Five opening round playoff games to watch

Lake Park (2-7) at Hinsdale Central (6-3)

After five years of writing five games to watch, there's something new you'll notice this week: those records by the teams aren't always gaudy, or even winning. As everyone knows by now, that's what happens when the playoff field expands by 128 teams. Lake Park is one of 18 playoff teams with two wins. But if the Lancers team that played Plainfield North, Wheaton North and WW South close shows up, it won't be easy in this 8A matchup for the Red Devils, who own an impressive Week 6 win over York.

Palatine (4-5) at Yorkville (4-5)

In looking for good opening round matchups, find teams who have played the toughest schedules. Yorkville qualifies as part of Southwest Prairie West, a conference that nobody finished worse than 4-5. Other than Waubonsie Valley, every team Palatine lost to had a winning record, and the Pirates — the biggest school in the 7A field — had a couple of nice victories over Kenwood and Hoffman Estates.

Glenbard North (3-6) at Hoffman Estates (5-4)

Part of what makes playoff football so fun is seeing which conferences emerge as the strongest. Here’s an early 7A battle between two of the best, the DuKane and MSL. There’s also plenty of individual talent on the field in this one led by Panthers senior Angelo Gatses, who rushed for 1,290 yards and 16 touchdowns and also is an impact player defensively. Logan Kramer, Riley Lennart, Braylin Scales and emerging QB Shion Dailey lead the Hawks who are 3-1 in their last four with wins over Fremd and Conant.

Warren (4-5) at Naperville Central (5-4)

On paper, this 8A matchup should be one of the best between two tradition rich programs who are no strangers to postseason success. The Redhawks beat who they were supposed to this fall, going 4-0 vs. teams under .500 and 1-4 vs. the ones .500 or better. That bodes well against Warren, except the Blue Devils were extremely young to start the season and have improved throughout, going 4-2 in their last six games with the two losses by four and two points.

Glenbard South (5-4) at Payton (5-4)

In Class 5A, we get the rare matchup between two teams with winning records. In fact, it's one of just nine games out of the 144 opening round matchups that pit teams both over .500. This is the 15th straight playoff appearance for the Raiders who did not beat a team with a winning record this year. Matchups against Lake Park, Glenbard East and West Aurora — all much larger schools than Glenbard South — should help the Raiders who hope to advance to a first round game next week at No. 1 seed and undefeated Antioch.