Morris Herald-News 2nd round playoff football capsules

Class 8A

Palatine (9-1) at Minooka (7-3)

When: 7 p.m. Friday

Last matchup: First meeting

About the Pirates: Palatine has had absolutely no shortage of offense this season, scoring at least 26 points in every game. Dominik Ball leads a whole host of dangerous offensive performers for Palatine which can spread the ball all around to multiple players who can get the job done if Ball is keyed on. The Pirates are still moving the football at a high rate despite having to deploy a back-up quarterback in place of injured starter Grant Dersnah. Palatine’s 31-23 victory over Downers Grove South in Round 1 is the closest game the Pirates have had since its lone loss, 43-42 to Glenbrook South in Week 4.

About the Indians: Minooka has completed something of a metamorphosis on the defensive side of the ball. The Indians looked lost on that side of the football early in the season, but there’s no questioning that Minooka has found its footing there now. It’s isn’t a one or two many army either, Minooka is getting contributions from everywhere on a regular basis. Palatine’s offense is likely to cause the biggest amount of offensive problems that Minooka has faced though which means that the Indians offensive attack might need to produce a little bit more than it has in recent outcomes. RB Joey Partridge has steadily been producing on offense, but Minooka might need to expand the playbook a bit to trade barbs with Palatine.

FND Pick: Palatine

Class 5A

Morris (8-2) at Centralia (6-4)

When: 3 p.m. Saturday

Last matchup: First meeting

About Morris: Morris bounced back rather nicely from a rough Week 9 loss to Sycamore, taking advantage of the situation created by the playoff bracket that allowed them to pick on LaSalle-Peru for the second time this season. Morris continues to use a fairly balanced offense so opponents can’t key on anything. RB Ashton Yard is averaging nearly eight yards a carry while QB Carter Button is completing passes at an extremely high clip, largely to WR AJ Zweeres (36 catches, 515 yards).

About the Orphans: Centralia didn’t appear to be on the path to being a qualifier for the second round of the playoffs entering the postseason with a three consecutive losses. They were all to playoff bound foes though and a couple of close calls in those losses seemed to spark a better effort from the 12th-seeded Orphans when they pulled off a mild upset of Triad in the opening round. RB Amir Johnson could be a problem for Morris to have to deal with as he’s amassed nearly 1,400 yards of total offense and 16 total touchdowns on the season. Centralia doesn’t throw a lot, but it does a nice job of distributing the ball to multiple receivers as four pass catchers have amassed between 280 and 316 receiving yards on the year.

FND Pick: Morris

Class 4A

Coal City (7-3) at Carterville (10-0)

When: 1 p.m. Saturday

Last matchup: First meeting

About the Coalers: Coal City continues to use a simply boilerplate come this time of year and it has often served it very well. A gritty defensive effort carried it to a win of Wood River/East Alton in a contest where the Coaler defense bent several times, but rarely broke in repeatedly turning the Oilers away empty after they reached the redzone. RB Landin Benson has become the focus of the Coal City offensive attack as they attempt to make sure they control clock and possession as it moves deeper into the postseason against teams that might get impatient without being afforded opportunities to advance the ball as much as it would like to.

About the Lions: Carterville has had an all-around impressive season, but potentially lost in the shuffle of the Lions unblemished ledger is the spectacular play of its defensive unit. The Lions tend to set up shop in the opponent’s backfields and have recorded over 50 tackles for loss this season led by 11.5 recorded by defensive tackle Riley Bradford. And the offense is more than happy to take advantage of what extra opportunities the defense creates for them. RB Bryce Smith has rushed for just short of 1,400 yards on the season with 19 touchdowns while QB Andrew Hellriegel has tossed 19 touchdown passes while spreading the ball around to three 30-plus catch wide receivers in Blake Burkey, Nolan Hartford and Peyton Bittle.

FND Pick: Carterville

Class 3A

Byron (9-1) at Seneca (10-0)

When: 7 p.m. Friday

Last matchup: First meeting

About the Tigers: The defending Class 3A state champions experienced a rare regular season loss to Stillman Valley in the season opener, but ever since they have been every bit the powerful 3A program that everyone has come to expect from the Tigers. Byron has been slightly deviating from its typical blueprint which is running the ball almost exclusively as it opening its Round 1 Playoff win over Lisle with a pair of early touchdown passes. But just because of that it doesn’t mean they’ve strayed from a run-based offense as it still stacked up nearly 400 yards rushing at a 12 yards per carry clip. A freshman, Caden Considine, who just returned from injury typically leads the ground game that features multiple capable ball carriers.

About the Fighting Irish: Seneca is hoping to dispatch its second consecutive member of the Big Northern Conference after walloping Winnebago in the opening round last week. This one will likely serve as a much bigger challenge. The Fighting Irish continue to lean heavily on a proficient running game, but added a wrinkle in the win over Winnebago as Nathan Grant tossed two touchdown passes to go along with his 215 yards rushing that paced a 465-yard rushing attack by the team. Seneca’s excellent defensive effort has somewhat been lost in the shuffle of its excellent offense and the 20 points its allowed to Winnebago snapped a six-game shutout string put in by the unit.

FND Pick: Byron