An offensive lineman all his life, Wilmington senior Zach Ohlund knows full well that, as one of the men up front blocking for his skill position teammates who usually find their names and stat lines highlighted every week, he’s not usually going to receive adoration from the masses.

He doesn’t mind one bit.

“You’re never going to get any credit,” Ohlund said. “You’ll get it from the coaches and get it from your running back, but other people always look at the running backs. You see the running backs get all the credit, and I couldn’t care less.

“I couldn’t care less if no one knows me. I’m here winning games with my best friends. He can have all the glory.”

Ohlund, a three-year starter at guard and linebacker, and his best friends on the Wildcats team clinched their third state championship berth in the past five years and fifth in program history with last Saturday’s 41-0 win over El Paso-Gridley in the IHSA Class 2A State semifinals. In the double-wing offense head coach Jeff Reents and offensive coordinator Barry Southall have used for more than 30 years, the Wildcats churned out 483 rushing yards and six touchdowns on 41 attempts.

As they enter Friday’s title game against 11-2 Maroa-Forsyth, the Wildcats (12-1) have 5,406 rushing yards and 86 touchdowns on 455 attempts. Along with the team’s other third-year guard, Logan Van Duyne, the blue-collar background of growing up in Wilmington is shown by the tenacity they bring in the trenches, whether through their ground-and-pound offense or tenacious defense, of which Van Duyne is a key cog in the line.

“I think it’s just being raised to be gritty, just playing physical football all our lives,” Van Duyne said. “We’re not the biggest, fastest or strongest. We’re just doing the dirty work up front.”

Ohlund and Van Duyne said that they started learning the basics of the blocking schemes of the double-wing all through youth football. And for most of that time, they’ve done it with largely the same group. Classmates Evan Kuypers (tackle) and Jack Cutter (center) are joined by junior tackle Will Wilson and tight ends Declan Moran and Cooper Holman to create creases for a bevy of backfield standouts.

“Growing up when I was young, I just thought you throw the ball everywhere,” Ohlund said. “Then coming to (youth football), and it’s run, run, run, it’s like, ‘When does it start to get fun?’ Then you get up here and start killing everybody, and it’s like, ‘Oh, this is fun.’ ”

Senior Ryan Kettman, who joined Ohlund on the Illinois High School Football Coaches Association Class 2A All-State team, has been the main beneficiary, rushing for 1,592 yards and 28 touchdowns as the leader of a backfield that’s seen six different players amass at least 500 yards. Kettman, Ohlund and Van Duyne are the team’s captains, just like their entire youth careers, and that lifelong bond forged on the field has paid dividends.

“There’s a good amount of that that helps us,” Kettman said of their chemistry. “We’ve played with each other our whole lives, known each other our whole lives. We’ve had that bond forever, and it’s really helped us compete well as a team.”

All three were part of the 2023 team that won the Class 2A title as sophomores. After taking a backseat in the leadership department to their older teammates, Reents has seen his two line leaders take charge again this fall.

“What’s awesome is both of them didn’t talk a lot during their sophomore and junior years,” Reents said. “But then, as you got to senior year, you saw it from them to take their leadership roles as the captains, with Kettman, and they feel very comfortable in those roles.

“Sometimes kids don’t want to talk, but they speak up to the coaches and are like coaches on the field. It’s been really special this year.”

As the Wildcats look to add to the program’s legacy with another championship trophy, Ohlund and Van Duyne will also look to add to the legacies of their surnames as sons of former Wildcats, Eric Ohlund and Sam Van Duyne In Van Duyne’s case, he’s had almost a dozen family members currently in the program, including brothers Travis, a junior, and Eli, a freshman, and has had scores of Van Duynes set a standard before him.

“It’s really cool how people think of Wilmington having a football tradition,” Van Duyne said. “There’ve been a ton of great athletes in my family, and just trying to live up to the name of Van Duyne is really awesome.”