IHSA Class 6A state championship: Trojans give Cary-Grove community reason to celebrate, again

Cary-Grove’s 2004 team, with players like Will Yocius, Andrew Bures, Vince Fillipp, Blake and Alex Kuba, changed everything.

When quarterback Brian Mitz raced 65 yards for the winning score in a 21-14 Class 7A playoffs semifinal victory over highly touted Morgan Park at Gately Stadium, the Trojans headed for ground on which they had never before trod.

Although C-G lost to Libertyville 13-3 for the state championship, former coach Bruce Kay’s team had reset the bar. Scores of young players in the Junior Trojans program had watched their heroes a few years older nearly reach the pinnacle of their sport and wanted to do the same.

The bar had been raised.

For future C-G teams, reaching, and winning, the state championship became the new standard.

Kay’s team took it to that level in 2009 by winning the Class 6A state title. After Kay retired following the 2010 season, assistant coach Brad Seaburg took over and his teams pushed the bar to even greater heights.

On Sunday at C-G’s Elroy Fitzgerald Gymnasium, the Trojans celebrated their fourth football state championship in school history, and, remarkably their third in five seasons.

The Trojans defeated East St. Louis 23-20 on Saturday at Illinois State University’s Hancock Stadium. C-G came through with one of the greatest drives in IHSA playoff history, going 71 yards on 19 plays and consuming 10:37 off the clock to score on Logan Abrams’ 2-yard run.

[ Read more: Cary-Grove marches 71 yards in 19 plays on final drive to top East St. Louis ]

The Trojans left East St. Louis only 1:19 to go on its final possession, which ended with C-G defensive back PJ Weaver’s interception.

In sticking with tradition, C-G celebrated the day after its title victory.

Principal Rebecca Saffert, atheltic director Ryan Ludwig and mayors Bob Baker (Trout Valley), Marc McLaughlin (Fox River Grove) and Mark Kownick (Cary) all addressed the crowd.

“You should be proud to provide inspiration to the next generation,” Baker said.

Seaburg then took over and thanked the C-G parents, his coaching staff and his players.

“We have the best coaching staff in the state, and it’s not close,” he said. “When you have a team full of believers, there’s nothing you can’t accomplish.”

Seaburg was on Kay’s staff from 2001-10 and saw the effect the 2004 team had on the program.

“When you look at our success and the success of any good high school program it starts in the weight room,” Seaburg said. “In 2003, the commitment wasn’t there from the kids. The 2004 team really took it upon themselves to do the spring workouts and the winter workouts and open gyms and summer workouts. When we were runner-up you could see the results.”

Trojans assistant coach Eric Chandler, a 2010 C-G graduate, was in the seventh grade when the 2004 team made it to the title game.

“It was the community aspect and the excitement,” said Chandler, who played on C-G’s 2009 state champion. “In 2004 it was so new to everybody. There had been good Cary-Grove teams in the past, but it always seemed like when was that next step going to happen?

“In 2004, they’re the group that put Cary-Grove on that state level every single year. For me, it made it a tangible, plausible thing that we could do. It was a reachable goal because until you’re there, you don’t really know.”

Seaburg’s teams made the Class 6A (2012) and 7A (2014) state title games and lost in close decisions. The Trojans broke through again in 2018 for the Class 6A state championship and added two more with wins over East St. Louis in 2021 and on Saturday.

Seaburg is 125-28 in 13 seasons as the Trojans coach.

[ Related: Cary-Grove coach Brad Seaburg’s family business is football ]

“Brad does such an unbelievable job of having incredible attention to detail and caring about everything that he does,” Chandler said. “He took everything he learned from Bruce and took things and continued to improve them. He’s somebody who looks to continually improve every single year.”

Seaburg said he has not changed a lot of what Kay was doing, only tweaked it here and there. He likes to challenge his players with inspirational quotes. One person he mentioned Sunday was former Navy SEAL Jocko Willink, who has a podcast.

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Cary-Grove's Will Barcy brings the trophy to the fans Saturday, Nov. 25, 2023, after their win over East St. Louis in the IHSA Class 6A state championship game in Hancock Stadium at Illinois State University in Normal. (Mark Busch)

Seaburg spoke about how Willink just keeps repeating the word, “good.” Willink was making a point about how people react to adversity.

“If it’s raining, we have to practice in the rain, good,” Seaburg said. “It teaches you how to play in the rain. If you have injuries or setbacks, good. It’ll teach you to handle adversity. You lose to Burlington Central in overtime (in 2022), break the streak (17 consecutive seasons in the playoffs), good.

“Lose to Prairie Ridge by one point, good. Lose to Huntley, good. East St. Louis petitions up to 6A, good. Down 20-15 in fourth quarter with the state championship on the line with our warriors, good.”

Seaburg began leaning on Willink’s use of good in 2017, after Prairie Ridge’s Samson Evans broke a 66-yard touchdown run with :07 remaining to knock the Trojans out 17-13 in a Class 6A second-round playoff game.

“When we lost to Prairie Ridge in 2017 on that long run by Samson Evans, that was about as low as it can get,” Seaburg said. “And we had two options as a program. We could let it define us or we could move on and use it to our advantage. Three state titles later, it’s worked out.”