The East St. Louis Flyers and head coach Darren Sunkett celebrate winning the Illinois state football championship in 2022. (Photo: Thomas Grove)
EAST ST. LOUIS, IL — The East St. Louis High School and head football coach Darren Sunkett announced the team’s full and finalized 2026 regular season schedule recently.
East St. Louis will play nine regular season contests — five at home, three on the road, and one at a neutral site — beginning with its season opener on Saturday, August 22, against longtime Illinois prep football powerhouse and defending Class 8A champion, Chicago Mount Carmel, which went 15-0 and was the No. 1 ranked team in the state last season.
The Flyers went 10-4 last season and lost the Class 6A state title game — the school’s sixth straight appearance in the state championship game, not counting the Covid year of 2020.
The East St. Louis Flyers will open the 2026 high school football season on August 22, with a game against Chicago (IL) Mount Carmel. (Photo: Thomas Grove)
Week 2 of the 2026 season will feature another big time matchup for East St. Louis. The Flyers will play national power and Florida Class 4A state champion, American Heritage High School out of Plantation, Fla. That game will be part of the highly-touted, eight-day, eight-game event called the Broward County Classic, which will be played in Fort Lauderdale.
The showdown between the Flyers and Patriots will feature a matchup of two of the top high school players in the country in East St. Louis running back Myson Johnson-Cook and American Heritage quarterback Neimann Lawrence, who transferred to his new school from Miami Northwestern High, where as a freshman, he led that team to the Florida Class 3A state championship game.
According to Rivals.com, Johnson-Cook is the No. 1 ranked player in Illinois and the No. 3 ranked running back in the country committed to play collegiately at Auburn back in April.
MaxPreps.com has Lawrence ranked as the No. 1 sophomore in the country, after he threw for 1,971 yards and 32 touchdowns, with just one interception last season.
The East St. Louis Flyers and head coach Darren Sunkett celebrate winning the Illinois Class 6A state football title in 2024. (Photo: Thomas Grove)
Another top national opponent will come to town in Week 3, when East Side hosts Gainesville High from Georgia on September 4.
The Flyers will begin their Southwestern Conference season in Week 4, with a game on September 11 against O’Fallon, followed by a matchup the following week against Belleville East.
East Side’s annual rivalry game against Edwardsville will be on the road this year, on September 25. The Flyers will play Belleville West on the road on October 2, then close out the conference and regular season home schedule the following week, with a game against Alton.
The official regular season finale will come the next week, when East Side travels up north to play Naperville North on October 16.
The state playoffs will begin after that, with the Flyers hoping to make their seventh straight trip to the IHSA state championship game.
Image courtesy: ESL Athletics
2026 EAST ST. LOUIS FLYERS FOOTBALL SCHEDULE
| Date | Time | At | Opponent | Location |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| August 22, 2026 (Saturday) | 7 pm | Home | Chicago Mount Carmel | Clyde C. Jordan Stadium |
| August 28, 2026 (Friday) | 7 pm | Neutral | American Heritage (FL) | Fort Lauderdale, FL |
| September 4, 2026 (Friday) | 7 pm | Home | Gainesville (GA) | Clyde C. Jordan Stadium |
| September 11, 2026 (Friday) | 7 pm | Home | O’Fallon* | Clyde C. Jordan Stadium |
| September 18, 2026 (Friday) | 7 pm | Home | Belleville East* | Clyde C. Jordan Stadium |
| September 25, 2026 (Friday) | 7 pm | Away | Edwardsville* | Edwardsville, IL |
| October 2, 2026 (Friday) | 7 pm | Away | Belleville West* | Belleville, IL |
| October 9, 2026 (Friday) | 7 pm | Home | Alton* | Clyde C. Jordan Stadium |
| October 16, 2026 (Friday) | 7 pm | Away | Naperville North | Naperville, IL |
* – denotes Southwestern Conference game