Bracket breakdown: Ranking the best matchups of Round 2

Halloween playoff weekend has ended and we're all a little disappointed neither team hit triple digits in the Quincy vs. Goode festival of offense.

Quincy beat Goode 88-84 on Friday, in what was the highest-scoring game in Illinois high school football history. There was room for more end zone action, though, since Goode led 60-59 at halftime.

This game was so eventful, it had to be played in two stadiums. It began at Goode's home field, which does not have lights. With all the scoring, the skies darkened to the point where the teams could not continue. So the game was suspended with 3:42 left in the fourth quarter and moved to the Englewood STEM field, which does have lights.

The final 3:42 was a bit of a letdown, since Quincy recovered an onside kick and ran out the clock. No more touchdowns.

Even though Goode couldn't bring it home, it was still a very good showing for the Public League last weekend, with Morgan Park, King, Kenwood, Lane Tech and Simeon all getting wins against suburban teams.

Anyway, it's on to Round 2 and this will be the best weekend of the playoffs, with a high number of great matchups.

For a change of pace in the bracket breakdown, let's try predicting which Round 2 games will be the most competitive, most likely to go to overtime, in ranked order:

1. St. Ignatius at Maine South, Class 8A: Could be a clash of contrasting styles. Maine South generally became a state power by throwing the ball better than most teams and has Indiana commit Jameson Purcell at quarterback. St. Ignatius tends to keep it on the ground with sophomore Nino Capuano. The Wolfpack has played a much tougher schedule, but Maine South didn't let Central Suburban League competition prevent it from winning six state titles.

2. St. Rita at Downers Grove North, Class 7A: Another private-public, city-suburban mashup. DGN might have the best defense in the Chicago area, and it needs to keep the game low-scoring to win. St. Rita has been mostly balanced — pass, run, offense, defense — the Mustangs are solid all-around, and they won the brutal CCL Green. The winner will certainly be favored in the quarterfinals against Richards or Glenbard North.

3. Montini at Morris, Class 4A: The IHSA playoffs always feature some playoff games that happen much sooner than they should, and this is a textbook example. Montini has Miami-bound quarterback Izzy Abrams and played a tough schedule in the CCL Green. Meanwhile, junior quarterback Marion Persich is trying to revive the Morris mystique, and the undefeated Warriors' most competitive game was a 17-point win over Simeon. The winner here is a lock to get downstate, right?

4. Providence at Morgan Park, Class 5A: Providence just played one of those too-soon playoff matchups against Kankakee and won 35-20. The Celtics get to do it again and face the best team in the Public League. For anyone who doubts Morgan Park's ability to compete with the area's best, take a look at Week 1 when the Mustangs lost to Downers North 17-12 and probably should have won.

5. Lyons at Bolingbrook, Class 8A: There's an easy way to handicap the Western suburbs — every team in the West Suburban Silver or DuKane is really good, with a few exceptions. That means Lyons should be ready for anything. Bolingbrook started with a rough loss to Homewood-Flossmoor, recovered with a quality win over Oswego, and pounded a lot of OK to decent teams. This is one where it's not completely clear what to expect.

6. Homewood-Flossmoor at New Trier, Class 8A: Some may be seeking a true quality win by New Trier, but look at Week 1. The Trevians blew out Naperville North (45-13), which won the DuPage Valley and is still playing. Homewood-Flossmoor has some nice victories (Bolingbrook, Sandburg) and passes the eye test, especially with a defensive line led by Wisconsin commit David Hill.

7. Glenbard West at Hersey, Class 7A: A storyline since early this season was Glenbard West not having its usual hard-hitting defense because of so many injuries. So what hope do the Hilltoppers have of slowing down Hersey's Arlington Express, led by Kentucky commit Jake Nawrot at quarterback? Not much, but the Huskies didn't play a particularly tough schedule this season. Glenbard West did, with the usual suspects in the West Suburban Silver, plus St. Rita in nonconference. Maybe that will be an equalizer.

8. York at Loyola, Class 8A: York was completely off the radar after losing to Oak Park and Hinsdale Central in consecutive weeks. Then the Dukes turned around and beat DGN, Glenbard West and Lyons the next three weeks before pounding two playoff opponents. Has York improved to the point where it's a threat to No. 3 Loyola? It will be interesting to find out.

9. Notre Dame at Libertyville, Class 6A: Notre Dame is well down the list of the most threatening teams from the Catholic League. But the North Suburban wasn't particularly strong this year, and with Libertyville's best player, Texas-bound tight end Brock Williams, likely out with a shoulder injury, this could be a toss-up.

10. Cary-Grove at King, Class 5A: King has been solid all year. Cary-Grove seems to be a couple steps down from recent state championship level. So this is another shoulder-shrug matchup. King reached the quarterfinals last year by beating two Chicago teams. Can the Jaguars make a return trip against suburban competition?

Deeper thoughts: Batavia at Brother Rice in 7A will either be a Crusaders blowout or the craziest game anyone has seen since Quincy-Goode. Batavia is in the argument with Mount Carmel and Hersey for the area's best set of offensive skill players.

Barrington had a nice Round 1 win at Sandburg and has won seven straight after an 0-4 start. The Broncos are probably too one-dimensional on offense to give Mount Carmel a serious scare this week.

Hard to believe Naperville North hadn’t won a playoff game since 2010 until edging Fremd on Friday. The Huskies went 0-2 against Oswego during the drought, and facing the Panthers again with junior running back Ammar Banire back from injury will be a chore.

The toughest game to predict might be Burlington Central at Harlem — two schools from 10-team leagues that don't play nonconference games in the regular season. The Rockford schools haven't fared very well in recent playoffs, and Harlem trailed St. Charles East well into the fourth quarter in Round 1.

Glenbard North should be the biggest fan of playoff expansion. The Panthers have won twice after going 3-6 in the regular season. This week's bold prediction is Glenbard North plays on by beating Richards.

If any schools have reason to dislike playoff expansion, it's the ones that drew St. Francis or Nazareth in the early rounds. Both CCL Green teams finished 4-5 and would have missed the playoffs in the old format. Now they've both won twice in the postseason. Expect both to win again this week.