Lincoln-Way East looks to protect its legacy

Trey Johnson laughs at the skeptics.

The Lincoln-Way East wide receiver believes in the pedigree of his football program, and he also believes in those who will be lining up around him, which includes a group of largely new individuals who will be looking to extend what is currently the state’s longest winning streak of 20 games (a streak they share with Williamsville and Richmond-Burton).

“I love all of that talk. It motivates all of us,” Johnson said with a wide smile. “All of the seniors, we’ve been hearing it since we were sophomores and we lost two games. It just motivates us, and we’re ready for it.”

Johnson, brother of Jamal Johnson, Lincoln-Way East’s standout running back during the spring season, is one of the few seniors on the roster slotted to move into a starting position that was vacated by a senior-dominated roster in the spring season. The junior class is filling many of those voids instead, which has presented something of a unique situation for veteran coach Rob Zvonar.

“It’s not different that we have 18, 19, 20 new starters to start the season, it’s what we’ve done the last four years,” Zvonar said. “We’re 46-1 since 2016, and we’ve won two state championships, got to a semifinal and had an undefeated spring season. That’s all on paper. There’s nothing that’s not normal about us having new starters. What’s usually typical about it is that those new starters are typically seniors. Seniors replacing seniors. It’s not been since 2016 where we had 13 non-senior starters, and this year we’re back to being a little bit younger.

“But to be a nonsenior starter in this program means you’re pretty good. And that’s the positive part, but the part that is a little different is that they are not as seasoned. And not only are they not as seasoned because they aren’t seniors, the experience has been different in our program than it usually is, as it has been for everyone. We didn’t have the the same offseason and the same time to develop them. So we’re a little behind, but we’re excited about this group.”

Younger starters will be all over the Lincoln-Way East lineup on opening night against Crete-Monee, but the seniors who will be in that mix have no intention of allowing the bar to be lowered from the standards that their predecessors held.

“Our coaching staff is at the top of the state, and they are going to prepare these young guys very well,” senior defensive lineman Michael Cardilli said. “I’m not worried about it all. I think it really helps out in taking some of that weight off our backs. We all trust our coaches and what they’ve done. It clearly worked for the guys in front of us and we’re not stressing about it. People do see us as inexperienced and it gives us motivation and puts a fire under our tails. It will just make us work harder.”

And the advantage of playing for a program that has an established pattern of success certainly doesn’t hurt either.

Senior Brennan Stolarek will assume the role of quarterback, following in the footsteps of Sean Walsh, who had a fantastic spring season for the Griffins. Stolarek largely watched last year and was wise enough to known he could learn a lot through observation.

“I’m more equipped to talk to the guys, teach the guys and run the offense the way it is supposed to be run,” Stolarek said. “In all honesty, the first snap I took in a varsity game last year, I fumbled it. I was very nervous for sure, but that’s totally in the past now. I’ve put it behind me ... I’m chomping at the bit.

“There’s definitely some underlying pressure, because the past five seasons we’ve had an extraordinary amount of talent here,” Stolarek said. “And we’re going to have to work twice as hard to get to that bar that’s been set here.”

And at the end of the day, this is still a Lincoln-Way East program that has lost only one game since the start of the 2017 season (a 2018 semifinal loss to Loyola), and the Griffins intend to make life as difficult as possible for anyone who hopes to knock them off their perch.

“In 2016, when we started those 13 underclassmen, they hit the field against Maine South and they believed they were going to win that game and they were going to win the state championship, and they almost did it,” Zvonar said. “And this group is very similar to them.

“We might be young, but you also don’t start here as a sophomore or a junior without being pretty good. The cupboard’s not bare by any means, but when you lose that year of development like we did, it catches up [with you], and it has caught up with us just a little bit. With that said, we’re still very excited about this group.”