O’Brien: Week 4’s four downs

Observations and highlights from Week 4:

First down

Things keep getting worse for Public League football. Even teams in the Illini Red Bird conference are forfeiting games. Young forfeited Friday to Taft, but at least the Dolphins let Taft know ahead of time.

Curie showed up to play Dunbar on Thursday at Rockne, but the Mightymen never arrived and forfeited the game. Dunbar also forfeited in Week 1 against Nazareth before losing to Harper 38-8 and Thornridge 62-0.

Nearly a dozen Public League teams that expected to play this season have forfeited the season or certain games. A significant number of the Public League’s neighborhood high schools have suffered huge decreases in enrollment in the last five years. That’s a problem for football.

Are co-op teams the answer?

‘‘[Co-ops] are obviously one of the potential options,’’ Phillips coach Troy McAllister said. ‘‘Deep down, I think schools need to look long and hard at what they are trying to accomplish within their football programs and make tough, serious decisions for the long term.

‘‘Sometimes we get too invested in wanting participation. Football is a serious sport. Participation is great, but it is an aggressive sport. Schools need to look at that and decide if it is a good thing to field a football program. Playing with 14 or 15 kids is not safe.’’

Second down

St. Charles North’s Dan Daley and Lucas Segobiano pulled off some major heroics Friday. The two stopped rival St. Charles East’s two-point conversion try

in overtime to secure a 35-34 victory.

Quarterback Mike Hohensee (28-for-49 passing for 407 yards) and receiver Tom Nelsen (10 catches, 183 yards, two touchdowns) were the offensive stars for the North Stars.

Both St. Charles teams are in the Super 25 this week. North is 3-1, and its only loss is to No. 25 Bolingbrook. East, which had a terrific season last year, is 3-1 heading into a huge game Friday against No. 14 Batavia.

Third down

Is it panic time for Brother Rice? The Crusaders are 1-3 after losing Friday to Montini. Quarterback Nick Orlando delivered a touchdown and two-point conversion with 33 seconds left to give Montini a 29-28 victory.

Orlando ran for three touchdowns and passed for one. Montini is 3-1 under new coach Mike Bukovsky.

The path to the playoffs looks difficult for Brother Rice. The Crusaders have home games left against Providence and St. Rita and travel to Mount Carmel, St. Joseph and Loyola.

Fourth down

The Week 5 schedule looks pretty thin. The only ranked teams facing off are No. 14 Batavia and No. 19 St. Charles East. That changes in Week 6, when No. 1 Lincoln-Way East travels to No. 7 Homewood-Flossmoor.

The Vikings flashed some tremendous talent in the second half Friday against Bolingbrook. Running back Justin Hall was unstoppable, and H-F’s defensive line was dominant.