Steve Soucie’s Week 9 games to watch: Regular season wraps up with a flourish

Almost all of the attention in Week 9 tends to shift to which teams will secure the final remaining available slots in the 256-team field.

And that’s deserved because there’s plenty of intrigue there. Will the field need 4-win teams to get to 256? If so, who will make it if it does? Who will miss out?

All more than valid questions that will be solved over the course of this weekend.

But some of the quest to fill the field overshadows the fact that the final week of the regular season overshadows an absolutely loaded Week 9 schedule.

There are 27 teams that have navigated the regular season without a loss at this point.

Four of those 27 teams are playing another undefeated team in Week 9, but 10 more are playing opponents that have at least six wins on the season.

There’s usually a focus on 4-4 teams this week as well, particularly on 4-4 teams that are playing one another. But in a very strange development there are zero games across the entire state that feature two 4-4 teams playing one another, but there’s an absolute ton of games involving teams with at least six wins on both sidelines.

50 teams are involved in those games this week.

All of those things considered, it makes for a fascinating slate and here’s a look at the top games of Week 9:

Loyola (6-2) at Mount Carmel (6-2), 7:30 p.m. Friday: Although this one doesn’t quite hold the cache it usually does as both programs enter the game with an uncharacteristic two losses, Loyola still has a chance to win an uncontested CCL/ESCC Blue title. And due to a strange breakdown in Class 7A playoff hopefuls a Mount Carmel win can still get them a top 10 seed in the classification.

Naperville Central (8-0) at Lincoln-Way East (8-0), 7 p.m. Friday: This game was identified as a potential season ending capper between two undefeated teams early on. Lincoln-Way East has been absolutely dominant all season with no opponent getting closer than 27 points all season. The Griffins have scored between 47 and 49 points in every game contested on the field. Naperville Central’s muscle flexing hasn’t been as loud and noticeable, but its defense has been stellar allowing just one more point all season that Lincoln-Way East has (97 - LWE, 98 - Naperville Central).

Kankakee (7-1) at Crete-Monee (6-2), 7 p.m. Friday: This has developed into a pretty fierce Southland Conference rivalry between two teams that are by far the best in their league. Kankakee has flattened everything in its path since a narrow loss to Nazareth in Week 1, while after starting 0-2 Crete-Monee is a averaging over 60 points per game during its six-game winning streak.

St. Charles North (7-1) at Geneva (8-0), 7 p.m. Friday: Geneva is just one win away from completing its first undefeated regular season since the Vikings 7A runner-up finish in 2008, St. Charles North stands in the way of that. Since a Week 4 loss against Batavia the North Stars have strung together four largely convincing victories, posting at least 34 points in each of them.

Durand-Pecatonica (7-1) at Seneca (8-0), 7 p.m. Friday: Two teams that hope to carry some serious momentum into their potential runs in the postseason (Durand-Pecatonica in 3A and Seneca in 2A) and both have plenty of reason to believe that’s possible. Seneca’s vaunted offense was held under 36 points for the first time all season in a Week 8 win over Ottawa Marquette, while Pecatonica’s only offensive effort under 30 points was a Week 6 loss to Class 1A powerhouse Lena-Winslow.

Other games of note: Peoria at Normal Community; Brother Rice at St. Ignatius; IC Catholic at St. Rita; Nazareth at St. Francis; St. Laurence at Montini; Sacred Heart-Griffin at Rochester; Morgan Park vs. Simeon; Manteno at Coal City; Cahokia at Sycamore; Arthur at Sullivan; Barrington at Fremd; DuQuoin at Murphysboro; Warren at Libertyville; DuQuoin at Murphysboro; East St. Louis at IMG Academy; Monmouth at Newman Central Catholic.