Friday Night Drive: DeKalb County newsletter
Join hosts J.T. Pedelty, Sam Ramirez and Eddie Carifio as they preview Round 1 of the IHSA football playoffs in the western and southern portions of northern Illinois
Here are the Associated Press IHSA Week 10 football polls released Wednesday for all eight classes. It is the final AP Poll of the season.
Sycamore starts the postseason with a trip to Cary-Grove, Kaneland hosts Lakes, and Hiawatha will face Polo for the second time in three weeks. We break down each game.
Join hosts Josh Welge and Steve Soucie as they preview the first round of the IHSA football playoffs.
A Roxana High School proposal that would expand the playoffs and provide a regional schedule model has released regional mockups for Class 3A and Class 4A. See the proposed regions here.
Both teams in last year's title game are in different classifications now leaving a wide open chase for this year's state title. Steve Soucie breaks down the opening round of the 2025 IHSA Class 5A Playoffs.
Join hosts Matt Rodewald and Steve Soucie as they review Week 9 in IHSA football and look ahead to Round 1 of the playoffs.
The Sycamore football team secured a playoff berth, Kaneland knocked off the defending 1A state champs and more as we look back at Week 9.
The race to filling the field of 256 teams took some surprising twists and turns. Steve Soucie takes a look at what we learned in Week 9.
Each week, we’ll have 22 players – 11 on offense, 11 on defense – to make the Friday Night Drive Team of the Week. Vote for your favorite players for Week 9!
Here are the first round pairings for the IHSA playoffs.
In the playoff brackets released by the IHSA Saturday night, No. 7 Kaneland will host No. 10 Lakes and No. 11 Sycamore will head to No. 6 Cary-Grove in the Class 5A bracket. Hiawatha will head to Polo in the eight-man playoffs.
Check here for live updates and changes to Steve Soucie's IHSA football playoff projection for all eight classes.
Sycamore erased a 14-point deficit, beating Cahokia on a late field goal by Josh Puleo to lock down win No. 5, guaranteeing a playoff spot and at least one more game in coach Joe Ryan's final season.
Going down to Belleville Althoff and losing last year is something Kaneland senior lineman Jake Buckley hasn’t forgotten. That made Friday’s 55-28 victory in Maple Park even sweeter.
DeKalb kept giving Waubonsie Valley chances in the third quarter. Ishmaiah Elliot and the Warriors kept capitalizing. Elliott scored on plays of over 45 yards on three straight touches as the Warriors came back from six down at halftime for a 49-28 win over the Barbs.
Genoa-Kingston travels to Dixon to take on the Dukes. The game took place on Dixon's Senior Night, October 24th, 2025
Final scores in Illinois high school football for Week 9 of the 2025 season. This will be updated as more scores come in
155 teams are already assured of hearing their names called on IHSA pairings night. Steve Soucie walks through how the other 101 teams will secure their places on the bracket board.
Join hosts J.T. Pedelty, Sam Ramirez and Eddie Carifio as they preview Week 9 in Illinois high school football in the western and southern parts of northern Illinois.
Here are the Associated Press IHSA Week 9 football polls released Wednesday for all eight classes.
Join hosts Steve Soucie and Josh Welge as they preview Week 9 in Illinois high school football and look ahead to the games that will matter the most for playoff pairings
A Roxana High School proposal that would expand the playoffs and provide a regional schedule model has released regional mockups for smaller schools programs (Class 1A and 2A). See the proposed regions here.
Some bubble teams took the opportunity to seize their own fate with surprise wins in Week 8 and altered the field in multiple ways. Steve Soucie's latest playoff projection can be found here.
Sycamore and Genoa-Kingston both enter Week 9 at 4-4, needing a win to likely secure playoff spots but each faces a 7-1 team. We break down each Daily Chronicle area Week 9 game.
Two top five teams stumbled in Week 8 leading to a significant scramble of the Friday Night Drive Power Rankings. Check out the shuffled rankings here:
With just one regular-season game remaining, both Genoa-Kingston and Sycamore face win-and-your-in games, but both play teams that are 7-1 this year. Here’s a look at where each DeKalb County team sits heading into Week 9.
Join hosts Matt Rodewald and Steve Soucie as they review what they saw in Week 8 of Illinois high school football and go over the two latest IHSA playoff proposals
After a few relative stable weeks, chaos hit in a big way to premier programs around the state. Steve Soucie takes a look at what we learned in Week 8.
Noah McKitrrick's field completed a wild fourth-quarter comeback for Kaneland against La Salle-Peru, Genoa-Kingston rolled past Rock Falls, while Sycamore, DeKalb and Hiawatha lost. We look back at Week 8.
Each week, we’ll have 22 players – 11 on offense, 11 on defense – to make the Friday Night Drive Team of the Week. Vote for your favorite players for Week 8!
Jaiden Lee had four touchdowns as Genoa-Kingston blew out Rock Falls, and Hiawatha fell to Polo
L-P scored a go-ahead TD and conversion with 29.8 seconds left, but Kaneland responded with a 32-yard field goal as time expired for a 23-21 victory Friday at Howard Fellows Stadium.
The Morris football team used defense to set up the offense in a 50-10 Interstate 8 Conference win over visiting Sycamore on Friday. The win kept Morris unbeaten and cliched the league title.
Cole Latimer threw for over 300 yards, but Andrew got more than 500 yards of total offense in a 47-28 win over the Barbs on Friday
Final scores in Illinois high school football for Week 8 of the 2025 season. This will be updated as more scores come in
The DeKalb football team hosted Andrew Friday night in a nonconference matchup.
Another proposal has been put forth to the Illinois High School Association in attempt to modify the football postseason. Monticello High School has submitted a proposal that will add a week the postseason structure and increase the playoff field from 256 to 384 teams.
Join hosts Eddie Carifio, Sam Ramirez and J.T. Pedelty as they preview Week 8 in Illinois high school football in the western and southern portions of northern Illinois
Join hosts Steve Soucie and Josh Welge as they preview Week 8 in Illinois high school football and dig into where we are heading into the playoffs with only two games left
Some unexpected results led to a lot of seeding changes in this week's projections. It did not, however, lead to a lot of new teams breaking into the field. Steve Soucie's latest playoff projection can be found here.
Sycamore hits the road to take in an undefeated Morris team, DeKalb hosts Andrew, G-K faces winless Rock Falls and more as we preview Week 8 games.
A proposal has been put forth to the IHSA to expand the playoff field by 96 teams and introduce a flexed regional scheduling concept to ease the pressures for teams having difficulties putting together a full football schedule
With just two weeks left in the regular season, we take a look at the path each DeKalb County team has on the way to a potential playoff berth.
In a week that seemed to be a less challenging one for ranked teams, that did not come to fruition as several ranked teams were upset. Check out the shuffled rankings here:
The CCL/ESCC had a number of fantastic matchups this week further proving the power possessed by the strongest conference in the state. Steve Soucie takes a look at what we learned in Week 6.
Davon Grant set his second DeKalb receiving record in as many weeks, Sycamore held off La Salle-Peru, Hiawatha picked up win No. 5 and more in our Week 7 rewind.
Each week, we’ll have 22 players – 11 on offense, 11 on defense – to make the Friday Night Drive Team of the Week. Vote for your favorite players for Week 7!
Roman Villalobos rushed for three touchdowns and Rochelle earned an emotional 21-20 win over Kaneland playing for junior running back Dylan Manning, who remains hospitalized after suffering a head injury last Friday at Morris.
A record-breaking first half from DeKalb senior wideout Davon Grant had the Barbs in the thick of it at halftime, but Bradley-Bourbonnais’ defense rose to the occasion in the second half as the offense kept its foot on the pedal in a 48-19 win.