2025 Football Preview: Increase in physicality powering Normal West in pursuit of Big 12 title

NORMAL — The Normal West Wildcats have consistently been a threat in Central Illinois football. After making 14 straight postseason appearances the Wildcats look to make the 15th a special one this season.

The Wildcats felt a bit of deja vu in 2024, especially in the postseason. Just like their 2023 campaign, a first-round playoff win against Chicago Simeon was followed by a punishment no team in the state wants to face: the East St. Louis Flyers.

While the Class 6A playoff bracket hasn’t been kind to Normal West — facing the 11-time state champion Flyers three years in a row — head coach Nathan Fincham knows that these are the teams that they will need to compete with in order to make a deep playoff run.

“For us, mentally, that's the goal, that's where we need to get to,” eighth-year head coach Nathan Fincham said. “They're the ones that are in our way. So we made some tweaks to what we do a little bit offensively, defensively, just to try to put our guys in better spots.”