Fuld transskription af Inside the Huddle: What did we learn in Round 1 of the IHSA football playoffs?

like, wow, 88-84, 73 00:04:21.319 --> 00:04:26.180 that's insane. It was 60-59 at halftime, and that's what 74 00:04:26.220 --> 00:04:30.620 made everybody go, what in the world is happening here? Now, 75 00:04:31.459 --> 00:04:36.649 I watched some of this. Goods offense is fun. That's 76 00:04:36.750 --> 00:04:39.649 not easy to stop. It's like a double wing, but 77 00:04:39.689 --> 00:04:43.149 it's even tighter than the Wilmington and the Cary Groves 78 00:04:43.290 --> 00:04:45.889 and the Geneseos that I got to see this weekend. 79 00:04:46.329 --> 00:04:52.019 So they ran for 676 yards. A total of 1,400 80 00:04:52.019 --> 00:04:55.279 yards and change combined. All of these, by the way, 81 00:04:55.300 --> 00:04:58.319 are state records. You just assume that they are. But 82 00:04:58.379 --> 00:05:03.220 it's nuts to see the contrast in styles. And essentially 83 00:05:03.259 --> 00:05:05.860 the one touchdown that put it away if I recall, 84 00:05:06.199 --> 00:05:09.500 was like an 88-yard touchdown pass if I went back 85 00:05:09.560 --> 00:05:12.160 and looked at it. Now, I was in the same 86 00:05:12.199 --> 00:05:14.779 mode of, they're going to run out of light. I 87 00:05:14.819 --> 00:05:17.050 don't know what they're going to do. And you and 88 00:05:17.079 --> 00:05:20.029 I have the same buddies downstate that were like, hold on, 89 00:05:20.069 --> 00:05:22.990 we've been working on this since halftime. We already know 90 00:05:23.029 --> 00:05:25.529 this is not going to make it. They shortened halftime 91 00:05:25.569 --> 00:05:29.649 to six minutes. That wasn't enough. And so after the 92 00:05:29.709 --> 00:05:33.089 clean touchdown where it makes it 88-84, you see this 93 00:05:33.230 --> 00:05:36.610 long pause on the field. And the officials are talking. 94 00:05:36.769 --> 00:05:38.589 And if you see the two coaches and you're like, 95 00:05:39.569 --> 00:05:41.750 oh no, they're going to stop this thing. They have 96 00:05:41.790 --> 00:05:45.129 no choice. And I thought they had enough light left 97 00:05:45.189 --> 00:05:48.110 to finish it, but they didn't feel that way. So 98 00:05:48.569 --> 00:05:50.639 you get on the bus, you go over to Englewood, 99 00:05:50.660 --> 00:05:53.120 you finish up there. If you're a Quincy fan, you 100 00:05:53.139 --> 00:05:56.399 got the tour of Chicago. If you're a Quincy parent 101 00:05:56.439 --> 00:05:59.639 that went, that's something else. And I was so impressed 102 00:05:59.680 --> 00:06:04.449 with how everyone understood how this could actually get done. 103 00:06:05.470 --> 00:06:08.629 And I think it was handled about as well as 104 00:06:08.670 --> 00:06:10.970 it possibly could have been. Wouldn't you say? 105 00:06:10.990 --> 00:06:13.310 I mean, the one thing that kind of stood out 106 00:06:13.329 --> 00:06:14.649 to me, I was reading one of the accounts, I 107 00:06:14.689 --> 00:06:18.600 believe it was from Matt Shuckman's article, about how I 108 00:06:18.639 --> 00:06:21.240 believe it was one of the officials had said on 109 00:06:21.259 --> 00:06:24.420 a conversion play that they couldn't see the ball. And 110 00:06:24.459 --> 00:06:27.480 that was what inspired them to call it when they 111 00:06:27.540 --> 00:06:30.480 called it. And I started thinking about that after the fact. 112 00:06:30.500 --> 00:06:33.019 It was absolutely the right call. Because even if you 113 00:06:33.040 --> 00:06:36.220 doubted that for one second, that could have decided the 114 00:06:36.279 --> 00:06:37.160 outcome of the game. 115 00:06:37.560 --> 00:06:39.019 Well, that was the time to do it. 116 00:06:39.100 --> 00:06:43.519 They would have continued to play. One team could have said, hey, 117 00:06:43.819 --> 00:06:46.180 I couldn't defend that because I couldn't see it. Or 118 00:06:46.319 --> 00:06:50.110 somebody dropped the ball because they couldn't see something coming in. 119 00:06:50.610 --> 00:06:53.470 So obviously it was the right decision to make based 120 00:06:53.629 --> 00:06:57.790 on that alone. For me, it became a fascinating situation 121 00:06:57.810 --> 00:06:59.670 where I was trying to read the map in my 122 00:06:59.730 --> 00:07:02.949 mind going, well, I know where good is. What's the 123 00:07:03.009 --> 00:07:07.540 closest possible available field? And then the really bizarre inkling 124 00:07:07.620 --> 00:07:10.639 on it is they moved to Englewood's field. And if 125 00:07:10.680 --> 00:07:14.120 you know anything about Chicago Public League football, you would 126 00:07:14.180 --> 00:07:17.379 know Englewood didn't even have a team this year. So 127 00:07:17.399 --> 00:07:19.259 it was like that would not have been even an 128 00:07:19.459 --> 00:07:22.040 option that I would have been thinking about. Like, do 129 00:07:22.060 --> 00:07:25.319 they have lights? Are the lights even working? Because they 130 00:07:25.370 --> 00:07:28.149 haven't used the field all year long. It got its 131 00:07:28.250 --> 00:07:30.790 first usage in that game. Yeah. 132 00:07:31.389 --> 00:07:34.959 And, you know, they could have gone, look, St. Rita's 133 00:07:35.000 --> 00:07:38.120 right there. You could have gone there. I mean, but 134 00:07:38.439 --> 00:07:41.449 the reason you go to Englewood is because it's, it's CPS, 135 00:07:41.490 --> 00:07:45.649 but it's also STEM academies that the administrations are, they 136 00:07:45.689 --> 00:07:48.889 work in tandem together. So clearly there was, they had 137 00:07:48.949 --> 00:07:51.110 that ready to go. So I thought that was, that 138 00:07:51.129 --> 00:07:54.319 was wonderful. Everyone probably, I, of all the people, when 139 00:07:54.339 --> 00:07:56.459 I was at Naperville North, all people were asking me, 140 00:07:56.819 --> 00:07:59.019 why did they play that in three o'clock in the afternoon? 141 00:07:59.220 --> 00:08:01.800 There's two great reasons for this. Okay. It makes a 142 00:08:01.839 --> 00:08:04.639 lot of

sense. You're not doing this on Halloween when 143 00:08:04.660 --> 00:08:08.290 they have a five hour drive. So you're trying to 144 00:08:08.370 --> 00:08:11.439 avoid that. And then the kids miss Halloween. So let's 145 00:08:11.490 --> 00:08:14.610 do it on Friday. Well, the problem with Friday is school. 146 00:08:14.810 --> 00:08:18.509 Quincy did not have school Friday. Okay, well, we can 147 00:08:18.589 --> 00:08:21.050 do this at three o'clock if you're ready to go. 148 00:08:21.589 --> 00:08:25.069 All right. So that's why I thought everything came together 149 00:08:25.149 --> 00:08:28.509 about as cool as possible. I just wish they were 150 00:08:28.550 --> 00:08:31.600 able to finish it at one place because I think 151 00:08:31.629 --> 00:08:33.740 we might have gotten some more scoring. How long was 152 00:08:33.759 --> 00:08:35.720 the delay? An hour for them to get everything sorted 153 00:08:35.799 --> 00:08:36.720 out and off they go? 154 00:08:36.759 --> 00:08:39.559 Someone said it was like 45 minutes, but I was 155 00:08:39.600 --> 00:08:42.500 listening to an interview that Quincy coach was doing after 156 00:08:42.539 --> 00:08:44.179 the fact. He's like, it felt like a lot more 157 00:08:44.220 --> 00:08:47.070 than 45 minutes to me. Maybe I was wrong about that, 158 00:08:47.110 --> 00:08:50.090 but someone was basically saying from when we stopped until 159 00:08:50.129 --> 00:08:52.149 we got up and got everybody warmed up, the next 160 00:08:52.210 --> 00:08:56.230 snap was either somewhere around 47 minutes of a gap, 161 00:08:56.370 --> 00:08:59.389 which I actually think was pretty remarkable given the circumstances. 162 00:08:59.970 --> 00:09:01.970 One more logistic question. Maybe you have the answer to, 163 00:09:01.990 --> 00:09:04.350 because I asked the folks downstate as it was happening. 164 00:09:04.490 --> 00:09:07.960 And I was asking, how did the good, kids get 165 00:09:08.120 --> 00:09:11.840 over to Englewood because Quincy had the buses, but I 166 00:09:11.879 --> 00:09:14.139 don't know if there are buses there at good STEM 167 00:09:14.179 --> 00:09:16.519 Academy to get you over there. And the answer was 168 00:09:16.940 --> 00:09:21.000 maybe they rode with them. I don't know. Maybe they did. 169 00:09:21.620 --> 00:09:23.740 I didn't know. I actually didn't think about that. I 170 00:09:23.759 --> 00:09:26.580 don't know what the answer to that was in fairness, 171 00:09:26.740 --> 00:09:29.720 just from listening. Cause that's what I was doing. Listening 172 00:09:29.779 --> 00:09:32.879 to the audio broadcast. Maybe it was a fan caravan 173 00:09:32.919 --> 00:09:34.860 type of thing because actually a good, had a pretty 174 00:09:34.879 --> 00:09:37.759 good following there that day. They were loud and they 175 00:09:37.799 --> 00:09:40.679 were active. So maybe it was just a couple of years. 176 00:09:41.240 --> 00:09:42.820 Put two of them, put two of them in a car, 177 00:09:42.879 --> 00:09:44.100 put two of them in a car and we'll get 178 00:09:44.120 --> 00:09:46.279 them there. I mean, that's that might have been what happened. 179 00:09:47.360 --> 00:09:50.059 That's amazing. I mean, the whole aspect of it is 180 00:09:50.159 --> 00:09:53.129 memorable in itself. And man, we were this close to 181 00:09:53.169 --> 00:09:55.490 getting 100. I wanted to see what it looked like, 182 00:09:55.889 --> 00:09:58.169 but we did not. We had other football. So we 183 00:09:58.210 --> 00:09:59.970 do want to talk about some of the other football games. 184 00:10:00.379 --> 00:10:02.659 I got a good one Friday night, Seuss. I got 185 00:10:02.679 --> 00:10:05.500 to go see Fremd and Naperville North, and Naperville North 186 00:10:05.519 --> 00:10:10.330 getting their first playoff win since 2010. We saw 10 187 00:10:10.330 --> 00:10:13.549 lead changes in this game. This went back and forth 188 00:10:13.809 --> 00:10:17.860 all night, and It was impressive. And Naperville North's quarterback, 189 00:10:17.889 --> 00:10:21.039 Dante Colasante, who took a nasty hit against East St. 190 00:10:21.059 --> 00:10:21.320 Louis. 191 00:10:21.379 --> 00:10:23.879 He was back. He was fine. He was rolling along 192 00:10:24.360 --> 00:10:27.960 and it came down to a defensive stop as they 193 00:10:28.000 --> 00:10:30.990 had a safety break on a play. Will Clark kept 194 00:10:31.000 --> 00:10:33.210 the play alive and friend was not able to convert, 195 00:10:33.250 --> 00:10:35.490 but you know, this was the one game where you're 196 00:10:35.509 --> 00:10:38.789 like in a more conventional thing. That's what playoff football 197 00:10:38.830 --> 00:10:41.269 is all about. And Naperville North's got a little vibe 198 00:10:41.289 --> 00:10:42.610 going with that program right now. 199 00:10:43.340 --> 00:10:45.570 Yeah, it sure seems like it. And that's, That's a 200 00:10:45.570 --> 00:10:47.830 good thing. I mean, it's a good thing to see 201 00:10:47.850 --> 00:10:51.360 those programs that, you know, consistently have been in the 202 00:10:51.480 --> 00:10:53.740 mix in years past that maybe faded a little bit, 203 00:10:54.120 --> 00:10:56.639 kind of bounce back and, you know, speak to the 204 00:10:56.679 --> 00:11:00.120 prestige of that program. Because it is one that has 205 00:11:00.159 --> 00:11:02.379 a lot of history in it. And when it had 206 00:11:02.500 --> 00:11:05.519 slipped off a little bit, that was pretty discouraging. 207 00:11:06.929 --> 00:11:10.250 Yeah, I mean, really for both Napervilles, they both had 208 00:11:10.289 --> 00:11:12.600 been that level. And so we almost got to see 209 00:11:12.659 --> 00:11:15.919 a Naperville-North Naperville-Central battle, but Oswego took care of that. 210 00:11:16.440 --> 00:11:19.679 Lou Sponsel did say, had they scored, they would have 211 00:11:19.700 --> 00:11:22.500 gone for two, which, you know, there would have been 212 00:11:22.539 --> 00:11:25.190 no overtime there.

38-31 the final. Here's where I want 213 00:11:25.210 --> 00:11:28.090 to bring this up in terms of the format of 214 00:11:28.110 --> 00:11:30.269 the playoffs. And I don't want to beat this to 215 00:11:30.309 --> 00:11:32.129 death too much. We have the last couple of weeks, 216 00:11:32.169 --> 00:11:34.779 to be fair. But Jake Collins comes back. He had 217 00:11:34.799 --> 00:11:36.940 a collarbone issue that kept him out for a couple 218 00:11:36.960 --> 00:11:40.639 of weeks. He comes back for 134 yards on two touchdowns. 219 00:11:41.159 --> 00:11:44.440 The extra week he credits for being the difference for 220 00:11:44.480 --> 00:11:47.039 him to get healthy and to get back on the field. 221 00:11:47.559 --> 00:11:51.220 I wonder how many injuries we really saw where that 222 00:11:51.340 --> 00:11:54.639 extra week really made a difference to get them fully 223 00:11:54.710 --> 00:11:56.789 healthy and fully ready to go. I don't know if 224 00:11:56.830 --> 00:11:59.350 we'll know the scope of it until we get maybe 225 00:11:59.389 --> 00:12:01.429 to the end of the year. And we start hearing 226 00:12:01.509 --> 00:12:04.490 anecdotally about this guy and that guy. But I don't 227 00:12:04.509 --> 00:12:06.730 know if you've heard anything to that regards. But I 228 00:12:06.789 --> 00:12:09.049 certainly– that caught my attention when I first saw that. 229 00:12:09.970 --> 00:12:12.470 It was kind of a mixed bag in reactions of 230 00:12:12.529 --> 00:12:15.919 talking to people about how they felt about the bye. 231 00:12:15.940 --> 00:12:19.200 And I think that was directly correlated to how they played. 232 00:12:19.840 --> 00:12:23.200 Teams that played well coming off of that bye were like, yeah, 233 00:12:23.220 --> 00:12:25.179 it was great. Gave us a chance to rest up 234 00:12:25.200 --> 00:12:28.019 a little bit, get a little bit healthier. Teams that didn't, 235 00:12:28.600 --> 00:12:30.840 you'd hear a little bit of– we were a little 236 00:12:30.860 --> 00:12:33.600 bit of out of sync. It took us longer to get, 237 00:12:34.059 --> 00:12:36.379 to get where we felt like we needed to be. 238 00:12:37.200 --> 00:12:39.870 And some of those teams were winners. Some of them weren't. 239 00:12:40.389 --> 00:12:42.110 And it was like, I mean, there weren't a lot 240 00:12:42.149 --> 00:12:45.169 of them that lost off the buy, but there were 241 00:12:45.190 --> 00:12:47.870 a few. And it seemed like some of those, some 242 00:12:47.909 --> 00:12:49.950 of those teams were out there were going the other 243 00:12:49.990 --> 00:12:52.029 way with it. We're like, you know, we were on 244 00:12:52.049 --> 00:12:54.100 a roll before this thing happened and it would have 245 00:12:54.120 --> 00:12:56.299 been nice to be able to continue that momentum. So, 246 00:12:56.899 --> 00:12:58.360 I think it was a little bit from column A 247 00:12:58.379 --> 00:13:00.350 and a little bit from column B, to be totally honest. 248 00:13:00.850 --> 00:13:03.049 And we had some other exciting finishes. Dixon with a 249 00:13:03.129 --> 00:13:06.769 walk-off touchdown at Evergreen Park. And how about Riverdale going down? 250 00:13:06.789 --> 00:13:08.610 A bit of a surprise. 251 00:13:08.629 --> 00:13:08.679 11-8. 252 00:13:09.190 --> 00:13:13.299 It's the opposite end of 88-84, if I may say 253 00:13:13.340 --> 00:13:13.919 so myself. 254 00:13:15.059 --> 00:13:17.460 Yeah, there were a grand total of two games that 255 00:13:17.500 --> 00:13:20.590 were decided by teams with winning that had less than 256 00:13:20.590 --> 00:13:23.139 20 points. And the entire And in the entire slate 257 00:13:23.159 --> 00:13:26.379 of 128 games, only two winners finished with less than 258 00:13:26.379 --> 00:13:29.860 20 points. Them and Aurora Central Catholic, who won their 259 00:13:29.899 --> 00:13:34.700 game 6-0. So those were the only two low-scoring battles 260 00:13:34.779 --> 00:13:36.330 that we had in the state of Illinois this week. 261 00:13:36.830 --> 00:13:39.509 We're going to dive into the competitiveness when we come back. 262 00:13:39.769 --> 00:13:42.830 And we'll talk about the numbers, the specific numbers, the 263 00:13:43.190 --> 00:13:45.370 margin of victory. I know folks want to hear about 264 00:13:45.409 --> 00:13:48.419 that a little bit. And the 2-7 team. That just 265 00:13:48.480 --> 00:13:51.870 keeps on trucking. And the media darling, that is the 266 00:13:51.950 --> 00:13:54.429 Shelbyville Rams. We'll talk about it when we come back. 267 00:13:54.470 --> 00:13:56.870 This is Inside the Huddle. Thanks for joining us live 268 00:13:56.929 --> 00:13:59.690 on YouTube. 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00:16:46.159 --> 00:16:46.600 7,000. 318 00:16:46.600 --> 00:16:49.899 That is an incredibly high number. So I'm just like, 319 00:16:50.480 --> 00:16:52.580 it just feels like I don't know what it is. 320 00:16:52.759 --> 00:16:56.169 Maybe it's systematic. Maybe it's just the way Football is 321 00:16:56.230 --> 00:16:57.620 going at the high school level. 322 00:16:57.740 --> 00:16:58.340 I think so. 323 00:16:58.539 --> 00:17:03.519 Man, defense is really struggling to put almost any of 324 00:17:03.559 --> 00:17:04.420 these teams in check. 325 00:17:04.839 --> 00:17:06.960 Seuss, it's not like you and I both know that, well, 326 00:17:07.000 --> 00:17:08.960 they went back to do a bunch of tackling drills 327 00:17:09.019 --> 00:17:12.000 in their bi-week. No, they didn't. They rested up, they 328 00:17:12.019 --> 00:17:14.619 watched film, they did their routes on air, and they 329 00:17:14.640 --> 00:17:16.960 got out of there. That's probably what a lot of 330 00:17:17.009 --> 00:17:19.529 practices did. Now, I know there are drills. Of course 331 00:17:19.569 --> 00:17:22.130 there are. But the overall sentiment is what I'm trying 332 00:17:22.150 --> 00:17:26.089 to tell you. Tackling practice does not have the same 333 00:17:26.309 --> 00:17:29.730 cachet it once did because of safety for players. You 334 00:17:29.769 --> 00:17:33.230 and I both know that. Once the safety conversation really 335 00:17:33.289 --> 00:17:36.250 took hold about, well, we got to be careful with everybody, 336 00:17:36.930 --> 00:17:39.730 what ends up happening is the fundamentals of tackling disappear. 337 00:17:40.170 --> 00:17:42.779 And what happens when that happens? it means a lot 338 00:17:42.799 --> 00:17:44.519 of teams score a lot of points. And so you 339 00:17:44.539 --> 00:17:48.160 get an 80 burger aside from the 88 to 84 340 00:17:48.160 --> 00:17:50.549 game that we talked about. I didn't watch much of this. 341 00:17:50.609 --> 00:17:53.349 I heard about it, but SJ opening up 80 on 342 00:17:53.430 --> 00:17:55.650 all tough. It sounds like they just kept scoring and 343 00:17:55.690 --> 00:17:56.670 all tough had no answer. 344 00:17:57.309 --> 00:18:01.470 They had over a thousand total yards at halftime. So, 345 00:18:01.789 --> 00:18:04.109 and then I realized, and they were running clock the 346 00:18:04.150 --> 00:18:07.670 entire second half. St. Joe Ogden broke loose with one 347 00:18:07.690 --> 00:18:10.480 of the reserves later in the game. And actually took 348 00:18:10.519 --> 00:18:13.599 a knee on a two-point conversion so it didn't appear 349 00:18:13.920 --> 00:18:17.299 that they were trying to run up the score or anything. 350 00:18:17.599 --> 00:18:20.769 It was just a JV kid broke loose. 351 00:18:20.960 --> 00:18:22.369 Kudos to them. 352 00:18:22.769 --> 00:18:25.750 And he couldn't stop himself. So he went in the 353 00:18:25.809 --> 00:18:28.589 end zone, scored, and St. Joachim took a knee. I 354 00:18:28.630 -->

00:18:32.789 can't recall ever hearing that happen before. That's how that 355 00:18:32.809 --> 00:18:33.789 game had gotten out of control. 356 00:18:34.200 --> 00:18:37.180 I'm always impressed when a kid slides after an interception 357 00:18:37.240 --> 00:18:40.359 or slides down, you know, getting that clinching first down, 358 00:18:40.400 --> 00:18:42.109 they can get in the end zone and they slide 359 00:18:42.140 --> 00:18:45.089 at the four. I'm always impressed to see that. But, 360 00:18:45.170 --> 00:18:49.450 you know, the competitiveness is a concern. It is every year, 361 00:18:49.529 --> 00:18:52.430 but I don't think, I think this, here's my point. 362 00:18:52.849 --> 00:18:56.859 The opening round does not solve this. Okay. Let me 363 00:18:56.900 --> 00:19:00.299 repeat myself. The opening round, giving more teams a chance 364 00:19:00.339 --> 00:19:03.230 to play playoff games does not solve this. How many 365 00:19:03.269 --> 00:19:05.410 people were at your games? Because I didn't have full 366 00:19:05.470 --> 00:19:08.180 sellouts anywhere I went. Neighborville North, they brought a lot 367 00:19:08.200 --> 00:19:11.700 of people. Fremd, they filled 30% of the road bleachers. 368 00:19:12.079 --> 00:19:14.359 Geneseo at a two-hour drive, they brought a lot of 369 00:19:14.400 --> 00:19:17.880 people because Geneseo brings a lot of people. That's who 370 00:19:17.900 --> 00:19:20.579 they are. But Montini doesn't have a lot of seats, 371 00:19:20.960 --> 00:19:23.579 but the buzz in the building was, eh. for two 372 00:19:23.619 --> 00:19:27.619 of the most decorated teams in Illinois history, it was 373 00:19:27.680 --> 00:19:31.380 kind of a feeling. Meantime, I had Geneva Carmel as 374 00:19:31.420 --> 00:19:34.059 my Halloween nightcap. And when you put it at 630 375 00:19:34.059 --> 00:19:36.160 on Halloween, let me tell you what that atmosphere is like. 376 00:19:36.740 --> 00:19:39.609 I shared a picture with my own kiddo who is 377 00:19:39.660 --> 00:19:42.609 a middle school student. And I shared a picture of 378 00:19:42.630 --> 00:19:49.700 the middle school section. Seuss, empty. Nobody there. Like it's 379 00:19:49.779 --> 00:19:53.819 usually chaos and running around and four teachers going, why 380 00:19:53.839 --> 00:19:56.220 did I take this assignment? Get me out of here. 381 00:19:56.599 --> 00:20:00.299 Nobody's there. Where were they? Because it was Halloween. They're 382 00:20:00.339 --> 00:20:03.680 not going to this. And the reply was, oh, well, 383 00:20:03.700 --> 00:20:07.059 I'm glad I didn't go. that's, you know, that's the culture. 384 00:20:07.119 --> 00:20:08.920 That's okay. That's normal. But when you put it at 385 00:20:08.960 --> 00:20:10.990 six 30 on a Halloween night, that's what you're going 386 00:20:11.009 --> 00:20:14.750 to get. So, you know, the atmosphere, you know, overall, 387 00:20:15.069 --> 00:20:17.549 I would say was typical what you get for first 388 00:20:17.589 -->

00:20:20.490 round games, which was simply a repeat of what we 389 00:20:20.549 --> 00:20:23.079 saw for the opening round. And that's frustrating. Let me 390 00:20:23.119 --> 00:20:25.099 move on here because I teased it. We had some 391 00:20:25.140 --> 00:20:27.440 losing record teams move on here. Let's hear it for 392 00:20:27.460 --> 00:20:30.700 the Shelbyville Rams. They're now what? Four and seven. 393 00:20:31.359 --> 00:20:31.599 Yes. 394 00:20:32.240 --> 00:20:34.240 And who do they have this weekend? Do they get Flora? 395 00:20:35.019 --> 00:20:38.200 Flora is correct. The thing that, the thing that occurred 396 00:20:38.220 --> 00:20:40.640 to me about Shelbyville today that I, I guess I 397 00:20:40.680 --> 00:20:43.440 hadn't realized I knew, but hadn't realized until I looked 398 00:20:43.500 --> 00:20:48.420 at it today until they won in week nine against Eureka, 399 00:20:49.069 --> 00:20:50.809 they had not won a football game on the field. 400 00:20:50.829 --> 00:20:56.690 No other win was a forfeit against Clinton. So they 401 00:20:56.829 --> 00:21:00.930 actually went into that week nine game for their playoff lives, 402 00:21:01.450 --> 00:21:05.200 not having actually won a game on the field. And 403 00:21:05.319 --> 00:21:10.609 now they have rolled through two teams that were pretty 404 00:21:10.670 --> 00:21:13.930 decent in the grand scheme of things. Like, I mean, 405 00:21:14.390 --> 00:21:18.630 six-win White County team in the first round. That wasn't bad. 406 00:21:19.150 --> 00:21:22.490 They win that game. So I'm sitting here trying to 407 00:21:22.539 --> 00:21:26.759 figure out what happened. I'd like an explanation. Because all 408 00:21:26.779 --> 00:21:28.339 of a sudden they went from not being able to 409 00:21:28.380 --> 00:21:32.859 beat anybody to– throwing up 50, you know, almost 50 410 00:21:32.859 --> 00:21:35.759 a game against pretty good teams. So they are a 411 00:21:35.799 --> 00:21:39.180 fascinating story. But once again, I'll kind of go back 412 00:21:39.220 --> 00:21:45.589 to it again. Is it worth, is this story worth 413 00:21:45.680 --> 00:21:47.009 blowing up the whole thing? 414 00:21:47.069 --> 00:21:47.289 Right. 415 00:21:47.769 --> 00:21:50.609 Like that's, I mean, that's kind of where I'm at 416 00:21:50.670 --> 00:21:53.849 right now is that like, I'm like, maybe that's okay 417 00:21:53.910 --> 00:21:56.849 if that's what you think. But for me, this whole 418 00:21:56.910 --> 00:21:59.579 discussion right now is, is really opening up to me 419 00:21:59.619 --> 00:22:02.269 is if we're going to do this again in the future, 420 00:22:02.789 --> 00:22:06.410 I beg of you, can we please look at seeding? 421 00:22:07.009 --> 00:22:11.609 Like we have a serious, serious conversation about seeding. Like 422 00:22:11.849 --> 00:22:14.170 if you're going to put 384 teams in this field, 423 00:22:14.930 --> 00:22:16.289 please can we seed it better? 424 00:22:16.309 --> 00:22:19.529 We've got to figure out how. And the reason for 425 00:22:19.569 --> 00:22:22.130 it is because the teams that advance, aside from Shelbyville, 426 00:22:22.190 --> 00:22:23.309 and I want to get back to them for a 427 00:22:23.329 --> 00:22:26.710 second because I have a thought on this. Pontiac, terrible bracket. 428 00:22:27.069 --> 00:22:28.869 Aurora Central Catholic, awful bracket. 429 00:22:29.230 --> 00:22:29.430 St. 430 00:22:29.450 --> 00:22:32.569 Lawrence, not a great bracket. Clembard North is better than 431 00:22:32.589 --> 00:22:32.930 you think. 432 00:22:33.529 --> 00:22:33.690 Yes. 433 00:22:33.750 --> 00:22:36.059 But not a great bracket. And that's the thing. And 434 00:22:36.099 --> 00:22:38.559 then you look at EPC. I'm not sure that was 435 00:22:38.599 --> 00:22:40.900 a great one seed that they faced in Riverdale. I 436 00:22:40.920 --> 00:22:46.099 don't know. And then St. Francis, good team. Caneland, that's 437 00:22:46.140 --> 00:22:49.539 a tough win. And they blew them away. But LaSalle-Peru, 438 00:22:49.799 --> 00:22:53.380 terrible bracket. They know it. And then Nazareth and Simeon. 439 00:22:53.660 --> 00:22:56.089 I mean, Nazareth, we knew they would have a tough 440 00:22:56.130 --> 00:23:00.470 challenge with Dunlop. Simeon, decent challenge with an Oak Lawn 441 00:23:00.509 --> 00:23:03.029 team that earned its way to the spot they were 442 00:23:03.069 --> 00:23:06.950 because of the wins they got. But these aren't overwhelming stories. 443 00:23:07.150 --> 00:23:09.349 I don't know if any, none of these teams come 444 00:23:09.390 --> 00:23:11.759 out to me as state title contenders. But let me 445 00:23:11.799 --> 00:23:14.000 go back to Shelbyville because this week they're at home. 446 00:23:14.890 --> 00:23:18.819 And they're four and seven. If that building doesn't show up, 447 00:23:19.920 --> 00:23:23.779 if that town doesn't show up for an atmosphere like 448 00:23:23.980 --> 00:23:27.500 it should be for a Cinderella run, then what are 449 00:23:27.519 --> 00:23:31.029 we doing? So I'm challenging the folks at Shelbyville to 450 00:23:31.130 --> 00:23:34.059 get to the game. Prove to me. That it's an 451 00:23:34.259 --> 00:23:37.380 atmosphere worth blowing up the whole system so that a 452 00:23:37.400 --> 00:23:41.420 4-7 team can get a second round home game. That's 453 00:23:41.480 --> 00:23:43.579 all I want to see. You show that to me. 454 00:23:43.980 --> 00:23:46.569 You show out. You show me that it's worth it. 455 00:23:46.660 --> 00:23:49.819 Then maybe I say, okay, I'll change my mind or 456 00:23:49.859 --> 00:23:52.819 I'll think about it. But until then, if it's a 457 00:23:52.900 --> 00:23:56.880 half full building or if it's honestly three quarters full building, 458 00:23:57.660 --> 00:24:00.859 I'm not interested. I'm just not. Let's get down to 459 00:24:00.880 --> 00:24:03.579 the end of this here, because as we go next weekend, 460 00:24:03.880 --> 00:24:07.279 where are

you going to be going Friday and Saturday night? 461 00:24:08.380 --> 00:24:12.539 Friday, I have not decided yet. I'm considering Downers Grove 462 00:24:12.579 --> 00:24:15.980 North and St. Rita. That would be one. The Friday 463 00:24:16.180 --> 00:24:19.940 game slate, although there are some Friday games, a lot 464 00:24:19.980 --> 00:24:21.859 of them don't really jump off the page at me. 465 00:24:23.099 --> 00:24:24.259 So on Saturday. 466 00:24:24.279 --> 00:24:25.000 I'm with you on it. 467 00:24:25.640 --> 00:24:28.880 Saturday, I know for a fact that I'm going to 468 00:24:28.920 --> 00:24:32.160 do two. I'm going to try to squeeze in a 469 00:24:32.259 --> 00:24:35.319 half in the middle of those two. I'm going to 470 00:24:35.380 --> 00:24:38.759 start at noon with Lincoln Way East and Hinsdale Central. 471 00:24:39.240 --> 00:24:42.880 That's primarily because I want to see if I can 472 00:24:42.960 --> 00:24:48.599 squeeze in at least a half of Montini and Morris. 473 00:24:49.400 --> 00:24:50.119 That'll be fun. 474 00:24:50.589 --> 00:24:52.690 That's what I'm going to try to do. And then 475 00:24:53.750 --> 00:24:58.410 I'm going to bounce up to Bolingbroke for Bolingbroke and Lyons. 476 00:24:59.210 --> 00:25:00.490 for the last game of the night. 477 00:25:01.089 --> 00:25:04.529 Watching Izzy Abrams made me think that Morris is going 478 00:25:04.549 --> 00:25:08.549 to be a, a tough, let's just say, I'm not 479 00:25:08.609 --> 00:25:12.099 sure Montini can handle Morris. Let's put it that way. That's, 480 00:25:12.220 --> 00:25:15.900 that's what I read into it. I, I just, I'm 481 00:25:15.960 --> 00:25:18.039 not convinced Montini's that great. 482 00:25:18.720 --> 00:25:18.880 Yeah. 483 00:25:18.900 --> 00:25:19.960 They're good. Very good. 484 00:25:19.980 --> 00:25:22.259 I'm going to be interested to see what happens here. 485 00:25:22.299 --> 00:25:23.759 That's more so than anything else. 486 00:25:23.920 --> 00:25:24.099 Yeah. 487 00:25:24.559 --> 00:25:27.869 I think Morris's numbers are very impressive. 488 00:25:27.880 --> 00:25:27.960 Yeah. 489 00:25:28.819 --> 00:25:31.829 I just don't know how good some of the teams 490 00:25:31.869 --> 00:25:35.230 that they've played this year really are in the grand 491 00:25:35.250 --> 00:25:37.730 scheme of things. So Montini's got a little bit of 492 00:25:37.769 --> 00:25:43.059 an edge in preparation from their schedule. But Morris, I think, 493 00:25:43.200 --> 00:25:45.200 has a little bit more firepower, frankly. 494 00:25:45.220 --> 00:25:45.779 Yeah. 495 00:25:46.410 --> 00:25:48.869 Yes, I would agree with that. I am not going 496 00:25:48.890 --> 00:25:50.769 to be at any games this weekend because I'll be 497 00:25:50.809 --> 00:25:55.049 in Rockford for soccer as I do every single year. 498 00:25:55.089 --> 00:25:57.009 But I'm looking ahead and I just want to bring 499 00:25:57.029 --> 00:26:00.349 this thought because Geneva is playing in a short week. 500 00:26:00.890 --> 00:26:03.650 They're playing Friday after playing on Saturday. You never see that. 501 00:26:03.809 --> 00:26:06.450 Once you get on Saturday, you don't get off it. 502 00:26:06.529 --> 00:26:09.549 So I'm shocked by this. So I'm challenging the folks 503 00:26:09.609 --> 00:26:13.259 at Wheaton South because they're playing Friday and they can 504 00:26:13.299 --> 00:26:16.599 stay on Friday. So please stay on Friday because I'd 505 00:26:16.630 --> 00:26:20.420 like to see a Friday night game in the quarterfinals 506 00:26:20.619 --> 00:26:23.980 on November 13th. Because otherwise I have NIU football the 507 00:26:24.019 --> 00:26:27.650 following weekend. That's not going to be as atmospheric. But 508 00:26:27.710 --> 00:26:31.029 let's just see if we can get a Friday. More 509 00:26:31.150 --> 00:26:35.420 Friday games, please. Stay on Friday if you can. So 510 00:26:35.589 --> 00:26:38.509 that's my plea for everybody. I've made several pleas in this, 511 00:26:38.930 --> 00:26:41.269 in this post, in this podcast today, we're going to 512 00:26:41.309 --> 00:26:44.279 end it there. Seuss, we got the second round coming 513 00:26:44.420 --> 00:26:47.380 up and hopefully we'll have some more competitive games. And 514 00:26:47.799 --> 00:26:49.910 if not, that means we're going to have a dynamite 515 00:26:49.950 --> 00:26:52.490 quarterfinal round. So hopefully we'll see that. We'll see you 516 00:26:52.549 --> 00:26:53.309 next week, Seuss. 517 00:26:54.410 --> 00:26:55.490 All right. All right. 518 00:26:55.539 --> 00:26:56.759 He's Steve Seuss. I'm Matt Rolo.