Opportunity to play at home gives Adams County football programs edge in postseason

QUINCY — The road to Normal runs through Adams County.

The football teams from three schools within the county borders learned Saturday night their postseason paths begin with first-round home games, and since all three are seeded second or third in their respective brackets, home games deeper in the playoffs are a legitimate possibility.

Overall, six area schools earned playoff bids with Macomb joining Quincy High School, Quincy Notre Dame and Camp Point Central as teams earning first-round home games. Brown County and Illini West will start the postseason on the road.

The destination is Hancock Stadium on the Illinois State University campus in Normal, where the state championships will be played Nov. 29-30.

“You want to control your own destiny as best you can,” said QHS coach Rick Little, whose Blue Devils (9-0) are the No. 2 seed in the 32-team Class 7A bracket and will play host to Summit Argo (5-4) next weekend. “We like to play at home, like everyone does I’m sure. It’s something these guys have earned and with that comes rewards. We definitely love the opportunity to play at home.”

QND, which is on an eight-game win streak, went 5-1 at Advance Physical Therapy Field this season, losing only to QHS in the season opener. The Raiders (8-1) are the No. 3 seed in the Class 2A south bracket and open against 14th-seeded Flora.

“I’m really proud of the way these guys have played all year long,” QND coach Jack Cornell said. “I’m proud of how they prepared and earned the right to be hosting a game next week. I’m excited to see how they attack this thing.”

Central finished the 2023 regular season undefeated and took advantage of its high seed, playing three of its four playoff games at home before beating Lena-Winslow 14-0 for the Class 1A state championship. This year, the Panthers went 8-1 in the regular season, but still earned a No. 3 seed to potentially play at home multiple times.

The title defense begins by playing host to 14th-seeded Nokomis (5-4).

“I just got done talking to the guys and people are going to look at the bracket and look at Calhoun as the No. 2 seed and be like, ‘Oh, you get a chance at redemption,’” said Central coach Brad Dixon, whose Panthers have won eight consecutive playoff games at home dating back to the 2019 season.

“We just need to focus on Nokomis. We need to enjoy this week, focus on that and then we’ll play whoever is next. That’s the only thing we can do.”

Game times don’t become official until the IHSA approves all matchups Monday, but most teams have already agreed to times, dates and places for the first-round games. Here’s what has been announced publicly by the schools:

• In Class 1A, 14th-seeded Nokomis (5-4) will play at third-seeded Camp Point Central (8-1) at 2 p.m. Saturday.

• In Class 1A, 12th-seeded Brown County (5-4) will play at fifth-seeded Greenfield-Northwestern (7-2) at 2 p.m. Saturday.

• In Class 2A, 14th-seeded Flora (5-4) will play at third-seeded QND (8-1) at 2 p.m. Saturday.

• In Class 2A, 11th-seeded Illini West (6-3) will play at sixth-seeded Chicago Christian (7-2) at 5 p.m. Saturday.

• In Class 4A, ninth-seeded Murphysboro (6-3) will play at eighth-seeded Macomb (7-2) at 3 p.m. Saturday.

• In Class 7A, a date and time is still to be determined for No. 31 Summit Argo (5-4) at No. 2 QHS (9-0).

Playing Saturday will alter the weekly schedule for most teams in some regard, but they will try to stick to their game-week routine.

“Our schedule this week will be as normal as it can be,” Cornell said. “Obviously, we will get an additional day to look at (Flora), but Monday we will still look at corrections we have to make from last Friday. MacArthur gave us a really good game and did a lot of things that showed some weaknesses we need to work on.

“We still need to find ways to keep getting, and that’s part of the process-driven mentality that we have. We’re going to focus on the things we can control.”