High school playoff bids, conference championships, on the line

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By Carter Crane

High school Fall sports other than football, holds State tournaments and countdowns to State tournaments.. A salute to champions in high school golf, soccer, and tennis, is below, with girls volleyball, girls swimming, and boys and girls cross country on the precipice of starting tournaments.

There is one week of regular season high school football remaining. There will be more than a few showdown games for conference championships or to obtain playoff berths. The Saturday evening playoff pairing show will be carried on television and radio at 8 p.m.. First-round games will begin Friday, Nov. 1 for 256 teams in eight classes.

Four of the six teams in the Southwest Prairie Conference East have clinched playoff berths, and a fifth, Oswego East, 4-4 overall, will play at West Aurora, 2-6, Friday, in search of qualification.

East Aurora and Elgin, two of the 10 Upstate Eight Conference teams, each 4-4, will play in Elgin. Victory will yield a 5-4 record for one team and a likely playoff berth, although occasionally a team with a 5-4 record is left out of the playoffs because of too few points.

East Aurora has not been to the playoffs since 1982 and Elgin has missed since 2010.

Elgin’s 27-21 victory over rival Larkin Friday was its fourth in a row. East Aurora defeated visiting Fenton, 28-21, Friday.

“Not breaking down (against Larkin),” was the key to victory, according to Elgin head coach Anthony Mason. “The bond of our team has grown immensely throughout the season. Losing the first four games made us strong.”

Other games with 4-4 teams playing for playoff berths: Aurora Christian at Wheaton Academy in the Metro Suburban Blue, each 4-4; St. Charles North, 4-4, at Wheaton Warrenville South, 5-3;and Wheaton North, 4-4, at Batavia, 6-2, in the DuKane Conference. Most notably may be Naperville Central, 4-4, at home Friday against East St. Louis, 8-0, one of the best teams in the State.

• Naperville Central has won its last two games to keep hopes alive. “This is week three of the playoffs for us,” Central head coach Mike Stine said. “East St. Louis is a very talented team, skilled at every position on both sides of the ball. We have to control the ball on offense, and limit the plays of their offense.”

• Waubonsie Valley High School head coach Paul Murphy won his 100th game against Metea Valley Friday, 49-38, and moved to 194 victories overall. His first 94 victories were at Marmion Academy, with 15 years at each school. See below.

• Showdown games will include Minooka at Oswego, each 8-0 overall and 6-0 in the Southwest Prairie Conference. Glenbard West defeated Hinsdale Central, 17-14, in overtime, in a showdown for West Suburban Conference Silver leadership. Each team started the day with a 7-0 record. Glenbard West will play at Oak Park-River Forest Friday in search of its first undefeated regular season since 2015.

“We made (defensive) stops when we had to,” Glenbard West head coach Chad Hetlet said succinctly.

• Minooka, 8-0, and Oswego, 8-0, Friday, each with a victory in close games against Yorkville, which started 6-0.

Oswego head coach Brian Cooney said, “We’ll have to be on our toes. (Minooka’s) offense is multi-dimensional. On both sides of the ball, Minooka is fast, aggressive, and extremely well-coached.”

• Dan McGuire, head coach at Yorkville, said, about the game of his 6-2 team at Plainfield North, 6-2, “(North) is very aggressive offensively and defensively and has big-time playmakers and speed on offense. They look to stretch the field with WRs and are physical up front. (Our) players understand they have played a very competitive schedule and have played well in each of the games (in spite of defeats to Oswego and Minooka).”

• Batavia will seek victory at home against St. Wheaton North, 4-4, to clinch at least a part of the DuKane championship for the second time in the two years of the conference. “Wheaton North is improving greatly,” Batavia head coach Dennis Piron said. “A very dangerous team; seniors on defense with a dynamic, young offense.”

• Joliet Catholic Academy, 5-3, will be at Marmion Academy in search of a playoff-clinching sixth victory. Marmion, 6-2, received a 1-0 forfeit victory over St. Joseph Friday because of team’s dwindling numbers and injuries. “We had a practice walk-through (Friday, instead of playing,” Marmion head coach Dan Thorpe said. “The kids went to games and the coaches went scouting for playoffs.”

• West Aurora head coach Nate Eimer said, “It’s been fun to be in competitive games and we just need to learn how to end up on the (victory) side.”

• Waubonsie Valley head coach Paul Murphy on his 30 years as a coach: “Football is a game that teaches a lot of life’s lessons. The players are a pleasure to coach. They try to do what we ask them to do and they show up every day ready to practice and get better.”

• Honor roll in soccer: Class 1A regional champions: Montini, Joliet Catholic Academy, Timothy Christian. Girls tennis sectional champions: Hinsdale Central, Lockport, Neuqua Valley, St. Charles East, Lincoln-Way Central. Individual girls State golf champions, singles: Jacquelyne Qi, Naperville Central; Nicole Hu, Hinsdale Central; Emily Orlove, Wheaton Warrenville South; doubles: Nika Belova and Salma Alsikafi, Hinsdale Central; Irene Zhang and Tiffany Zhang, Naperville North; Sienna Lopez and Shannele Lopez, Glenbard West.

Cross country regionals will be Saturday.

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