Libertyville High's defense is really good, so you have to be impressed with the fact that North Chicago High backup QB DeShawn Chambliss threw for more than 400 yards against the Cats last Friday night.
Chambliss has spent some of this season in street clothes on the Warhawk bench and the team's offense has struggled.
If the club's point production stays in the 30s, this team could finish with four straight wins and qualify for the Class 5A playoffs.
September 2008 Archives
Though still winless, we are NOT discouraged by the efforts being put forth by the varsity grid teams at Grayslake Central & Z-B. We liked a lot of what we saw from the Bees against Libby last time out & can actually see them winning a couple of games before everyone's attention in town turns to basketball.
As for the Rams, there really are two wins left on the sked, and we will pick them to win both those weeks. This week, however, is not one of them
Our picks to click this weekend, as always, are in order of how sure we are that a team will win.
Sadly, for our GC Rams, they play a very good Crystal Lake Central team, and The Crystal Ball is pretty sure how that one is going to turn out:
14) Vernon Hills over Lakes
13) Deerfield over Maine East
12) Glenbrook South over Waukegan
11) Huntley over Grayslake North
10) Grant over Round Lake
9) Lake Forest over Mundelein
8) Stevenson over Zion-Benton
7) Carmel over Marian Catholic
6) CL Central over Grayslake Central
5) Highland Park over Niles North
4) Antioch over Wauconda
3) Warren over Lake Zurich
2) Libertyiville over North Chicago
1) Luther South over LF Academy
If you love the Cubbies and want the rest of Lake County to know, here's your chance to do so.
Next Saturday, while the Cubs are closing in on winning Round 1 of the NL playoffs, our paper is going to be running two special pages in which we want the readers to relate their favorite Cub stories from this year or past years. We are looking for positive, fun stuff here. So please, don't tell reply that you were sitting in the seat behind Steve Bartman and were encouraging him to try and catch the foul ball lin 2003. And please don't replay that you were the fan who spilled Gatorade all over Leon Durham's glove in 1984, causing him to miss the grounder that cost us Game 5 of the NLCS against the Padres. We want the good news, because, after all, this year really is next year!
With one mighty stroke of genius, Waukegan High athletic director Dave Perkins has improve TWO basketball programs at Waukegan.
First, he moved varsity assistant boys basketball coach Windell Piercy to the position of varsity head coach of the Waukegan girls team, replacing Mr. Drake, who had to step down after being promoted to an assistant-principal position at the school.
Piercy is a solid choice to keep the Bullldogs' program on the upswing, a tract that started under Drake. And while some segments of the community might be pining for veteran Jim Askew to return to coach the girls team, the feeling here is that Windell knows his hoops and that the program will continue to improve.
That done, Perkins then nabbed Tim Bowen to fill Piercy's former seat on the Waukegan High hoops bench next to second-year varsity boys head coach Ron Ashlaw.
A brilliant move. Bowen is a hard-nosed, no-nonsense type of coach who brings to the table some of the things that were missing from Ashlaw's bag last winter. The gut feeling is that this will be a match made in heaven.
Or, to put it another way, look out Zion-Benton!
And then there were three.
Three unbeaten teams that is, as only Antioch, Vernon Hills and Grant are 3-0 heading into Week 4 of the prep football season.
According to the crystal ball, expect all three of them to be 4-0 at this time next week.
Here are the picks for this week's 14 area games, ranked in order from the most confident that the winner will, in fact, win, to the least confident.
14) Antioch over Mundelein
13) Wauconda over Round Lake
12) Grant over Lakes
11) Libertyville over ZIon-Benton
10) Woodstock over Grayslake North
9) Waukegan over Glenbrook North
8) Carmel over Benet Academy
7) Vernon Hills over North Chicago
6) Aurora Christian over Lake Forest Academy
5) Deerfield over Niles West\
4) Evanston over Highland Park
3) Grayslake Central over Dundee-Crown
2) Lake Forest over Warren
1) Lake Zurich over Stevenson
This week in area prep football, the North Suburban Conference begins league play, which means the action should heat up on the pitch.
Alas, when the heat gets turned up, the crystal ball invariably turns foggy.
That is a way of explaining, in advance, why some (or perhaps all) of this week's pigskin picks are wrong.
Here they are, ranked Nos. 14-1 in order of how much confidence iThe Locker Room has n the winning team, in fact, winning.
14) Waukegan over Maine East
13) Antioch over Round Lake
12) Cary-Grove over Grayslake Central
11) Dundee-Crown over Grayslake North
10) Chicago Christian over Lake Forest Academy
9) Warren over Mundelein
8 Glenbrook South over Highland Park
7) Vernon Hills over Zion-Benton
6) New Trier over Deerfield
5) Lakes over Wauconda
4) Carmel over Marist
3) Lake Zurich over Libertyville
2) Lake Forest over Stevenson
1) Grant over North Chicago
Since teams are in different classes, in The Locker Room, we're basing these rankings on which team is most likely to win the most games in the IHSA playoffs.
1) Vernon Hills (likely in Class 6A)
2) Carmel (likely in Class 7A)
3) Lake Forest (likely in Class 7A)
4) Lake Zurich (likely in Class 7A)
5) North Chicago (likely in Clasls 5A)
This does NOT mean, for example, that North CHicago could beat Waukegan. What it means is that if North Chicago and Waukegan both make the playoffs, North Chicago has a better chance of advancing farther in Class 5A than Waukegan, for example, does in Class 8A.
In The Locker Room, we thought this would be the Year of the Quarterback in area high school football, and as things are turning out, we are not disappointed.
Waukegan's QB has 6 TD passes in 2 games.
Lake Forest's QB throws on most every play and his team is unbeaten and averaging 35 ppg.
Warren's QB has held his own against a pair of powerhouse teams.
Deerfield's QB has passed and run effectively and has his team averaging 32 ppg.
One big surprise is that Highland Park, usually a pass-happy club, has gone to the ground game this year.
In The Locker Room, there is a difference of opinion. Some prefer the Woody Hayes-like 3-yards-and-a-cloud-of-dust running game & others like the spread-option with four wide.
In The Locker Room, the only thing moving faster than a person being chased by a towel-snapper is the bandwagon.
And so, as we head into Week 2 of the prep football season, the trick is not to hop on bandwagon' that may tip over this week, and not to hop off shaky ones that will find an extra gear and right themselves this Frdiay night.
As a result, we are again listing the 16 games involving area football teams on Friday and Saturday ranking them from 18-1 based on how sure we are that the team picked to win will, in fact, win.
No. 18) Vernon HIlls over South Elgin
17) Crystal Lake Central over Lakes
16) Glenbrook South over Stevenson
15) Waukegan over Mundelein
14) Highland Park over Minooka (providing the Giants can find Minooka)
13) Grant over Grayslake Central
12) Antioch over Grayslake North
11) Carmel over Libertyville
10) Maine South over Warren
9) Wheaton North over Lake Zurich
8) Zion-Benton over Niles West
7) Lake Forest over Deerfield
6) Wauconda over Chicago Orr
5) Maine West over Round Lake
4) North Chicago over Chicago Simeon
3) Vernon Hills over South Elgin
2) North Shore Country Day over Lake Forest Academy
1) Lakes over Crystal Lake Central
