8 schools lose chance at playoffs
Players planning to go to City Hall on Friday to voice their concerns
Eight Public League football teams have lost the chance to advance to the Illinois High School Association’s football playoffs after Chicago Public Schools canceled classes for Thursday because of the ongoing Chicago Teachers Union strike.
Back of the Yards, Chicago Military Bronzeville, King, Phoenix, Simeon, Solorio, Vocational and Young are the teams affected.
‘‘It’s very emotional and disheartening,’’ Simeon coach Dante Culbreath said. ‘‘These kids work so hard. To lose a game is one thing. To be caught up in this is a totally different thing. I’m getting calls from emotional kids.’’
Public League football players from several teams are planning to go to Mayor Lori Lightfoot’s office Friday morning to address their concerns about the impact the ongoing strike is having on their school and season.
Simeon senior Khalyl Warren posted a message on several social-media accounts late Wednesday inviting Public League athletes to travel downtown Friday to the mayor’s office.
‘‘It’s getting a lot of activity, so I think maybe 30 to 50 kids will show,’’ Warren said. ‘‘We could have a lot more involved by Friday.
‘‘Basically, we want to get our word across on how she took away our sport and how this is our chance out of Chicago. I want to let her know how her keeping us out of school is making us targets for gun violence and gangrelated things. There are homeless teens with nowhere to go.
‘‘We need to get back in school and get our education. It isn’t just about football. Having to make up the days and stay longer in the summer is just going to delay us heading to college.’’
Warren is concerned his teammates will miss out on potential college scholarships if they don’t play in the state playoffs. Culbreath agrees.
‘‘The college coaches ask about the big games, not the games you win by 30,’’ Culbreath said. ‘‘No one is going to ask for the
Lincoln Park or the Solorio film or any of those other teams we dominated. A lot of kids didn’t get film out of those games. They were waiting for the state playoffs.’’
Bogan cornerback James Brown IV is one of the players who saw Warren’s message and plans to go to the mayor’s office Friday.
‘‘I want to tell the mayor how important these last few games are to me,’’ Brown said. ‘‘I got a phone call from a [college] coach just today. It really hurt my chances that I had to tell him we were on strike and he couldn’t see me play any other games.’’
The eight teams won’t have time to get the three practices in and play a game before the state playoffs are seeded by the IHSA on Saturday. A spokesperson for the IHSA confirmed that situation Wednesday.
Simeon, Chicago Military-Bronzeville and Phoenix will be short of the eight games played that are necessary to qualify for the playoffs.
‘‘This was the first year most of my team has played football,’’ Bronzeville coach Lorenzo Johnson said. ‘‘To be on the verge of making the playoffs for the first time in school history was a major accomplishment on its own. So it is hard to swallow right now.
They are disappointed.’’
Back of the Yards, King, Solorio, Vocational and Young are 4-4 and needed one more victory to likely earn a spot in the state playoffs. Without the fifth victory, none is likely to have enough playoff points to make the field as a four-win team.
‘‘I just wish there was a way for people to understand what these kids are going through,’’ Culbreath said. ‘‘They work so hard. It’s unfortunate there isn’t any way to make an exception. I got emotional reading about the soccer teams that lost their postseason earlier this week.’’