May 15, 2024
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2023 IHSA playoffs: Steve Soucie’s Class 3A quarterfinal-round analysis

By Steve Soucie
Members of the Princeton Tiger football team celebrate a win over Paxton-Buckley-Loda in the Class 3A playoff game on Saturday, Oct. 28, 2023 at Bryant Field.

Members of the Princeton Tiger football team celebrate a win over Paxton-Buckley-Loda in a second round Class 3A playoff game. Princeton aims to reach the semifinals but faces a prominent opponent in Montini in the quarterfinals. (Scott Anderson)

Two rounds has left a group of truly elite teams to battle it out for the Class 3A crown.

Byron, with its extremely high-octane offense leads the pack, but the resumes of postseason dynamos Montini, Tolono Unity and downstate Mount Carmel can’t be ignored.

Princeton’s pedigree over the last few seasons can’t be diminished either. One thing is certain, when the dust clears in Class 3A, a truly great team will be the champion.

First-round picks: 13-3

Second-round picks: 6-2

Quarterfinal-round matchups

Byron vs. Durand-Pecatonica: Byron is still averaging over 60 points a game and has outscored two playoff opponents 128-7. The Tigers have some impressive state scoring reconds within their reach but the end goal is simply to move into the next available round. Durand-Pecatonica is stepping up in weight class a little bit here as it plays a predominately Class 1A schedule during the regular season and does have two losses on its ledger but they came against two of the best small-school programs going right now in Lena-Winslow and Belleville Althoff.

Pick: Byron

Princeton vs. Montini: Since a 22-21 loss to Morrison in Week 2, Princeton has been a wrecking ball of destruction. Princeton has allowed 14 points to just one opponent and the Tigers have tossed seven shutouts along the way. But they are going to have their hands full with a Montini squad that to classify as a battle-tested squad would be an understatement. Prior to the postseason, Montini hadn’t played a single team from a classification smaller than 4A and its losses came at the hands of Providence, Brother Rice and St. Viator, all playoff teams in higher classifications.

Pick: Montini

Tolono Unity vs. Mount Carmel: It’s hard to duplicate postseason experience and these two programs do this better than most. The Rockets fended off a previously undefeated team in DuQuoin to get to this point, while the Golden Aces have been stacking wins since losing to one of the better smaller school programs in Indiana, Gibson Southern, all the way back in Week 1.

Pick: Tolono Unity

Stanford Olympia vs. Roxana: Each of these two teams experienced a little bit of a heartstopper in the playoffs so far. For Olympia, it needed to fend off a gritty Litchfield team in the opening round before being able to best 3A playoff stronghold Greenville in Round 2. Roxana rallied from two touchdowns down to win over St. Joseph-Ogden when it stopped a potential game-winning two-point conversion with seven seconds to play in the game.

Pick: Roxana