DuPage County football teams off to good start in playoffs

Not a bad start.

With condolences to a handful of DuPage County football teams, it was a pretty strong opening week to the playoffs around here.

It obviously gets much tougher in Round 2, but Eyes on Five believes more success looms on the horizon.

1. Ups and downs:

Ten of the 14 area playoff qualifiers won their opening-round games. And of the four losing teams, Benet and Metea Valley lost to fellow area teams.

Despite the disappointment also felt by Downers Grove South and Neuqua Valley after first-round losses, that's a pretty solid performance by the area as a whole. While programs like Glenbard West simply continued the first-round success they've enjoyed in past seasons, other teams needed to break a frustrating habit of falling in the opening round.

Addison Trail's victory over Lake Zurich was its first opening-round win since 2004. Hinsdale Central won a playoff game for the first time since advancing to the Class 8A final in 2008.

Hinsdale South hadn't won a playoff opener since 2005, but the Hornets' victory over Crystal Lake Central puts them a step closer to matching their quarterfinal run nine years ago.

DuPage County's playoff success historically depends on the success of the DuPage Valley Conference. Even though the league as a whole was down this season, Naperville Central and Wheaton Warrenville South both scored surprising victories to keep the DVC flag flying high.

Will the area's postseason surge continue this weekend? Last week's start might be a good sign.

2. Tall task:

What do we have to look forward to this weekend?

Without a doubt Montini's Class 5A showdown at Joliet Catholic (8-2) is the most-anticipated second-rounder involving DuPage County teams. This is the fifth time in the last six postseasons the perennial powers have met, and the Broncos (7-3) have won all four previous meetings.

Montini beat the Hilltoppers twice to win Class 5A championships. Three of the meetings were decided by a total of 5 points.

So, yeah, there's reason to believe this will be another great one.

The other game to keep tabs on is the rematch between Naperville Central (8-2) and Waubonsie Valley (9-1) in Class 8A. The Warriors won the first meeting 20-6 in the regular-season opener, but that seems like a lifetime ago for both teams.

Surprisingly, the rivals haven't met in the playoffs since 1993. Saturday's sure to be must-see football.

3. Tricked:

Judging by the weak crowds last Friday, a lot of folks were out trick-or-treating instead of attending playoff games.

While I'm sure there were decent Halloween crowds somewhere in the state, there were way too many open stadium seats around here. Not surprising, but a bit disappointing.

Most schools seemed to sense the scheduling conflicts because of the 128 total playoff games in the eight classes, only 30 were played on Halloween. The vast majority of contests waited until Saturday.

That's a significant difference compared to past seasons. Many teams open the postseason on a Friday so they can save the extra day of preparation and rest for further down the road in the playoffs. There are always a good number of Saturday opening-round games, but nowhere near what we saw last week.

One of the worst opening-round playoff crowds I've seen was in 2008 when favored Wheaton Warrenville South played host to underdog Downers Grove North. On Halloween - with few fans there to take notice - the Trojans upset WW South 8-7.

Six years later, not much changed last Friday at most sites. Halloween and prep football just don't seem to mix with the masses.

I give credit to teams like Naperville Central, though. The defending Class 8A champion not only played last Friday, but the Redhawks went with a 7:30 p.m. start time to stick completely to their normal schedule.

The size of the home crowd suffered because of it, but Naperville Central still moved on with a 34-21 come-from-behind victory over Brother Rice.

Hopefully, a bigger crowd awaits the Redhawks - and all the teams that endured smallish Halloween crowds - this weekend.

4. Proposed:

Among the 18 bylaw amendment proposals submitted last week to the IHSA by statewide principals, several would affect football in a major way.

This week we'll take a closer look at a couple of the more interesting proposals.

Proposal No. 7, submitted by Willowbrook Principal Dan Krause on behalf of the West Suburban Conference, eliminates the enrollment multiplier for non-boundaried schools based on the opinion that the multiplier has been "ineffective and irrelevant" because it's applied to only 10 percent of the IHSA membership. Instead, classification would be based on actual student enrollment.

In conjunction, Proposal No. 8 (also submitted by Krause) introduces the idea of creating separate state series for boundaried and non-boundaried schools. That'd mean the earth-shattering shift of separate tournaments for public and private schools.

While I don't think the proposal will be enacted - it's too drastic for the bulk of the membership to accept - there will be significant support, especially around here. Some public schools would love to see the change, thinking it'd diminish the impact private schools play in swaying athletes away from public schools.

One private school supporter who contacted me, however, took a different twist on the proposal.

If the proposal were enacted, the supporter suggested private schools would respond by withdrawing from the IHSA and forming their own athletic organization. And without having to adhere to IHSA rules and regulations, eligibility and recruiting suddenly becomes a completely different beast.

In other words do public schools really want to live in a world with self-regulated private-school athletic programs?

Didn't think so.

5. Stat time:

Metea Valley and Wheaton Warrenville South were two of 47 teams that entered the playoffs with 5-4 records.

While the Mustangs fell among the ranks of the 34 five-win teams that lost to higher-seeded opponents, WW South was one of 13 teams that overcame the odds by pulling out a 17-10 overtime win over Lincoln-Way North in the opening round in Class 7A.

None of the four 5-4 teams won in Class 8A, while half the eight five-win teams in 5A won their openers.

Follow Kevin on Twitter @kevin_schmit