Illinois High School Football Championships Rescheduled

7A/8A games will be moved, rest return to Illinois State University

Four Illinois high school football championship games remain to be played. / IHSA

The Illinois High School Association has had an interesting last 48 hours or so, as weather caused the cancellation of scheduled high school football championship games.

When Illinois State University shut the campus down, that meant the Illinois high school state football championship games planned for Hancock Stadium could not be played either. Illinois State was scheduled to host all eight state championship games.

Now, several of those planned high school state football championship games will return to Hancock Stadium on the campus of Illinois State University, but two will not.

Northern Illinois University Set To Host Two Title Games

The Illinois High School Association announced that the Class 7A and 8A title games will now be played at Huskie Stadium in DeKalb, Illinois on the campus of Northern Illinois University.

“We are incredibly thankful to NIU, the Huskie athletic department and the DeKalb community for welcoming back the IHSA football state finals on short notice,” IHSA Executive Director Craig Anderson said. “We had a wonderful state final experience in DeKalb over the course of a decade and have a relationship of hosting IHSA state series events on campus that dates back even further.

“NIUs partnership with the IHSA and support of high school student-athletes in Illinois has proven to be second to none.”

Scheduling Conflict Led To Games Being Moved To New Location

Northern Illinois’ Huskie Stadium will see Brother Rice play St. Rita at 3 p.m. for the 7A crown followed by an 8A championship match between Mount Carmel and Oswego.

“I appreciate the many constituents from across our campus who have stepped up to help the IHSA make this happen on short notice,” Northern Illinois Vice President/Director of Athletics and Recreation Sean T. Frazier said. “We look forward to welcoming the state championship to DeKalb, NIU and Huskie Stadium on Wednesday and providing a first-class experience for all of those involved.”

The 5A and 6A title games will now take place on Tuesday at 3 p.m. on the Illinois State campus.

“Illinois State was committed to hosting all eight state championship games if possible, but could not host the 7A and 8A title games until Thursday due to a scheduling conflict on Wednesday,” Anderson said. “We did not want to further impact the schedules and routines of competing teams, so NIU’s willingness to step up, especially give the geography of the competing teams, made this an easy decision.”

Four State Titles Have Already Been Handed Out

The 5A title game will see St. Francis play Providence Catholic, as Fenwick and East. St. Louis meet for the 6A crown after.

Four championship games were able to be played before the winter weather impacted the area. Lena-Winslow won the 1A title over Brown County, 58-13; Wilmington bested Maroa-Forsyth for the 2A gold, 42-6; Bryon earned a 56-50 victory over Tolono Unity in 3A; and Montini topped Rochester in 4A, 47-33.

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