Top 10 Games of the 2025 Illinois High School Football Season

One of the top Midwest states when it comes to the sport, the Illinois high school football scene features multiple nationally-prominent programs, most notably East St. Louis and Loyola Academy. Now with preseason practices right around the corner, many fans around the Prairie State are wondering which games should they take in this fall. Don’t worry, we’ve got you covered.

Here are the top 10 games of the 2025 Illinois high school football season:

1. Loyola Academy at St. Francis, Sept. 12

We start off this list with an all-Illinois matchup between the two state powerhouses. In last year’s meeting between the Ramblers and Spartans, the latter came away with a 35-21 victory. For Loyola Academy, they still went on to eventually win the IHSA Class 8A state championship, and St. Francis fell short of claiming the 5A title. This is a good early look at a couple of the state’s top programs.

2. Gadsden County (Fla.) at East St. Louis, Sept. 6

Anytime a team from the Sunshine State visits, you probably would think it might be IMG Academy, since they were the last program from Florida to take on East St. Louis. Gadsden County is looking to put their names on the national map and taking on the Flyers is a way to do that. East St. Louis will be hosting their first game of the season coming off the Battle at the Beach Classic in Ocean City, N.J. so this will be a smashmouth tilt in Week 2.

3. Archbishop Moeller (Ohio) at Mount Carmel, Aug. 30

The Caravan have quite the regular season opener on their hands when they take on an Archbishop Moeller group that features Kentucky commit Matt Ponatoski. Mount Carmel is always looking to challenge themselves to start the season as they faced the Hun School (N.J.) to begin the 2024 campaign. Now up against a very talented Archbishop Moeller bunch, Mount Carmel will once again have their work cut out for them.

4. Loyola Academy at Brother Rice, Sept. 19

Coming one week after what will be a physically, emotionally challenging for Loyola Academy, they have to turn around and face a pretty talented Brother Rice team on the road. The Ramblers and the Crusaders played a very competitive contest in 2024, with Loyola Academy coming away with a thrilling 28-21 victory. One advantage the Ramblers had was playing at home, but they won’t have that luxury this time around visiting Brother Rice.

5. Joliet Catholic Academy at Marist, Sept. 19

One of the most exciting games of the 2024 season was between Joliet Catholic and Marist, with the former winning in overtime, 31-30. Anytime a game goes into extra time, you try and expect the very next meeting to live up to the high expectations. With the Redhawks graduating a lot of starters offensively from last year’s group, the Hilltoppers could decide this one in regulation instead of moving into overtime this fall.

6. Nazareth Academy at Kankakee, Aug. 29

There’s a cavalcade of games that start off the season that we could list, but this one between the Kays and Roadrunners has merit. When the two programs clashed to kickoff the 2024 campaign, Nazareth Academy was able to edge out Kankakee in a 37-30 affair. There’s little to dispute that this Week 1 meeting won’t be another thriller between the programs.

7. York at Lyons, Oct. 24

Two Class 8A playoff teams from 2024, Lyons pulled off a dominant 24-7 win over York, ranked No. 10 in the state. Many of the games on our list are towards the beginning of the Illinois high school football season, but this one will come at the very tail end of it. Though it wasn’t exactly a close game last year, we could easily see this one being a tight contest all the way through.

8. Geneva at Wheaton North, Oct. 17

When these two teams met last year, it came down to the wire with Geneva’s Michael Rumoro scoring the game’s go-ahead touchdown. Fast forward to this season’s meeting and you have to believe that Wheaton North hasn’t forgotten how the contest ended. Wanting to right the wrongs of the 2024 season, the Falcons will be looking to exact revenge against the Vikings.

9. Carl Sandburg at Lincoln-Way East, Oct. 23

Only other game on our list that comes at the end of the regular season is this one between Carl Sandburg and Lincoln-Way East. Unlike many of the aforementioned contests, these two teams didn’t meet last year but head into the 2025 season with high expectations. Lincoln-Way East enters the season as the No. 4 ranked team in the state and though unranked, Sandburg played many teams tough in ’24.

10. Glenbard North at Batavia, Sept. 12

Last but certainly not least is the showdown between the Bulldogs and Panthers, whom combined for 69 points and 31 first downs in last year’s meeting. It would be Batavia narrowly coming out of the 2024 clash with a 35-34 win and when it comes to middle of the year Illinois high school football games, this one is pretty hard to miss out on.

For even more in-depth coverage of Illinois high school sports, and to chat with other fans, visit EdgyTim.com.