In order to find out which Illinois high school football teams had really overcome adversity to achieve a winning season, we looked at the nine teams that finished the 2013 season winning one game or less but have gone five weeks into the 2014 season posting at least four wins. Here are those nine “turnaround” teams for 2014:
- Bunker Hill
- Chicago (Bowen)
- Chicago (Fenger)
- Chicago (Hirsch)
- Chicago (Noble/Bulls)
- Chicago (UCCS/Woodlawn)
- Chicago (Westinghouse College Prep)
- Johnsburg
- Marengo
A closer look, however, reveals that only with Bunker Hill and Marengo are we comparing apples to apples. Three of Bunker Hill’s four victories have come over teams that defeated the Minutemen in 2013, as have three of Marengo’s victories. Marengo’s only loss so far came in a 22-14 defeat against Genoa-Kingston, which took the Indians to the cleaners last year, 48-3.
Bowen is next, and the Boilermakers are noteworthy because they’re the only 5-0 team left on this short list. Two of those victories came against teams Bowen lost to in 2013, while the other three victories came against teams the school hadn’t played, at least in the last three years.
Johnsburg‘s four wins this season have come against three teams they hadn’t played in at least the last three years and one they lost to last year, 26-7.
Hirsch is somewhere in the middle on this list. Their four victories have come against a team they beat last year, a team they lost to last year, and two brand new teams, including Fenger. The only loss for the Huskies this season has come against a team that has defeated them every year, going back at least three years.
The Chicago Bulls campus of the Noble Street Charters was around in 2011, but among the school’s first five opponents this year, the only loss has come against a team that also defeated the Bulls in 2013. Their four victories have come against teams they hadn’t played before.
None of Woodlawn‘s four actual on-the-field victories came against a team they lost to last year. The Warriors, though, did post a victory by forfeit this weekend against Hawkins, which forfeited the game with Woodlawn in 2013 as well but lost an actual game to the Warriors in 2012 by a score of 37-26.
Westinghouse has all new opponents this year, although one of the Warriors’ four victories came against a team they beat in 2011.
Finally, Fenger has eight brand new teams on its schedule, compared to the last three years. The realignment seems to be working in Fenger’s favor—or maybe it has something to do with the new head coach (the team played under new coach Julius Conner in the Windy City conference last year and moved to the Inter-city 2 conference in 2014).
