The Vandals will get a week off in the new playoff set up.
After completing a 7-2 regular season with their 48 to 0 win over Springfield Lanphier on Friday night, the Vandals learned on Saturday night they had earned a bye in the first round of the Class 2A playoffs. The Vandals will now await the winner of this weekend’s game between 3-6 Sangamon Valley and 5-4 Hamilton County. The game time is still listed as to be determined at this time. But, being it is better than a 2 and a half hour drive from Niantic to McLeansboro, it’s probably expected to be a Saturday afternoon game. The Vandals will then be at home against the first round winner.
For Hamilton County, they went 5-4 in the Black Diamond Conference. They lost their last 3 games to the top 3 teams in their conference–Johnston City, Flora and Fairfield–with their other loss in week 3 to 5-4 Carmi. The Foxes best win of the year would be their week 1 win over 4-5 Red Hill. This will be Hamilton County’s 4th playoff appearance all time. They are 0-3 all time in the playoffs.
For Sangamon Valley, they went 3-6 in the Linoln Prairie Conference with all 3 of their wins coming against 1 win opponents. This is their 9th all time appearance in the playoffs and they are 3-8 all time in playoff action.
For the Vandals, this does mark their 21st appearance in the playoffs and they have not missed the playoffs since 2015.
