2026 Football Preview: Limestone football determined to flip the narrative

BARTONVILLE — The IHSA football playoffs are expanding from 256 teams to 384 in 2025-26, which will inevitably lead to several programs starved for success breaking a postseason drought.

Preliminary forecasts estimate that many three-win, and possibly even some two-win teams, will make the playoffs this fall, but striving for just two or three wins isn’t in the minds of Limestone football.

“I'm not preaching in the locker room ‘Hey, let's go get two wins,’” senior quarterback Tyler Hammond said. “I'm going inside saying every game's a winnable game. Let's go compete, hit it hard every single game and then at the end of the season, we'll look back at how many wins we've got and then playoffs will come if they're there.”