The pairings night scoop

The ninth Saturday of the Illinois high school football is always a big night, and this year was no different. What was different, of course, is that the ninth Saturday came a week earlier than in previous years. And the IHSA football playoffs include many more teams than in previous seasons.

So what’s it all mean? That’s what we asked columnist Mike McGraw to explain for you. And we’ve got the pairings for all eight classes, too. And if this isn’t enough for you, we’ll have a lot more this week and in the weeks to come through Thanksgiving weekend, when the state title games are played in Normal.

Of course not everything was about tackle football Saturday. The state flag football championship was decided as well.

How about some sectional girls tennis and conference cross country?

And we have all the other scores from Saturday ... and there were a lot of scores Saturday.