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Six Riverbender/Edglentoday.com-area schools qualified for the 45th Illinois High School Association playoffs as the pairing and brackets were revealed Saturday night.
Unfortunately, Marquette Catholic, who finished the season at 5-4 with a win over Kincaid South Fork last night, failed to make the field.
The 256 schools in eight classes will play their first-round games this weekend, with dates and times to be announced by the IHSA on Monday afternoon.
In Class 8A, Edwardsville (6-3) drew the number 23 seed and will travel to Evanston (7-2), while in Class 7A, Alton (5-4) were seeded number 27 and will play at number six seeded Rolling Meadows (9-0). Granite City (5-4), making the postseason for the first time since 2011, got the number 29 seed and will play at number four seed Batavia (9-0), the defending Class 7A champions.
Jersey (5-4) were seeded number 16 in the South bracket of Class 5A and will play at number one seed Country Club Hills Hillcrest (9-0) in suburban Chicago. East Alton-Wood River (6-3) drew the number 15 seed in the South bracket and will face number two seed Carlinville (9-0) on the road for the third consecutive year.
Carrollton (6-3) drew the number 10 seed in the South bracket of Class 1A and will play at number seven seed Sesser-Valier (7-2).
Ten other Metro-East schools made the playoffs. In Class 1A, Madison (8-1) was seeded number five and hosts number 12 Albion Edwards County (6-3). In Class 2A, Staunton (5-4) was seeded number 16 in the South bracket and will play at number one seeded Decatur St. Teresa (9-0).
An all Metro-East matchup in Class 4A will see Freeburg (7-2), seeded number nine in the South bracket, play at number eight Columbia (7-2). Breese Central (6-3), seeded 13th, will play at defending champion and number four seed Rochester (8-1), while Breese Mater Dei Catholic (7-2) was seeded seventh and hosts number 10 Effingham (7-2).
Cahokia (8-1) were seeded number four in the Class 5A South bracket and will host number 13 Mt. Zion (6-3), while Highland (9-0), a Class 4A semifinalist last year, was seeded second and will play at home against number 15 seed Olympia Fields Rich Central (5-4), a Chicagoland school. Mascoutah (6-3) got the number 10 seed and will play at number seven Mattoon (6-3).
No area schools were placed in Class 6A, but in Class 7A, East St. Louis (7-2) drew the number 15 seed and will play at home against number 18 Hoffman Estates (7-2), and number 19 Belleville West (7-2) will play at number 14 Wheaton-Warrenville South (8-1).
The finals in all eight classes will be played on Thanksgiving weekend, Nov. 23-24, at the University of Illinois’ Memorial Stadium in Champaign-Urbana.
