The Batavia football program thrives on planning and plotting out a course of action for itself.

So with that in mind, it wasn’t surprising to see that Batavia took proactive action against something that would have been hard to figure out.

With a slight drop in enrollment and a number of teams moving up in classification around them, Batavia officially utilized the option provided by the Illinois High School Association to voluntarily move to a higher classification for the next two seasons.

With this decision, which the IHSA will formally approve at its next board meeting, Batavia is guaranteed to be a part of the Class 7A field, provided it qualifies, even if its enrollment number indicates that the Bulldogs should be in the 6A field.

“We are comfortable in the Class 7A field and we feel like we have good knowledge of the teams we might face there. For now, we feel like that’s where we should be,” Batavia coach Dennis Piron. “In a few years if our enrollment number says that we’re a 6A team that’s where we will stay. But for now, this is what we thought was the right choice for how we like to prepare for things.”

Batavia’s enrollment number for 2025 in 1,771. Batavia’s number in 2024 was 1,882.5. That number was much more likely to lead to a 7A placement moving forward as it did last year where the Bulldogs lost to Mount Carmel in the Class 7A final.

The 1,771 number would put Batavia firmly on the bubble between the 6A and 7A classifications, both because of the total enrollment drop and the fact that many other programs have leapfrogged Batavia on the enrollment list because of the revised multiplier rules.

Not knowing which class they would land in and which teams were most likely to be the kinds of teams they might have to prepare for was a wildcard Batavia didn’t want to deal with.

Since 2000, Batavia has appeared in the 7A playoffs 12 times, the 6A field eight times and the 5A field once.

They have one championship win in each class (6A in 2013, 7A in 2017) and five overall title game appearances (two in 6A and three in 7A).

The playing up provision is a two-year commitment. The Bulldogs will also be locked into Class 7A in 2026.

There are two schools playing out the second year of their playing-up commitment, as both Antioch and Glenbard South will move from Class 5A to 6A.

Those are currently the only schools that are playing up as other schools that previously had the provision will have to clarify the intent to continue to do so again in the coming weeks.

East St. Louis and St. Rita were both previously using the provision with East St. Louis moving up from 5A to 6A and St. Rita moving up from 6A to 7A. East St. Louis is expected to renew its playing up status, although which class they may go to is up to debate, while St. Rita’s intent is currently unknown.

Several other schools are rumored to be pondering moves. The IHSA’s deadline for a decision on this topic is September 1.