The IHSA released the 2008 football schedule this weekend, and it revealed another tough season for Little Okaw Valley Conference teams.

In the past four seasons, two teams have left the conference and the result has been long trips, games against opponents with twice the enrollment and even an instance of teams playing each other twice in the regular season.

But help is on the way.

Starting in the 2010 season, the LOVC will team with the Vermillion Valley Conference, and the two conferences will rely on each other for non-conference scheduling. LOVC and VVC teams will play each other the first two weeks of the season before turning to conference play the final seven. The VVC teams are Armstrong-Potomac, Bismarck-Henning, Chrisman, Georgetown Ridge Farm, Hoopeston Area, Oakwood,-;Rossville-Alvin, Salt Fork, Danville Schlarman and Westville.

"Some of their schools are bigger than ours, but the travel won't be bad," Arcola coach Jarod Kiger said. "It's a lot better than having to search for a game every year."

In Week 2 this season, Arcola (enrollment 195) will travel nearly three-and-a-half hours northwest to Orion (enrollment 339). There, the Purple Riders will play a school that went 12-1 last season, mowing through one of the toughest Class 2A conferences in the state with an undefeated record and advancing to the 2A semifinals before falling to eventual state champ Dakota.

But it's still better than last year, when Arcola had to play three games in eight days - a Friday, a Monday and the following Friday - in order to have a nine-game schedule.

"It's going to be a long trip and they're going to be a solid team, but at least it's on a Friday and not Monday," Kiger said. "Hopefully, it's a game against a really tough opponent that will help us later in the season."

Several LOVC teams looking for games were forced to turn to the Olympic, which, with the loss of Aledo last season, was left with open dates. While Arcola is the only one of the four LOVC teams playing Olympic schools that has to travel, Cerro Gordo (hosting Farmington in Week 2), Sangamon Valley (hosting Sherrard in Week 2) and Villa Grove (hosting Knoxville in Week 1) will face uphill battles against significantly larger schools.

While Cerro Gordo was able to fill one of its non-conference games against Farmington, the Broncos had to use the other against fellow LOVC team South Piatt. The teams face each other in a non-conference season-opener, then finish the regular season in conference play.

"If next year each of us can find someone else to play, we'll do that if possible," Cerro Gordo coach Paul Workman said. "But at least we didn't have to drive all over the state to play a school with 500 kids. And at least the games are separated in the schedule."

Workman said after the conference's recent period of chaos, stability is on the horizon. Martinsville will step in for Sangamon Valley next season and the deal struck with the VVC has taken care of its football scheduling problems.

"We don't have see any more schools in our conference leaving, joining co-ops or dropping football, so it seems like things are solidifying," Workman said.

Here are key dates:

Aug. 13 - First day of practice

Aug. 29 - Season opens

Sept. 5 � St. Teresa at Maroa-Forsyth

Sept. 12 � Effingham at Newton

Sept. 19 � Eisenhower at MacArthur, Arcola at Cerro Gordo

Sept. 28 � Effingham at Mount Zion

Oct. 3 � Mount Zion at Newton

Oct. 10 - Tuscola at Maroa-Forsyth

Oct. 24 � Monticello at St. Teresa, Arcola at Sangamon Valley

Oct. 31 - Playoffs begin

Nov. 28-29 - State championship games in Champaign

Justin Conn can be reached at jconn@herald-review.com or 421-7971.