I'm not sure what your issue with West Aurora is, but you obviously have one. They were 16 yards away from making it 28-21 a minute or two into the 4th. After stopping WA on that 4th and 1 from the NC 16, Central ran the ball 8 times to go those 84 yards for the final score, eating up almost the rest of the game in the process. I guess that's what you call helping WA make it look respectable, but I would call it a smart way to close out a game, and hardly a blowout. Someone should ask the NC coaches if that was the same old WA walkthrough they came to expect from them in the old DVC days.
I didn't see any of it, but it sounds like South Elgin was beaten by a good football team who kept the ball away from them, played great defense, and didn't make any mistakes. The fact that Palatine had lost 3 games by 12 points doesn't make this some monumental upset or a choke job by South Elgin.
No, the U8 Valley is not an awesome conference. But WA and SE were seeded just about right and didn't take anything away from anyone who deserved it more, so I'm not understanding what the point you're desperately trying to make here. Should they have been excluded from the playoffs or merely assigned the lowest seeds? Or I guess the two lowest seeds above whatever CPS teams are deigned worthy of admittance, since obviously Aurora and Elgin are merely the west side of Chicago plopped down along the Fox.
Have nothing against West Aurora, in fact it is the opposite. I think the coaches and School have done a tremendous job moving the program to new heights of success. Numbers are good throughout the program and better than many other programs that have historically had high numbers but have been falling greater than the overall trend.
At a conference level - I do have concerns with the level of competitive play in the Upstate 8 Valley (for next year - the remaining upstate teams when Batavia and gang leave). Basically WA and South Elgin are now what Neuqua and Waubonsie were 5 years go. An automatic 1-2 and the order will flip from time to time but not the top 2 teams.
What I am saying is now that the program has been built up to a significant level - and many of the other sports at WA are great as well (Basketball, Track, etc). Why not consider joining the remains of the DVC? NC, NN, NV, WV, MV. Football will now be competitive and will probably be in the top 3 in most other sports as well (1-2 in Basketball and Track would be my guess).
As the Blues Brothers might say - try and get part of the band back together? WA has a long history within the DVC (NC, NN) and a long history with the D204 schools in the Upstate.
All that said - the thread is “what conferences get exposed” And I ascertain that the Upstate Valley is and will have problems in the future in the playoffs in football due to most of the Conference games being non competitive. When Batavia and the St chucks leave - the combined remaining teams in a unified upstate will also have problems. Now - as some posters have mentioned if there is zero expectations on Upsate Valley then it’s not possible for the Conference to get exposed - then ok that might make sense for some, but in my view with the right competition levels- West Aurora and South Elgin could be major factors in the playoffs in future years.
