Both of the teams that played in the state championship in Class 5A last season are no longer eligible to participate in that classification.

Nazareth and Joliet Catholic were pushed up into the Class 6A draw because of being subjected to the IHSA success formula, and their departure makes the 5A field more wide open than ever before.

Just two 5A teams (Belvidere North and Prairie Ridge) got through the regular season unscathed, which leaves both brackets with a lot of hopefuls and not a lot of favorites, particularly on the south side of the bracket.

First-round matchups

Prairie Ridge vs. Vernon Hills: Prairie Ridge won the top seed via tiebreaker with Belvidere North and the Wolves are likely the 5A team that most teams in the northern bracket have their eye on anyway. The Wolves managed to stay above the fray in the Fox Valley Conference, but there were a few scares along the way. Vernon Hills started the season 1-4, but rattled off four straight wins to close the season to get in the field. But the Cougars have no marquee wins and the five teams they defeated combined for just nine victories.

Pick: Prairie Ridge

Morgan Park vs. St. Francis: These two teams are developing a pattern of running into one another as they did in last year’s playoffs. St. Francis survived an absolute gauntlet of a schedule and has earned solid wins over Kenwood, St. Rita and Providence, but they’ve had problems keep several of their opponents from scoring a lot of points. Some of those games have evolved into shootout wins, but that practice could be a problem against Morgan Park with explosive athletes like Nasir Rankin in the fold.

Pick: St. Francis

Agricultural Science vs. King: Agricultural Science plays in one of the lower divisions of the Chicago Public League but it has been rather dominant inside of that league. After a season-opening loss to Evergreen Park, Agricultural Science has allowed just 12 points to its next eight opponents including six shutout efforts. King showed it was capable of competing against non-CPL opponents early in the year when it gave both Rochelle and St. Laurence competitive games. The Jaguars lone CPL losses were to a pair of the city’s top teams (Morgan Park and Lane).

Pick: King

Corliss vs. Lake View: Corliss allowed 65 points in two non-conference games (both losses to Thornwood and Payton) before putting the clamps down in a major way the rest of the season, allowing just 44 points over its final seven games. The Trojans are riding a seven-game winning streak. Lake View was the final 4-4 team to secure a spot in the field with its fifth win but the Wildcats have given up points in bunches and that will be an issue that will likely make their presence in the postseason a short trip.

Pick: Corliss

Belvidere North vs. Noble/Bulls: Belvidere North is a bit of a wildcard entering the postseason as a high seed from a locked conference. But the Blue Thunder’s defensive unit has been on point for most of the season and that’s usually a great place to start for a team hoping to make a dent in the postseason bracket. Noble/Bulls has beaten just two teams with a winning record and that hasn’t happened since Week 2, but the Bulls do go into the postseason fray with back-to-back 51-point efforts under their belt.

Pick: Belvidere North

Kaneland vs. Lakes: Kaneland has been a high-octane offense for most of the season. It has had to be, as the Knights have been involved in more their fair share of scoring shootouts this season after three fairly easy wins in the first four weeks of the season. Lakes hasn’t played the most daunting of schedules and it still wears a loss to Glenbrook North, a team that finished 2-7, back in Week 1. Lakes does have a pair of three-game winning streaks though, but didn’t show the ability to battle with the top teams in its conference losing by a wide margin to both Wauconda and Antioch.

Pick: Kaneland

Wauconda vs. St. Patrick: Wauconda’s highly effective offensive unit which has accounted for 400 points kept the Bulldogs from playing many games when the opposition felt they had much of a chance. They did have some games where the opponent did score some points of their own, but none was really equipped to trade points. St. Patrick’s season has already been a success considering the program was able to make progress following a pair of 2-7 seasons.

Pick: Wauconda

Cary-Grove vs. Sycamore: Cary-Grove dropped its first two games of the season to Prairie Ridge and Burlington Central and it seemed like the spotlight was removed from them as a potential threat to be a postseason player. But ever since that 0-2 start the Trojans have gone back to doing Trojan things, pretty much dominating their way through the next seven games of the campaign. Sycamore’s playoff fate came down to a Week 9 victory over a 7-1 Cahokia team just to get into the playoff field. Sycamore struggled to get a foothold in a schedule that had six playoff teams in it but there’s no question that the Spartans are battle-tested now.

Pick: Cary-Grove

Washington vs. Normal University: Washington took a surprising loss to Niles Notre Dame in its season opener and then has been rock solid the rest of the season and that was tough to do in a Mid-Illini Conference that seemed to provide a rogue result on a weekly basis. Normal University hasn’t been able to recreate the attack that allowed them to reach the 4A semifinals a year ago as the Pioneers quickly found themselves fighting off playoff elimination with a 2-4 record. But they finished the season with three consecutive 50-plus point scoring efforts and seem to be heading into the postseason with a little bit of momentum.

Pick: Washington

Mahomet-Seymour vs. Marion: Mahomet-Seymour looked like it might be in danger of not making the playoffs after losing three of its first five games. But the Bulldogs flipped the switch and have stacked up over 200 points in their final four games, all runaway victories. Marion has sort of been all over the map this season. But one thing has been a constant in all of their games n– a lot of points are going on the board on both sides of the field. Marion hasn’t beat a team with a winning record this season.

Pick: Mahomet-Seymour

Kankakee vs. Lemont: Kankakee was rolling along with a five-game winning streak before hitting a bit of a brick wall against Crete-Monee in its regular season capper and lost some key players to injury as well. Lemont also hasn’t had a smooth ride to the conclusion of its regular season, losing to Oak Forest in Week 9 which cost them the defense of their conference title.

Pick: Kankakee

Providence vs. Springfield: Providence was playing as well as anyone heading into its Week 9 Holy War rivalry game with Joliet Catholic and for most of the contest played poorly before nearly completing a massive rally. Springfield has struggled to close out the regular season and has dropped three straight game. The Senators don’t typically have problems posting points, but the issue is they haven’t been great from keeping opponents from doing the same.

Pick: Providence

Oak Forest vs. Champaign Centennial: Oak Forest has been one of the surprise teams in the south suburbs starting 7-0 before having a setback against Hillcrest in Week 8. The Bengals did rebound nicely besting conference stalwart Lemont to claim the conference title for itself. Centennial might have a tough time keeping up here as it hasn’t beat a winning program all season and those that they did play beat them up badly enough that their season totals have them scoring less points than they allowed.

Pick: Oak Forest

Bloomington vs. Mascoutah: Bloomington started the season on the rise, picking up notable wins over Normal University and Normal West, but a three-game slide in the middle of the season seemed to ground the Purple Raiders a bit. Mascoutah didn’t fare well with a rigorous nonconference schedule as it fell to 0-2 out of the gate, but the Indians have taken things up a notch in the second half of the season.

Pick: Bloomington

Peoria vs. Decatur MacArthur: Peoria’s high-octane offense is at it again scoring close to 500 points in the regular season. The Lions have gone over 50 points four times this season and they seem very comfortable utilizing the philosophy that they will simply try to outscore you. MacArthur won two games early in the season by one point and it looked like fortune was smiling on the Generals, but the second half of the season has been much more cruel as MacArthur has lost four of its last five games.

Pick: Peoria

Morton vs. T.F. North: Like almost everyone in the Mid-Illini Conference, Morton’s season was an up-and-down one. The Potters picked up a solid win over Dunlap, but were unable to best any of the other upper-echelon teams in the deep league. T.F. North beat just one playoff-bound team by one point and was handily defeated by the other three winning teams on its schedule.

Pick: Morton