CHICAGO — Simeon Career Academy and Wendell Phillips Academy became the seventh and eighth Chicago Public League football teams, respectively, to the reach IHSA state semifinals after both schools won their quarterfinal matchups Saturday.
It's the first time ever two Chicago Public League football squads are in the state's Final Four in the same year.
"It just shows the growth that the Public League is making," Simeon coach Dante Culbreath said Sunday afternoon.
Hubbard's 2005 squad was the last Public League team to advance this far in the playoffs. Of the previous six semifinalists, only Robeson's 1982 squad prevailed in the Final Four. Robeson lost the Class 5A final, 16-12, to Rockford Guilford. The IHSA began its postseason in 1974.
Simeon (11-1) moved on to the Class 8A semis with a 34-20 victory at defending state champion Naperville Central. It's the first time the Wolverines, who have won seven boys basketball state championships, have advanced to the football state semifinals.
Culbreath said Simeon will face Homewood-Flossmoor at 7:15 p.m. Saturday at Gately Stadium in the semifinals, with the winner meeting either Stevenson or Glenbard West in the state championship game in Champaign on Nov. 29.
"Year in and year out, their coaching staff does a great job with those guys," Culbreath said of H-F. "They're fast and just a great team. It's going to be interesting."
A few hours after Simeon's win, Phillips — a turnaround school and the subject of a Sports Illustrated "Underdogs" video piece last year — beat top-seeded Rockford Lutheran 14-13 at Gately Stadium on Saturday in the Class 4A quarterfinals. Phillips (11-1), which lost in the 2013 quarters, will meet Coal City at a to-be-determined date and site in Chicago in the semifinals. The victor will play either Rochester or Herrin in Champaign on Nov. 28.
The other Chicago Public League state semifinalists are Lane Tech in 1980; Tilden in 1983; Hubbard in 2000; and Morgan Park in 2004.
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