Rivalries, clashes between top teams take center stage

High school football fans sometimes wish we could clone ourselves and be at several games at once on Friday nights.

No need this week. The unique Week 8 schedule in the Fox Valley offers the rare chance to take in a football tripleheader without triplicating your DNA.

There's an intriguing day-night doubleheader on Saturday and a couple of great games to choose from on Friday night. Let's start with a Friday rivalry game in the Big Northern East that comes with an unusual twist.

Hampshire (4-3, 3-0) has rebounded from an 0-3 start to win 4 straight. A victory at Burlington Central (2-5, 2-1) would virtually cinch the BN-E title and the playoff berth that comes with it. Hampshire would then have to beat Marengo (1-6) in Week 9 to claim the outright title.

But here's that twist: Central is no ordinary 2-5 team playing out the string. The Rockets can still make the playoffs in improbable fashion by winning the BN-E. They would have to upset Hampshire tonight, then beat visiting Harvard next week.

That's a tall order but if Central can pull it off, the likely result would be a three-way tie for the title between Central, Hampshire and Richmond-Burton, all at 4-1.

According to the league constitution, the first tiebreaker is head-to-head wins, which wouldn't determine the BN-E playoff representative in this scenario because Central would have beaten Hampshire, Hampshire beat R-B, and R-B beat Central. The second tiebreaker is points differential in conference games.

The Rockets have a ton of work to do before that second tiebreaker ever comes into play, like finding a way to cool a hot Hampshire team that has scored 115 points in its last 4 games. But having a glimmer of playoff hope gives Central added motivation in its homecoming game against its biggest rival.

"It is strange that we can be this deep in the year, not have the record we wanted to have and still be alive for postseason," Central coach Aaron Wichman said.

Strange yet beautiful at the same time.

While Central and Hampshire are doing battle, Huntley and Prairie Ridge will be duking it out for first place in the Fox Division of the Fox Valley Conference. Prairie Ridge (5-2, 3-0) is gunning for its third straight Fox Division title.

"No one's ever going to win the conference championship without going through Prairie Ridge, and rightfully so," Huntley coach Steve Graves said. "They're just a great team."

The Red Raiders aren't too shabby either. Huntley (7-0, 3-0) is enjoying one of the best seasons in school history behind a power running game that has amassed 2,477 yards this season, 354 yards per game.

"I think it'll be a heckuva game," Prairie Ridge coach Chris Schremp said. "They like to come out and pound it and grind it out on the ground, and we like to run our option and take what the defense gives us and move right along.

"This would be our third (title) in a row. Obviously, you want more, but when you have a chance to win a conference championship, you do that. We want that banner hanging in the gym again."

Cut to Saturday morning.

The football brunch begins at Elgin's Memorial Field at 11:30 a.m., when Elgin and Larkin vie for the Town Jug in the city's annual cross-town classic.

Larkin (3-4, 2-3 Upstate Eight) is still in contention for a playoff spot. The Royals have won 13 of the last 15 Town Jug games, including 6 straight.

Elgin (1-6, 1-3) comes in to this game on a high note after pasting East Aurora 47-13 for the Maroons' first victory under coach Dave Bierman, a 1981 Elgin graduate.

This game has a great back story. Bierman coached Larkin for the past three seasons and won the Town Jug for the Royals each year. When he left Larkin in the off-season to coach at his alma mater, Larkin sophomore coach Matt Gehrig landed the varsity job. Not only did Gehrig coach in Bierman's program, Bierman was also Gehrig's high school coach at Burlington Central in the mid 1990s.

Saturday will mark the first time Bierman has been on the mentor end of a mentor-student coaching matchup. When at Burlington Central in the 1990s, he once coached against St. Edward and coach Jim Hoffman, under whom Bierman learned as an assistant at Elgin. Bierman was also an assistant to Dick Stephens at Elgin and later led a DeKalb team against Stephens' teams at Bartlett.

"This is the first time I've been on the other end. I guess that's what happens when you get old," Bierman said. "It's always fun, and that's one of the great things about this business, the relationships you build and being able to compete against each other."

The winner gets Town Jug No. 2. The original had no space left for scores and was retired after last season.

The weekend of football concludes with a doozy, an intersectional clash between heavyweights Bartlett (7-0) and Thornton (7-0) at Millennium Field in Streamwood at 6:30 p.m.

Bartlett is ranked No. 4 in The Associated Press Class 8A poll, Thornton No. 9

Why a Saturday night game? It's the one weekend of the season when the three District U-46 schools that play at Millennium Field - Streamwood, South Elgin and Bartlett - all play home games. South Elgin hosts Waubonsie Valley on Friday night, Streamwood hosts Neuqua Valley at noon on Saturday, and Bartlett gets the spotlight to itself in a rare Saturday evening game.

That works out just fine for football fans interested in seeing one of the best nonconference matchups in the state this season. Both teams are loaded with talent. There could be seven, eight, nine future Division-I players on the field, depending on how recruiting eventually shakes out.

The Thornton spread offense, led by versatile quarterback Darren Jones, can explode at any time. The Wildcats were getting shut out last week by T.F. South (5-2), but they scored 3 touchdowns in the game's final 10:01 to rally for an 18-14 victory.

Jones is coveted by at least six Big Ten schools, including Illinois, and he has playmakers like speedy receiver Jamal Gray and Illinois-bound fullback Greg Fuller to keep defenses honest.

It's the perfect test for Bartlett, which has already clinched a share of the Upstate Eight Conference title. The Hawks have pointed to a deep playoff run as their ultimate barometer for success this season. To play deep into November, Bartlett will have to beat talented teams like the Wildcats.

"If we can keep their offense off the field, we might have a chance," Bartlett coach Tom Meaney said. "These guys are just amazing with some of the things they do."

So, there you have it, football fans. Your choice of 3 football games in 24 hours with nary a spliced gene.