The IHSA made it official yesterday, releasing the football schedules for all high school teams in the state—under what will be an earlier start to the season and expanded playoff format.
The Vandals will open their season on Friday, August 21st when they host Carlinville. The Vandals are (in order) at Hillsboro, home with Pana, at Southwestern, at Gillespie, home with Greenville, at Staunton, home versus North Mac and at Litchfield for the regular season. The first official practice will be on August 5th. Vandals went 11-1 last season advancing to the Class 3A Quarterfinals.
As for the rest of the South Central Conference in Week 1-
Litchfield will be at Gillespie in week one and it will actually be on Thursday, August 20th. Litchfield went 0-9 last year while Gillespie was 2-7.
In a battle of new head coaches, North Mac will be at Greenville in week one on Friday, August 21st. Nathan Wise is the new head coach for North Mac while Jim Romack takes over for legendary coach Todd Hutchinson with the Comets. North Mac was 3-6 last year while Greenville 7-4 and lost to the Vandals in the second round of the playoffs.
Hillsboro will be at Pana in week one. Both were playoff teams last year, with Hillsboro going 5-5 and Pana 9-2.
And, Southwestern will be at Staunton in week one. The Piasa Birds were 1-8 a year ago while Staunton was 4-5 and just missed out on a playoff berth.
The playoffs will be expanded this year, as they will go from 32 teams in each class in the playoffs to 48 for the first time.
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