Wildcats, Coalers know playoff opponents

Wilmington will host and Coal City will travel during the first round of the ISHA football playoffs.

The Wildcats (8-1) are seeded 8 in the top bracket of the 3A playoffs. Wilmington will come out of their own woods Saturday at 6 p.m. against #9 seeded Elmwood (E-Brimfield Coop), a 7-2 team that has made the playoffs 13 of the past 14 years. The visiting Trojans are from the Prairieland (Blue) conference near Peoria where 4 of 6 teams qualified for the playoffs. Elmwood's two loses were to undefeated #1 seed Farmington, 28-12 and 42-38 to Knoxville, a 7-2 team.

A win Saturday would advance the Wildcats to the second round most likely against Farmington who is playing #16 Winnebago (6-3). If the Wildcats make it to the quarterfinals they could possibly end up playing Peotone (#4, 8-1) but the Blue Devils have to beat Paxton (6-3) nd likely IC Catholic from Elmhurst.

In Class 4A , Coal City (6-3) will mae the 2 1/2 hour drive to Taylorville on Saturday for a 3 p.m. game against the Tornadoes. Taylorville earned the #6 seed with an 8-1 record, their only loss to Effingham 50-37. Taylorville is a member of the Apollo Conference where 3 of 7 teams made the playoffs. If the Coalers (#11 seed) can get by Taylorville in the first round it's likely they would get a rematch with #3 seed Herscher (8-1) who is hosting Columbia (5-4) in round one.