Gators or Wolves? Our Reporters Decide

Two of our football reporters weigh in on why Prairie Ridge or Crystal Lake South will end up moving on in the 6A playoffs.

South is Too Strong for Prairie Ridge

Who has already beaten once this season? .

Who are the undefeated Fox Valley Conference Champs? Crystal Lake South.

Who will be victorious after this Saturday's 6A quarterfinal playoff game? Crystal Lake South.

Yes, the Wolves are no fluke. Prairie Ridge is a good football team, but the quarter finals are far as they will go. The Wolves are about to be handed their second loss of the year by the Gators and their unpredictable offense.

South has so many weapons on offense to pick from, it's got to be hard for them to plan an offensive strategy before a game.

They can air the ball out with their passing attack to receivers Kenny King and Brad Walovitch and tight end Kevin Rogers or power the ball up the middle with running back Bolek Mikulek. If all else fails, they can just let quarterback Drew Ormseth run circles around the defense.

But what allows those players to have such tremendous success is the monstrous Gator offensive line. Not only are they huge (Jake Bernstein is listed at 6'4'', 280 lbs and Fahn Cooper at 6'6'',  300 lbs) but they do not stop blocking. The entire Gator line blocks and blocks until the whistle blows. This is what allows Ormseth to turn those seemingly doomed plays into huge runs.

Ormseth by himself is such a threat that defenses will just key on him the entire game and get blind sided by how good the rest of South offense is. Ormseth is also a great defensive player, intercepting the ball twice last game against Lake Forest.

The Gator defense as a whole has been tremendous all season, allowing a little over 12 points a game, and to be fair a lot of those points came during 40-point leads when the second string was still playing against the opponents' starters.

The Gators' depth will also help on Saturday. Kyle Enos started the season on the bench and by last week he was playing both ways. Enos was put in at nose tackle during the Huntley game due to an injury and has been an impact player ever since. He is extremely fast off of the ball and is going to be key in stopping the Prairie Ridge option. 

Last but not least we have South's overlooked special teams. How many high school teams can say they have a kicker with the ability to hit a field goal from 50 yards out? South can with kicker Brad Walovitch, who attempted a 50 yarder against Lake Forest that went wide right, but nailed a 42-yard field goal later in the game.

It's almost a guarentee that when South kicks the ball off, you won't be getting a chance to return because Bolek Mikulec's powerful leg crushes the ball into the end zone every time. 

All of this is backed by a talented and extremely devoted coaching staff. On Tuesday I asked head coach Chuck Ahsmann if the coaches had gotten a chance to watch any game film on Prairie Ridge. "Yeah, about eight hours on Sunday."

South is solid in ever facet of the game. With their unpredictable offense, hard-nosed defense and great coaching the Gators will outplay the Wolves and end the Prairie Ridge season Saturday.

— Craig Butler

Prairie Ridge Will Top South This Time Around

Following the Wolves this season has been more than an exciting task. Not many guys out there can say that in their first year of covering sports they've seen one team go all the way into the quarterfinals of the ISHA playoffs. 

If this were poker I'd put all my chips on the Wolves winning this weekend's game. 

Connor Greenwald's touchdown after touchdown, and quarterback Stephen Covalt's excellent passing executions have only improved since the start of the season. Covalt's passing yards total at 536 this season and 47.8 per game.

Prairie Ridge has tallied up a total of 395 points this season while South remains at almost a hundred less at 300.

And while the offense has been performing great, their defense has continued to be the heart of the team. Players like Brad Simms brought in 60 tackles this season and free safety Devon Vance had three sacks. 

Prairie Ridge opened the regular season with a shutout victory against Woodstock and was able to bring in three more in games against , and an incredible 70-0 win over . 

When the Wolves took on the Gators earlier this season, they didn't go quietly. The final totaled to a 20-24 loss for PR, but practice and perseverance put them back on top when they silenced  the following week. 

The playoffs force a whole new atmosphere and with the Wolves offense in gear and their defense not letting up, I expect Prairie Ridge to top the Gators on Saturday.

— Jonathan White