New leaders stepping up for eight-man contender Flanagan-Cornell/Woodland

A large, dedicated and talented senior class led the Flanagan-Cornell/Woodland Falcons eight-man football team back to its winning ways last fall, with a 7-3 record and Illinois 8-Man Football Association (I8FA) playoff run.

Now FCW head coach Todd Reed — entering his fourth season with a 16-10 record — will be looking for leadership and increased on-the-field production from his returning Falcons after the loss to Pomp and Circumstance of standout players such as Times All-Area Team standouts Joey Jones, William Weber, J.D. Ruddy, Sam Jones, Dallas Hamilton and Chris Stasko.

“With the big loss of our talented senior group we had last year, we look to reload with new faces stepping in,” Reed said. “(WR/DB) Ethan Kane, (QB/DB) Mason Persico, (OL/DL) Jase Torrez, (RB/LB) Jesse Simpson, (QB/OL/DL) Ethan Schumm, (OL/DL) Shawn Brinkmeyer and (OL/LB) Jacob Gamblin will be our senior football leaders this fall.

“This group is really special to me, because a majority of them were the first group of freshmen that came into our program when I took over four years ago.”

Flanagan-Cornell/Woodland has been known in recent years for its balanced and potent offensive attack as well as its hard-hitting defense. With so many of the players who reforged that program identity now graduated, exactly how things come together this season is still to be determined.

Both Simpson and Torrez, however, are expected to be at the heart of it on both offense and defense after junior season that saw both earn Times All-Area second team honors. While Torrez will be anchoring both lines, Simpson will be a featured running back for FCW along with fellow big-play RB/DB Payton Quaintance.

“Jesse s a powerful, veteran back who ran for almost 500 yards last year with three other running backs sharing the chore with him,” Reed said. “Payton has worked incredibly hard this offseason getting stronger and quicker.”

With dual-threat Hamilton’s graduation, Schumm and Persico have both been taking snaps as the team’s potential next starting quarterback. Whichever wins the job will have a deep offensive line to work behind, featuring Torrez as well as fellow linemen Brinkmeyer, Drew Novotney, Emerson Weber, Calix Stout, Aydan Radke, Josh Lane, Blake Ruddy, Kesler Collins and Adam Westerhold.

The receiving corps, too, will be a mix of a small number of proven returnees bolstered by a wealth of varsity newcomers. Kane should lead the group, with other notable players including Seth Jones, Rudra Patel, Zandar Radke, Kenny Eutesy, Logan Steinquist and Isaac Follmer.

Defensively, many of the same names will be on the field for the Falcons. Reed specifically mentioned Toby Hansen at linebacker and defensive linemen Collins, Weber and Torrez as impact players on the defensive side.

The program’s overall numbers are eye-popping for recent years, especially at the eight-man level, with 45 players combined on the varsity and JV rosters the opening week of official practices. Encouragingly for the future, 25 of those are underclassmen, including — in a nice ouroboros with this year’s seniors having been freshmen in Reed’s first year as head coach — 13 freshmen.

“We call the freshmen ‘puppies,’ because they are young and lack knowledge of the game,” Reed said, “but freshmen are very important for our program. We ask them to trust the process and the coaching staff, and I myself love watching them grow into competitive football players as they get older.”

The Falcons open the I8FA season at Milford-Cissna Park on Thursday, Aug. 25, visit Champaign St. Thomas More the following week, then host their first home games the following two Fridays on their two home fields — Sept. 9 vs. River Ridge at Woodland’s Wood Shed, then Sept. 16 for Flanagan-Cornell’s homecoming against Decatur Lutheran.