Games of the Week (IL – Week 8)

<!-- wp:paragraph --> <p><strong>Edwardsville vs East St Louis </strong></p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p>Edwardsville is entering Week 7 undefeated on the year. They have been very efficient on offense averaging astonishing 46 points per game. They are lead by SIU commit [player_tooltip player_id='271786' first='Jake' last='Curry']<strong> </strong>who has done a great job getting the ball to his playmakers. East St Louis on the other hand has been extremely dominate on the both sides of the ball shutting out the last 3 of the 4 opponents they've played. They are loaded with talent on both sides of the ball. Since entering conference play they have yet to be challenged. If Edwardsville is going to have a chance to stay in this game their offense has to find ways to move the ball and score on a stout ESL defense. </p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p>Key Players (Edwardsville): 2025 EDGE [player_tooltip player_id='830235' first='Iose' last='Epenesa'], 2024 QB [player_tooltip player_id='271786' first='Jake' last='Curry'], 2024 LB [player_tooltip player_id='259038' first='Dalton' last='Brown']</p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p>Key Players (East St Louis): 2024 DB LeonTre Bradford, 2024 QB [player_tooltip player_id='271286' first='Robert' last='Battle'], 2024 WR, 2024 WR [player_tooltip player_id='891209' first='Jesse' last='Watson']</p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p>Prediction: <em>East St Louis</em> - There is jus too much talent for Edwardsville to handle on both sides of the ball. East St Louis has the fire power to score every time they take the field on offense and a defense that has shown its dominance all year long. </p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p><strong>Barrington vs Palatine</strong></p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p>Both these teams are undefeated in Mid-Suburban West play so the winner of Friday's game will most likely walk away conference champions. Barrington will look to defend their home turf as well as their undefeated season against a very talented Palatine team. The Pirates dropped two very close games early on in the season to St Charles North and Maine South but they have been on a roll since then. They've had a lot of success in the run game leaning on Tulane commit [player_tooltip player_id='161321' first='Dominik' last='Ball'] as their workhorse back. </p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p>Key Players (Barrington): 2025 DB [player_tooltip player_id='919225' first='Hudson' last='Matiyow']. 2024 DE Devan Van Ness, 2024 WR [player_tooltip player_id='898676' first='Matt' last='Marusich']</p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p>Key Players (Palatine): 2024 RB [player_tooltip player_id='161321' first='Dominik' last='Ball'], 2025 DE [player_tooltip player_id='830236' first='Jaylen' last='Williams'], 2025 OL [player_tooltip player_id='831090' first='Parker' last='Brault']</p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p>Prediction: <em>Palatine</em> - Palatine has the ability to come in and establish run game throughout this game. That will slow down the high powered offense of Barrington limiting their offensive drives. </p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p><strong>Morton vs Dunlap</strong></p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p>Dunlap is coming off of a tough loss to a talented Washington team last week. In a game were they had too many self inflicted mistakes they will be looking to bounce back against undefeated Morton. Dunlap will need to lean on Sophomore [player_tooltip player_id='801700' first='Mack' last='Sutter'] their do-it-all quarterback. Morton has been lead by their Junior running-back [player_tooltip player_id='278896' first='Seandon' last='Buffington'] who has having himself a breakout season. </p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p>Key Players (Morton): 2025 RB [player_tooltip player_id='278896' first='Seandon' last='Buffington'], 2025 DE Ian Collins, 2024 QB Jude Hart</p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p>Key Players (Dunlap): 2026 QB/ATH [player_tooltip player_id='801700' first='Mack' last='Sutter'], 2024 WR Ryan Dietz, 2025 RB Kendall Netters</p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p>Prediction: <em>Dunlap</em> - I look for Dunlap to bounce back from last week and get back to playing to their capability with an upset win over Morton this week. </p> <!-- /wp:paragraph -->