Tuscola football prepares for Thursday night lights | sport

TUSCOLA – Andy Romine is no stranger to having to plan for non-conference opponents.

The veteran Tuscola football coach faced two non-conference opponents each fall for his first eight seasons and led the Warriors with Tuscola in the eight-team Central Illinois Conference.

Then there were four non-conference opponents last season when the CIC became a six-team league.

This fall, however, most of the Warriors’ games came against conference opponents during Romine’s 10th season at the helm of the program. Albeit mostly new ones for Tuscola, as it is now part of the Heart of Central Illinois Conference Small Division, a football-only league that emerged from the CIC and the Heart of Illinois Conference in its first year of existence.

Either way, Romine and his program needed an opponent for Week 9 after the first eight games were played against HOCIC small teams.

“A Week 9 non-conference game is usually pretty easy to get,” Romine said. “We contacted several schools but were unable to get anyone to agree to a contract.”

Then Illini West entered the picture. The long-standing program, based in Carthage in the western part of the state, had a Week 9 opening and was interested in playing in Tuscola this year.

But neither school was really interested in making a three-hour-plus bus ride to play a non-conference game at their respective home venues on the final Friday night of the regular season. And I didn’t want to do that this Saturday afternoon, as the IHSA playoff pairings will be released later Saturday evening.

So there was a kickoff on Thursday evening at Ken Leonard Field on the campus of the Springfield Sacred Heart-Griffin Campus. And that’s exactly what will happen when Tuscola (5-3) plays Illini West (5-3) this Thursday at 7 p.m.

“SHG was kind enough to let us use their facility,” Romine said of the on-campus stadium, which opened in 2012 and features a grass playing surface and is named in honor of 387-game Hall of Fame coach Ken Leonard won six state titles in charge of the Cyclones before retiring after the 2022 season. “It makes sense that both teams meet there.”

Tuscola can clinch a playoff spot with a win Thursday night, the 33rd in program history and the eighth of Romine’s tenure. However, the Warriors are already qualified for the playoffs and Romine is confident his team will clinch a spot based on the 39 playoff points they have already accumulated this season. But a win against Illini West, which has won five straight games after an 0-3 start, might be enough to secure Tuscola a home first-round playoff game.

The Warriors are on their third quarterback of the season after junior Dylan Graves began the season at the position before moving to running back. Sophomore Jon Pettry then became the starter before the Warriors won their first game at Fisher on Sept. 6, but missed last Friday night’s 43-0 home win over Fieldcrest due to an injury after missing in six games Had thrown for 612 yards and five touchdowns. Fellow sophomore Evan Vearil started against Fieldcrest and completed 5 of 16 passes for 82 yards, two interceptions and a touchdown.

Graves is Tuscola’s leading running back, accumulating 697 yards on 115 carries and nine touchdowns, including a 258-yard effort in Tuscola’s 25-20 win at Heyworth on Oct. 11, with junior Cooper Lyons having 304 rushing yards and three Contributed touchdowns. Senior Parker James is the Warriors’ top receiver with 33 catches for 392 yards and three touchdowns, with seniors Zach Rennels and Jayden Conner also having capable pass-catching options.

“Dylan was really, really good at running back,” Romine said. “We had to simplify some of the things we like to do because we’re so young in some areas, and we weren’t good enough offensively, especially in terms of consistency. We’re still so far from our limit and that’s frustrating in Week 8. Our kids watch film and know it too, but if we can get our group to develop some confidence and belief then we will be moving in the right direction at the right time of the season.”

This is the second straight season Tuscola has played a non-conference game at a neutral site, having opened the 2023 season against St. Bede at Tucci Stadium on the campus of Illinois Wesleyan University in Bloomington.

Having this year’s non-traditional non-conference game at the other end of the schedule against a successful program like Illini West – the Chargers have 36 playoff appearances and six state championships in their history – is a different feeling. Romine doesn’t expect it to go away in the future, however, as high school football programs continue to try to fit non-conference games into their schedules and conference realignments continue to occur.

“It’s been completely different this year playing in this new league and the uncertainty of what our schedule will look like going forward will drive you crazy if you let it,” Romine said. “I don’t know what’s going to happen, but I wouldn’t bet a dollar on what our schedule actually looks like next year.”