When the prep football playoffs were delayed by a week due to competing injunctions, Class AA No. 3 seed Independence was unbothered. It was just the latest wrench in what’s been a chaotic but fruitful year.
“Well, it seems to be working pretty good because our guys are just used to embracing it and they’ve become adaptable,” Independence head coach John H. Lilly. said. “It’s almost comical. Sometimes we just laugh.I mean the first game of the year we have a five-hour delay, the second game we travel five hours and we have an hour-and-a-half delay. We don’t play a home game for a whole year because of our schedule. We get to play a home game then it gets canceled because of the hurricane and now we play a game, have an open week then play a game and have another open date. It’s been a unique season and I think it’s made us adaptable towards the end. How we react when we finally do get to play, who knows? But everybody’s on level play field now.”
Minus the experience with adversity this year, Independence still has experience with deep postseason runs.
The Patriots boast a 9-3 postseason record since 2020 with two state championship appearances including a victory in the 2022 title game. While the Patriots start numerous freshman, including one at QB, they have multiple returning starters from last year’s semifinal team.
“The juniors and seniors played on the ’22 state championship team and seniors made back-to-back state championship appearances so I think they’re used to playing in big games,” Lilly said. “I think the more experience you have playing in the playoffs definitely helps you. It definitely helped us from ’20 to ’21 to ’22. I think we grew up a lot. We’re still playing a lot of young guys so I think that helped the young guys get used to it because of the older guys. Most of the younger guys were water boys for our two championship team and all three semifinals teams. Micah (Cuthbert) and Brock(Green) and those guys were all water boys. We use our eighth graders as water boys so you know they’re with us all time. I think it helps being a part of that atmosphere.”
The Patriots are led by an assortment of productive players.
Sylas Nelson leads the ground assault with 1,293 yards and 20 rushing touchdowns while Brock Green leads the passing attack with a program record 1,611 yards to go with 12 touchdown passes. The top receiving targets for the Patriots are Christian Linksweiler (28-641-6) and Dalton Adkins (29-407-4).
Those impressive statistics were compiled against a schedule that featured six playoff teams including three in the Class AAA field. Those three teams in Class AAA earned the No. 1, 4 and 5 seeds.
The hope for Lilly and Co. is the schedule prepared them well for a deep playoff run as they’re unlikely to face any gauntlet in Class AA that rivals the one they trekked in September and October.
“It’s the toughest schedule school history,” Lilly said. “I mean the three losses we have are to AAA teams and the combined record of those teams was (29-1) between all three. It was a battle test and that’s why we were so beat up as the year went on. I’m really proud of them because they battled and they played that they played that schedule. I think seven out of 10 teams that are on our schedule are in playoffs so it’s been a battle test. It’s good preparation for the playoffs but as soon as the playoffs start it all starts a new season. It’s the third season and everybody remembers November. Nobody cares what you do earlier in the year, everybody remembers November so it’s all new. Nobody cares about August.”
That challenging schedule didn’t come without its drawbacks.
The offensive line was a revolving door of names with combinations of underclassmen starting a majority of the season. One of the most impactful losses was that of junior all-state tackle Alex Blankenship who is done for the year after a hand injury.
The unintended but useful consequence of the bye week was that it allowed Lilly’s squad to heal up before another rigorous stretch, one they hope ends in Charleston on Dec. 13.
“We limped into the Princeton game and had several starters out,” Lilly said. “We had one or two kids try to play but were very much injured and you know the positive thing of having the two open dates since then is it has allowed us to heal up a little bit I think I’ll think the same could be said with James Monroe. I think they had some injuries and I think it’s gonna help everybody get healed up in that regard.”
Independence will open the postseason Friday as the No. 3 seed in Class AA, hosting No. 14 James Monroe.
