Alan B. Shepard High School 2025 Football Schedule

PALOS HEIGHTS, IL — In less than a month, local high school football players will be taking to the gridiron as practices can officially start on Aug. 11. On Friday, the Illinois High School Association released schedules for the 2025 season.

The IHSA Football State Finals are scheduled to be played on Nov. 28–29, hosted at Hancock Stadium on the campus of Illinois State University in Normal. According to IHSA, the Class 1A-4A title games will be contested on Nov. 28, with Class 5A-8A following on Nov. 29.

The nine-week regular season will determine the 256 teams that qualify for the IHSA football playoffs.

In Palos Heights, fans will especially be keeping tabs on the local teams at Alan B. Shepard High School and the area Catholic high schools.

John Rone returns as the head coach of the Shepard Astros football team, which finished the 2024 season with an 7-3 overall record. This fall, the Astros will be joined in the South Suburban Red Conference by Oak Lawn Community High School, Evergreen Park, Argo (Summit), Reavis (Burbank) and Eisenhower (Blue Island).

Locally, Shepard’s regular season begins at home Friday, Aug. 29, when the Shepard Astros face the Lane Tech Champions, from the North Side of Chicago.

Here is a look at the 2025 schedule for Shepard courtesy of MaxPreps:

Aug. 29 - 7 p.m. Friday, Shepard v. Lane Technical High School (Chicago), non-conference (home)
Sept. 5 - 6 p.m. Friday, Shepard @ Hammond Morton (Hammond, IN), non-conference (away)
Sept. 12 - 7 p.m. Friday, Shepard @ Oak Lawn, conference (away)
Sept. 19 - 7 p.m. Friday, Shepard v. Evergreen Park, conference (home)
Sept. 26 - 7 p.m. Friday, Shepard @ Richards, conference (away)
Oct. 3 - 7 p.m. Friday, Shepard v. Oak Forest, non-conference (home)
Oct. 10 - 7 p.m. Friday, Shepard @ Argo, conference (away)
Oct. 17 - 7 p.m. Friday, Shepard v. Reavis, conference (home)
Oct. 24 - 7 p.m., Friday, Shepard v. Eisenhower, conference (home)