Bailey Set to Retun as Starter, Raiders Need a Win to Clinch Playoffs

Bolingbrook head football coach John Ivlow was quick to remind inquiring minds that Aaron Bailey's return to the starting line-up yields no guarantees.

But with Bailey back in the fold, the Raiders could lock up a playoff spot with a win Friday night.

"Aaron will be back next week," Ivlow said. "I'm not saying it will solve all of our problems, but it will definitely help."

Bolingbrook High School's sophomore starter was sidelined at the end of the first quarter of the Raiders' 32-20 win against Joliet West on Sept. 25. As the first period came to a close, Bailey dropped back to pass only to find himself scrambling in the open field. He would injure his right ankle at the end of the play as he was brought down by a defender and would not return to the game, leaving at halftime to get X-rays taken on his ailing ankle.

The Raiders would go on to win the game behind reserve quarterback D.J. Pruitt, who accumulated 189 yards of total offense and scored a pair of touchdowns in Bailey's absence.

"Don't get me wrong, Aaron's shoes aren't getting filled soon. He's one great player," Pruitt said after the Sept. 25 victory against Joliet Central.

It will have been four weeks since Bailey last took a live-action snap. In the two full games he has missed, the Raiders have struggled mightily on the offensive side of the ball.

Bolingbrook High School saw its three-game winning streak snapped on Homecoming night in a 19-6 loss to Homewood-Flossmoor. The Raiders followed the defeat with a lopsided 43-7 thrashing at the hands of Lincoln-Way East.

Having dropped back-to-back games for the first time this season, Bolingbrook finds itself nearing a must-win situation.

The Raiders must win one of their next two games to become playoff eligible.

With Bailey in the fold, the probability that playoff football will be played in Bolingbrook becomes a bit more secure.

The star sophomore has accounted for five scoring drives over the last three full quarters of football he has played before getting injured.

One week after being battered by Lincoln-Way East on the road, a game in which Bailey suited up for but never entered, the Raiders are fully prepared to take to the gridiron with their leader in tow.

"We talked about it. There was an outside chance we could have played him," Ivlow said when asked if he considered playing Bailey against Lincoln-Way East. "But we thought he's not 100 percent and if we could rest him a few more days and get him 100 percent next week, that was the goal."

Bailey's return crosses one of Bolingbrook's goals off the list. And the quarterback's comeback tour could lead to the Raiders marking off another goal sooner, rather than later—the postseason.