St. Rita faces almost certain...

...elimination tomorrow night when it plays host to Loyola (7-1), one of the very best teams in Illinois. The Mustangs are 4-4, but are tied with Montini, at 52, for most playoff points in the state. (SeasonPass explains playoff points as simply "opponents' wins." Why don't they just say that?)

And this is unfortunate, because as I mentioned at the beginning of the season (and later here) St. Rita had one of the toughest schedules around. Now, granted, they seem to be having an off-year anyway, losing to Marist, 35-25, Brother Rice, 23-21, Providence, 14-0, and Mount Carmel, 27-0. But I can't help feeling like Rita is being punished for playing good teams. And I'm wondering if Coach Todd Kuska, above, is going to say to himself in the off-season, "Why don't I just schedule a bunch of cupcakes, like Mount Carmel and Maine South do? You'd never see them go 4-5 with the most playoff points. Why don't I get St. Joseph (0-8) or St. Laurence (1-7) on the schedule? Or Niles North (3-5) or Waukegan (2-6)? Why not just take the easy way out?"

But as we saw last year, both Mount Carmel and Maine South went down in the second round of the playoffs. So maybe it pays to play good teams during the regular season. We'll see.