How to Watch the Illinois 7A and 8A Football State Championship Games

Watch live as St. Rita challenges Brother Rice for the 7A title and Oswego takes on Mount Carmel for the 8A crown

Oswego will battle undefeated Mount Carmel for the Illinois Class 8A title on Wednesday night at Northern Illinois University. / Dean Rei

It's been a wild week in Illinois as snowy winter weather forced the Illinois High School Association (IHSA) football state champions to shuffle through a weekend of postponements, followed by six exciting state finals earlier this week.

Now we've reached the finals of the state's two largest classifications – 7A and 8A – and you can watch all the action live.

The Class 7A final is a matchup between St. Rita and Brother Rice and the 8A championship game features Oswego and Mount Carmel. Both games were original scheduled to be played on Saturday at Illinois State University's Hancock Stadium. After the winter storms forced the IHSA to shuffle its schedule, these final two state title games will now take place at Northern Illinois' Huskie Stadium in DeKalb.

Both games are streaming live on the NFHS Network and here is how you can watch live.

Illinois Class 7A Football State Championship

Wednesday, Dec. 3 • 4:00 p.m. • Huskie Stadium, Northern Illinois University

No. 3 Brother Rice (12-1) vs. St. Rita (9-4)

This is a rematch of a Week 3 game won by Brother Rice, 28-10. The Crusaders only loss of 2025 came against 8A finalist and top-ranked Mount Carmel and they enter the final on a seven game win streak, having scored 40 or more points in all but one of those games.

St. Rita also enters the final red hot, with its own seven game win streak. When the Mustangs fell to Brother Rice they were in the middle of three game losing streak, that also included a loss to Mount Carmel and 8A semifinalist St. Frances, and a 2-4 start. Since then they have averaged 44 points per game to reach the state championship game.

You can stream the the Brother Rice vs. St. Rita state championship game live on the NFHS Network.

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Illinois Class 8A Football State Championship

Wednesday, Dec. 3 • 7:00 p.m. • Huskie Stadium, Northern Illinois University

No. 1 Mount Carmel (13-0) vs. Oswego (9-2)

Mount Carmel opened its season with a hard fought win over Ohio powerhouse Archbishop Moeller and the Caravan proceeded to roll through their next 12 games to reach the state final undefeated. Mount Carmel's most challenging stretch came when it had to play back-to-back games with a strong Loyola Academy squad, in the regular season finale and playoff opener, but prevailed both times.

Oswego has navigated its way to the championship game largely on the strength of stingy defense which has allowed just 12.2 points per game this season. The Panthers have won six straight and hope to ride that momentum to upset the Caravan and bring home the 8A crown.

You can stream the Mount Carmel vs. Oswego state championship game live on the NFHS Network.

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