Excitement is in the air in Coal City and for good reason.
For the first time since 1986, Independence finished the regular season undefeated and secured the No. 2 seed in the Class AA playoffs.
The Indy faithful are hoping the parallels end there as the ’86 team lost in the quarterfinals. That means the task at hand requires a level-headed approach.
“I think you’re always on guard,” Independence head coach John H. Lilly said. “Can you match up to the publicity you’re getting? Honestly we really don’t talk about it much. What we do talk about is what we do on the field and as long as the kids are working hard in that aspect, I think we’ll be okay. Now if we quit working hard because we think we’re better than what we are then I think we’ve got a problem but so far, knock on wood, the kids have worked really hard. They have not stopped. It’s a balancing act though.”
The Patriots’ journey to Wheeling begins Friday against a familiar foe in Shady Spring — a county rival and team they beat 50-17 earlier this year. Should the Patriots move on there’s the possibility they meet No. 7 Nicholas County, another team they beat handily in the regular season.
Lilly isn’t looking past Friday but should that be the route the Patriots find themselves on he doesn’t anticipate the results being quite the same. Four times he’s been in the situation where he’s played a team twice and knows the difficulty of doing so.
“I think the hardest thing to do in football, in my career, is playing somebody twice in the same season,” Lilly said. “I’ve been in four of those and we’re 3-1 doing it but all four times it was a dogfight and almost every time before we kind of blew them out and we really struggled. I think mentally you think you’ve got an easy game when you know deep down that it’s not going to be easy. I think it’s very, very hard to play somebody twice and I’m kind of concerned on how our approach is coming into the game.
“That’s my big concern because I do think Shady’s got some guys that can hurt ya. Cam (Manns) throws the ball really well, they’ve got some skill people on the outside that make big plays for them and here’s the thing – you don’t have to be the best team. You just have to be the best team that day. So that’s what I’m more guarded against.”
One thing that works in the Patriots’ favor is their immediate playoff experience. While the Tigers have been to the postseason as recently as 2019, many of the current players on this year’s squad were only sophomores and some played sparingly. The Patriots meanwhile have experience from last year’s quarterfinal loss to eventual champion Fairmont Senior.
“You could just tell when we got in the locker room after the game how we felt,” Lilly said. “The score (43-15) wasn’t indicative of how close the game was. I think our kids got a lot of confidence when we went up there and played them. It was close at halftime (15-7) and we didn’t have three starting offensive linemen because they got quarantined the night before. Atticus got about 130 or 140 yards against them and I think it just gave the kids confidence that we can play those guys then maybe we can be a good playoff game this year.”
When the Raleigh County rivals met in the regular season all-state running back Atticus Goodson rushed for a career-high 318 yards, his second consecutive 300-yard rushing performance against the Tigers after being held to just 34 yards as a sophomore. Goodson, who’s not played in three weeks due to a leg injury, will likely be a game-time decision for the Patriots.
While that would normally cause panic, the Patriots have become accustomed to getting by without the senior, scoring 60 points each in the two games he’s missed. While his importance to their title hopes can’t be understated, it would be remiss to assume they’re doomed without him. The Patriots No. 2 running back, Judah Price, has accumulated 738 yards and 12 touchdowns on the ground in eight games.
Adding to the potent offense is senior QB Logan Phalin who broke the program record for single-season touchdown passes with 18.
“We knew about Judah, just nobody else knew about Judah,” Lilly said. “Judah’s a beast. If he had Atticus’ size he’d be making a million dollars in the MMA because he’s that kind of person. He’s a great wrestler and is probably going to win a state championship. He should’ve won it last year if he didn’t get quarantined. Everybody around here knew about Judah, but I think we’re two different teams. If Atticus is in the game we’re a certain type of team and if Judah is in the game we’re a different offensive team.
“I think the kids kind of have fun with it though. If Judah’s in we’re a little more wide open and when Atticus is in we try to ground and pound and play with play-action. It’s kind of fun and it makes practice a little better.”
The Patriots will open postseason play on Friday when they host Shady Spring at 7:30 p.m.
Email: tylerjackson@lootpress.com and follow on Twitter @tjack94
