1) According to someone who's opinion can be respected, Nick Goshe is doing an outstanding job as he looks to change the losing culture that has overwhelmed the football program at Grayslake Central High. The Rams (1-17 under Goshe) may be outmanned, but the coach, according to the reliable source, is never outworked and outhustled. It should pay dividents down the road.
2) Of the 10 area prep football teams that have playoff games this weekend, only four are going to win.
You can pretty much figure out which four by youself. Only thing you really need to remember is that in The Locker Room, we drink a lot of Blue/Gold kool-aid.
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.
In The Locker Room, we've been studying the map of what the Fox Valley Conference Fox Division will look like next year with the league expands to 13 teams and realigns.
There will be 7 teams in the division: 2 in Woodstock, 1 in Johnsburg, 2 in Crystal Lake and 2 in Grayslake.
Question: What do the two Grayslake schools have in common with those five other schools?
Answer: It's a major, major hassle trying to get to any/all of them from beautiful downtown Grayslake on a weekday late afternoon, and it's a hassle for any of the five other teams to get to beautiful downtown Grayslake on a weekday late afternoon.
It's time, people, to push to somehow get into the North Suburban Conference, expanding that league from 14 to 16 teams. All you guys need is to find two other teams willing to join with you. Then, you have 18 teams -- 3 six-team divisions based on enrollment.
It CAN be done. And with the impossible scheduling problems created by a 13-team league, it should be done sooner rather than later.
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"
In this corner of the state, all roads to success in the IHSA Class 8A playoffs lead through unbeaten powerhouse Maine South.
As a result, the key to success is to keep from having to play Maine South in the playoffs for as long as possible.
Warren can do just that with two more wins and an 8-1 final record.
Maine South is for sure going to finish 9-0 and will be the No. 1 seed in the eight-team playoff grouping in our corner of the state. With Maine South the No. 1, we want Warren to be the No. 2 or No. 3. That would give Warren two games before it would have to face Maine South -- the team that beat Warren this season already. That gives two other teams a chance to pull off the upset of the year and KO the Hawks while Warren is playing teams that aren't as good as Maine South.
An 8-1 final record will do that for Warren ... get the Devils a No. 2 or 3 seed. A 7-2 record is a recipe for being the main course on Maine South's menu.
Rarely has there been a prep football season like this, in which the playoff qualifiers are so clearly separated from the non-qualifiers.
With two weeks still to go, the number of meaningful games is down to a trickle.
Deerfield is 4-3 but has a sure win Week 9 against Maine West to get to 5 wins.
Stevenson is 4-3 but has 1-7 Mundelein to play in Week 9
Wauconda is 3-4 and would have to upset 7-1 Vernon Hills this week to stay alive.
Lake Forest is 4-3 but plays 0-8 Zion-Benton this week.
Lake Zurich is 4-3 but has 0-8 Zion-Benton to play in Week 9
Only Libertyville, currently 3-4, is in an intriguing spot. The Cats play 1-7 Mundelein this week, then must beat Lake Forest to advance at 5-4. This was the same spot Libertyville was in last year, and the Cats came up small against LF.
The guess here is that history will not repeat itself.
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.
Yeah, someone in The Locker Room was thinkin' a 7-2 season for Waukegan's Bulldogs this fall.
And the two losses that were penciled in were to Glenbrook South & Maine South.
Otherwise, our guys were going to run the table.
Not.
Frustrating thing is that the one-point loss to Romeoville & the two-point loss to Glenbrook North both could have been wins.
If that was the case, the upset pick of Waukegan beating mighty New Trier this Saturday wouldn't have looked like such a reach.
Now, Waukegan is 2-4 and MUST beat New Trier to become eligible for postseason play.
Unfortunately, and here's the bad-luck part of this, Saturday's game is also a must-win for New Trier.
The Trevians are 4-2, but have non-winnable games vs. Glenbrook South and Maine South remaining. A loss on Saturday, and NT will finish 4-5 and be on the sidelines when the playoffs begin on Halloween.
So, in effect, Saturday's Homecoming tilt at Waukegan already is a playoff game ... win and stay alive ... lose and start thinking about basketball.
We, in the Locker Room think it's still too early to start thinking about basketball:
Waukegan 27, New Trier 26.
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
