Illinois High School Football Thread

[greg775]

23 hours ago, WhiteSox2023 said:

Fenwick advances to face Downers Grove North and future Minnesota Gophers QB Owen Lansu.  12-7 final.

Some awful ball management by BR’s QB CJ Gray basically gave the game to Fenwick.  Crazy scrambling at the end of the first half to give up the ball and an easy Fenwick TD and some more scrambling out of his own end zone for a safety in the fourth quarter, rather than taking a sack and throwing the ball away.  9 points gifted to Fenwick.

OL injuries ended up killing BR.  While Fenwick does have a good D, BR couldn’t move the ball on the ground at all.

You were right all along about the line. I watched the replay and Rice ran out of gas on the season. They looked lost as you said about QB ball management. Coaches deserve blame too as they didn't even try an onside kick after the safety if that indeed is allowed which I think it is. So Fenwick just ran out the clock. Something about Fenwick's defense had the BR team intimidated. Rice pretty much had no chance on offense. I wish it was a Friday night lights game. Not sure why they had to play on a Saturday. Rice looked dead in the afternoon sun. I assume DGN will pound Fenwick at home unless they also get the Saturday blues.

Edited November 3, 2024 by greg775

[Milkman delivers]

Sounds like neither the coach nor the QB will be beloved.

[greg775]

What's with the Prep Bowl being at Fornelli Field instead of Soldier Field? It's not special when one of the two teams gets to host it. It's too hard to win a state title in Illinois so let the Public and Catholic League's best of the rest get to play in Soldier Field like before.

[Kyyle23]

[greg775]

I see almost all the private schools won their finals against public schools. I read O'Brien's story on how the Illinois state high school assn needs to fix some things. All but one game was a blowout and the close game was two private schools playing each other. 

Q: To Harry or WhiteSox: How's BR look in hoops this year. Contender, pretender?

[Harry Chappas]

13 hours ago, greg775 said:

I see almost all the private schools won their finals against public schools. I read O'Brien's story on how the Illinois state high school assn needs to fix some things. All but one game was a blowout and the close game was two private schools playing each other. 

Q: To Harry or WhiteSox: How's BR look in hoops this year. Contender, pretender?

No clue about BR hoops.

The IHSA needs to fix the way teams are moved up.  MC moves to 8A next year after they win one year they should move up after one not after winning three in a row.  Same with Nazareth.   There is also the multiplier and in the case of Depaul and St Laurence  enrollment growth that is not counted yet but will next year.  Brother Rice could be in 5A next year although they elect to move up in baseball so who knows.  Marist may be 6A but if that gets them ESL they may elect to move to 7A.  7A in some regards is easier than 6A. 

 

[Buehrle>Wood]

@greg775

Brother Rice #1 basketball team in the state right now.

https://www.maxpreps.com/il/basketball/rankings/1/?mobile=1

[greg775]

2 hours ago, Buehrle>Wood said:

@greg775

Brother Rice #1 basketball team in the state right now.

https://www.maxpreps.com/il/basketball/rankings/1/?mobile=1

Holy cow. The couple of games I watched they move the ball and shoot it pretty well.

[Harry Chappas]

On 12/27/2024 at 5:16 PM, Buehrle>Wood said:

@greg775

Brother Rice #1 basketball team in the state right now.

https://www.maxpreps.com/il/basketball/rankings/1/?mobile=1

They have a great coach.  Crazy how CPS is non existent.

[WhiteSox2023]

“No. 8 Brother Rice will lean on Illinois recruit King Liggins' leadership and CJ Gray's experience“

[greg775]

On 8/18/2025 at 8:59 PM, WhiteSox2023 said:

“No. 8 Brother Rice will lean on Illinois recruit King Liggins' leadership and CJ Gray's experience“

Thanks for posting. Sounds like the Crusaders have a chance to be competitive.

[WhiteSox2023]

Brother Rice beating up on Valpraiso 28-7 at the half.

EDIT:  43-19 final.  BR had their backups in at the end of the 3rd quarter.

Edited August 30 by WhiteSox2023

[greg775]

Wow. BR clobbers Marist at Marist, 35-0. I watched much of it with just the video no sound. Damn it looks like we have a team this year. Rice looked more like Mt. Carmel or Loyola in scoring at will and stuffing Marist. Maybe Marist is gonna have a down year or we're that good.

Some kid on Rice got hurt. I hope it's not your son as it was a lineman. Do u know who got hurt? Dan O'Brien didn't mention who it was but the game was delayed quite a while then he limped off with ostensibly a knee. I know we have a big kid who is an Illini signee. Rice rules. 2-0. It's been a while since Rice even beat Marist much less pounded 'em. QB looks good.

Edited September 6 by greg775

[WhiteSox2023]

11 hours ago, greg775 said:

Wow. BR clobbers Marist at Marist, 35-0. I watched much of it with just the video no sound. Damn it looks like we have a team this year. Rice looked more like Mt. Carmel or Loyola in scoring at will and stuffing Marist. Maybe Marist is gonna have a down year or we're that good.

Some kid on Rice got hurt. I hope it's not your son as it was a lineman. Do u know who got hurt? Dan O'Brien didn't mention who it was but the game was delayed quite a while then he limped off with ostensibly a knee. I know we have a big kid who is an Illini signee. Rice rules. 2-0. It's been a while since Rice even beat Marist much less pounded 'em. QB looks good.

Yeah, other high school’s live YouTube game feeds make you appreciate that Brother Rice TV actually has some kids doing the commentary and sideline reporting, as cheesy as it is.  Other schools just have a live video feed and no audio other than game noise.

BR is legit this year.  My son (#69) is back from his knee surgery early last season (torn ACL and meniscus) and starting at right guard.

It was already a blowout at half time, so I left the game to drive my younger son around and missed which BR player got injured.  I’ll find out later today once my older son wakes up.

The BR student section was all dressed in BR half shirts and cut off jorts.  Hilarious listening to them troll Marist with their own RedHawks chant.  The home crowd was silenced from Marist getting smoked in the earlier sophomore game as well.  Some videos…

https://vimeo.com/1116392262?fl=pl&fe=sh

https://vimeo.com/1116392881?fl=pl&fe=sh

https://vimeo.com/1116393669?fl=pl&fe=sh

Edited September 6 by WhiteSox2023

[WhiteSox2023]

No one got hurt bad on BR.  Just cramping.  A kid on Marist got hurt but not sure what the injury was.  Here’s the Sun Times recap…

https://chicago.suntimes.com/high-school-football/2025/09/06/brother-rice-football-marist-chicago

[greg775]

15 hours ago, WhiteSox2023 said:

BR is legit this year.  My son (#69) is back from his knee surgery early last season (torn ACL and meniscus) and starting at right guard.

Rice does a nice job of hiring good football and bball coaches. This football coach must do a good job of recruiting. I saw he had a comment on how the game meant alot "especially for the kids from the neighborhood." Hilarious how Catholic League schools recruit. I'd love to see where Loyola and MC are getting all their kids from, same with BR, Rita and Marist. I was pleasantly surprised at BR. They looked so much better than Marist on this night. Good luck to your son. Looks like both lines are good.

[greg775]

Man. We blew out St. Rita tonight on the road after smoking Marist on the road and winning the opener against Valpo. Folks, we got a team this year. If Rice can stay healthy, this is different. This Rice team is special. St. Larry (Laurence) and Rice appear to be the best teams on the South side. Whether we can beat Loyola or MC is anybody's guess but we are GOOD.

Edited September 13 by greg775

[WhiteSox2023]

7 hours ago, greg775 said:

Man. We blew out St. Rita tonight on the road after smoking Marist on the road and winning the opener against Valpo. Folks, we got a team this year. If Rice can stay healthy, this is different. This Rice team is special. St. Larry (Laurence) and Rice appear to be the best teams on the South side. Whether we can beat Loyola or MC is anybody's guess but we are GOOD.

My younger son just transferred from DGS to BR.  He’s much happier now and his team is way better.  The sophomore team was down 14-0 and came back to win 21-14.

Varsity absolutely owned St. Rita last night.  They really only have two tough games on their schedule the rest of the way which you mentioned — Loyola and Mount Carmel.  They should kill St. Laurence.  They are legit this year.  #69 is road-grading on the OL.  😉

And they don’t mess around.  Early morning Saturday practice after a dominating win…

Edited September 13 by WhiteSox2023

[greg775]

7 hours ago, WhiteSox2023 said:

My younger son just transferred from DGS to BR.  He’s much happier now and his team is way better.  The sophomore team was down 14-0 and came back to win 21-14.

Varsity absolutely owned St. Rita last night.  They really only have two tough games on their schedule the rest of the way which you mentioned — Loyola and Mount Carmel.  They should kill St. Laurence.  They are legit this year.  #69 is road-grading on the OL.  😉

And they don’t mess around.  Early morning Saturday practice after a dominating win…

Glad your son likes BR. I truly enjoyed it there except for the fact it was all boys. Back in the day the brothers (there were brothers then) had leeway to slap you as well. I have a good story about cross country on here if anybody wants to hear it, what happened at the Catholic League CC meet and a meet at Loyola to me. Humorous yet sorta sad (to me). Anyhow, if we can stay healthy this team is so good. Not so sure I like coach having a practice after pounding Rita, but he knows his team better than me. Hopefully he did a lot of congratulating of the kids cause after a win you should be able to celebrrate it 24 hours. Peace out. Any inside scoop on our QB? Is he special and can he stay healthy?

[WhiteSox2023]

BR is blowing out Loyola now.  BR is for real.  Lockdown defense, healthy strong OL, and a competent QB that can throw it and also burn a team for a 75 yard TD run, which he actually did tonight.  They need to swap their team rankings.  Pre-game had BR at #6 and Loyola at #4.  BR >>> Loyola.

 

Edited September 20 by WhiteSox2023

[WhiteSox2023]

Coach Q just pulled a Bud Kilmer from Varsity Blues and left the starters in until the very end of the game.

28-6 Brother Rice.

First win over Loyola for varsity BR since 2018.

This team is legit.

Edited September 20 by WhiteSox2023

[greg775]

1 hour ago, WhiteSox2023 said:

BR is blowing out Loyola now.  BR is for real.  Lockdown defense, healthy strong OL, and a competent QB that can throw it and also burn a team for a 75 yard TD run, which he actually did tonight.  They need to swap their team rankings.  Pre-game had BR at #6 and Loyola at #4.  BR >>> Loyola.

Holy cow. We are for real. I watched the third quarter. Rice was up by eight and not moving the ball and I was worried Q was gonna sit on the ball and try to run clock. Loyola finally got a 'drive' going and got it down to the 30. Rice held and took the ball over on downs. I said, 'I know that QB is good. I know he can run. If I were him this drive I'd run it myself.' Boom. He goes all the way for a rushing touchdown, we're up 15 early 4th and cruise in for the win. This team is different. We mauled Marist, beat Rita and now beat Loyola finally, a team year after year so much better than Rice talent wise. 

If ... Rice can stay healthy somehow, this team is special. Didn't see if any of the handful of major college guys made it thru the game healthy. But beating Loyola is big for Rice even if Loyola is down this year. 

 

[Buehrle>Wood]

Sounds like their DE will be a top ten prospect in the country 

[greg775]

56 minutes ago, WhiteSox2023 said:

Coach Q just pulled a Bud Kilmer from Varsity Blues and left the starters in until the very end of the game.

28-6 Brother Rice.

First win over Loyola for varsity BR since 2018.

This team is legit.

Don't like that. Just maybe, however, Q thought Loyola's starters were so much better than our third team fourth team depth chart guys they'd score in 2-3 plays and get some momentum. I mean 28-6 is not 44-6. If Loyola wants to say we ran it up, fine, but if Loyola's starters were in which I assume they were, I can 'sort of' see why Q would not empty the bench so to speak. Maybe the final drive of offense and/or defense you could put some subs in.

I'll give this Q guy credit. He came in from out of state and had to learn how to recruit players I'd guess and has figured it out. I'm assuming our major college guys are not from Mt. Greenwood, Oak Lawn area.

[WhiteSox2023]

25 minutes ago, greg775 said:

Don't like that. Just maybe, however, Q thought Loyola's starters were so much better than our third team fourth team depth chart guys they'd score in 2-3 plays and get some momentum. I mean 28-6 is not 44-6. If Loyola wants to say we ran it up, fine, but if Loyola's starters were in which I assume they were, I can 'sort of' see why Q would not empty the bench so to speak. Maybe the final drive of offense and/or defense you could put some subs in.

I'll give this Q guy credit. He came in from out of state and had to learn how to recruit players I'd guess and has figured it out. I'm assuming our major college guys are not from Mt. Greenwood, Oak Lawn area.

Trust me.  I didn’t like it either.  My son is coming back from a knee surgery.  I don’t need to see him f*** up another one playing in a meaningless 4th quarter blowout until the last second of the game.