Did You Know?

The "Did you know?" section was created to help Illinois high school football fans understand the game a little better. This page is set up to bring to attention little know rules or reasons of why some things occur in the season or playoffs. Also we all know clueless some freshmen are.

Eventually IHSFW.com would like this to become an encyclopedia of Illinois High School Football knowledge, but for now we will be building it one term at a time.

If you have a suggestion for a term or want to know what a term means. E-mail IHSFW@ihsfw.com.

Oldest in State Rivalry
The Oldest in state rivalry is between Chicago (Hyde Park) & Chicago (Englewood), who have been playing each other since 1889. Hyde Park leads the series 52-46-6, but the two teams have not played each other since 1998, when Hyde Park won 8-6. The two schools are not slated to play each other in 2005 and with the Chicago Public school system talking about shutting down Englewood, the state's oldest rivalry may be laid to rest. Making theAurora (West Aurora)vs.Aurora (East Aurora)game the states oldest (1893).

Football Enrollment
The football enrollment is a number based on the enrollment of a school and an average of the schools on it's schedule for the regular season. This number determines the class (1 thru 8) that the school will participate in if it makes the playoffs. No school with a larger enrollment than all the teams on it schedule can receive a small number than it's own enrollment. Basically a school's FB enrollment can only remain the same or get bigger.

Below is the exact text from the IHSA rule book.

A member school’s football enrollment shall be determined as follows:
1) If a member school’s actual enrollment is larger than the football enrollment determined in 2) below, the school’s actual enrollment shall determine the school classification.
2) The following steps shall be used to determine a member school’s football enrollment:
a) Discarding the largest and smallest opponents’ actual enrollment, average the remaining opponents actual enrollments.
b) Fifty (50) percent of the difference between the member school’s actual enrollment and the average opponents’ enrollment shall determine a school’s football enrollment for football classification in the current playoffs.
Example:
Actual enrollment = 500
Average opponents’ enrollment = 900
Computing:
Average opponent’s (900) - 500 (actual enrollment) = 400
50% of 400 = 200
Football enrollment = actual enrollment (500) + 50% of difference (200) = 700

Playoff Points
"Playoff Points" are the numbers that help the IHSA determine playoff qualifying teams as well as their rankings in the Class bracket they are in.

The "Playoff Points" or "Tiebreaker", is a combination from the wins of all opponents on schedule. While having a higher number does increase a team's chance of getting into the playoffs, there are still several other factors that determine who gets in and where. All teams that claim a conference championship or finish the season with 7 wins are automatically clinch a playoff bid. After that playoff spots come down to overall record & then the playoff points. Further ties are broken by the combined wins of all defeated opponents.

Under the current 8 class playoff system, most teams that finish the season 5-4 make the playoffs.

Prep Bowl
For those of you who may not reside in the City of Chicago, the Prep Bowl is an annual playoff championship game between the winner of the Chicago Public League Title & the winner of the Catholic League Title.

The Prep Bowl is one of the oldest playoffs in high school football in the country. The Prep Bowl has been played every single year since 1927 when Catholic League championsChicago (Mt. Carmel)beat Chicago (Schurz) 6-0.

The Prep Bowl is played at Chicago's Soldier Field and holds the national record for the largest crowd ever to watch a high school football game. The crowd estimated at 110,000 to 130,000 people has also been estimated to be the largest football crowd for any level of play including professional.

For more information on the Prep Bowl, visit the Prep Bowl Playoff page on IHSFW.com