Bolingbrook student Nick Ficarrotta is a self-confessed high school football junkie, who in addition to attending every Bolingbrook Raiders football game has taken the time to check out some of the other powers in Class 8A. This post is his breakdown of the playoff pairings announced on Saturday.
It's the beginning of a whole new season for high school football fans. With the brackets being announced Saturday, Bolingbrook has clinched the number one seed in the lower bracket and is to face Chicago Curie in the first round at home.
However it wasn't just the Bolingbrook side of the bracket that caught my eye.
Last week, after Bolingbrook won at Sandburg to clinch the Southwest Suburban Blue title, I decided to take a road trip the next day to see two other undefeated teams face off in what was to be a very interesting day.
First was the New Trier at Maine South Game. The most impressive thing about this game is how Maine South blew the game wide open in the second half. The first half was a different story seeing as how New Trier was leading by a point at the half and scored the first touchdown.
However Maine South and its heroic quarterback Charlie Goro (who was 26-for-39 completions with 378 yards passing, had 5 passing TDs, and a 1-yard rushing TD) proved how much of a powerhouse it can be and South's defense did not allow a second half score from New Trier, ending the game with a 55-24 rout in favor of Maine South.
The second game was Thornton at Bartlett. This game was just how it was predicted, low and clean. Thornton obviously had the faster team with its receivers and running backs literally out running the secondary. But it was Bartlett's defensive line that kept the game in check and kept Thornton Quarterback Darren Jones throwing for only 139 yards on 16 of 29 attempts. The only thing exciting from Thornton had to be a late fourth quarter, 74-yard punt return for a touchdown from Dante Tolbert.
With that said, let's get into how the pairings shaped up last night. With Bartlett and Maine South having the number 1 and 2 seeds in the upper bracket, some might ask why isn't Maine South the top seed?
It's simple, the IHSA playoff point formula. What most people do not know is that Bolingbrook was ranked Number 1 by IHSA since its routing of Lincoln-Way Central in week 6 and has been in first ever since with 38 playoff points going into week 9.
Next came Bartlett which finished its undefeated season with 37 playoff points in a win over Aurora East on Saturday. In the number 3 spot is the defending state champions, Naperville North, which shaved a victory over class 7A powerhouse Wheaton Warrenville South with a 7-6 victory. They had 36 points going into week 9 as well. Finally, Maine South, who had 34 playoff points going into their matchup with Niles West.
With this in mind, and now knowing that all of these teams are the only undefeated teams in class 8A, the brackets are then determined by location. Bartlett and Maine South get the upper bracket due to their school locations being up north. Bolingbrook and Naperville North have the same thing going for them only in the lower bracket. Then based on the playoff points, the team with more points gets top seed. Therefore Bolingbrook and Bartlett are number 1s and Maine South and Naperville North are number 2s.
For Bolingbrook, the run starts here for the state championship. Drawing Chicago Curie in the first round will be a good warm up for the winner of the Hinsdale Central vs. Downers Gove South game. The best thing in this scenario is to have DGS win its game against Central.
Crazy right? Actually no. It's actually the best thing that can happen for Bolingbrook in the second round. DGS is the home team in its game verses Central, therefore if DGS wins, Bolingbrook will end up being the home team according to IHSA the second round is based on what school has played the least amount of home games and who has the better record head to head in the regular season.
The advantage here is to Bolingbrook with two straight home games pending on the outcome of DGS and HC, the road to state is looking like the yellow brick road, nice and shiny.
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