Nuggets from Matt Troha, an IHSA assistant executive director:

--Riverside-Brookfield wide receiver Mark McDonagh caught an IHSA single-game record
20 passes in a 65-26 win over Robeson in Week 3, two weeks after tying the
previous record with 19 against Metamora. McDonagh could make a run at the
IHSA's single-season record of 130 catches by Eric Schuler of Lexington in 2006.

--Now in his 16th year, Lake Park head coach Andy Livingston earned his 100th career victory with a 42-7 win over Streamwood last week.

Naperville Central will announce the site of the Week 1 opener at a later date; here's what the Warriors will have to face next season:

2009 WAUBONSIE VALLEY SCHEDULE
Aug. 28 at Naperville Central
Sept. 4 vs. Oswego
Sept. 11 at Bartlett
Sept. 18 at St. Charles North
Sept. 25 vs. Neuqua Valley at North Central College
Oct. 2 vs. St. Charles East
Oct. 9 vs. Elgin
Oct. 16 at Lake Park
Oct. 23 vs. East Aurora

All games are scheduled for Fridays at 7:30 p.m.

Paul Johnson has a nice feature up on Ted Monken, Metea Valley's new coach. In five seasons at St. Charles East, Monken has gone 36-17 (.679) with four consecutive playoff appearances. Coaching runs in the Monken family, as Johnson explains:

His father, Bob, is a member of the Illinois High School Coaches Hall of Fame, thanks in large part to his legendary coaching run at Lake Park. He has also been on Ted Monken's staff at St. Charles East all five years.

If that's not enough, Ted's brother, Todd, is the wide receivers coach for the Jacksonville Jaguars. And his brother, Tony, also has experience starting a program from scratch. He guided Vernon Hills' ascent to varsity football in 1999 and has coached that program ever since.

This nugget is also found near the end of the piece and at the center of what should become a good rivalry:

Monken arrives at Metea familiar with the Upstate Eight Conference, and quite familiar with Neuqua Valley and Waubonsie Valley, the pool from which Metea's talent will be drawn.

Monken went only 1-4 against Neuqua in his five years, two of those losses giving Neuqua an outright conference title and rendering St. Charles East to second place. He did go 3-0 against Waubonsie, however, including wins the past two seasons.

This morning Paul LaTour analyzes the Upstate Eight Conference and how it has historically struggled in the postseason. R.J. Gerber of The Courier News agrees, saying that undefeated Bartlett has something to prove in Class 8A.

The Naperville North program has already earned that respect, but if it is to repeat, then it may at some point have to lean more on its passing game. Its road back to Champaign could go through 9-0 Bolingbrook, which, as Bill Scheibe of The Herald News explains, has a strong secondary.

And finally Stephen Spiewak of MaxPreps shares his three games in 24 hours odyssey, which began at Harshbarger-Welzel Field last Friday.

Junior Nick Linne managed the game very well in his first four varsity starts at quarterback, throwing only two interceptions in his first 94 attempts. Naperville Central went 4-0 during that opening stretch, positioning itself for a likely playoff berth.

The Redhawks (4-2) still need that fifth win, but at least they have emerged from the other side of what has to be the two most brutal weeks in Illinois prep football. Against Wheaton Warrenville South and Naperville North, Central was outscored 80-28 and in those DuPage Valley Conference losses Linne threw seven interceptions.

But those numbers needs some context. There were several drops across the past two weeks, and one deflection led to an interception last week. In the WW South game, one interception came on a fourth-and-long situation - it basically functioned as a punt - and another was right near the end of the first half. And of course Central was forced to throw once it fell behind 21-0 against WW South and trailed North by two touchdowns in the fourth quarter.

The point is that Linne has played better than the statistics suggest. Even accounting for the last two weeks, the junior is completing nearly 59 percent of his passes and still has thrown for 1,004 yards and eight touchdowns. The Redhawks like his makeup.

"He has that great quarterback demeanor. He never gets too high, doesn't get too low," Central coach Mike Stine said of Linne after a Week 2 victory over Lake Park. "He's cool, calm and collected, doesn't get rattled."

As the season's progressed, Antwon Harris has emerged as a go-to receiver with 20 receptions for 292 yards, though the 5-foot-9-inch senior hasn't yet caught a touchdown pass. Riley O'Toole was supposed to be the big-play receiver, but defenses have really started to key in on the 6-foot-4-inch senior.

O'Toole's numbers are still good - 16 catches for 286 yards and four touchdowns - and no one does more for Central than the wide receiver/safety/punter/return man. But WW South and North limited to O'Toole to three catches for 34 yards.

How Linne and O'Toole reconnect will be one way to track the rest of Central's season. But don't expect Linne to fade away. His teammates respect how he's already earned varsity letters in basketball and baseball.

"Being the athlete that (Linne) is, and going through all that adversity, all the sports that he's played, he's great at bouncing back," defensive lineman Mike Kraft said during Central's 4-0 start. "Even though he's a junior, he has more experience in varsity games than most of us."

By wv2010, Waubonsie Valley High School student

In two short weeks, Waubonsie Valley has moved from the back half of the UEC standings to 3rd at 2-1 in conference play. That status will be seriously contested tonight, as a talented Lake Park team comes into Death Valley with both pride and playoff aspirations at stake. Lake Park posts an overall record of 1-4, but the Warriors must ignore this seemingly dismal mark. The Lancers beat Neuqua Valley 20-6, played Naperville Central to within eight points, and just last week took conference leading St. Charles East into double overtime, eventually losing a thriller 42-41. Simply put, Lake Park has been a squad that plays tough throughout, but fades out just before they can pull out a victory.

The Upstate Eight Conference will expand and realign into two six-team divisions beginning in the fall of 2010.

The conference announced the anticipated move on Thursday and it took into account several geographic considerations. Metea Valley, which in scheduled to open in the fall of 2009, will become the conference's new 12th member and join District 204 rivals Neuqua Valley and Waubonsie Valley in the UEC South. The division will also include East Aurora, St. Charles East and St. Charles North.

The UEC North will be made up of Bartlett, Elgin, Lake Park, Larkin, South Elgin and Streamwood.

What's your early take? How will this impact these UEC programs?