State Championship Bracket (Wk3)

[4Afan]

Very few schools are petitioning up recently to a higher enrollment-based class. That does not necessarily mean that situation would remain the same if there were a best of the best class regardless of enrollment.

Yes it does. Coaches and ADs care more about stacking trophies in whatever class they can. They don't care about best of the best.

If a school like Rochester or JCA has a clear path to a title in 4A or 5A, or trying to be the best of the best in the open class they're taking the clear path every time.

 

[PowerI66]

If memory serves, the Shells lost to PC in their first state championship my senior year.......and that was a long time ago!!

I asked ChatGPT about their playoff losses and did not verify anything but...

Season
Team that beat Roxana
Score
1976
Metamora
13–8
1978
Springfield Griffin
33–7
1981
Geneseo (Darnall)
10–0
1982
Springfield Griffin
29–8
1983
Jerseyville (Jersey)
7–0
1985
Washington
28–15
1986
Belleville Althoff Catholic
7–0
1987
New Lenox Providence Catholic
14–7
1988
Belleville Althoff Catholic
19–0
1992
Decatur Eisenhower
24–16
1993
Carbondale
62–28
1997
Nashville
42–7
2001
Mt. Zion
41–13
2002
Hillsboro
14–7
2003
Mt. Zion
35–14
2014
Carterville
49–22
2015
Carlinville
52–12
2019
Columbia
56–28
2022
Prairie Central
41–20
2023
Mt. Carmel
63–48
2024
Tolono Unity
44–31
2025
St. Joseph-Ogden
42–32

 

[4Afan]

Again, that's apples and oranges.

There's a difference in not moving up from 7A to 8A and in potentially moving up from 7A or 8A to a best of the best tournament.

It's not apples to oranges though. "Best of the best" versus petitioning up is just semantics. Does petitioning up guarantee better competition, no it doesn't, but it creates better opportunities. If they had petitioned up how great would a LeWin/Wilmo game in 2A have been? If Montini wasn't so scared why didn't they step up and try to go through Franny and Provi in 5A? When MC was rolling through 7A and Loyola was winning 8A for multiple years, why didn't MC petition up to try and take the 8A crown?

The answer is simple, everyone wants the path of least resistance.