Michael O'Brien's final Super 25 high school football rankings for the 2024 season

The preseason Super 25 rankings held up remarkably well this season. Geneva and Hersey were the only major misses.

The Vikings should have been ranked in the preseason, but it was a tough call with a new quarterback. Hersey was ranked No. 9 in the preseason, which was too high. The Huskies finished 6-4, but their season was better than the record indicates. They lost to Warren, Barrington, and Prospect twice, but they did beat Maine South.

Loyola finishes in the top spot for the second consecutive year. Lincoln-Way East was an easy call for the No. 2 spot. The Griffins were much more competitive against Loyola than Mount Carmel was.

Private vs. public debate

Private schools won seven titles this weekend at ISU, while public schools won one, in a public school vs. public school matchup: East St. Louis vs. Geneva. The cumulative score in head-to-head matchups had the private schools ahead 283-76.

Every game other than the one featuring two private schools, the Class 5A title game between Nazareth and Joliet Catholic, was a boring blowout.

The only memorable, suspenseful play in eight games was Joliet Catholic’s unsuccessful two-point conversion attempt that would have tied the game with 20 seconds left.

That won’t draw fans to high school sports or keep them engaged. It doesn’t matter if you support private schools or public schools, this weekend was bad for high school sports. There are so many things wrong with the football playoff setup: seeding issues, multiplier waivers, and poorly classified schools. It’s a complicated topic.

The IHSA’s major classification problem

If there is one thing that the Illinois High School Association should try to figure out quickly, it is the classification issue. The IHSA determines which class a team plays in by the average of the school’s enrollment during the previous two school years.

That placed DePaul Prep in Class 4A. The Rams faced Coal City in the semifinals and Mt. Zion in the state championship game.

DePaul Prep’s current enrollment is more than 1,300. Coal City has 631 students and Mt. Zion has 732. There are 5,784 people in Coal City and 5,878 in Mt. Zion. Chicago’s population is 2.6 million.

Those are playoff games that should never happen.

DePaul Prep has grown remarkably quickly over the last several years. That’s great for the school. It has a bright future. However, the IHSA’s inability to adjust to DePaul Prep’s size in a reasonable amount of time led to mismatches in several sports for several years.

For comparison, Class 4A DePaul Prep is significantly bigger than the schools that played for the Class 5A title, Nazareth (715) and Joliet Catholic (585).

This situation isn’t DePaul Prep’s fault. The Rams are succeeding in the system that all the schools in the state voted to use. It can’t be argued that DePaul Prep should have asked to play up in a higher class. The Rams won just four games last season.

Using the IHSA’s current system, DePaul Prep is expected to move up to Class 7A or even 8A next season. But it is too late. The IHSA has to react faster.

The public vs. private debate is an old one in high school football. Multipliers and success factors and recruiting areas are all major topics of discussion. But it is doubtful there is a single fan, player, coach, or parent that believes a school with 631 students should be playing a school with 1,300 in a playoff system with eight classes.

Final Super 25 Chicago-area high school football rankings for 2024
With record and preseason ranking

1. Loyola (12-2) 1
2. Lincoln-Way East (12-1) 2
3. Mount Carmel (11-3) 3
4. Nazareth (12-2) 4
5. Geneva (12-2) NR
6. Batavia (12-2) 14
7. York (11-3) 18
8. Cary-Grove (12-1) 8
9. Joliet Catholic (10-4) 10
10. Naperville Central (11-2) 17
11. Marist (9-2) 21
12. Lyons (11-1) NR
13. Maine South (8-4) 5
14. Downers Grove North (10-2) 6
15. St. Rita (10-3) NR
16. St. Francis (10-3) 20
17. Fremd (9-2) NR
18. Fenwick (8-3) NR
19. Oswego (10-1) NR
20. Warren (7-5) 7
21. Palatine (8-2) 22
22. Barrington (8-3) 12
23. Naperville North (7-3) NR
24. Montini (11-2) NR
25. DePaul Prep (10-3) NR