Friday night football: Lincoln-Way East at Batavia leads Week 2's games to watch
With games like St. Charles North's 37-34 win over Palatine, Barrington upsetting Warren 40-33, and Buffalo Grove throwing a 2-point conversion to beat Hoffman Estates 29-28 in Week 1 - just to name a few - our second week of Friday night lights has a tough act to follow.
But we'll try.
Here's five games to keep an eye on tonight.
Lincoln-Way East at Batavia:
Batavia has hosted all kinds of big nonconference, regular season and playoff games at Bulldog Stadium through the years - and it's hard to think of one much better than this.
It's a matchup of arguably the two best public schools in the state last year; Lincoln-Way East made it to the 8A title game and lost to Loyola; Batavia did the same in 7A and lost to Mt. Carmel.
The Bulldogs traveled to Lincoln-Way East last year and got off to a dreadful start in a 31-16 loss. They will look to get even behind returning QB Ryan Boe and what promises to be an electric atmosphere.
Prospect at Barrington:
The Broncos, who had their 12-year playoff streak snapped last year, showed 2023 is shaping up much differently when they pulled off one of the best wins in Week 1 over Warren - ranked No. 5 in the preseason state rankings.
Barrington quarterback Nick Piepert threw for 258 yards and 3 touchdowns against a tough Warren defense; he'll have another challenge Friday vs. Prospect's unit who held Lyons to 10 points last week. Junior RB Noah Easter sparked the Knights offense.
Grayslake North at Mundelein:
It's always fun to get a pair of 1-0 teams squaring off, and that's what we have here. The Mustangs used a balanced offense in a convincing Week 1 win over Grant while Grayslake North - coming off a 9-win season - also started quick behind QB Danny McNelly's pair of passing TDs with a third score on the ground.
South Elgin at Glenbard East:
It's only Week 2, but there's a good chance this is the game that decides the Upstate Eight Conference - along with whatever these two teams do against Glenbard South.
The Storm have won 25 straight in the UEC with four conference championships in a row. They beat the Rams 22-6 last year - and that 16-point margin was South Elgin's closest while once again going 9-0 in conference.
Storm junior quarterback Jack Ginnan debuted with 4 touchdown passes in the first quarter last week; junior receiver Ishmael George caught 3 of them.
Not to be outdone, Glenbard East senior quarterback Blake Salvino tossed 4 touchdown passes in the second quarter of the Rams' 42-0 win over Larkin.
Loyola at Naperville North:
What a cool nonconference game for the Huskies, who looked good last week in a 35-21 win over Homewood-Flossmoor.
Now they get the defending 8A state champs, quarterbacked by Ryan Fitzgerald (son of former Northwestern coach Pat Fitzgerald). The last time these proud programs met? That would be the 1992 Class 6A state championship game, won by the Huskies, 21-11.
Naperville North junior QB Jacob Bell threw 3 touchdown passes last week; the Huskies scored 28 points in the second half to break open a 7-7 halftime tie.
For much more on these matchups and the rest of the area action, visit football.dailyherald.com.