a much better overall showing, especially outside of the conference in 2022.
Feel free to add your thoughts etc here as well.
Conferences With Something to Prove in 2022
Chicago Public League- Sure everyone picks on the CPL for various issues and reasons.....but I feel I've tried to be fair and pretty realistic with the CPL football over the years. The CPL in 2021 was not good....and after seeing a few of the top CPL teams in the spring of 2021 season....it was not a very big surprise. The COVID delay in the 2020 season, along with being locked out of everything due to Chicago's higher COVID restrictions no question in my opinion hit the CPL harder than any other conference in several ways.
Phillips had the most playoff success, but the Wildcats also played down in 4A after backing off of it's two year deal to play "up" in 7A...which the IHSA allowed them to get out of in the fall season. Again no hate here for Phillips and they are still a very good small school program....but can they still "hang" with the bigger boys or will those days start to slip away? Morgan Park and head coach Chris James has a stable of young and talented kids who saw a ton of playing time and the Mustangs have some better days ahead. Kenwood in my eyes also has a ton of talent but they still need a bit more help and the playoff loss in my eyes to Centennial was pretty shocking to be honest. Simeon and head coach Dante Culbreth is down to just a handful of loyal long time assistants and the overall roster numbers are also down at Simeon. Simeon still plays hard....but I just don't see anywhere close to the talent level they have had in the past. The CPL will need more than a year or so to turn things around here....but hopefully 2022 can be the first year of a CPL wide improvement.
West Suburban Silver- The Silver has been falling short in my opinion when it comes to playoff success over the past few years and most expect this conference to be a part of the elite larger conferences in Chicagoland. The 2021 season saw early playoff exits from both York and Lyons Township....while both Glenbard West and Hinsdale Central got out of the opening round but then both lost in Round 2. The good news is that both Glenbard West and Lyons Township will return quite a bit of underclassmen talent back for this fall....and Hinsdale Central and York will reload once again and contend....but contending is fine for most conferences but this conference expects much more as do I.
Mid Suburban West- I can say pretty much for certain the Mid Suburban East has continued to close the gap between The Mid Suburban West and 2021 was another example of the East just having a better playoff run. Hoffman Estates in 7A went two round, Palatine also went two rounds in 8A while Barrington had a tough Round 1 draw at Warren and lost to the Blue Devils. Again not a horrible showing but the West has had much better teams and talent than we've seen the last handful of seasons.
Upstate 8- The Upstate 8 has been a punching bag for many pundits when it comes to post-season success, The Upstate 8 again did not fare well in the post-season in 2021. Sure both South Elgin and Glenbard South won Round 1 games to advance....and South Elgin keeps showing signs of progress overall as a program under Dragan Teonic including beating a solid Edwardsville program 24-13 in a rain storm. Yet seeing opening round scores from Bartlett. Larkin and Glenbard East (a combined score of 144-6 in the three losses) is not good. So what's the fix? I'm not sure to be honest. Is it time to split up the Upstate 8 into two separate divisions and ket the conference begin to play some non conference opponents? At this stage something has to be addressed....and why not at least give this a thought or two? We've also seen other Upstate 8 programs have small pockets of success (Larkin/Elgin/Streamwood/East Aurora) at times.
Southwest Suburban Red- 2021 was just not a good year for the SWS Red as Lincoln way West was the only state playoff team and the Warriors lost to Buffalo Grove 22-19 in Round 1 of the Class 7A state playoffs. The biggest surprise in my opinion was a 2-7 Lincoln Way Central team and if the Red doesn't have a strong LWC team it no question will impact this conference overall. Look for the likes of Andrew and Bradley to bounce back from 4-5 records in 2022.
Southwest Prairie East- The Eat has been the weaker of the two conferences since this conference inception a few years back. In 2021 Plainfield Central and Plainfield East both made the state playoff field. Plainfield Central and first year head coach Rob Keane had a very year season including losing a tight Round 1 game to crossover rival Yorkville. Plainfield East made the 7A state playoffs and was walloped by Hononegah in Round 1. The good news is that Plainfield East and head coach Brad Kunz had a very young team in 2021 and will bring back a ton of experience on both sides of the football. The not so good news is that Joliet West and Joliet Central got walloped by various COVID shutdowns and restrictions in 2021 and both have a ton of work to do this off season. Plainfield South was down for the first time in years and I expect Bill Bicker to have the Cougars playing better in 2022. Romeoville and head coach Justin Trovato is working hard but is still struggling with overall numbers program wide. The SWP East sadly is still a ways off to truly competing against the bigger boys in Class 8A.
Western Big 6- Moline and head coach Mike Morrissey lived up to early expectations and was able to win the Western Big 6, beat Hampshire in Round 1 in Class 7A then lost a tight game to Willowbrook in Round 2. Sterling struggled through what seemed to be an endless rash of injuries in 2021 yet still found a way to get into the 5A state playoff field and lost to a better than we all thought St Patrick team in Round 1 action. Rock Island also had high hopes in 2021, and finished with a 5-2 WB6 record. The good news for Rocky is that they scored 72 points in it's opening round game against Springfield, but unfortunately gave up 94 points in the opening round loss to the Senators who was led by Rutgers commit QB Rashad Rochelle. The WB6 will be looking for a much better overall showing, especially outside of the conference in 2022.
