This is not anybody's fault, mind you.
Based on travel/traffic alone, it makes no sense for Antioch, Carmel and Grant to be playing football games on Friday night when Saturday is just as available.
But in The Locker Room, we love Friday night football. Saturday is for the college game in the same way as Sunday is for the NFL.
That said, the fear in The Locker Room is that it's going to a looooooooong Saturday for prep grid fans. Here's how it looks in the shower:
n Glenbard South 21, Antioch 20. Hope we're wrong, but this GS team is pretty good.
n Lemont 20, Grant 14. Same ol' same ol.' Lemont routed Lake Forest in playoffs a couple of weeks ago, and it seems to me that Grant, while 10 points better than Lake Forest, isn't 25 better.
n Geneva 28, Carmel 27. Too close to call, but that shaky 10-7 win over Woodstock last week set off an alarm. A win by the Corsairs would shut that alarm off.
In any case, as always, we are rooting for the home teams. If Grand and Anticoh both win, they will play each other next week, the game will be at Grant.
If Carmel wins, it will play either Cary-Grove or Crystal Lake South ... most likely Cary-Grove.
Heading into Round 2 of the IHSA football playoffs, there is ONE North Suburban Conference Lake Divison team left, and FOUR (Joliet Catholic, Carmel, Nazareth Academy & Marist) from the East Suburban Catholic Conference.
So, which league is tougher??????
That said, in the Locker Room, we like both our ESCC team (Carmel) and our NSC Lake team (Warren) to win again.
n Carmel 56, Woodstock 7 in the slop.
n Huntley 14, Grant 10 in the slop.
n Warren 35, Schaumburg 18 in the cold
n Antioch 42, Highland Park 28 in the cold
That would be 3 area teams in the quarterfinal round ... pretty darn impressive.
For the record, after having gone 12-1 (Mundelein over Z-B ... who saw that coming) and 13-0 in picking prep football winners the last two weeks, it feels like the right time to take a week off.
Besides, that way, nobody in The Locker Room has to admit he thinks Evanston is going to beat Waukegan on Saturday.
Nore, will anybody in The Locker Room have to comment on the North Chicago/Wauconda game which looks like a 2-6 team playing a 35 team on paper, but there could be way more to it than that.
In any case, the prep football pairings will be announced on Saturday. There's a cable TV show from 8-10 p.m. that will show who plays who, but since the IHSA always does the classes in order from 1A to 8A, you don't need to watch until about 8:45.
Then, stop by The Locker Room, where, beginning at 7:30 p.m. Saturday, we will be chatting live about our playoff teams and who they might play in Rounds 2, 3 and 4 of the playoffs.
Not exactly a lot of drama in these Week 8 prep football matchups.
The winner of Grayslake Central/Grayslake North will get bragging rights, but when you only win one game all year, there isn't a lot to brag about.
In any case, here are the picks to click ... as always, in the order of how sure we are confident in the result:
13) Lake Forest over Zion-Benton. Two pass-happy teams ... this game should be over around midnight
12) Antioch over North Chicago. Sequoits have unbeaten season in their sights
11) Libertyville over Mundelein. Cats need to win out or miss playoffs for second year in row
10) Lake Zurich over Grant. In every matchup of good teams, we pick the NSC Lake over the NSC Prairie every time.
9) Highland Park over Maine West.
8) Vernon Hills over Wauconda.
7) Grayslake Central over Grayslake North. Both these currently winless teams will win next year for sure because Woodstock North joins the league and will have no seniro class.
6) Glenbrook North over Deerfield. Spartans need the game for playoff push.
5) Carmel over St. Patrick.
4) Wheaton Academy over LF Academy
3) Antioch over North Chicago. Expect Antioch players to spend a lot of time in the checkerboard end zones at NC High.
2) Warren over Stevenson.
1) Niles West over Waukegan. .
Last week: 12-1, with Mujndelein's miraculous 22-point fourth quarter to stun Z-B the "1"
Before you take these prep football picks to the bank, remember that the guy in The Locker Room picking this week's winners is the same guy who called the 2000 election for President Gore, the 2008 Democratic primary for Hillary Clinton, and the 2008 election for President Palin and her running mate.
Here are this week's prep grid picks, in order of how certain we, in The Locker Room, are that the winner will, in fact, do just that: WIN.
13) ZIon-Benton over Mundelein ... Z-B Nation gets to celebrate for 1st and only time this year.
12) Carmel over St. Joseph
11) Prairie Ridge over winless Grayslake North
10) Stevenson over Lakes ... Unbelievably, Pats need game to make playoffs
9) New Trier over Waukegan ... ending the Dogs' playoff hopes. Very sad.
8) LF Academy over winless Luther North
7) Warren over Libertyville ... this is where it starts to get real tough.
6) Johnsburg over Grayslake Central ... Rams' moment to shine still a week away
5) North Chicago over Round Lake ... 1 win between these two teams.
4) Lake Zurich over Lake Forest ... a guess. LF's great controlled passing game vs. a tremendous defense. Fact is, LZ needs the game to make playoffs.
3) Highland Park over Deerfield
2) Grant over Wauconda. Grant coach Kurt Rous never gets outcoached and his players play awesome defense so don't know how Wauconda is going to score.
1) Antioch over Vernon Hills. Even with game at VH, this feels like a two-touchdown spread.Perhaps there's been too much Red/Gray Kool-aid being chugged down in The Locker Room, but we think not.
In The Locker Room, we can't remember the last year when there was such a disparity between the haves and have nots in area high-school football.
Last week, there were NINE games decided by MORE than25 points.
Sadly, this looks to be more of the same.
Here are this week's 14 area fb games, listed in order of how sure we in The Locker Room are of the result:
14) Lake Zurich over Mundelein
13) Huntley over Grayslake Central
12) Vernon Hills over Round Lake
11) Maine South over Waukegan
10) Warren over Zion-Benton
9) Lake Forest over Wauconda
8) Walther Lutheran over Lake Forest Academy
7) Carmel over Notre Dame
6) Stevenson over Libertyville
5) Johnsburg over Grayslake North
4) Antioch over Grant
3) Highland Park over Glenbrook North
2) Deerfeild over Niles North
1) North Chicago over Lakes
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
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
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
