Shows how much you know. Fitzgerald was out when St. Francis beat them. That’s a HUGE difference, sport!
Loyola absolutely struggled without him.#1 in the state?
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Loyola absolutely struggled without him.
Oh I am well aware he was out, but Franny beat the 8a champs so you should give them their due respect no? and ESL played Loyola week 1 of the season...also a HUGE difference, sport.Shows how much you know. Fitzgerald was out when St. Francis beat them. That’s a HUGE difference, sport.
The week 1 factor comes into play in close games, not blowouts. It was week 1 for ESL as well. Are you okay? You’re really struggling at this.
Naz, right? Please clarify
There has been ZERO struggle on my part. The struggle has been in the attempt to continue to move the goalposts so that ESL can be considered #1.
Just to recap:
We went from talking about ESL being #1 in 2025 with multiple losses and playing inferior competition to
"What about last year 2024 when we beat the same team a 5A school beat?"
Since when does enrollment equal greatness? I hate the narrative that you have to play in the top class to be considered the best team when classes are based solely on how many kids are in a school. By that logic Mt. Carmel couldn't be considered the best team in the state for any year they were in 7A.
Of course, it's an all boys private school in Chicago that's fighting constantly to keep the doors open so they depend on donations but they don't take donations to cover the extremely high costs to fly 80 players and 20 plus staff members to Florida, Texas or New Jersey. They pass the hat to the parents to help cover the costs for luxury buses to certain games. I know this for a fact because I've put money in that hat from when my boys played. They did take a bus to Ohio this year. So no, nobody is writing them a check to play against IMG and they aren't using fundraising donations for that, they have other pressing expenses. Playing in the CCL is competition enough.
I'm guessing that if MC were to ever step up and schedule a national power the Father's Club would find a way to make travel possible.
Any given year any given week take a look at the top 10 and tell me how many are 7 and 8A schools. When you have thousands of kids to find 11 athletes and kids transfer to you from Bolingbrook on their way to USC, you are going to be pretty great.
let’s not pretend like the perennial champs in 1-6a are beating 7 or 8a champs consistently. Maybe once or twice but for the most part the bigger the class the better the football.
Way to deflect. A whole lot of words and you made no attempt to actually answer either of my two very straightforward questions. Your stance on ESL, while illogical, is clear. But will you answer those two questions? Can you answer those two questions?
Since you decided to ask some questions of your own in response to a question, Ill lead by example and do what you seem to be unwilling to do. The reason the losses to BG, IMG, BC etc are "overlooked" is because no other school in Illinois played 3 teams ranked as highly as either of those 3. Do you think a week 2 loss to Gorman should be weighted the same as a week 2 loss to Burlington Central?
And this is not living in the past. Your logic is because ESL is 6a they cant be #1. Which was the case last year as well. Its a question to see how well your logic holds up.
Why go play and lose to a national powerhouse when they are challenged each week here in the CCL/ESCC?
If the catholic league was as weak of a conference I’m sure they’d start looking for teams to be battle tested. However there is no need to do so as 8 of their fellow conference mates are playing this weekend. How many of ESL’s conference members are still playing?
Atleast be factual in your criticism. ESL does not play down 2 classes. They actually play up one class. Something almost no other public schools do and many private schools have petitioned not to do. Did you knock MC for never opting to play in 8a until they were forced to?
Exactly. He skates around that fact and uses olympic level mental gymnastics to try and hold on to his point.
As a member of the Fathers Club for many years, no we would not. That would be a lot of hot dogs and brats. As I've said out of 600 boys 425 don't have anything to do with Football. It's not all about football and neither is the Fathers Club. Our yearly Fight Night Fundraiser goes towards the entire school and furthering our Fathers Club. Listen if some rich donor wants to come in with a large check and say it's for MC to play at IMG and only that then I'm sure MC would take it but it hasn't happened yet.
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Lol what a clown post. You spend all morning shitting on 6a competition. And now you want to act like you are impressed by all those CCL teams playing in the 4a-6a playoffs? If things play out as expected and ESL beats St. Laurence and Fenwick/Naz by margins greater than MC for example, will that change your opinion?
Yeah those games against Iggy and Benet really stand out. And since your all in favor of size mattering then JCA, Naz, and Fenwick lose some luster too.
It's funny how it's all about bigger being better until you get to the MC schedule then it's all about the conference, regardless of size.
Listen MC has 16 Titles. They have won in numerous classes. They have beaten powerhouse teams, they have a storied tradition and their resume speaks for themselves. They don't back away and don't have to explain anything, they earned the accolades. They last lost to ESL in 1987 and are 6-0 against them since. They got called out after a back and forth at the Bears game where they honored the State Champs and played them in 2023 and won. Rumor is they will open up with each other the next two years. Great!! Will be awesome games between two of the States best. I'll take MC!
Would love to see that. Hope both schools can make it happen.
Who will be the best team in the state in 2027, can we start arguing about that?
To an objective observer, the point is that if both a 5A team and a 6A team can convincingly defeat the eventual 8A state champion in the same season, then perhaps the classification in which a school plays should not be the primary factor in determining which team might be the best in the state in any given year. Consideration should be given to the possibility that the best team might not be an 8A team. You seem to reject that possibility out of hand, which suggests you are not an objective observer and, therefore, that your views on this topic should be dismissed as unimportant.
Personally, I think you are smarter than that. You may want to step away from your subjective bias and try to develop a method for evaluating team ability across classification levels.
That’s why they need to be in the Blue the next few years. To be properly challenged.
Only plays in 6A. Doesn't qualify.
Not quite on topic, but what is the official rule with ESL not being able to play in 8A? I was telling someone ESL is "forced" to stay in 6A because of their conference rules, but the person I was telling was saying, no way...it is up to IHSA what division someone is in (example, MC was told they had to be in 8A this year vs. 7A the last few years).
Anyone have a link to something that describes it? Appreciate it!
FWIW; I'd put my money on MC vs. ESL. I've gone to the last few MC vs. ESL games and even when I've believed ESL would win....MC just has their number.
Anyone have a link to something that describes it? Appreciate it!
FWIW; I'd put my money on MC vs. ESL. I've gone to the last few MC vs. ESL games and even when I've believed ESL would win....MC just has their number.
ESL, while enjoying the same success as MC and Naz and JCA for that matter are not subject to the "Punish Successful Privates" Rule So your friend is half right. MC is forced to play up ESL gets the blind eye turned its way....in more ways than one.
If MC and EAL play next year, it will be a peak year for Flyer with they talent they have coming back. I know MC returns some, but I am not sure they have as much next year as two years ago or this year.
Right, but I was under the impression ESL couldn't request to play up in 7A or 8A even if they wanted? Was I wrong in thinking this?
Their conf wont let them petition play up. With regards to the IHSA, they may require you play up a class or two based on different success factors but that only applies to non-boundaried schools. The IHSA requires that ESL not play in any class lower than 5a (their actual enrollment). ESL petitions to play up in 6a. The Southwestern Conf does not allow any school to petition up more than 2 classes.
Whats interesting to me is the lack of concern or disdain for Le Win, CCC, Rochester, etc who will make 3 or 4 consecutive championship game appearances, but no one ever brings them up. Its always ESL is playing in a class to low. Those teams are just as successful and they dont petition up at all.
My opinion was never based on 8a solely. I have laid out a pretty clear argument. One team plays in a conference where there is no need to go out of state yet they did go out of state and WON.
The other team needs to step out of their conference to be challenged and when they did they lost, not once, not twice, but THREE times.
Now the two teams are in the semi finals one team is playing 2 whole classes above the other in a class that many of the area top teams belong to.
The argument for ESL is they LOST to 3 nationally ranked teams and beat the same teams MC and others in the top 5 would also beat.