Steve Soucie’s Week 2 games to watch: Is it possible the Week 2 schedule has even more firepower?

There’s always notable excitement surrounding the opening week of the football season and this season was no different.

Compounding that excitement was a deeper than usual slate of high impact games capped by what might have been one of the more prominent Week 1 matchups in recent memory with Mount Carmel toppling East St. Louis at Illinois State University’s Hancock Stadium.

When the dust finally cleared from the events of Week 1 and one took the time to look ahead to Week 2 the realization quickly hit: Week 2′s schedule is even stronger.

Due to the nature of that schedule those teams that manage to get through these first two weeks unscathed have really accomplished something but on the opposite end of the spectrum there’s going to be teams that fall to 0-2 and have to climb out of a big hole.

That’s always the case. But the list of schools that are extremely prominent programs that could find themselves in that circumstance is notable to say the least. Just half of the defending state champions in their respective classes won games in Week 1 and other power programs face the distinct possibility that the phrase “uphill climb” will become a regular part of the vernacular.

Both Maine South and Warren entered the season as consensus Top 10 programs. Both lost in Week 1 and with them squaring off in Week 2 one will leave Thursday night’s game with an 0-2.

East St. Louis also faces potential peril. The Flyers currently only have eight games this schedule as its Week 9 opponent bowed out of the contest. After losing to Mount Carmel, East St. Louis faces continues its early season gauntlet of national ranked opponents playing St. Frances Academy from Maryland (Currently ranked No. 20 in the MaxPreps National Rankings) in Week 2 followed by a matchup with Humble Atascocita (No. 65) in Week 3. If the Flyers don’t win at least one of those games and fail to schedule a Week 9 game, they will have to sweep their Southwestern Conference schedule just to snag a playoff berth.

Here’s just a few of a long list of big games in Week 2:

Lincoln-Way East at Batavia, 7 p.m. Friday: A top flight battle between two programs that simply don’t shy away from scheduling the best they can during the nonconference schedule. Lincoln-Way East broke away early in last year’s matchup and eased to a win, Batavia would love to even the score.

Nazareth at York, 7:30 p.m. Friday: York was one of the breakout programs in the state last year and the Dukes are determined to show it is here to stay. Nazareth needs a bounce back from last week’s loss to Kankakee and would face an uphill climb with a loss than would drop them to 0-2.

Prospect at Barrington, 7:30 p.m. Friday: Another week, another difficult nonconference game for Barrington. The Broncos served notice with a huge win over Warren last week and would love to keep its moment going while Prospect has simply been one of the more consistent programs around as of late.

Brother Rice at Marist, 6:30 p.m. Friday: The two long-time rivals are separated by less than three miles geographically and its a contest that both programs simply circle on their calendar on a year to year basis. There’s big implications for both of these teams with a win or a loss.

Providence at Joliet Catholic, 7:30 p.m. Friday: The once fierce rivalry between these two schools was reignited last season as Providence’s return to relevance led to these foes squaring off two different times last season. Joliet Catholic earned the regular season win, but Providence avenged the loss in a second-round playoff game and went on to reach the Class 4A State Championship game.

Other games of note: Loyola at Naperville North; Lockport at Wheaton North; Maine South at Warren; St. Charles North at Crete-Monee; Kenwood at St. Rita; Cary-Grove at Crystal Lake South; Decatur St. Teresa at Belleville Althoff; Downers Grove North at Downers Grove South; Fenwick at St. Ignatius; Geneva at Lemont; Kaneland at Wauconda; Lena-Winslow at Fulton; Aurora Christian at Wilmington.