East St. Louis remains No. 1 in the first in-season High School Football America Illinois Top 10, powered by NFL Play Football. The Flyers stay on-top even though they lost to national-power St. Frances Academy from Baltimore, Maryland.
ESL nearly upset the No. 4 ranked team in the HSFA 100. The Flyers led 13-12 late in the game.
However, a couple of penalties and a bad snap on a punt allowed SFA to get the ball at its own 41. Michael Van Buren then connected with Mekhi Workman on a 59-yard scoring strike. A 2-point conversion gave the Panthers a 20-13 lead that they were able to hold.
No. 5 Mount Carmel (Chicago) beat St. Rita in the 100th matchup between the two. MC, winners of 13 state championships, had no problems in the 35-3 victory.
All of the other Top 10 teams picked-up wins in their season openers leading to no changes in the latest rankings.
High School Football America Illinois Top 10
| Ranking/Team | Record | Preseason Rank |
| No. 1 East St. Louis | (0-1) | 1 |
| No. 2 Loyola Academy | (1-0) | 2 |
| No. 3 Joliet Catholic | (1-0) | 3 |
| No. 4 Cary-Grove | (1-0) | 4 |
| No. 5 Mount Carmel (Chicago) | (1-0) | 5 |
| No. 6 Lockport Township | (1-0) | 6 |
| No. 7 Brother Rice | (1-0) | 7 |
| No. 8 Batavia | (1-0) | 8 |
| No. 9 Wheaton North | (1-0) | 9 |
| No. 10 Maine South | (1-0) | 10 |
Editor’s Note: The High School Football America national, regional and state rankings are developed using our proprietary algorithm.
2022 Illinois Top 10’s
