Illinois High School Football Rankings: Top 25 Teams — September 29

The Illinois high school football rankings have updated as the month of September comes to a close.

Lincoln-Way East, Batavia, Cary-Grove and Nazareth Academy each won ranked matchups in what was a difficult slate of games for teams ranked in the Illinois top 25.

Below is the updated Illinois On3 Massey Ratings top 25, as of Sept. 29.

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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1. East St. Louis

Previous Ranking: No. 1
East St. Louis remains undefeated and No. 1 in the Land of Lincoln after smacking O’Fallon 55-0 last week. The Flyers have won their last two games by a combined 95-0. Mizzou defensive back commit Charles Bass leads a defense that ranks No. 1 in Illinois — a defense that will be back at home this Saturday against 3-2 Belleville-West.

2. Lincoln-Way East

Previous Ranking: No. 2
Lincoln-Way East also stayed in the ranks of the unbeaten with a 48-7 win over Homewood-Flossmoor. The No. 3 offense in the state is led by junior Oregon quarterback commit Jonas Williams and has scored at least 48 points in every game thus far this season.

3. Chicago Mount Carmel

Previous Ranking: No. 3
Chicago Mount Carmel has now won four straight after dropping its opening game of the season to Hun School (N.J.). The Caravan beat Benet Academy 48-13 on Friday to move to 4-1. They have scored at least 40 points in each of their last three games. On deck this Friday is a ranked road test against No. 21 Brother Rice.

4. Batavia

Previous Ranking: No. 4
Batavia improved to a perfect 5-0 on the year over the weekend with a 41-0 win over previously-ranked Wheaton North. The Bulldogs boast the state’s No. 4 offense and No. 7 defense. After beating Wheaton North, Batavia will follow that performance up with yet another ranked opponent — with No. 16 Geneva coming to town this Friday.

5. Loyola Academy

Previous Ranking: No. 6 (+1)
The preseason No. 1 in the state of Illinois, Loyola Academy has stumbled twice through five games. The Ramblers lost the opening game of the year to now-No. 1 East St. Louis before falling to St. Francis two weeks later. Since the St. Francis loss, Loyola has beaten No. 21 Brother Rice and DePaul College Prep — the latter by a 35-7 score. The schedule ramps back up this week for the Ramblers with a road game at St. Ignatius. The Wolfpack sit just outside of the On3 Massey Ratings top 25 at No. 27.

6. St. Rita

Previous Ranking: No. 5 (-1)
St. Rita has put together a solid resume against one of the tougher schedules in the state through five games. The Mustangs’ only loss came in week two to Chicago Mount Carmel. On the flip side, they have picked up wins against No. 25 Carl Sandburg, No. 21 Brother Rice, St. Francis and Notre Dame College Prep. St. Rita beat the Notre Dame Dons handily, 42-0, last Friday. This week, No. 14 Nazareth Academy heads to St. Rita with the Mustangs as two-touchdown favorites.

7. Cary-Grove

Previous Ranking: No. 12 (+5)
Cary-Grove stayed perfect on the season with an 18-12 win over then-No. 11 Prairie Ridge last week — this latest win of five propelling the Trojans into the Illinois top 10. Cary-Grove has the No. 14 offense and No. 9 defense in the state, and those top-15 metrics will go up against Hampshire as big favorites this Saturday.

8. Barrington

Previous Ranking: No. 8
Undefeated Barrington held steady at No. 8 in this week’s rankings after beating Conant 55-7 over the weekend. While the Broncos defense sits outside of the state top 50, the offense has been electric week in and week out. Barrington has put up point totals of 64, 41, 51, 42 and 55 so far this year. Next up is a road test at Fremd, which is on the cusp of a top-25 ranking in the state.

9. Downers Grove North

Previous Ranking: No. 7 (-2)
Yet another 5-0 squad, Downers Grove North ranks No. 9 in the state of Illinois after beating River Forest 28-7 over the weekend. Until now, the Trojans had scored at least 40 points in each game — however wind gusts north of 30 miles per hour could excuse the unusually low offensive production. A tough battle is on deck with Downers Grove North heading to No. 11 York this week in one of the top showdowns in the state.

10. Lyons

Previous Ranking: No. 9 (-1)
With just the No. 31 offense and No. 13 defense, Lyons has — perhaps quietly — worked its way into the Illinois top 10. Well, quietly until this week, that is. In the Lions’ four previous wins, they won by 38-21, 30-22, 21-16 and 24-7 margins. This past week, however, Lyons turned on the jets and hammered Proviso West 59-0. Lyons will look to keep its perfect season alive this week against River Forest.

Teams 11-25 in latest Illinois High School Football Rankings

11. York Comm (-1)
12. Marist (+1)
13. Naperville Central (+1)
14. Nazareth Academy (+3)
15. Prairie Ridge (-4)

16. Geneva Community (-1)
17. St. Charles North (+1)
18. Oswego (+2)
19. Libertyville (+2)
20. Joliet Catholic Academy (-4)

21. Brother Rice (NR)
22. Edwardsville (+3)
23. Fenwick
24. Sycamore (NR)
25. Carl Sandburg (NR)

Dropped from rankings: St. Francis, Wheaton North, St. Laurence