Daniels | BHRA, Monticello look to keep playoff streak going
Aug. 19—Waiting to see their team's name pop up the night of Oct. 21 is the objective of every high school football team in Illinois right now.
The IHSA playoff selection show will air that Saturday night after nine weeks of regular-season action that all begins next Friday night.
And in east central Illinois, no team has found itself in the playoffs more consistently in the last decade-plus than Bismarck-Henning/Rossville-Alvin and Monticello.
The Blue Devils and Sages both hold the longest area streak of consecutive playoff appearances at 13, with both programs reaching the postseason every year since 2009.
"I'm not going to lie. I really like winning," said Mark Dodd, BHRA's coach who is about to start his 17th season in charge of the Blue Devils. "I really enjoy that, and luckily, I've found a place where we've done enough of it."
Dodd has compiled a 125-41 record at BHRA, winning at least six games every season since 2011. He'll get his first chance to add to those wins next Saturday night when BHRA hosts Clifton Central at 7 p.m. in the first game on turf at Payton-Moss Field.
Monticello coach Cully Welter has put up similar numbers since the four-time state champion and Hall of Fame coach assumed his current role with the Sages in 2009, and he has gone 114-38 in 13 seasons.
"The game continues to evolve, which is cool," said Welter, whose team opens its season at St. Joseph-Ogden next Friday night. "Most coaches that have been in it this long say it's the relationships that keep you going. Being around the kids and other coaches help."
Winning, though, certainly does help.
Ending the drought?On the flip side, Rantoul heads into this season with the area's longest playoff drought.
The Eagles last made the playoffs in 2005.
First-year coach Jeremy Wooten realizes he has his work cut out in trying to get Rantoul back in the postseason. Winning a game — something Rantoul hasn't accomplished since 2018 — is the Eagles' first priority this season when they open at 7 p.m. next Friday at Peotone.
"I told my team, especially the seniors, that your goal is to win one game," Wooten said. "If you win one game this year, that's one game more than the senior class won last year. Winning takes time and a culture takes time to build, but once you get that established, that's when you become successful."
No more Cola Wars?For this season and likely future season, unfortunately yes.
Arcola and Tuscola, longstanding rivals in Douglas County separated by nine miles, won't meet on the football field this fall after a brief resumption of the series took place in 2018. Tuscola leads the all-time series 58-44-6 and has won the last 15 games.
But Arcola plays in the Lincoln Prairie Conference and the additions of Nokomis and Sullivan to the league this year means a nine-game conference slate will unfold for the Purple Riders starting this fall.
"I do love a closed conference," first-year Arcola coach Steve Snider said, "but obviously, it stinks not having the Cola Wars game because that's big for everybody."
Tuscola and its league, the Central Illinois Conference, will join forces with the Heart of Illinois Conference in 2024 to form a football-only league called the Heart of Central Illinois Conference.
"When the Cola Wars comes back is when district football comes into effect, when we play them in the playoffs or when the inevitable of all inevitable, conference realignment, happens again," Tuscola ninth-year coach Andy Romine said. "That's how it goes."
Matt Daniels is the sports editor at The News-Gazette. He can be reached at 217-373-7422 or at mdaniels@news-gazette.com.
