BLOOMINGTON --- Five area teams qualified for Class 1A, three made it in Class 2A, four teams will represent the area in Class 3A, five made it in Class 4A, three went through to Class 5A, one local team each made it to Class 6A and 7A and two local teams made it to Class 8A as the Illinois High School Association announced its football playoff pairings and seedings in a statewide televised and livestreamed show on Saturday night.
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The 256 schools that qualified for the playoffs begin their journeys this coming Friday and Saturday, with the postseason returning after the 2020 playoffs were cancelled because of the COVID-19 pandemic.
In Class 1A, Camp Point Central earned the number one seed in the southern half of the bracket, and will play against number 16 Villa Grove, while the number 13 seed went to Mt. Sterling Brown County, who will play at number four seed Toledo Cumberland, with Winchester West Central was seeded 12th and will play at number five seed Arcola. Carrollton was seeded number two and will host 15th-seeded Shelbyville, and Greenfield Northwestern was seeded seventh and hosts number 10 seed Catlin Salt Fork.
In Class 2A, Vandalia was seeded seventh in the south half of the bracket and will host number eight seed Chester, while Breese Mater Dei Catholic was seeded fourth and hosts number 13 Carmi White County. Meanwhile, Mendon Unity was seeded 11th and will play at number-six seed Nashville
Over in the Class 3A playoffs, Beardstown was seeded 13th in the southern half of the bracket and will play at number 4 Williamsville. Carlinville was awarded the number seven seed and hosts number 10 DuQuoin, Piasa Southwestern was seeded 14th and travel to number three seed Benton, and Greenville was seeded 11th and will play at number six Monticello.
In Class 4A, Cahokia was seeded number 16 in the southern bracket, and plays at number one Rochester, while number four seed Freeburg hosts number 13 Olney Richland County, Breese Central was seeded second and hosts number 15 Salem, Columbia was seeded 14th and plays at number three Springfield Sacred Heart-Griffin Catholic, while Civic Memorial was seeded 11th and will play at number six Quincy Notre Dame Catholic.
The Class 5A southern pairings saw Mascoutah earn the number four seed and will be hosting number 13 Dunlap, while Highland was seeded 10th and plays at number seven Morton and Triad was seeded sixth and hosts number 11 Country Club Hills Hillcrest.
In Class 6A's southern bracket, East St. Louis was seeded fourth and will host number 13 Riverside-Brookfield, while in Class 7A, which was seeded in a traditional 1-32 bracket, Collinsville was seeded seventh and hosts number 26 Geneva, and in Class 6A, Edwardsville was seeded 31st and will play at second seed South Elgin and O'Fallon was seeded 23rd and will play at number 10 Glenview Glenbrook South.
The dates and kickoff times will be announced by the IHSA office Monday afternoon. The finals will be played at Northern Illinois University's Huskie Stadium on Friday and Saturday, Nov. 26-27. The Class 1A-4A championship games will be played Friday, with the 5A-8A title games on Saturday, with the kickoff times being 10 a.m, 1 p.m., 4 p.m. and 7 p.m. both nights.
