2026 Football Preview: All Seven Galesburg-Area Programs, Team by Team
Seven programs. One Friday night. Here is where each of them stands going into the 2026 season, with full schedules.
A quick note on structure before we start, because it confuses people every year: local football is spread across three different competitive structures. Galesburg plays in the Western Big 6. Monmouth-Roseville plays in the Three Rivers Conference. Knoxville, United, Abingdon-Avon and ROWVA/Williamsfield play in the Lincoln Trail-Prairieland football league, which merged the two conferences’ football operations in 2023 and splits them into Large and Small divisions. West Central plays eight-man football in the I8FA.
Galesburg Silver Streaks
2025: 2-7 (1-6 Western Big 6, 7th)
Coach: Shawn Hickey, third season
Classification enrollment: 1,120
Hickey told WGIL in July that roughly 80 players turned out in June, up from 38 in his first summer — and he has been careful to say the number that matters is the one still there in October, not the one on the June sign-up sheet.
That matters because Galesburg’s 2025 problems were structural as much as tactical. The Streaks went 0-4 at home, were outscored 381-166, and closed on a five-game losing streak against a Western Big 6 slate that included conference champion Moline. When you are thin, a nine-week conference schedule against schools with 1,700-plus enrollments becomes an attrition problem before it is a football problem.
Returners on the 2026 roster include junior quarterback Grady Hickey, junior receiver Antwon Walker (6-3, 187), junior running back Corey McGee and senior back/linebacker Prosper Aremu (6-0, 210). The Streaks graduated receivers Bradley Eaton and Demetrius Watson.
The schedule has one wrinkle: Week 4 was empty until August, after Alleman announced in June it would not field a varsity team in 2026. Athletic director Nick Young filled it with Normal U-High — a varsity-only game at CBI Bank & Trust Stadium. All six other Western Big 6 schools were scrambling for the same reason.
2026 schedule: Aug 21 at Dunlap (7:30) · Aug 28 Limestone · Sept 4 at United Township † · Sept 11 Normal U-High · Sept 18 Sterling † · Sept 25 at Geneseo † · Oct 2 Quincy † · Oct 9 at Rock Island † · Oct 16 Moline †
† Western Big 6. Home games at CBI Bank & Trust Stadium at VanDyke Field.
Monmouth-Roseville Titans
2025: 10-2, Class 3A quarterfinalists
Coach: Jeremy Adolphson
Conference: Three Rivers – Mississippi
The best local season in years, and the bar for 2026. The Titans went 8-1 in the regular season, earned the No. 5 seed in Class 3A, and reached the quarterfinals for the first time since 2018 — beating No. 12 Manteno 39-14 and then Bloomington Central Catholic 29-28 in a one-point thriller before Richmond-Burton ended it 31-6 in November.
Adolphson, who also serves as athletic director, has been candid that the defense is the question. “We’re replacing some really, really good guys,” he said in July. “It’s just going to be a different defense.” Quarterback Kane Johnson returns to lead the offense.
The stated goal is a sixth straight playoff berth. With the field expanding from 32 to 48 per class, a program with Mon-Rose’s baseline should clear that comfortably even in a transition year — which frees the season to be about how far they go rather than whether they get in.
2026 schedule: Aug 21 at Erie-Prophetstown · Aug 28 Rockridge · Sept 4 at Mercer County · Sept 11 Princeton † · Sept 18 at Hall/Putnam County † · Sept 25 at Mendota † · Oct 2 Sherrard † · Oct 9 at Kewanee † · Oct 16 Orion
† Three Rivers Conference. All 7:00 p.m.
Knoxville Blue Bullets
2025: 5-5 (4-3), Class 1A playoff qualifier
Coach: Marty Turner, first season
Division: Lincoln Trail-Prairieland Large
Knoxville earned a playoff berth last fall and got a brutal reward for it: a No. 13 seed against No. 4 Clifton Central, and a 24-6 first-round loss.
Turner, who took over this offseason, has framed a demanding schedule as an asset rather than a burden. “Our kids learned a lot,” he told WGIL. “We’ve got another tough schedule, but that’s what you want.”
He inherits a roster with real continuity — Turner says five offensive starters and six on defense return, plus a senior quarterback who did not play last season and is back in the mix.
With 48 qualifiers per class instead of 32, a program that made the field at 5-5 last year is now positioned to make it comfortably and compete for a better seed. That is the difference between hoping and planning.
2026 schedule: Aug 21 at Macomb · Aug 28 Rushville-Industry · Sept 4 Hamilton/Warsaw · Sept 11 at LCSRV · Sept 18 at Annawan-Wethersfield · Sept 25 Princeville · Oct 2 at ROWVA/Williamsfield · Oct 9 at Stark County · Oct 16 Bureau Valley
All 7:00 p.m.
United Red Storm
2025: 1-8 (1-7)
Coach: Andrew Goodwin, third season
Division: Lincoln Trail-Prairieland Small
The most interesting gap between record and outlook in the area.
United won one game last year. United also returns, by Goodwin’s accounting, “90 percent of the offense coming back and 70 percent of the defense coming back, production-wise.” That is an unusual amount of retained production for a one-win team, and it is the kind of thing that produces a jump rather than an increment.
“We return a lot,” Goodwin told WMOI in July. “I’m excited. The kids are excited. It’s just a really good time to be here.”
The Red Storm are chasing their first playoff berth since 2021. A schedule that opens against Bureau Valley (also 1-8 last year) offers a chance to start 1-0 for the first time in a while, and the expanded bracket means the target is now roughly four or five wins rather than a clean five.
2026 schedule: Aug 21 at Bureau Valley · Aug 28 Illini West · Sept 4 Stark County † · Sept 11 at Elmwood/Brimfield · Sept 18 Abingdon-Avon † · Sept 25 at Rushville-Industry † · Oct 2 at LCSRV † · Oct 9 Astoria/VIT † · Oct 16 Havana †
† Conference. All 7:00 p.m.
Abingdon-Avon Tornadoes
2025: 3-6 (3-4)
Coach: Rick Quinn
Division: Lincoln Trail-Prairieland Small
Quinn is back on the A-Town sideline, and the program history says that matters — he led the Tornadoes to a 10-1 season in 2021.
Abingdon-Avon went 3-6 last fall, closing with a 38-16 loss to ROWVA/Williamsfield. Three wins in a 48-qualifier era is closer to relevant than three wins in a 32-qualifier era, but the Tornadoes still need to find two more.
They open at home against Hamilton/Warsaw, which went 6-4 and finished in the upper half of the Large division — a hard first test, but a home one.
2026 schedule: Aug 21 Hamilton/Warsaw · Aug 28 at Annawan-Wethersfield · Sept 4 at Bureau Valley · Sept 11 Farmington · Sept 18 at United † · Sept 25 LCSRV · Oct 2 at Havana † · Oct 9 at Rushville-Industry † · Oct 16 Astoria/VIT †
† Conference. All 7:00 p.m.
ROWVA/Williamsfield Cougars
2025: 2-7 (2-5)
Coach: Grant Gullstrand
Division: Lincoln Trail-Prairieland Small
The Cougars ended 2025 on the right note, beating Abingdon-Avon 38-16 in the finale — the kind of closing win that gives a young team something to carry into the offseason.
The schedule offers an opening. ROWVA/Williamsfield starts at Lewistown/Cuba/Spoon River Valley, which finished at the bottom of the Large division without a win last fall. Start 1-0 and the whole complexion of September changes.
The Cougars host Knoxville on October 2 in what is one of the better Knox County matchups on the calendar.
2026 schedule: Aug 21 at LCSRV · Aug 28 Elmwood/Brimfield · Sept 4 at Illini West · Sept 11 Havana · Sept 18 Stark County · Sept 25 at Bureau Valley · Oct 2 Knoxville · Oct 9 Princeville · Oct 16 at Annawan-Wethersfield
All 7:00 p.m.
West Central Heat
2025: 7-3 (6-1), I8FA playoff qualifier
Coach: Jason Kirby
League: Illinois 8-Man Football Association
The most consistently successful local program of the last five years, playing a game most of the region does not follow closely enough.
West Central went 7-3 last fall and made the I8FA playoffs for a second straight year, losing 42-8 to West Carroll in the first round. The context softens the record: West Carroll went on to reach the I8FA final eight, as did Amboy/LaMoille/Ohio, another team that beat the Heat.
Kirby returns what the program describes as a strong core of underclassmen, including several key skill players. A third consecutive playoff appearance is the immediate goal.
The high-water mark is still 2022, when West Central went 13-0 and won the I8FA state championship, beating Amboy 44-36 in a final played at Monmouth College.
2026 schedule: Aug 21 Flanagan/Woodland † · Aug 28 at Blue Ridge (6:30) · Sept 4 Galva · Sept 11 at Peoria Heights · Sept 25 Bushnell-Prairie City † · Oct 2 West Prairie/Southeastern · Oct 9 Ridgewood/AlWood-Cambridge · Oct 16 St. Thomas More · Oct 23 at Ashton-Franklin Center
† Conference. 7:00 p.m. unless noted.
The season in one table
| Team | 2025 | Coach | Structure |
|---|---|---|---|
| Monmouth-Roseville | 10-2 | Jeremy Adolphson | Three Rivers – Mississippi |
| West Central | 7-3 | Jason Kirby | I8FA (8-man) |
| Knoxville | 5-5 | Marty Turner | LTP Large |
| Abingdon-Avon | 3-6 | Rick Quinn | LTP Small |
| Galesburg | 2-7 | Shawn Hickey | Western Big 6 |
| ROWVA/Williamsfield | 2-7 | Grant Gullstrand | LTP Small |
| United | 1-8 | Andrew Goodwin | LTP Small |
Records, schedules and coaching information compiled from IHSA, MaxPreps and local reporting. Something wrong? Tell us and we will correct it the same day — this page will be updated throughout the season.
Reported and edited by C. Jackson Cowart, whose work has appeared in ESPN, Forbes and Front Office Sports.
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Spotted an error? We correct mistakes the same day. See our editorial standards and corrections policy. Schedules and records via IHSA and MaxPreps; quotes attributed to the outlets that reported them.
