Here's a look at the opening round football playoff games for the Journal section:

Saturday November 2nd

Class 8A:

Maine South 49, Naperville North 42: No. 20 Maine South (7-3) survived an offensive shootout and upset No. 13 Naperville North (7-3) in the opening round in Naperville. It was a breakout game for Maine South QB Jameson Purcell (39 of 52 passes, 513 yards, 6 TD, 1 INT), who had an epic battle with Naperville North QB Jacob Bell (34 of 49 passes, 416 yards), 4 TD, 0 INT; 5 runs, 18 yards, 1 TD). Purcell's top targets were Joey Naughton (12 catches, 193 yards, 2 TD), Michael Dellumo (10 catches, 106 yards, 2 TD), Mason Patras (2 receiving TD), Jacob Vitel (1 receiving TD) and Constantine Coines ( 6 catches, 46 yards). Naperville North was led by Chico Thomas (13 catches, 187 yards, 1 TD), Quinn Morris (12 catches, 172 yards, 2 TD) and Brock Pettaway (7 catches, 96 yards, 2 TD; 1-for-1 passing). listed. 63 yards, 1 TD). The teams traded points as the game progressed, but Maine South led for the most part. After the score was 7-7 in the first quarter, Maine South scored on consecutive drives to take a 20-7 lead in the first half. At halftime, Maine South led 27-14. Maine South led 42-28 early in the fourth and an early score made it 49-28, but Naperville North narrowed it late in the game before the Hawks won 49-42. Bell threw for 3,082 yards and 38 touchdowns this season, helping Maine South win. The Hawks' leaders on defense included Dean Arvanitis (2 sacks) and Jake Cantal (12 tackles). Maine advances to the second round against No. 4 West Aurora (10-0), which earned a 31-21 win over No. 29 Huntley (29) (5-5) in the opening round. South hosts West Aurora on Saturday, November 9th at 1 p.m. West Aurora is the highest-scoring team in the state with 508 points and has allowed just 61 points but has had one of the easiest schedules of any qualifying team in the state. with seven games against teams with 4 wins or less. West Aurora defeated Glenbard East (9-1 record) and South Elgin (6-4 record), both of which reached the playoffs. Maine South started the season 1-3 but won six straight after defeating Naperville North. It was the Hawks' 75th playoff win of all time. Maine South defeated West Aurora 42-40 in their only previous meeting, which came in the first round of the 2016 playoffs. The Hawks posted an 11-3 record that season and won the state championship. West Aurora entered the 2016 playoff game with a record of 9-0.

Friday, November 1st

Class 8A:

Stevenson 31, Sandburg 14: It took 26 years, but No. 9 Stevenson (9-1) finally got revenge on No. 24 Sandburg (5-5) in the opening round of the playoffs. The teams met once before in the first round in 1998, and Sandburg won that game 20-14, ending the season for Stevenson, who entered the game 8-1. Flash forward to 2024 and Stevenson went into the playoffs with an 8-1 record against Sandburg, but this time the Patriots scored a 31-14 victory, their first playoff win since 2015. On each of Stevenson's four touchdowns QB Aidan Crawley was involved (6-of-9 passing, 176 yards, 2 touchdowns; 10 carries, 85 yards, 2 touchdowns) in one way or another. Zach Harsh (1 catch, 73 yards, 1 TD), Thomas Simmons (2 catches, 75 yards), Zach Becker (4 catches, 48 ​​yards, 1 TD) and Aiden Elliott (20 carries, 116 yards) all contributed the offensive. He helped the Patriots accumulate 416 yards in the game. Stevenson had 207 passing yards and 209 rushing yards. On defense, Stevenson had three fourth down stops. The Patriots also received defensive help from Abai Atabekov (10 tackles, 1 INT), Caden Schultz (10 tackles), D'Angelo Washington (7 tackles, 1 TFL), Anthony Adams (2 sacks, 1 TFL) and Becker (2 tackles ). , 1 sack, 1 TFL), Luke Nelson (2 tackles, 1 sack), John Concialdi (1 sack) and Braedon O'Hara (1 TFL). Stevenson advances to the second round of the playoffs at No. 8 Glenbard East (9-1) on Friday, Nov. 8, at 7 p.m. Stevenson has played against Glenbard North (3 times) and Glenbard West (1 time), but they have never played Glenbard East before. Stevenson has a 36-32 all-time playoff record, while Glenbard East has a 7-6 record. East went 3-1 in the playoffs in 1999, but did not qualify for the playoffs again until 2018 and has qualified every year since returning. The Lombard school competed in Class 7A last year and reached the state quarterfinals. Glenbard East outscored its opponents 432-158 this season. Stevenson outscores his opponents 325-150.

Fremd 42, Andrew 20: No. 10 Fremd (9-1) returned to the playoffs for the first time since 2019 and earned its first playoff win since this season when they defeated No. 23 Andrew (6-4) in the first round. After winning a total of nine games from 2020 to 2023 (9-24 record), Fremd has reached nine wins this season for the first time since 2009. “Tonight was a total program victory. We put a lot of sacrifice and effort into our preparation, team scouting and game tonight. Andrew is an offense that is difficult to prepare for. You don't see the triple option very often and run at the level that they do. It was great to see freshmen and seniors volunteering all week and taking pride in their jobs.” Fremd was led by Johnny O'Brien (17 of 21 passes, 325 yards, 4 TD, 1 INT; 6 runs, 40 yards), Jayden Faulkner (15 carries, 120 yards, 1 TD) and Marquan Brewster (7 catches). , 157 yards, 3 TD), Brennan Saxe (7 catches, 118 yards), Davyn Kuhl (2 catches, 41 yards) and Aidan Patel (1 catch, 9 yards, 1 TD). Saxe increased his career total to 237 catches for 3,172 yards and 28 touchdowns in four seasons. His 237 catches unofficially rank him third in state history for career receptions, according to IHSA records. He passed Christian Bentacur (231), Eric Schuler (234) and Jordan Westerkamp (235) on the all-time receiving list and jumped from sixth to third. Only Marist/Lemont's Flynn Nagel (255 catches from 2012 to 2015) and Marist's Nic Weishar (257 catches from 2010 to 2013) have recorded more catches in their careers, according to IHSA records. Saxe had 82 catches for 1,248 yards and 14 touchdowns this season in his senior year. His 118 yards receiving marks his eighth game, with him receiving more than 100 yards in 10 games this season. Brewster didn't have a bad year either, with 52 catches for 972 yards and 14 touchdowns. O'Brien, who verbally committed to Northwestern before the start of the season, completed 184 of 274 passes for 2,870 yards, 35 touchdowns and 4 INTs during his magical junior season. Fremd advances to the second round of the playoffs on the road against Naperville Central (9-1) on Friday, November 8th at 7:30 p.m. The last time Fremd played Naperville Central was in the opening round of the 2000 playoffs and Naperville Central won 36-6. Naperville Central has a 58-32 all-time playoff record.

Warren 31, Palatine 24: No. 27 Warren (6-4) pulled off a major upset over No. 6 Palatine (8-2) in the opening round of the playoffs. Warren is the highest remaining seed in Class 8A, with No. 17 Minooka and No. 20 Maine South the only other teams to win and not ranked in the top 16. Palatine was without starting quarterback Will Santiago, but still put up a good fight. Santiago broke his arm in Week 9, ending a great season he had with over 1,500 passing yards and over 360 rushing yards. Detton Tietjens (19 of 36 passes, 283 yards, 3 TD, 4 INT; 16 runs, 65 yards, 1 fumble) did his best to lighten the load on the Pirates. Tietjens was supported in the game by the receiving trio of Ryan Donnelly (10 catches, 170 yards, 3 touchdowns), Kole Fager (5 catches, 71 yards) and Jordan Bostick (4 catches, 42 yards). Palatine's defense was led by Jacob Stark (1 INT), Trey Widlowski (11 tackles) and Jackson Brown (6 tackles, 2 TFL). Alex Huyser also kicked a field goal for Palatine. The two teams met in the playoffs in 1994, with Palatine winning that game 42-6. Warren advances to the second round of the playoffs and hosts No. 11 Barrington (8-2), which won its opening game 66-13 over South Elgin. Barrington defeated Warren 30-6 in the 2002 playoffs. Warren returned the favor in 2004 with a 35-7 victory over the Broncos in the first round of the playoffs. Barrington defeated Warren 21-13 in the second round of the 2013 playoffs, but Warren prevailed 27-9 in the first round of the 2021 playoffs to even the playoff series at 2-2.

Marist 42, Glenbrook South 14: No. 28 Glenbrook South (5-5) outscored No. 5 Marist (9-1) 14-7 early but trailed 21-14 late in the second quarter. GBS tried to tie the game with less than a minute left in the first half, but their pass was intercepted in the end zone. In the second half, Marist used its strong running game to pick apart the Titans, turning a close 21-14 game into a 42-14 loss for GBS. “We played a very good first half against a tough Marist team,” Glenbrook South coach Dave Schoenwetter said. “We didn’t get it done on our last drive of the first half and a goal there would have been a big deal before halftime. In the second half we had too many threes and Marist's running game was very good and took control of the game. When it comes to neighborhood teams vs. boundary-pushing schools, I think we competed pretty well.” Marist advances to the next round of the playoffs, where they have No. 12 host Loyola Academy (8-2), the two-time defending Class 8A champions.

Class 7A:

St. Charles North 49, Rolling Meadows 14: No. 30 Rolling Meadows (5-5) had no answers for No. 3 St. Charles North (9-1) QB Ethan Plumb (21 of 26 passes, 7 TD) as the Mustangs' return to the postseason was brief -lived. Luke Harvey got Rolling Meadows on the scoreboard with a 1-yard TD run and Joe Brigham threw a 23-yard TD pass to Sean Kerr. Both scores came in the first half, where Rolling Meadows trailed 28-14. SCN outscored the Mustangs 21-0 in the second half.