Fieldcrest football maintains hope for future while navigating JV-only season: ‘Right for the program’
MINONK — The distinct shape of three-pronged white windmills rise above an expanse of yellowing crops before the harvest.
Just before entering the cobbed hallways, “God’s Country” by Blake Shelton plays over a speaker that emits a faint crackle.
Every once in a while, multiple cars will honk their horns, but there’s no traffic jams. That’s a sign of a touchdown here.
It’s a Monday night in Minonk.
The perimeter of Veterans Park, located on the edge of town, is lined with cars and trucks. The playground is rife with kids enjoying the perfect conditions of an evening in mid-September. A baseball field, softball field and cemetery sit just beyond Fieldcrest’s football field, the epicenter of the action for one more time this fall.
It’s a scene typically associated with Friday nights, but things feel a bit different at Fieldcrest this fall. The Knights football team doesn’t regularly play on those nights in 2026 because it is only fielding a junior varsity team this year.
“Unconventional” is a word head coach Nick Meyer used to describe the season. But he and his team of 28 players are willing to take the sacrifice of not having varsity football this year in order to keep the hope of having it in future years alive.
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