Wheeling – John H. Lilly looked defeated.
The veteran head coach stood alone at the 50-yard line at Wheeling Island Stadium Friday night beside the heap of ice from the gatorade bath Fairmont Senior coach Nick Bartic endured earlier. Minutes removed from one of the most painful experiences of his career, a 21-12 loss in the Class AA championship, he stared off into the distance, reflecting on the evening.
Uncharacteristic penalties and decisions he made throughout the game left him second guessing what could’ve been.
The truth is there really aren’t any losers in the situation.
Lilly admitted as much as he was surrounded by a host of cameras after the game.
“Sometimes when you get up here there’s really no losers. Just somebody happened to win tonight and it wasn’t us,” he said.
That’s not a bad perspective to have. Just consider what the program was when Lilly took it over in 2018. The Patriots were a year removed from the playoffs and had only ever won one playoff game in the history of the school.
Lilly knew the possibilities though.
When he took the job he made a promise to this senior class.
“When I walked in the door I told the seniors that if they stuck with us we’ll take you to a state championship if you just buy in,” Lilly said. “We accomplished that goal and now we’ve got to get back to work and try to win one.”
They didn’t leave Wheeling with the result they hoped for but Lilly has the foundation in place for sustained success.
He helped build a weight room that has paid dividends. Look no further than the offensive line that led the way for a team that accumulated over 5,000 yards of total offense. They are a product of the countless hours the veteran coach has dedicated to making sure the program has the facilities in place to compete at the highest level.
Now he has the Patriots on the precipice of not just being a great team, but a great program as well. In just four seasons he took the program from one that hopes to make the playoffs to one that hopes to compete for titles.
The hundreds of fans clad in red and blue that made the four-hour trip to Wheeling and filled the stands are evidence of the culture instilled in Coal City. The packed parking lots an hour before kickoff in each of their playoff games, the belief that they could do the impossible and knock off a blue blood power like Bluefield are all testaments to what Lilly has done.
He made the program relevant on a statewide level.
When August rolls around, Independence will be at the forefront of the conversation in Class AA. Sure they lose a Kennedy Award candidate in Atticus Goodson, the program’s most prolific passer in Logan Phalin and others who have been staples on the team like offensive lineman Michael Cheek, but they still return most of the core that helped guide them to Wheeling.
The taste of the Wheeling Feeling and leaving without enjoying the full spoils of it has them hungry for more. Judah Price, a junior who intercepted a pass and scored on a 46-yard touchdown run in Friday’s title game loss, acknowledged as much after the loss.
“We have five seniors, and I most definitely see us coming back with all the playmakers we have,” Price said. “I most definitely see us coming back here.”
Replacing this senior class will be difficult task, but the pieces are already in place.
Price is liable to be one of the most productive running backs in the state next season. Trey Bowers, who caught a 41-yard touchdown pass in the title game, intercepted four passes in the postseason and will compete for the starting quarterback position next year. Cyrus Goodson, the younger brother of Atticus, has already shined as a receiver and might be a better athlete than his older brother. Braxton McKinney, Logan Isom, Brady Grimmett and Aaron Shifflett are amongst the blockers that will be back next season to pave the way for the Patriots offense.
Jordan Harvey, already one of the best linebackers in the state, will be back for his senior year as a leader on a stacked defensive unit.
So no, the cupboard isn’t bare and it wasn’t it built to be a flash in the pan. It was built to be something that lasts. While the meteoric rise of the program caught most off guard, it didn’t surprise those in the locker room. Before the year began their goals were clear – to host a playoff game, win a playoff game and make a run to Wheeling.
The aren’t goals you set without the realistic expectation of accomplishing them.
All season the comparisons were drawn between the 2021 team and the 1986 team – the only other one to win a playoff game. Now the bar has been raised. For future teams the 2021 is the standard to meet.
It’s a standard future players should want to meet and will likely be eager to meet. Anybody who’s been around the program, whether it be in public or after a game has noticed the gaggle of grade school kids that follow players like Goodson and Phalin around. They often ask to take a picture with their favorite Indy football player or have them sign something.
They’ve set the standard and are what the future generations of Patriots aspire to be. They’ve observed every  move, every juke, every touchdown and every win as the the program has blossomed into one of the best in the state.
So no, the sting of Friday’s defeat likely won’t go away soon. But it’s a confirmation that the Patriots are right on schedule and what they’ve built has staying power.