Chicago Public League Sports Blog

West Side Football Emergence

Timothy Smith(6-2, 340lbs,sr, OL) is part of a Westinghouse team that has seniors for the very first time. Westinghouse is trying to be the first Chicago Conference team to beat a suburban/downstate opponent in the state playoffs.

We all know they can hoop the basketball at the west side. This year, football seems to be progressing in the right direction. Raby, Marshall, Austin, and Westinghouse have all qualified for the state playoffs.

Raby is an established Illini school. They are known for one of the top junior quarterbacks in the CPS in Chris Covington. But they will need contributions form otehr players if they want to hang with Aurora Christian in their first round state playoff game.

Marshall is relatively new to the Illini and looks like they are there to stay. Austin and Westinghouse won their perspective Chicago conference and will move up to the Illini next year.

Austin is an ancient school that did well in football decades or so ago, but until recently has had some rough times in football. This year, they are undefeated and will try to beat Illini team Marshall in the first round of the class 4A playoffs.

Westinghouse is also an old school, but got completely revamped a few years ago. They moved to a new building and completely started over as far as getting new students. This is their first year with a senior class. They play a tough first round match up versus Tinley Park. They are trying to become the first ever Chicago Conference team to beat a suburban opponent in the state playoffs.

Like it or not, the west side will be judged on how well they do in the state playoffs. South side schools Simeon, Morgan Park, and Hubbard have all had state playoff experience in the past. In order for people to start saying football is played in the west side, they will need to do something in the state playoffs this year. The winner of Marshall and Austin will have to beat their likely opponent Brooks in the 2nd round. Then either Westinghouse will have to upset Tinley Park or Raby will have to upset Aurora Christian.

Week 8 Thursday- Schedule/Line

Sullivan vs Austin.  No matter what happens this is a successful season already for Sullivan. Last year, Sullivan was playing in the Inter-City conference. This year, they are 5-1 including a 3-1 record in the Chicago Conference. This game versus undefeated Austin will likely be for the conference title. The winners gets invited to move to the Illini conference next year. It will be a tall task for Sullivan as Austin has an extremely physical team.

One of the Austin athletes to look out for is junior Christopher Thompson(5-8,175lbs, jr). He benched pressed 155lbs 36 times at the Schuman's National Underclass combine last spring. He plays both ways for the Austin Tigers.

THURSDAY, OCT. 11

CHICAGO BIG SHOULDERS
Amundsen vs. Taft, 7:15 at Lane - Taft by 14
Lincoln Park vs. Prosser, 4:15 at Hanson- Lincoln Park by 20

CHICAGO ILLINI LAND OF LINCOLN
Harlan vs. King, 4:15 at Gately- King by 6

CHICAGO ILLINI PRAIRIE STATE
Hubbard vs. Morgan Park, 7:15 at Gately- Morgan Park by 28
Orr vs. Robeson, 4:15 at Stagg- Robeson by 21

CHICAGO INTER-CITY 1
Marine vs. Kelvyn Park, 7:15 at Hanson-Toss up

CHICAGO INTER-CITY 2
Bronzeville vs. Hirsch, 4:15 at Eckersall-Bronzeville by 16

CHICAGO SECOND CITY
Austin vs. Sullivan, 4:15 at Winnemac- Austin by 10
Lake View vs. Manley, 4:15 at Rockne-Lake View by 20

NONCONFERENCE
Juarez vs. Phoenix, 4:15 at Lane-Toss up

3-0 Teams

Pritzker College Prep has one of the state's longest winning streaks. They have won 22 straight games in the state playoff inelgible Inter-City Conference.

Inter-City Conference
Pritzker


Austin is one of 4 undefeated teams in the Chicago Conference. With a win already over North Lawndale in conference play, Austin seems poised to make a solid run in winning conference with games still to play (pending the strike) against Lake View and undefeated Sullivan. Payton is 3-0 but their opponents combined record is 1-8. We'll know more about Payton when (if?) they play the Bulls and Westinghouse. Taft is 3-0 but the combined records of their opponents is 0-9.

Chicago Conference
Taft
Payton
Sullivan
Austin

Illini Conference
Harper
Marshall
Whitney Young

Harper and Marshall are undefeated and look very strong. Those teams are itching for the strike to end. Marshall and Harper are scheduled to play a conference game against each other. Brooks is also in their conference. Whitney Young is 3-0, but did not look the strongest in their win against Hope.

Pictures Now- Austin vs North Lawndale Football Game

Photo Album

Spotlight- Christopher Thompson(so, S/RB/LB) of Austin Academy

A name that seems to be popping up in more places is Christopher Thompson(so, S/RB/LB) of Austin ( or technically VOICE Academy which is part of Austin). The 5-8, 178lb sophomore opened more eyes by having the 39th best SPARQ score out of over 900 athletes from all over the midwest at the Nike football combine last week.

Someone sent me this email below:

Christopher Thompson  also won nuc strongest sophomore reward 2 weeks ago. There were about 15 amundsen kids there  the highest rating was a rating of 54 i guess no dexsroy from amundsen this year.

Thomson was 39th at the Nike combine. He looked good at the Schuman's National Underclassmen Combine. One of the top performers there. He's been attending combines since 8th grade -  and has done very well at them as the video below shows:

He will definitely be on my future CPS defensiveback/cornerback watch list (2011 list).

 

2A Analysis

#3 Chicago Austin vs. #6 Eastland

Austin snuck into the state playoffs on the last day of the regular season when they beat Kenwood 38-6. Austin plays in the Chicago Second City Conference where they finished a respectable 2nd against schools with enrollments so much bigger than theirs. Kenwood has an enrollment (1632) 4 times bigger than Austin. I don't know much about Eastland exceot that that they play in the Northwest Upstate Illini Conference. Do not underestimate these downstate conferences (in this case up north). Austin will be traveling through the cornfield and have quite a trip. Eastland finished 4th in conference.

I hear Austin worked hard in the offseason and has a good coach in Terry Carter. Austin's best known player is linebacker O'Daron Henderson(jr, 6-0, 205lbs).

My first impression is that Austin has a chance in this game. How big of a chance? I'm not sure yet.

CPS Class 2A State Football Playoff Pairings

#3 Chicago Austin vs. #6 Eastland

Pictures Now - CPS Indoor City Championships

2010 CPS Indoor Track Championship Photo Album

Timothy Wright of Austin prepares to start in the 400 meter dash.