General | November 29
DeKALB, Ill. - The Illinois High School Association (IHSA) and Northern Illinois University (NIU) have announced that NIU's Huskie Stadium will host the 2025 IHSA Class 7A and Class 8A Football State Championship games in DeKalb on Wednesday, Dec. 3 at 3:00 p.m. and 6:00 p.m., respectively.
"We are incredibly thankful to NIU, the Huskie Athletic Department, and the DeKalb community for welcoming back the IHSA Football State Finals on short notice," said IHSA Executive Director Craig Anderson. "We had a wonderful state final experience in DeKalb over the course of a decade and have a relationship of hosting IHSA State Series events on campus that dates back even further. NIU's partnership with the IHSA and support of high school student-athletes in Illinois has proven to be second to none."
The 7A state title game between Brother Rice and St. Rita will kickoff at 3:00 p.m. and be followed by the 8A championship between Mount Carmel and Oswego.
"I appreciate the many constituents from across our campus who have stepped up to help the IHSA make this happen on short notice," said NIU Vice President/Director of Athletics and Recreation
Sean T. Frazier. "We look forward to welcoming the state championships to DeKalb, NIU and Huskie Stadium on Wednesday and providing a first-class experience for all of those involved."
The contests were originally scheduled to be played at Hancock Stadium on the Illinois State University (ISU) campus in Normal on Saturday, Nov. 29, but were postponed after ISU closed its campus ahead of the winter storm that has impacted much of the state today. The Class 5A and 6A title games were also postponed, and will be played at ISU on Tuesday, Dec. 2 at 3 p.m. and 6 p.m., respectively.
"Illinois State was committed to hosting all eight state championship games if possible, but could not host the 7A and 8A title games until Thursday due to a scheduling conflict on Wednesday," said Anderson. "We did not want to further impact the schedules and routines of our competing teams, so NIU's willingness to step up, especially given the geography of the competing teams, made this an easy decision."
The IHSA is working with the ticketing groups at ISU and NIU and anticipates that all tickets previously purchased through the ISU ticket office will be honored in DeKalb. More information on ticketing will be announced on Monday.
The 5A-8A title games on December 2 and December 3 will also be broadcast on the IHSA's statewide TV Network and streamed on the NFHS Network.
NIU hosted all eight IHSA state football title games in 2013, 2015, 2017, 2019, and 2021. The IHSA had been hosting the games at the University of Illinois in Champaign-Urbana, but a bi-annual scheduling conflict arose and NIU stepped in to host. After the contracts in Champaign and DeKalb ended in 2022, the IHSA Board made the decision to return the title games to ISU, thanks in part to its central location, which had hosted the title games from 1974 to 1998.
The IHSA held its Class 1A, 2A, 3A, and 4A Football State Championship games at Hancock Stadium on Friday, November 28. During the Class 2A tilt, ISU announced it would be closing its campus on Saturday, November 29 due to the impending winter storm. The campus closure forced the IHSA to postpone the 5A-8A state title games. The final schedule and results are below:
2025 IHSA FOOTBALL STATE FINALS
Friday, Nov. 28 at Hancock Stadium (Normal, Ill.)
Class 1A | Lena-Winslow 58, Brown County 13
Class 2A | Wilmington 42, Maroa-Forsyth 6
Class 3A | Byron 56, Tolono Unity 50
Class 4A | Montini 47, Rochester 33
Tuesday, Dec. 2 at Hancock Stadium (Normal, Ill.)
3:00 p.m. | 5A | St. Francis vs. Providence Catholic
6:00 p.m. | 6A | Fenwick vs. East St. Louis
Wednesday, Dec. 3 at Huskie Stadium (DeKalb, Ill.)
3:00 p.m. | 7A | St. Rita vs. Brother Rice
6:00 p.m. | 8A | Mount Carmel vs. Oswego
