Countdown to Football: Vanlue

VANLUE 2024 Record: 0-10Head Coach: John KloepferKEY GAME: Oct. 24, at Beachwood. With available numbers always a concern, making it through a 10-game season is never a guarantee. Putting a team on the field every Friday night from August to the end of October can be considered a victory in itself for a program that just does not have a lot of numbers to choose from.INTERESTING FACT: As an independent, putting together a workable schedule is never an easy task. That is why eight of the nine schools on Vanlue's schedule – the Wildcats are facing Manchester twice – are new this season. Crestline and New London are the only two schools the Wildcats also saw in 2024. Finding available opponents obviously increases travel with Vanlue playing teams from Cleveland (Richmond Heights, Beachwood) and Dayton, along with Leetonia (Adams County, southern Ohio) and Manchester (near the Pennsylvania border). Fortunately for Vanlue fans, most of those teams will be coming this way with the Wildcats having six home games this season.MAGIC NUMBER: 25. That's not the number of players on the Vanlue roster, that's Vanlue's enrollment number of male students in grades nine, 10 and 11 used by the OHSAA to determine divisions for post season tournament. With a competitive balance number of 11, Vanlue's adjusted enrollment for the 2025-26 school year is 36. Beallsville, with an enrollment of 32 and a competitive balance number of four, also has a total number of 36, tying Vanlue as the smallest school in the state still offering 11-man football. The next two smallest schools are Bradford and Sciotoville Community School in Portsmouth at 55. 2025 SCHEDULEDate Opponent Home/AwayAug. 22 Leetonia H 29 Crestline HSept. 5 New London A 12 Lucas A 19 Manchester A 26 Richmond Heights HOct. 3 Dayton Stivers H 10 Day. Jefferson Township H 17 Manchester H 24 Beachwood A