Princeville Princes Football: 2026 Schedule and Results
Latest result — Week 3, Friday September 4: lost 16-7 at Astoria/VIT. Now 0-3. Next: St. Bede at home, Friday September 11, 7:00.
2026: 0-3 · Coach: Jon Carruthers · Division: Lincoln Land North · Enrollment: 191
The only winless team in the division through two weeks — and the record is misleading enough to be worth explaining.
Eighteen starters, gone
Princeville went 7-3 last season and made the Class 1A playoffs as the No. 8 seed, losing 21-14 at home to No. 9 Heyworth in the first round. They went 7-3 the year before that too.
Then roughly eighteen starters graduated.
What replaced them was built in the weight room. Coach Jon Carruthers reports sixty offseason lifting sessions averaging more than thirty-five players — at a school of about 185 students.
“It’s really a great atmosphere that we built in the weight room and it’s carried on out here.”
Returning leader Cayden Allen is a name to know.
2026 so far
- Aug 21 — lost at Illini West 22-17
- Aug 28 — lost to Havana 27-14 at home
- Sept 4 — lost at Astoria/VIT 16-7. Three defeats from three, and the closest of them. Seven points is the lowest the Princes have scored this season.
Two losses by a combined sixteen points, both to teams outside the division. Illini West is 2-0.
2026 schedule
| Date | Opponent | Site | Result |
|---|---|---|---|
| Aug 21 | at Illini West | Away | L 22-17 |
| Aug 28 | Havana | Home | L 27-14 |
| Sept 4 | at Astoria/VIT | Away | — |
| Sept 11 | St. Bede | Home | — |
| Sept 18 | Bureau Valley † | Home | — |
| Sept 25 | Knoxville † | Home | — |
| Oct 2 | Annawan-Wethersfield † | Home | — |
| Oct 9 | at ROWVA/Williamsfield † | Away | — |
| Oct 16 | Stark County † | Home | — |
† Lincoln Land North. All 7:00 p.m.
The knight on the horse
Princeville are the Princes — and the Lady Princes — in maroon and white. The mascot is not a generic crown: it is an armoured knight on horseback carrying a shield and a jousting lance.
The town sits in Peoria County, population 1,636, the only school in this division outside the Henry/Bureau/Stark/Knox cluster.
The softball trophies
Princeville has no state championship in any sport, but it has come close twice, both in softball.
2016: state runner-up. The Princes went 34-4, beat Fisher 7-1 in the semifinal, then lost the Class 1A final 3-0 to Hardin Calhoun — a game in which Princeville’s Paige Lane struck out sixteen in a complete-game defeat.
2017: third place at 26-9, beating Heyworth 6-3.
The football team was state runner-up in 1975.
The deepest sports offering in the division
Football, boys and girls basketball, volleyball, baseball, softball, cross country, track, golf, cheerleading — and a bass fishing team, coached by Tait Sennett. Jeff Kratzer is athletic director.
Volleyball, 2026
2-4 through the opening week, with a win over Roanoke-Benson and a win over Greenview in tournament play.
Where the season goes from here
Princeville’s division schedule is unusually front-loaded at home: four of their five Lincoln Land North games are at Princeville, with only the trip to ROWVA/Williamsfield on October 9 away.
Before that come Astoria/VIT on the road and St. Bede at home. For a team replacing eighteen starters, a schedule that keeps them at home through October is about as favourable as the draw gets.
The 2016 softball team
Princeville’s best team of the modern era played softball.
The 2016 side went 34-4, beat Fisher 7-1 in the state semifinal, and lost the Class 1A championship game 3-0 to Hardin Calhoun — a game in which Princeville’s Paige Lane struck out sixteen and still lost.
The following year they came back and took third place at 26-9, beating Heyworth 6-3 in the consolation game. Two state trophies in two seasons.
The football team’s own trophy came earlier: state runner-up in 1975.
Everything they field
Verified from the school’s own staff directory rather than a third-party listing: football, boys and girls basketball, volleyball, baseball, softball, cross country, track, golf, cheerleading — and a bass fishing team coached by Tait Sennett. Soccer and wrestling also appear on MaxPreps. Jeff Kratzer is athletic director.
That is a broad offering for a school of 191, and it is one reason the football roster has to compete for bodies.
The town
Princeville sits in Peoria County — the only school in Lincoln Land North outside the Henry, Bureau, Stark and Knox county cluster. Population 1,636.
The mascot is worth a second look. Most schools called the Princes would settle for a crown. Princeville’s is an armoured knight on horseback, carrying a shield and a jousting lance.
What 0-2 actually looks like
Two losses by a combined sixteen points, both to teams from outside the division, one of which is 2-0.
Illini West beat Princeville 22-17 in Week 1 and has since beaten United 38-24. Havana beat them 27-14 in Week 2 and beat Princeville by thirteen after beating nobody of note in Week 1.
Neither result suggests a team that has fallen apart. It suggests a team that graduated eighteen starters and is a score short while the replacements learn.
Division play begins September 18 and Princeville plays four of its five North games at home. If Carruthers’ sixty weight-room sessions produce anything, that is where it will show.
All-time and recent
Princeville went 7-3 in each of the last two seasons and qualified for the Class 1A playoffs in 2025 as the No. 8 seed, losing 21-14 at home to No. 9 Heyworth in the first round.
Volleyball opened 2026 at 2-4, with wins over Roanoke-Benson and Greenview around losses to IVC, Illini Bluffs, Mercer County and Elmwood.
The town
Princeville was incorporated in the nineteenth century and now holds 1,636 people. It sits north-west of Peoria, which puts the school in a different county from every other member of its own football division — and means a longer bus ride to almost every conference game than any of its rivals face.
The school enrolls 191 students and still finds enough of them to field eleven sports plus bass fishing. That is the context for a 0-2 start after eighteen starters left.
Send us results
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Records via IHSA and MaxPreps; programme detail via Princeville CUSD 326 and Clutch Sports Illinois. Lincoln Land North standings →
