January 24, 2025
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2023 IHSA playoffs: Steve Soucie’s Class 6A semifinal-round analysis

By Steve Soucie
Cary-Grove’s Andrew Prio breaks free for a lengthy touchdown run against Geneva in IHSA Class 6A quarterfinal playoff football action at Cary Saturday.

Cary-Grove’s Andrew Prio breaks free for a lengthy touchdown run against Geneva in a Class 6A quarterfinal game last weekend. (Patrick Kunzer for Shaw Local/Patrick Kunzer for Shaw Local)

There are no big surprises in the Class 6A semifinal grouping with four teams that are no strangers to postseason success.

East St. Louis remains the overwhelming favorite. It has been dominant in defense of last year’s Class 6A final, but don’t sleep on Cary-Grove, which has really caught its groove over the past few weeks.

Lake Zurich and Washington appear to be in spoiler mode to try to prevent what has become somewhat common in the past few years: a Class 6A final that features East St. Louis challenging a squad from the Fox Valley Conference.

First-round picks: 15-1

Second-round picks: 7-1

Quarterfinal-round picks: 4-0

Semifinal-round matchups

Lake Zurich vs. Cary-Grove: Lake Zurich has been in “Just win, baby” mode for the entire postseason to this point, getting wins but struggling to do so in two of the three games. That simply hasn’t been the case for Cary-Grove, which has absolutely steamrolled its way into the semifinals, scoring 149 points in wins over Libertyville, Highland Park and Geneva and instituting the running clock in two of the three.

Pick: Cary-Grove

East St. Louis vs. Washington: East St. Louis took a little bit to get going but still managed to claim a comfortable win over Kankakee. The Flyers have now outscored three playoff opponents 154-20. These two teams now have a common opponent in Kankakee, which East St. Louis beat 39-13 last week. Washington fell 7-0 to Kankakee back in Week 2. Washington’s going to need massive step-ups on both sides of the football to send retiring coach Darrell Crouch into the state finals in his sendoff season.

Pick: East St. Louis