Steve Soucie’s Week 4 games to watch: Unexpected undefeateds try to stay that way

With 104 teams still undefeated among playoff eligible IHSA football programs, it’s easy to see a scenario where there’s still going to be a lot of those teams left standing without a loss after Week 4.

12 are guaranteed to fall from the list as that’s the number of showdowns between 3-0 squads, but it is hard not to feel like a group of other teams might fall from the ranks of the undefeated as well.

It feels like that kind of year through the first three weeks.

There’s a significant group of those undefeated teams that are chartering territory they haven’t before or at least haven’t done so in quite a while. Week 4 seems like a likely time to find out if those teams have staying power.

If they do, it will make for a chaotic stretch run. Because if those teams stay up at the top other teams, some with deep pedigrees will likely be taking on losses. After all, every game not only passes out a win, but a loss as well.

And it matters if larger groups of teams stay undefeated. If they do, other teams are adding to the their collective loss totals. Over time that’s going to put more teams on the fence in terms of who has three, four and the dreaded five losses in the regular season. If they don’t, the groups of teams with a couple of losses balloon, and all of the sudden the pool of teams that are battling to avoid a fifth loss exponentially grows.

Here’s a look at some of the top games of Week 4:

St. Charles North (3-0) at Batavia (3-0), 7 p.m. Friday: An early showdown in the DuKane Conference that at the very least will give the victor an early leg up in the race for the crown. These are two of the three remaining unbeatens in the league along with Geneva and in a league that has solid depth being one of the first to reach the four win mark will mean something.

St. Rita (2-1) at St. Francis (3-0), 7:30 p.m. Friday: Both of these schools authored two of the biggest surprises of Week 3 as St. Francis stunned Loyola on its own home turf while St. Rita pulled off a late in the game rally to topple Brother Rice. It almost seems fitting that these two teams collide right after their feather in the cap victories.

Normal Community (3-0) at Kankakee (2-1), 7 p.m. Friday: Kankakee doesn’t fool around in its nonconference schedule, already losing a narrow matchup with defending Class 5A state champion Nazareth. The Kays now square off with a Class 7A power in yet another chance for them to prove their mettle.

Brother Rice (1-2) at Loyola (1-2), 7:30 p.m. Friday: Yes, both teams are 1-2. But both teams still have high expectations with what they can still achieve this season. In any case, whoever comes out of this game with a loss, will have virtually washed away any of the breathing room they have for a postseason push.

Sycamore (3-0) at Rochelle (3-0), 7 p.m. Friday: Sycamore has shown an early propensity for pulling wins out of the fire and might need that magic again against a strong Rochelle team that seems to be flying under most people’s radar right now.

Other games of note: Marist at Joliet Catholic; Mount Carmel vs. St. Ignatius; IC Catholic at Nazareth; St. Viator at Benet; St. Laurence at Carmel; Montini at Fenwick; Barrington at Maine South; Wheaton Academy at Hope Academy; Jacobs at Cary-Grove; Peotone at Wilmington; Lincoln-Way East at Naperville North; Sandburg at Lincoln-Way West; West Aurora at South Elgin.