After seeing numbers decline in recent years, the Watseka football program is heading in a different direction.

The Warriors will field only a junior varsity team in 2026, a move to try to build up a program that has well over a century of football tradition to look back on.

Anthony Swanson spent the last three seasons on the staff of coach Max Fransen and served as JV coach during that time. He will now be leading the program with the goal of getting numbers back up.

“I’m kind of just keeping that same role but taking over some program responsibilities too,” he said.

Swanson landed at Watseka four years ago after graduating from Illinois State. He will also be going into his fourth year teaching fifth grade in the district and his fourth year on the varsity boys basketball coaching staff.

A Paxton native, Swanson said he remembers playing against Watseka back when the Warriors and Paxton-Buckley-Loda were Sangamon Valley Conference rivals, and recalls those games being a battle every year.

“Watseka has a really proud tradition of football,” he said. “Having gone to Paxton and played against Watseka, that game was always circled on the schedule. It doesn’t matter what the records are. You’re going to be sore the next day because it’s Watseka.”

The gears were already in motion for the switch to a JV-only program when incoming athletic director Krista Pufahl recently took the reins from longtime AD Barry Bauer.

She said the direction of the program is something she’s looking forward to seeing develop in her first year in the role and beyond.

“I just want the boys to come out, enjoy playing football again, and hopefully that gets the numbers back up and we can get back to that varsity program,” she said. “Hopefully, we’ll try and build from there.”

Swanson said he’s already seen some promising signs for the future of the program, before any work on the field is set to take place, with student-athletes already showing their intention to help build the program back up.

“The weight room is my favorite thing about sports outside, being able to be with friends and the teamwork aspect,” he said. “... We’ve had a good, dedicated group as we’ve gotten into the weight room this summer. Seeing how that progresses and translates onto the field as we get further into it and get into contact and pads, I’m just excited to see the team come together.”

For Swanson, this kind of work will be vital if Watseka football is to return to the proud tradition he remembers.

As he and the rest of the athletic community work to get numbers back to a place that can support a competitive varsity program, he said he feels that kind of pride is really all that’s needed to fuel a return to prominence.

“You don’t have to be the best, you don’t have to be the fastest, you don’t have to be the strongest,” he said. “You have to come ready to work, want to get better and play for the person next to you to try to get something accomplished as a team. Just play as that hard-nosed team that embodies what the community can be.”