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Week 1 Barrington (7-4; 2018 record) at Gurnee Warren (10-2) When: Friday, August 30, 7:30 p.m. A pairing of two programs that always seem to be on the cusp of the conversation of teams to watch. The Broncos won this match up relatively convincingly before hitting a hiccup in the middle of the campaign. Warren, on the other hand, used the loss as fuel to ignite a 10-game winning streak. East St. Louis (9-3) at Batavia (12-1) When: Saturday, August 31, 7 p.m. Well, hello there. Here’s an absolute doozy to kickoff the season. East St. Louis is notorious for going wherever they have to find opponents, losing their only two regular season games last season to out of state foes. They’ve found themselves a quality opponent in-state to kick off the year this time around as Batavia has established itself as one of the dominant programs in the state. The Bulldogs have lost one regular season game in the last two years. Chicago Phillips (9-3) vs. Detroit (Cass Tech), MI (10-1) at Wayne State University When: Saturday, August 31, 4 p.m. Phillips will once again travel out of state to kick off the season. Last year the Wildcats were handled rather easily by Pickerington Central from Ohio in a game broadcast on ESPN, but that experience hasn’t soured the program’s thirst for testing itself at the highest level. Cass Tech is typically one of the more respected programs in Michigan, putting together an undefeated regular season before being surprised early in the state playoffs. Stevenson (6-4) at Lincoln-Way East (12-1) When: Friday, August 30, 7:30 p.m. Stevenson limped home a little bit last season, dropping its last three games including an opening round playoff loss to Marist. They’d like nothing more than to make a huge statement to start their season by toppling Lincoln-Way East. Although it isn’t going to be an easy task taking down the Griffins, especially as it appears standout running back A.J. Henning might finally be back to full strength. Maine South (10-2) at Glenbard West (8-3) When: Saturday, August 31, 1:30 p.m. Maine South has dominated this long-standing nonconference rivalry for the past few seasons and the last time the game was at Glenbard West the game turned into a bit of a debacle. It would be surprising if the Hilltoppers forgot that humbling experience on their home field and it seems likely this game will likely be more of a battle that it has been the past few seasons.
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Week 2 Richards (12-1) at St. Rita (3-6) When: Friday, September 6, 7 p.m. A simple glance at the records and one might think that calling this one a game to watch is a bit of a stretch. Admittedly it was one of the worst seasons in recent memory for the Mustangs but it was a young group that finished strong with four wins in the Prep Bowl series and has the added incentive of likely dropping down to the Class 5A playoffs season as they qualifier for a multiplier waiver now. Richards lost a bit to graduation, but still look to be one of the best teams in the south suburbs as they are led by Iowa-bound running back LeShon Williams. IC Catholic (14-0) at Joliet Catholic (10-4) When: Friday, September 6, 7:30 p.m. A rare regular season meeting between two defending state champions as IC Catholic rolled to the Class 4A title, while Joliet Catholic clawed its way to the 5A title after going through the regular season with four losses including a 42-0 loss to the Knights. IC Catholic took some significant losses to graduation but still has dynamic running back Kyle Franklin in the fold, and although Joliet Catholic was a senior dominated team they also sported some talented underclassmen and will get talented running back Kenyetta Williams back from an season-ending injury he suffered in the opening series of play last year. Bishop McNamara (12-2) at Coal City (10-2) When: Friday, September 6, 7 p.m. This is an intriguing first-time matchup between two programs that have done a lot of damage in the Class 4A ranks. In this pairing, it could easily turn into a shootout between a pair of talented quarterbacks in Coal City’s Payton Hutchings and Bishop McNamara’s Tyler Hiller. At least Coal City won’t have to worry about stopping graduated running back Tyshon King who scored nearly 40 touchdowns last season. Marist (11-2) at Lake Zurich (7-4) When: Friday, September 6, 7:30 p.m. Marist is looking to continue its recent roll that has made them one of the more feared programs around. Last season, the Redhawks only losses came at the hands of Brother Rice, once to open the season and one to close the season in the Class 8A semifinals. Lake Zurich comes into the season as a bit of a unknown as the respected program underwent a coaching change in the offseason. Bolingbrook (7-3) at St. Charles North (10-4) When: Friday, September 6, 7:30 p.m. St. Charles North made an electric run into the Class 7A state championship game last season and the Stars have quite a bit of talent to try to keep the train moving again this season. They certainly haven’t been ducking challenges either as the DuKane Conference provides plenty of proving grounds and nonconference games with programs like Bolingbrook, who seems to have an endless stream of Division I talent on its roster provide even more to the gauntlet.
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Week 3 Richards (12-1) at Hillcrest (12-1) When: Friday, September 13, 7 p.m. These two teams have quickly established themselves as two of the more dominant programs in the South Suburban Conference and while Richards has historically been more of a powerhouse, Hillcrest’s surge has been much more recent. These two teams are in opposite sides of the conference and haven’t been played in crossover games recently, but that changed for this season. Edwardsville (8-4) at DeKalb (8-2) When: Friday, September 13, 7:15 p.m. DeKalb’s schedule undertook a massive overhaul after its former conference the Northern Illinois Big 12 broke apart at the conclusion of 2018. As such, the Barbs needed to fill some unorthodox vacancies in their schedule included an Week 3 fit that is often hard to fill in-state. Enter Edwardsville, a team also with an odd schedule quirk that requires them to fill a midseason off date as its conference has an odd number of teams. Naperville Central (7-4) vs. Pickerington Central (Ohio) (11-3) When: Friday, September 13, 7 p.m. One of the unfortunate problems for members of the shorthanded DuPage Valley Conference is a need for that imbalance leading to open nonconference dates in the middle of the season for its members. That’s certainly the issue here as Naperville Central has to travel to Ohio to face one of that state’s perennially tough teams. Pickerington advance to the state semifinals last year and breezed past Phillips in the season opener last year. Plainfield South (7-3) at Oswego (10-1) When: Friday, September 13, 7 p.m. Even with the addition and realignment of the Southwest Prairie these are definitely two of the programs to look out for. Although they are no longer in the same division, they are certainly two of the teams that figure to be ankle deep in the mix of teams looking for playoff bids down the line. New Trier (7-3) at Barrington (7-4) When: Friday, September 13, 7:30 p.m. New Trier is a perennial playoff qualifier, but has struggled to get much momentum going once they’ve gotten there the past few seasons. This will be an early season marker for them to see if this group of Trevians can make the next step. Barrington will already be ankle deep in a schedule that won’t afford a whole bunch of opportunities for early season missteps.
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Week 4 Lincoln-Way East (12-1) at Bolingbrook (7-3) When: Friday, September 20, 7 p.m. There will be a litany of Division 1 talent on the field in this one in a conference rivalry that has been owned by the Griffins in recent seasons. It should be interesting to see if the Raiders can close the gap between the programs that has developed in recent seasons between the two. Marist (11-2) at Brother Rice (13-1) When: Friday, September 20, 7:30 p.m. A merger between the Chicago Catholic League and East Suburban Catholic Conference led to this fierce rivalry being moved from a nonconference scrap to start the season to a league battle in the middle of the campaign. The movement of the date certainly won’t decrease the animosity between the two programs as Brother Rice handed Marist both of their losses last season that bookended the campaign. Loyola (11-3) at Mount Carmel (11-2) When: Friday, September 20, 7:30 p.m. The Ramblers had a few bumps in the road on their way to the way to the Class 8A title last season including a narrow loss to the Caravan in Week 3. Odds are the Ramblers haven’t forgot that, but both teams don’t have a lot of margin for error in power-packed schedules so both will be looking to keep stacking wins at this point. Thornton (5-4) at Crete-Monee (10-4) When: Friday, September 20, 7 p.m. Crete-Monee has been the unquestioned benchmark for other teams to strive for in the Southland, so much so that the league has had a hard time keeping up with the Warriors. The league structure changed this year, however, and Thornton looks like the team most likely to possibly rise to the challenge that Crete-Monee will almost certainly provide. Hinsdale Central (8-3) at Oak Park-River Forest (8-3) When: Friday, September 20, 7:30 p.m. There are a series of games in the West Suburban Silver Conference on a year-to-year basis that have become terse battles. When this duo locks horns that certainly applies and last year’s absolute grudge match, won 7-0 by Oak Park-River Forest, certainly proves that case.
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Week 5 Aurora Christian (8-4) at IC Catholic (14-0) When: Friday, September 27, 7:15 p.m. IC Catholic has emerged as a behemoth of small classification football and has been a dominant force for several seasons. The train doesn’t look like it will be slowing down any time soon. Aurora Christian has also had its fair share of somewhat recent success and continues to play in a league that a nice job of preparing the for a postseason run should they get into the Class 1A field. Crystal Lake South (6-5) at Huntley (6-4) When: Friday, September 27, 7 p.m. The Fox Valley is a closed conference this year with the addition of Burlington Central to make a 10-team loop and it appears that their will be multiple teams vying for an opportunity to make a run at the league title. These two squads certainly look like contenders for that perch and odds are multiple teams will be good enough to throw off the apple cart so every win will count for both of these squads. Homewood-Flossmoor (10-2) at Lincoln-Way East (12-1) When: Friday, September 27, 7 p.m. This contest has morphed into one of the games to look out for in the south suburbs. Lincoln-Way East has taken control of the rivalry in recent seasons and it is hard to see that changing, but Homewood-Flossmoor always seems to have capable components for them to be in the mix. Springfield Sacred Heart Griffin (8-3) at Rochester (11-2) When: Friday, September 27, 7 p.m. The annual “Leonard Bowl” which pits Sacred Heart Griffin Coach, Ken Leonard, father, against his son Derek, the head coach of Rochester. Sacred Heart Griffin is still one of the elite programs in Central Illinois, but in recent years Rochester has become something of a little giant themselves, a Class 4A powerhouse playing in a conference with 5-6-7’s and winning far more often than they do not. South Elgin (6-4) at Glenbard East (10-1) When: Friday, September 27, 7:30 p.m. Both of these two programs in the Upstate Eight are hoping they can take another step forward this season. Glenbard East sort of came out of nowhere to post huge numbers last season while South Elgin has been dominating most of the teams in the league for a few season. That has not translated to postseason success, however, something they are hoping might happen moving forward.
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Week 6 Chicago Phillips (9-3) vs. Chicago Simeon (11-1) When: Saturday, October 5, 6:30 p.m. The Chicago Public League’s unofficial championship game for several seasons now. Simeon pulled off something of a stunner at the time by picking off Phillips in last year’s matchup. The Wolverines proved that it wasn’t a fluke by playing well for the remainder of the season before bowing out in the Class 8A quarterfinals. Phillips will be looking to get back to its roost at the top of the CPL. Edwardsville (8-4) at East St. Louis (9-3) When: Friday, October 4, 7 p.m. This game always seems to be an extremely electric game, regardless of the score. Pound for pound it looks like East St. Louis has a clear edge in talent this season, but sometimes this game simply doesn’t come down to who has the most talent. One thing is for sure, you’d be hard pressed to find a contest where there’s so much pure speed on the field. Morris (4-5) at Sycamore (8-3) When: Friday, October 4, 7 p.m. The Northern Illinois Big 12 broke apart last season, but these two teams landed in the same place after all the conference shuffling and allowed the rivalry to stay in place. Both schools should benefit from the switch, particularly Morris who has played a schedule that would be difficult for just about anybody to maneuver over the past few seasons. Newman Central Catholic (10-2) at Rockridge (7-4) When: Friday, October 4, 7 p.m. There’s no doubt who the giant is in the Three Rivers Conference and its Sterling Newman. This will be the first time since 1980 that Sterling Newman will be led onto the field by someone other than Mike Papoccia, but regardless the Comets won’t be looking past a Rockridge team that is notorious for giving SNCC one of their better games of the season more often that not. Willowbrook (11-1) at Hinsdale South (6-4) When: Friday, October 4, 7:30 p.m. Willowbrook is the favorite to win the West Suburban Gold, but if there’s any reasonable threat to that perch it has to be Hinsdale South. Both teams have explosive quarterback weapons in Sam Tumilty from Willowbrook and Marquese Garrett of Hinsdale South and odds are both teams will be positioning themselves for a playoff run based on the outcome.
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Week 7 Nazareth (13-1) at Marist (11-2) When: Friday, October 11, 8 p.m. It’s hard to find a more explosive potential offensive matchup as Nazareth’s junior sensation JJ McCarthy shouldn’t have any trouble posting points and Marist should not take a dramatic step back from last year’s very strong unit. Marist handed Nazareth their first and only loss of the season and the margin of victory (34-13) isn’t one that Nazareth probably let go of very easily. Warren (10-2) at Lake Zurich (7-4) When: Friday, October 11, 7:30 p.m. The North Suburban Conference has been dominated for Lake Zurich for several seasons, that changed last year when Warren emerged from the campaign unscathed in conference play. Warren is hoping to prove that wasn’t a fluke and it is now the program that sets the standard in the league, while Lake Zurich will be looking to reclaim its supremacy. Lena-Winslow (11-2) at Forreston (12-2) When: Friday, October 11, 7 p.m. Five of the six Class 1A State Championships have been claimed by one of these two schools and odds are they will be deep in the mix to make it six out of seven this season. The regular season matchup is often followed up by a playoff rematch and the results have been erratic as both teams are so strong that sweeping a pair of games seems almost like an impossibly difficult task. Aurora Christian (8-4) at Bishop McNamara (12-2) When: Friday, October 11, 7:15 p.m. Some bad blood might have been developing between these two programs when Aurora Christian stacked up a bunch of points in a rout win in the meeting between the teams two years ago. Bishop McNamara exacted some revenge with a comfortable win last year, so the one thing you can almost count on is some theatrics. St. Charles East (5-5) at Batavia (12-1) When: Friday, October 11, 7:30 p.m. The Dukane Conference was absolutely brutal for nearly everyone involved in the league last season. Batavia won the conference but not without some close calls along the way. St. Charles East bore a lot of the brunt of the tough league, losing four of five in conference play at one point. They hope to reverse that trend this season and knocking off the top dog would be something to certainly strive for.
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Week 8 Antioch (11-1) at Lakes (8-3) When: Friday, October 18, 7 p.m. Antioch has dominated the Northern Lake County conference, but the only resistance usually comes courtesy of Lakes. Both are likely hoping that a win in this showdown will propel them to some serious postseason success, something that has basically eluded these programs despite some flashy regular season records. West Aurora (9-2) at Minooka (7-3) When: Friday, October 18, 7 p.m. The Indians look like they could be a sleeping giant in the Southwest Prairie with a truckload of returning starters coming back. West Aurora is set to try to make a mark in their third conference in five years and this one could be another upclimb for the Blackhawks as the league looks very deep in its new 12-team alignment. Batavia (12-1) at St. Charles North (10-4) When: Friday, October 18, 7:30 p.m. This has quickly become one of the more fierce rivalries you’ll find. St. Charles North lost to Batavia last season in a narrow fashion and then used that loss to fuel a fire that got them all the way to the Class 7A title game. Batavia is looking to keep its perch atop the DuKane Conference but looks like it will have challengers to it coming from all sides. Prairie Ridge at Cary-Grove (14-0) When: Friday, October 18, 7 p.m. Week 8 must be rivalry week this season as here’s another matchup between two programs that have had some titanic clashes in previous seasons. Cary-Grove got the better of the matchup last season ending a long regular season winning streak for the Wolves and went on to win the Class 6A State Championship. The previous year’s 6A champion, you might ask? Prairie Ridge. So you can see the weight that this one will likely carry. Wilmington (6-4) at Coal City (10-2) When: Friday, October 18, 7 p.m. Another remarkable rivalry between two schools that have had tons of success and are separated by just 10 miles. Wilmington had owned the rivalry in recent seasons, but the script totally flipped last season as Coal City rolled to a 27-0 victory. The two programs have a very healthy respect for one another, but as far as regular season rivalries go you won’t find one that means much more to the two combatants than this one.
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Week 9 Brother Rice (13-1) at Mount Carmel (11-2) When: Friday, October 25, 7:30 p.m. The merger of the Catholic League and the East Suburban Catholic Conference didn’t mess around with schedule in Week 9 as several marquee matchups and this looks like potentially the best of them. Both teams should be in the running for a league crown if a tough earlier portion of the schedule for both of them doesn’t dash their title hopes before they even get to this key matchup. Nazareth (13-1) at Benet (6-4) When: Saturday, October 26, 1 p.m. It will be one of the last final scores on the board in the final week of the regular season and hopefully for Benet’s sake they aren’t in need of a victory to get into the 256-team field later that day. That might be too much of a mountain for the Redwings to climb considering Nazareth seems to keep adding offensive components to the mix. Montini (12-2) at Providence (5-5) When: Friday, October 25, 7:30 p.m. Another big one to wrap up the regular season as Montini who came within a few yards of potentially forcing an overtime period in the Class 5A state title game will be looking to hoist the big trophy and Providence lock horns. It was an odd season for Providence, who started fast with a 4-0 record but lost four of five to finish the season including a strange forfeit loss to Mount Carmel. But Division I talent dots the Celtics roster and odds are they won’t stay down for long. Minooka (7-3) at Oswego (10-1) When: Friday, October 25, 7 p.m. If Minooka demonstrates the promise that is expected of it, this will be the game that will likely show how far the Indians have really come. That’s because Oswego is the unquestioned frontrunner in the Southwest Prairie, and even though the team took heavy losses to graduation it is almost silly to think that Oswego won’t once again find itself right in the thick of the top of the conference race. East St. Louis (9-3) at Naperville Central (7-4) When: Friday, October 25, 7 p.m. Another strange pairing of North and South, but certainly one that provides some intrigue. Naperville Central should have some explosive players of their own led by Sam Jackson, but everyone knows East St. Louis will have the ability to match up. Naperville Central will hope to have a playoff slot locked up in a loaded schedule, because if not this is a brutal opponent to put themselves in a do-or-die situation with.
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