With just a handful of first round upsets, the second round will make the playoff picture come into focus.

Several of the teams remaining have legitimate chances to move deep into the tournament.

Best of luck to all involved.

1A Playoffs

Sesser-Valier/Waltonville @ Athens – 2 pm.

The Athens Warriors have averaged 47.0 points a game, including a 42-14 win over Macon Meridian in the Playoff opener at home.

The lone loss this season was in Week #2 against 3A Powerhouse 9-1 Williamsville (28-21).

Athens has rushed for over 3,000 yards this season, with 6-foot, 160 senior Ja'kyan Shanklin leading the way with 175 rushes for 1,430-yards and 18 touchdowns.

Five-foot-ten, 165 senior quarterback Will Gordon has thrown for 719-yards and seven TD's for Athens while also adding 83-yards on the ground and another score.

Junior running back 5-foot-10, 165 Camden Austin has 587-yards rushing on 57 carries with seven touchdowns.

Sophomores Camren Bigard (330) and Cory Craig (270) have added 700-yards rushing.

Senior receivers 6-foot-1 Connor Breazeale (14-for-323) and 6-foot-1 Brian Lindsay (16-fo4-383) have been the main targets for Gordon, snagging a total of 30 passes for Athens.

Breazeale (4) and Lindsay (5) combined for nine touchdowns.

With the victory, the Warriors' football program is now 16-11 in playoff games, having reached the 1A semifinals in 2019-20, losing to eventual runner-up Moweaqua Central A&M.

The Sesser-Valier/Waltonville Red Devils broke a nine-game playoff losing streak with a win at home over Casey-Westfield, 35-7.

SV/W led just 6-0 at the half but rolled into the second round with a big second half.

Sesser-Valier/Waltonville now has an overall playoff mark of 6-23 and have only won two-straight playoff games once in the program's history (1991-92).

It's most recent playoff appearance prior to this season produced a 41-0 loss at 2A Maroa-Forsyth in 2019-20.

The Red Devils have some key players to keep an eye on.

Quarterback Carson Hoffard, a 6-foot-1, 165 junior, leads the offensive attack for Coaches John Shadowens and Mike Rude.

Sesser-Valier/Waltonville has a couple of exciting running backs with 5-foot-11, 170 junior Brock Chelf and 6-foot-1, 190 sophomore Colt Packer.

Six-foot-two, 210 senior receiver Gavin Woodland and 6-foot-2, 185 split end Jordan Reynolds are also part of an offense that put up some impressive scores during the season.

Six-foot-two, 190 senior tight end Quinn Gajewski and 5-foot-10, 155 sophomore wide out Wyatt Loucks also contribute.

Defensively the Red Devils have linebacker Gabe Gunter, a 6-foot, 180 sophomore.

Both of the Sesser-Valier/Waltonville loses came on the road at playoff teams Fairfield (34-20) and Johnston City (35-14) while they posted narrow wins over Carmi-White County and Hamilton County.

2A Playoffs.

Nashville @ Bismarck-Henning-Rossville-Alvin – Saturday 1 pm.

The #6 seeded Hornets topped Mendon Unity, 48-20 in the first round at home and will now travel north to play at the #3 Blue Devils.

The Hornets improved to 9-1 on the season with the victory at home.

Kolten Gajewski is a 6-foot-5, 210 senior signal caller for Coach Stephen Kozuszek.

Five different players scored touchdowns in the opening round victory for Nashville.

Wide receiver Isaac Turner caught two second-half touchdown passes and ran for another score while senior running back Conner Gladson and senior running back Ian Blazier also scored.

The 10-0 Blue Devils are led by 6-foot senior quarterback Dawson Dodd, who has connected on 83-of-108 passes for 1,599-yards and 28 touchdowns.

Five-foot-ten senior tail back Rhett Harper paces the rushing offense (114-for-1,048-yards, 11 TD's).

Dodd targets 6-foot-3 senior wide receiver Mason Hackman, who has led the team with 40 receptions for 889-yards and 16 touchdowns.

This will be Nashville's second trip in the past two playoffs to BH/RA. The Hornets beat the Blue Devils, 28-14, on their way to the state title game in 2019-20.

#5 Johnston City @ #4 Breese Mater Dei – 2 pm.

The host Knights are 10-0 after dismantling Carmi-White County on Friday night, 54-16.

Johnston City advanced to the second round with a 43-12 victory at home over Lawrenceville.

Quarterback Bryce Revermann 93-of-127, 1,533-yards 21 touchdowns.

Running back Jayce Napovanice 130 carries, 795-yards and nine touchdowns along with 20 receptions fro 234-yards and two TD's.

Wide receiver Cameron Haag caught 59 passes good for 1,023-yards and 18 touchdowns.

Johnston City has 6-foot, 190 senior Austin Brown, who is headed to Wisconsin next year to play for the Badgers.

He is a tail back, defensive back and kick returner for the 9-1 Indians, who lost their opening game of the year to Nashville and have won nine-straight.

Coach Todd Thomas and crew had little trouble taking care of Lawrenceville at home on Saturday in a 43-12 triumph.

Five-foot-eleven, 170 senior Heath Neibch is the signal caller from JC.

Neibch went 11-of-15 passing on Saturday for 202-yards and a touchdown pass.

He also rushed for a score in the win.

Other weapons include 5-foot-10 junior running back Isaiah Watson and 6-foot-1, 190 senior wide receiver Conner Hickey, that give the Indians more options.

Watson scored a pair of TD's on Saturday while Hickey snagged five passes from Neibch for 140-yards and a touchdown.

#8 Vandalia @ #1 Decatur St. Teresa – 2 pm.

Vandalia's 5-foot-9 senior quarterback Matthew Nagy threw three touchdown passes on Saturday in the Vandals' 24-0 first round shutout of visiting Chester.

This win improved Coach Jason Clay's club to 8-2 on the season.

Six-foot senior wide receiver Carson Ruot and 6-foot-2 senior wide receiver Conner Ray have been the top targets for Nagy.

Ruot snagged a 46-yard touchdown pass from Nagy while Ray scored twice on scores of 23 and 52-yard TD's.

Hagy ended up 10-of-18 in the air for 170-yards while the Vandals' defense held the Yellow Jackets to 107 total net yards in the game.

Vandalia will face top-ranked St. Teresa as the two teams have one common opponent.The Bulldogs picked up a road win at Chester on October 8, dominating in a 54-14 win in a contest that wasn't scheduled originally but was played due to Covid19 forfeits.

St. Teresa is now 10-0 after drilling Flora, 62-7, in the first round of the playoffs.

Six-foot-one junior quarterback Joe Brummer has thrown for 18 TD passes this season as the Bulldogs have outscored the opposition this year 489-71.

Brummer also has 789-yards passing on the season while senior Cayd Wilson added 289 more yards as the team nearly passed for 1,000-yards.

Six-foot-one senior Tre Spence has caught 15 passes from 312-yards and nine TD's.

Head coach Mark Ramsey has eight different running backs who have rushed for at least 100-yards overall this season.

Five-foot-nine, 220 senior Denim Cook has 1,709 yards on just 135 carries, a 12.7 yards per attempt average.

DeAndre Harper is a 6-foot-2 junior rusher who has put up 568-yards on 52 attempts for St. Teresa as the Bulldogs have, in 10 games, rushed for 3,256-yards on 301 attempts (10.8 per carry).

#7 Maroa-Forsyth @ #2 Pana - 1 pm.

The Pana Panthers are 10-0 after their 49-19 win over Arthur-Lovington-Atwood-Hammond last Friday night in the playoff first round.

Pana won the South Central Conference title and this is the sixth consecutive playoff appearance with each berth producing at least one win.

The Panthers rushed for 404-yards Friday night with 5-foot-11, 170 senior running back Austin Henschen leading the way with 12 carries for 276 yards and three touchdowns.

His TD runs were from 64, 43 and 34-yards as Pana led 35-13 at the half.

Junior quarterback Max Lynch rushed for 58-yards on nine carries and two touchdowns.

Their opposition on Saturday is Maroa-Forsyth who picked up a 33-15 win over Westville to advance to play Pana.

The Trojans are 8-2 with loses to two current playoff teams; 3A Williamsville and 1A Athens.

M-F is led by 5-foot-8 senior running back Cade Culp who is over 1K yards this season for the Trojans while sophomore Kaiden Maurer is running the show at quarterback.

Maurer is over 1,800-yards passing for the season.

Culp scored three touchdowns in the Westville win, with runs of 74, 15 and 50-yards.

Maurer added a touchdown pass to his season total, which now stands at 24.

3A Playoffs

#5 Fairfield @ #4 Williamsville

The Bullets downed Beardstown, 43-22 to improve to 9-1.

Williamsville's only loss this season came to Union Grove (WI) in the season opener and the club has won nine-straight for Coach Aaron Kunz.

The program had made 15 appearances in 17 seasons under Coach Kunz heading into 2021-22 and the Bullets are the defending 3A champions, having gone 14-0 in 2019-20.

Five-foot-eleven junior Jake Seman leads the Bullets as quarterback and his numbers are impressive.

Passing he is sitting at 147-of-233 with 2,101-yards and 27 touchdowns while running the ball the junior has 136 carries for 739-yards and 10 TD's.

From his running back spot, 5-foot-11 senior Hunter Moser has rushed for 546-yards on 91 attempts, good for six touchdowns.

Another running threat is 5-foot-9 junior Harley Sharp who has 256-yards on 54 tries.

Mason Lyttaker, a 5-foot-9 sophomore running back, is at 140-yards rushing on 21 attempts.

The top targets for Seman are a trio receivers.

Five-foot-ten senior Will Kistner has 39 receptions for 631-yards and 12 touchdowns.

Jackson Workman, a 5-foot-11 junior has 33 catches for 422-yards while 6-foot-3 junior Sam McCoy has snagged 17 of the Seman passes for an additional 347.

Adding up all of the team's offensive numbers from the line of scrimmage, the Bullets have produced 4,173-yards total offense in 10-games.

Seven different receivers have caught passes for over 100-yards and Williamsville has scored 53 offensive TD's.

The 9-1 Mules shutout Hoopeston Area at home last Saturday, 26-0.

Fairfield's only blemish on the season was a 28-26 loss to Johnston City in Week Three that snapped a 37-game Black Diamond Conference winning streak.

Coach Justin Townsend teams have advanced past the first round of the football playoffs in each of their last three appearances.

The Mules are a running team, as they rushed 51 times for 404-yards against Hoopeston and threw the ball just seven times (3-of-7, 31-yards).

Quarterback Eric Rodgers, a 6-foot-2 junior, has attempted just 70 passes, completing 33 for 332-yards and six touchdowns.

Running the ball Rodgers has 44 attempts for 340-yards and six more TD's.

Five-foot-eleven sophomore Jay Mooring is the top ground gainer on the season for the Mules with 57 attempts resulting in 664-yards and eight TD's.

Camden Robbins, a 6-foot-3 senior, has nine touchdowns on the season for Fairfield.

He has accumulated 510-yards on 76 carries while also leading the limited aerial attack with 12 receptions for 198 yards and four touchdowns, including one in the playoff win.

Two other seniors, Konner Dagg and Noah Barger, have eight rushing touchdowns apiece.

Dagg is a 5-foot-11 running back with 100 attempts gaining 578-yards.

Barger is a 5-foot-10 runner, with 459-yards on 48 attempts.

#6 Monticello @ #3 Benton – 2 pm.

The undefeated Rangers have a stern test coming from the Sages on Saturday.

Benton is now 10-0 after pounding Piasa Southwestern 42-0 last Saturday.

Keegan Glover, a 6-foot senior quarterback, has passed for 1,862-yards this season with 27 touchdowns.

He has also rushed 69 times for 530-yards and 15 TD's.

Wyatt Upton is a 5-foot-9 junior is the top yardage rusher, with 93 attempts for 63- yards and 10 touchdowns.

Six-foot-one senior Reid Baumgarte is the top receiving target for Glover.

Baumgarte has caught 37 passes, accumulating 721-yards and 15 touchdowns.

Glover threw a 46-yard TD pass to Baumgarte in the Southwestern win.

More weapons for Coach Justin Groves include Landon Bolen, a 6-foot senior wide out and senior Chase Thomas, a 6-foot1 wide receiver.

Combined the pair of receivers have produced over 600-yards of total offense.

Defensively the Rangers have shut down all 10 of their victims this season, outscoring the opposition 435-53 which included five shutouts.

Monticello drilled Greenville in the playoff opener 42-7 behind the the aerial attack provided by 6-foot-3, 185 senior quarterback Joey Sprinkle.

The senior threw five TD passes on Saturday going 11-of-18 from 296-yards as the Sages led 42-0 in the third quarter, which triggered the continuous clock.

Included in the five scores was a 90-yard pitch and catch to 5-foot-10 senior running back Jacob Tackett.

Tackett also added a rushing TD in the romp, from 44-yards out.

Six-foot-one senior wide receiver Peyton Scott, 5-foot-10 senior Triston Foran, 6-foot-1 junior Spencer Mitze and 5-foot-10 junior Tylor Bundy are weapons for Sprinkle to use.

All scored in the win over the Comets.

#7 Carlinville @ #2 Mount Carmel – 2 pm.

The Cavaliers and Golden Aces have hooked up before in the postseason and this time around Carlinville will make the 180 mile, 3.5 hour trip to Wabash County for a second-round battle.

Mount Carmel has a 2-1 edge in playoff games between the two programs, winning most recently in 2019, 35-7 in the 3A first round.

Coach Chad Easterday brings his club into this second round battle at 8-2 with losses to Vandalia and Pana, both playoff teams and first round winners, on the resume.

Although they struggled with DuQuoin last Saturday, the Cavaliers broke a 26-26 tie to pull away late for a 40-26 win.

Leading the attack for the Cavaliers is 5-foot-10, 170 senior quarterback Ayden Tiburzi.

Tiburzi has thrown 251 passes while completing 172 for 2,105-yards and 30 touchdowns.

He has also been pretty good on the ground this season, rushing 44 times for 219-yards and two TD's.

Carlinville has a 1K rusher on the team in 5-foot-8, 165 senior Mason Patton.

Patton has 1,002-yards on 195 attempts with 17 touchdowns.

Luke Daugherty, a 5-foot-8, 160 senior back, added 227-yards on 41 carries and a couple of scores.

The top receiver on the Carlinville squad has been 6-foot, 190 senior Carson Wiser, who has 82 catches for 1,061 yards and 15 TD's.

Six-foot-one, 165 senior receiver Ethen Siglock has 41 receptions and 522-yards to his credit in 2021-22.

Two other targets; 5-foot-11, 200 senior Mason Duckels (20 catches, 271-yards, three TD's) and Henry Kufa, a 5-foot-8, 150 junior (13 receptions, 149-yards, two TD's) add to the threats for the Golden Aces to contend with.

Mount Carmel is one of the few football programs in southern Illinois with an outstanding won-loss record in both regular season and playoffs resides

Coach Michael Brewer has his club primed for another postseason run.

After a couple of down years, the Aces made it to the second round in 2019 before losing to Vandalia.

With no playoffs due to Covid19 last year, Mount Carmel made the most of a shortened spring schedule going 6-0 and are now riding a 15-game unbeaten streak after ransacking the Little Illini Conference in it's first full season in the league.

Although they ended up with a pair of forfeits this season, the Aces still managed to score 331 points in seven games, giving up just 36 points.

They took care of business with a first round 46-14 win over St. Joseph-Ogden last Saturday.

Heading into this weekend, Mount Carmel is 57-37 in all playoff appearances and have over 650-wins in 102 years of playing high school football.

Quarterback Blayne Sisson, a 6-foot-2, 180 sophomore, has stepped up to take the program to an unbeaten season so far.

Sisson completed 11-of-15 passes for 149-yards in the playoff opener while also rushing for 166-yards on 13 attempts.

Of those yards, 159 of them were on four TD runs of 77, 53, 26 and 3-yards.

Gage Kennard, a 6-foot, 185 junior running back/linebacker, also added a touchdown on Saturday, the first score of the game as the Aces never trailed.

Five-foot-eleven senior running back Zeke Hadra missed most of the season with a broken hand but has returned for Mount Carmel after a stellar spring season.

Hadra also scored a pair of TD's in the playoff win, rushing 10 times for 76-yards.

Zake Allen, a 6-foot-2, 175 senior wide receiver/safety, has been the top Sisson target and he nabbed four passes for 77-yards in the SJ-O triumph.

Others who have seen action this season are sophomore running back Zeke Swanson.

Class 4A

#7 Murphysboro @ #2 Breese Central - 2 pm.

It should should be a quite busy Saturday afternoon in Breese as both Central and Mater Dei host playoff games with both starting at 2 pm.

Central's only defeat this season came against their cross-town rivals, 21-7 on September 3.

Since then the Cougars have been unbeaten as they ran the table in the Cahokia Conference Mississippi Division (5-0) and are now 9-1 after dispatching Salem, 20-0, last Saturday.

Landon Geragosian, a 6-foot-2, 180 senior, is the signal caller for Breese Central.

He's connected on 81-of-154 passes for 1,524-yards and 15 touchdowns while also carrying the ball 67 times for 514-yards and five rushing TD's.

Two other ball carriers; 6-foot, 170 senior Marcus Price and 6-foot, 170 senior Miguel Velazquez, are each over 500-yards rushing for head coach Brian Short.

Velazquez has scored 10 rushing touchdowns while Price added seven.

Price is also one of the top pass catchers on the club, grabbing 16 passes for 355-yards and two scores.

Five-foot-eleven, 140 receiver Braden Revermann has 24 receptions for 499-yards and three TD's.

Three other wide outs; senior Mason Hamon, junior Hayden Rickhoff and senior Luke Strubhart all have over 100-yards in receiving.

Coach Gary Carter leads his Red Devils into the playoffs while hoping for a repeat of their 2019-20 run to the title game in Class 4A.

Murphysboro had some tough times during the season but managed to go 6-3 in the regular season while adding a 43-22 playoff win over visiting Macomb last Saturday evening.

After going 6-1 to begin the season, Coach Carter's club lost to Benton and DuQuoin but rebounded with a big playoff win.

The key element to the Red Devils offensive attack are Ethan Finke along with Calvon and Devon Clemons in the backfield while quarterback Drew Caldwell runs the show.

Calvon is a 5-foot-7, 155 senior ball carrier while Devon is a 5-foot-8, 180 junior.

Finke, a 6-foot running back, is also a junior.

Devon Clemons punished Macomb on Saturday as he ran the Bombers off of the field with 36 attempts for 218-yards and four TD's.

Calvon rushed 10 times for 77-yards while Finke, a 6-foot, 190 junior, ran for 43 yards on seven attempts.

#5 Carterville @ #4 Freeburg – 2:30 pm.

In another intriguing second round matchup features teams from the Cahokia and SIRR Conferences.

The Midgets are on a six-game winning streak after dropping consecutive games to Chester and Breese Central.

Freeburg has a quality 'feather in its cap' with an early season win over Nashville.

All three of those teams were in the playoffs with Nashville and Breese Central playing on Saturday in 2A and 4A respectively.

Coach Ronnie Stuart has his club at 8-2 with a first round romp over Olney Richland County (69-19) last Friday night sending them into the second round.

Five-foot-ten, 170 senior quarterback Landon Funderburg has 13 touchdown passes to his credit this season as he has completed 90-of-174 for 1,347-yards.

Funderburg also carried the ball 34 times for 125-yards and five TD's.

The top running back for the Midgets statistically is 5-foot-11, 175 senior Ethan Williams who is pacing Freeburg with 97 attempts producing 726-yards and 11 touchdowns.

Eli Hoerner, a 5-foot-10, 165 senior wide receiver, also rushed 34 times, accumulating 645-yards and seven TD's.

Hoerner also has 32 receptions for 579-yards in the air and five TD's.

Two other runners; 5-foot-8, 145 sophomore Tucker Murphy and 6-foot-2, 195 junior Caleb Loftus, both have over 200-yards rushing.

Besides Hoerner, Funderburg has other passing options.

Six-foot, 175 senior wide receiver Brett Holcomb has 29 completions with 522-yards and six more touchdowns for this potent offense.

Defensively the Midgets were led in tackles by Collin Downen, a 5-foot-8 defensive back who had 44 solo tackles to go with 21 assists.

Six-foot-two, 205 senior lineman Jonathan Marquardt, 5-foot-10 senior Jase Brueggemann and 6-foot-1 senior Dylan Burton are the other top defenders for Freeburg.

Carterville has lost to a pair of playoff teams; 10-0 Benton and 9-1 Nashville as they stand at 8-2.

The Lions most recent two opponents were the same team as they beat Harrisburg in the regular season finale and then bested the Bulldogs, 42-12 last Saturday at home.

Coach Brett Diel leads Carterville into the second round as the Lions had failed to make the playoffs since 2017-18.

Four of their wins (Murphysboro, DuQuoin and Harrisburg twice) were against playoff teams.

Six-foot-one, 160 junior Andrew Hellriegel is the quarterback for the Lions.

Townsend Barton, a 5-foot-11, 170 wide receiver/defensive back, is a top target for Hellriegel along with Peyton Bittle, a 5-foot-7, 145 junior, and 6-foot-1, 175 junior Blake Burkey.

Hellriegel threw four touchdown passes in the first round win.

Five-foot-eleven, 140 sophomore running back Brandon Skelcher, 5-foot-9, 190 senior Ethan Lannom and 5-foot-11, 175 junior Nolan Hartford carry part of the running load for Carterville.

Top-ranked and top-seeded Rochester travels to Paris on Saturday because of the hosting rule for second round and on games.

Since Paris went on the road for its first game, a 17-6 win over #8 Mount Zion, they get to host the second round game since they haven't hosted yet.

The Tigers are now 7-3 after the first round road win with the losses coming to playoff teams Mount Carmel, Newton and Casey-Westfield.

Coach Jeremy Clodfelder has quarterback Brady Crippes, a 5-foot-10, 180 junior, leading the way.

Six-foot senior Ethan Dick is also a quarterback and plays defensive back for the Tigers while 6-foot-3, 150 junior Tre Lee is also an offensive threat.

The Tigers picked up their first ever playoff road win on Saturday after building a 17-0 lead midway through the fourth quarter.

Rochester is an elite program in every sense.

In the last 10 seasons in which there was IHSA Playoff Football, Rochester has won eight state championships.

Seven of the titles were in 4A with 2019-20 being 5A.

The Rockets playoff mark is 53-11 while head coach Derek Leonard has a 171-34 mark in now his 17th season.

Rochester is 8-1 with a loss to 8A Wilmette Loyola Academy, 56-7. and they won the Central State Eight Conference going 8-0.

Senior Hank Beatty, a 5-foot-11 quarterback, has racked up some impressive numbers.

He has completed 116-of-186 passes for 1,454-yards and 19 TD's.

Beatty also leads Rochester in rushing yards, reaching 917 in 104 attempts.

The Rockets also have six other players with at least 160-yards on the ground as the team totaled 2,332-yards rushing on 339 tries.

Six-foot-two senior Austin Adcock, 6-foot junior Keeton Reiss, 5-foot-10 sophomore Parker Gillespie, 5-foot-10 senior Christian Creviston, 5-foot-7 sophomore Nolan Mrozowski and 5-foot-8 senior Daniel Chapin are part of a dangerous offensive unit for the top-ranked squad.