November 21, 2024
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IHSA football preview: Plan in Seneca is reloading, not rebuilding

Despite returning just a handful of starters, Fighting Irish looking for third straight playoff berth

By Brian Hoxsey
Seneca quarterback Paxton Giertz looks to get past Dwight’s Dylan Crouch on a keeper in a 2023 game at Seneca.

Seneca quarterback Paxton Giertz looks to get past Dwight’s Dylan Crouch on a keeper in a game last season at Seneca High School. ( Tom Sistak For Shaw Media )

The past two seasons have been pretty special for the Seneca football program, with 21 wins against just two losses including last year’s squad that reached the IHSA Class 2A playoff quarterfinals and rushed for more than 3,600 yards out of a power-T offense behind a strong offensive line.

Graduation has left the Fighting Irish with just a trio of starters back, meaning a number of spots need to be filled, including the entire offensive line and a pair of running back slots. But despite that, fourth-year head coach Terry Maxwell feels the expectations of this year’s group are no different than last season’s 11-1 team that finished Chicagoland Prairie Conference play a perfect 7-0.

“I told the kids from the start, ‘Are we going to reload, or are we going to rebuild?’ ” Maxwell said. “I think they took that as a challenge.

“Making it to the playoffs for a third year in a row would be a big accomplishment. Like every other football team in the state, our goal is to make the playoffs, and once you do that anything can happen. The Seneca football program hasn’t reached the playoffs in three straight seasons in over 20 years, so that would be something special to have happen as well.

“We lost a pretty special group on the offensive line. Their size and strength were pretty special for a small-school football program. But we’ve had a number of guys step up through the offseason and summer camp who are working on taking over those spots. I’m liking what I’m seeing from those guys so far.”

Senior Paxton Giertz, a Times second-team selection at wide receiver and defensive back last season who stepped in at quarterback midseason, is back after passing for 119 yards and four touchdowns with no interceptions and rushing for 343 yards and three TDs on 36 carries. Senior RB/LB Nick Grant also returns after rushing 43 times for 446 yards and three TDs, also making 25 tackles. The third returning starter is senior TE/LB Casey Klicker, who recorded 25 tackles, 16 being solo stops.

Seneca football coach Terry Maxwell lauds his team during a timeout of their first-round Class 2A playoff win at home against Dwight/Gardner-South Wilmington last season.

Seneca football coach Terry Maxwell lauds his team during a timeout of their first-round Class 2A playoff win at home against Dwight/Gardner-South Wilmington last season. ( Tom Sistak For Shaw Media )

Maxwell says one of the obvious keys to the season – which starts for Seneca at Tremont on Aug. 30 – will be how well players can step in to new roles. He said many of them saw a good amount of playing time last year in the second half of games where the Irish had big leads.

Expect to see a combination of Grant, senior Brody Rademacher (FB) and juniors Cam Shriey, Gunner Varland and Liam Knoebel at the running backs spots. Along with junior Landen Venecia (OG/DT), who started one game while also seeing a significant amount of playing time last season, Maxwell sees the O-line made up of seniors Klicker (TE), Kellen Arnold (C), Memphis Echeverria (G), Sam Finch (TE), and juniors Landyn Ramsey (T) and Zeb Maxwell (T), Brady Sheedy (TE) and Brayden Simek (TE).

“(The power-T) is a nice, quick-hitting offense with a ton of deception,” Maxwell said. “It has a lot of moving parts, but when all the parts are working together, it can be a very hard offense to defend. I feel like with all the fakes and misdirection used in the backfield, it helps keep the pressure and stress off the offensive linemen a little as well.”

On the defensive side of the ball, junior Colton Angeloff (NG), Venecia and senior Sullivan Feldt (DT) will be up front, with a combination of Shriey, Finch, Grant, Knoebel, Klicker at linebackers. The secondary will be manned by three-year cornerback Giertz on one side and a one-two punch of senior Kevin Einhaus and junior Ethan Othon on the other, with Simek and Varland at the safety spots.

“I feel if we can execute the Seneca brand of football we’ve established the past couple of years – which is a solid run game and a tough defense that flies around and makes plays – we’ll be in good shape,” Maxwell said. “I feel like we have an overall more athletic team than we had last season, and we have all of the pieces of the ultimate puzzle to be a pretty good football team. It’s just a matter of getting those pieces put together. This group is very committed, and it showed by having an even higher average attendance in weight room sessions than the previous offseason, which was very high itself.

“They want to keep this thing going, and I’m excited to what they can accomplish.”