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JOHNSBURG – Johnsburg’s Forest Hull made it onto the field for only a few snaps against Marengo in Week 1 before reaggravating a groin injury from basketball that kept him out for the rest of the COVID-19-shortened spring season.
“It was hard being out,” said Hull, a running back-linebacker entering his senior year. “I had a role as a captain last year and the fact that I wasn’t able to prove it and be on the field, I think that bothered me the most. Not being on the field, just kind of yelling from the sidelines. That was probably the worst part for me.”
The Skyhawks, who suffered key injuries at the start of the season and had multiple players miss time because of quarantine, endured a difficult spring, going 1-5 and finishing with a 27-14 loss to Harvard. Johnsburg, which averaged eight wins a season and made the postseason every year from 2014 to 2019, never got into any sort of rhythm.
[ Photos: Johnsburg football hits the gridiron ]
“The spring season was super tough,” Johnsburg coach Sam Lesniak said. “You have to get kids back into a routine. And we have good kids. We just need to keep the structure and routine of working out every day, kids holding each other accountable to bust it, bring it every day and having good energy.”
“It’s good to be back.”
After a more productive summer, the Skyhawks were excited to get back to work Monday, the first day football teams across the state could practice.
“We were in helmets, finally, it started coming down [raining] at the end, but the first part of practice was great,” senior tight end-linebacker Owen Harker said. “We’re excited. Last year was a bummer, but it’s a new slate, new team, new everything. We’re not carrying over anything negative from last year.”
Junior offensive lineman Jacob Welch, who had a busy summer individually with college camps at Iowa and Illinois, among others, said this year’s team is ready to turn the page.
“The spring was rough, but there’s no excuses for it,” Welch said. “We can improve in so many ways, and I’m super excited to be with this group. I just feel like the whole environment is flipped. Everyone wants to be here and everyone is ready to go to battle with each other.”
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Senior Luke Conroy, who played quarterback as a sophomore on the JV team, will take over at quarterback after Ian Boal, now a junior, played the majority of time there in the spring. Similar to Hull, Conroy suffered an ankle injury during basketball that carried over into the spring and limited his time on the field.
Conroy has been practicing with former Skyhawks quarterback Riley Buchanan, who helped lead the Skyhawks to a 13-1 record and Class 4A state championship game in 2016, in preparation for the fall.
Buchanan is one of many former Skyhawks to come back and help out. Alex Peete and Gibson Groves, both on the 2016 state runner-up, also have been around, and Dylan Hess, a 2016 grad, now is on the coaching staff.
“He’s just been a great mentor for me,” Conroy said of working with Buchanan. “I’ve learned a ton from him, and he’s always super positive. He can relate everything to me perfectly because he ran the same offense here. He describes the coverages and just makes it easier on me. He walks you through everything and makes things more clear.”
Conroy is ready to assume the role as a team leader, but that is a role many are ready to take, he said. Johnsburg returns 17 seniors, including 11 on defense.
“Leadership is one of the most important roles ... just keeping everybody’s heads up and never being negative,” Conroy said. “We’ve been taking the wide receivers and we’ve been running routes almost every single day. We’ve got a good connection already.”
The offensive line should be a strength for the Skyhawks, who return Welch and seniors Wyatt Brock, Jack Kelly and Jake Gebis, along with Braeden Hess at center.
Hull will be a big addition in the backfield after missing most of his junior season, and Cade Piggott (19 receptions, 364 yards and two TDs) and Jake Metze are back at wide receiver. Boal, who led the team with 669 passing yards in the spring, provides another big weapon for the Skyhawks. Joe Wolff will be one of the leaders in the secondary with Harker at linebacker.
The Skyhawks start the season Aug. 27 at home against Marian Central before a Week 2 road game against Wilmington. They then get into conference play as part of the the newly-formed Kishwaukee River/Interstate 8 Blue Division.
Johnsburg was excited for the spring, too, but Hull believes this fall can be different.
“We had a good group of guys, but we just didn’t have that leadership at times, and we just kind of fell apart,” Hull said. “Towards the end, it got extremely rough. We lost a ton of guys with injuries and [quarantine] the last game. I’m just excited to starting playing again. Just get back into the swing of things. I’ve been gone for awhile, so it will be kind of weird. But we’ll be ready.”