In the past five years, Wheaton Warrenville South has lost one DuPage Valley Conference game -- by a point, on the road, after waiting out a lightning storm, on a grass field that had completely turned to mud.
If not for that 7-6 loss at Naperville North in Week 9 of last season, the Tigers would be carrying a 34-game winning streak inside the DVC and closing in on a fifth consecutive league title. There have been the injuries and suspensions all programs deal with, as well as several players graduating to the Big Ten. As it stands now, WW South is 7-1 overall, 6-0 in the DVC and ranked third by the Chicago Sun-Times, same as it ever was.
"When you're on a roll like they are year after year, the kids expect to come in and win games," said Wheaton North coach Joe Wardynski, the former defensive coordinator at WW South. "They don't play a ton of juniors because they usually have a strong enough senior class where they don't have to do that, so they're (playing) with older kids that have some experience.
"They just are very fundamental and Coach (Ron) Muhitch does a great job of setting the bar high, and those kids do a great job of attaining what he asks them to."
Technically, WW South has only clinched a share of this season's DVC title. Naperville Central and Glenbard North are a game behind at 7-1 overall, 5-1 in league play and will meet Friday night at Memorial Stadium.
But both the Redhawks and Panthers already missed their best shots for a conference crown. WW South hosts 3-5 West Aurora, which has not beaten the Tigers since joining the DVC in 1997, going 0-12 against them during that time.
That's the fallout from last week, when WW South dismantled Glenbard North in a 35-7 blowout victory. Heading into that game, the Panthers had recorded four shutouts and allowed only 33 points during the entire season.
In the IHSA playoff outlook released Monday, Central and Glenbard North were slotted at seventh and eighth, respectively, in Class 8A, though that should obviously change after Friday night. The winner will expect a home game in the first round, but that advantage might be minimal.
Friday will mark Central's first true home game of the season after shifting dates to Benedictine University and North Central College, and it hasn't been much of an inconvenience. Redhawks coach Mike Stine indicated that Memorial Stadium is expected to be ready to host after renovations that included the installation of new synthetic turf.
That same playoff projection had Waubonsie Valley (5-3) at No. 26 and North (4-4) as the last team in at No. 32. Coincidentally, both will end the regular season against 0-8 teams -- East Aurora and West Chicago.
That should make the live unveiling of the brackets even more interesting on Saturday night. North hasn't finished with a losing record since 1983, or Larry McKeon's first season as head coach. It has qualified for the postseason in 22 of the previous 23 years. It last missed the playoffs in 1996.
Will five wins be enough for the Huskies?
"I hope so," North senior linebacker Jack Krejci said after last week's 10-3 loss to Wheaton North. "All we can do is win (Friday). That's all we can control."
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