The 2025 Bushnell-Prairie City High School football squad is a team in transition entering the new season.
The Spartans graduated 10 seniors from last year’s 3-6 team.
The roster for the eight-man program consists of four seniors, six juniors, six sophomores and five freshmen.
“We’ve got a lot of freshmen and sophomores,” said B-PC coach Jacob Schisler. “But what’s nice is that these guys are ready to learn and willing to learn.”
Schisler noted the team had a good summer in the weightroom.
“They’ve put in a lot of good work over the summer,” he said. “Hopefully the hard work will pay off.”
Senior Parker Guppy (5-feet, 10-inches, 155 pounds) returns as quarterback/linebacker.
Guppy completed 5-of-12 passes for 189 yards and two touchdowns in limited play under center. He also had 28 carries for 42 yards and one score.
On defense, Guppy was fourth on the team with 57 total tackles, including 31 solo stops. He also forced three fumbles.
Other seniors for the Spartans include linemen Phoenix Cameron, Hunter Brown (5-10, 230) and Alex Chavez (5-10, 200).
“We have some other seniors,” said Schisler. “But they don’t have the experience as (Guppy).”
Also returning is sophomore running back/defensive back Jonavan Harrell (5-8, 150).
Offensively, he recorded 52 carries for 482 yards and seven TDs on the ground, while adding four receptions for 113 yards and two scores.
Harrell was also the team’s second-leading tackler on defense, finishing with 83 total tackles, including 68 solo stops.
Juniors on the varsity roster include wide receiver/defensive backs Cam Shinn (6-3, 165) and Jayden Powell (6-0, 160); linemen Braxton Kempf (5-9, 270) and Caidin Yocum (6-0, 245); tight end/defensive lineman Haydin Hart (6-2, 280) and TE/LB Caiden Weinmann (5-11, 160).
As for the fresh-soph, Schisler noted that players including sophomore Dylan King and freshman Keegan Gillette are among those expected to contribute right away.
“We’re essentially a JV team playing a varsity schedule,” said Schisler. “It’s not great playing all this tough competition coming up early, but it’s going to do us good for sure.”
Schisler stated a key early on is for the team to bond together as a unit to “see how we can grow as a team and getting the freshmen up to speed because they haven’t been in this system before.”
“We’re just taking baby steps right now,” Schisler added. The Illinois 8-Man Football Association 8-Man West Division schedule will be a challenging one for the inexperienced Spartans.
The team’s four road games are all against teams that made the I8FA playoffs a year ago. Those include an opening-week matchup with state semifinalist Polo and a week three game at Amboy against the defending I8FA state champions Amboy/LaMoille/Ohio Clippers.
The team also hosts West Central, another playoff qualifier last year.
Despite the rugged schedule, Schisler is not about to lower the team’s expectations.
“We always set the standard that we want to have six wins,” he said. “Six wins guarantees you a playoff spot and sometimes it gets you a home field advantage.”
“We always want to play for that, it doesn’t matter what our ages are and stuff like that,” Schisler added. “Our standard is our standard and we still want to try and hit that.”
With a squad lacking in varsity experience, this year appears to be one of on the job training for the Spartans.
“We’re going to keep learning. Obviously we’re young and we’re going to make mistakes,” said Schisler. “But we’re going to learn from those mistakes and be better for the next week.”
