Football, softball, girls ‘track highlight 25-26 sports seasons for Villa Grove
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By Mike Monahan
VILLA GROVE – The fall of 2026 sports teams have or will be having unofficial or contact days soon and so it is time to look back at what Villa Grove had for the 2025-26 school year. It was highlighted by a 5-5 football team, coached by Health Wilson, that made the Class 1A playoffs and a softball team, coached by Jeana Block that went 20-14. In girls track Villa Grove had the best finisher in an Illinois High School Association Class 1A or A state meet since 1998 when the 4×200 team of Heather Bushnell, Jennifer Jones, Laure Kleiss, and Jordana Meyer placed second as did Meyer in the 100 high hurdles and she won the 300 meter low hurdles all to help Villa Grove place second in Class A (two class system) as a team.
Football
In football the Blue Devils victories were against Arcola (13-6), a forfeit win over Cerro Gordo/Bement (1-0), Tri-County (21-0), Argenta-Oreana (14-10), and Sangamon Valley/Tri-City (25-24). The Blue Devils, who were making their sixth playoff appearance in the last eight seasons, were eliminated by Hardin Calhoun 48-6.
This season Villa Grove is in a sports co-op agreement with Heritage for football. The two were together from 2014-2020 also.
Earning all-Lincoln Prairie Conference first team honors were offensive lineman Jamison Duke, wide receiver Thomas VanDeveter and defensive back Aiden Henry. Vandeventer led the Blue Devils in receiving with 30 catches for 375 yards and five touchdowns and Henry averaged 5.6 tackles per game. Villa Grove was 5-4 in the LPC, good for fifth place.
Softball
In softball it was the program’s third year out of the last four they have finished with at least 20 wins. It was the 11th time the Blue Devils have had at least 20 wins in the 40 year history of the program.
Villa Grove finished 8-1 in the conference, good for second place. The victories during the season were against Tuscola (12-0), Urbana (13-3), Georgetown-Ridge Farm (17-5), Riverton (18-8), North Greene (5-4), Blue Ridge (17-3), Kirkwood (8-6), West Creek (6-0), Northwest (8-7), Champaign Centennial (1-0), Cerro Gordo/Bement (7-1), Okaw Valley (11-2), Heritage (24-0), Arthur Lovington Atwood Hammond (14-4), Fisher (9-5), Arcola (10-2), Argenta-Oreana (7-6), Gibson City-Melvin-Sibley (11-0), Tri-County (3-2), and CGB (14-2). They were eliminated by Salt Fork 7-4 in the regional championship.
Earning first team all-LPC honors were pitcher Piper Kiser and Izzy Dodd, both recent graduates. Kiser had a 3.44 earned run average. She pitched 138 ⅓ innings and allowed 68 earned runs with 53 walks and 131 strikeouts. Opponents batted .264 against her. Dodd led the team in batting at .475 with six triples and five sacrifices.
Cross country
Alice Mitsdarfer led the Villa Grove girls in the LPC meet by placing 14th with a time of 22:24.6 at Lake Land College. The Blue Devils, coached by Elizabeth Nieto, did not have enough runners for a team score.
On the boys side Alexander Eseban-Raymer was 11th in 18:05.9 in the conference meet, one that the Blue Devils placed third in.
Golf
Will Schweighart earned all-LPC honors by placing fourth in the meet at the Woodlawn Country Club in Farmer City. Schweighart shot an 83, good for fourth place. The Blue Devils were coached by Amber Schwieghart. The boys placed fourth overall.
Villa Grove was eighth in the regional as a team and were led by Cooper Price with a 91, good for 37th place.
On the girls side the Blue Devils were third in the conference meet with Ella Schweighart finishing second overall with an 85, earning all-LPC honors. She was runner-up in the Class 1A St. Thomas More regional.
Volleyball
Villa Grove, coached by Allison Smith, went 6-20 overall and 3-7 in the LPC, good for seventh place. The victories were against Cornerstone Christian, Chrisman, Okaw Valley, Blue Ridge, Judah Christian, and Heritage.
Hayden Thomas earned second team all-LPC honors. Thomas, 2026 grad, led the team in digs with an average of 11.4
Boys basketball
Villa Grove went 8-18 overall and 3-7 in the LPC under coach Drew Sappenfield. The Blue Devils victories were against Chrisman (64-42), Oblong/Palestine-Hutsonville (50-44, 2 ot.), Judah Christian (73-44), Judah Christian (64-36), Kankakee Trinity Academy (66-40), Heritage (55-52), Blue Ridge (67-34) and Arcola (43-35).
Jackson Gire, who will be a senior, earned honorable mention status on the all-LPC team.
Girls basketball
Villa Grove went 0-21 overall and 0-10 in the LPC. Their closest game was 19 points in a 53-34 loss to Urbana University High. The Blue Devils struggled with numbers, having only eight players on the team coached by Jeff Carleston. When the season starts Villa Grove will be looking to snap a 25-game losing streak. Their last win was on Jan. 30, 2025 in a 41-36 win over Okaw Valley.
Baseball
The baseball team coached by Wilson, went 8-15 overall and 5-6 in the conference, good for seventh place. After losing the first five games the Devils beat Arcola 4-2. Other wins were against Urbana (9-5), Unity Christian (10-0), Blue Ridge (12-3), Heritage (10-0), CGB (11-4), Central A&M (5-4 in eighth innings), and Oakwood (6-5).
Vandeventer earned first team all-LPC honors. He hit .350 through 18 of the 23 games.
Boys track
Villa Grove, coached by Lindsay Dowler, finished third in the LPC meet with the highlights being Nolan Shadwick, who won the 110 and 300 hurdles with times of 17.15 and 42.18 respectively. He was also on the winning 4×200 team with Payton Cravens, Carter Dowler, and Miles Swigart in a time of 1:34.48. Shadwick will be a junior as will Dowler, while Cravens and Swigert will be sophomores.
Cravens and Shadwick made it to the Class 1A boys state track meet in Charleston on the campus of Eastern Illinois in the 300 hurdles and long jump respectively. Shadwick placed 18th with a time of 41.93, while Cravens was 37th with a jump of 19-5 ¼.
Girls track
The girls team, coached by William Powell, placed seventh out of 11 teams in the LPC. Evalice Callison won the high jump at 5-3 ¾ at Cerro Gordo. She was the lone winner for the Blue Devils.
Callison, who will be a senior, not only set the school record in the high jump going 5-5 ¾, good for third place in the girls state Class 1A track meet last May.