If I go to a game...

...this weekend it will be St. Edward (OH) at Naperville Central on Saturday afternoon. (No more Friday night games, remember?)

I'm especially intrigued by interstate matchups as it's hard to know what to expect, and I'm also interested to see how Illinois football stacks up against other states, particularly good ones like Ohio.

So who is this St. Edward High School anyway?

Founded in 1949, St. Edward is one of three remaining all-male Catholic high schools in the Greater Cleveland area (Benedictine and St. Ignatius being the others) and has an enrollment of about 900 students. It's also the alma mater of talk show host Phil Donahue (class of 1953), above.

As for the football team, the Eagles are 5-0 and currently ranked No. 3 in the state of Ohio by MaxPreps. Yikes!

Who has St. Edward beaten? Well, five teams with a combined record of 11-13 by a combined score of 202-43. The Eagles' offense is averaging over 40 points a game. Double yikes!

How has St. Edward fared in recent years? Here is their record and final ranking in MaxPreps since 2004:

2016: 9-3, No. 9
2015: 14-1, No. 1
2014: 13-2, No. 1
2013: 11-2, No. 2
2012: 11-1, No. 4
2011: 8-4, No. 6
2010: 15-0, No. 1
2009: 4-6, No. 49
2008: 6-5, No. 24
2007: 4-5, No. 45
2006: 9-2, No. 16
2005: 12-1, No. 5
2004: 11-2, No. 8

Whoa. So in the last seven years, St. Ed's has gone 81-13 with three state titles? Wow. And, as far as I can tell, that's under two different head coaches, Tom Lombardo, since 2015, and Rick Finotti before that. (MaxPreps is a good resource, but not always accurate.) Obviously, this place has quite a football tradition in a state with quite a football tradition. The Redhawks may have their work cut out for them.

What's my call for Saturday? How the heck should I know? Naperville Central is undefeated, of course, and ranked No. 4 in the Trib, No. 5 in MaxPreps and No. 10 in the Sun-Times. The Redhawks have bested five opponents with a combined record of 9-16 by a combined score of 190-82. I'll say that St. Edward is about a ten-point favorite (maybe even two touchdowns), but I think Coach Mike Stine's squad will make a game of it and make those Ohio kids work harder for it than they expected.

If I go I'll be live-tweeting the action @BoringOldWhtGuy. See you there!