The blind drawing that determines the state final pairings in bracketed team sports was held at the IHSA Office on Tuesday, September 20, starting at approximately 10:00am. This drawing covered the fall sports of boys soccer and girls volleyball. Boys football, which operates under a different system, will be paired on Football Pairings Night, Saturday, October 22.
Jeff Ziegenhorn, General Manager of the IHSA, made the drawings. Traditionally, the pairings are made by ordering the sites that feed into the state finals in alphabetical order and numbering them. Then numbered peas are drawn from a bottle. The number on the first pea drawn represents the site whose winner will occupy the first position on the bracket, and so on. "The rolling of the peas" dates back to at least 1940. For more information on that history, click here.
Class 1A Boys Soccer
Semifinal bracket position #1: Virden (North Mac) Supersectional
Semifinal bracket position #2: Burlington (Central) Supersectional
Semifinal bracket position #3: Palos Hills (Stagg) Supersectional
Semifinal bracket position #4: Chillicothe (Illinois Valley Central) Supersectional
Class 2A Boys Soccer
Semifinal bracket position #1: Burbank (St. Laurence) Supersectional
Semifinal bracket position #2: Sterling (H.S.) Supersectional
Semifinal bracket position #3: Rochester Supersectional
Semifinal bracket position #4: Grayslake (Central) Supersectional
Class 3A Boys Soccer
Semifinal bracket position #1: Bloomington (H.S.) Supersectional
Semifinal bracket position #2: Streamwood Supersectional
Semifinal bracket position #3: Aurora (East) Supersectional
Semifinal bracket position #4: Arlington Heights (Hersey) Supersectional
Class 1A Girls Volleyball
Semifinal bracket position #1: Elgin (Harvest Christian Academy) Supersectional
Semifinal bracket position #2: Lanark (Eastland) Supersectional
Semifinal bracket position #3: Macon (Meridian) Supersectional
Semifinal bracket position #4: Centralia (Christ Our Rock Lutheran) Supersectional
Class 2A Girls Volleyball
Semifinal bracket position #1: Princeton Supersectional
Semifinal bracket position #2: Maroa (M.-Forsyth) Supersectional
Semifinal bracket position #3: Elmhurst (IC Catholic) Supersectional
Semifinal bracket position #4: Fairfield Supersectional
Class 3A Girls Volleyball
Semifinal bracket position #1: Darien (Hinsdale South) Supersectional
Semifinal bracket position #2: Sterling (H.S.) Supersectional
Semifinal bracket position #3: Chatham (Glenwood) Supersectional
Semifinal bracket position #4: River Forest (Trinity) Supersectional
Class 4A Girls Volleyball
Semifinal bracket position #1: Moline (H.S.) Supersectional
Semifinal bracket position #2: Carpentersville (Dundee-Crown) Supersectional
Semifinal bracket position #3: Hinsdale (Central) Supersectional
Semifinal bracket position #4: Blue Island (Eisenhower) Supersectional
Sectional Pairings
In both boys soccer and girls volleyball, some sectionals are seeded in their entirety ("sectional complexes") and some are seeded in two separate groups ("subsectionals"). The seeds are then distributed among four regionals for the first level of competition. In the sectional semifinals, the regional champions are paired as follows:
Sectional complex: The regional containing the #1 seed is paired with the regional containing the #4 seed, while the regional containing the #2 seed is paired with the regional containing the #3 seed.
Two subsectionals: The regional containing the #1 seed of subsectional A is paired with the regional containing the #2 seed of subsectional B, while the regional containing the #1 seed of subsectional B is paired with the regional containing the #2 seed of subsectional A. An exception to these pairings is made for the southernmost sectional in Class 3A boys soccer and Class 4A girls volleyball. In these sectionals, the two regional winners from the Metro-East area will play at a local site. The winners of the central Illinois regionals will play their semifinal at another site. The sectional championship game will be played at the sectional site.