CSL Central champion Giants earn 6A’s 11th seed and a playoff date with Streamwood

Highland Park football was a shoo-in for the IHSA Class 6A postseason by Week 7, but the Giants still had business to attend to.

That business was all wrapped up on Friday, Oct. 16, when Highland Park downed Niles West 35-12 to lock up a second straight league championship.

“It was good to finish like that. That’s always our first goal — winning conference,” Giants coach Anthony Kopp said. “So it was cool to get it two years in a row.”

This year’s conference title was a bit different, though. In 2025, Highland Park won the Central Suburban League North Division with a 5-0 record. The CSL divisions were then rearranged for 2026, sending the Giants to the new CSL Central with neighbors Deerfield and Glenbrook North, as well as Niles West.

The result, though, was similar as Highland Park went unbeaten in their division for the second straight season. Prior to 2025, the Giants had not accomplished that feat since 2014.

Highland Park finished the 2026 regular season by winning six of their final seven games, and Kopp gave a lot of credit to his 26 seniors. But he also said the team’s 0-2 start may have been a catalyst.

“I think going through some struggles early in the year helped them,” Kopp said. “They learned from that for sure and I think they realized that we needed to step it up from that moment and they’re really just playing good team football right now.”

Highland Park’s 6-3 record included big wins over playoff-bound Evanston (5-4, Class 8A), Deerfield (5-4) and Niles North (6-3), setting the Giants up with the No. 11 seed in the 6A postseason tournament.

Highland Park will host 3-6 Streamwood out of the the northwest suburbs in maybe the first-ever matchup between the programs at 6:30 p.m. Friday, Oct. 23, on Wolters Field in Highland Park.

Kopp said Streamwood, which has not beaten a team with a winning record this season, likes to run the football using a complicated triple-options scheme. Though the teams have not met, Kopp said the Giants experience with typically run-heavy Deerfield could pay off.

“It should be a good game,” Kopp said. “I don’t think we’ve ever played them. … So it’s fun, getting to play someone new. But it’s not like we have too much experience playing that conference so we’ll just watch their film and start to work on that and make sure everybody is ready to go.”

If Highland Park prevails on Friday, the playoff road gets rough quickly. Awaiting in the next round is 6A reigning champion Fenwick (6-3), which drew the No. 6 seed and a bye. The Friars only losses are to fellow Catholic League Schools St. Ignatius, Providence Catholic and Brother Rice.

For now, though, the Giants are eyeing the task at hand.

“We see it, but we just stay focused on what’s in front of us,” Kopp said. “As far as playoffs go, it’s really the luck of the draw. There’s nothing you can really do. So we stick with what we can control … and we’ll just take it one step at a time.”

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