While waiting for the IHSA...

...playoff brackets to be "revealed" to us (sounds almost Biblical, doesn't it?), I can't help going over my latest madcap high school football weekend.

It all began on Friday night at Kaneland High School, in a clearing of cornfields between the two small towns of Elburn and Maple Park, about 40 miles west of Chicago (or 50 from the Loop). It continued on Saturday morning at historic Hanson Stadium on the Northwest Side of the city and concluded at Duchon Field on the campus of Glenbard West High School in the upscale bedroom community of Glen Ellyn.

So let's see: In twenty-four hours I covered the country, the city and the suburbs. Whew! (My car is tired.)

It only took me about two hours to reach Schmidt's Towne Tap in the charming downtown of Elburn, above, on Friday afternoon. I was a little nervous parking my convertible on the street, especially with my NOT A REPUBLICAN bumper sticker on the back. I don't know why; the immediate neighborhood just didn't seem like an Obama hotbed somehow.

But I knew I was in the right place the minute I walked into Schmidt's and noticed a number of the patrons wearing Kaneland Knights gear. Everyone was very friendly, including my waitress (even if she didn't have a clue about the Game of the Week that was about to take place nearby).

After a delicious half-pound cheeseburger with lettuce, tomato and onions, fries and an O'Doul's, I went back outside and was relieved to find that my tires hadn't been slashed or my windshield broken. It's gonna be okay, I thought, as I drove the last few miles to the stadium. (If you're ever out that way, be sure to stop at Schmidt's; it's a good spot.)

Kaneland High School, as I mentioned, is situated in the middle of miles and miles (and miles) of cornfields. Founded about a month before I was born in 1958, it's within spitting distance of Northern Illinois University in DeKalb and looks like it's been added on to several times to accommodate its current enrollment of about 1,000 students.

The stadium itself is surrounded by pine trees (to cut down on the wind, I imagine) and has a really nice concession stand that serves brats and hot dogs from Ream's Elburn Market, above, in town.  

Rats, I thought, I already ate!

But I grabbed a cup of coffee to keep me warm on the cool October night and climbed to the top of the bleachers for the best seat to watch the showdown between the Knights and the visiting Redskins from Morris. Before I could get to the stands, though, I had to pass a huge, cool sign with the images and jersey numbers of bygone Kaneland gridiron heroes. (It was a little like entering Yankee Stadium; I almost felt like genuflecting.)

I settled into my seat next to two of the locals who were dead ringers for Mr. Haney and Eb, above, from the 1960s sitcom Green Acres. They were both very nice (and knowledgeable about football) and patiently recounted the history of the two teams for me. (Apparently, Morris has always been a power; Kaneland, in comparison, is a bit of an arriviste.)

The game itself (oh yeah, that) was great, as was the atmosphere. Kaneland has great fans, a great band and a ton of school spirit. It would be the perfect place to take Mitt Romney an alien from outer space to show what a high school football game is supposed to look like. (Although I will say that all the pink for Breast Cancer Awareness Month, combined with the black school colors of Kaneland, made me feel a little like I was in a stadium full of Elvis impersonators.)

I'll let you read about the actual game (if you haven't already). Just suffice it to say that the lead changed hands several times before the Knights won, 33-30, with a touchdown in the final seconds of play.

Quarterback Zach Cinnamon was the star of the game for Morris (an appropriate name, I thought, given the Redskins' colors are maroon and gold). And for Kaneland, well, so many players played so well it's hard to single one out. Quarterback Drew David (who still didn't seem 100 percent healthy to me), Zack Martinelli (lots of Zacks in this game) and running back Jesse Balluf (who had 19 carries but I would have sworn it was closer to a hundred and nineteen) all contributed for the Knights.

Saturday began a little differently (a lot differently) as I drove down to Hanson Stadium, above, at Central and Fullerton in the city. I don't know when the structure was built, but I would certainly guess before World War II. (Well before World War II.) But it was a cool place to see a game, and, unlike the night before (when I wore a down jacket and gloves) I sat in the bleachers without any jacket at all and soaked up the sun's rays while I ate my hot dog and drank my Coke. Life is surely good sometimes.

But instead of a couple of hayseeds, I found myself sitting between a group of people speaking Spanish (who all seemed related somehow) and a guy with a union jacket of some sort holding forth to another group of parents. "My grandmother was from County Mayo, I think, and my grandfather was from Sligo," he mused. They were all nice, though, just like Eb and Mr. Haney from the night before. (Although one of the moms had the annoying habit of yelling "HIT SOMEBODY!" every third play or so.)

(By the way, I desperately wanted to ask the people speaking Spanish next to me where, exactly, they were from because they didn't strike me as Mexican for some reason. Perhaps further down in Latin America, like Guatemala or Honduras. I felt just like Larry David in the above clip, except that I never actually asked them the question bedeviling me.)

The game, between the visiting Lions of St. Viator and the host Shamrocks of St. Patrick, was a good one, at least until the middle of the fourth quarter when the "Rocks" put it out of reach, 42-30. (I'll be interested to follow St. Pat's progress in the playoffs. They finished the regular season 6-3 and accounted for Benet's only loss this year.)

As the contest was winding down at about one-thirty or so, I figured I had one more game left in me. Or at least one more half. So I high-tailed it out of there and drove west on North Avenue to Glen Ellyn and Duchon Field, the Best Place to Watch a High School Football Game in the State of Illinois. I got there just as the second half was starting, with the home team Hilltoppers, or Hitters, leading the Trojans of Downers Grove North, 19-0. It wasn't much of a game, as I had suspected, and ended up 26-0 (yawn). But I did get to sit next to a guy on the Downers' side who had played for St. Rita back in the 1950s. He mentioned -- almost immediately -- that the Catholic League was of course the toughest conference in the state and almost choked on his nachos when I said that I'd heard somewhere that the DuPage Valley was a good one too.

The Glenbard West game was a bust (as I knew it would be) but I just couldn't imagine going a whole season without venturing out there at least once. (Last year the Hilltoppers were eliminated in the second round of the playoffs, so you can't take any chances.) I even took the long way back to my car, circling around Lake Ellyn, above, admiring the fall foliage.

But it was a great weekend -- Hey, would you look at the time? The brackets are out! -- and the postseason begins next Friday. I won't be able to see the first or third rounds this year, but I'll be at as many games as I can in the second and fourth (and following the rest on Twitter). And, like last year, I plan on recording all the playoff games on Thanksgiving weekend and watching them the following week. So, if you see me, don't tell me what happened.

Now about those pairings...