September is automatic reflection: Football is here on all levels, especially college and high school. The Chicago Bears will begin for real Sunday, Sept. 10 against rival Green Bay Packers in a late-afternoon game Sunday, Sept. 10.
The University of Illinois escaped at home against (Holy) Toledo, the Mid-American Conference preseason favorite.
With seconds to go in the game, Illinois scored on a 28-yard field goal by Caleb Griffin to win its season-opening game, 30-28.
Northern Illinois won and Northwestern fell in season-opening games.
It’s only one week into the season for most teams. What changes will take place during the course of the season? Predictions are easy to make. Difficult to be precisely correct. We will let the season unfold.
- High school sports are in full swing with big games in football and other sports to fill our plates.
Among the top-rated teams in high school football following the first two weeks of the season include Lincoln-Way East, Batavia, York, St. Charles North, Geneva. All are 2-0 thus far, with the exception of Batavia. The Battlin’ Bulldogs fell to Lincoln-Way East, 14-13, Friday in a close, well-played game.
The Lincoln-Way East-Batavia game came down to Batavia’s two-point conversion attempt in the final seconds of regulation following Batavia quarterback Ryan Boe’s touchdown run in the final seconds. Boe took the run to the right on conversion try where he had been successful during the game to go for the victory.
“They (Lincoln-Way East) stuffed us pretty good,” Batavia head coach Dennis Piron said earlier this week in reflection on the close game.
“We played four full quarters with great intensity and effort all throughout.
“Our (DuKane) Conference is the best in Illinois, so no easy games and coaches know what each other does, making it even tougher.”
Batavia will play at Lake Park (2-0) Friday and follow up with a game at St. Charles North (2-0), all members of the DuKane Conference.
Top Batavia performances against Lincoln-Way East included on defense, Ben Fiegel with 15 tackles and RJ Bohr with seven tackles and four pressures. On offense, Boe: 84 rushing yards, and 168 passing yards and two touchdowns. Charlie Whelpley picked up 33 yards rushing, eight receptions for 63 yards and boomed big punts.
• All three Lincoln-Way schools tasted victory, including Central 41, Evanston, 0; West 20, Oswego East, 18. Several unaligned games included Marmion 40, Chicago Curie, 0; New Trier 24, Yorkville 10; Loyola Academy 27, Naperville North, 6. Crosstown rivalry included Downers Grove North, 35, Downers Grove South, 13.
- The Chicago Cubs moved 10 games over .500 Monday with its 5-0 victory against San Francisco for a 7-3 record in a 10-game span. The Cubs were in fifth spot to be one of the top six teams in the National League for playoff alignment. They were behind, in order, Atlanta, Los Angeles, Milwaukee, Philadelphia, and ahead of Cincinnati. There is still time for the Cubs to overtake Milwaukee for first place in the National Central Division.
- For the record, the Chicago White were 53-85, 32 games under .500, however, still way ahead of Kansas City, although that’s little consolation.