Rick Armstrong’s 10 things to watch in Aurora-Elgin as high school football opens with first day of practice

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Ready or not, here it comes.

High school football in Illinois kicks off Wednesday, practice opening a week earlier than usual to accommodate expanding the number of playoff teams from 32 to 48 in each of the eight classes.

The regular season starts a week earlier — Aug. 20-22 — to allow for an extra week of playoffs and keeping Thanksgiving weekend for championship games. The top 16 teams in each class will receive a first-round bye.

The plan and its impact top the list of 10 things to watch in the 2026 Beacon-News/Courier-News football season.

1. Giving more teams hope?

Nick Kukuc is entering his ninth season as East Aurora’s head coach. And he likes the change.

“I think it’s a great opportunity to give a lot more teams a chance to experience the challenge of playoff football,” Kukuc said. “Hopefully, it becomes a standard that can help teams flourish.”

The Tomcats, who followed back-to-back four-win seasons with five wins in 2024 that snapped a 40-year playoff drought, could use the boost.

With the updated format, most 3-6 teams are expected to qualify. Some 2-7 teams could sneak in. Proponents believe the plan will stabilize conferences and eliminate scheduling difficulties.

Kukuc believes senior quarterback Joseph Becker, a second-year starter, will lead a strong skill group this season for East Aurora. And he’s looking at the big picture.

“I don’t want to sneak in,” Kukuc said. “I want to have it be under our control. I don’t want to focus on just making the cut. I want to focus on going 1-0 every week.”

2. South Elgin takes flight for opener

The Storm will be the first area team to see action, traveling to Orlando to take on Oak Ridge on Thursday, Aug. 20 after players and parents raised funds for the Florida trip.

“We’ll have about 100 in the party flying down there,” South Elgin coach Pat Pistorio said. “We did this back in 2017 when I was on the staff here. It’s great for the kids and more than just football, helps continue the brotherhood.

“The JV will play Friday and we’ll take in the parks, but it will be a quick turnaround because we have a formidable opponent in Week 2 with St. Charles North.”

3. Banire ready to be the next big thing

Biggest recruiting story looming on the horizon has to be Oswego’s Ammar Banire.

The stock for the junior running back, a speedster who broke out for 600-plus yards last season in the run to the Class 8A state championship game, continues to rise.

This spring and summer, Banire received eight Division I scholarship offers, including four from Power Four programs Illinois, Iowa, Indiana and Iowa State.

4. How about an encore?

Can Oswego duplicate that magical postseason run from last year? Why not?

The Panthers stumbled twice in the regular season with conference losses to Yorkville and Minooka but beat Southwest Prairie Conference champion Bolingbrook.

Senior quarterback Drew Kleinhans threw 18 touchdown passes and is back leading the attack. Senior safety Dontrell Young (Iowa State) and senior tight end Ryan Wynn (South Dakota State) also return, and there’s more talent on that defense.

5. Batavia continues to raise the bar

The Bulldogs have set plenty of milestones with 15 straight playoff appearances, but Illinois High School Football Coaches Association Hall of Fame coach Dennis Piron enters the 2026 season with a first for the program as four seniors have already verbally committed to go Division I.

Piron will count on quarterback Michael Vander Luitgaren (Wyoming) and receivers Thomas Prescott (Wyoming), Brennon Zeng (Northern Illinois) and Darin Ashiru (Western Michigan).

6. Geneva ready to rejoin Big Three?

Last season, the Vikings were hurt by injuries in going 4-5 after reaching the Class 6A state championship game under coach Boone Thorgesen the year before when they tied for the conference title with both Batavia and St. Charles North.

With an offense powered by Ben Peterson (Eastern Michigan) at quarterback and state champion sprinter Bennett Konkey (Illinois) at receiver, look for Geneva in the thick of the DuKane Conference chase once again.

7. Battling in the trenches

Waubonsie Valley’s Kajus Muralis and St. Charles East’s Liam Barrett are two prized offensive line recruits. The 6-foot-7, 265-pound Muralis has offers from Illinois and Notre Dame, while the 6-7, 260-pound Barrett has six offers including Iowa State, Kansas, Cincinnati and Florida Atlantic.

Waubonsie Valley’s Kyler Payne, a 6-6, 225-pound junior defensive end/tight end, has an offer from Colorado State. Burlington Central’s David Oduwa, a 6-2, 275-pound senior defensive lineman, has offers from Butler and St. Thomas.

8. New digs level District 204 playing fields

Waubonsie Valley coach Adam Pucylowski looks forward to Monday, Aug. 17, when his team will be allowed to practice on their new turf surface at Dick Koerner Stadium for the first time.

There’s also a new track and other upgrades, matching those at district rival Neuqua Valley, putting the two programs on equal footing with district rival Metea Valley.

“It’s much nicer from a footing standpoint and it looks great,” Pucylowski said.

9. Back in the DuPage Valley Conference

All three District 204 schools reunited with DeKalb and Naperville Central and Naperville North to reform the DVC and end the two-year Southwest Valley experiment, although crossovers will continue the nine remaining teams that now form the Southwest Suburban Conference.

“There were certain sticking points because we wanted to maintain local rivalries,” said Pucylowski, whose team will face four playoff qualifiers from a year ago in a nonconference schedule that includes Lockport.

10. Youth served in Hampshire

At 26, Hampshire’s Braden Foster pointed out he’s the youngest head coach in Illinois. Foster prepped at Carmel and played two years at Iowa State before moving over to be a student assistant for coach Matt Campbell, who has moved on to Penn State.

“I’ve had some really good mentors,” said Foster, who served as an assistant on the high school level for three years in Ames, Iowa and two as offensive coordinator at Mundelein.

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