Looking back.1981 Illini 8.

[superac777]

Other than Sica this was my other favorite Conference.I wonder if some of the Lockport or Joliet Catholic people might know what happened in the last year of the Illini 8.They didn't play a normal schedule & I was wondering why.Now I do know that the 3 Joliet schools were dangerously close to not having sports but some last minute donations came in to save sports but they didn't play Frosh though I did see some schools Lincoln Way for example played Joliet East Frosh team.Maybe some schools scrambled to find teams to play just in case?Joliet Central at 5 to 2 was originally set to close.I also thought it was pretty crummy Marian Catholic never got voted in to Sica as they had played just about every Sica team member there was long before & some years after.Joliet Catholic did not play Joliet East or Romeoville.They replaced them with Chicago Julian & Milwaukee(Wi) Thomas More.Joliet East did not play Joliet Catholic or Bolingbrook.They played Joliet Central twice & made a 500 mile round trip to play Alton.Joliet West played everyone but Lockport.They played Lake Forest.Marian Catholic didn't play Joliet Central.They played Holy Cross.Lockport didn't play Joliet Central or Joliet West.They played Portage Indiana & Rock Island.Bolingbrook didn't play Joliet Central or Joliet East.They picked up Griffith Indiana & Chicago Bogan.Romeoville didn't play Joliet Catholic.They went downstate to play Rantoul.Joliet Central only played 7 games I guess due in fact they were supposed to close.They didn't play Bolingbrook,Lockport or Marian Catholic & as stated previously had played Joliet East twice.Pretty crazy schedule.Another interesting note was that screw job Joliet East faced in 1982.With the former Illini 8 teams sans Joliet Catholic & Marian Catholic(Joliet Central & Joliet West would join in 83) joining Sica in 82 Argo,Joliet West,Joliet Central,Kankakee Eastridge & Kankakee Westview all had games set up with Joliet East seeing originally they were not supposed to close.They all cancelled & a very good Joliet East team had to replace those 5 games which were pretty winnable with schools who were much much bigger.They would have finished 9-0.Instead they finished 4-5 beating playoff teams their size along the way only losing to much bigger schools.

 

[woody6]

The multiple divisions of the SICA conference would never have accepted Marian Catholic or any other private school under any circumstances, particularly during most of the 1980s. In fact, an unofficial boycott of scheduling privates (especially from the Catholic League) for non-con FB games was in place among most of the ADs at that time. This bias even spilled out somewhat to excluding same from tournaments/invitationals in other sports.

 

[superac777]

Marian after the Illini 8 disbanded played tons of Sica Schools.Not including playoffs ofc but Bloom(3),Joliet Central,Thornwood(3),Shepard(2),TF North(4),Eisenhower(2),Thornton(2),Thornridge(2),HF(2),Andrew.In the 90's getting into a conference rather than playing as a Indy put a stop pretty much on anymore Sica games.1994 they picked up HF again the first Sica team in 4 years they played and it was a 2 year.97 and 98 was Joliet Township and Andrew in 99.They did play HF yearly in a JV game which drew big crowds.Before their exit from the Illini 8 Marian had played Bremen,Hillcrest(3),Shepard(2),HF(2),Bloom(3),Bloom Trail.They played Rich South,TF South,TF North and various other Sica schools in JV