Vernon Hills chases history with season-long shutout

Before every game, the Vernon Hills football team eats a meal together in the school cafeteria.

The guys who play defense tend to stick together.

“We'll all try to sit at the same table, linebacker Brian Palmer said. “But the problem is, the tables aren't big enough. So we'll usually get only eight or nine of the 11 starters at one table.

Even if the Cougars could comfortably squeeze in the remaining few, they'd still feel incomplete.

Because this year, the Vernon Hills defense is an all-inclusive group that is as much about the backups as it is the starters. To have ascended this far, it's taken a village, so to speak.

The 6-0 Cougars boast one of the very best defenses in the state, and by far the stingiest. Six weeks in, Vernon Hills is the only team in Illinois to have yet to surrender a point this season.

The next closest team is Class 1A Lewistown, which has given up 22 points through six games.

“We are having so much fun, linebacker Austin Miller said. “This is something that has been very special. I've been surprised at how well we've worked together as a group. It's a lot of fun when everyone works really hard week in and week out for the same goal.

And Miller means everyone.

It hasn't been just one or two star players, such as Division I cornerbacks/wide receivers DaVaris Daniels (Notre Dame) and Evan Spencer (Ohio State) that have lifted Vernon Hills to such impressive heights.

Even the starting 11 hasn't done it alone.

“When we have all of our starters in, we play so well together, Palmer said of the defense. “But what has maybe surprised some people is that when we put the second- or third-string guys in, they hold up the shutouts just as well. That's been just as important during the streak.

Streaking toward history

Heading into tonight's North Suburban Conference Prairie Division tilt at Grant, the Cougars continue to flirt with history, and inclusion into a very exclusive club.

They'll be going for their seventh straight shutout and would then be just two shutouts away from running the table on the regular season.

According to IHSA records, only 15 teams in the state's 100-plus years of high school football history have run through an entire regular season without allowing a single point. However, 14 of those teams are from the 1930s or earlier, and back then, a high school football season may have included only four or five regular-season games.

The only “modern-era team to pitch a shutout for the entire regular season is Pittsfield, which did so in 1970.

“We're having a blast with this. It's fun to talk about, Vernon Hills coach Tony Monken said. “When we started the season with two straight shutouts (against Niles West and Chicago Raby), we all thought that was pretty nice. But when we got our third (against Lakes), we were all kind of like, ‘Let's see where we can go with this. It would be nice to finish the season (with nine shutouts and a spot in the record books).

“But at the same time. We've got the big picture in mind, too. The shutouts are great, but getting a ‘W' is more important.

No drop-offs

The Cougars have not only been getting ‘Ws, they've been getting them convincingly. They've outscored their opponents 290-0 this season.

The starting defense has dominated opposing offenses so thoroughly that the Vernon Hills offense is getting an unusually high number of opportunities to score with favorable field position.

And because the Cougars are capitalizing on those opportunities and scoring boatloads of points, the starters on both sides often get pulled early, leaving victory, and the preservation of the shutouts, in the hands of the reserves.

Sometimes for very long stretches.

In fact, Monken says his starting defenders, seven of whom returned from last season, have played in the fourth quarter of a game just one time this season.

That came in a 34-0 victory over Antioch.

Likewise, there have been three games this season that the starters have sat out the entire second half.

And yet, in all of those instances of subbing out the starters, there have been no drop-offs between them and the next 11 players in line.

For instance, in the Antioch shutout, it was the play of proud reserves such as cornerback MJ Crowley who sealed the deal. He came up with an impressive tackle for a loss as the Sequoits tried to score from 1-yard out in the final seconds.

At that point, even with the shutout streak in heavy jeopardy, the Cougars confidently went with a defensive unit comprised entirely of reserves.

“Our team is hungry this year because of the way last season ended (a second-round playoff loss), said Miller, who leads the Cougars in tackles with about 30. “But it's not just our starters who are hungry and who practice hard. It's everyone. You should see how our second-stringers practice. They want it just as much as anyone else, and you could see that in the Antioch game.

“Now that we've got this shutout streak going, that's just feeding on itself. No one, not a starter or a backup, wants to be the kid that gives up the first touchdown. So from the moment we leave the locker room, it's just major intensity from every single guy. It's amazing how intense we all are.

Not even close

The relentlessness of the Vernon Hills defense, from the top players all the way down to the last guy off the bench, thoroughly wears down the competition. To the point of almost complete ineffectiveness.

Besides the near scare on the goal line two weeks ago against Antioch, the Cougars haven't had many stressful moments on defense.

“We've had a couple of teams get inside the 30 on us, Monken said. “But we've either held them out or forced a turnover. We've forced a lot of turnovers this year.

Two teams (Lakes and Wauconda) have tried field goals on Vernon Hills, but both attempts were thwarted by determined defenders anxious to keep a goose egg on the scoreboard.

“I'll never forget our game against Wauconda (last week), Monken said. “Brian Palmer (who also plays running back for the Cougars) got the ball stripped on our first play of a drive and we were inside our own 30. Wauconda gets the ball but Palmer makes two huge tackles to force them to attempt a field goal.

“Then, he winds up blocking their field goal attempt. It was unbelievable. This has just taken on a life of its own. No one wants to make a mistake that could end the (shutout) streak. And if someone does make a mistake, they're out there working like crazy to make up for it.

Practice makes perfect

Working hard in practice has also helped the Cougars' cause.

According to Monken and his players, they don't do anything flashy on defense. They just do the basics well, because they practice them over and over and over again.

“The funny thing is, it's our base defense that messes up people the most, Miller said with a laugh. “People ask me what we're doing out there, if we're doing anything special. But we're not. We're in our base formation 85 percent of the time.

The Cougars simply know it inside and out, backwards and forward.

“Everyone from the starters to the backups understands what everyone else is supposed to be doing, Palmer said. “Yeah, we spend time in practice working on what the other team is going to be running and we go over that. But we work on the basics of our defense first. We work on the fundamentals at every practice over and over.

“At first, it's easy to be skeptical about practicing that way. After a while, it's like, ‘Yeah, yeah, we already know how to do that stuff, Coach.' But looking back now, it really does help. All the little things that you need to do during the course of a game all goes back to what we do in practice and that's how it becomes second-nature to us in games.

Almost there

Just three more games stand between the Cougars and history.

It's something the players like to think about, but are determined not to dwell on.

“We don't want to get cocky about anything, Palmer said. “We have a reputation now. We have a bull's eye on our back and teams are going to play their best against us to try to break up the streak.

“Being overconfident at this point is what could take us down.

Still, the Cougars say they can't ignore what could be their destiny. The idea of running the table with nothing but shutouts has been a rallying point for the entire defense.

“It's brought us together, Miller said. “We all talk about it, we all want it. When we're out there on the field, we're yelling things about playing tough, about keeping (the shutout in tact).

“There's no way you want to lose your head about it. And if we don't get it, we're not going to pout. But it would be nice to be in the record books. We'd love that.