8-Man football preview: FCW counting on another strong senior corps in 2024

So was 2023′s return to the Illinois 8-Man Football Association playoffs a blip created by a strong senior class or a return to the Flanagan-Cornell/Woodland football co-op’s status as a perennial playoff contender thanks to ramped up dedication to the offseason process?

Head coach Todd Reed and his Falcons feel strongly it is the latter.

“We are really fortunate to have back-to-back classes that were huge – not only big classes, but great kids,” Reed said. “We had awesome seniors last year, and we follow with this group of seniors this year who have been in the program a long time and have bought into what we’re doing. ...

“Same kind of [offseason] game plan. These guys really bought into it when we were preaching weight room this offseason. They saw the reward from last year, and it really carried over to this offseason.”

FCW posted an 8-3 record last fall and returned to the playoffs after missing the cut the year before. Their three losses – by three points in Week 2 to a St. Thomas More team that finished the regular season 9-0, in Week 3 to another I8FA playoff team, Milford/Cissna Park, and in the second round of the playoffs to eventual state champion Amboy/LaMoille/Ohio – were the fewest the Falcons have suffered in a full season since also going 8-3 playing 11-man football under current Princeton head coach Ryan Pearson in 2012.

A lot of last fall’s top Falcons graduated from that team, including the lightning-and-thunder running-back tandem of Payton Quaintance and Kesler Collins, both 1,000-yard rushers in 2023. But Reed is quick to point out that stacked senior class had a stacked junior class hot on its heels, and the 2024 Falcons have plenty of proven senior leadership themselves.

“Having two back-to-back strong senior classes is an awesome thing to have in small-school football,” Coach Reed said. “We will be returning some great experience on both sides of the ball, and some of those guys will be three-year starters for us at the varsity level.”

Leading the way are last season’s top passer, wideout and lineman– namely QB/DB Seth Jones, WR/DB Connor Reed and all-state OL/DL Aydan Radke.

“As far as the seniors we’ve lost go, we lost a lot of depth, but we have so many talented young guys coming up who have taken to the program,” Aydan Radke said at FCW’s opening day of summer camp July 22. “They’re lifting a lot, learning our plays and our defenses and everything ... and a lot of team bonding over weights.”

Jones and Connor Reed promise to be a pretty potent combination, especially taking into account that Coach Reed said he fully intends to allow his third-year starting quarterback to showcase his strong arm more often. WR/DB Zandar Radke, another senior, will also be a featured target.

The running back position, uncharacteristically for Flanagan-Cornell/Woodland, is a bit of a question mark, one Coach Reed is looking to answer with talented juniors who have at least a little experience running the ball at the varsity level.

“Leelynd Durbin, Cole Bradbury and Logan Ruddy will have some big shoes to fill,” he said, “but all had some experience running the ball last season, and we expect big things from them this year.”

The O-line looks strong again, starting with Aydan Radke and continuing with returnees such as seniors Calix Stout, Blake Ruddy, Cohen Schneider, Adam Westerhold as well as junior Oliver Weber. Connor Decker returns as FCW’s placekicker, a weapon Coach Reed expects could become more potent this season as he’s added distance to his accuracy.

On defense, many of those same names – plus Elijah Detwiler, Jaxon Torrez, Darren Howell, Zane Drysdale and Riley Wallace – will be vying for playing time.

After opening the season Aug. 30 at West Prairie/Southeastern, the Falcons host three consecutive home games. The first, at Flanagan versus Peoria Heights on Sept. 6, will see the program honor the 1974 Class 1A state champion Flanagan Falcons ahead of back-to-back games at the Wood Shed in rural Streator in Weeks 3 and 4.