2019 NewsTribune Defensive Football Player of the Year

There’s not much more that a high school football player can ask in his career than to start on both sides of the ball for all four years, be all-conference the last three and first-team all-state the last one and to have your team improve to end with one of the greatest seasons in school history.

Welcome to Mason Faulk’s world.

The Fieldcrest lineman is the 2019 News Tribune Defensive Player of the Year for being the cornerstone of the best defense in the area, using his enormous size (6-foot-2, 285 pounds), brute strength, exceptional balance and deceptive quickness to finish with a team-best 81 tackles for a unit that surrendered only 9.2 points and less than 100 yards rushing per game over their 12-1, Class 2A state semifinal season.

Faulk certainly deserved and received consideration for that same honor on the offensive side of the ball, anchoring an FHS line for an offense that averaged 363.7 yards and 31.9 points a contest.

However, it was in his work on defense, that when he wasn’t making a play himself was occupying multiple blockers to free up teammates to make them, that he shined brightest.

“Mason was the heart and soul of our defense, quite frankly,’ said Fieldcrest coach Derek Schneeman. “A casual observer of the game might not be able to tell his impact, but he regularly occupied two and three blockers and sometimes, we could see on film, four blockers to keep him out of a play. The reason our defense was so successful this year was he was able to keep offensive linemen off our linebackers and let the linebackers make plays … He also made so many plays himself. He’s a disruptive force that’s impossible to be blocked one-on-one.

“To be honest, I think he’s one of the best linemen, period, in the entire state. Offense, defense, I think he’s that good. I really do. He’s a rare talent.”

Faulk, a private young man, will only say of his performance that “we had a great season” and that “we came up a little bit short (of the title game), but we’re really proud of each other and we couldn’t be happier.”

But everyone who’d seen him play knows what a dominant force he was in the trenches, ranking in Schneeman’s eyes with the likes of former Fieldcrest standouts Jared Reints, now playing at Illinois State University; Ryan Barth, a four-year starter at Eureka College; and Brett Sullivan, a star at Carthage College.

Faulk’s best game statistically came in the quarterfinal win over Clifton Central when he recorded 11 tackles and a fumble recovery.

However, he feels his best efforts came in Week 8 in the 21-17 win over Heart of Illinois Conference rival Eureka, a slight notch above his play in the 14-6 victory over defending state champion and No. 1-ranked Gibson City-Melvin-Sibley, snapping the Falcons’ 31-game win streak.

The Knights record stayed unblemished right up until the hard-fought 21-7 semifinal loss to eventual state champ Sterling Newman.

“I expected with the rest of the team we had back that we’d play pretty well,” said Faulk, who earned a spot on the Illinois High School Football Coaches Association 2A All-State Team. “But I really didn’t expect that it would turn out the way it did. We played a lot of really good teams and people expected us to lose several of those games, so in a way it kind of became almost a redemption tour. A lot of those teams beat us last year and by a lot of points. This year, we came out determined to play well and we did, and won all of those games.”

Those victories were a credit to not only Faulk and the work he’s put in with FHS line coach Craig Meyer, but to his senior class, who had played together since pee-wee football. Always the bigger kid, he came to embrace his line positions, developing his body and his mind to become the best player possible while staying in sync with his classmates.

“When you first start out, you don’t really fully understand the reads as a lineman,” said Faulk. “But now I’m so used to where the linemen are going, I pretty much know where the play is going to go … Right now, I think I’m a better defensive lineman. I’m bigger than most people, but in the defensive line you get to use your speed more and I’m a lot quicker than a lot of the offensive linemen. I’ve always been naturally quick for my size.

“But I’m also better this year than last because I know more about the game. I understand what plays we’re going to run. We really read into the scouting reports, so that there were a lot of times we’d see the formation other teams were in and call out what play was coming.”

That kind of synchronicity is usually reserved for unselfish, close-knit teams like the Knights, who are all fierce competitors on the field and all best friends off of it. That bond extends to the coaching staff, whom Faulk considers friends and neighbors.

“As a team, we just didn’t want to lose. Winning feels great, but nothing is worse than losing,” said Faulk. “Really, we all just love playing the game with each other. We’ve all been on the same teams so long, everyone’s best friends outside of football and school. We all just get along so well.”

The Knights remarkable season may be the swan song for Faulk, who hasn’t decided if he’s going to continue his gridiron career in college or even go to college, despite offers continuing to roll in.

“I think I’ll miss it, sure,” Faulk said. “But I don’t think anything will compare to the feeling of high school football. Playing the game with the kids you grew up with, the ones you’ve developed such a bond with, there’s nothing better than that. I’m so proud of all of them.”

Charlie Ellerbrock can be reached at 220-6939, or at cellerbrock@shawmedia.com.