St. Rita took a high-scoring battle with Hersey, St. Laurence will meet East St. Louis in the 6A semifinals and St. Francis is semifinal-bound for the fourth straight year. IC Catholic Prep's season concluded with a 3A quarterfinal loss to unbeaten Byron.

In a 28-6 win over IC Catholic Prep in the 3A semifinals, undefeated Byron did something teams all season failed to do – shut down the vaunted Knights passing attack.

Here are previews and picks for quarterfinal games for teams in the Suburban Life coverage area.

It appeared early on that the Class 3A bracket was going to provide some blockbuster matchups in later rounds. That time has arrived now. Steve Soucie breaks down the quarterfinal round of the 2025 IHSA Class 3A Playoffs.

CCL/ESCC football players from Mount Carmel, Marist, Nazareth, Fenwick, Joliet Catholic, Providence, St. Francis, Marian Catholic, Montini and IC Catholic Prep were named to the 2025 IHSFCA All-State team. Quentin Burrell, Jake Cestone and Israel Abrams were among the winners.

St. Francis junior running back Tivias Caldwell takes his game to another level in the playoffs, Montini set for trip down memory lane with matchup with Coal City and more in Bob Narang's Suburban Life football notebook.

Gallery

IC Catholic bested former conference rival Bishop McNamara when the two met in the second round of the IHSA Class 3A playoffs at IC Catholic on Friday, Nov. 7, 2025.

Tamarion Garner recorded 3.5 sacks and returned a fumble for a touchdown, while Nate Lang threw three touchdowns as IC Catholic ended Bishop McNamara's undefeated season with a 37-27 win in the second round of the IHSA Class 3A playoffs.

Here are previews and picks for IHSA second-round playoff games for teams from the Suburban Life coverage area.