Football playoffs: 6 games Friday, 4 Saturday
By Dick Goss dgoss@stmedianetwork.com October 22, 2012 11:20PM
FRIDAY GAMES
Class 8A
No. 9 Bolingbrook (7-2)
at No. 8 Sandburg (7-2), 7 p.m.
Class 7A
No. 8 Plainfield Central (6-3)
at No. 1 Lincoln-Way East (9-0), 7 p.m.
No. 5 Bradley (6-3) at No. 4 Providence (7-2), 7 p.m.
No. 6 Plainfield North (7-2)
at No. 3 Oswego (8-1), 7 p.m.
Class 5A
No. 9 Lincoln-Way West (6-3)
at No. 8 Rochelle (6-3), 7 p.m.
Class 4A
No. 7 Peotone (5-4) at No. 2 Coal City (8-1), 7
SATURDAY GAMES
Class 6A
No. 6 Morgan Park (6-3) at No. 3 Lemont (8-1), 6 p.m.
Class 5A
No. 12 Joliet Catholic (5-4)
at No. 5 Elmwood Park (7-2), 6 p.m.
No. 7 Rich East (6-3) at No. 2 Morris (8-1), 1 p.m.
Class 3A
No. 11 Wilmington (7-2) at No. 6 Byron (7-2), 2 p.m.
Updated: November 24, 2012 6:12AM
The game of high school football has underdgone significant changes through the years, but one thing has remained constant.
It is the game for Friday nights.
Except when it comes to the playoffs, that is.
The opening round of the playoffs is on tap this weekend. Of the 10 games involving the 12 Joliet area qualifiers, only six will be Friday (all at 7 p.m.). The other four will be at various times Saturday.
Normally, a large majority of our teams’ opening-round games are Friday. Then as you get further along the playoff trail, Friday games become scarce. Once any team plays a Saturday game, it is less likely to want to play Friday in a subequent week.
However, having four of the area’s 10 opening-round games on Saturday accentuates a trend that is bothersome to high school football purists yet is likely to continue.
Fans wanting to see an area team play Friday night have these games available: defending champion Bolingbrook (7-2) at Sandburg (7-2) in Class 8A; Plainfield Central (6-3) at Lincoln-Way East (9-0), Bradley (6-3) at Providence (7-2) and Plainfield North (7-2) at Oswego (8-1) in 7A; Lincoln-Way West (6-3) at Rochelle (6-3) in 5A; and Peotone (5-4) at Coal City (8-1) in 4A.
The Saturday games are Morgan Park (6-3) at Lemont (8-1) at 6 in 6A, Rich East (6-3) at Morris (8-1) at 1 and Joliet Catholic (5-4) at Elmwood Park (7-2) at 6 in 5A, and Wilmington (7-2) at Byron (7-2) at 2 in 3A.
In subsequent rounds, the team that has hosted fewer games in this playoffs series will be home. If the two teams have hosted the same number of times, the higher seed will host — on Saturday, more often than not.
