A few general thoughts (not about the WB6 or TRAC) first:
- Not that the IHSA or CCL/ESCC planned this, but they had two really compelling games on Saturday that came down to the wire. Everyone rightly is thinking about how much fun Mount Carmel-Loyola was, but I'm also talking about St. Patrick-St. Viator, which saw some wild swings at the end of the fourth quarter and ended up going into overtime. This was a play-in for the playoffs; St. Patrick, after the loss, was the first team out. Tough way to end the season, and I hope St. Pat's wins the Prep Bowl.
- Good for Madison making the playoffs again, especially with only eight games scheduled.
Now, for the Week 9 reviews and playoff previews (I will do this every week for these teams):
Western Big Six
Moline 42, Geneseo 13 - Moline dominated this game and they are really playing extremely well to end the year. I don't know that I think Geneseo played badly, just that they weren't able to physically compete with Moline.
Quincy 47, Rock Island 42 - What an entertaining game. Rock Island went to Quincy and was up 28-0, in a must-win, before the Blue Devils managed to come all the way back. Impressive resolve for Quincy, but spare a thought for the Rocks, who gave a really good team their best shot with the season on the line and almost got the early knockout. Firpo against Dempsey, in some ways.
Sterling 63, UTHS 33 - UT's problem this year hasn't really been the offense, as they've managed to put up points. Sterling ran wild and they've solid momentum going into a home game.
Galesburg 58, Alleman 8 - Galesburg had their moments this year (losing by only 14 to playoff teams in Dunlap and Geneseo), and this was a nice win for them. Unfortunately more of the same for the Pioneers.
I was 4-0 last week.
This week:
Moline (10) over DeKalb (23) in the first round of 7A - DeKalb looks like a very speedy team, and this will be a tough matchup, as playoff games should be. At home, if Moline can play up to their potential, I think they'll be OK. Moline has a tough but reasonable draw, and would go to Yorkville or Libertyville second round with a win.
Glenwood (8) over Quincy (9) in the first round of 6A South - I think this is a very close matchup, and I do think Quincy would win at a neutral site. Given the home game, I have the Titans with a slight edge, but a Devil win would not surprise me. With a win, Quincy would host Blue Island Eisenhower or Lemont, both of whom would have to make the long cross-state drive.
Sterling (5) over St. Viator (12) in the first round of 5A North - CCL teams are always tough, and Sterling learned that last year, but I am not especially impressed with Viator and I think the Warriors will get this at home. They would be going to Chicago to play a CPS team in the second round and Sterling must be looking to a potential trip to Sycamore in the quarters.
Carterville (1) over Geneseo (16) in the first round of 4A South - Geneseo is a good team, and I don't think Carterville is even the best team in this quarter of the 4A bracket, but they're good and that is a long trip for the Leafs. Geneseo would have a second round game at East Alton-Wood River, or hosting Coal City. (Incidentally,my pick for this bracket is a semifinal matchup between Rochester and SHG - one last Leonard Bowl!
TRAC
Morrison 25, Erie/Prophetstown 14 - Two mirror-image teams - Morrison started the season badly but ended up with three straight wins, while EP looked terrible down the stretch. Impressive ride of the momentum for the Mustangs, who get to the playoffs now.
Princeton 48, Monmouth-Roseville 0 - No surprise here. This isn't a knock on Monmouth-Roseville either, Princeton is just so dominant.
Rockridge 49, Orion 18 - Not the way Orion wanted to end the season - exactly the way Rockridge did. Nice way to finish up the regular season after three unimpressive games in the middle of the year for Rockridge.
Ottawa Marquette 40, Sherrard 7 - Tough one for Sherrard, who ran into a buzzsaw and had two big losses at the end of the year. They saw a lot of progress this year and things are hopefully looking up for them going into 2023.
Kewanee 10, Newman 7 - Upset special! Good way to finish up for the Boilermakers, while Newman's lack of offensive production is going to be scaring them going into the playoffs.
Hall 44, Bureau Valley 34 - BV had beeen shut out three of their last four games, so a season-high in scoring for the Storm surprised me. But good for Hall, who won four of their last five to get to the playoffs after a 1-4 start.
St. Bede 39, Mendota 20 - Not a world-beater performance for the Bruins, but good for them to get back into the win column and get a team to come to Peru for the first round.
I was 6-1 last week (missed on Kewanee).
This week:
Sacred Heart-Griffin (2) over Hall (15) in the first round of 4A South - Great present for the Red Devils, who get the dubious honor of going to the top-ranked Cyclones. I don't expect it to be close, unfortunately for Hall. If they win, they would host Richland County or go to Waterloo.
Princeton (1) over Peotone (16) in the first round of 3A North - Not as easy as some 1-16 matchups might be, but I think Princeton will be just fine. They will host Genoa-Kingston or go to Elmwood/Brimfield in the second round.
Stillman Valley (5) over Monmouth-Roseville (12) in the first round of 3A North - I don't know if Stillman Valley would beat Byron again, but I think they'd beat Genoa-Kingston again, so their 8-1 record seems fair, and I don't think MR gets this one. Monmouth-Roseville would host IC Catholic or Chicago King second round. (Incidentally, an IC-Stillman Valley game in the second round would be very fun. This bracket is absolutely stacked, with lots of serious state championship contenders.)
Rockridge (4) over Newman (13) in the first round of 2A North - A rematch game, and Newman is skidding in. Their defense will have to be absolutely lights-out to give them any chance, and I think Rockridge gets their points. The winner would face Mercer County or Bloomington Central Catholic. Rockridge and Mercer County (the old Aledo) have a long and storied rivalry with multiple playoff matchups, most famously the 1998 state champsionship game, and seeing that renewed would be pretty cool. No offense to Newman here.
Forreston (10) over St. Bede (7) in the first round of 1A North - I really, really thought hard about picking St. Bede, but Forreston is much better than their record suggests. Their four losses, all to playoff teams, are by 10, 6, 2, and 14 points. St. Bede's momentum isn't good and even though Forreston's last two conference games have been losses, they're playing well and I think they beat the Bruins. The winner would play Chicago Hope or Chicago Corliss in the second round.
Ottawa Marquette (3) over Morrison (14) in the first round of 1A North - Ottawa Marquette is really good, and I think they're better than the Mustangs, but don't count out Morrison in an upset-alert game. The winner will see either Iroquois West or Dakota.
General season reviews of the WB6 and TRAC:
- Coaches of the year: Mike Morrissey (Moline) and Randy Tieman (Hall)/Steve Snider (Morrison). In the Western Big Six, Rick Little and Larry Johnsen deserve a lot of credit for turning their programs around, but Morrissey has built a juggernaut at Moline and proved he didn't just rely on Alec Ponder and Matthew Bailey. In the TRAC, I had to hedge, and credit to Ryan Pearson for keeping Princeton so stinking good, but Morrison and Hall's turnarounds are too big of stories to ignore.
- Games of the year (not including conference championship games such as Sterling-Moline): Quincy over Rock Island/Sterling over Quincy, and Morrison over Hall - Quincy hosted two wild, wild games against solid teams, losing to Sterling in OT and coming all the way back against Rocky, while Morrison recovered a fumble to seal an overtime win over Hall featuring the two Cardiac Kid teams of the TRAC.
- Turning points: Riley Fuller and Orion's missed extra points - Orion lost to Newman in Week 3 by a 13-12 score. If they win that game, heaven knows what happens, and they missed two extra points to get the loss. In Week 4, Rock Island had come back from a 20-3 deficit to get within 3 points of Moline, and they had the momentum - then Fuller took the ball 64 yards on the first play to swing things back to Moline and put things to bed. Fuller is a contender for conference MVP.
- Not that the IHSA or CCL/ESCC planned this, but they had two really compelling games on Saturday that came down to the wire. Everyone rightly is thinking about how much fun Mount Carmel-Loyola was, but I'm also talking about St. Patrick-St. Viator, which saw some wild swings at the end of the fourth quarter and ended up going into overtime. This was a play-in for the playoffs; St. Patrick, after the loss, was the first team out. Tough way to end the season, and I hope St. Pat's wins the Prep Bowl.
- Good for Madison making the playoffs again, especially with only eight games scheduled.
Now, for the Week 9 reviews and playoff previews (I will do this every week for these teams):
Western Big Six
Moline 42, Geneseo 13 - Moline dominated this game and they are really playing extremely well to end the year. I don't know that I think Geneseo played badly, just that they weren't able to physically compete with Moline.
Quincy 47, Rock Island 42 - What an entertaining game. Rock Island went to Quincy and was up 28-0, in a must-win, before the Blue Devils managed to come all the way back. Impressive resolve for Quincy, but spare a thought for the Rocks, who gave a really good team their best shot with the season on the line and almost got the early knockout. Firpo against Dempsey, in some ways.
Sterling 63, UTHS 33 - UT's problem this year hasn't really been the offense, as they've managed to put up points. Sterling ran wild and they've solid momentum going into a home game.
Galesburg 58, Alleman 8 - Galesburg had their moments this year (losing by only 14 to playoff teams in Dunlap and Geneseo), and this was a nice win for them. Unfortunately more of the same for the Pioneers.
I was 4-0 last week.
This week:
Moline (10) over DeKalb (23) in the first round of 7A - DeKalb looks like a very speedy team, and this will be a tough matchup, as playoff games should be. At home, if Moline can play up to their potential, I think they'll be OK. Moline has a tough but reasonable draw, and would go to Yorkville or Libertyville second round with a win.
Glenwood (8) over Quincy (9) in the first round of 6A South - I think this is a very close matchup, and I do think Quincy would win at a neutral site. Given the home game, I have the Titans with a slight edge, but a Devil win would not surprise me. With a win, Quincy would host Blue Island Eisenhower or Lemont, both of whom would have to make the long cross-state drive.
Sterling (5) over St. Viator (12) in the first round of 5A North - CCL teams are always tough, and Sterling learned that last year, but I am not especially impressed with Viator and I think the Warriors will get this at home. They would be going to Chicago to play a CPS team in the second round and Sterling must be looking to a potential trip to Sycamore in the quarters.
Carterville (1) over Geneseo (16) in the first round of 4A South - Geneseo is a good team, and I don't think Carterville is even the best team in this quarter of the 4A bracket, but they're good and that is a long trip for the Leafs. Geneseo would have a second round game at East Alton-Wood River, or hosting Coal City. (Incidentally,my pick for this bracket is a semifinal matchup between Rochester and SHG - one last Leonard Bowl!
TRAC
Morrison 25, Erie/Prophetstown 14 - Two mirror-image teams - Morrison started the season badly but ended up with three straight wins, while EP looked terrible down the stretch. Impressive ride of the momentum for the Mustangs, who get to the playoffs now.
Princeton 48, Monmouth-Roseville 0 - No surprise here. This isn't a knock on Monmouth-Roseville either, Princeton is just so dominant.
Rockridge 49, Orion 18 - Not the way Orion wanted to end the season - exactly the way Rockridge did. Nice way to finish up the regular season after three unimpressive games in the middle of the year for Rockridge.
Ottawa Marquette 40, Sherrard 7 - Tough one for Sherrard, who ran into a buzzsaw and had two big losses at the end of the year. They saw a lot of progress this year and things are hopefully looking up for them going into 2023.
Kewanee 10, Newman 7 - Upset special! Good way to finish up for the Boilermakers, while Newman's lack of offensive production is going to be scaring them going into the playoffs.
Hall 44, Bureau Valley 34 - BV had beeen shut out three of their last four games, so a season-high in scoring for the Storm surprised me. But good for Hall, who won four of their last five to get to the playoffs after a 1-4 start.
St. Bede 39, Mendota 20 - Not a world-beater performance for the Bruins, but good for them to get back into the win column and get a team to come to Peru for the first round.
I was 6-1 last week (missed on Kewanee).
This week:
Sacred Heart-Griffin (2) over Hall (15) in the first round of 4A South - Great present for the Red Devils, who get the dubious honor of going to the top-ranked Cyclones. I don't expect it to be close, unfortunately for Hall. If they win, they would host Richland County or go to Waterloo.
Princeton (1) over Peotone (16) in the first round of 3A North - Not as easy as some 1-16 matchups might be, but I think Princeton will be just fine. They will host Genoa-Kingston or go to Elmwood/Brimfield in the second round.
Stillman Valley (5) over Monmouth-Roseville (12) in the first round of 3A North - I don't know if Stillman Valley would beat Byron again, but I think they'd beat Genoa-Kingston again, so their 8-1 record seems fair, and I don't think MR gets this one. Monmouth-Roseville would host IC Catholic or Chicago King second round. (Incidentally, an IC-Stillman Valley game in the second round would be very fun. This bracket is absolutely stacked, with lots of serious state championship contenders.)
Rockridge (4) over Newman (13) in the first round of 2A North - A rematch game, and Newman is skidding in. Their defense will have to be absolutely lights-out to give them any chance, and I think Rockridge gets their points. The winner would face Mercer County or Bloomington Central Catholic. Rockridge and Mercer County (the old Aledo) have a long and storied rivalry with multiple playoff matchups, most famously the 1998 state champsionship game, and seeing that renewed would be pretty cool. No offense to Newman here.
Forreston (10) over St. Bede (7) in the first round of 1A North - I really, really thought hard about picking St. Bede, but Forreston is much better than their record suggests. Their four losses, all to playoff teams, are by 10, 6, 2, and 14 points. St. Bede's momentum isn't good and even though Forreston's last two conference games have been losses, they're playing well and I think they beat the Bruins. The winner would play Chicago Hope or Chicago Corliss in the second round.
Ottawa Marquette (3) over Morrison (14) in the first round of 1A North - Ottawa Marquette is really good, and I think they're better than the Mustangs, but don't count out Morrison in an upset-alert game. The winner will see either Iroquois West or Dakota.
General season reviews of the WB6 and TRAC:
- Coaches of the year: Mike Morrissey (Moline) and Randy Tieman (Hall)/Steve Snider (Morrison). In the Western Big Six, Rick Little and Larry Johnsen deserve a lot of credit for turning their programs around, but Morrissey has built a juggernaut at Moline and proved he didn't just rely on Alec Ponder and Matthew Bailey. In the TRAC, I had to hedge, and credit to Ryan Pearson for keeping Princeton so stinking good, but Morrison and Hall's turnarounds are too big of stories to ignore.
- Games of the year (not including conference championship games such as Sterling-Moline): Quincy over Rock Island/Sterling over Quincy, and Morrison over Hall - Quincy hosted two wild, wild games against solid teams, losing to Sterling in OT and coming all the way back against Rocky, while Morrison recovered a fumble to seal an overtime win over Hall featuring the two Cardiac Kid teams of the TRAC.
- Turning points: Riley Fuller and Orion's missed extra points - Orion lost to Newman in Week 3 by a 13-12 score. If they win that game, heaven knows what happens, and they missed two extra points to get the loss. In Week 4, Rock Island had come back from a 20-3 deficit to get within 3 points of Moline, and they had the momentum - then Fuller took the ball 64 yards on the first play to swing things back to Moline and put things to bed. Fuller is a contender for conference MVP.
