IHSA District Project

[DadCoachSports]

As I have stated in other threads I am not a fan of the 8 Classes with 16 Districts per class. Because of geography and amount of teams playing football in Illinois I do not feel it is sustainable over the long haul for IHSA football.

My proposal still has 8 title games and classes come playoff time but they are broken down Class 1A-4A, Division 1 & Division 2 in each class (like Texas does it).

During the regular season teams will play in a District in Classes 1A, 2A, 3A & 4A.

Districts can have 6, 7, or 8 teams in them based on geography.

In my example below I have 17 Districts in Class 4A. If you are in an 8 team District you will have 4 playoff qualifiers, 7 team District will have 4 playoff qualifiers and 6 team Districts will have 3 playoff qualifiers. (Note only your District record counts to playoff qualification).

In my proposal CPS will always only be in a District with other CPS teams.

Based on the above 64 qualifiers Private schools and the next largest schools to fill the first 32 teams will be 4A Division 1 and the following 32 schools will be 4A Division 2.

These are the largest 125 schools based on the 500 schools that played IHSA 11 man football in 2023. This does not include CPS schools from the Blue Divisions that were not eligible for the IHSA playoffs.

 

[DadCoachSports]

School	Conference	District
Chicago (Curie)	Chicago Public, Red	4A-1		Barrington	Mid-Suburban (West)	4A-4
Chicago (Kenwood)	Chicago Public, Red	4A-1		Carpentersville (Dundee-Crown)	Fox Valley	4A-4
Chicago (Lane)	Chicago Public, Red	4A-1		Hoffman Estates (Conant)	Mid-Suburban (West)	4A-4
Chicago (Lincoln Park)	Chicago Public, White-Northwest	4A-1		Hoffman Estates (H.S.)	Mid-Suburban (West)	4A-4
Chicago (Taft)	Chicago Public, Red	4A-1		Palatine (Fremd)	Mid-Suburban (West)	4A-4
Chicago (Whitney Young)	Chicago Public, Red	4A-1		Palatine (H.S.)	Mid-Suburban (West)	4A-4
				Roselle (Lake Park)	DuKane	4A-4
Moline (H.S.)	Western Big 6	4A-2		Schaumburg (H.S.)	Mid-Suburban (West)	4A-4
Oswego (East)	Southwest Prairie (West)	4A-2
Oswego (H.S.)	Southwest Prairie (West)	4A-2		Evanston (Twp.)	Central Suburban (South)	4A-5
Plainfield (Central)	Southwest Prairie (East)	4A-2		Glenview (Glenbrook South)	Central Suburban (South)	4A-5
Plainfield (East)	Southwest Prairie (East)	4A-2		Niles (Notre Dame)	CCL/ESCC (Green)	4A-5
Plainfield (North)	Southwest Prairie (West)	4A-2		Northbrook (Glenbrook North)	Central Suburban (South)	4A-5
Plainfield (South)	Southwest Prairie (East)	4A-2		Skokie (Niles North)	Central Suburban (North)	4A-5
Yorkville (H.S.)	Southwest Prairie (West)	4A-2		Skokie (Niles West)	Central Suburban (North)	4A-5
				Wilmette (Loyola Academy)	CCL/ESCC (Blue)	4A-5
Arlington Heights (Hersey)	Mid-Suburban (East)	4A-3		Winnetka (New Trier)	Central Suburban (South)	4A-5
Buffalo Grove	Mid-Suburban (East)	4A-3
Des Plaines (Maine West)	Central Suburban (North)	4A-3		Bolingbrook	Southwest Suburban (Blue)	4A-6
Elk Grove Village (E.G.)	Mid-Suburban (East)	4A-3		Joliet (Central)	Southwest Prairie (East)	4A-6
Mt. Prospect (Prospect)	Mid-Suburban (East)	4A-3		Joliet (West)	Southwest Prairie (East)	4A-6
Park Ridge (Maine East)	Central Suburban (North)	4A-3		Lockport (Twp.)	Southwest Suburban (Blue)	4A-6
Park Ridge (Maine South)	Central Suburban (South)	4A-3		Minooka	Southwest Prairie (West)	4A-6
Rolling Meadows	Mid-Suburban (East)	4A-3		Normal (Community)	Big Twelve	4A-6
				Pekin	Mid-Illini	4A-6
				Romeoville (H.S.)	Southwest Prairie (East)	4A-6

 

[DadCoachSports]

Chicago (Marist)	CCL/ESCC (Green)	4A-7		Aurora (East)	Upstate Eight	4A-11
Chicago Heights (Bloom Twp.)	Southland	4A-7		Aurora (Metea Valley)	DuPage Valley	4A-11
Flossmoor (Homewood-F.)	Southwest Suburban (Blue)	4A-7		Aurora (Waubonsie Valley)	DuPage Valley	4A-11
Lansing (Thornton Fractional South)	South Suburban (Blue)	4A-7		Aurora (West Aurora)	Southwest Prairie (West)	4A-11
Richton Park (Rich Township)	Southland	4A-7		Batavia	DuKane	4A-11
South Holland (Thornwood)	Southland	4A-7		Naperville (Neuqua Valley)	DuPage Valley	4A-11
Tinley Park (Andrew)	Southwest Suburban (Red)	4A-7
				Addison (A. Trail)	West Suburban (Gold)	4A-12
Downers Grove (North)	West Suburban (Silver)	4A-8		Carol Stream (Glenbard North)	DuKane	4A-12
Downers Grove (South)	West Suburban (Gold)	4A-8		Elmhurst (York)	West Suburban (Silver)	4A-12
Hinsdale (Central)	West Suburban (Silver)	4A-8		Franklin Park-Northlake (Leyden)	West Suburban (Gold)	4A-12
Lisle (Benet Academy)	CCL/ESCC (White)	4A-8		Glen Ellyn (Glenbard West)	West Suburban (Silver)	4A-12
Naperville (Central)	DuPage Valley	4A-8		Lombard (Glenbard East)	Upstate Eight	4A-12
Naperville (North)	DuPage Valley	4A-8		Villa Park (Willowbrook)	West Suburban (Gold)	4A-12
Wheaton (Warrenville South)	DuKane	4A-8		Wheaton (North)	DuKane	4A-12
Bartlett	Upstate Eight	4A-9		Gurnee (Warren)	North Suburban	4A-13
DeKalb	DuPage Valley	4A-9		Libertyville	North Suburban	4A-13
Elgin (H.S.)	Upstate Eight	4A-9		Lincolnshire (Stevenson)	North Suburban	4A-13
Elgin (Larkin)	Upstate Eight	4A-9		McHenry	Fox Valley	4A-13
South Elgin	Upstate Eight	4A-9		Mundelein (H.S.)	North Suburban	4A-13
St. Charles (East)	DuKane	4A-9		Round Lake	Northern Lake County	4A-13
St. Charles (North)	DuKane	4A-9		Waukegan (H.S.)	North Suburban	4A-13
West Chicago (H.S.)	Upstate Eight	4A-9		Zion (Z.-Benton)	North Suburban	4A-13
Berwyn-Cicero (Morton)	West Suburban (Gold)	4A-10
Chicago (St. Ignatius)	CCL/ESCC (Green)	4A-10
Hillside (Proviso West)	West Suburban (Silver)	4A-10
Maywood (Proviso East)	West Suburban (Gold)	4A-10
Oak Park (Fenwick)	CCL/ESCC (Orange)	4A-10
Oak Park (River Forest)	West Suburban (Silver)	4A-10

 

[DadCoachSports]

Algonquin (Jacobs)	Fox Valley	4A-14
Hampshire	Fox Valley	4A-14
Huntley	Fox Valley	4A-14
Machesney Park (Harlem)	Northern Illinois (NIC 10)	4A-14
Rockford (Auburn)	Northern Illinois (NIC 10)	4A-14
Rockford (Guilford)	Northern Illinois (NIC 10)	4A-14
Rockford (Jefferson)	Northern Illinois (NIC 10)	4A-14
Rockton (Hononegah)	Northern Illinois (NIC 10)	4A-14
Bradley (B.-Bourbonnais)	Southwest Suburban (Red)	4A-15
Frankfort (Lincoln-Way East)	Southwest Suburban (Blue)	4A-15
New Lenox (Lincoln-Way Central)	Southwest Suburban (Red)	4A-15
New Lenox (Lincoln-Way West)	Southwest Suburban (Red)	4A-15
LaGrange (Lyons)	West Suburban (Silver)	4A-15
Orland Park (Sandburg)	Southwest Suburban (Blue)	4A-15
Alton (Sr.)	Southwestern	4A-16
Belleville (East)	Southwestern	4A-16
Belleville (West)	Southwestern	4A-16
Collinsville	Independent Schools	4A-16
Edwardsville (H.S.)	Southwestern	4A-16
Granite City	Independent Schools	4A-16
O'Fallon (H.S.)	Southwestern	4A-16
Quincy (Sr.)	Western Big 6	4A-16
Burbank (Reavis)	South Suburban (Red)	4A-17
Chicago (Brother Rice)	CCL/ESCC (Blue)	4A-17
Chicago (Mt. Carmel)	CCL/ESCC (Blue)	4A-17
Oak Lawn (Community)	South Suburban (Red)	4A-17
Palos Heights (Shepard)	South Suburban (Red)	4A-17
Palos Hills (Stagg)	Southwest Suburban (Red)	4A-17
Summit (Argo)	South Suburban (Red)	4A-17

 

[DadCoachSports]

If any is interested in taking a deep dive into this with me, please reach out.

ihsadistrictproject@gmail.com

 

[crusader_of_90]

 

[4Afan]

View embedded media

I'd think Antioch would be in favor of districts. In Soucie's mock there's only 3 privates in all of 6A.