Ten area teams earn chance to play in Week 10

The 2022 season will continue for 10 Sauk Valley area teams, including all four area teams playing eight-man football, as the playoffs get underway this weekend.

The IHSA and Illinois 8-Man Football Association released their playoff pairings on Saturday night, and more than half of the 16 local teams earned a spot in the brackets.

Class 5A: St. Viator (5-4) at Sterling (7-2)

The Golden Warriors are in the postseason field for the eighth straight season, and will host a tough St. Viator squad on Saturday at 2 p.m. at Roscoe Eades Stadium.

It’s the second straight season Sterling will host a team from the CCL/ESCC Conference’s Purple Division, after falling to St. Patrick last year. St. Viator is back in the playoffs for the first time since 2017, and defeated St. Patrick in the regular-season finale to qualify for the playoffs.

“I’m excited that our kids got to see their name come across the screen, that’s the No. 1 thing at this time of year,” Sterling coach Jon Schlemmer said. “I’m excited for our kids to get back to work for another week, and it’s exciting to see them have one more opportunity to play at home; that’s huge for our kids, our fans, and our community. Plus, you don’t want to go on the road and play a team as good as Viator, as battle-tested as they are with the schedule they played.”

Class 4A: Dixon (6-3) at Rochelle (7-2)

The Dukes hit the road for the second straight season, but they won’t have to travel too far to play their postseason opener: just a 25-minute drive up Interstate 88 at 7 p.m. Friday.

The game is a matchup of former NCIC rivals, a series that dates back to 1913, though the two teams haven’t played too many times in the last dozen years since the breakup of the NCIC.

Even though it’s a road game, Dixon coach Jared Shaner knows there will be a lot of excited Dixon fans making the short drive to watch a game against a traditional opponent.

“It’s pretty exciting, an old NCIC matchup,” Shaner said. “It has some historical interest, and we told the kids they may or may not know that these two teams have played probably 70 times over the years.

“With that matchup and the fact that they’re really right down the road, I hope we can get a good crowd there to watch us. After heading into the city a few times in years past, it can’t get much more convenient this year.”

Class 2A: Newman (5-4) at Rockridge (8-1)

The Comets will see a familiar team when they hit the road for their first-round game, as the Rockets have been a crossover opponent in the Three Rivers Conference for the past several seasons. They will play at 1 p.m. Saturday.

This is a rematch of a Week 2 game in Sterling that Rockridge won 33-8, the first of the Rockets’ eight straight victories after a Week 1 loss to Princeton.

“We get another chance at Rockridge, and we’re excited for the challenge, that’s for sure,” Newman coach Mike LeMay said. “We’ve got a second chance at everything now, so that’s also exciting. We’ve made a lot of strides since Week 2, we feel pretty good with our head space and planning, and the kids are ready to go and happy to play in Week 10.”

Class 1A: Morrison (5-4) at Ottawa Marquette (8-1)

There are a lot of connections in this matchup, as Marquette coach Tom Jobst was head coach at Morrison from 1980-87, and took over at Marquette for its final two years as the Mustangs’ conference foe in the Big Rivers Conference in 2010 and ‘11.

Jobst and current coach Steve Snider have also met a few times and discussed their offenses in the past few years, as both run the Wing-T. The two run-first offenses will square off at 2 p.m. Saturday.

“Coach Jobst is a great guy who I got to meet a couple of times in the past,” Snider said. “When I was at Orangeville, we went and played Marquette in the first round in 2017 or ‘18, and this past summer, we met them at Princeville during a 7-on-7 camp. He brought the Delaware Wing-T to Morrison, and now it’s back because I’m a Delaware Wing-T guy too.

“We got to see tape of them while preparing for LeRoy a couple weeks ago, and both teams will do the same stuff offensively. It should be a fun game.”

Class 1A: Aurora Christian (5-4) at Fulton (7-2)

The Steamers got a tough draw in the Eagles, but coach Patrick Lower was thrilled to see that the IHSA felt his team had done enough to earn a home game in the first round. And while he didn’t know a lot about Aurora Christian when he first saw the matchup, he’s excited his team gets to prepare for another game this season. They’ll play at 2 p.m. Saturday.

“The kids are very excited about the home game and are looking forward to getting back to work,” Lower said. “We talked all week leading into the last game how important a win would be to getting a home playoff game, and we took care of business and were rewarded for a good regular season.”

Class 1A: Forreston (5-4) at St. Bede (7-2)

The Cardinals will travel to Peru to take on the Bruins at 2 p.m. Saturday, and are eager to start their second season. Coach Keynon Janicke said he loves road trips for the playoffs, but he’s thankful that it’s not too long of a haul.

“A couple of weeks ago, we drove three hours to Gibson City, so an hour and a half straight south isn’t too bad at all,” he said. “We have a travel routine for road games, and we know how to get in the right mindset to be ready to play. We’ve talked to the kids about everybody being 0-0 now, and it’s win or go home, so you can throw the records out the window. It doesn’t matter what went wrong during the season, we’re in the playoffs now with a chance to fight.”

Eight-man: Farmer City Blue Ridge (6-3) at Amboy-LaMoille-Ohio (7-2)

The fifth-seeded Clippers will host a first-round game at 3 p.m. Saturday, and are looking to rekindle some of the playoff magic they found in last year’s run to the I8FA semifinals as a No. 10 seed.

“I think that does give the kids a big confidence boost,” coach Scott Payne said. “We’re experienced in the playoffs, and I think that will help us out tremendously the next couple of weeks.”

Amboy is also looking to take some motivation out of a Week 9 loss to a strong West Central team that earned the No. 2 seed as one of only two 9-0 teams in eight-man.

“We told the kids after the game that this is the type of team we’re going to see in the playoffs, so it was a good Week 9 game to have,” Payne said. “West Central outplayed and outcoached us, but we have to forget about it now and move on. The new season starts now, and everybody has the same chance to win the title.”

Eight-man: Kirkland Hiawatha (6-3) at Polo (7-2)

The two-time defending I8FA state champions earned a No. 6 seed after closing the season on a five-game winning streak, and the Marcos seem to have found their groove: they’ve scored 60 or more points in each of their last three games.

“We were so young at the beginning of the year, and we just weren’t battled-tested yet – especially the offensive line,” coach Ted Alston said. “We’ve just gotten better each week, putting in more things and gaining more confidence, and I think that’s really been the key each week. We’re in a good place right now.”

Polo will host Hiawatha at 7 p.m. Friday in a rematch of a Week 5 game that the Marcos won 44-32 in Kirkland against a Hawks team that was 4-0 at the time. Alston knows Hiawatha will be hungry for revenge, but he also feels his players are eager for their chance to live up to the title teams that have come before them.

“We actually talked about that Friday night after the game, about tradition and trying to be the best team in eight-man year after year,” Alston said. “The kids have really taken to that, and we have a nice culture right now.”

Eight-man: Sciota West Prairie (6-3) at Milledgeville (6-3)

The Missiles start the playoffs at home, where they will host West Prairie at 1 p.m. Saturday at Floyd Daub Field. Coach Jason Wroble knows that his players are eager to get back at it in the postseason after a second-round exit last season as the No. 2 seed.

“I would say that we have something to prove. I thought maybe we underachieved in our goals from last year with an early exit,” he said. “The guys are excited, and we feel like we’re a dangerous three-loss team. We were right there in a couple of them, and in every one of them we lost a starter. But we’re healthy now, and the kids are ready to go.”

Milledgeville has won its last two games, and has allowed 20 total points in those two games. Coupled with a potent offense that has scored 46 or more points in six of eight contested games, Wroble likes where his team is at headed into Week 10.

“I’m hoping we get hot at the right time, and the last two weeks we’ve played well after a lackluster performance in Week 7,” Wroble said. “We challenged the guys to get better, we’ve tried to keep things simpler. We’ve had good defensive performances the last two weeks, and hopefully they’ve gotten more and more confidence.”

Eight-man: AFC (6-3) at Milford/Cissna Park (7-2)

The Raiders are back in the postseason for the first time since a run to the Class 1A quarterfinals in 2005. They’ll hit the road and take on Milford/Cissna Park at 2 p.m. Saturday.

“Both towns are as excited as the kids and the coaches, I think,” coach Ben Mershon said. “The kids haven’t ever witnessed the playoffs, and it’s pretty cool to experience.”

After notching their first win in five years in Week 3, AFC won six of its last seven games and has really found a rhythm with its pass-first offense. Mershon knows the games get tougher from here on out, but he also believes the team will put its best foot forward while soaking up the experience.

“We’ve got some weapons, and the kids are confident, but not overconfident; we’re on a pretty good high right now, and it’s fun to be a part of,” he said. “We’re excited to be in the playoffs, and even though we’ve never been here before, he kids are ready to go out and play again.”