See where Streaks, Tornadoes, Blue Bullets football teams are after first week of practice
High school football teams across the state have wrapped up their first week of official practice in the 2022 season.
For any coach, they hope their players stay healthy along the way, and winning feels a lot better than losing.
The focus is on ironing out the wrinkles, if you will, as all prepare for their season openers. For most, that date is Friday, Aug. 26.
Galesburg High School football coach Derrek Blackwell is in his second season in charge after a dozen as an assistant, and what will be the key for the Silver Streaks in order to have success on the gridiron this fall?
“There’s no secret in football. It’s just who plays hard, who adapts and overcomes the mistakes and the negative plays that happen within the game. Those are going to happen. Whoever plays assignment, alignment and technique football usually wins the game," Blackwell said after Galesburg's first official practice of the season, which took place Monday, Aug. 8. "We’re in here working hard making sure that our alignment, assignment and technique are all good, so we can go win some football games.”
The Streaks started off 2021 with three straight defeats. However, Galesburg slowly worked out the kinks, and the Streaks went 4-2 overall to close out the season. Three of Galesburg's losses last fall were by four points or less.
After the season was over, Blackwell, a 2003 GHS grad who played for the Streaks, took the blame for the trio of losses the Streaks suffered in the beginning. He still does, and Blackwell knows one main area he wants to improve.
"Key area of improvement would be coaching. Not that we didn’t do well as coaches, but I believe the team runs on the coaching so I’m going to put that on myself and my staff to make sure that we’re prepared day in and day out, on game day or whatever it is we need to be prepared for any situation," Blackwell said. "Not that the coaching was the worst of our problems last year, but I just want to emphasize coaching is huge. It’s not the kids. It’s the coaching so if anything is going wrong it’s the coaching.”
Blackwell and company seek revenge in Week 1 as Galesburg hits the road for a non-conference battle against Dunlap, which is slated to begin at 7:30 p.m. on Friday, Aug. 26. The Streaks suffered a 7-6 loss to the Eagles in last season's opener, which took place at Van Dyke Field.
Will Galesburg secure more wins this fall than last? Will the Streaks make the playoffs for the first time since the 2016 season? Only time will answer those questions.
A-Town needs to replace 12 senior starters
Since 2010, Rick Quinn has roamed the sidelines as the mentor of the Abingdon Commandos and the Abingdon-Avon Tornadoes, the district's consolidated in 2013, and Quinn's teams have made the playoffs seven times and been postseason qualifiers for two straight seasons.
In 2021, A-Town closed out the regular season with a 40-26 home loss to United, and an 8-1 overall mark in the regular season. After falling to the Red Storm, the Tornadoes won a pair of playoff games before having their season end in a 51-12 loss to the Mustangs of Ridgeview/Lexington in the Class 1A quarterfinals.
Abingdon-Avon's seniors paved the way last fall, and they served as starters for Quinn for multiple seasons.
"We lost 12 senior starters who were all extremely important to the success over the last three years," Quinn said. "Multiple were three year starters, as well as two-way starters to replace."
In turn, Quinn knows the Tornadoes will make mistakes in 2022. It's all about how they react to them for Quinn.
“We’ve got to continue to keep the intensity and be OK with making mistakes. We have new guys stepping in so they’re not used to some of the stuff so they’re going to make mistakes. We have to make sure we’re not compounding mistakes," Quinn said. "If you make a mistake, fix it, get it right but it happens. Let’s not compound a mistake.
"Until the whistle is blown, you’re going 100 miles per hour, making aggressive plays and picking one another up. I think as long as we do that we’ll be OK," Quinn added. "The great thing about football is there’s a bunch of plays. You’re always going to have another opportunity until the time is up.
“You’re flying around going in those four to six seconds burst and regrouping, and if you make a mistake you flush it and get ready to go again.”
High school sports:From football, to basketball, to track, Galesburg-area sports facilities get updates
Knoxville's always typically in playoffs
Knoxville High School football coach Ryan Hebard likes to employ a wishbone or “broken bone” offense. However, it's far from dysfunctional.
The Blue Bullets don't need a genie to grant them offensive yards, especially via their ground attack. Knoxville has proven that over the years.
The Blue Bullets went 4-5 overall in 2012 in Hebard's first season in charge. Knoxville has had eight straight winning seasons since. The Blue Bullets went 8-2 overall in 2021, and they ended the season with a 42-14 loss to Bishop McNamara in the first round of the Class 2A playoffs.
“In the games we got into trouble in last season, we had penalties and turnovers. We can’t do that. We have to get rid of that," Hebard said. "We want to catch people off balance. We want to get them sneaking up and then really get over the top on them vertically with our play action pass game.
“We had good involvement over the summer. The guys are in shape. They’ve done the work," Hebard added. "We’ve just have to get that depth going. The sophomore class is going to help us out with some depth. We’ve just got to develop kids, teach kids and get them confident. “
Monmouth-Roseville hasn't won in Week 1 since 2015
Monmouth-Roseville will face Kewanee in Week 1 to open 2022, and they'll square off at Sunny Lane Field. The Titans haven't secured a win in their season opener since the 2015 season.
Mon-Rose fell at Kewanee 42-8 to open the 2021 season, and the Titans went on a six game winning streak afterwards and qualified for the playoffs with a 6-3 record. Mon-Rose fell to Elmhurst IC Catholic 55-8 in Class 3A action in the first round of the postseason.
The Jeremy Adolphson guided Titans have seven returning starters on offense and five on defense this fall, so Mon-Rose has some experience.
“I think we’ve picked up where we left off in the summer. I will say that it feels like we’re way further ahead from how much we’ve put in. A lot of that is having a big senior class and a lot of kids that started last year," Adolphson said. "We’ve got four kids that are going to be in their third year starting. We had six camp days at the end of the July, and I really feel like we picked up where we left off with very minimal circling back.
"We have 18 returning letter winners from last year’s playoff team," Adolphson added. "We believe that we will be in the hunt for another playoff berth and conference championship."
ROWVA/Williamsfield's players are experienced
Grant Gullstrand coaches ROWVA/Williamsfield, and the Cougars finished with a 2-7 mark last fall. ROWVA/Williamsfield opened 2021 with a 40-12 road loss to Abingdon-Avon. The Cougars will take on the Tornadoes in Oneida to open the 2022 season.
Gullstrand likes what he's seen in the early going. ROWVA/Williamsfield's players have put in the extra work and have progressed well.
“With how we ended the summer, we’ve been kind of way ahead of where we’ve been the last couple of years. Our upperclassmen have all pretty much had a year of playing experience under their belts. A lot of the juniors now were sophomores that played for us and the seniors were juniors that played," Gullstrand said. "They all have experience coming back so they kind of know what it takes to be good. This group of juniors and seniors has taken the initiative to get here and do things the right way because they know what it’s going to take and how hard it is to win games on Friday nights.”
"I expect them to be a pretty good football team," Quinn said of the Cougars. "I know they’ve got a lot returning."
United wants 'to be able to run the ball'
In rural Monmouth, United will face Annawan/Wethersfield to open the 2022 season. The Red Storm, who are guided by David Milroy, opened last fall with a 32-12 road loss to the A/W Titans. United held a 1-3 mark after the first four weeks in 2021 before securing five straight wins and securing a spot in the playoffs.
A 14-8 loss to the Tornadoes in the first round of the playoffs put an end to A/W’s season last fall. United suffered a 35-26 loss to Iroquois West in a Class 1A meeting in Week 10 to end 2021.
Cormaic Flynn led the Red Storm's ground attack last fall. The now Loras College freshman, who was an all-state baseball, basketball and football player as a high school senior, had 143 carries for 1,291 yards and 24 touchdowns in 2021. He also had 12 grabs for 330 yards and four TDs.
"One big key is going to be able to run the ball. We had great success with this last year with Cormaic Flynn. That is a void we will have to fill, but feel great with the guys we have," Milroy said. "Our guys up front will determine this, and we have been emphasizing the importance of our guys upfront getting after it every play.
"Defensively, we have to play fast and get multiple guys to the ball. Coach Mitch Russell has taken over our defensive play calling and I am excited about what he brings to the table," Milroy added. "I have no doubt he will have the boys playing fast and making plays."
This article originally appeared on Galesburg Register-Mail: First week of football for Streaks, Tornadoes, Blue Bullets, Titans
