EUREKA, Ill. -- Gary Wilson‘s running strategy for Springfield Sacred Heart-Griffin‘s Class 6A state championship team was always pretty simple.
“I try to score on every play,” he says.
Well, there was little question about that. After four years at Sacred Heart-Griffin in which the Cyclones won three state titles, there are lots of Wilson believers out there. Just in this last year, Wilson rushed for 1,646 yards and 31 touchdowns, adding a 32nd score on a pass reception.
In the Cyclones’ 37-15 win over Lemont in the Class 6A title game, Wilson ran for 122 yards and three touchdowns. He ranked among the state‘s top five touchdown scorers last season, regardless of class.
“He had a tremendous career for us,” Cyclones head coach Ken Leonard said. “He’s got stuff that you can’t coach or teach. He sees the field so well. He’s just got a real desire to be the best running back he can be.”
Saturday night at Peoria Stadium, Wilson will bid his high school career a farewell when he plays for the West team in the 35th annual Illinois Coaches Association Shrine All-Star Football Game.
“When you come to this, you get to meet all the other people, people that were good from their teams,” Wilson said after a practice this week at Eureka, Ill. “You get to see what it‘s like to play with people like that before you go away and play at school.”
Once Saturday’s game is over, Wilson will pack up and head for Connecticut, where he is attending prep school at Salisbury in the fall. Leonard figures one year of prep school will have his former star running back positioned for a big-time scholarship.
“After prep school, he’s going to have a chance hopefully to play Division I ball somewhere,” Leonard said.
At Sacred-Heart Griffin, Wilson was a workhorse. He carried the ball 162 times last season, averaging 9.4 yards per carry and having a long run of 94 yards. He also caught 13 passes for 230 yards. But what you won’t see in the stats is Wilson’s leadership for a senior-dominated team which had a combined record of 35-3 the last three years.
The Cyclones‘ only postseason loss during that period came to Providence Catholic in 2007 when Providence, a larger school from the rough Chicago Catholic Blue Conference, was assigned to Class 6A for the football playoffs.
“He‘d go hard every play in practice and the game. The kids really followed him. They knew he walked the talk,” Leonard said. “He was just a real leader; kids looked up to him. We had a lot of very good athletes and very good skill kids, but I think he was probably the emotional leader on the team.”
There are no mysteries in Wilson’s game. He can’t even quote you his high school stats. Give Wilson the football, and the 5-foot-8, 180-pounder will look you in the eye as if to say, “Just try and stop me.” He talks of Sacred Heart’s practices being so tough that the games were almost easier. There is a great tradition at Sacred Heart-Griffin. The Cyclones haven‘t encountered a losing season since 1998, and since then they‘ve never lost more than three times in one year.
“You‘re expected to win so you have to win. That‘s what it is,” Wilson said with a smile.
And as Gary Wilson moves on to his post-high school career, another Wilson, Greg, will step into his place in the Cyclones’ backfield. Greg, who rushed for 204 yards last season, will be a junior this fall.
“He‘s going to be good, too. His last name IS Wilson,” Gary said, laughing.
“Yeah, he’s got a clone,” Leonard said. “You ask ’em who’s the fastest and who’s the toughest, and you get two answers there. He’s very similar to Gary. He really looked up to Gary, and Gary was a great role model and mentor for Greg. We‘re excited about him, too.”
* The West team could provide a bit of offensive excitement in Saturday‘s game. Along with Wilson, the team‘s offense also includes Aurora Catholic quarterback Jordan Roberts, the all-time Illinois leader in touchdown passes coached by former NFL star Don Beebe. John Lantz, Wilson‘s teammate at Springfield Sacred Heart-Griffin, will be at receiver.
Two Chicago-area seniors will play defense for the East team: Hinsdale South linebacker Kyle Wagner and Glenbard West defensive end Theo Odom. Offensively, Downers Grove South lineman Chris Wild will play for the East. Tickets are $10, and kickoff is at 6:30 p.m. Saturday.
Recruiting: Fiedorowicz to Illinois
C.J. Fiedorowicz of Johnsburg, one of the nation’s top tight ends, committed to Illinois on June 8, according to multiple news reports. A Class of 2010 senior, he chose the Illini over Notre Dame, Ohio State, Wisconsin and Iowa, among others.
Fiedorowicz, 6-foot-7 and 240 pounds, caught 49 passes for 809 yards and 11 touchdowns last season.
* Lake Forest quarterback Tommy Rees, who passed for 2,200 yards and 22 touchdowns last season for a Lake Forest team which won just five games, verbaled to Notre Dame. Rees, 6-foot-3 and 198 pounds, also had offers from Tennessee, Stanford, Central Michigan, Bowling Green and Miami (Ohio). His stock rose over the summer while attending camps. “Just as a pure quarterback, he has an unbelievably accurate arm,” Lake Forest coach Chuck Spagnoli told the Chicago Sun-Times.
* Toni Kokenis, a senior point guard at Hinsdale Central, accepted a scholarship offer last week from Stanford. “It‘s my dream school, I always wanted to go there,” she told the Chicago Tribune. Kokenis averaged 17.9 points and 5 assists per game last season for Central, which finished 31-3. A member of Central‘s Class 3A-winning soccer team last spring, Kokenis will recognize another soccer player on campus. Lake Forest‘s Rachel Quon, the Gatorade National Player of the Year, is also a Stanford recruit, but in women‘s soccer.
* Simeon basketball player Brandon Spearman, a 6-foot-3 guard, verbaled to Dayton last week. He also had offers from Iowa State, DePaul, Baylor and Valparaiso, according to rivals.com.
* Brother Rice’s Kevin Koziol, a shortstop and pitcher who was the Gatorade Illinois Baseball Player of the Year, has verbaled to NCAA champ LSU. Koziol hit .356 for Brother Rice last spring, his junior season, leading Brother Rice to a 31-3 record, including a school-record 27-game winning streak to open the season. Koziol was also recruited hard by Notre Dame and Clemson.
* Also, St. Charles North baseball star Ryan Richardson verbaled to Nebraska, according to the Sun-Times News Group. Richardson led North with a .459 batting average last spring.
Paul Bowker, a sports journalist for 25 years who has worked at newspapers nationwide, covers the Chicago area for MaxPreps. He may be reached at bowkerpaul1@aol.com
