Saturday Bounce-Back: IHSA Losing-Record Teams Go 21-31, Finish the Opening Round 42-89

(10-25-26) Saturday was a much better day for the underdogs — just not good enough to flip the weekend.

The 52 losing-record teams that played Saturday went 21-31, a big step up from Friday’s 21-58. Combined, all 131 at-large teams with losing records finished the Opening Round 42-89.

_• Saturday: 4-5 teams 11-10, 3-6 teams 8-17, 2-7 teams 2-4

_• Weekend totals: 4-5 teams 27-34, 3-6 teams 12-40, 2-7 teams 3-15

And Saturday brought an upset parade:

Losing-record teams knocked off winning-record opponents 18 times — nearly double Friday’s 10 — for 28 upsets across the weekend. The headliners: Princeton (4-5) routed 5-4 South Shore 64-20, Woodstock Marian (3-6) rolled 5-4 Kewanee 56-14, Pontiac (3-6) beat 6-3 Dyett 44-26, Aurora Central Catholic (3-6) crushed 6-3 Carver 49-8, Marmion (3-6) blanked 5-4 North Lawndale 40-0, Lakes (4-5) blanked 5-4 Senn 44-0, and DePaul (3-6) edged 5-4 Hampshire 37-34 in overtime.

FINAL/OT: @DePaulPrepFB 37 @WHIPS_football 34

Emmett McCue: Walkoff 30 yard field goal in OT

Andrew Campbell: 13/25, 173 yds., TD, Int.; 1 yd. TD run
Tyson Hooks: 17 car., 95 yds., TD
John Glotzbach: 4 rec., 49 yds.
Liam Lucey: 2 rec., 57 yds., TD
George Farrell: 40 yd. Pick-6… https://t.co/e0PE6cFPDH pic.twitter.com/wbj4X5XFzD

— Matt Now (@mattjnow) October 25, 2026

It wasn’t all sunshine, though: Fulton hung 70 on Monmouth United, Tolono Unity beat Robinson 70-16, and Manteno beat Mendota 62-7.

The 42 survivors now move on to the next round, where the top seeds are waiting.

Muse AI contributed to this article