The October and November sports corridor may be among the most enjoyable: College and professional sports overlap with football baseball, and basketball, and high school Fall sports offer championships with Winter sports in view.
Friday, Oct. 28 and Saturday, Oct. 29 will offer the first round of the high school playoffs with 256 qualifiers.
A postseason pause was the 77th annual East Aurora Old-Timers evening, an historical occasion.
“I think the highlight,” Batavia head coach Dennis Piron said, “has been the positive attitude and strong character this team has shown. Calm. It will pay off. Very classy group….I feel we are a battle-tested playoff team.”
Batavia, 6-3, and 5-2 for third place in the DuKane Conference, will play in the second-largest 7A class at Rockford Guilford at 6:30 p.m. Friday, Oct. 28, one of four DuKane teams. Geneva, Wheaton North, St. Charles North from DuKane will play Friday first-round games.
Tyler Jansey has been one of Batavia’s top performers this season. In week nine he collected 233 yards rushing and 10 solo tackles in the tender-feeling double-overtime setback to St. Charles North, 32-31, on a two-point conversion. St. Charles North, 8-1 and 7-0 as DuKane champion, will be host to Maine West in Class 7A Friday, Oct. 28.
Communities with more than a few teams in the first-round playoffs: Naperville has Central, North, Neuqua Valley; Plainfield has North, South, Central; and Glenbard (communities of Glen Ellyn and Lombard will enter East, West, South. See page 9 for final football standings.
Yorkville head coach Dan McGuire, 8-1 overall and 4-1 in the Southwest Prairie West, will play host to Libertyville, Friday, Oct. 28: “I knew our defensive line and linebackers would be a good group,” McGuire said, “but was worried about our secondary. We had many step up in the secondary throughout the season to help make our defense one that has led us this season.”
Some teams’ goal is next season, not the playoffs. Nate Eimer, head coach of West Aurora, 1-8 and 0-5 in the Suburban Prairie West, said, “Tough year. We couldn’t run the ball and could not stop the run….Kids did not quit and kept playing hard until the very end.”