I would have to agree. All we can do at this point is speak of possibilities. We can’t come out with anything for sure. I know what I think is possible, but that don’t mean I think it’s a sure thing. As we have all seen, things happen in the Playoffs that nobody expected. For instance look at Joliet Catholic last year barely crawling into the playoffs, and then destroying every team they played in the Playoffs. Also look at Loyola in the 8A last year. By the way their season looked, I wasn’t expecting what they did. Look at 7a last year. I was not expecting Mt. Carmel to lose to St. Charles North. I thought it was gonna be Mt. Carmel against Nazareth. The point is, the Playoffs are never a for sure thing. We can take are picks at the game time. That’s always fun.
What did we learn week 6!?!?
- Thread starter LakeCtyNewt
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That is true and something to live by. It’s always the big talkers that never. have anything to back that talk up. So they just talk a big game.
I was driving up to UW Platteville over the weekend to visit my son and passed through Warren, IL. It’s a town of 1,400 people in the northwest corner of the state and home of Warren High School, enrollment 111. Want to talk about being overlooked? Who knew there was another Warren High School. Warren Township High School should enjoy being in the conversation.
Not entirely true. Brad Schumacher swam and played water polo in the 1988 & 1992 Olympics. The young man who won long course Junior Nationals this past summer out at Stanford played football until his JR year of high school (parents didn’t want him to risk injury this season with his scholarship offers). Ryan Murphy, holds the World Record for 100 & 200 backstroke and played baseball until his freshman year of high school. I am coaching 2 girls right now who have multiple SR Sectional (very high level competition, just below JR Nationals) cuts and they both do cross country in addition to swimming. One is 14 the other is 12...it takes a special athlete to get to the highest levels at any sport as well as taking dedicated parents to get them to all their events. I know specialization is preached in the sport very early on, but the amount of burnout in swimming is much higher than a lot of sports, maybe this is the reason.
I despise Michigan but man do I love watching both of those kids play football. Harbaugh had a good win this week, I’m hopefully they finish this year off strong and beat OSU. I don’t want things to fall apart and have those guys go elsewhere. They’ll be fun to watch and it’ll be cool to cheer them on together.
Isn't there something of a self-fulfilling prophecy to this as well?
A coach insists an athlete focus solely on his sport and then in return chooses to focus only on those who commit (spend time and funds in their directed or associated camps). Once selections come: voila - guess who's chosen?
Hows things in PVille? Great town a lot of good people up there make sure to get some pizza at Steve's...also the Pioneers are off to a 4-0 start I see and have Whitewater this week...
We went to Steve’s for lunch. Really enjoyed the pizza. Missed the game as it rained all day. It’s my kid’s first year and I’m digging the school.
I think you missed one throw Neuqua at 8 and drop Batavia. If common games matter Batavia got whipped and Neuqua could have one at the end.
Add in that Batavia beat GBN, in Batavia, 24-21 and Neuqua beat them, in Carol Stream, 27-10.
I realize that comparisons like this tend to be silly but when you look at teams that don’t play it’s the only way to somewhat gauge them comparably.
Thanks Bones
That’s why I said if I had to pick now. It’s a crap shoot. One think I do know is a few of the teams mentioned will be a very tough out regardless of being undefeated.
I would say neither.
I’m not arguing one way or the other. I noted that comparisons are silly. But there are biases in the rankings that, regardless of what we think, are irrelevant.
Play it on the field. And that’s what we will do.
My post actually supports NV and is what I've been trying to say since forever. Teams come out of week 9 highly ranked and face other highly ranked teams meaning one has to lose meanwhile in another class a team coasts to a semi birth and gets put over a team who all the data points say is better.
I get you. I guess trying to argue either side at this point is a fools errand.
Very late to this thread... but my response regarding JCA and Loyola: Joliet Catholic played against teams they should play during the regular season and went 5-4, then dropped THREE LEVELS DOWN against Timmyville - Pinecone Co-op, Johnson City, and Shoehorn Grove in the 5a playoffs. Not a shock at all that they went on a run. They only had to beat ONE really good team to win the title. Beating a very good Niles Notre Dame to make the playoffs during week nine was the surprise. That may have been their most impressive win. If JCA makes the playoffs with a 5-4 record they immediately become a favorite because 49 out of the top 50 teams in the state are in class 6a - 8a. As for Loyola... they were not the same team early in the year without their starting QB (few are). Once healthy, they were the tough-as-nails Loyola we were expecting. The best coached teams continue to tinker until all the pieces are in place. Loyola will always be there at the end... no surprise.
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You can't compere ESL vs Batavia and ESL vs NV. The biggest difference is having a summer to prepare for Batavia versus a week (short week at that) for NV. If the games were reversed, I think the production outcome would be reversed as well.
Joliet Catholic did not drop THREE LEVELS DOWN from the regular season to the post season last year. You obviously do not realize they played ONE 8A team in the regular season. Here were their regular season opponents and the class they played in in the playoffs. If they did not make the playoffs the number represents where a school with their enrollment would have played last year:
St. Rita 7A
IC 4A
St. Viator 6A
Carmel 7A
Marist 8A
Benet 7A
Marian Cath. 5A
Naz 7A
Notre Dame 6A
Those numbers average 6.3333. The average enrollment using the numbers on the ihsa website of their opponents was 1607. 1607 was a 6A enrollment last year. You can argue the validity of using that as a fair barometer, but it sure as hell is not close to being an 8A schedule. So again, there was no THREE LEVELS DOWN difference. Also, you claim they only played one really good team to win the title. They also beat Hillcrest in the semi-finals last year. That was a Hillcrest team that was undefeated and predicted by none other than Steve Soucie to defeat Joliet Catholic in that game.
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We won't JCA play in 8A? I mean Phillips is a public school with 500 students playing in 7A. Just Saying
My daughter was a high level gymnast for 5 years and it's hell on them (and the pocket book). 5 days a week/4 hours a day/52 weeks a year. She eventually had enough (even though successful) and now is happy being a competitive cheerleader and trying some other sport. My son was always a 3 sport athlete (football/basketball/baseball), but at the higher levels you either weed yourself out or the sport does. He stopped playing hoops freshman year, HS baseball is out, but he will likely remain playing travel and football is the priority now. Possibly throw the discuss this year. All coaches say they love 3 sport athletes until they actually do it.
Yep, gymnastics is a killer. My daughter was Level 8 club gymnast going into her freshman year but decided to switch to HS gymnastics, where she made it to State all 4 years. As you know, kids who do gymnastics go through a ton of pain and injury. Glad your daughter escaped all that, especially since she was a high level kid. My son played baseball and a little soccer but also was swimming during those seasons, finally decided to dedicate his time to swimming. He still swims after college to stay in shape. I think he has 2% body fat at age 26 so maybe he made the right choice. And I threw the disc when I was in HS but that was several hundred years ago. Hope he enjoys that...its fun.
HS gymnastics is a real hodgepodge. You have kids that were club and have some skills that they developed when they were small, and others that have no experience and trying it for the first time after they have grown up a bit. That makes it very difficult for them to develop even basic skills, and they spend 4 years in JV1 or JV2. Any HS team would love to have your daughter given her background. I miss baseball, too.
Well they’re 3-3 and with CLC, CLS and Hampshire left it’s hard to tell. They’ve been pretty erratic but I say they finish 5-4.
Okay, if it makes you feel better... they competed THREE LEVELS DOWN during the playoffs. That means there were 96 teams competing at a higher level. And seven (7) of the nine teams they faced during the regular season (all Catholic schools) had to compete in a higher class to win a title. JCA doesn't belong in 5a. Hillcrest??
I’ve never really understood this argument. JCA’s enrollment puts them in 5A. All of 5A knows JCA will be there. Would you rather they play all 5A teams and win 7-9 games every regular season and then play in the playoff? They are a better team and so they challenge themselves during the regular season by playing against bigger teams and seemingly better competition. This appears to serve JCA as a playoff preparation (assuming they get to 5 wins). Isn’t the point of the regular season to improve and get ready for the playoffs? I’m not trying to be sarcastic, I’m genuinely wondering why this is an issue for some people.
Well said. And here's the thing: if this was such an advantage for JCA, why did it take them so long to win another title since their last one? Their last title before last year was 2007. It took them 11 years to parlay this alleged advantage into another title?
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I think I learned... if Yorkville keeps winning, , there's got to be a guy on here thumping his chest and saying,. "Yorkville Foxes, home of Raging Waves."
Your right about Loyola, as they are always a tough team. Back when I was in high school about a hundred years ago, I was in the Catholic league with Simeon Rice so I am Aware of Loyola, and JCA. As far as what you were saying about JCA I partially agree with you. Them playing Montini in the finals was to me the best I seen JCA play all year. They beat a tough team like Montini 35-27. What they did to a tough team like Hill Crest in the Semis was pretty impressive as well. Joliet Catholic has been a 5a team for years, so I grew accustomed to that. Your right 6-8 are where the best teams are. When I said pound for pound 4a is the toughest. Mind you I said pound for pound. If a descent 7 or 8A team played any of those teams in 4a it would be a massacre!!! Lol
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