MaxPreps Weekly Honor Roll, presented by the United States Marine Corps: Andrew Wilhite, Stillman Valley

The most famous athlete to ever come out of Stillman Valley (Ill.) — a smallish (600 enrollment) high school just south of Rockford in rural Northwest Illinois — was basketball star Dan Godfread.

The 6-foot-10 post averaged 16 points and 12 rebounds for the Cardinals his senior year, had a nice run at Evansville and actually worked his way all the way onto two NBA rosters — the Timberwolves and Rockets — for all of 11 games in the early 1990s.

While Godfread filled up the hoop, it was on the gridiron where Stillman Valley's real athletic claim to fame was built. The Cardinals earned the moniker of "Valley of Champions" for winning five state football titles between 1993 and 2013.

But today, it's the baseball diamond where the spotlight shines brightest upon the Cardinals, who have won a school record 29 games (against seven losses) and enter Saturday's section final against Burlington Central, one win shy of their first entrance into the state's 3A super sectional.

Leading that pack, is an unflappable, confident, scholarly 18-year-old shortstop who bats left-handed, pitches with either arm, and who may just emerge to unseat Godfread as Stillman Valley's brightest light.

Andrew Wilhite is a 6-foot-1, 185-pound senior who through 34 games was hitting a cool .417 with 17 doubles, 11 home runs and 53 RBIs.
In 102 at-bats, the 6-foot, 185-pound senior has 48 hits, been walked 20 times, hit 10 other times while sporting a crazy .586 on-base and .980 slugging percentages.

That just tells half his story. On the field anyway.


For the fourth straight year, he'll surely be picked first team All-Big Northern Conference, and next season he'll be on scholarship for the University of Minnesota.


His dad is no hard driver, Andrew said. He wasn't at all forced to play the game his pop coached and used to play as a right-hand pitcher in college.


He saw early on that hitting from the left side had its built in advantages, namely hitting against right-hand pitchers, which make up a vast majority of hurlers.

A natural right-hander, he grew up admiring the majestic left-handed swings of Ted Williams and Ken Griffey Jr., and later of Anthony Rizzo — of his beloved Cubs — and southpaw-swinging shortstops, Corey Seager and Brandon Crawford.

"He has always been athletic enough where you have to explain to him how to do something once and he understands how to make his body execute it," Scott said.

That became most obvious when Andrew was 10. He watched then-Creighton pitcher Pat Venditte throw with both arms.


Dad was cool with it as long as it wasn't a novelty act. "We weren't going to spend all this time on it just to show his friends," Scott said.

He wouldn't have wanted to early. "I was awful at it," Andrew said.

But like all other endeavors of his life — he has a 4.0 grade point average and is a school valedictorian — Andrew worked endlessly with his dad and former big-league pitcher Dan Scarpetta at his switch-pitching craft.

"By the time he was a freshman, he got pretty decent at it," Scott said.

Decent enough to be utilized on the varsity both ways. As a right-hander he was 7-3 with a 1.98 ERA and 75 strikeouts in 62.2 innings. As a lefty, he was 3-0 with a 1.05 ERA and 16 strikeouts in 13.1 innings.

Scarpetta told the Rockford Register Star: "I've been around baseball a long time, and I've had kids who could just throw it with both arms. But I had never met anybody who could pitch like this kid can, from both sides like that. Never."

He pitched in every Sectional game as a sophomore, switching arms each start. "He was our ace and No. 2 pitcher at the same time," said junior outfielder Kilton Rauman.

Even though he continued to develop as a lefty — he's been clocked at 87 mph with his right arm and 84 with his left — the Cardinals haven't utilized Andrew as a switch-pitcher the last two seasons.

The state implemented a new pitch-count rule, something all were in favor for, but forget to include stipulations for switch pitchers, thus negating the advantage. Besides that, the Cardinals are blessed with a stellar southpaw in Evan Christenson. And a record-setting team.

"With Evan and the team we have, we definitely don't need me to pitch both ways to be successful," Andrew said. "It's been an awesome season and I'm surrounded by great teammates. We're like a family."


He's a marvelous shortstop and dominant hitter, said Rauman, and even a better team leader.


In a conference title game May 10 against Dixon, both teams entered 16-2, and Andrew sensed the Cardinals were tight.

"He gathered us behind the dugout after infield and just reminded us that we've been playing together since Little League, that we just need to play for fun and joy. It totally got us both excited and focused somehow."

Stillman Valley won 10-1.

Andrew said he has no desire to be a coach. He and his dad have an impeccable, seamless relationship. Always have. Rauman said Scott doesn't coach his son too hard but certainly doesn't play favorites.

"Honestly, you forget sometimes they are father and son," Rauman said. "Andrew works and motivates himself on his own. He does a great job coaching himself." Like in Wednesday's sectional semifinal. With the score tied at 2-2 in the seventh at Sterling, the Cardinals loaded the bases with one out. Andrew stood at second.

A grounder to third was turned into a force out at the plate, and when the catcher threw to first to complete a possible inning-ending double play, Andrew, with good speed and 14 steals on the season, broke for the plate.


"I was just trying to be aggressive and force a mistake," Andrew said.

The throw went astray, Andrew slid in safe and the Cardinals won 3-2 to move into Saturday's game at Garnter Park in Sterling. Andrew will be on the mound.

Dad wasn't too surprised his son made such an instinctual play.

"We've always had a good relationship, talking about the game in a real natural way," Scott said. "I think he has a real good understanding that there's going to be failures in the game and you're going to make mistakes. It's all about how you handle failure."

At this point, with his final game(s) on the horizon, Andrew Wilhite has had his fair share of success. Not of it has been by accident. Both his mom and dad are teachers and taught him the importance of academics. Athletics reinforced many of those teachings.

"The whole intent of getting him involved in sports was to develop a work ethic — that generally if you work hard at something, good results will follow," Scott said.

Judging from his days at Stillman Valley, those good results should follow at Minnesota and beyond. Andrew realizes the big leagues is a long shot, but that's probably what they told Godfread about the NBA.

"I understand it's a hard game but I want to take it as far as I can," Andrew said. "I'd love to play as long as I can.

"I'm not a sentimental person, but it's crazy to think four years have passed and these are my last high school games, and it's weird to think that my dad won't be in my dugout anymore coaching me.