Herald-News Prep Football Notebook: Joliet West trying to hang on to playoff hopes

Joliet West has a bit of a history of making odd journeys to conference championships.

If they are going to do it again, they’ll have to add another chapter to that book.

Plainfield South certainly will have something to say about whether or not that happens. The Cougars own a 4-0 record in the Southwest Prairie East Conference.

But Joliet West stands in the way.

At 4-4, Joliet West needs to win the game, as a fifth win would earn them an at-large berth into the postseason. It would also likely mean a share of the conference title as long as Plainfield Central beats 1-7 Romeoville in Week 9 to force a three-way tie at the top.

In the record books it would go down as a tie, but for the IHSA’s purposes ties are broken to determine who would receive the automatic bid for the playoffs. If this scenario played out, it would be largely perfunctory, as all three would have the necessary five wins to earn bids without the automatic slot.

But that was not the case in 2019 when Joliet West tied with Plainfield East and Plainfield South at the top of the conference and was only able to qualify for the playoffs because it won the tiebreaker and advanced with a 4-5 regular season record.

This season the odds are stacked against Joliet West winning the conference if the scenario does play into a three-way tie again. The tie is broken between the three teams by the number of points allowed in the games against the teams they are tied with. So if Joliet West won the game, it would have to score at least 49 points to make sure Plainfield South had allowed more points than Plainfield Central while allowing no more than 17 to ensure they haven’t allowed more than Plainfield Central.

That’s going to be a huge challenge against Plainfield South, not only winning the game, but scoring that many points against what has turned into a solid Cougars defense. Plainfield South has only allowed 20 points over their past four games.

Stack up yards, take no credit

Lincoln-Way East running back James Kwiecinski is almost uncomfortable talking about his achievements.

Kwiecinski rushed for about 300 yards and four touchdowns during the Griffins’ Week 8 win over Lockport, and when asked about what he did to amass such numbers he quickly deflected credit to just about everyone but himself.

And while he’s correct that his offensive line is helping his cause, Kwiecinski is more than earning his keep. He’s already scored 21 times this season, joining the 20-touchdown single-season club that includes some pretty impressive names in Lincoln-Way East lore. He’s also racked up about 1,100 yards.

When he learned about Kwiecinski’s unwillingness to take much credit for his big night, Lincoln-Way East coach Rob Zvonar wasn’t surprised.

“It doesn’t surprise me that he’s not taking credit for it, and that’s the sign of a good person and a good teammate,” Zvonar said. “But that doesn’t mean I won’t do it for him; he’ll be getting put up for some all-state honors at the end of the year, I think.”

Massive stat line posted by Lemont’s Salomon

Lemont quarterback Payton Salomon continues to defy statistical odds.

Salomon put together another huge game in Lemont’s win over Hillcrest in Week 8, where he went 12 for 14 with four touchdowns.

Comfortable wins don’t usually allow Salomon to air things out, but one has to wonder what kind of numbers he could post if the reins come off. He has completed 82.5% of his passes this season for about 2,000 yards with 27 touchdowns and no interceptions.

Going back to last season, Salomon has thrown 58 touchdowns with only one interception in 20 varsity starts.

A muddy but clean win for Wilmington

Perhaps it was the miserable weather, perhaps it was clean play, but the officials in Friday’s Wilmington at Streator Illinois Central Eight Conference game at Doug Dieken Stadium kept their flags in their pockets during an eventual 57-6 Wilmington victory.

Combined, the teams were penalized only four times for 28 yards. All four penalties occurred in the third quarter.

Wilmington was penalized once, a pass-interference call for 15 yards.