If East St Louis (Sr.) were replaced in the IHSA football playoffs...
- They would have been replaced by Belleville Althoff (5-4, 38 playoff points), a 4A school.
- Metamora (8-1, 39) would move up to 5A.
- Crystal Lake Central (7-2, 41) would move up to 6A.
- Collinsville (5-4, 46) would move up to 7A.
Collinsville could easily take ESL's place in the south-south subbracket for 7A and teams would just move up one placement.
In 6A, SN#7 Dolton (Thornridge) (5-4, 43) would move from south-north to south-south, and N#9 Palos Heights (Shepherd) (6-3, 41) would move from north to south-north. Dolton (Th.) would play Danville and DeKalb would instead go to Rock Island (HS). Shepherd would become the SN#6 seed and Calumet City (TF North) would drop to SN#7 unless there is a restriction about playing conference opponents in the first round, in which case Shepherd would be SN#7 and TFN would be SN#6. CLC would become the #8 seed, knocking Lake Forest (HS) down to #9, so LFHS would lose a home game.
In 5A, the North would lose their #8 seed. They could be replaced with New at #8 Lenox (Lincoln-Way West), currently #4 in the south-north. Metamora would be coming in at #3 in the south-north, dropping Sterling to #4.
In 4A, Rochester would move from #1 in the south-south to #1 in the south-north, where #1 Pontiac would fall to #2. Belleville Althoff would come in at #8 and all eight teams would move up one spot in the rankings.
Total number of games affected: 6 in 4A, 3 in 5A, 4 in 6A (and the integrity of the bracket), 4 in 7A.
Total number of teams affected: 34.
The suggestion to create a bye was a better idea. Unfortunately, the courts required ESL be allowed back into the playoffs.
