OP_052418

opprairie.com Sports
the orland park prairie | May 24, 2018 | 47
fastbreak
THURSDAY MORNING QUARTERBACK
As long as we’re messing with the system…
JEFF VORVA/22ND CENTURY
MEDIA
1st and 3
SANDBURG’S BASEBALL
TEAM (ABOVE) WON
ITS THIRD STRAIGHT
SOUTHWEST SUBURBAN
CONFERENCE BLUE
TITLE. HERE ARE A FEW
FACTS ABOUT THAT
TITLE..
1. The loss
The Eagles’ lone
loss in the league
was to Lincoln-Way
East, 3-2, in Frankfort
on April 26.
2. Revenge
Sandburg got even
with the Griffins with
a 4-2 victory in Orland
Park on May 1.
3. Locking down Lockport
Lockport has proven
to be tough to beat
this season but
Sandburg beat the
Porters 14-3 on May
7 and 12-2 on May
9. The Porters had
not lost by more
than five runs before
running into the
Eagles.
Jeff Vorva
j.vorva@22ndcm.com
There are less than
100 days to kickoff
for the 2018 Illinois
High School Football Association
football season.
You would think there
wouldn’t be a lot of news
or conversation about the
sport in late May.
You would be wrong.
Those who are really
geeked up about the sport
are all in a dither about
potential changes to the
conference structure and
playoff system down the
line. Way down the line.
The idea, which is in the
infant stages of talk by the
IHSA Football Advisory
Committee and may not
get serious until November,
is that the state will do
away with conferences and
place teams in districts for
football.
One of the reasons is because
some decision makers
are getting fed up with
teams leaving conferences
and conferences changing
too much mostly because of
football.
In our neck of the woods,
Sandburg’s football team could be playing in a district rather than a conference if the Illinois High School Association
makes drastic changes. 22ND CENTURY MEDIA FILE PHOTO
the SouthWest Suburban
Conference is an algebraic
mass of goofiness in football
in which six teams play
seven league games and
seven teams play six games
and some teams have to
find games in Michigan,
Indiana and Missouri for
non-conference tilts. That
came right after Lincoln-
Way North closed and the
Joliet schools left the conference
to hang out with the
Plainfields and Oswegos.
But conference-hopping
is going on all over the
state.
So, in a few years, we
may have districts.
Sports writer Steve
Soucie, who does the dirty
work of research predicting
who is playing who in
the playoffs during each
season, decided to do the
dirty work of figuring out
who would be in which
district, and his work has
been published in several
newspapers and web sites.
He has Sandburg in Class
8A, District 7 along with
Bloom, Lincoln-Way East,
Homewood-Flossmoor,
Joliet Central, Joliet West,
Lockport and Lincoln-Way
Central. The Eagles would
face a few new faces and
wouldn’t have to deal with
Bolingbrook, but having to
beat out LW East and H-F
remains a tough problem.
Soucie also has Andrew
in Class 7A, District 7
along with Eisenhower,
Thornton, T.F. South,
Lincoln-Way West, Plainfield
Central, Romeoville
and Thornwood. That
could be a fun conference
to watch, because none of
those teams have been state
powers consistently over
recent years.
Please see VORVA, 45
LISTEN UP
“The kid’s a killer.”
Joe Nemeth — Sandburg boys track coach, on heralded senior
Dylan Jacobs, who is to run his final Illinois High School Association
races in an Eagles uniform this weekend in the state finals
What 2 Watch
Boys track and field, Saturday, May 26, 9
a.m,
• Sandburg’s 3,200 relay team is looking
for its seventh straight Top 4 finish at
the IHSA State meet in Charleston.
INDEX
41 - Sandburg baseball
40 - Athlete of the Week
Compiled by Sports Editor Jeff Vorva, J.vorva@22ndcm.com.