Lincoln-Way East sets gold standard for other in-district schools

There’s a long list of accomplishments that identify the success story that is the Lincoln-Way East football program.

The Griffins are able to offer a pretty quick reminder to any opponent that steps onto the field with them, particularly their district rivals, Lincoln-Way West and Lincoln-Way Central.

Both of those schools, along with Richards, joined host Lincoln-Way East in a 7-on-7 scrimmage Tuesday. While the actual on-field play was goal-oriented, there was no arguing the level of familiarity that both the players and coaches had with one another.

On one pass play, after a pass break-up, a defender picked up a fallen offensive player, smiled and asked, “How’s your brother doing?”

Good natured exchanges were common throughout the day, but work got done. It was particularly surreal for new Lincoln-Way Central coach David Woodburn, who was an assistant at Lincoln-Way East from 2002 to 2016.

“Right before the year that they won the state championship was my last game, what a great time to get out,” Woodburn quipped.

Woodburn readily admits that he’s aware of the high standards established by the “Beast from East” and makes no qualms about incorporating some of the things he learned while at East.

“They set a standard. And, you know, you want to create our own identity,” Woodburn said. “But I’m not trying to hide the fact that we’re running a lot of stuff and doing a lot of things that they’ve done here that I’m used to.”

Woodburn is charged with trying to get Central’s program back on track. The Knights qualified for the playoffs in four out of five seasons from 2014 to 2018. But in the past three complete seasons, Central has posted only seven total wins.

“It isn’t going to happen immediately, and I’m not sure if everyone understands that. We’ll see,” Woodburn said. “I don’t know if they do or don’t, but we know that we’re gonna have to grind and scrap to get every win that we can get. It’s not just like, we’re gonna flip a switch.”

And although Tuesday’s event isn’t the same thing as when the lights turn on Aug. 25, playing elite competition in any form provides opportunities to gauge where his program is.

“They felt it a little bit early when they walked out here today, which we want to work on,” Woodburn said. “We said coming over here that we want to compete with anybody that you walk on the field with. And we did for the most part today, but there was a little bit of that ‘wow’ factor with them that we’ll have to get over when the time comes.”

For Lincoln-Way West, Tuesday’s event was yet another chance to put itself up against top-flight competition.

West started last season with victories over Plainfield Central and Oswego East, both teams that would qualify for the postseason. The Warriors went 1-6 the rest of the way, including a four-game slide to close the season.

“We started strong last season and then kind of fell off the wagon a little bit,” Lincoln-Way West coach Luke Lokanc said. “That is the job of this summer to fix that.”

The Warriors entered Tuesday’s event trying to work on the same thing they’ve been working on for quite a while.

“The biggest thing I noticed this summer is the competition between the players to improve every day has been there,” Lokanc said. “And that’s one big push we wanted to get. ‘You guys got to learn again how to compete with each other at practice because it translates over and over into games.’ ”

Events like Tuesday’s provide a reminder of the rigor of the schedule that Lincoln-Way West and all other members of the SouthWest Suburban Conference are about to face. All but two of Lincoln-Way West’s opponents last season ended up in the playoffs. Seven more 2022 playoff qualifiers are on the 2023 slate.

“When it comes to high school football, the lights are going to turn on every Friday and you are going to play the game,” Lokanc said. “And time’s gonna move on. And that’s the mentality we are trying to get to. It doesn’t matter who you are playing, we gotta play. It’s going to go on with you or without you.”