Glenbard West seniors savor their last ride as long as possible

There’s a strong relationship between Bryce Ellens returning to the football field and Glenbard West coach Chad Hetlet calling last week’s Class 7A playoff win the Hilltoppers’ “first full, complete game” of the season.

In the senior’s first game action since a Week 2 injury, the fast-twitch shape-shifter — running back, receiver, cornerback, safety, kick and punt returner — scored touchdowns running and receiving in Glenbard West’s first shutout win of the season, 56-0 over Moline.

Ellens is back where he belongs. Playing football with “my guys.”

“Football means so much to me and having to sit on the sideline and watch everyone work and not be able to be there with them (hurt). It’s definitely great to be back,” Ellens said.

Ellens’ guys include players like senior tight end and Hilltoppers co-captain Brady Johnson, a three-year varsity starter committed to play football at Northwestern as his father, Rob, did before him.

“They understand the culture and what the expectations are for our program,” Hetlet said.

Teammates such as program veterans and senior co-captains Phin Codinha and Finn Sheeley, and more recent additions like quarterback A.J. Rayford, who transferred to Glenbard West after he started as a sophomore at Providence.

“It was joining a brotherhood that I knew everybody had my back,” said Rayford, a dual-threat quarterback who, like Ellens, has college interest but has yet to make a decision.

“Knowing you have a brother that’s going to hold you accountable just pushes you to work harder. I make a mistake, a brother picks me up. Somebody else makes a mistake, I pick them up. Having each other’s back is the main part,” Rayford said.

Bolstered by players like Rayford and Johnson’s future Northwestern teammate, offensive tackle Josiah Wallace, formerly of Mt. Carmel, Saturday’s second-round Class 7A playoff game against No. 2 seed Hersey may not initially have been on Glenbard West’s bingo card.

“The one thing about this senior group, they show perseverance,” Hetlet said.

“They were 2-7 as freshmen, they scored like three touchdowns in eighth grade, didn’t win a game. Collectively they’ve grown as a group and some new pieces to the puzzle have helped them as well,” he said.

Yep, 0-8 the year before this senior class entered high school. This season, 7-3.

“It’s cool to see all of us putting it together. Eighth-grade football we weren’t very good,” said the 6-foot-3, 230-pound Johnson, who started playing football with the Glen Ellyn Golden Eagles in the fifth grade. Ellens had already been on the Golden Eagles for three seasons. Rayford played for the Naperville Patriots.

“I think we’ve gotten super tight as a whole team,” Johnson said. “In the beginning of the season we didn’t know how we would mesh with the juniors, how they would mesh with us. I think over time we’ve gotten super-tight as a group. It’s just a tight-knit group that cares about the little things.”

“There was a lot of pressure on these guys to get better, and they did in the off-season,” Hetlet said.

They’ll hope to postpone this off-season as long as possible, though it’ll be a challenge against unbeaten Hersey.

“This is my last ride with the boys,” Rayford said. “I don’t want it to end, so I’m definitely going to make sure I do everything possible to make sure it doesn’t end.”

Ellens and Johnson called Hersey a “great” opponent requiring immense preparation and team buy-in to overcome.

“I think if we all share a common goal, everybody’s going to want it bad enough, then it’ll happen. But it’s definitely going to be hard,” Ellens said.

“I’ve kind of been dreading it, never really want it to end,” he said. “But it’s going to come to an end at some point. We have the chance to make it last as long as possible, so we’re going to do whatever we can to make that happen.”