(7-30-21) The Illinois High School Association (IHSA) has released every 2021 football schedule for every member school, including 8-man football.

The last several years high school football in Illinois has been close to a nightmare for AD’s and coaches. First…IHSA members approved district play, then they voted to overturn district play before it was even implemented.

The 2020 IHSA pandemic season was canceled in the fall, schools would end up being allowed to play a shortened spring season. The down side was there were no playoffs or state finals.

So far (keep your fingers crossed) the (official) 2021 season is just a few days away from starting.

With the district plan being revoked only 10 schools are listed in 2021 as independents. With no conference games in place these schools have to work hard to fill out the 9-game schedule. Seven of the 10 schools have at least one out of state opponent on their schedule.

Two schools, Granite City and Quincy Notre Dame, have three out-of-state opponent games slated…all with Missouri schools.

The IHSA is one of the few states that lists schools from out-of-state that play against member schools.

In 2021 Illinois schools will play schools from California, Florida, Iowa, Indiana, Kentucky, Michigan, Missouri, Ohio and Wisconsin. Twenty Missouri schools will play against an IHSA member.

8-man football has expanded and continues to add new schools and many are moving in that direction for the future. With the additional numbers there were no schools that had to schedule out-of-state opponents. In the beginning some schools had multiple Wisconsin schools on their schedule.

28 IHSA schools are listed on the IHSA site as 8-man football members.

8-Man Football

Related:

2021 IHSA HS Football Schedules

Advertisement