Members of the Montini Catholic football team hoist the Class 3A football championship trophy last season.
Scott Anderson/Shaw Local News Network
We’re getting close to the end of our countdown to the start of prep football.
All summer, week after week, we’ve provided insight related to the 2025 season for teams, players and coaches throughout our coverage area.
Two months ago we started with 10 of the top senior football recruits and continued with nine area quarterbacks and eight non-quarterbacks to watch, seven new coaches, six awesome season openers, five of the toughest schedules, four Saturday games to see, and three bold predictions for this season.
Next up, we offer two opinions. A point-counterpoint, if you will, on the idea of separating public and private schools for the IHSA football playoffs.
Point: It’s time for a break
Seven of the eight IHSA football titles last season were won by private schools. That alone is a strong argument for separation.
Maybe it was a blip, but the trend is uncomfortable. The optics of Nazareth, Mt. Carmel and Loyola each winning three straight championships isn’t great for the IHSA.
Let’s at least consider a breakup. Keep the regular season as is, but separate the private schools and public schools when it comes to the football playoffs.
Consider the past success of Chicago’s Prep Bowl. Maybe it’s not a fair comparison, but there’s certainly precedent for private and public school postseasons coexisting.
Imagine all those private school champions — Althoff Catholic, Chicago Christian, Montini Catholic, DePaul Prep, Nazareth, Mt. Carmel and Loyola — mixing it up with their rivals from the regular season.
Meanwhile, you’d have Lincoln-Way East, Maine South, Batavia, Naperville Central, Stevenson and all the public school teams freed up to compete for their own titles.
No more debates about the advantages of private schools. Live and let live for both sides.
And who knows, maybe at the end we could do something special. Like the Prep Bowl, have the title winners on both sides come together to determine a true state champion.
In a dream scenario, we’d see a return to the days when tens of thousands of fans packed Soldier Field for the Prep Bowl final.
Counterpoint: Let’s stick together
Do we really have such short memories?
Doesn’t anyone recall the 2023 parade of public school champions? Camp Point Central, Wilmington, Byron, Rochester and Cary-Grove all won titles, including a thriller between the Trojans and East St. Louis.
If there’s anything we’ve learned about the history of IHSA football, it’s cyclical.
Let’s not lose the tradition it’s taken 50 years to create. Separating the brackets between private and public schools isn’t the answer to competitive balance.
Remember Wheaton North’s dominant win over St. Rita in the 2021 Class 7A final? Or Rochester’s win over St. Laurence in 2023?
The talent of Loyola, Mt. Carmel and Nazareth won’t fade, but the IHSA’s recent tweaks to the classification system may prevent a near private school sweep similar to last season. Future tweaks could create even better balance.
If there were separate brackets, neither side’s champion would truly know if they were the best in the state. There’d always be that lingering question about what’s going on in the other tournament.
Now’s not the time for overreactions.
Gerald Steele is the founder of Stonegate Health Rehab. He shares expert insights, recovery tips, and rehab resources to support individuals on their journey to wellness.