The Illinois Central Eight Conference title was on the line Friday night when Wilmington hosted Coal City in the regular season finale.

Both teams entered the contest at 7-1 overall and 5-0 in ICE play, but 509 rushing yards and six touchdowns later, it was Wilmington that had clinched its third straight ICE title and third straight unbeaten conference season with a 44-21 win.

Also for the third straight season, Coal City finished in second place with its lone ICE loss coming to the Wildcats.

Wilmington senior Ryan Kettman’s 15-yard touchdown with 1:07 left in the game, his third rushing touchdown, gave him 186 yards on 25 carries and served as the cherry on top of yet another big ICE win for the Wildcats.

“We knew what we had to be ready for, and we came out ready to play,” he said. “We had a good gameplan all week. We knew this was the one, we knew this was the came we had to get through. We came out and showed how we should play.”

Kettman’s first two rushing touchdowns were for 14 yards and 71 yards respectively.

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Wilmington's Hunter Kaitschuk, center, carries the ball on a play as Coal City's Mason Garner, left, makes the tackle in a game on Friday, October 24, 2025. (Nicholas Holstein for Shaw Local)

Sophomore Hunter Kaitschuk added 193 rushing yards on just 10 carries, registering touchdown runs of 37 and 63 yards while also breaking free for a 78-yard run that ended shy of the end zone.

Senior Nate Cupples ran for 90 yards on nine carries, the bulk of which came on a 75-yard touchdown, while quarterback Billy Moore ran for 40 yards on eight carries. Moore also completed his lone passing attempt of the game to Kettman for 11 yards.

Evan Ostheim rounded out Wilmington’s scoring with a 30-yard field goal.

This highly productive rushing attack for the Wildcats came against a formidable Coal City defensive line.

The Coalers boast plenty of size and experience on the line on both sides of the ball, and Wilmington senior limenan Zach Ohlund said he and his teammates did a good job handling some challenging matchups in the trenches.

“You’ve just got to be fast, work your job and trust your teammates, ”he said. “You’ve got to stay on your guy and stay on him long enough for (your running backs) to break it.”

Head coach Jeff Reents said he thought the line performed well on the defensive side of the ball as well. They held Coal City’s leading rusher Logan Natyshok to 74 yards on 14 carries, with 45 of those yards coming in the final minute after Kettman’s last score.

“Defensive line wise, we were able to stop their running attack, which was big for us,” Reents said. “(Coal City quarterback Connor Henline) is good. He got us a couple of times tonight and you’ve got to give credit to him. But I give a tone of credit to our guys up front. I think the did a really good job against a very good Coal City team.”

Ohlund had two solo tackles, including the team’s lone sack of the game, and an assist. Finn Bryant had four solo tackles while Cupples had three solo tackles and two assists.

Henline threw for 220 yards on 10 of 32 passing, finding Gavin Berger five times for 121 yards. He also threw a pair of touchdowns, one to Berger and one to Gaven Vestal.

Defensively, Brock Finch led the Coalers with 10 solo tackles and a pair of assists while Theo Fritz had six solo tackles and four assists.

To fall just a game short of a conference title for the third season in a row was disappointing for the Coalers, but after making a run to the state semifinals a season ago, they have their sights set on bouncing back next week once the postseason gets underway.

“The message going forward is that we have to come in and learn from our mistakes, because now it’s the playoffs,” head coach Francis Loughran said. “If we don’t get those things corrected, we go home. Luckily we get to live for another week, but if we want to keep that going, we’ve got a lot of stuff to clean up.”

Wilmington also made a run to the semifinals last season after winning a state title in 2023, and Kettman said they are looking to reach that level once again.

“We want to go win a state title, one game at a time,” he said. “Stay together, we’ve got a good bond here, and we’re going to go get one.”