Illinois High School Football: Class 8A Quarterfinal Game of the Week Preview

It’s time for the quarterfinals in Class 8A as the 2012 season gets closer and closer to its conclusion. This week’s Class 8A Game of the Week features the 10-1 Glenbard North Panthers going on the road to face the 11-0 Maine South Hawks on Saturday at 1 p.m.

The fourth-seeded Panthers moved into this game with a 23-14 win over Stevenson last week. Justin Jackson rushed for over 210 yards on 47 carries and two touchdowns to lead North in the victory. Brian Murphy completed half of his passes for just under 100 yards as the Panthers slowed down a talented Stevenson team. Glenbard North is averaging 31 points per game while giving up just over 16 points a game.

The top-seeded Hawks powered their way to a 27-13 win over Conant in the second round to advance to the quarterfinals. Matt Alviti, who has committed to play at Northwestern, scored three touchdowns while running for 115 yards and passing for close to another 130 more. Clay Burdelik added four catches for South, who are averaging over 36 points a game while giving up a little more than 12 points each game.

Maine South is on a mission after losing in the second round last season to Stevenson and almost got a rematch with them this year. Glenbard North is a very good team with Jackson running the ball and he may need to run it another 35-40 times this week just to keep Alviti off the field. I don’t think the Hawks will be stopped this week though at home and will move on to next week’s semifinals to have a chance to go back to the state championship game. I’ll take Maine South 35-14.