Recently in prep football Category

While the firing of Grayslake Central High basketball coach Tim Bowen was front/center all weekend, the fact of the matter is, North Chicago High's high-quality football program is now without a head coach as well.

Mike Grenda officially quit as coach last Thursday to take a job in the same school district as elementary-school principal.

Besides now being the most-tattooed school principal in the state, Grenda has left a h-u-g-e hole in the Hawks' football program. It's way too late to find a coach from outside the system, so they'll have to promote from within.

That thought has some of us in the Locker Room a bit nervous.

Should be a lot of good ones around this fall.
Waukegan has Mar'Quezie Edmonds
Warren has Zach Shaw
Stevenson has the lefty returning
Zion-Benton has a junior back who saw saw times last year
Lake Forest has the Rees kid who was part-time QB as a sophomore and finished season
Deerfield has a kid back with experience

Interesting to watch should be the kid at Zion-Benton High. After back-to-back 1-8 seasonss, word in The Locker Room is that Z-B will be able to move the ball through the air effectively.
We shall see.

Saw Warren High's sophomores KO Lake Zurich on the road last fall. Couple that with fact that many of the Blue Devils' varsity players are returning and you have to think that the mighty Blue will be in the mix for the NSC Lake title this fall.

LZ definitely will come back to the pack, although the kids who were part of last year's club understand the work ethic and intensity it takes to win. Intensity & effort will take you far on the gridiron.

Seems like Lake Forest had an underclassmen at QB early in the season last fall who was throwing the ball all over the field while playing in a roation with a senior. Then, as the season began to crumble a bit, the underclassman seemed to lose a bit of his playing time.

Last year, Grant High's Bulldogs went 9-0 during the regular season and Wauconda's Bulldogs made the playoffs for the first time in a long, long time.

This year, it's Waukegan's Bulldogs' turn.

The word in The Locker Room is that the team's offensive line is huge and the team will be able to pass the ball all over the field.

The three areas of concern are: 1) running back; 2) linebacking; 3) kicking.
To fix No. 3, Waukegan's coach should be working with the school's soccer coach NOW to find someone who can kick field goals and kick off into the end zone.

As for finding quality linebackers, that's why Waukegan will probably play a lot of 28-27 games this fall.. We our side having the 28, of course.\

,

Expectations in The Locker Room are for 8-3 this year -- that's 7-2 regular season, plus a first-ever playoff win.
We really need to get ball rolling on raising money to bring in portable lights so we can play that first-round playoff game at home on a Friday night. Entire city would be there.Friday of Round 1 of playoffs is Halloween. That would be a-w-e-s-o-m-e.

Anyway, Waukegan has TWO NCAA Division I-calibre receivers: No. 83 is Denzell Ray, who started last year. No. 80 is Mar'Quon Edmonds, brother of the QB. Both catch E-V-E-R-Y-T-H-I-N-G. Both are B-I-G and basically not coverable.

In The Locker Room, we are thinking "aerial circus" as the FUN returns to Weiss Field.
Now, if we can get those portable lights ordered ...

In The Locker Room, we are snappin' wet towels at each other in glee.

After how many years, somone else has finally hopped on the Waukegan High bandwagon!!

The Bulldogs are going to be very good this year, dip a tad next year, then go on a two-year role that will leave Maine South drooling with envy.

With Bob Stone now at the wheel at Mundelein High for the departed Dave Whitson, and John Coursey now in charge at Round Lake High for the departed Doug Moss, every area prep football team currently has a head coach.
But for how long.
In The Locker Room, whispers suggest one more coaching shoe may be about to drop ... and this one will have nothing to do with the team having a mediocre won-loss record.
Stay tuned.

A star running back for an area high-school team is rumored to be relocating this summer and will apparently attend another area high school that always seems to be good in football.

And, no, we're not talking about Carmel High because any student-athlete who transfers to Carmel would have to sit out a year. And any star running back who currently attends Carmel would be foolish to transfer somewhere else because he would already be in the best possible situation.

Keep your ears and eyes open during 7-on-7 passing camps this summer to see who's playing with who.

tell other people how to spend their money.
Today, the people being told how to spend are the men and women in charge of financing at Waukegan High.
The thinking is that big bucks are needed to bring the Weiss Field athletic complex up to the standards of places like Carmel and Libertyville. One great addition would be installing artificial turf on the football field. Another would be installing lights. Another would be the construction of new locker rooms, new washrooms and a new concession stand. As for who's going to pay for all this, the response is that you ask too many questions.

Having seen the excitement generated by Zion-Benton High's wonderful boys basketball team, wouldn't it be great it the kids in the school and the community could get just as excited about the school's FOOTBALl team..

Success on the gridiron starts NOW ... not on Aug. 8 when equipment is issued for the first practice.

The Swarm deserves better than another 1-8 FB season and the entire Z-B Nation deserves better than another 1-8. We've had two of them in a row now.

Next fall, we want those fan buses headed to the University of Illinois for the Class 8A state FOOTBALL championships. Heck, I'll even drive one of the buses!!!!

Deal?