Thanks to the expansion of the Illinois High School Association football playoffs, the Little Illini Conference has qualified a record number of teams for the post-season. Seven of the eight LIC teams were named to the 384-team field unveiled Saturday night by the IHSA.
The league had previously landed six playoff spots (out of nine teams)Â in 2021, and five teams in 2016, 2019, and 2025.
League champion Mt. Carmel, one of 20 unbeaten teams remaining in the state, leads the LIC field at 9-0. The Golden Aces and Newton also become the first conference teams to benefit from a new wrinkle in the playoff system. With each of the eight class tournaments sporting 48 teams, the top 16 seeds in each class now receive a first-round bye. Mt. Carmel has a No. 3 seed in the southern half of Class 3A. Newton is seeded eighth in the southern half of 2A.
In classes 1A through 6A, the IHSA created north-south brackets, with 24 seeded teams in each. The largest and most northern Illinois-centric classes, 7A and 8A, were bracketed on a straight 1-48 seed basis.
LIC schools in the playoffs are spread over four different classes. Here’s who made it and who they are matched up against, courtesy of the IHSA (dates and times to be released by schools, this story will be updated as that information becomes available):
Class 1A
Casey-Westfield (3-6) at Astoria (6-3).
Class 2A
Marshall (3-6) at Moweaqua A & M (5-4).
Newton (6-3) gets a first-round bye.
Class 3A
Mt. Carmel (9-0) gets a first-round bye.
Paris (7-2) hosts Eureka (4-5).
Robinson (4-5) at Tolono Unity (7-2)
Class 4A
Olney (4-5) at Salem (5-4)
Check out all the pairings here:https://littleillini.com/football-playoffs/. The pairings belong to the IHSA, but we turned our engine loose to project out the entire tournament and you’ll see the results there as well.
Notes:
Here is the breakdown of the 384 playoff teams based on win totals:
9 wins: 20 teams
8 wins: 46 teams
7 wins: 59 teams
6 wins : 58 teams
5 wins: 69 teams
4 wins: 63 teams
3 wins: 52 teams
2 wins: 17 teams
First four in (9-0 with highest number of opponent’s wins): Frankfort (Lincoln-Way East) 9-0 49, Morris 9-0 47, Port Byron (Riverdale) 9-0 39, Antioch 9-0 38.
Last four in (2-7 with the highest number of opponent’s wins for available spots): Crystal Lake (Prairie Ridge) 2-7 43, Trenton (Wesclin) 2-7 43, Crystal Lake (South) 2-7 43, Rockford (East) 2-7 43.
First four out: (2-7 with the highest number of opponent’s wins that missed the cutoff): Rolling Meadows 2-7 43, Aledo (Mercer County) 2-7 42, Canton 2-7 42, Virden (North Mac) 2-7 42.
Four conferences (divisions included) qualified a double-digit number of teams:
Cahokia 13, Southwest Prairie 11, West Suburban 10, Western Illinois Valley 10.
Two conferences (divisions included) qualified every member for the playoffs: DuKane (eight members from the suburban Geneva area), and the South Seven (five members including Mt. Vernon).
