GEORGETOWN — When Ryan Dieu took over as coach of the Georgetown-Ridge Farm/Chrisman co-op back in 2024, the Buffaloes were not just a down football program. They were one searching for a win.
The last time the program had reached the postseason was 2018, but four winless campaigns were quick to follow. As Dieu enters his third season at the helm of his alma mater, the community has been slowly giving the signal that the 2026 season should be the one where the Buffaloes break their playoff drought.
“The last few years have just been a huge building point,” senior wide receiver William Runyan said. “Each year the fans grow and grow. In the community now, there’s actually an expectation for us this year.”
The Buffaloes finished 3-6 a season ago with one-score victories against Watseka, Hoopeston Area and Iroquois West. Making the jump in the Vermilion Valley Conference, which expects to have one of its most competitive years between the teams at the top, is the challenge for the bright-eyed seniors that made their way to Champaign on Wednesday for the fifth annual News-Gazette football media days.
“I think the top group is going to be pretty heavy this year; there’s a lot of teams that might be in it because there’s a lot of talent,” Dieu said about the VVC. “I think the middle of the pack to the top could change week-to-week.
“We’ve definitely made some progress. These guys are seniors now, but when I took over when they were sophomores, that was the plan to get the progress showing and lean on these guys to get us to where we needed to be. Hopefully, we can continue to increase our win total.”
Set to take the quarterback position is Landon Heck. Heck threw for 1,233 yards last year and accounted for 14 touchdowns and eight interceptions. He was thrust into the position after preseason injuries bumped him up the depth chart quickly.
With a full offseason behind the senior, Heck feels confident going into the Week 1 matchup at Momence on Aug. 21.
“Before, it was slow and kind of hard,” Heck said. “Now, I’m just ready to work. Should go pretty smooth.”
Dieu expects his roster to fall anywhere between 25 to 35 players, awaiting school and official practice days to get the final assessment.
He’s added to his staff with the addition of line coach Bryce Burnett and running backs coach/defensive coach Spencer Tolson.
“We have volunteer coaches that have done a lot for us and we have some more coaches coming on staff this year to help out, too,” Dieu said. “They had other options but they came and joined us because they believe in what we’re doing.”
Jacob Jones, a senior linebacker and “quarterback of the defense” understands the label, but appreciates the reason for it more than the term itself.
“I don’t really look at myself like that. We all play a big part on defense,” Jones said. “It means a lot to me that everybody puts their faith in me and I know as a defense, when we play right and do our jobs, we can do really great things because we’ve done it before.”
“If we play as well as I know we can,” senior running back and free safety Deven Vice added, “we’ve got a very good chance of making the playoffs this year.”
The only change in opponent on the schedule this season is playing Fulton in Week 2 in Dunlap.
The Steamers replace Watseka, which won’t play varsity football in 2026.
The four-game home schedule for the Buffaloes features Oakwood on Sept. 4, Clifton Central on Sept. 11, Hoopeston Area on Sept. 25 and Iroquois West on Oct. 2. The annual Coal Bucket game against Westville is at Memorial Field in Westville on Sept. 18.
“It was a total team effort to win those three games last year, and we still had the opportunity to win more games,” Dieu said. “I’m hoping we can build off of that.”
Matt Lucas is the preps coordinator at The News-Gazette. His email is mlucas@news-gazette.com.
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