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What we learned in week twelve of high school football, some wild
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conclusions in round of sixteen. This article
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is being read by an automated voice brought to you by Everlet.
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Just 11 of the 64 games contested in the Round of 16
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were decided by eight points or less, but the ones that were
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largely proved to be absolutely doozies.
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Easily the strangest and most controversial contest happened in Antioch, where Sycamore
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ended up with a 32-28 victory in a 6A contest.
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Antioch very much appeared to have won the game in dramatic fashion
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on a Hail Mary pass attempt that was deflected by two Sycamore
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defenders, with the ball bouncing up in the air without hitting the
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ground as an Antioch receiver was able to snare the deflection and
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raced into the end zone with what appeared should have been a
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stunning game-ending touchdown.
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But an inadvertent whistle was blown at the point, that was mistakenly
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believed to have been the end of the play as such the
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touchdown wasn’t allowed to count.
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The resolution to the kerfuffle was Antioch was to be granted one
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untimed down from the 13-yard line where the initial play was have
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ruled to concluded, the Sequoits were unable to convert into a touchdown
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and Sycamore secured the victory.
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It’s the second consecutive year that there has been a largely disputed
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final few seconds of a game. In a playoff game Fairfield led
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Petersburg PORTA 8-6 in the waning seconds of their contest. Then a
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series of clock management and down-counting issues led to PORTA getting a
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fifth down which they used to kick a game-winning field goal in
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a 9-8 win.
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Any attempt to try to reverse this decision with an appeal will
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likely meet the same fate as last year’s conflict where IHSA Executive
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Director Craig Anderson acknowledged the error of the officials, the IHSA didn’t
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consider overturning the result citing strong by-laws that final on-field decisions cannot
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be altered after the fact.
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Those stronger by-laws were cemented after a 2016 contest in the Class
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8A semifinals between Fenwick and Plainfield North. Fenwick led Plainfield North 10-7
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with a few seconds remaining and the Plainfield North quarterback threw the
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ball away as time expired and an intentional grounding penalty was called.
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The officials mistakenly awarded Plainfield North an untimed down which they used
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to kick a field goal and force overtime where they later won
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in overtime 17-16.
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That result was questioned in the court system which ultimately upheld the
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Plainfield North victory.
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The Antioch/Sycamore game was far from the only wild game in this
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round:
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Normal Community and Kenwood had a crazy battle in Class 7A.
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Kenwood held a 36-35 lead with 5:06 left to play in the
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game before Normal Community broke off a 73-yard run to get the
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ball to the 1-yard line and scored one play later to take
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a 42-36 lead.
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Kenwood countered by draining almost all of the remaining clock and scoring
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with 12 seconds left to tie the game at 42. The Broncos
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don’t have a kicker and had to go for two and the
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potential win but didn’t convert and the game went into overtime.
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Kenwood got the ball first and scored a touchdown but once again
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failed to convert the 2-point conversion, which opened the door for Normal
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Community to score a touchdown of its own, then kicked an extra
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point to walk off with the quarterfinal berth.
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Kenwood’s loss officially eliminated all of the Chicago Public League’s entrants from
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the IHSA postseason. 39 CPL teams qualified for the playoffs.
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Peotone’s first-ever berth in the quarterfinal round did not come without some
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drama.
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With the Blue Devils holding a late 21-14 lead, a botched punt
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snap led to the punter recovering the ball and running out of
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the back of the end zone for an Eastland-Pearl City safety to
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cut its lead to 21-16.
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Just under 40 seconds remained for EPC to try to make something
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happen after the free kick, but four incomplete passes sent Peotone to
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the quarterfinals.
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One of the first games of the weekend was one of the
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most surprising results. Wheaton North, who had lost to Geneva 42-14 in
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Week 7, found a way to turn the tables and defeated Geneva
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36-35.
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Geneva took its first lead of the game with 1:23 to play,
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forcing Wheaton North to drive 80 yards in about 80 seconds to
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secure the victory. They only needed 73 as Wheaton North’s sophomore quarterback
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Grant Neibch found Johnny Clayton for a 17-yard touchdown with 7.8 seconds
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to play.
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Strength in numbers
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There’s still heavy representation from several conferences within the 64 teams remaining
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in the postseason.
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Of course, the largest stronghold is in the Chicago Catholic League where
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10 teams Mount Carmel, Brother Rice, Loyola, St. Ignatius, Nazareth, Notre Dame,
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Fenwick, Providence, St. Francis and IC Catholic are still alive in the
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chase for state titles including many prohibitive favorites in Class 8A, 7A,
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6A, 5A and 3A still lurk.
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Four teams from the CCL were ousted as well. St. Rita, St.
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Patrick, St. Laurence and Montini. Montini was the defending Class 4A State
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Champion and also won the 3A title in 2024 and reached the
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semifinal round in 2023. Along with Lena-Winslow, Montini is now one of
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two teams no longer capable of defending a state title from a
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year ago.
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Although no other conference has as much remaining representation amongst the remaining
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64 teams, there are three-team contingents from the Western Illinois Valley Calhoun,
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Brown County, Camp Point Central, Illinois Central Eight Coal City, Peotone, Wilmington
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and Interstate Eight Morris, Rochelle, Sycamore.