The Tri-Valley Vikings and Washington Panthers football programs may be far apart in not only geography but also school size, however the two couldn't be more similar in their aspirations as the high school football postseason nears.

Tri-Valley, coming off a state runner-up in 2022, was thought to have been good, but maybe not as good as last year. Coach Josh Roop says he has another good group of seniors as the Vikings flexed its muscle again with a powerful run game to run the table in the Heart of Illinois.

Washington loaded up its non-conference portion of its schedule, dropping only a 7-3 decision to Kankakee in week 2. Otherwise, Coach Darrell Crouch was extremely pleased with his team's overall play this year, including a Mid-Illini clinching win over Morton in week nine. 

For the Vikings, their non-conference slate ended up being very strong. Coach Roop points to its week one matchup with Warrensburg-Latham as a good test for his team and then its week three win over Clinton as well.

Coach Crouch came away from his team's 1-1 start feeling very good about what he had for the season ahead as he had most of his defense back from last season.

This is Coach Crouch's final year at Washington High School. He is hoping for a nice run with this group to finish his high school coaching career.

The Vikings finished No. 2 in the final Class 2A state rankings while the Panthers concluded the season No. 3 in the last Class 6A rankings.

Tri-Valley hosts El Paso-Gridley in round one Saturday afternoon at 1 pm while Washington hosts Danville at 7 pm Friday night.