From what I’ve seen, the deeper a team goes into the playoffs, the harder it actually becomes to draw larger crowds. Ticket prices go up, family passes are no longer accepted, and with band competitions finished, the band might attend but won’t perform a full halftime show, which means many band parents choose not to come. Then you have the weather to consider.
Streaming adds another wrinkle: it costs $12 for a single game or $20 for access to all the semi-state games, and casual high school football fans may not realize it won’t be free to watch until Friday at 6:55 p.m. (and many won’t even know the actual 7:30 kickoff time), so they might try to find it on their radios.
Overall, I’m not expecting the stands to be full. I hope I’m wrong, though, and that Carroll, Dwenger, and Luers all end up with packed crowds.