Farmington and A-W favored, but not as heavily as last season
The LincolnLand Conference football favorites remain unchanged from one season ago, but the competition is creeping closer based on preseason votes cast by coaches (who were not able to vote for their own teams).
Farmington is the overwhelming favorite in the LincolnLand large division, earning first-place votes from every coach. That’s no surprise, as last year’s league champs and Class 2A semifinalists have 23 seniors and a league-best 85 players out this fall.
Farmington’s strength is at wideout, where 6-foot-3 North Dakota recruit Jack Gronewold, 6-4 Landon Crawford and speedy Boston Smith will give opposing DBs problems. But the Farmers’ biggest question is who will throw the ball to those gifted receivers? So far, there are at least three candidates.
There are also three fairly evenly rated contenders behind the Farmers: Elmwood-Brimfield, Macomb and Illini West.
E-B has the fewest returnees of those contenders but has good numbers, promising sophomores and an offensive style that gives some opponents fits – particularly Macomb.
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On paper, the Bombers could contend for a title with four starters back on offense and five on defense. Wideout Drew Watson is a three-year starter who had 56 catches last year. There’s work to be done in the trenches, though, as the offensive line has just one returnee. And the Bombers still need to prove they are more than just skill players.
Illini West has six starters back on offense and a strong line in front of returning QB Ethan Carlisle, who passed for 532 yards and ran for 492 as a junior. Defense is a question mark for the Chargers, who started 0-3 last year and hope to build on their end-of-season momentum.
Elsewhere, Knoxville welcomes new coach Marty Turner, a longtime assistant for the Blue Bullets. Knoxville has five starters back on offense and four on defense.
West Hancock has a stud receiver in Hunter Froman and Brayden Carter back at QB after he and three other returning linemen returned after sitting out last season. The question for West Hancock is not scoring, but stopping other teams. The Titans allowed more than 50 points per game last year.
Things are even tighter in the LincolnLand small division, where Annawan-Wethersfield holds a slim margin over Princeville and Rushville-Industry.
The Titans were hard-hit by injuries last year at running back, quarterback and elsewhere but still earned a 17th-straight playoff berth. And an upside to last year’s injuries was that several players are back who saw time as a result, including two running backs and QB Maddux Heitzler.
R-I returns eight starters on offense and seven on defense from an 8-2 finisher. Those veterans include running back Rylan Reimolds (1,219 rushing yards, 16 TDs) and three offensive linemen in the run-heavy wing-T attack. Still to be seen is how well QB Jagger Bartlett has recovered from a broken hand suffered this spring and how well R-I holds up, since depth is an issue.
Elder wand – With the hiring of Pat Elder as coach, Bureau Valley immediately stamped itself as a team to watch in the large division. But probably not immediately.
In 23 years as a head coach elsewhere, Elder has compiled a record of 161-85 and made the playoffs 19 times. Twice he has coached a state runner-up, including 2023 when his Ridgewood team was second in 8-man football and 2012 with Class 4A Richmond-Burton.
Numbers are down at BV, however, with just 34 players out. As Elder said, “We’re going to need to generate some interest.”
Looking back – Incidentally, coaches did a pretty good job predicting the LincolnLand last year. The only team they misfigured in the large division was Knoxville, which was predicted to place third and wound up sixth.
The betting line was not quite as accurate in the small division, as coaches underrated champion Stark County (tabbed for third in the preseason) and third-place Princeville (picked for fifth) while giving too much credit to ROWVA-Williamsfield (picked for second, finished fifth). Injuries played a huge part in Annawan-Wethersfield not living up to its predicted first-place finish.
Et cetera – Statewide, more schools are scheduling preseason scrimmages in place of glorified practices. Not so much in the immediate area, except for Farmington. The Farmers were home against Limestone last Saturday morning and Coach Toby Vallas said it’s a valuable experience. “I think it’s a huge advantage to go against someone else,” he said. … E-B racked up $7,145 during its players auction held last Friday. Players are paired up and sold to the high bidder for four hours of work the next day.
