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NEW LENOX – A lot of football players would be pretty disappointed if their team wasn’t able to hold on to a late lead in the regular-season finale as it was trying to capture a share of a conference title against an unbeaten district rival.
Although that’s just what happened to Lincoln-Way West last Friday when it lost 28-21 in overtime to Lincoln-Way North, coach Dave Ernst’s squad hopes to learn from the setback as it embarks on what it hopes is a successful run in the Class 5A playoffs.
The tough loss didn’t seem to hurt the 7-2 Warriors too much as they got a good draw, which might allow them to meet teams from central and southern Illinois in the next few weeks.
West, which is making its sixth straight playoff appearance, gets started at 5 p.m. Saturday when it hosts 6-3 Dunlap in a first-round contest.
“It’s real easy for a team to get down after a rough loss like that at the end of the regular season,” senior defensive lineman Dan Wainwright said. “But our coaches preach to have a short memory. That kind of lit a fire under us, and we’re learning what we can from it and will forget anything that doesn’t help us. We’re moving on to the postseason and are 0-0 now.
“We have the athletes and a high-character team, so all that we have to do is make sure we’re executing in every quarter and never let up. We’re always giving 100 percent, no one needs to be told anything more than once, and no one thinks they’re better than the team.”
After making the quarterfinals in Class 5A in 2012
and 2013, the Warriors fell in the second round in 6A last season. They definitely were on the bubble between the two classes and wound up as the highest enrollment in Class 5A.
How close was West to going to 6A? Three schools with smaller enrollments than the Warriors needed to beat a squad with a losing record to make it in, and all three lost by a touchdown or less. If one of those had won, West would have been in 6A, Ridgewood would have moved up to 5A, and Joliet Catholic may have been put in the downstate bracket.
Sparta looked like it might make the playoffs for the first time since 1992. The Bulldogs, who had only won nine games in the the previous nine years, were 5-3 to guarantee their first winning season in 20 years, but needed a win at 2-6 Red Bud in order to qualify. But the Musketeers scored a touchdown with about four minutes to go to claim a 25-19 victory.
The Warriors hope to capitalize on their seemingly good fortune of being in the 5A playoffs.
“I don’t think the North game affected us at all,” senior receiver Dylan McHale said. “We’re looking at the future, and we feel pretty confident where we got picked in the bracket. I think we can make a long run, but we have to take it one week at a time.
“The expectations are high for everyone on the team. We’re real confident and the coaches are doing their best to prepare us. It’s going to be up to our defense to make big stops and up to our offense to punch it in when we get into the red zone. The thing that I like the most about our team is that we are all together. We know each other and like each other.”
West’s players hope the North loss lights a fire that pushes them in upcoming games.
“I think we’re going to accomplish a lot,” senior defensive back Cam Gavin said. “We didn’t like that loss at all and took it to heart and everyone is motivated to move forward. We’re going week by week, and hopefully we’ll make plays so we can get to the ultimate goal.
“I like that we all either lead by example or someone steps up to say something. On the field, we make plays and the guys on the sidelines cheer us on to make more plays. If we can come out strong in the first half of our games, I think that we can beat almost anybody.”
So despite heading into the playoffs on a down note, West is upbeat about its chances.
“Obviously everyone’s looking forward to the playoffs and we feel that we got a good seed in the bracket so everyone’s real excited about that.” senior receiver Jake Mauney said. “The thing about this team is that no one gives up or get down on each other. Even though we had that tough loss, we’ll forget about it and learn from the mistakes that we made.
“We’ve been on and off, but if we put it together, we’ll be good. The guys on this team have some of the best character that I’ve been around. We’re close and we pick each other up.”