The 2025 high school football season begins on Friday, Aug. 29, 2025.
East St. Louis launched its national schedule on Thursday, Aug. 28, at Eastern powerhouse Bergen Catholic of Oradell, N.J., in Ocean City, N.J, but fell 22-21 in a highly contested matchup.
The bulk of the openers occur on Friday, Aug. 29, 2025, with all games starting at 7 p.m., unless otherwise indicated. Jersey plays at Roxana, which will be livestreamed on Riverbender.com. Peotone plays at Granite City in a 6 p.m. kickoff, Civic Memorial is at Newton, Red Bud plays at Pinckneyville, Collinsville is at Belleville East, Breese Central travels to Effingham, Staunton is at Piasa Southwestern, Breese Mater Dei Catholic plays at Columbia, Dupo travels to south St. Louis County to meet Bayless, Mo..
In other action, East Alton-Wood River plays at Chester, Chatham Glenwood is at Edwardsville, Belleville Althoff Catholic opens at home against Alton, O’Fallon is at Triad, Marshall is at Trenton Wesclin, Mascoutah opens at Belleville West, Nashville plays at Carlyle.
Marquette Catholic hosts Duchesne Catholic, Sparta goes to Madison, Mt. Vernon is at Waterloo, Vandalia is at Carlinville, Carrollton opens at Mt. Sterling Brown County, Calhoun hosts Concord Triopa. Cahokia is at Lutheran St. Charles in St. Peters, Mo., Highland is at Jacksonville, Metro-East Lutheran hosts Decatur Unity Christian in the Lutheran Cup eight-man game, and on Saturday afternoon, Greenfield Northwestern opens at Jacksonville Routt Catholic in a 1 p.m. kickoff.
Edwardsville opens its season at home against Glenwood, and as always, has high expectations for the new season. Starting quarterback Yale Weaver was 92-of-161 passing last season for 960 yards and seven touchdowns, also having run for 53 yards and a touchdown. Devyon Hill-Lomax, rated among the area’s top players, returns, having had 18 catches for 341 yards and four touchdowns. The running game is expected to be a big key to the Tigers’ success offensively.
Granite City is looking vastly improved from its 0-9 season a year ago, and will look to make some noise among the area’s teams. The Warriors return Ryan Brokaw to the backfield, who ran for 179 yards and two touchdowns last year while the roster is stacked with sophomores and juniors, but they do have some experience under their belts, and have shown intensity and enthusiasm in preseason practice.
Marquette’s head coach Eric Dickerson has a host of talented athletes on his 2025 squad, and the Explorers are expected to be much more competitive this season after a year in the weight room and conditioning.
Jersey is coming off a 2-7 season last year, and will look to improve upon its record in 2025. The Panthers return Jude Jones, who caught 26 passes for 152 yards and two touchdowns in 2024. The Shells went 7-3, making the IHSA Class 3A playoffs, but lost in the first round at home to Tolono Unity 44-31.
Roxana returns Dalton Carriker on defense, who last season had 37 tackles, 34 solo, along with a recovered fumble. The Shells look to be one of the better teams in the Mississippi Division of the Cahokia Conference, before becoming a charter member of the new Metro Valley Conference in 2026, along with Althoff, Marquette, Mater Dei, and Madison, with a sixth school to be announced.
