West Aurora gears up for final DVC season
West Aurora football coach Nate Eimer said there hasn’t been much talk about the Blackhawks heading back to the Upstate Eight Conference after this school year. They’re too busy preparing for the usual DuPage Valley Conference grind.
“Everybody would be lying if we said this stint in the DVC has been successful for West Aurora football,” he said. “But I think it’s one more season to play against some great competition, and we’ll be going against some great competition next year.”
Before West (along with Glenbard East) takes the plunge back into the Upstate Eight, where it was a founding member in 1963 and left after the 1996-97 academic year, first things first. The Blackhawks get one final shot as a DVC member to reach the postseason, which hasn’t happened since 1994. They knocked on the door in Buck Drach’s last season in 2010 and Eimer’s first in 2011.
If West Aurora does this year it’ll be with basically an all-new offense. Their one returning offensive starter is quarterback Quintez Jones, who first started varsity games as a sophomore. As a junior Jones completed 116 of 219 passes for 1,312 yards and 13 touchdowns — 12 of them to graduated receiver Cole Childs. Jones also was third on last year’s squad in rushing, scrambling for 189 yards and a touchdown.
“He just keeps getting better,” Eimer said. “As a sophomore he just was a big arm and now I think he’s really learning football. He’s a great leader, he practices hard every day and he’s very talented and things are starting to really come together for him.”
Other than that, the sole returners who either ran or caught the ball were receivers Cameron Mackey, Sai Davis, versatile Drake Spears and Isaiah Ruffin — related to the former West all-state lineman Jeff Ruffin; and fullback Christian Padilla, who got the most touches with 4 carries for 12 yards.
Adding freshman receiver Daquan Cross and two more receivers from last season’s sophomore squad, Phillip Mallory and Sean Anthony, Eimer does like the skill spots.
He also likes his offensive line, though they too are fresh to varsity play. A group Eimer called the deepest he’s had in his time at West includes senior Jonathan Evans and Karl Fowler, the junior son of Blackhawks assistant coach Bob Fowler.
Defense was West Aurora’s strength last season. Here the team is a little more experienced if lacking a known commodity such as graduated honorable-mention all-state linebacker Matt Williams.
Ruffin, last season’s fourth leading tackler with 40 and a team-high 3 fumble recoveries, returns to a side that also brings back starting safeties Spears and Alex Shire. Jakilo Lee returns to the defensive line where he’ll welcome the likes of Estephan Perez, Marquettas Ward and Jonathan Evans.
Eimer drops the names of additional defensive backs Anthony, Ellis Burns and Jonathon Doyle, linebacker prospects Padilla, Cody Tinsley and Jovontee Bolden. Not varsity-tested, but deep.
“It’s rare for me to say there’s this many kids battling for a spot,” Eimer said. “I think that’s a positive.”
Though the glare of the Friday night lights will reveal much about the inexperienced Blackhawks’ readiness, their depth, the experience of a strong-armed quarterback and the possibility of an improved ground game have Eimer feeling positive.
It’s a fine line between winning and losing, and West Aurora hopes to switch around last year’s 1,160 yards rushing to foes’ 1,640 yards, and avoid long third-down situations, of which they converted only 23 percent.
West Aurora has one last shot to do this stuff in the DuPage Valley Conference.
“My focus and our focus as a program has been to get better. We’re just looking to get better than what we’ve been doing, every year,” Eimer said. “We’ve been knocking on the door a little bit and now we’ve got to knock it down. And it’s going to be a huge challenge. This conference, there’s no easy games. But we’re excited about it.”