The defending 2A state champion Tri-Valley Vikings and LeRoy Panthers football programs are rivals when they meet once a year, but their coaches know each other very well and the two find each other rooting for each other outside of that one Friday night.
Tri-Valley opens Class 2A playoff football action Saturday while LeRoy, again is seeded in 1A.
LeRoy football coach BJ Zeleznik calls his teams 2016 season 'predictable'.
Josh Roop led Tri-Valley to a Class 2A state title last November and says the kids that returned from last year did a good job paving the way for the success they are having this year.
Coach Zeleznik says his team has a big sophomore group and coming into the season, they new they would have to get major contributions from about a half-dozen of those kids.
Tri-Valley started the season hosting 3A Bloomington Central Catholic and then finished with a tough matchup against Dee-Mack. Both were victories and Coach Roop says he learned a lot about his team in those two contests.
Tri-Valley will host Rushville-Industry as the top seed in the south bracket of the Class 2A playoffs. Game time is 1 pm.
LeRoy will travel to Kirkland Hiawatha for a 1 pm start time.
