You know that old saying about offense getting all the ink and defense winning championships?

We're about to find out if that's true this week.

Almost all of the Quad-City Times teams face tough opponents this week. Let's take a look at who's playing and how their ability to stop the other team stacks up.

Annawan/Wethersfield surrendered 21 points last week, the second most it's given up all season. Why is that significant? Well, before last week the Braves had given up 22 points total since Sept. 25, including three shutouts. Amboy is averaging 27.8 points a game and has score less than 20 only three times, 19, 13 and 6. The team that wins that battle wins the game.

Orion seems to have righted the ship defensively, only giving up six points the rest of the regular season following the debacle against Sherrard. Stark County hung 21 on them last week, but the Chargers looked much more cohesive. I asked Chip Filler after the game what the difference has been and he said that after that Sherrard game he put the team back into pads and made them hit every week to get their toughness back. Looks like it worked.

Morrison has been dismantling teams all year. Don't let the 20 points by Deer-Creek fool you, 12 of those were after the half when the game was already decided. Josh Vos told our Shannon Heaton that they had to stop giving up big plays. When you're averaging over 40 a game and only give up 98 points all year, you can get away with giving up one or two.

Mercer County has had trouble finishing all year. Finishing blocks, finishing plays and finishing tackles have haunted Nat Zunkel's bunch, until last week. Tough to get a better finish that a well-executed 2-minute drill and a score with less than 30 seconds to play. The Golden Eagles defense gets away with giving up scores because their offense is capable of going off at any moment. They won't have that luxury this week. Gibson City averages 34.3 on offense and only 14.8 on defense. The "D" must be strong is they want to advance.

And I would be remiss if I'm talking defense and neglect to mention Sterling Newman's 9-6 slugfest out in Sherrard. Newman has had a lot of high highs and low lows defensively this year. They've given up over 20 four times, but have held teams to 12 or less six times. The Comets forced four turnovers and held the Tigers to 62 yards rushing. A similar effort gets them into the quarterfinals.

Alexis United's defense has looked strong this season. The only game the Storm has given up more than 21 was when Mercer County dropped 42 on them for their only loss of the season. A close win last week might be enough to shock the Storm into another big defensive effort.

Sterling has been on a roll the last three weeks. Granted the last two have been against the same team, but the history trends even farther back. Starting after the Geneseo loss, Sterling has registered defensive totals of 3, 14, 0, 21, 0, 7 and 6. The Warriors will need their best game of the season against Washington, a squad that puts up 37 points a game and gives up six. Actually, it's less than six. Oh, and they have shut out their last three opponents.

Speaking of the Maple Leafs, I don't know what to make of them. I personally haven't seen them play, which would usually be my tie-breaker. They are 2-2 against teams with winning records. They beat Sterling, but lost to La Salle-Peru, who lost to Sterling back to back weeks. In fact since that loss to L-P, Geneseo has a win by forfeit, defeated a bad Mt. Vernon team and came from behind to beat Plano. I couldn't tell you if they are just lucky, good or both. Geneseo only allows 11 points a game, but the schedule has been soft. I don't know if Kankakee will tell us much. They are a 16 seed with a 6-4 record, but knocked off No. 1 seed IVC 32-0, so who knows what to make of them as well.

It should be an exciting weekend of football. I'll be at the Orion game and fearless reporter Aaron Brenner will be covering Morrison. Stay tuned for more coverage of the Illinois playoff next week.