Farmington, Brimfield form 14-under team
By JEFF LAMPE
For The Weekly Post
On the field, Elmwood-Brimfield and Farmington remain football rivals at most levels.
Not everywhere, though, at least not in JFL action.
Players from Brimfield and Farmington JFL leagues are playing on the same 14-and-under team this season. As practices neared in late July, it became apparent that Farmington did not have enough players register for that age group and Brimfield had 16, just one over the minimum.
“Playing against the likes of Washington, (Peoria) Richwoods, Woodruff and Dunlap – all having teams with 30-plus players – it’s a tough task with 16 kids to compete,” Brimfield JFL Director Monte Kenney said.
Rather than struggle to compete and watch Farmington’s 11 would-be players miss a season, Kenney and Farmington JFL Director Tom Oldfield opted to combine forces. That decision is reflected in the team name of Farmfield and in black jerseys that will bear that unique moniker. The team even has its own theme: Stronger Together.
A precedent for this, of sorts, was set last season when both the Brimfield and Farmington 12-and-under teams found themselves short of the minimum requirement for players due to injuries. Instead of forfeiting, they combined for Farmington’s final game, a win against Marshall County.
“During that game many of the fans started to chant, ‘Let’s go Brimington, Let’s go Farmfield.’” Kenney said. “It was a fun game with coaches and players all working together. At the end of the game someone said, ‘Hey, we should do this next year for the whole season.’ I then said, ‘There is no way that’s going to happen again. We will both have full teams again next year.’”
Instead, Kenney was happy to eat his words in an effort to give kids a chance to play. And so far, everything has worked out well. Concerns over rivalries at the high school level have not been an issue.
“Tom and I made sure to set the tone and work together for the kids,” Kenney said. “Not worry about the rivalry at the high school level and just teach these kids there is more to football than Farmington/E-B football games.”
During a July 29 coaches meeting, all involved agreed to merge playbooks and to run plays from both programs. There are co-coaches on offense and defense.
“Everyone walked away from the meeting with lots of optimism, The Brimfield kids are excited they get to run the spread some and pass a bit,” Kenney said. “And the biggest thing at the meeting was all the coaches checked their egos at the door and made this season about the kids.”
Practices started July 30 and alternate between Brimfield and Farmington. Games start Aug. 23.
• X Country – The first preseason ratings of the season smile on Elmwood-Brimfield. In Class 1A previews compiled by Illinois Running News, the E-B boys are rated third and the E-B girls are 10th.
The boys ranking will likely change quite a bit, though, as anticipated top-two runner Darwin Herman has opted not to come out for his senior season. That leaves seniors Aiden Faulkner, a returning all-stater, and Kam Stevenson to lead an otherwise young group.
The E-B girls team is also young, with just one senior and one junior on a roster dominated by talented underclassmen back from a surprise 10th-place finish last season.
