The Daily Journal area has seen plenty of teams flex their muscles locally – and beyond – for nine weeks, as evidenced by a whopping 10 of the area’s 15 schools finding themselves in IHSA or Illinois 8-Man Football Association playoff brackets.

Those teams have made it in all sorts of ways. In town, Bradley-Bourbonnais and Kankakee have both continued a pattern of recent success. The Boilermakers are in the second season for the fourth straight year after they finished the regular season at 8-1 and split the Red Division of the Southwest Valley Conference with Lincoln-Way Central and Lincoln-Way West, including one of the best road wins in the state at West in Week 8.

Normally in Class 7A, the Boilers will play in Class 6A for the first time ever.

The Kays saw their six-game winning streak end to Crete-Monee in the finale last Friday, but at 6-3 with a signature road win at a Class 7A contender of their own at Normal in Week 4, they boast one of Class 5A’s most dangerous resumes.

After a three-year drought, the longest in the school’s history, Bishop McNamara isn’t just back in the playoffs, but the Fightin’ Irish went 9-0 for the first time since 1998 and won the Chicagoland Christian Conference, their first conference title since 2011.

Outside of town, Wilmington (9-0), Clifton Central (8-1), Coal City (7-2), Herscher (6-3) and Manteno (6-3) are also in the IHSA field while St. Anne (8-1) and Milford/Cissna Park (6-3) give the area an eighth of the 16-team I8FA field.

The Wildcats (29 straight) and Coalers (14 straight) added on to lengthy playoff streaks while the Bearcats have been in every I8FA field since its 2018 inception. The Panthers, Comets and Cardinals are all back for consecutive seasons while the Tigers snapped the area’s longest playoff drought with their first trip since 2018.

Quick recap

Here are the Daily Journal area’s scores from Week 9:

• Bradley-Bourbonnais 53, Andrew 41
• Bishop McNamara 56, St. Edward 0
• Crete-Monee 27, Kankakee 14
• Wilmington 44, Coal City 21
• Herscher 35, Peotone 28
• Manteno 33, Streator 6
• Reed-Custer 57, Comer 6
• Clifton Central 49, Salt Fork 30
• Momence 29, Georgetown-Ridge Farm 20
• Westville 52, Iroquois West 13
• Hoopeston 44, Watseka 19
• St. Anne 61, Blue Ridge 12
• Unity Christian/Mt. Pulaski 32, Milford/Cissna Park 28

Wilmington continues conference, rivalry dominance

Save for Reed-Custer’s two-year stretch of dominance in 2022 and 2023 that included a perfect run in the latter, Wilmington and Coal City – as they did in the yesteryear of the Interstate 8 – have seemed to dominate the Illinois Central Eight Conference since it debuted in 2019.

This season was no exception, which may not have been too surprising. But what did perhaps shock folks was how thoroughly the Wildcats defeated the Coalers when the rivals met in Wilmington to settle the conference last Friday.

Behind more than 500 rushing yards, the Wildcats celebrated their fifth straight win over the Coalers, but just the second margin of victory by more than 10 points. After a trip to the Class 3A semifinals last year, the Wildcats are now back in Class 2A, where they won it all in 2023, and made a statement that they’re the favorites again this year after their dominant win over a Coalers team that looks capable of a second straight semifinal run in Class 4A.

City schools look to make local history

Bishop McNamara, Bradley-Bourbonnais and Kankakee all qualified for the postseason in the same year for the first time since 2021 and just the fifth time since Kankakee’s Eastridge and Westview merged in 1983. Two years ago, the Boilers and Kays won a playoff game in the same year for just the second time ever, but now, the three can combine to do what’s never been done.

There’s never been a season in which all three city schools won a playoff game. The Fightin’ Irish have been to now 38 postseasons, winning 72 playoff games under former head coach Rich Zinanni, but didn’t even make the postseason either of the first two times the Kays and Boilers just won.

While chances have been far and few between, it’s hard to argue against this being the best chance for all three to win one. But another local team, Herscher, will look to spoil that.

The Tigers and Fightin’ Irish are meeting in the first round on Friday, the second time the bitter rivals have met on Halloween in the first round. The last time, in 2014, the Tigers scored a 21-18 win in Class 4A.

Weekend’s best

Here are the area’s passing, rushing and receiving leaders from Week 9:

Passing

• Erick Castillo, Momence: 17-of-25, 321 yards, 4 TDs, 2 INTs; 117 rushing yards
• Connor Henline, Coal City: 10-of-32, 220 yards, 2 TDs
• Connor Harrod, Manteno: 8-of-12, 184 yards; 82 rushing yards, 3 rushing TDs
• Grant Pomaranski, St. Anne: 6-of-6, 170 yards, 5 TDs
• Alex Chenoweth, Peotone: 8-of-11, 124 yards, TD, 2 INTs

Rushing

• Hunter Kaitschuk, Wilmington: 10 rushes, 193 yards, 2 TDs
• Ryan Kettman, Wilmington: 25 rushes, 186 yards, 3 TDs
• Alek Draper, Herscher: 13 rushes, 151 yards, 2 TDs; 2 INTs, INT TD
• Dennis Goodman, Watseka: 9 rushes, 114 yards, TD; 28-yard TD reception
• Nick Honkisz, Manteno: 13 rushes, 96 yards, 2 TDs

Receiving

• Jayden Dau, Momence: 8 receptions, 158 yards, 2 TDs
• Eddie Ferreira, Momence: 7 receptions, 149 yards, 2 TDs
• Gavin Berger, Coal City: 5 receptions, 121 yards, TD
• Matthew Langellier, St. Anne: 2 receptions, 74 yards, 2 TDs
• Nick Cronin, Peotone: 3 receptions, 72 yards, TD; 93 rushing yards, 2 rushing TDs

Editor’s note: Individual stats were not available for Bishop McNamara, Bradley-Bourbonnais or Clifton Central.