In recent years there's...

Loyola is the only private school left in 8A.

...been a bit of a debate about whether or not private schools should have their own postseason tournament in Illinois high school football. Is it fair to lump them in with the public schools? Can the "publics" still compete with the big, bad "privates"?

Well, at the end of Round One of the playoffs, by my count nine private schools are still standing in the top four classes while nine have been eliminated.

In 8A, only Loyola won its first game while Brother Rice, Marist and Notre Dame all went down to defeat.

In 7A, Fenwick and Benet advanced to the second round; St. Rita and Carmel will be watching future contests from either the stands or on TV.

In 6A, Montini, St. Viator, St. Laurence and Sacred Heart-Griffin are still alive, but St. Ignatius, Boylan and Marmion are gone. (In fairness, Montini beat St. Ignatius and St. Viator defeated Boylan.)

Finally, in 5A, Nazareth and Marian moved on to Round Two as Peoria Notre Dame lost.

And don't forget, such perennial powers as Providence, Mount Carmel, Bishop McNamara, Aurora Christian and Joliet Catholic didn't even make the playoffs this year.

So does this prove my argument that public and private schools should remain in the same tournament? Not necessarily; let's see how things look after this weekend.