I'll be traveling down...

...to charming Frankfort, Illinois, tomorrow night to see the Griffins of Lincoln-Way East host the Tigers of Wheaton Warrenville South.

While WW South dates back to 1876 and boasts of such famous alumni as Red Grange, Bob Woodward and the Belushi brothers, Lincoln-Way East has only been open since 2001. But in those ten short years, the football team has never missed the playoffs and even beat Maine South in double overtime to capture the state championship in 2005. This year the Griffins are undefeated and ranked No. 2 by MaxPreps.

Since there isn't a whole lot to say about Lincoln-Way East High School, let's consider the town of Frankfort, the "Jewel of the South Suburbs." And the first thing you should know about Frankfort, according to Wikipedia, is that:

There is no basis in fact that the Village of Frankfort's name was changed from Frankfurt during World War I because the citizens were ashamed of the name "Frankfurt" because it seemed as if we were supporting Germany. Any documents using the spelling "Frankfurt" before 1917 are in error. The maps of Will County, drawn as early as 1853, show the name is correctly spelled Frankfort. The name Frankfort was taken from the Frankfort Township name as designated by the governing board of Will County. It was commonly known as "Frankfort Station" after the opening of the Joliet & Northern Indiana Railroad through the township in 1855. In fact, the official plat of the community dated March 1855 shows the name as Frankfort. Property deed abstracts and railroad documents also show that the name was always Frankfort. Local residents incorporated Frankfort as a village, with the village form of local government in 1879.

So don't even ask!

Let's get back to football. The Tigers are the defending 7A champs and are ranked No. 19 in the state by MaxPreps. After opening season losses to Glenbard West and Maine South, two of the top programs in Illinois, WWS has gone 7-1, with victories over Providence (6-4) last week, and Wheaton North (8-2), Glenbard North (7-3) and Naperville Central (7-3).

Here's a look at the Tigers' schedule (home team in CAPS), with the last game first (it's a blog, remember?):

WHEATON WARRENVILLE SOUTH 23, Providence 16
WW SOUTH 27, Wheaton North 13
WW South 41, GLENBARD EAST 20
WW South 13, GLENBARD NORTH 7
WW SOUTH 54, West Chicago 0
WW SOUTH 14, Naperville Central 7
NAPERVILLE NORTH 17, WW South 14
WW SOUTH 20, West Aurora 6
MAINE SOUTH 13, WW South 9
Glenbard West 27, WW SOUTH 7

The Griffins need to stop Tigers' running back Dan Vitale, above, who's headed to Northwestern next year. The big question for Coach Ron Muhitch will be whether to start sophomore Ryan Graham at quarterback or the injured senior Thaddeus Armstrong.

Rob Zvonar, head coach of Lincoln-Way East, won't have that problem. Blake Winkler, above, is probably the best all-around quarterback I've seen this year. He'll definitely play in college. When Winkler's not passing to wide receivers Jay Yancy or Illinois-bound J. J. Robertson he's handing off to running backs Nick Colangelo or Tyler Starke. (Robertson was nursing an injured knee in the Bolingbrook game. I'm looking forward to seeing him at full strength.) The Griffins also have the best defensive line I've seen all season.

Let's have a look at their schedule, with back-to-back victories against Lockport (7-3) and conference rivals Homewood-Flossmoor (7-3), Sandburg (6-4) and Bolingbrook (9-1):

LINCOLN-WAY EAST 35, Plainfield South 7
L-W East 42, JOLIET WEST 7
L-W EAST 42, Joliet 0
L-W East 42, LINCOLN-WAY CENTRAL 7
L-W East 20, BOLINGBROOK 14
L-W EAST 31, Sandburg 7
L-W East 38, HOMEWOOD-FLOSSMOOR 21
L-W EAST 38, Lockport 7
L-W EAST 49, Dunbar 14
L-W East 45, EDWARDSVILLE 14

I have the Griffins going all the way to Champaign. It's hard to imagine them getting beaten.

BOWG prediction: Lincoln-Way East 21, Wheaton Warrenville South 14.