Edwardsville, East St. Louis, Highland play Saturday in IHSA football playoffs

Edwardsville and East St. Louis will both put their IHSA football playoff hopes on the line Saturday night.

The Tigers, a 45-16 winner at home over West Aurora in the Class 8A second round, play at the Griffins in a 6 p.m. kickoff. Lincoln-Way East advanced with a 45-0 win over Glen Ellyn Glenbard West in their second-round game.

In Class 7A, East St. Louis, who won at Lombard Glenbard East 56-14, are on the road for the second straight week, traveling to Chicago Mt. Carmel, who won over Lake Zurich in the second round 17-14. The game is set for Chicago’s Gately Stadium, with a 5 p.m. kickoff. The two teams met in the quarterfinals a year ago, with the Caravan winning over the Flyers 21-18.

All 32 games in the eight classes will be played on Saturday, with start times ranging between 1 and 7 p.m.

The Panthers, who eliminated Carrollton 31-6 in the second round last week, will host their Class 1A quarterfinal game against the Trojans, with a 1 p.m. kickoff. Triopia eliminated Arcola 42-0 last week.

In other games involving Metro-East teams, two teams in Class 5A go on the road for their quarterfinal games. Cahokia, who defeated Carbondale 33-0, will play at Country Club Hills Hillcrest, a 40-7 winner over Decatur MacArthur, in a 3 p.m. start. Hillcrest defeated Jersey in the first round 47-0.

Meanwhile, undefeated Highland will play at Joliet Catholic Academy in their quarterfinal game, commencing at 5 p.m. The Bulldogs eliminated Mattoon 56-35 last week, while the Hilltoppers won over Marion 49-7.

If both the Comanches and Bulldogs win their games, it would set up a potential semifinal matchup between the two sides.

The winners go on to the semifinals, which will be played the weekend of Nov. 16-17, with sites, dates and times to be announced by the IHSA. The finals in all eight classes will be played Thanksgiving weekend, Nov. 23-24, at the University of Illinois’ Memorial Stadium in Champaign-Urbana.

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