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Most everyone had Cary-Grove and East St. Louis on a collision course to the final.
That, obviously, can still happen. But the two teams charged with keeping that from happening both have a lot to like about them and could throw a monkey wrench in those plans.
First round picks: 12-4
Second round picks: 7-1
Quarterfinal round picks: 4-0
Semifinal matchups
Lake Forest (10-2) at Cary-Grove (12-0): Lake Forest pulled a bit of a rabbit out of its hat to get past Prairie Ridge in the quarterfinals. The fact that it took that break in order to get past Prairie Ridge, the same team that Cary-Grove had little trouble with in the regular season, means that the Trojans are the substantial favorite going into this matchup. But Lake Forest has proven to be a pretty sound defensive team. If it can figure out how to get a few defensive stops, it might be able to make this interesting.
Pick: Cary-Grove
East St. Louis (10-2) at Crete-Monee (9-3): East St. Louis is as explosive a team as one will find in the state and is capable of making big plays on top of big plays. Lemont did manage to rein the Flyers in for awhile, but like most foes, it couldn’t do it for four quarters. Crete-Monee will have its hands full in this one. One factor to consider, East St. Louis has played the grand majority of its games on turf this season, which Crete-Monee doesn’t have. So the Flyers might be a bit uncomfortable on the playing surface and the Warriors will take any advantage they can find.
Pick: East St. Louis