2022 IHSA playoffs: Steve Soucie’s Class 3A quarterfinal analysis

Immaculate Conception's Dennis Mandala throws a pass during a game against Joliet Catholic Academy on Friday, Sept. 2, 2022, at Memorial Stadium in Joliet.

The Class 3A playoff draw had certain expectations attached to it and for most part the group has performed as expected.

The North bracket had four fairly clear favorites that advanced through the draw while the South bracket with the exclusion of one upstart, No. 15 seed Olympia, is also loaded with the usual suspects you’d likely to expect to find at this stage of the postseason.

First-round predictions: 15-1

Second-round predictions: 7-1

Quarterfinal matchups

Princeton vs. IC Catholic: IC Catholic continues to wear the favorite label but there are a number of teams that feel like they can knock off the Knights. Princeton likely considers themselves capable of doing so and would like nothing more than to put forth a much better foot forward than in last year’s quarterfinals where IC Catholic claimed a 31-7 victory.

Pick: IC Catholic

Reed-Custer vs. Byron: Reed-Custer has been itching for another chance at Byron who scored in the waning seconds of last year’s quarterfinal matchup of the two teams to escape and the Byron then went on to win the state championship. For the first time last week, Reed-Custer didn’t look like an overwhelming powerhouse in its win over Durand-Pecatonica, while Byron looked like a machine in dispatching previously undefeated Seneca.

Pick: Byron

Prairie Central vs. Tolono Unity: While the first two matchups in 3A are postseason rematches from a year ago, the southern bracket has two games that are rematches of regular season encounters from this year. Prairie Central served notice right out of the gates with a 34-12 win over Tolono Unity in Week 1 and have carried that momentum right through the season. But Tolono’s been on quite the roll since then as well which probably means the rematch should be epic.

Pick: Prairie Central

Olympia vs. Williamsville: Something has clicked for Olympia in the postseason as its win over St. Joe Ogden in Round 2 of the playoffs marked Olympia’s first three game winning streak of the season. To make it to four they’ll have to figure out a way to bridge a fairly substantial gap from the first Williamsville matchup where the Bullets captured a 42-14 win in Week 4.

Pick: Williamsville