West Chicago’s uphill climb delivers long-awaited playoff victory

There's an unusual quirk tucked away in IHSA football history.

The state playoffs began in 1974, and West Chicago was one of five schools crowned inaugural state champions.

Since the day West Chicago beat Mount Carmel 32-0 for the Class 3A title, the Wildcats had not won another playoff game, a drought that spanned 52 years.

The streak finally ended Saturday with a 48-24 win over Prosser at Hanson Stadium in Chicago. The expanded playoffs made this possible and luck of the draw helped, but however it happened — the streak is over.

“My favorite moment was at the end of the game, realizing we did it,” said two-way lineman Lincoln Jeffery. “I've been looking forward to this moment all year. Once it finally happened, it really just hit me. We did it, we broke the streak. It really felt amazing.”

The Wildcats were back to business as usual at Monday's practice, and players reported the streak-busting celebration was nothing over the top.

“We celebrated on the bus, played music,” running back Iann Lemus said. “On to the next.”

“We all went to Chipotle, ate together as a team, talked about the win, hung out,” added linebacker Geoffrey Fleming.

This is a success story that had been building for a few years. The Wildcats made the playoffs in 2023 for the first time in 21 years, and this was their fourth straight postseason appearance. The previous three happened before playoff expansion.

“We talk about making history,” said fifth-year head coach Adam Chavez. “A couple years ago, it was the first playoff we had in 20-something years. Then it was first time in school history back-to-back.

“Now this group of seniors, since they've been in high school, they've made the playoffs every year. You can kind of see where the program is heading. We can see what we're doing is working. Slowly but surely, but it's working. Just tremendous for the community.”

Here's how Saturday's victory went down. West Chicago jumped out to an early lead, with Bobby Elizondo scoring on a 36-yard run, then Liam Zbierski caught a couple long touchdown passes, 63 and 39 yards, from quarterback Lucas Wheat. Later in the game, Wheat threw a third TD pass to Fleming.

West Chicago got an important defensive stop late in the first half, then pulled away in the fourth quarter.

Passing touchdowns have been rare for the Wildcats, who have stuck mostly to the ground this season. Lemus is at 1,266 rushing yards and Elizondo at 744 yards.

“They were really trying to stop the run,” Chavez said. “We knew we had some play-action, so we just took advantage of it.”

One issue for West Chicago, Chavez said, is there's no youth tackle football in the town. Lemus, Wheat, Jeffery didn't start playing football until they got to high school. Elizondo, a junior, is playing for the first time this season. Fleming, whose father used to coach at South Elgin, is the one exception. He commuted to play for the Glen Ellyn Golden Eagles.

Chavez played high school football at Morton, another suburban program without much successful history, so he was ready for this challenge.

“As a program, all we've been talking about is trying to go uphill,” Jeffery said. “Uphill, that's all we want. We all had a lot of momentum, a lot of energy, and we just knew it would happen.”

Obviously, the Wildcats face an enormous challenge this week against Downers Grove North. Chavez thinks it will be the best team they've faced in his five seasons, but he's also aware of the big picture.

“(Saturday's win) was a momentum-builder for the program,” he said. “Everybody wants to go out and play for a winner. Whatever happens on Friday, this is only helping us.”

Two years ago, West Chicago held a 50-year reunion for the 1974 state champs, and several players returned. After the game, Chavez was greeted by another alum.

“There was somebody at the game that said he had graduated from West Chicago in 1978, and he lives in the city now,” Chavez said. “He was just so happy to see the team back in the playoffs and win a game. He said it was the first game he’d been to since high school.”