FOOTBALL PLAYOFF PAIRINGS SET: Teams prepare for battles from IHSA Class 1A to 8A

BLOOMINGTON – The Illinois High School Association has announced the pairings for the first round in all eight classes for the 42^nd IHSA Football Championship.

The postseason tournament gets under way this weekend at sites throughout the state. Six Riverbender-area teams qualified for this year's playoffs – Edwardsville, Civic Memorial, Marquette Catholic, Roxana, Carrollton and Hardin-Calhoun. Edwardsville will be in Class 8A, CM and Marquette in 4A, Roxana in 3A and Hardin-Calhoun and Carrollton in 1A.

This year, the field in classes 7A and 8A were seeded 1-32, regardless of location in the state; the other six classes were seeded 1-16 in the northern and southern halves of the state and will compete in that half of the draw through the state final.

The championship games are set for Thanksgiving weekend, Nov. 27-28, at Husky Stadium at Northern Illinois University in DeKalb. NIU hosts the championships in odd-numbered years while Memorial Stadium at the University of Illinois in Urbana-Champaign hosts the games in even-numbered years.

Here are the seeds and pairings for Riverbender-area teams for the first round; dates and start times will be announced by the IHSA by 3 p.m. Monday.

CLASS 8A: (30) Aurora Waubonsie Valley at (3) Edwardsville; winner to play winner between (19) Naperville Neuqua Valley and (14) Hinsdale Central

CLASS 4A: (13) Marquette Catholic at (4) Rochester; winner to play winner between (12) Carterville and (5) Murphysboro; (10) Breese Mater Dei at (7) Civic Memorial; winner to play winner between (15) Breese Central and (2) Columbia

CLASS 3A: (9) Roxana at (8) Carlinville; winner to play winner between (16) Fairfield and (1) St. Joseph-Ogden

CLASS 1A: (13) Bridgeport Red Hill at (4) Carrollton; winner to play winner between (12) Decatur Lutheran and (5) Pawnee; (14) Hardin-Calhoun at (3) Arcola; winner to play winner between (11) Catlin Salt Fork and (6) Brown County

The full brackets in all eight classes can be seen at the IHSA web site, www.ihsa.org

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