Neuqua Valley began the 2014 season coming off the heels of the program’s first two double-digit winning seasons and with designs of keeping the momentum third-year coach Bill Ellinghaus has generated inside and outside the program’s walls.
But two days removed from seeing his team’s 2014 season end with a 41-20 loss at Homewood-Flossmoor, highlighted by an inability to slow down Vikings’ running back Deante Harley-Hampton, who ran for 232 yards and three TDs on three carries, all Ellinghaus could do is look back and think about missed opportunities throughout the year.
What if the Wildcats could have pulled out a season-opening win at Naperville North instead of losing 14-13?
What if the Wildcats could have held onto a seven-point lead in the fourth quarter against Waubonsie Valley instead of seeing the Warriors engineer a 14-point final stanza en route to a 35-28 victory?
As with everything, small things matter and there was a fine line between finishing 7-2 in the regular season as opposed to 6-3 and receiving a better postseason assignment than having to play a loaded Homewood-Flossmoor offensive assault.
“That’s a good analogy and that’s a good way to look at things, but our bottom line is that we didn’t get it done against Waubonsie. I look back at the first game of the season against Naperville North,” Ellinghaus said. “I mean, this game, the higher up you go in this game or when you get to 8A football, you’ve got to make every game count and we left a few games out there this year. It wasn’t for a lack of effort. It wasn’t a lack of preparation. It was a lack of making the big plays when it counted and we lacked that a little bit this year.
“To be honest with you, I don’t take anything away from these kids. They kept battling and to their credit and their character, they battled their butts off to come out of a 0-2 hole. Then you go up against Waubonsie and we thought we could get Waubonsie and we didn’t play real well that night. Unfortunately, we put ourselves in another hole just fighting to get into the playoffs and we fought to get into the playoffs. We played well against Metea and made the playoffs and played well really against H-F. The first half, we were right there in the game the whole time.”
Because of the inclement weather conditions, Neuqua Valley couldn’t rely on the aspect of its offense that got it going throughout the year: senior quarterback Broc Rutter’s right arm.
The Indiana State-bound Rutter saw his two-year stint as the Wildcats’ signal-caller end Friday, a stint that saw him lead the Wildcats to a Class 8A state quarterfinal opposite eventual Class 8A state champion Naperville Central as a junior while picking up where he left off for much of this year.
For the year, Rutter completed 57.3 percent of his passes for 1,964 yards and 22 touchdowns, which was a suitable encore for a junior season that saw him throw for 2,167 yards and 30 touchdowns while completing a blistering 62.2 percent of his passes.
“Broc’s an amazing football player and he’s got a bright future ahead of him at Indiana State. Indiana State’s getting a good one in Broc,” Ellinghaus said. “He’s a tremendous leader. He can make every throw on the field. He’s got a super, quick release and he knows how to read defenses very well.
“As a two-year starter, I think that the game really slowed down for him this year. He’s always been able to make every throw, but as far as to go at the defense and know what we’re looking for, I thought Broc did a great job this year. I really do. He’s a leader in the school, not just on the field. So I’m going to miss him. I’ll tell you that. We’re going to miss him at Neuqua.”
Rutter and the rest of the seniors may be leaving as the first group under Ellinghaus not to win at least 10 games in a season, but they’ll also leave having helped the program clinch a piece of its third straight Upstate Eight Valley title.
The message to the guys who’ll return in 2015 hoping to rekindle the success from 2012-13 is simple.
“We’ll address the juniors that will now be seniors and I think you send a different message to them because there were some games that we left out there a little bit and it starts with game one (against Naperville North),” Ellinghaus said. “It starts with all the little things, the little discipline things and that’s what I’ll say in front of those kids because I’m not satisfied with being 6-4. I think these kids battled and they have high character.
“A lot of people say, ‘Great season. You should really celebrate your success.’ To me, I love the fact that we battled, but I don’t like being 6-4. Going into the DVC, we got to get some things cleaned up and it starts with the little things.”
