A name for the games

I'll never forget what record-breaking Naperville Central running back Ryan Clifford told me in 1999 about what makes the quarterfinals special.

The playoffs finally have an identity, a name. No more first round or second round: it's "The Quarterfinals."

With Ryan's younger brother Kevin and his Redhawks teammates facing a Class 8A quarterfinal showdown against Simeon this weekend, Eyes on Five stares down the next round of the playoffs.

1. Valley strong:

Should we ever have doubted the DuPage Valley Conference?

Let's first acknowledge this was a down year for the DVC. With two playoff qualifiers and only one other team still competing for the postseason in Week 9, there's no way to view it as anything but a down year.

But now let's give credit where credit's due. Naperville Central (9-2) and Wheaton Warrenville South (7-4) have done a terrific job carrying the DVC flag this postseason.

Naperville Central, the defending Class 8A champion, beat a Chicago Catholic Blue powerhouse in Brother Rice and followed it up with Saturday's win over top-seeded Waubonsie Valley to avenge a season-opening loss. The Tigers are in the midst of a six-game winning streak - each needed for season survival - that's included upset playoff victories in Class 7A over Lincoln-Way North and Normal Community.

It's possible both runs come to an end this weekend when Naperville Central takes on Simeon and WW South plays Providence. Regardless of the outcomes, though, the DVC's proven yet again that it's always a tough out in the playoffs.

2. In the weeds:

Montini, St. Francis and other private schools lost a bit of their identity when the Suburban Christian Conference disbanded after last school year.

It hasn't taken long for the Broncos and Spartans to build a new identity in the Chicago Catholic Green.

Created to accommodate the addition of some of the former SCC schools, the Green has become a playoff force with Montini still alive in Class 5A, St. Francis in 6A and Fenwick (shifted this year from White to Green) in 7A. Marmion, also from the SCC, lost in the opening round as the Green's fourth qualifier among five schools.

Despite being a team with four straight state titles until last season's runner-up finish, Montini's somehow enjoyed the luxury of laying in the weeds thanks to three regular-season losses. St. Francis lost twice and Fenwick entered the playoffs with four losses, so it was easy to look past the Green in terms of its playoff potential.

Not anymore. Montini vies for a semifinal berth against Marian Central, another former SCC school, while St. Francis faces Hinsdale South and Fenwick takes on Libertyville.

3. 'Tis the region:

Of the 18 bylaw amendment proposals unveiled by the IHSA a couple weeks ago, one intrigued me the most.

All it'd do is completely overhaul the way football's regular season and playoffs operate.

Submitted by Sycamore Principal Tim Carlson, Proposal No. 10 seeks to create a football landscape similar to other states with regional formats. It's complicated, loaded with potential and probably doomed if presented for a membership vote.

Here's how it'd work:

Enrollment classifications, normally determined once the playoff field is set, would be known going into the season. The IHSA then would establish regions of eight, nine or 10 teams based on geography for each of the eight classes.

A Class 7A region, for example, might include Addison Trail, Batavia, Benet, Downers Grove North, Geneva, Glenbard West, West Chicago, Wheaton North, Wheaton Warrenville South and Willowbrook. Conferences as we now know them would no longer exist for football.

Qualifying for the playoffs would be simple. The top four teams in each region are in.

There are additional layers of the intricate proposal, such as how the IHSA determines non-region opponents in the regular season, qualification tiebreakers and playoff bracketing. We won't go into those details here because it misses the thrust of the argument.

If enacted, this proposal would end the conference jumping that's brought upheaval to the area. It'd also eliminate the hassles perennial powers face in scheduling nonconference games.

Not to be lost in the details is that every team would qualify based on competition against similar schools. No more beefing up on playoff points by beating significantly smaller schools with good records.

For the reasons mentioned above and more, I'd love to see a regional format enacted. I just don't see this version happening this year.

The entire state's football schedule would be determined by the IHSA. Not that the organization can't handle the responsibility, but are the schools ready to hand over that responsibility?

My guess is a bunch of people will look at this proposal with interest but won't be prepared to pull the trigger and vote for it if the opportunity arises in December.

There are just too many moving parts.

4. Spiked:

For prep sports nuts like us, things don't get much more exciting - or busy - than they did on Saturday.

Only thing is, it shouldn't have been that busy.

With only five football games last Friday, that meant 59 second-round playoff games taking place on Saturday. That's in addition to state boys and girls cross country and Class 2A and 3A championship boys soccer games.

Which really makes me wonder why girls volleyball plays its supersectional matches that same Saturday.

Now I realize girls volleyball has played on that Saturday for years and has thrived just fine. But it's easy to get lost in the shuffle while battling state cross country, state soccer and 59 playoff football games for attention.

It's a unique situation because no other team sport - not boys and girls basketball, baseball or softball, boys or girls soccer - plays its supersectional games on Saturday. It's always Monday or Tuesday. That includes boys volleyball, which plays its sectional finals (the match just before state) on Tuesday.

Take a look at the prep sports schedule early this week. Nothing on Monday, nothing on Tuesday.

If girls volleyball moved its supersectionals to one of those days, it'd command the full attention of the state. Fan bases wouldn't be split among four different sports and newspapers wouldn't struggle to provide coverage of the matches.

Can we please get this done?

5. Stat time:

Zero. That's the number of quarterfinal football games on Friday.

Has that every happened before? Maybe, but not in any season I remember. Thirty-two quarterfinal games this weekend, all on Saturday.

The seeds for a dormant Friday were sown in the opening round when only 30 of 128 games were played on Halloween. That number dwindled to five last Friday, and with each of those games paired in a bracket against teams playing on Saturday, that pretty much ended any hopes for Friday football this weekend.

So it looks like a state full of prep football fans needs something else to do on Friday.

Hey! How about watching some state girls volleyball matches?

Follow Kevin on Twitter @kevin_schmit