It took me over an hour...

...to get to Prairie Ridge High School yesterday for the 6A quarterfinal game with Nazareth Academy.

I knew I was a long way from home when I heard Country and Western music playing on the Public Address system as I entered the stadium. (Most of the games I've attended play rap "music" or other such popular tunes.) And while the thermometer in my car read 55 degrees, the stadium was windy and the mid-November sun was low in the sky and weak.

It was not a welcoming atmosphere.

Now if I felt that way, imagine how a bunch of kids from the near western suburbs must have felt in this environment. I'm talking about kids with names like Joey DeSimone (which the announcer kept pronouncing "Dee-Simon"), Rudy Romagnano (he got that one pretty good, actually), Nick Cozzi, Vinnie Raimondi, Nick Tolitano and Joey Fontano. Oh, and there was also a Sean Maloney, a Dan Callaghan and a Conor Donovan. (And you should have seen their parents.)

The PR fans, on the other hand, were asking each other things like -- I swear -- "Gettin' ready for huntin'?"

One guy leaned over and asked me if I knew where "Nazarene" was. (He could tell, somehow, that I wasn't from around there. Maybe it was because he didn't recognize me as a relative.) When I answered back, "LaGrange Park; do you know where that is?," he nodded silently. Liar.

And then the game began. On the very first play from scrimmage, Wolves' defensive back John Borst scooped up a Josh Moore fumble and ran it in for a touchdown. At 11:50 of the first quarter, the Roadrunners were already down, 7-0. Welcome to Crystal Lake.

Things pretty much went downhill from there.

Nazareth had beaten some really good teams this year: Cary-Grove just last week, 24-0; Joliet Catholic, 24-21; and Marist, 33-20. Their only loss was at Carmel, 27-3, in the second week of the season. The Roadrunners had scored an average of 28 points a game.

Yesterday, however, the LaGrange squad could manage only one score, a fumble recovery for a touchdown by Kevin Curtin in the third quarter. But by then the outcome was clear. Nazareth just couldn't get anything going on offense. (I wonder how many first downs they had; couldn't have been too many.)

The PR offense, on the other hand, was functioning as I've earlier described it: a well-oiled machine. These guys are well-coached and execute. I can't decide who's more valuable, quarterback Nick Nissen, above, or running back Jordan Getzelman, below. (Not to mention Connor Greenwald and Steve Bashor.)

They are fun to watch.

And these country boys can hit, too. The defense knocked Roadrunner quarterback Sam Poulos out of the game in the second half.

The game ended, finally -- mercifully -- with Prairie Ridge the winner over Nazareth, 35-7.

PR travels to Batavia next week. I know the Bulldogs are undefeated, but I wouldn't be too surprised if the Wolves pull off an upset. In fact, I'd be surprised if they didn't.