By Austin Duncan
BLOOMINGTON- The Illinois High School Association released the 2015 playoff pairings for high school football Saturday night. All except one of the intercity schools were fortunate enough to have their seasons continue following week nine.
In Class 1A three Heart of Illinois conference teams found out their fate. Gibson City-Melvin-Sibley captured a two seed and will play host to 15 seed Mt. Olive. GCMS finished the season with a 9-0 record and won the HOIC.
Number nine seed LeRoy will travel to number eight Greenfield. LeRoy finished the season 6-3 and third place in the HOIC. 16 seeded Tremont, who finished 5-4 on the season, will travel to the one seed, Stark County.
In Class 2A the remaining HOIC schools found out where they are playing. Tri-Valley earned the one seed and will place host to 16 seed Savanna. The Vikings finished undefeated on the season at 9-0.
The four seed Dee-Mack (7-2) will host 13 seed Hamilton. 12 seeded El-Paso-Gridley (6-3) will travel to Mendon Unity, the five seed. Seven seed Fieldcrest (7-2) will host Knoxville, the 10 seed.
In Class 3A the five seed, Central Catholic Saints will play host to DuQuoin a 12 seed.
In Class 4A, Clinton squeaked into the playoffs as the last team in. The 16 seed Maroons will travel to Belleville (Althoff Catholic). Clinton used a week nine win over Sullivan to become playoff eligible at 5-4. The Maroons trailed by 10 points with six minutes to play and railed to take down Sullivan.
Pontiac , the eight seed, will play host to nine seed Johnsburg.
In Class 5A U-High, who finished 6-3 on the season and third in the Corn Belt captured the 14 seed. They will take on the three seed Peoria High, who finished the season 8-1 and were champions of the Big 12 Conference.
In Class 6A, a week six rematch will be highlighted. The 10 seed, Normal Community Wildcats will travel to Peoria to take on the Peoria Notre Dame Irish. The Irish won the earlier meeting between the schools, 56-52 at Dozier Park in Peoria. The Wildcats finished the season at 6-3 and a fifth place finish in the Big 12.
In Class 7A, Normal Community finished the season at 8-1. That record was good enough to propel the Ironmen to a six seed in the playoffs. NCHS will play host to 27 seed Schaumberg.
A full list of high school football pairings for classes 1A-8A can be found here.
All times and dates of the games will be released around 3:00 p.m. Monday, October 26.
Austin Duncan can be reached at [email protected]
