Just one TRAC team remains out of the final 64 teams standing in the IHSA football playoffs. Princeton is a 3A quarterfinalist for the fifth consecutive season.
Rockridge and Newman suffered season-ending second-round losses last week. The Rockets fell to Farmington 14-10 in 2A, while the Comets were blanked by Gibson City-Melvin-Sibley 28-0 in 1A.
WRMJ’s Ty Taylor and Jim Taylor are joined by Greg Armstrong and Mitch Stoermer from View from the West Podcast to preview and predict this week’s action.
Standings after the second round
| Place | Picker | Record |
| 1 | Ty | 51-12 |
| 2 | Greg | 49-14 |
| 3 | Mitch | 47-16 |
| 4 | Jim | 45-18 |
3A Quarterfinals – No. 9 Montini (9-2, 2-1 CCL White) @ No. 4 Princeton (10-1, 4-1 TRAC Mississippi) – Saturday 1 p.m.
Preview
Princeton’s second-round trip to Chicago’s Gately Stadium ended with a 34-16 win over King. The Tigers never trailed in the game, which was tied 8-8 at the end of the first quarter. Princeton scored the next 19 points to take a 27-8 lead with just under 1:30 left in the first half. The Jaguars scored a touchdown late in the second quarter to cut the deficit to 27-16 at halftime. The Tigers scored the only TD of the second half to pull away and advance to their fifth straight 3A quarterfinal. Casey Etheridge rushed for 225 yards and three TDs on 25 carries and caught a 25-yard TD pass from Will Lott. Etheridge raised his season numbers to 1,641 rushing yards and 24 TDs. Noah Laporte caught six passes for 70 yards and a score in the win for the Tigers.
Montini beat Byron 14-13 in a 3A seminal rematch from last year that lived up to the hype and then some. In what many were calling the de facto 3A state championship game, the Broncos held on late to avenge last season’s 26-20 loss to Byron in the semifinals. Montini broke a 7-7 tie on a 3-yard TD run by Jeremiah Peterson with 1:56 left in the fourth quarter, one play after Byron was assessed a roughing the kicker penalty on a missed field goal. The Tigers answered with a 10-yard TD run by Brayden Knoll to make it a 14-13 game with 10.9 seconds on the clock. As Byron did in a last-minute win over Dixon in Week 8, the Tigers went for two down by one point in the final seconds. This time though, the Tigers were stopped, as Montini linebacker Jaxon Lane brought Knoll down inches short of the goal line to clinch the dramatic win for the Broncos. Montini’s triumph snapped a 24-game winning streak for Byron, the defending 3A state champions.
Princeton and Montini met in the 3A quarterfinals last season, a game the Broncos won 27-9. The Tigers have seen their season end in the quarterfinal round three years in a row with those losses coming to Montini and IC Catholic twice. Princeton will try to buck the trend of falling short against Chicagoland private schools by upsetting one of the premier programs in the state. The Broncos have won six state titles and finished runner-up three times.
Picks
Ty: Montini
Jim: Montini
Greg: Princeton
Mitch: Princeton
WRMJ’s coverage of the TRAC is presented by:
- Midwest Bank, with locations that include Aledo, Andalusia, Monmouth, and Moline
- Local COUNTRY Financial representatives Tracy Bigham, Jason Potter, and John Waugh in Aledo, Brent Bigham in Edgington, and Julie Hessler in Orion.
- Breedlove’s Sporting Goods in Kewanee
Visit our TRAC webpage to stay updated with the conference throughout the season.