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The Hit List 2003

The "Hit List" is a quick look at numbers and stats from around the state.

End of Season

3
Number of losses by a title winning team .Galenacould be used as an example of why the IHSA added 2 more classes in 2001. They now join the ranks ofRichmond (R.-Burton)1992, Kankakee (McNamara) 1986, &Rockford (East) 1985, who all managed to win a title while finishing the season 6-3. A record which may have left out the Pirates had it been 3 years earlier. No team has ever won a State Title with 4 losses.

2
Number of conferences that had more than one team in the State Finals. While many could easily guess that the 5A & 6A Finals had East Suburban Catholic schoolsJoliet (Catholic)&Mundelein (Carmel). They might have over looked that Sangamon Valley had a team from it's Blue & White withGilman (Iroquois West)& LeRoy.

11
Total number of State Titles won byJoliet (Catholic), the most for any school in the state. While the Hilltoppers have finished as the best in their class 11 times since 1975, it's still a far cry from the 35 titles won by Washington HS in Sioux Falls, S.D. from 1905 to their last title in 1976. JC also now holds the record for most times appearing in a title game with 13.

4
Number of QBs who had over 300 yards passing. In a trend that may be signaling things to come, 4 teams featured serious passing attacks in last weekends state finals. While Sean Price ofPark Ridge (Maine South)& Jake Christensen of Lockport (Twp.) may not be that big of a surprise considering they're in 8A. The 305 yards byFairbury (Prairie Central) 's Dylan Ward, broke the 20 year old record of 280 yards held by Greg Bradshaw ofWoodstock (H.S.)in the 1983 finals.Gilman (Iroquois West)'s Kyle Tutts threw for 381 in his teams 2A victory. He set the mark for the weekend as well as the 2A Finals. Although he fell short of breaking the overall 2A record of 393, set by Sean Lyons of Byron vs. Taylor Ridge (Rockridge) in a semifinals game in 1994.

4,186
Total yards passed for by Dylan Ward of 4A Runner upFairbury (Prairie Central) this season. His 305 yards in the 4A State Finals game versusAddison (Driscoll)put him past the 4,052 yards of Dusty Burk, Tuscola , 1997 &
Steve Walker's 3,971 yards in 2002 for Lockport (Twp.). He's second only to Tim Brasic ofRiverside (R.-Brookfield) who's 4,644 yards in 2001 put him on top of the all time season list.

8
Number of Prep Bowls thatWilmette (Loyola Academy)has won. The Ramblers have yet to lose a game in the Public League vs. Catholic League game.

Playoff Preview

30
The number of years the IHSA has been conducting a state wide football playoff.

6
Number of schools who have made their first ever IHSA playoffs. Champaign (St. Thomas More),Edwardsville (Metro-East Lutheran), Hume (Shiloh), Pinckneyville ,Rockford (R. Christian)&Chicago (Steinmetz). Welcome to the show.

0
Number of combined playoff wins by the teams listed below. While all of these teams have been to the playoffs before, they've come up short handed every time and have yet to make it out of the first round. Here is a list of your 2003 teams who will be looking for their first playoff win.
1AArthur [A.-Lovington Coop],Aurora (A. Christian), Fisher, Hebron (Alden-H.),Palmyra (Northwestern) , Pecatonica &Woodhull (AlWood)
2A Virginia .
3ACarmi (C.-White County),Elgin (St. Edward), Elmwood [E.-Brimfield Coop] & Litchfield.
4A Clinton &Wood River (East Alton-W.R.)
5AChicago (Corliss),Jacksonville (H.S.) &Streator (Twp.)
6A none
7AGrayslake (Central) ,Quincy (Sr.)&St. Charles (North)
8ANaperville (Neuqua Valley)
Virginia has the most attempts at winning. They've lost all 11 of their first round games.

26
Number of schools out of the 556 who currently have a football program & have never made the IHSA playoffs. Those schools are;Berwyn-Cicero (Morton) ,Cairo,Chicago (Agricultural Science),Chicago (Amundsen),Chicago (Austin),Chicago (Bowen),Chicago (DuSable), Chicago (Farragut) ,Chicago (Flower Vocational),Chicago (Hales Franciscan),Chicago (Harlan), Chicago (Juarez),Chicago (Kelly) ,Chicago (Kelvyn Park) ,Chicago (Kennedy) ,Chicago (Lincoln Park) ,Chicago (Orr),Chicago (Roosevelt) ,Chicago (St. Francis de Sales) ,Chicago (Wells),Chillicothe (Illinois Valley Central),Hillside (Proviso West), Oblong, Paris ,Toledo (Cumberland)&Westchester (St. Joseph)

Week #10

26
Number of schools who currently have a football program who have never made the IHSA playoffs. Those schools are;Berwyn-Cicero (Morton) ,Cairo,Chicago (Agricultural Science),Chicago (Amundsen),Chicago (Austin),Chicago (Bowen),Chicago (DuSable), Chicago (Farragut) ,Chicago (Flower Vocational),Chicago (Hales Franciscan),Chicago (Harlan), Chicago (Juarez),Chicago (Kelly) ,Chicago (Kelvyn Park) ,Chicago (Kennedy) ,Chicago (Lincoln Park) ,Chicago (Orr),Chicago (Roosevelt) ,Chicago (St. Francis de Sales) ,Chicago (Wells),Chillicothe (Illinois Valley Central),Hillside (Proviso West), Oblong, Paris ,Toledo (Cumberland)&Westchester (St. Joseph)

Week #9

6
Number of schools who have a chance this week to make their first ever IHSA playoffs. For some of those teams it will come down to the records of the teams they've beaten or the records or teams in their conference. Either way the most important thing for these 6 teams is that they win in week 9. Those schools are ;Bunker Hill, Champaign (St. Thomas More),Edwardsville (Metro-East Lutheran), Hume (Shiloh), Pinckneyville &Rockford (R. Christian).Chicago (Steinmetz), not included has with the other 6 has already claim a birth for the 2003 IHSA playoffs.

2X
2X; as in twice as many points allowed. One of this weeks Big Game match ups is between two undefeated teams, Concord (Triopia) & Greenfield. One might think Greenfield would be a huge underdog when given the fact that their defense has allowed twice as many points as Triopia's, but then again how would your team stack up against the multiplication tables on a team that has allowed only 20 points all season. Greenfield has only allowed 43.

4
Number of games featuring teams that are undefeated playing against another undefeated team. Meaning that by the end of this weekend there will be four less undefeated teams, possibly helping out the case of some of the lower seeded undefeated teams. Check out "The Big Game" for game previews.

98
Number of slots still open for this years Road to Champaign. There a 162 teams who still have a shot at making the Dance. Have you perfected your moves for week 9 yet.
Below is a list of some of the teams who may surprise you by not having a spot on someone's dance card
.

School Surprise factor
6A State Champs
8A runner-up
4A Runner-up last 2 years
8A semi finalist lost by a point to Stevenson last year.
7A quarterfinals was their only loss last year. Has tons of returning talent
2 points stopped this team from making the 1A finals last year
School with the most active NFL player in the country, has plenty of talent now.
Elmhurst (Immaculate Conception) 4-4 3A State Champs
CPL team has made 19 of the 29 playoffs

 

Week #8

362
Total points scored by the Carthage Blue Boys through week 7. The most by any team so far.

13
Total points scored on Concord (Triopia) so far this season. The least amount of points given up by any team so far. Triopia started the season off by shutting out their first 5 opponents.

109
Number of teams that have already clinched a birth for the 2003 IHSA Playoffs.

147
Number of positions still open. Hello all you 5-4, 4-3 & 3-4 teams, this means you.

1-6
The worst record of the teams who could still claim a playoff spot, held by Westmont of the Suburban Prairie (East) conference. Ok, get your calculators out. If Westmont beats Bensenville (Fenton) & then Riverside (R.-Brookfield) and Fenton loses week 9 along with Evergreen Park who must at least lose to Elmwood Park in week 8 along with R-B loosing to Norridge (Ridgewood) week 8 & Ridgewood beating Elmwood week 9, which should create a 5 way conference tie between Bensenville (Fenton), Riverside (R.-Brookfield) , Elmwood Park , Evergreen Park & Westmont for the conference title, where the conference champ gets the automatic bid to the playoffs. But since only one team from a CO-championship in a conference is guaranteed a bid, it would come down to playoff points. So we suggest you just trust the IHSA on this one and check in after week 9 to see if Westmont pulled it off.

Week #6

74
Number of points scored by Freeport (H.S.) 5-0, in it's 74-7 massacre of Northern Illinois (NIC-9) conference foe Rockford (Auburn) 0-5. While 74 points is far from the state record (past or modern day), if those points had been spread out across the season, the Pretzels would still be 5-0 since nobody has scored more than 12 points in a game against them.

0
Number of points that Concord (Triopia) has allowed so far this season. Concords' 5 shutouts are the best in the state, followed only by Chicago (Harper) who has four shutouts. While the defensive feat is impressive, Triopia also has yet to face a team with a winning record. The Trojans may continue their defensive ways, but will be up for a challenge in week 8 & 9 as the play currently 5-0 teams Palmyra (Northwestern) & Greenfield.

30
Number of playoffs points by #13 Chicago (St. Rita), the most by any undefeated team in the state. What does that mean? They haven't made it to 5-0 by beating up on a bunch of nancies.

14
Playoff points for #2 Chicago (Hubbard), the smallest playoff point total for any undefeated team. What does it mean? Well, maybe their schedule isn't as tough as it was suppose to be or they been playing a bunch of nancies.

260
The highest total number of points scored by a team so far this season. Chicago (Harper) is blazing the endzone while they are also keeping others out of it. The Cardinals have allowed only 8 points so far this season. Giving them a 50.4 point differential, the best in the state through week 5.

Week #5

1-1
2-2
66-66

The combined numbers for Kankakee (Sr.) . Who after 4 weeks of play is dead even in it's standings. One win, one loss in the conference. Two wins, two losses overall & 66 points scored with 66 points scored against. The playoff points total is 16 in case anybody wanted to do the square root thing.

4
Number of years it's been since Streator (Woodland) has won a game. That all came to an end Friday Sept. 19 when the Warriors beat Chenoa 36-8. Ending the streak at 30 games.

Week #4

485 Passing yards / 6 TDs
While that may sound like a nice set of numbers for any high school QB after three games, it will only add up to one game for #14 Riverside (R.-Brookfield) 's Britt Davis (IHSFW.com's Athlete of the Week). Davis who had an incredible day in the Bulldogs upset over then 8th ranked Morris is the second year starting QB for what has become known as the Otto Zeman show. That show is otherwise referred to as a 5 receiver no back set. Sometimes playing catch isn't nice. Well, if you're a Bulldog opponent.

17-1
The combined record of all 6 Chicago Catholic (Blue) teams at the end of week 3. Chicago (Brother Rice) , Chicago (DeLaSalle) ,Chicago (St. Rita), New Lenox (Providence) & Wilmette (Loyola Academy) are all 3-0. Meanwhile the lone CMC Blue loss is attributed to Illinois football powerhouse Chicago (Mt. Carmel), who suffered an overtime upset to previously unranked Evanston (Twp.) in week #2. Look for that number to possibly climb to 23-1, with all the above teams playing nonconference games again this week. This may set up an interesting precedent for Illinois as they could most likely be the first conference to have every team make the playoffs.

Week #3

2-0 & 0-2
While there are quite a few teams that have gone undefeated & more who haven't won a game yet, nowhere is that more night & day than the Mid-State (Large) & Mid-State (Small). Weeks 1 & 2 are all cross divisional games, which left the Large on top. All 6 teams in the Large won both of their non-conference cross divisional games between the Small team. Leaving them a combined 12-0 & the Smalls 0-12.

16
Yards running back Quentin Cooper ofChicago (Englewood), was short of breaking the all time single game rushing mark in Illinois. Set by Billy McClure, of Maroa (M.-Forsyth) in 1986. Cooper scored seven touchdowns for the Eagles (1-1) in a 60-28 victory overChicago (Amundsen)(0-2). The rushing mark however is a new Chicago Public League record, eclipsing the previous mark of 404 byChicago (Hyde Park)'s Andre Kelly.

Week #2

63
The number of consecutive losses by theSavanna (West Carroll)football team, which is a state record, previously held by the 47 losses ofPeoria (Woodruff), 1965-69. The Indians were still far from the national mark of 82 Glascock County, in Gibson, Ga. (1990-99). That number will remain the same for the time being as Savanna no longer has it's own football program as of 2003. However players from Savanna got their first taste of victory as theMt. Carrollteam they are co-opted with got it's first win of the season 49-14 over Warren .

Preseason

1475 lbs.
Combined weight of 4 of theBelleville (West)linemen. Seniors Craig Hurley (6'3 338), Phil Hudson (5'11 364), Tony Melching (6'3 365) & sophomore Jared Judy (6' 408).

32
Number of teams that aren't able to qualify for the IHSA playoffs, that the IHSA included in it's projected class outlook for 2003. See who can't qualify & who it affects. (read more..)

 

Past Hit Lists
2002 / 2000 / 2001

 

 

 

 

 

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