New look has Antioch eager for football

There's new artificial turf, and it's bright and colorful and perfect. The new scoreboard is oversized and shiny. The new eight-lane track is wider, smoother and about to be re-lined.

Meanwhile, every inch around Antioch's football stadium is being dressed up, shined up and cleaned up.

The high school football season is almost upon us. In fact, the first official day of practice in the state of Illinois was Monday.

The Sequoits, who will open at Kenosha (Wis.) Tremper on Aug. 28, were at school early, bright-eyed and ready to go. Now, the only trick for them is to match their first-class surroundings.

"Everything's looking really nice around here," Antioch senior running back Griffin Hill said. "We're going to have to look just as good as the turf does.

"Whenever we would drive up to the school this summer and see them working on it, we were all like 'They just put in this thing, or they just put in that thing.' It's really exciting to see. There's just this sense of a lot of new things, kind of revitalizing our already high spirits. Antioch is a football town, and people are excited and now it's going to be like playing in an even bigger and better venue. It's so exciting."

The Sequoits are also excited about their prospects for the upcoming season. Hill will be one of the best running backs in the Chicago area. He's getting looks from multiple Division I programs.

There's also a fire that runs deep through the program, a dissatisfaction with the way last season ended. It's been a motivation for the Sequoits all through the off-season.

Antioch marched to a 7-2 regular season record in 2014 and had high hopes for the playoffs. But the Sequoits were upended on their own field by Chicago King in the first round, 24-17.

"We didn't (expect to lose so early in the playoffs), so everyone has fuel," Antioch coach Brian Glashagel said. "We've gotten to the point where it's great to make the playoffs, but it's an expectation. Now, it's wanting to advance deep into the playoffs.

"I liked everything we did in the summer. The kids worked hard, attendance was outstanding, weight room attendance and effort was excellent, we went to Northwestern in June, and we played 7-on-7s against multiple teams. We had a really productive summer, we're in shape, we're strong and this is a really good senior class. Very competitive."