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Illinois high school football power wants to play in Class 7A playoffs regardless of enrollment

Wg0vf-nP_400x400by: Keegan Pope08/22/25bykeeganpope
batavia team photo 2024 (EDGYTIM)
Batavia Team photo 2024 (EDGYTIM) 1200x630

Batavia, one of the premier high school football programs in Illinois, isn’t ducking anyone this season.

Coming off a 12-2 campaign and a trip to the Class 7A state finals in 2024, the Bulldogs were reportedly right on the cusp of dropping into the Class 6A playoffs this year based on enrollment numbers. But according to the Kane County Chronicle’s Steve Soucie, the school told the Illinois High School Association to place them in 7A, regardless of the numbers.

In the state, official classes are not determined until after the playoff teams are chosen. More than 250 teams make playoffs, determined by playoff points. Those teams are subsequently split into 8 classes based primarily on school enrollments.

Batavia competed in the 7A playoffs last year, falling just short of a state title in a 55-35 loss to Chicago’s Mount Carmel. This year, they were poised to be right on the border line between the state’s second- and third-highest classifications. But they want the challenge.

“We are comfortable in the Class 7A field and we feel like we have good knowledge of the teams we might face there. For now, we feel like that’s where we should be,” Batavia coach Dennis Piron told Soucie.

In the past 25 years, the school has teetered between the 6A and 7A playoffs — playing in 7A a dozen times and 6A in eight.

They last won a state championship in 2017 at the 7A level, but have been one of the state’s premier programs with an 81-18 record during that span. In addition to the runner-up finish in 2024, they were semifinalists in 2023, runners-up in 2022, and the state’s No. 1 overall seed in 2021.

Heading into 2025, they check in as the No. 8 team in the state, according to the Rivals Composite High School Football Team Ranking. It is a proprietary algorithm that compiles rankings listed in the public domain by respected High School media and data companies. It includes Massey, Max Preps, ESPN and SI, creating the industry’s most comprehensive and geographically balanced High School Team Ranking.