(12-4-25) The Illinois High School Association (IHSA) completed their 2025 state football championships after a major winter weather storm delayed four of games to Tuesday and Wednesday.
Brother Rice Vs. St. Rita
In 2025….two #1 seeds were crowned state champions…4A and 8A. The lowest seed to win a title was in 6A when #11 seed Fenwick beat #8 seed East St. Louis. While in 7A #6 seed Fenwick beat #25 seed Chicago St. Rita.
East St. Louis vs Fenwick: INSTANT CLASSICđź’Ż | IHSA Class 6A State Championship #highschoolfootball
CLASS – CHAMPION SEEDS
1A – #3 seed
2A –#5 seed
3A –#2 seed
4A –#1 seed
5A –#9 seed
6A –#11 seed
7A –#6 seed
8A – #1 seed
Upcoming Playoff Format Vote
The new playoff format that will be voted on by IHSA member schools does not include a new seeding process to determine brackets.
You will see below from the proposal that the new format will not not change. The only thing that changes will be the win 5 games to qualify.
How the Football Playoff Pairings are Determined — 2025
Realize that if this new format is approved all of the 128 schools added to the playoffs will (most likely) have a losing record. In 2025 five schools qualified with just 4 wins. The next level will be at 3-6 and you can assume their will be plenty of them based on past seasons, after that a 2-7 school …could be possible.
Did you know…
This past season Ohio downsized the 28 regions in the football playoffs in the seven divisions from qualifying 16 teams to 12 teams. The Ohio High School Athletic Association (OHSAA) just several years prior (2021) had raised it from 8 qualifiers in the region and doubled it to the 16 qualifiers.
The change from 16 to 12 came suddenly in the 2025 off-season…thanks to some intervention from a high ranking State lawmaker and numerous complaints from head coaches. The OHSAA was the only one to benefit from doubling the region qualifiers…due to the added games and income.
Be sure to read the post below by veteran Celina, Ohio football coach Walter Shreffler and what took place during the 16 qualifiers years—
OHSAA member schools were not allowed to vote on the playoff set-up…the Board of Directors made the call on both changes.
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