Friday Night Drive fantasy draft: Round 4

A quick review of the rules before we get into the fourth round:

• We're using a standard snake draft with a quarterback, two running backs, two wide receivers and a flex position.

• The player pool goes back to 2000, but a player must have played their final high school game to be eligible. So sadly, no, we weren't allowed to just draft East St. Louis' starting offense from this year.

• I left the criteria for how we would judge the best team extremely vague. I didn't want everyone to simply pull up the IHSA record books.

• We will post results round by round. Once completed, we'll compile the rosters and set up a poll so readers can vote for who they believe drafted the best team.

Previous rounds: Round 1. Round 2. Round 3.

22. Joe Stevenson: Henry Deters, RB, Tolono Unity. I knew I was going to get either Caleb Pratt or Deters at this spot and I'm fine getting the IHSA's No. 4 career rusher (7,363) to pair with Jacardia Wright. Deters took Tolono Unity to a Class 3A state runner-up finish in 2005, his sophomore season. He had a 2,937-yard season and 86 career touchdowns, tying him for seventh all-time. That works for me.

23.Eddie Carifio: Justin Wright, WR, Taylorville. I suppose I should take a receiver here. Like Joe, I obviously am viewing this as a numbers game. Which, let's face it, fantasy is. Hence the state's second leading all-time receiver. He has 3,817 receiving yards in his career to go with 48 touchdowns (third all-time.) He also had one of the statistically best games in state history: 390 yards, 12 catches and four TDs in a 2017 game against Effingham.

24. Kyle Nabors: Jonathan Ward, RB, Bishop McNamara. I once watched Ward use one hand to pull in a pass that was thrown well behind him as he crossed the middle of the field against Byron in the 2015 playoffs. He pulled it in and turned up field for a spectacular touchdown as if he practiced the play every day. Ward followed it up a week later by demolishing IC Catholic in the Class 3A title game. Ward's 2015 season is one of the most dominant stretches I have ever witnessed from a high school running back. He'll pair brilliantly with Rashard Mendenhall.

25. Josh Welge: Dan Dierking, RB, Wheaton Warrenville South. So I'm going a little old-school DuPage County Conference with my running backs. First Justin Jackson, now Dierking, who went on to the Big Ten at Purdue. And you know what - I think I'm in good shape with these two. All Dierking did was run for 6,081 yards between 2004 and 2006, 10th-most in IHSA history, with 90 touchdowns, sixth-most in state history. Noteworthy, Dierking broke Red Grange's 85-year-old school record for career touchdowns. Not too shabby for an RB2.

26. Steve Soucie: Pierre Thomas, RB, T.F. South. Going a little bit old school here, but I'm thrilled with the value in Round 4. Thomas made running the football seem about as effortless as anyone I've ever seen at the high school level and makes for a nice pairing in my backfield with my first selection. Thomas eclipsed 5,000 yards rushing in his high school career, is second all-time in program history for all-purpose yards at the University of Illinois and rushed for nearly 4,000 yards and won a Super Bowl with the New Orleans Saints.

27. J.T. Pedelty: T.J. Stinde, RB, Lexington. Like my first running back pick, I'm going back to the well of the most impressive players I had the pleasure of watching from a sideline with a notebook and pen in my hands. Stinde's senior year was simply outrageous, as the Minutemen bellcow finished with 3,325 yards (still a single-season state record) and 46 touchdowns (then second in state history, now third) in leading Lexington to a 1A runner-up finish in one of the final seasons of the once-proud Midstate Conference powerhouse before it was forced to enter a co-op with longtime rival Ridgeview. I dig his initials too, in a palindromic sort of way.

28. John Sahly: Mikey Dudek, WR, Neuqua Valley. Illinois fans are probably wondering what could have been since Dudek got hurt and had his career cut short in college. But man, what an electric performer in high school. A threat on special teams, too, Dudek had 19 touchdowns as a senior for the Wildcats.