High school football returned to the public eye Wednesday, with the first practices of a condensed seasons kicking off across the state ahead of a March 19 start to the six-week spring 2021 season. Preps coordinator Colin Likas offers up one local game to watch in each of those weeks, with the first entry scheduled to kick off 477 days after the Class 5A-8A state championship games ended the most recent IHSA season in 2019:
WEEK 1
Bismarck-Henning/Rossville-Alvin at Maroa-Forsyth
Saturday, March 20, 2 p.m.
➜ Perhaps it’s wrong to start this list with a game that isn’t on a Friday night. Two things about that: Quite a few non-Friday games are on the docket this spring, and this is a heck of nonconference game to begin both teams’ seasons. Mark Dodd‘s Blue Devils would benefit mightily from a victory over Josh Jostes‘ program, which has two state championships and six state runner-up finishes in Jostes’ 21 seasons with the Trojans.
WEEK 2
Clinton at Tuscola
Friday, March 26, 7 p.m.
➜ The home opener for Andy Romine‘s Warriors is sure to draw a crowd. How big of a crowd at Memorial Field remains to be seen amid COVID-19 pandemic restrictions, but Tuscola is among the area towns and cities that was starved for prep sports before the IHSA’s winter schedule started. Chris Ridgeway‘s Maroons will attempt to play spoiler, also trying to show there’s more to their 2019 Class 4A postseason appearance than just a first-round exit.
WEEK 3
Champaign Central at Centennial
Saturday, April 3, 1 p.m.
➜ The first three weeks’ worth of local Big 12 games are scheduled for Saturdays. It’s not clear if this will continue into the league’s “postseason” series, which will cover the schedule’s final three weeks. Regardless, this game at Tommy Stewart Field is one everyone looks forward to in Champaign on an annual basis. Tim Turner‘s Maroons and Kyle Jackson‘s Chargers each are looking to improve after missing the playoffs in 2019.
WEEK 4
Oakwood at Salt Fork
Friday, April 9, 7 p.m.
➜ For the nearby rivals who sometimes form a cooperative, depending on the sport, there is no love lost on the gridiron. These programs typically see each other late in a normal nine-week regular season in the fall, with important Vermilion Valley Conference or IHSA playoff implications on the line. This time around, it simply could be a matter of Al Craig‘s Comets trying to hand Joe Hageman‘s Storm its first loss of the year, or vice versa.
WEEK 5
Mahomet-Seymour at Unity
Friday, April 16, 7 p.m.
➜ This one would be difficult to overlook, regardless of how either team is performing entering the final days of the season, when they meet at Hicks Field in Tolono. A football matchup not often seen was gifted to fans by an Apollo Conference-Illini Prairie Conference agreement. Jon Adkins‘ Bulldogs and Scott Hamilton‘s Rockets have racked up numerous victories in each program’s storied history. This one would be for intra-country bragging rights.
WEEK 6
St. Joseph-Ogden at Monticello
Saturday, April 24, 2 p.m.
➜ This is a fun way to conclude the local Illini Prairie Conference lineup with two tradition-rich teams. Cully Welter‘s Sages will celebrate their seniors on this afternoon, and Shawn Skinner‘s Spartans will try to catch the opponent napping. But this game is about more than just one win or one loss, with SJ-O’s last football victory over Monticello coming in 2015 — when the Okaw Valley Conference still existed. The Sages since have won a Class 3A state title in 2018.
Colin Likas covers Illinois football and high school sports at The News-Gazette. He can be reached at clikas@news-gazette.com, or on Twitter at @clikasNG.
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