As we get ready for round two of the football playoffs, let’s take a look at the other fall sports.
A feel-good story in BNC volleyball is No. 7 seed Dixon upsetting LaSalle-Peru and Morris on its way to a regional title in 3A. The Duchesses almost didn’t get that chance, needing a third-game two-point win against No. 8 Rochelle.
This week at the Polo 1A sectional, it was top heavy with some of the elite in the state on display. Galena, Fulton, Newark and Stockton gave fans plenty to marvel at.
Credit to the Marcos for making it the to the regional final against Fulton, with wins over Amboy and Milledgeville, a team it had lost to twice this season.
In 1A sectional cross country, it was the Big Northern leading the way in both the boys and girls meets. Five of the top six boy individuals hailed from the BNC. Additionally, Rockford Christian, Winnebago, Rockford Lutheran and Byron all qualified for state as a team.
The top two girls teams were Winnebago and Byron. Interestingly, those two teams had the closest spread between runner No. 1 and No. 5. That type of pack running was something that Byron coach Mike McHale felt would give his team an advantage. It sure did.
My son came back from Utah to help me handle the hordes of track-or-treaters my neighborhood gets for Halloween. Since he had never seen eight-man football, we took in a Polo playoff game the next night.
He enjoyed the experience and commented how friendly the two Alden-Hebron coaches were that I interviewed afterwards. Often after a loss, that is not always the case.
One of those coaches was the father of eight-man ball in Illinois, John Lalor, who told me he had couple inquiries from schools considering joining the ranks.
Something else my son told me was that Utah HS football playoffs are done differently than Illinois, in that teams aren’t seeded by records and playoff points, but by rankings.
In light of the all the angst around powerhouses Byron and Montini forced to play in the second round, the Utah system would be preferable. As the two best teams, they would not be slotted to meet until the championship.
In the first round, 35 teams seeded lower than their opponents won, 27 percent of the games. Chicago Public League teams went 1-15 against schools outside of Chicago. No. 16 seed Geneseo crushed No. 1 Chicago Sullivan 42-0. Games like that make a mockery of the seeding process.
Last year, a 15th seed (Nazareth Academy) won a state title. Something’s wrong with the current methodology when a team showed it is 15 spots better than its seed.
But, the danger in human rankings is that not everyone is going to agree with them. At least with the IHSA’s seeding formula, there is no danger of impartiality. Still, ranking would be fairer that what the IHSA does now.
It was a tough go of it for the mid-range teams in the BNC, with Genoa-Kingston, Oregon and Stillman Valley all having a running clock put on them. At least Oregon (injuries) and Stillman (facing powerhouse Wilmington) had excuses. I know G-K had some turnovers against Pec-Durand, but to lose 66-0 is a bit shocking.
The Stillman-Wilmington game was a rarity in that it featured active Illinois high-school football hall-of-fame coaches in Mike Lalor and Jeff Reents of Wilmington. The pair has eight state titles between them.
Rockford Lutheran has the advantage of being in 1A and has an easy time of it against Annawan/Wethersfield. A bigger test is in round two against 10-0 Leroy. A win by Crusaders could put them on a collision course against Le-Win in the semifinals.
One of the best playoff games of last weekend was Galena’s stirring comeback against Stark County. The Pirates went on the road, trailed twice in the second half by two scores and still managed to pull out a 43-42 win.
Certainly, the rigors of the NUIC prepares a team for anything they will see in the playoffs. Stockton also had a big win over Princeville. With Lutheran, Galena and Stockton all winning over teams from the Lincolnland Trail Conference (small), it was complete domination for the NUIC.
To make matters worse for the Lincolnland, their fourth qualifier, No. 4 seed Rushville, got hammered 44-6 by No. 13 Ottawa Marquette. Each of those teams was seeded higher than their opponent, giving further evidence for the need of a ranking system over seeding.
Andy Colbert is a longtime Ogle County resident with years of experience covering sports and more for multiple area publications.
