Both Hinsdale football programs are playoff-bound. Both enter Week 8 chasing first-round home games.

Hinsdale South (3-4) has locked up its first IHSA postseason berth since 2018, as first reported by Shaw Local's Week 8 playoff outlook. The Hornets punched their ticket on the strength of blowout wins over Addison Trail and Willowbrook in Weeks 4 and 5. Hinsdale Central (4-3) is also in after reaching Class 8A's second round a year ago.

Both teams carry 37 playoff points heading into the final two weeks of the regular season.

Under the IHSA's expanded 2026 format, each class sends 48 teams to the postseason instead of the previous 32. The top 16 seeds in Class 8A earn a first-round bye, and the higher seed hosts in the opening round. That makes every remaining win valuable for seeding.

Hornets end eight-year drought

The last time Hinsdale South played a playoff game, the Hornets traveled to Prairie Ridge in Crystal Lake for a 2018 first-round matchup. Eight years later, head coach Jarrod Amolsch's squad is back.

Senior quarterback Ben Miller has been central to the turnaround. Through five games as of Sept. 22, Miller had thrown for 800 yards and accounted for 16 total touchdowns. Senior transfer receiver Koby Armstrong, listed at 5-foot-6 and 140 pounds, averaged nearly 27 yards per catch with six touchdowns through the same stretch. That included a six-catch, 232-yard, three-touchdown performance against Addison Trail.

"The No. 1 thing with Ben is moxie … When things break down he doesn't panic. He finds a way to make plays," Amolsch said in a Sept. 22 Shaw Local notebook, when the Hornets were 3-2.

South lost to Downers Grove South 24-21 on Saturday, Oct. 3. The Hornets finish the regular season against Morton (1-6) and Leyden, opponents with a combined 4-10 record. Wins there would boost South's playoff point total and its shot at hosting a first-round game.

Red Devils eye home-field advantage

Hinsdale Central lost to Glenbard West 42-24 on Saturday, Oct. 3, according to MaxPreps. Before that, the Red Devils had won two straight, beating Downers Grove South 44-0 on Sept. 18 and York 24-21 on Sept. 25.

Head coach Brian Griffin's team hosts Proviso West in Week 8 before closing the regular season at Oak Park-River Forest. A strong finish could push Central into the top 16 seeds in Class 8A, which would mean a bye past the first round.

Shaw Local's Steve Soucie projected that all teams with three or more wins are a virtual lock for the expanded postseason. The real prize now is seeding, and both Hinsdale programs have two games left to grab it.