CHICAGO (AP) Chicago's first all-black high school is the city's first public school team to advance to the Illinois football playoff finals in 32 years.
The Phillips Academy Wildcats are underdogs in Friday's Class 4A championship against the Rochester Rockets, a central Illinois team is going for its fifth straight title.
If the Wildcats win, they'd be the first team from a Chicago public high school to lift a state football championship trophy.
The facilities at Phillips don't compare to those at some revenue-rich powerhouses. There's no practice field, so the team must walk with its gear three-quarters of a mile away to a city park.
But Phillips has shown it can hold its own even against big suburban schools. The Wildcats upset Class 8A Naperville North 40-7 early this season.
