Big expectations': A look at Peoria-area teams on first official day of football practice

PEORIA — Can Peoria Notre Dame High School build around a pair of stars? How will Farmington fare with a young lineup that includes just five seniors?

Will Metamora's defense be as elite as it looks like on paper? Can IVC hit the ground running with a new head coach?

The 2026 high school football season started Wednesday with the IHSA's first official day of practice, and with it the path to finding answers began for every Peoria area team.

"I used to always get first-day jitters," Farmington head coach Toby Vallas said. "Day One is all about getting dialed in. It's the first time you have all your guys together with you, after a summer of jobs and vacations and baseball.

"It's building toward success."

Farmington has a pair of senior offensive linemen and one senior receiver, plus a senior middle linebacker and senior defensive lineman. That's all, with the possibility one or two more seniors could win starting spots.

They wasted no time getting to it, starting with weightlifting at 7 a.m. and then on to practice.

Out in Metamora, head coach Nick Delinski maneuvered around storms that came through the area in the afternoon and evening.

"We moved our practice to 7 p.m.," he said. "We have some people from outside coming in to help with coaching, so we were initially going to start at 5:30 p.m. anyway, to accommodate their schedules.

"Day One is about starting the process of making sure we get better. Every day we have to get better. Our guys have some very big expectations."

Same goes for Dee-Mack, which lost a rainy IHSA Class 1A playoff game last winter. The Chiefs were out on the field at 3:30 p.m. Wednesday, working in the rain.

"We started this season just like we ended last season, in the rain," Dee-Mack head coach Cody Myers said. "It was a perfect opportunity thinking about how we ended in the second round. We were just thrilled to be back out there to have a chance to represent all these people in the community who have supported us the last 40 years. You can't replace that.

"We have 58 on our roster, an increase. Kids just want to be part of something."

A ritual on Day One

Notre Dame High School will lean on some elite players this season, among them Dallas Harder , Noah Tockes and Thomas Baker.

Harder, a 6-foot-1, 220-pound running back/free safety, and Tockes, a 6-4, 285-pound defensive lineman and guard on the o-line, and Baker, a 6-3, 230-pound Mike linebacker, will be at the heart of a small roster.

The Irish are quality over quantity this season with just 30 players on the roster, down from 43 last season.

"Our numbers are down, but we're good," head coach Pat Armstrong said. "We have guys who can really play. We got after them a little today to get ready, because with 30 guys we're going to have to have great conditioning. We need to win the first quarter."

The Irish begin and end their season in chapel. Day One is practice, then chapel, then team dinner. And whenever the final game of the season ends, the team gathers in chapel and has a final dinner together.

"And I mean however long that takes," Armstrong said. "We lost a playoff game on the road (a few years ago at Harrisburg), we get on the team charter, drove five hours back home and then the families met the players and we go to chapel and then eat dinner. Everyone who wants to speak can do so. We can be 45 minutes or three hours in there. I remember one year where we didn't finish up until 2 a.m.

"Day One starts that way, too. Guys are grinding all summer long, but Day One today is the day family joins in it. I tell my parents every year we start and end our season in chapel. Then we all have dinner together."

In those team chapel sessions, with or without families present, players are invited to speak. They can voice anything they wish.

"For 98% of the seniors there, it's the last time they will ever wear that equipment," Armstrong said. "It's the last time they will be together."

Dave Eminian is the Journal Star senior writer and sports columnist, and covers Bradley men's basketball, the Rivermen and Chiefs. He writes the Cleve In The Eve sports column for pjstar.com. He can be reached at [email protected]. Follow him on X.com @icetimecleve.

This article originally appeared on Journal Star: 'Big expectations': A look at Peoria-area teams on first official day of football practice

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