Football has become a thing in the University High School hallways. Quarterback Alek Weiland has teachers and fellow students giving him fist bumps as he goes to and from class. Head coach Brody Walworth is asked, “When’s the next game? What’s the next team like?”
“Increased buzz,” he calls it.
“It’s a far cry from when I took over,” said Walworth, who is in his fourth season. “The quote-unquote buzz was the opposite of buzz. It was, ‘Hey, the baseball team could probably beat the football team in football.’
“That’s what people were saying because we had a heck of a baseball team with some big guys who are playing college baseball now.”
Walworth didn’t try to sway baseball players from their sport. Nor did he try to lure U-High athletes from other sports. He simply wanted to put football on their radar.
His pitch?
“I don’t need football to be your number one thing. I want you to come have fun because I think it’s a great game and you’ll enjoy it,” Walworth said.
He delivered it to anyone who would listen, including students not involved in a sport. Give it a chance, he said. Be a part of the brotherhood, the camaraderie, that a team offers.
He didn’t talk about winning. Instead, he preached four core values: Family, Service, Relentless, Excellence. They are displayed prominently in Walworth’s U-High office and, well, in everything the Pioneers do.
And now, “everything” includes winning.
The Pioneers are in the state semifinals for the first time. They take a 10-2 record into Saturday’s 7 p.m. game against Mount Zion (9-3) at Hancock Stadium. A victory would earn them a spot in the Class 4A state championship game next week, also at Hancock.
When Walworth interviewed for the job, athletic director Steve Evans told him he likely would have about 40 players in the program his first year. Walworth got the total up to 51 before the first practice.
It jumped to more than 60 in year two, surpassed 70 last year and this season climbed to 84.
“We are winning some games now, but we had kids coming out and enjoying the experience before we were playing in the semifinals,” Walworth said. “We’ve done some good things on the field the last couple of years, but it really started that first year trying to implement those four core values.”
U-High was 3-6 in each of Walworth’s first two years, stretching the school’s string of losing seasons to seven. The Pioneers improved to 7-3 last year, losing in the first round of the playoffs to Coal City.
The 44-0 loss was humbling, but also “highly motivating,” Walworth said.
“I think it helped this team realize how important it was to get more physical over the course of the offseason and the summer,” he said. “In the conference we play in (Central State Eight), if you want to compete you have to be a physical team.”
Senior running back Carson Stevens saw that manifest itself in players committing fully to the weight room, conditioning, etc.
There was a sense bigger things were possible.
“Last year, one of our big goals was just to make the playoffs. We didn’t have a big emphasis on making a run,” Stevens said. “This year, we thought with the team we had and the goals we had in mind, we actually could make a run.
“All of our guys and our coaches saw the potential of this team. All the guys started to buy into our goals and everything.”
"It has become an infectious culture in that a lot of our students want to be a part of it and there’s a bond between all of them."Athletic director Steve Evans
Like Weiland, Stevens also plays baseball. They were joined this fall by baseball teammates Ethan Kieser and Connor Macmillan, seniors out for football for the first time. Macmillan’s season has been limited to five games by injury. Kieser, a safety, has contributed 37 tackles, two interceptions, a forced fumble and eight passes defended.
“I’d like to take a little bit of credit for some of the baseball guys we got to come out this year,” Weiland said, smiling. “Those guys have helped us a ton.”
Walworth did not have to lure Weiland to football. He was among 20 freshmen in Walworth’s first year.
“I’ve played football since I was in flag football (as a youth),” Weiland said. “Not much recruiting had to happen for me. But I know it had to happen for quite a few guys.”
The challenge was not new for Walworth. He hit the hallways in search of players at Pleasant Plains as well. After serving as offensive coordinator for two years, he was elevated to head coach in 2014 following a 1-8 season. He built up the roster and by his fourth year as head coach, led Pleasant Plains to second in the state in Class 3A.
He was out of teaching/coaching briefly, earning his master’s degree at the University of Washington and working for a year in a nonprofit organization.
Missing the daily interaction with students and players, the Mattoon native returned to Illinois and was hired at U-High, where he teaches social studies.
His athletic director said Walworth has gone “above and beyond” as football coach.
“He’s a big process over product kind of guy,” Evans said. “The biggest thing is his demeanor, his attitude toward coaching, and his philosophy is a perfect recipe for the culture that he’s built. It has become an infectious culture in that a lot of our students want to be a part of it and there’s a bond between all of them.”
On the field, U-High’s fast-tempo offense has averaged 45.5 points per game. Weiland has played a big role, throwing for 3,494 yards and 42 touchdowns while also rushing for 422 yards and eight scores.
Cade Cunningham has 15 touchdown catches and AJ Holden 13. Stevens has run for 652 yards, had 405 receiving yards and scored a team-leading 20 touchdowns.
Impressive as the numbers are, Walworth and Weiland point to Nos. 55, 60, 50, 61 and 58. They belong to tackles Cole Matejka and Daken Davenport, guards Landon Hinkle and Charlie Karun, and center Cayden French.
Tight ends Bodey Klemmensen (33) and Martin Donahue (34) also have been key blockers.
“You can’t have a good offense without starting down in the trenches,” Weiland said. “Last year we lost some big pieces on our O line and we had to fill those in the summer. Guys have stepped up big time. I can sit in the pocket and look for my guys downfield who can make plays.”
Walworth played offensive line and has coached the position at each of his coaching stops. He likes the way this group has protected Weiland, who he said “just does everything well.”
“Pretty much everything I think about starts with what those guys (the linemen) are doing,” he said. “An important part of calling offense is you can only do what those guys can do well.”
The production has led to an explosive offense and a historic season. The student body and others have taken notice at a school with a tradition of athletic success.
In football, U-High reached the quarterfinals four times previously and lost. These Pioneers play on.
“It’s pretty exciting,” Stevens said. “It’s kind of hard not to think about (making history). But we just need to focus on taking it one day at a time, one practice at a time, and that will all come together.”
Trust the process. Adhere to the core values.
Walworth will tell you 85% of what football players do is hard … the practices, weightlifting, conditioning, etc. His mission has been to convince would-be players the games are so good, they make it all worth it.
How’s that going?
“It’s tiring every single week having to go to practice every day,” Stevens said. “But in the end, getting to run out underneath the lights with your guys is the best feeling.”
