By Bobby Narang
The Illinois High School Association (IHSA) football playoffs, announced Saturday evening, are in eight classes. The State championship games will be played at Northern Illinois University in DeKalb November 29-30. Here’s a look at some teams and games. (Selected pairings are on page 11.)
Wheaton St. Francis enters the playoff brimming with optimism and some uncertainty.
St. Francis has big goals following regular season victories over Bishop McNamara and IC Catholic. The Spartans, 8-1, closed out the regular season with seven consecutive victories, including a 45-0 rout over Aurora Central Catholic Friday.
The Spartans will open the Class 4A playoffs against Chicago Clark, 5-3, at 11 a.m. Saturday at Wheaton College.
“We’re excited to get in the playoffs and hopefully we have five more games,” St. Francis head coach Bob McMillen said. “We knew we would have a good football team with a lot of guys returning and our quarterback, Tommy Rittenhouse. Our first goal was to win Conference, get to the playoffs with an opportunity to win State. We’ve played a bunch of good football teams that helped put St. Francis on the map.
“Now we have to go out and prove it. It’s a testament to how hard these guys have worked. It’s a great senior class.”
McMillen said he obtained four games of film on 5-3 Chicago Clark which defeated St. Viator in week two.
“They are big and physical and athletic,” McMillen said. “We have to be able to stop their running back and play sound defense. Offensively, we have to take care of the ball.”
McMillen said Rittenhouse is tentatively scheduled to return for the second round of the playoffs. Rittenhouse, a dual threat quarterback, suffered an injury to his non-throwing hand in week eight that caused him to sit out the regular season finale. Rittenhouse made an unofficial visit to Iowa State University Saturday.
“Tommy threw a little this past week with his arm in a cast, so we will see when the stitches come off next week,” McMillen said. “Things are looking good now.”
• Meanwhile, Hinsdale Central will play a talented Bolingbrook team at 6 p.m. Saturday.
The Red Devils, 8-1, defeated Lyons, and Hinsdale Central former head coach Dan Hartman, in their regular season finale. The Lions needed a victory to become playoff-eligible, but the Red Devils scored 21 first-half points to cruise to the West Suburban Silver victory.
Bolingbrook, 6-3, owes the Red Devils some payback from a 23-15 defeat in week one of the 2014 season. At the time, the Raiders were ranked No. 1 by The Chicago Tribune, but Hinsdale Central quarterback Matt Rafferty, a star basketball player, threw for 173 yards and two touchdowns to knock off the Raiders on their home field.
The Hinsdale Central hopes to double its fun against the Raiders Saturday. Bolingbrook enters the playoff on a two-game skid, but losing to Homewood-Flossmoor, 8-1, and Andrew, 7-2, by a combined eight points makes the team dangerous.
“Bolingbrook is a difficult team to prepare for,” first-year head coach Brian Griffin said. “They have a lot of kids going to Division I schools or with offers. They are really fast defensively. Offensively, they are big and can move the ball. But it’s fun to move into the second season. There’s a new level of excitement and fire that you don’t see every week in the regular season.”
Griffin singled out the play of quarterback Michael Brescia for guiding the offense to a 29.3 points per game average in the regular season.
“Michael continues to develop and really turned into a really good quarterback,” he said.
• Riverside-Brookfield senior Luke Gentile pointed to a week four victory at Aurora Christian as the turning point in his team’s season.
R-B, coming off a 2-7 season, dropped to 2-1 on the season following a 56-26 defeat to Bishop McNamara. Locked in a back-and-forth Metro Suburban Blue battle against Aurora Christian, the Bulldogs, 6-3, pulled out a 25-23 victory by limiting the hosts scoreless in the second half.
Gentile’s 21-yard touchdown catch late in the fourth quarter touchdown was the difference. The Bulldogs are set to face Chicago Kenwood in a Class 6A first-round playoff game at 7 p.m. Saturday at Gately Stadium in Chicago.
“The Aurora Christian win, we just all pulled it together at the end,” Gentile said. “It was a huge team win. Everyone was making plays and we got a late stop to win. To go 3-1 on the season, getting more wins than last season really lifted everyone’s confidence. Since then, everyone is pulling together in the same direction.”
That direction, hopefully, will be a second-round playoff game against the winner of Deerfield and Crystal Lake South game.
This season, the R-B relied on a solid offense paired with an efficient defense. The Bulldogs have averaged 26.3 points per game, while allowing 27.2 points.