Five second-round high school football playoff games to watch

Downers Grove North (8-2) at Glenbard West (9-1)

There’s a lot to like in the second round of the IHSA football playoffs starting with this matchup of West Suburban Silver rivals. The Hilltoppers won the first matchup 35-21, but the Trojans were playing without Minnesota-bound QB Owen Lansu. He’s back, and he helped the Trojans to a hard-fought 28-21 win last week over an excellent Prospect team. The Hiltoppers had a much easier time of it scoring 63 points against Willowbrook last week. The many highlights included Jamarcus Kelly rushing for 103 yards and four touchdowns.

Carmel (8-2) at St. Charles North (9-1)

There’s going to be a lot of high-end talent on the field Saturday night in St. Charles in a game that weather might come into play. Nebraska recruit Trae Taylor leads Carmel, up to 3,302 yards and 36 touchdowns this season after throwing for 371 yards and 4 touchdowns against Normal last week. Northwestern recruit Keaton Reinke, a game-changer at wide receiver, leads the North Stars, though he missed last week’s first-round win.

Lyons (8-2) at Fremd (9-1)

The Vikings haven’t been to the state quarterfinals since 2009. They also haven’t lost this year with Northwestern commit Johnny O’Brien in the lineup at quarterback. One of those two things will change Friday in Palatine against the Lions, who got to this spot with two last-minute wins over York the past two weeks.

Prairie Ridge (10-0) at St. Francis (7-3)

Moving to Class 5A, we have another intriguing public vs. private school matchup like the Carmel/St. Charles North game. These teams met in the playoffs last year with the Spartans winning 30-21. If the Wolves avenge the loss Saturday afternoon, you can bet mobile quarterback Luke Vanderwiel will be a main reason why — he’s rushed for 1,627 yards and 28 touchdowns this season. St. Francis counters with a dangerous aerial attack with WRs Zach Washington, Tanner Glock and Dario Milivojevic who all caught TDs in last year’s win over the Wolves.

Hersey (8-2) at Richards (9-1)

The seeds in this Class 7A matchup don’t look great for the Huskies, their No. 16 vs. No. 1 Richards. But the Huskies are on some kind of a roll having won their last eight games by a 420-64 margin. Quarterback Jake Nawrot has set single season school records with 2,598 passing yards and 36 TDs. Running back Brandon Jenkins has set the Huskies’ career mark for rushing yards at 2,625. Games like this one is where playing 8A powers Warren and Barrington the first two weeks of the season can pay off for Hersey.