Illinois High School Football Games of the Week: September 19-21

Last week, St. Francis pulled off a major upset over Loyola Academy, while Maine South and Oswego both fell in upsets of their own.

This week, St. Rita and St. Francis face off in a meeting of top-10 squads, while No. 3 Chicago Mount Carmel, No. 4 Batavia and No. 7 Marist are play ranked opponents.

Below are the Illinois high school football games of the week.

The On3 Massey Ratings — which were officially used during the BCS era and have generated college high school sports team rankings since 1995 — rank sports teams by analyzing game outcomes, strength of schedule and margin of victory.

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Top high school football games in Illinois

#25 St. Ignatius at #3 Chicago Mount Carmel — Friday, Sept. 20
St. Ingatius is 2-1 this season with wins over St. Louis University and Immaculate Conception — its lone loss coming in week two to Fenwick. The Wolfpack have a top-20 offense and top-15 defense in Illinois. Mount Carmel has now won two in a row after losing the season-opener to Hun School (N.J.). The Caravan beat top-25 Nazareth Academy 56-33 on Friday. The squad is led by Vanderbilt quarterback commit Jack Elliot and 2026 4-star EDGE Braeden Jones, a top-200 recruit in the junior cycle. The On3 Massey Ratings project a dominant Mount Carmel win.

#14 St. Charles North at #4 Batavia — Friday, Sept. 20
St. Charles North keeps moving on up in the rankings with its undefeated record. The North Stars are 3-0 with wins over Palatine, Crete-Monee and Wheaton North. Batavia remained undefeated in 2024 with a blowout 56-6 win over Lake Park last week. The Bulldogs racked up 565 yards of offense with three touchdowns apiece from Nathan Whitwell and Brent Berggren. Batavia beat St. Charles North 45-21 last season, and the On3 Massey Ratings suggest a similar outcome this year.

#7 Marist at #21 Joliet Catholic Academy — Friday, Sept. 20
Marist beat Brother Rice in an overtime thriller two weeks ago, and things were somewhat less stressful this past week with a 21-6 win over Montini Catholic. After finishing with a mediocre 6-6 record a year ago, the RedHawks are off to a perfect 3-0 start. Joliet Catholic improved to 2-1 with a narrow 14-13 win over ranked Fenwick — bouncing back nicely from a shutout loss to Oswego the week before. Joliet beat Marist 21-20 last season, and the On3 Massey Ratings project another close victory for the Hilltoppers.

#8 St. Rita at #10 St. Francis — Friday, Sept. 20
St. Rita knocked Brother Rice out of the Illinois top 25 this weekend with a 14-7 win over the Crusaders. The Mustangs are 2-1 this year, its lone loss coming to Chicago Mount Carmel two weeks ago. St. Francis saw the biggest rankings jump of any program this week after its surprising upset over top-5 Loyola Academy. The Spartans are 3-0, also with wins over Lift For Life Academy and Kenwood Academy. St. Francis beat St. Rita last year, but is a slight underdog in this game.

#11 Barrington at #22 Maine South — Friday, Sept. 20
Barrington is 3-0 on the year and keeps moving up the Illinois high school football top 25. The Broncos have beaten South Elgin, Hersey and Glenbrook South thus far this year. While Barrington struggles a bit on defense — Illinois No. 47 — they have an electric offense at No. 6 in the state. On the other hand, Maine South is 1-2 on the season with losses to Lincoln-Way East and Hersey. That latest loss sent the Hawks tumbling out of the top 10. Barrington beat Maine South 42-40 in the postseason last year but is projected to lose this one 35-30.