2026 Football Preview: Familiarity keeps expectations high, question marks low for Normal West 

NORMAL — When Normal West football has huddled up during the summer, it has seen a lot of familiar faces.

Faces that helped the Wildcats win five straight games to close the regular season, cruise into the playoffs for 15th straight year and win a playoff game for the fourth consecutive season.

The Wildcats are loaded with 25 seniors this fall with roughly half of their starters from last year returning. While some teams need the summer to gel, Normal West already has that step down.

“We're meshing sooner because this group has a lot of playing experience already,” head coach Nathan Fincham said. “We kind of hit the ground running offensively and defensively where we were able to do some things that we haven't quote unquote installed yet.”