All Paul Murphy could do was look out in front of him and smile.
“It means a lot to the community,” Murphy said Saturday after his team dispatched of Naperville Central, 17-0, in a Class 8A state quarterfinal. “Our school is 40 years old this year and this is the second time there’s a team in a semifinal. You’re going to have to ask the community what it means.
“I think it means the world. Look at the student body out here with our players. Warrior Nation is going nuts. It’s about everybody from the community believing we’re capable of winning and I think now everybody believes that.”
In 11 years, Murphy has established a standard at Waubonsie Valley that hasn’t arguably been seen since the early 1990s when B.J. Luke was roaming the sidelines.
Murphy guiding the program to six straight seasons of eight-plus victories and to half of the program’s four state quarterfinal trips speaks for itself.
But for these 2015 Warriors, owners of three straight victories after going through a 5-4 regular-season, the 30th seed in Class 8A the IHSA handed it on Oct. 24 represented new life.
And considering come Saturday night on Chicago’s south side, the program will be making its first state semifinal appearance since 1992, they’ve taken utmost advantage of the opportunity given to them.
“We’ve been living by ‘leave a legacy’ all summer, all season,” Warriors’ quarterback Jack Connolly said on Saturday. “Obviously, 5-4 wasn’t necessarily how we wanted to do it, but being only the second team in school history and first since 1992, is leaving a legacy.”
How Waubonsie Valley has engineered upsets of third-seeded Edwardsville, 19th-seeded Neuqua Valley and sixth-seeded Naperville Central the last three weeks comes down to fundamentals.
The ability to not panic and keep with what they want to do offensively was imperative in coming back from deficits against both Edwardsville and Neuqua Valley.
Last Saturday’s wire-to-wire victory over the 10-win Redhawks was just more of the same.
With a glimpse of his transition into a Northern Illinois wrestler only a win on Saturday at 23rd-seeded Marist away, Max Ihry best exemplifies this young team in so many ways.
Defensive coordinator Ron Griffin’s lone holdover from last season’s defense, Ihry has done a tremendous job in leading a young Warrior defense from his middle linebacker spot.
But as Murphy bluntly put it at the end of the regular season, Waubonsie Valley wouldn’t have accumulated the five victories it did without Ihry’s work in the backfield.
Through 12 games, Ihry has racked up 1,374 rushing yards and 14 TDs and has broken the 100-yard mark eight times – highlighted by a 222-yard effort in a Week 6 victory over Wheaton Warrenville South.
Asked where the credit goes, Ihry is keenly aware of where his bread is buttered.
“Credit to my O-line … not even just the O-line, the whole team was doing their jobs,” Ihry said after running for 146 yards and a TD against Naperville Central. “But the O-line especially. They were blocking great and just opened up holes for me. And so I got to thank them.”
The names of Brandon Porter, Corey McKnight, Tyler Caldwell, Quinton Zielke and Alex Stone – along with Montini transfer Dan Dominiak – may not come off the tip of the tongue.
But Ihry and Connolly both know their success only goes as far as the job done in front of them.
“The biggest thing has got to be the offensive line,” Connolly said. “That’s where it all starts. They’ve really been controlling the line of scrimmage these last two weeks and even with (Dan) Dominiak going down, Alex Stone has come in and played well for us. But our offensive line has just done everything.
“They’re making big holes for Max and me and when I need to throw, they’ve been giving me a lot of time. So when they’re doing what they’re doing and really controlling the line of scrimmage, we can really do anything and just keep getting first downs and keep moving the ball. Keep the clock moving and keep these explosive offenses off the field.”
As impressive as the work Connolly and Ihry have both put in on the way to leading the Warriors’ offense, Griffin’s young defense continues to impress.
As opportunistic of an unit as you’ll see, Ihry has been able to blend the 10 new faces around him to bring together a group that created a little history last Saturday.
The 17-0 shutout Waubonsie Valley posted against Naperville Central was historic on two fronts.
Griffin’s charges registered the program’s first postseason shutout since a 33-0 victory over Downers Grove North in a 1992 Class 6A state quarterfinal while handing Naperville Central a postseason shutout for the first time since 1981.
For the senior defensive back who accounted for two of the three turnovers they forced against the Redhawks, Trevon Moore, the defense’s success boils down to physicality.
“Forty-eight minutes of rock ‘em, sock ‘em football,” Moore said. “So that’s what we’ve been coming out and doing. It was two halves of the game, so we try not to celebrate too early. We try to go through the whole game and continue to do what we do.”
If the Warriors can keep it up for 48 more minutes, they can start celebrating just a little bit more.
