The DuKane Conference has been well known for tight competition over its seven-year history.

From multiple one-score games in the season, to the conference winner being decided in the last week of the regular season, it’s never failed to disappoint when it comes to entertaining high school football.

And this season is proving to be no exception.

Heading into the final week of the regular season, three teams find themselves just one win away from a DuKane Conference title.

Of the three teams vying for the league, two of them will be squaring off in a winner-take-all match, with Batavia heading to Wheaton Warrenville South to end the regular season.

It’s a position that the Bulldogs are all too familiar with. Of the six full seasons of conference play, Batavia has been crowned a conference champion in five of them, including in each of the past two seasons. The Tigers, meanwhile, will be looking for their first conference championship since winning the DuPage Valley Conference back in 2011.

Since the formation of the conference, the Bulldogs hold a 5-1 record over the Tigers, with a 30-7 loss in the shortened 2020 season being the only outlier.

There’s also St. Charles North, which has a chance to win its third conference title in four years with a Week 9 win. The North Stars will end their regular season with a road game against Lake Park, who’s only victory in league play coming from a 41-35 victory over St. Charles East.

If the North Stars were to secure the victory, it would be the third time in seven years that there was a share for the conference title, with Batavia, Geneva and St. Charles North all sharing honors last season, while Batavia and Glenbard North shared the honors in 2019.

Who else can win a conference title in Week 9?

The Bulldogs and the North Stars aren’t the only Kane County teams that can find themselves atop their respective conferences by week’s end.

One of those teams is St. Francis, which sits at 1-1 in league play and can clinch a share of the CCL/ESCC - Green division with a win over Nazareth to close out the season. The two teams have built quite the rivalry over the past few years, with the Spartans getting the win in the past two regular season matchups, while the Roadrunners have had their number in the playoffs.

For two other teams, they’ll need some help to win their conference titles.

One of those teams is Burlington Central, which currently sits at 7-1 and one game behind undefeated Prairie Ridge on top of the Fox Valley Conference standings. The only way the Rockets can finish in a tie for first is with a win over Dundee-Crown, as well as the Wolves falling to Crystal Lake South.

If that were to happen, it would be the first conference title for the Rockets since 2006 when they went 5-0 in league play to win the Big Northern East Division title.

The other team is Marmion in the CCL/ESCC Red Division. Sitting at 1-1 in conference play, the Cadets need a win against Leo in Week 9, while also needing De La Salle to pull off an upset over Marian Catholic to clinch a share of the division title.

Kaneland, Aurora Christian clinch playoff berth in dramatic fashion

Four Kane County Chronicle area teams clinched a spot in the playoffs with their sixth win of the season in Week 8. But for two teams, it took nearly all 48 minutes to punch their ticket to the field of 256.

One of those teams was Aurora Christian, which needed a key stop on defense to make it to the big dance. On a potential game-winning two-point conversion with 1:08 remaining in the contest, the Eagles ended up batting down the pass intended for the end zone, securing a 28-27 victory over Wheaton Academy.

It was not only the team’s first win over the Warriors in four seasons, but also helped clinch their spot in the playoffs for the eighth consecutive season.

“It’s a huge win for us,” Eagles coach Dan Beebe said. “Against a quality team like Wheaton Academy to get to that six-win mark is unbelievable. I’m just thrilled beyond belief.”

The other team to clinch a spot in the playoffs in dramatic fashion was Kaneland, which needed all 48 minutes in its Week 8 victory.

After going down 21-20 on a touchdown and two-point conversion with 29.8 seconds remaining, the Knights drove all the way down the field before senior Noah McKittrick knocked in the game-winning 32-yard field goal as time expired to give them a 23-21 victory over La Salle-Peru.

Much like the Eagles, the sixth win of the season also secured the Knights’ eighth straight trip to the playoffs, which is the second-longest streak among Kane County Chronicle teams behind Batavia’s 14-year streak.

“It feels awesome,” McKittrick said. “We have a big run coming up ahead, I can feel it.”

Forfeit at Aurora Central Catholic

While most teams were out under the Friday lights, one team was unfortunately forced to miss out on their Week 8 matchup.

That team was Aurora Central Catholic, which was forced to forfeit its Week 8 matchup against Big Foot from Wisconsin. According to an official statement from the ACC’s athletic’s X (formerly Twitter page), an illness caused the team to have enough healthy players on the roster.

“This is a very unfortunate circumstance but is out of anyone’s control,” the statement said. “We will look to get healthy as we move into the final week of the regular season.”

It’s the first game the Chargers have had to forfeit since 2021, when they forfeited their Week 5 matchup against IC Catholic. That same year, the Chargers also got a victory via forfeit after Westmont forfeited its Week 9 matchup.

The loss hurts the Chargers’ playoff positioning. A 42-34 victory over Wisconsin’s Living Word Christian in Week 7 got ACC to six wins to lock up a playoff berth. However, ACC will more than likely need a win over Fisher in Week 9 if it wants to host a Round 1 playoff game.