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
Recently in prep football Category
In The Locker Room, we're tryin' to figure out who's gonna be 1-0 after Week 1 of the prep football season ... and, conversely, who's gonna be 0-1.
Alas, the all-knowing, all-seeing crystal ball got completely fogged up from all the panting that went on when Aramis Ramirez hit that grand slam home run to beat the Fillies on Thursday night.
As a result, with the crystal ball rendered useless, the following picks to click just might be likewise ... useless.
But in any case, here goes. If we were playing the confidence game, the picks would line up like this:
18) Deerfield over Zion-Benton
17) Waukegan over Romeoville
16) Antioch over Grayslake Central
15) Lake Forest over Palatine
14) Vernon HIlls over Niles West
13) Barrington over Libertyville
12) York over Highland Park
11) Marian Central over North Chicago
10) Buffalo Grove over Mundelein
9) Palatine Fremd over Lake Zurich
8) Westosha Central (Wis.) over Round Lake
7) Johnsburg over Grant
6) Huntley over Wauconda
5) Lakes over Grayslake North
4) Loyola over Stevenson
3) New Trier over Warren
2) Joliet Catholic over Carmel
1) Wayland Baptist over Lake Forest Academy
In the prep football preview magazine that is coming out on Thursday, Round Lake High's new football coach suggests that his team is at a competitive disadvantage because school started in Round Lake before football practice did, meaning no two-a-days, no bonding days of hanging together, and less football classroom work.
In contrast, Lake Forest High will have played TWO football games this season before any of its players ever step into a classroom.
That has to be an advantage for Lake Forest's grid program ... being able to concentrate on football for more than five weeks (practices plus games) before ever attending a class.
That is something the IHSA is going to have to look at in the future.
Prep football practice for all teams starts on Aug. 13. Not one day earlier.
Some schools, like Lake Forest High, don't even start school until after Labor Day. That means the football team can have double-session practices for three weeks before having to go to the one-a-day after school practice.
In contrast, Mundelein, Grayslake North & Grayslake Central will all be in school on Aug. 13, meaning there will be no double-sessions on any weekdays for these teams.
Do the match, between Aug. 13 and opening night (Aug. 29), not counting Sundays, Lake Forest can practice 28 times (14 days x 2 sessions daily). Mundelein, Grayslake North and Grayslake Central can only go twice on Saturdays for a total of 16 practices before opening day.
Twelve less.
Wow.
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.
