The sports world is ready for the Major League Baseball (MLB) World Series and football in both the pro and college ranks are in high gear. Nonetheless, Fall high school sports, led by football’s first round of playoffs for 256 schools, command attention. See high school football’s first-round playoff pairings and final conference standings on page 7. Conference standings have direct bearing on playoff positions. It is notable in football for both East Aurora High and Yorkville High Schools in the finish of the nine-game regular season. East Aurora qualified for the football playoffs for the first time since 1982 and Yorkville won its first conference football championship since 1989 as the champion in the Southwest Prairie West Conference.
Kurt Becker, former East Aurora High School football player in 1976 led the Tomcats to the playoffs that year then later played for the University of Michigan in the Big Ten Conference, then played for the Chicago Bears. Both East Aurora and West Aurora are in the playoffs this year. Both schools will take bus trips to the East St. Louis area for their first-round games. East Aurora will play at Belleville East at 6 p.m. Friday, Oct. 27 and West Aurora will play at Edwardsville at 2 p.m. Saturday, Oct. 28. Both schools will take fan buses to the road games of approximately five hours each way.
Few teams finish the regular season with undefeated records, 9-0 this season. Exceptions include Prairie Ridge in the Fox Valley Conference, Morris in the Kishwaukee River/Interstate Eight White, and Lincoln-Way East in the Southwest Suburban Blue.
In week two visiting Lincoln-Way East defeated vaunted Batavia, 14-13, and stopped Batavia near the goal line at the end of the game. That defeat was Batavia’s only one of the season. Batavia will play host to Chicago Brother Rice in a 7 p.m. playoff game in class 7A Friday, Oct. 27.
State championship tournaments are on the horizon in other high school sports.
In boys soccer, following sectional games in the upcoming weekend, the State tournament will be held at St. Charles North High School, November 2-4.
Girls swimming and diving will be November 10-11 at FMC Natatorium in Westmont following 16 sectional meets throughout the State.
Boys and girls cross country State meets will be Saturday, Nov. 4 following sectional meets in the upcoming Saturday. The boys and girls State meets will be at Detwiler Park in Peoria.
Girls Volleyball State meets in four classes, 1A through 4A, will be held November 10-11 in Normal at Illinois State University. Regional tournaments are being played this week and sectional tournaments will be Octobers 30 and November 1. The Super-sectional tournaments will be played Friday, Nov. 3.
In the State tennis tournaments, in two classes, New Trier won the large 2A and Elgin Academy won 1A championship. Addison Lanton of Elgin Academy won the Class 1A State championship. Elgin Academy took fourth place in 1A and Benet Academy won second place in 2A.
A return to more high school football:
Both head coaches at East Aurora and West Aurora said a return to the playoffs this season started with Summer workouts and dedication.
“We are skilled,” West Aurora head coach Nate Eimer said. “Defensively we have been solid all year. We just have big mistakes at the wrong time (a fumble, a penalty, a blown assignment at the wrong time). We start 16 of 22 underclassmen. Six seniors start, and about10-12 play on any given Friday night.”
East Aurora head coach Nick Kukuc said, “(Success has come) in taking pride in our practice habits, weight and speed training has had a massive impact on making the layoffs.
“At the start of the season, we absolutely knew there as a chance to make a run at playoff eligibility. The last three full seasons we have been 4-5, one game from eligibility in each of those seasons. There was a game or two that were close. We have put pressure on the quarterbacks and cover down field. Our defensive front allows us to do some special things. On offense we have had a balanced attack between running and throwing the ball with big-play potential.”
Yorkville won the conference championship in the Southwest Prairie West by coming back from a 10-0 deficit against Plainfield North to tie the score at 10, then kicked a game-winning field goal with1.7 seconds remaining by Dominic Recchia, following a block field goal attempt.