Taft Eagles varsity football team to play in the playoffs vs. Huntley
by BRIAN NADIG
With the Chicago Teachers Union strike over, the Taft High School varsity football team will play in its scheduled Class 8A state playoff game Saturday, Nov. 2, versus Huntley, although some other teams at the high school have already missed their playoff opportunity due to the strike.
The strike needed to end by Friday, Nov. 1, in order for Taft to actually play the game against Huntley under Illinois High School Association rules. During the strike, Chicago Public Schools issued a directive allowing football teams to practice starting Oct. 30 even if the strike was not concluded. The practices were run by coaches who are not paid by the Chicago Board of Education.
IHSA rules require that football teams practice at least three times before playing a game if it hadn’t practice the previous week, so the 20 Chicago teams eligible for the state football playoffs will have to start holding practices this afternoon or evening in order to comply with the IHSA requirement. The practice rule does not apply to sports other than football.
Meanwhile, an appeal has been filed to allow the Taft cross country teams to participate in the sectional playoffs.
The Taft boys’ soccer and girls’ volleyball and tennis teams missed their playoff games, and the girls’ swimming team will participate in the sectionals.
