Erie-Prophetstown aims to keep ‘momentum moving’ after resurgent 2021 season

PROPHETSTOWN – The Erie-Prophetstown Panthers surprised many onlookers when they went 8-3 and advanced to the second round of the IHSA Class 2A playoffs in 2021.

With a combined record of 6-30 from 2016 to 2019, the Panthers had sunk into the depths of the Three Rivers Rock after four straight competitive seasons.

In 2021, however, they righted the ship after an 0-2 start, winning eight in a row and claiming the division title before falling in the second round of the playoffs. It was their first winning season since a 5-4 campaign in 2014.

Now, Erie-Prophetstown hopes to build on last season’s success with almost entirely new lineups on both sides of the ball.

Senior running back/safety Jase Grunder and senior guard/defensive tackle Clay Hockaday know expectations are going to be a lot higher this season – and they’re excited to see how their team stacks up.

“Expectations are definitely higher after last season, after a good season,” Grunder said. “I expect us to keep it going and keep high expectations for the next, future seasons.”

“I don’t really know what to expect,” Hockaday said. “Last year, everybody kind of expected us to be bad, because normally, we were the worst team in the conference, but I’m expecting a good season.”

Replacing the production of Kolby Franks, a Class 2A All-State selection and 2021 Sauk Valley Media Football Player of the Year, will be one of the Panthers’ biggest challenges this season. The senior dual-threat quarterback accounted for more than 2,500 combined passing and rushing yards last season, and was a big reason for E-P’s resurgent season.

Panthers coach Jesse Abbott thinks it will take multiple players to truly fill the void left by Franks, but he also believes there’s some good leftover talent and incoming talent to help with that.

“Kolby’s one of those guys that unless you’re really blessed, you’re just never going to replace him the following year. As far as Kolby goes, we’re going to have to do – not quarterback by committee – but find those yards by committee,” Abbott said.

“Connor Sibley was pretty close to rushing for 1,000 yards, too. I do think one of the things we could potentially be is faster in the backfield. We might not be as big, but our guys that are in there are all track sprinters, so that could be to our advantage. I think our receivers are going to be pretty good. And really, it’s going to come down to – we’ve got four offensive linemen and we had seniors plus one really good junior last year, and they helped make those guys look good. You’re just not going to replace everybody, but you’re going to try to find ways to plug them in and just keep that momentum moving.”

Hockaday and Grunder agree that they probably won’t be able to replace Franks, but they feel good about last year’s backups stepping up.

“You can’t replace somebody like Kolby Franks, but there are a lot of underclassmen we have that did contribute last year, so we’re looking forward to having all of those guys back,” Hockaday said. “Even though we did graduate a lot of guys, there’s still a lot of connection there between some of the underclassmen because we did play a lot of those guys last year, too.”

“I don’t think you can really replace someone like Kolby, incredible athlete,” Grunder said. “But I do think we have a pretty good class upcoming, a good junior class incoming, so I think we can rebuild and do good this year.”

Erie-Prophetstown also will need to reload in the trenches on both sides of the ball. Hockaday returns as a proven two-way player, but many of his counterparts on the offensive and defensive lines are still untested.

Abbott will learn much more about his new-look team in the coming months, but for now, he’s eager to see who will step up in the vacated roles from last year.

In terms of returning starters, he sees two main standouts. Abbott also expects bigger and better things from a few of last year’s backups.

“We have two seniors that were two-way starters last year. Jase Grunder, this will actually be his third year on varsity on defense, and Clay Hockaday was a two-way starter for us last year on offensive and defense line. I think we start there and our success is going to be with those two guys because they were on the field almost every play last year, and so they have that experience,” Abbott said.

“I think one that is really going to need to take a leadership spot is Jack Minssen. He’ll probably end up being our quarterback. He did start on defense last year, so there is some expectation with him as well. And then I think as you start looking around, names you probably haven’t said a lot - Franky Bushaw is going to be a junior, he really spent time in the weight room to put himself in position to be on the field. Hunter Bruketta is a really good looking wide receiver/linebacker-type kid, just had to wait his turn last year and did so again in the weight room. Tyler Ballard is another one, he actually ended up starting for us in our playoff game on defense and did really well. It was the only game he ever started and really the only game he ever played defense. He’ll be in the backfield, too. There’s definitely some senior kids that could be very, very successful and put us in position, but they really are a little untested right now.”

Offensively, the Panthers will mix up formations and incorporate pre-snap motions to keep defenses off-balance and create advantages for their playmakers. Defensively, they want to be aggressive, with an added emphasis on countering the spread this season.

“I think we start with some of the things we were successful with last year, finding those things that worked for us. ... I think one of things that we will always try to do is use formations and motions to our advantage to try to put our kids in the best spot,” Abbott said. “We’re not going to line up in the same formation the same time every play. We just aren’t built for that kind of football offensively, but when we can incorporate multiple formations and different guys touching the ball, that’s when we can be successful offensively.

“I think, defensively, it’s still going to be aggressive. There will be some changes a little bit just because of the opponents that we play. Our side of the conference is tending to be more of a spread type of conference. Even our crossovers, we were talking, Mendota’s going to be spread and St. Bede could be, and Sherrard was, and Rockridge can be and Orion can be, so we have to be prepared for that a little bit more than we were last year. Last year, we got away with being just kind of as athletic as everyone else. This year, we really gotta scheme to prepare for some of those spread offenses.”

In terms of schedule, things will look largely the same in the Three Rivers Rock as they did last year. Sherrard has a new head coach, and some of the teams may be switching to a spread offense, but no team appears to be head and shoulders above the rest.

“The same schedule as last year, so I feel pretty good about it,” Grunder said. “We did really well against everyone, so I expect to do about the same.”

“The schedule, we keep some of the longer drives to us, I think, which is nice. I think having some film on Mendota Week 1 that we didn’t have last year will be very helpful,” Abbott said. “I think Rockridge is going to bounce back, if I had to pick a team. I think they had a really good younger class. They lost some tight ones last year. I think Monmouth-Roseville will be good. I think Orion has a chance to really bounce back. And then I think for some of the other teams, it’s going to depend on the numbers game. I think Sherrard’s in a position with their new coach to really build something, but I do think it’s open. I think we can line up and we can compete every Friday night. We’re not staring down a team that we just know right now we’re not going to be able to compete with. So I think that’s always to your benefit. The kids believe that every Friday night we can compete.”

Erie-Prophetstown will host Mendota at 7 p.m. Aug. 26 in its season opener.