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Naperville Central's seed was on the clock

The stories number in the hundreds.

Specifically, 256.

That's the number of prep football teams gearing up for the first round of the playoffs this weekend, including 14 in DuPage County.

This week's edition of Eyes on Five looks at a few of the local stories.

1. Where's the point?:

Naperville Central went through much of Saturday assuming, based on its 44 playoff points, it'd be seeded 12th in Class 8A.

By Saturday night, things changed.

The IHSA assigned the Redhawks 43 playoff points, a figure representing the total number of wins by opponents on a team's schedule. It's a strength-of-schedule number used to determine seeds when breaking a tie among teams with the same record.

So where did the 44th point go? Look no further than Ohio.

Naperville Central lost to St. Edward from Lakewood, Ohio in Week 6, and the Eagles improved to 9-0 after a Saturday afternoon victory. That ninth win should have been the Redhawks' 44th playoff point, but the IHSA didn't count it.

Blame it on the Football Playoff Terms and Conditions: Rule VIII. Tournament Rules, H. Qualifications for Playoffs, 6. All games must be scheduled no later than 1 p.m. on the final Saturday of the regular season.

Saturday's St. Edward game started at 3 p.m. our time, meaning it was too late to be considered for playoff point consideration.

The impact was significant. Now seeded 13th, the Redhawks will play host to No. 20 West Aurora while the other affected team, Bolingbrook, moved up to No. 12 and faces Warren.

If Naperville Central got that 44th playoff point, it'd be tied with Bolingbrook in record and playoff points. The Redhawks would get the higher seed based on the next tiebreaker - total number of wins by defeated opponents.

Honestly, it's impossible to tell the difference one seed makes. Regardless, it's an antiquated rule that probably should be changed.

Given how quickly the Class 8A pairings are generated and the instantaneous nature of score reporting, 1 p.m. is too early a cutoff time.

2. Perfect storm:

All season long Glenbard West tiptoed between Class 8A and 7A. It's been that way for a few years.

As the regular season wound down, though, it looked pretty certain that Glenbard West was headed to 7A as the largest school in the class. When Lake Park, a definite 8A team, sealed its qualification in Week 8, the Hilltoppers seemed destined for 7A.

Then Friday night happened.

Numerous 8A-sized schools failed to qualify after Week 9 losses, allowing the Hilltoppers to move up and become the smallest of the 32 schools in Class 8A.

Four specific Friday games shifted Glenbard West's fate: Downers Grove South, Neuqua Valley, Waubonsie Valley and Zion-Benton all lost. All four would have qualified with a win, and only one needed to win to bump Glenbard West to 7A.

It's a major shift in power. Not that Class 7A is weak, but it'd sure be stronger with Glenbard West in it.

And Class 8A? Brutal before, and much more brutal with the addition of the Hilltoppers.

3. DVC vs. DKC:

Alas, Friday marked the end of DuPage Valley Conference football as we've come to know and love it.

Before the two groups of schools go their separate ways, it's interesting to note their regular-season success. From this year to next, it's bound to change.

Metea Valley, Naperville Central, Naperville North, Neuqua Valley and Waubonsie Valley are staying behind in the DVC. Only Naperville Central and Naperville North qualified for the playoffs, marking the first time since 2000 none of the District 204 schools reached the postseason.

Glenbard North, Lake Park, Wheaton North and Wheaton Warrenville South are leaving the DVC at the end of the school year to form the DuKane Conference with Batavia, Geneva, St. Charles East and St. Charles North. Six of those schools - Glenbard North, Lake Park, Wheaton North, Batavia, St. Charles East and St. Charles North - qualified for this year's playoffs.

It'll be near impossible for six of the eight DKC teams to qualify next year. Like most eight-team leagues, the cream will rise to the top and a few more might follow into the playoffs.

It'll be especially interesting to see who qualifies from the five-team DVC. They'll each be playing two conference teams twice, which will hurt everyone's playoff point total. Their nonconference schedules are brutally tough because all but Metea Valley struggled to find opponents.

Whether it's DVC or DKC, nothing will be easy for any of the 13 teams next season.

4. Friday or Saturday:

As soon as the playoff pairings are released by the IHSA Saturday night, coaches scramble to contact the opposition for two key reasons.

First, they want to take care of the film swap.

Second, they decide the date and time of the game.

Different schools have different priorities when it comes to playing Friday or Saturday. Do they want to stay in the Friday routine, or do they want the extra day of rest and preparation that a Saturday game provides?

Coaches like Naperville Central's Mike Stine would play Friday night all the way through the semifinals if he had the choice. He wants to save that extra day for as long as he can.

Glenbard West's Chad Hetlet, on the other hand, must play first-round home games on Saturday because Duchon Field doesn't have lights. And once you start playing Saturday, you definitely don't want to play future games on Friday.

Play a Saturday game, and you're stuck there until the Class 5A-8A title games on Saturday of Thanksgiving weekend.

Then there's IC Catholic Prep. The Knights play this Friday and, looking ahead, they'll likely remain there for another week.

But, like with last season's drive to the Class 3A title, eventually the Knights will get locked into Saturday play. That becomes dicey after the semifinals because the 3A final is on Friday.

If the Knights return to the 3A final, though, they'd gladly deal with the shorter week. It didn't seem to bother them last year.

5. Stat time:

DuPage County's longest playoff streak lives on as Montini made it into the postseason for the 25th straight year. One of the area's longest droughts, meanwhile, was broken when Lake Park qualified for the first time since 2009.

Impressive on both fronts, but not the most impressive in the state.

Stevenson (29) and Maine South (26) have longer playoff streaks than the Broncos, while eight schools broke longer playoff droughts than the Lancers.

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