Dynamic Devils

SPRING VALLEY — Nathan Tonozzi used to think of Taggart Venegas as the enemy, trying to get the former St. Bede quarterback for a big a hit and throw him for a sack.

Funny thing happened. Venegas transferred to Hall High School from neighboring St. Bede Academy this past spring and all of sudden, they were best friends. Instead of trying to tag Venegas, Tonozzi did his best to protect his new teammate and Hall quarterback.

They teamed up to lead the Hall Red Devils back into the playoffs for the first time in five years and post their first playoff win in seven years.

Now, they come together as the 2013 co-BCR Football Players of the Year.

“It was nice for him wearing our colors this time. Definitely a lot better being on our team than theirs,” Tonozzi said

A familiar face

The new kid from down the road at St. Bede wasn’t exactly a stranger to the boys at Hall. Venegas played with most of them on Spring Valley’s team in the Illinois Valley Youth Football League and Hall head coach Randy Tieman was his coach.

“The chemistry was definitely there,” Venegas said. “I thought we had a great summer camp and 7 on 7s and going to practice every morning. I had played IVYFL with them and the family relationship was already there. And I played for coach Tieman and felt comfortable playing under him.

“It was a decision that I made coming over. I blended right in and got along pretty well.”

It didn’t take the Hall gridders long to know they had a good leader to follow. Venegas took his role as team captain to heart.

“I was captain, I was looking to lead. Just getting the guys in the right spots. I had to know all 22 positions out there, defense and our positions. I was definitely looking to lead the team and help everybody out, and get us that confidence we need.”

The Red Devils really took off midseason when Tieman switched to the spread offense to better utilize the strong left arm of Venegas, not to mention his scrambling ability.

“Oh yeah, I loved it. It was a lot of fun,” Venegas said of the spread offense. “Coach Tieman’s game-planning and play-calling every week was excellent. When we did go to the spread, I really took to the cerebral part very important, (looking for) areas we could exploit on defense and find areas we could take advantage of, and I thought we did that very well throughout the season.”

He sparked the Red Devils’ five-game win streak, including games with three TD passes vs. Sherrard (190 yards) and Kewanee (199 yards).

The Red Devil QB accumulated 1803 yards of total offense with 20 touchdowns, passing for 1,502 yards and 17 touchdowns,while gaining another 301 yards with three scores rushing.

Tieman said Venegas’ ability to keep a play alive and make something happen may have been his best attribute. He was also a hard worker, he stayed after practice nearly every night to get more reps in with his receivers and work on their passing game.

“Tags was a hard worker that always had a great attitude no matter how good or bad things where going,” Tieman said.

The man in the middle

Every good team needs someone in the thick of things. In baseball, it’s a catcher and a strong defense up the middle at shortstop and second base. In basketball, it’s the center.

There was no mistake who was the man in the middle for the Hall Red Devil football team this year.

Tonozzi was the center on offense and made all the line calls, receiving First Team Three Rivers South status. Venegas said he couldn’t have had a better center blocking for him.

On there other side of the ball, he played middle linebacker and was in charge of making the play calls for the Red Devil defense.

“I liked being in the middle of everything and making the call. I was always in the middle of the action,” Tonozzi said. “I really enjoyed my time on defense. I was in charge of calling the strength and what not. But there was a lot of guys who stepped up and made a lot of good calls out there. It was a overall team effort on defense.”

Tieman calls Tonozzi “the heart and soul” of the Red Devil defense. He led the Red Devils in tackles with 82, including a team-high 25 solos and two tackles for loss.

“He was an extremely hard worker,” Tieman said. “He worked hard and got a lot better on pass coverage.”

Tieman called the Hall captain and Academic All-State “an all-around leader on and off the field.”

Back on the map

The 2013 Red Devils definitely put Hall football back on the map, with a successful 6-3 campaign and notching a win in the playoffs. Venegas and Tonozzi are glad to have played their part.

“If anything came out of this season, I hope is that the next few years, they take what we did and even go farther and get Hall back to its glory days when I used to watch it when I was a little kid. It was something special,” said Tonozzi, remembering the 2007 Hall team that went 9-0

“Any time you make the playoffs, it’s big. That was our goal coming in,” Venegas said. “Hopefully the underclassmen see that we made the playoffs and they want to follow that for years to come. To bring the playoffs back to the community. We definitely had a lot of people behind us. Hopefully, it will get them confidence for next year.”

While the Hall seniors were highly successful at the underclass level, things didn’t go exactly as planned in 2012 with a 1-8 record. It helped them flying in under the radar this fall, Tonozzi said.

“We came into the season and not many people expected much from so us so we had a chip on our shoulder right away. I think we liked it that way. There really wasn’t any pressure, and we knew what we were capable of all along,” Tonozzi said. “I mean, we really got rolling and we did what we did. I’m glad we did it. It felt good. I hope we can get the program rolling again.”

“Both of these young men will be missed in our program, but with the work ethic they displayed every day, our younger players will pick up and move the program forward. They set a great example for our program,” Tieman said.

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