STRIKE WOULD SINK SIMEON FIRST
WOLVERINES STILL NEED TO SQUEEZE IN 8TH GAME TO MAKE PLAYOFFS, BUT CPS DISPUTE BLOCKING THEm
“We hope and pray they figure this thing out by Monday or Tuesday.”
Dante Culbreath, Simeon coach
The clock is ticking a little faster for Simeon, the best football team in the Public League, than it is for the rest of the city.
The Wolverines need the Chicago teachers’ strike to end on or before Tuesday to have a chance to play in the state playoffs. The rest of the Public League can participate if the strike ends on or before the following Tuesday, Oct. 29, allowing them enough mandated practice time before playoff games start Nov. 2. Unlike the other teams, Simeon has played only seven games this season. To be eligible for the IHSA state playoffs, a team must play eight.
That’s the reason Chicago Public Schools moved the Week 8 games to earlier this week, ahead of the strike — to allow teams to become playoff-eligible with eight games. However, Simeon (6-1) didn’t play in Week 2 after a game with an out-of-state opponent fell through due to scheduling problems.
“I didn’t think too much about it back then,” Simeon quarterback Jacquez Woodland said. “But now, in this situation where we need eight games and it’s crunch time, I’m wondering what happened and why we didn’t schedule another game that week.”
Simeon will have to play its eighth game before the IHSA sets the playoff field Oct. 26. The Wolverines could play the afternoon of Oct. 26 and still be eligible. However, for that to happen, the strike would have to end no later than Oct. 22 because the IHSA has a policy that football teams must hold three practices before playing a game.
For now, the Wolverines are forced to sit and wait.
“We hope and pray they figure this thing out by Monday or Tuesday,” Simeon coach Dante Culbreath said after the Wolverines beat Taft on Wednesday. “We are preparing for the state playoffs. Nothing changes — adversity is going to happen, and we’re just going to keep working.”
Culbreath, a Chicago Teachers Union member, said CPS officials have said certified coaches who are not teachers union members can work with athletes during the strike. Wolverines players also plan to work out on their own.
“We will get together today or tomorrow,” Woodland said. “We have a few coaches that aren’t union members.”
That isn’t the case for a lot of teams, though. Taft quarterback Dexter Stigall IV said his team is completely on its own when it comes to practicing.
“We’ve been trying to get together, but everyday lives, people have things to do,” Stigall said. “Definitely over the next few days we will have a practice. We might go to a local grammar school, see what works and is close to everybody.”
Stigall says he understands why the union is striking but questions the timing.
“For this strike to take away what we want to do, it hurts,” he said. “We’ve been working all summer, all year for a chance to play in the playoffs.”
PLAYOFF STATUS UPDATE
Ten Public League teams have clinched a state playoff berth by winning six games: Ag. Science, Amundsen, Carver, Dunbar, Harlan, Kenwood, Mather, Orr, Payton and Phillips.
Five-win teams can qualify for the playoffs if they have enough playoff points (total number of wins by opponents). According to Joliet Herald-News sports editor Steve Soucie, the state’s premier bracketologist, Lincoln Park, Taft and Curie likely have enough playoff points to qualify.
That leaves five-win teams Clark, Hyde Park, Marine, Morgan Park and Sullivan waiting to see if they get in without playing a Week 9 game if the strike continues past Tuesday. ✶