2024 IHSA playoffs: Steve Soucie’s Class 4A quarterfinal-round analysis

The seeding process didn’t work very well in Class 4A as half of the remaining field was seeded in the bottom half of the draw.

Only two teams seeded in the top three (Breese Central and Dixon) are still in the hunt to reach the state championship game.

First round predictions: 15-1

Second round predictions: 8-0

Quarterfinal-round matchups

DePaul Prep: vs. St. Laurence: DePaul Prep continues to make a somewhat historic run for the school through the 4A draw and will now see if they can make one more step in the journey against another member of their conference in St. Laurence. The Vikings were a 4A finalist last year and now with close to full health they seem poised to make a push for a return trip.

Pick: St. Laurence

Coal City vs. Dixon: A rock is likely to meet directly up with a hard place in this quarterfinal matchup as both combatants have prolific offenses and defenses that don’t like to give up too many points. This game could go in either direction but it seems unlikely that it will turn into a high scoring shootout because both defenses have proven to be too good over the course of the season.

Pick: Dixon

Breese Central vs. Mount Zion: Since a 24-21 win over Highland and Week 1, no one has gotten even close to Breese Central on the field. Defensively the Cougars have gone to another level and over the last eight games opponents have scored no more than a touchdown. Mount Zion was 3-3 once, but since the Braves have gotten healthy, found their offensive flow and picked up multiple convincing wins.

Pick: Breese Central

Normal University vs. Cahokia: Normal University’s schedule is littered with opponents from higher classifications and it really hasn’t stopped them from stacking up points at a rapid rate. Cahokia took the right approach from a rout loss to Sycamore in Week 9, being able to quickly put it behind them, learn from the mistakes and promptly roll to a pair of playoff wins.

Pick: Normal University