1998 Class 3A Playoff News |
When selecting the top 192 teams to make this years IHSA playoffs there was a tie for the last (192nd) spot. After all tiebreakers were exhausted, Machesney Park Harlem, with a football enrollment of 1,875, and Kewanee, football enrollment 677, remained tied for the last available playoff berth and required a coin flip to determine who would get it.
If Harlem won the flip they would have been in Class 5A. It Kewanee won they would have been in 3A.
Moreover, if Harlem won, Providence Catholic would have gone from the smallest 5A qualifier to the largest in 4A, and Pontiac would have dropped from 4A to 3A.
Harlem lost the flip and subsequently Pontiac ended up in 4A!
Wow, all 32 schools in this year's Class 3A playoffs have been here before. This is Mt Carmels 21 time in the playoffs and 16th straight. This is St Francis second time in the playoffs with last year being their first. Of all the schools in 3A, Herscher had the longest streak of not making it to the post season.
Below is a list of appearances of this year's teams.
| PLAYOFF HISTORY OF 1998 TEAMS (incl. 1998) | ||||||
| School | Total | Cons | Last Yr. | Record W-L | 1sts | 2nds |
| Benton | 3 | 2 | 1997 | 3-2 | 0 | 0 |
| Breese (Mater Dei) | 9 | 2 | 1997 | 6-8 | 0 | 0 |
| Byron | 10 | 6 | 1997 | 11-9 | 0 | 0 |
| Coal City | 12 | 12 | 1997 | 12-10 | 1 | 0 |
| DuQuoin | 15 | 15 | 1997 | 40-12 | 2 | 3 |
| Evergreen Park | 6 | 1 | 1995 | 3-5 | 0 | 0 |
| Freeburg | 10 | 7 | 1997 | 4-9 | 0 | 0 |
| Harrisburg | 17 | 2 | 1997 | 24-16 | 0 | 2 |
| Herscher | 13 | 1 | 1991 | 12-12 | 0 | 1 |
| Johnsburg | 3 | 3 | 1997 | 1-2 | 0 | 0 |
| Kewanee | 5 | 1 | 1993 | 2-4 | 0 | 0 |
| Nazareth | 7 | 2 | 1997 | 2-6 | 0 | 0 |
| Montini | 11 | 6 | 1997 | 13-10 | 0 | 0 |
| Macomb | 5 | 1 | 1995 | 3-4 | 0 | 0 |
| Mahomet-Seymour | 13 | 1 | 1995 | 13-11 | 1 | 0 |
| Kaneland | 4 | 4 | 1997 | 7-2 | 1 | 0 |
| Metropolis | 5 | 1 | 1996 | 2-4 | 0 | 0 |
| Mt. Carmel | 21 | 16 | 1997 | 20-19 | 1 | 1 |
| Nashville | 8 | 2 | 1997 | 6-7 | 0 | 0 |
| Newton | 6 | 1 | 1993 | 3-5 | 0 | 0 |
| Olney (East Richland) | 7 | 1 | 1995 | 2-6 | 0 | 0 |
| Pana [Coop] | 5 | 3 | 1997 | 1-4 | 0 | 0 |
| Peotone | 5 | 3 | 1995 | 0-4 | 0 | 0 |
| Piasa (Southwestern) | 5 | 3 | 1997 | 0-4 | 0 | 0 |
| Quincy (Notre Dame) | 6 | 2 | 1997 | 6-5 | 0 | 0 |
| Seneca | 9 | 1 | 1996 | 10-7 | 1 | 0 |
| Shelbyville [Coop] | 7 | 1 | 1992 | 3-6 | 0 | 0 |
| Spring Valley (Hall) | 11 | 6 | 1997 | 21-9 | 1 | 1 |
| Waterloo (H.S.) | 6 | 1 | 1995 | 5-5 | 0 | 1 |
| Wheaton (St. Francis) | 2 | 2 | 1997 | 0-1 | 0 | 0 |
| Wilmington | 6 | 3 | 1997 | 5-5 | 0 | 0 |
| Woodstock (Marian) | 13 | 2 | 1997 | 33-8 | 4 | 1 |
Sycamore beat Ridgewood 35-28 to finish the season 6-3 with 35 playoff points earning what they thought was a spot in the playoffs. But with 35 playoff points they tied for the last spot in the selection of playoff teams. But, with the flip of a coin Sycamore lost and didn't make it. They would have been 4A.
Thus, in the end, only three SPC White teams made the playoffs - Kaneland, Herscher and Evergreen Park. Hopefuls Ridgewood, Sycamore and Yorkville just fell short.
Then with all three SPC teams winning in round one, it ended up with only SPC teams beating SPC teams.
If you are wondering why Kaneland is seeded number two behind Byron even though the Knights are ranked higher, you are not alone. The reason is, rankings are done by writers and other individuals as they judge teams. The IHSA needs a more tangible way to rank teams in the playoffs that have the same records (Kaneland and Byron are both 9-0).
They do this by giving a team a point for every win their opponents have
during the season. For example if every team Kaneland played won 3 games during
the season they would get 27 playoff points - nine teams (because they play
nine games) times three, the number of wins each team had.
Kaneland's actual playoff number is 39 while Byron's is 42. Meaning the teams Byron played had three more wins than the teams Kaneland played. Thus the number one seeding for Byron.
The only negative effect it will have on Kaneland is if Byron and Kaneland meet in the semi-finals and both have had the same amount of home playoff games. Then Byron because it is seeded higher would get the home field advantage.
Still confused? Then don't worry about it. Just be glad we're class 3A and enjoy the ride.
All season long we watched where Kaneland and other teams like Pontiac would most likely fall when the season was over. Pontiac was within one team of falling into 3A. But unfortunately for them they ended up as the smallest team in Class 4A. Wilmington, Kaneland's first opponent is the smallest team in 3A.
Kaneland as we predicted all year was right in the middle of 3A. 1998 Class 3A school sizes fell between 496 (Wilmington) and 819 (Waterloo). Kaneland's football size number is 678.
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