PREP FOOTBALL: Playoff pairings set for Vikings, Blue Devils, Tigers and Storm

Chad Dare Chad., Commercial-News, Danville, Ill.
·3 min read

Oct. 25—DANVILLE — Playing a brand new opponent is typically one of the thrills of the IHSA football playoffs.

But not this season for Bismarck-Henning/Rossville-Alvin, Danville and Westville as all three of them drew a conference rival in the first-round, only Salt Fork is facing a completely foreign opponent.

For the Vikings, who earned the No. 14 seed in the southern bracket of Class 6A, they will open with the Normal West Wildcats this Saturday at 1 p.m. at Wildcat Field in Normal.

Now, it will be the first meeting this season for Danville and Normal West, as the Wildcats and the Peoria Notre Dame Irish were the two Big 12 Conference teams that the Vikings were not scheduled to play this season.

"You always looking forward to playing someone that you haven't seen before," Danville coach Marcus Forrest said. "Technically, Normal West isn't a team that we saw this year, but we've know all about them from previous seasons."

Normal West (8-1) claimed the Big 12 Conference title this season with a 7-0 victory over Champaign Centennial this past Friday. The Wildcats also beat Normal Community (21-4) and Peoria High (30-6) this season. All three of those teams defeated Danville during the season.

"We're getting a team that proved to be the best in our conference," Forrest said. "We are excited to see how much we have grown this year and how much we have grown from last year."

Normal West defeated Danville 28-14 on Oct. 8, 2021 in Normal.

It's the 23rd appearance for Danville in the IHSA playoffs and the Vikings are 1-4 against Big 12 opponents in the postseason. Their lone victory was a 40-27 triumph over Normal West in the 2012 Class 6A playoffs.

For Bismarck-Henning/Rossville-Alvin and Westville, the IHSA Class 2A playoffs are a rematch of their game just two weeks ago at Payton-Moss Field in Bismarck.

The Blue Devils (9-0) are making their 13th consecutive appearance in the IHSA playoffs and 24th overall, while the Tigers (5-4) are making their 15th appearance.

"I'm not sure a rematch is good for either team or either school," admitted Bis-Henn/Ross-Al coach Mark Dodd. "Both teams have battled all season for the opportunity to make the playoffs and we get an opponent that we just played two weeks ago. Obviously, we already know quite a bit about them, but they also know quite a bit about us.

"We are just very proud of our 13 straight playoff appearances. It's a credit to our coaches and our players that we have been able to sustain our success year after year."

Westville coach Guy Goodlove acknowledged that being only 5-4 this season, they knew they were going to draw one of the teams that went 9-0.

"When you wind up with only five wins, you are just grateful to be in the playoffs," he said. "Of course, you would always prefer to play someone new in the playoffs but this is how it came out this year."

It's not the first time that VVC teams have played each other in the first round.

Back in 2010, Westville backed up its regular season victory with a 27-8 win over Bismarck-Henning, while the Blue Devils had wins in 2006 and 2012 over the Georgetown-Ridge Farm Buffaloes.

Kickoff for the game in Bismarck between the Tigers and the Blue Devils is set for 7 p.m. this Friday.

Salt Fork is the only team in Vermilion County to get a non-conference opponent in the first round. The Storm, who went 6-3 and earned the No. 9 seed in the southern bracket of Class 1A, will open on the road against the Red Hill Salukis.

It will be the first-ever meeting between Salt Fork and Red Hill. Kickoff is set for 2 p.m. this Saturday in Bridgeport.