***This story was written by Chase Palm, a participant in The Kewanee Voice Student Journalism Program. The program is funded by the Harry Anderson Memorial Trust.
The Central Steamers are coming off of an accomplished 6-1 season.
Fueled by committed players and an attentive coaching staff, the Steamers won the Prairieland Conference championship at Mercer County on Oct. 14, where they competed against Mercer County’s own Golden Eagles.
The hard work by both the players and their coaches surely paid off this season.
“It’s like my heart swelled up seeing them overcome the challenges,” Assistant Coach Rick Pikowski said.
Pikowski is a first-year assistant coach for the Steamers. Before joining Kewanee High School’s English department, he played football himself at his alma mater, St. Rita of Cascia in Chicago.
“I was really lucky to have such an awesome team of players, they made my first year of coaching unbelievably awesome, especially with all the talent and all the fun we had during the season,” Pikowski said.
The conference championship thrilled Head Coach Tom Baney. Baney is finishing his second year as head football coach and said this year will definitely be one to remember. The Steamers were 6-1 this season, including their win against non-conference foe United Township.
“This is only our third year in the Prairieland Conference, but this is our first ever conference championship for the junior high for football,” Baney said.
The Steamers were originally in the Big 14 Conference, where their best record placed them third, making this win an even greater accomplishment.
This victory was hard fought, but giving up is not in the Steamers’ vocabulary.
“The first was the Orion loss. It was the last home game, it was against a team that was a good team, but one that we were marked to beat. And we almost wound up winning the game.” Baney said.
After the Orion game, Baney encouraged his players to not lose hope since they would be going up against Mercer County that Saturday.
“We went into Mercer County and we were down 14-0 at halftime, but then we held them scoreless, then we scored one touchdown in the third quarter, one touchdown in the fourth quarter,” Baney said.
Baney emphasized the resilience his team showed throughout this game. “It really looked like we were going to lose, but the players’ attitudes and the toughness they had really paid off and I think that’s why we won. I told them once you join this team, we’re a family.”
Football isn’t the only thing that Baney and his coaches are teaching. Respect and resilience are two main life skills Baney would like to see his players develop.
He referred to them as the “two R’s: I want them to be able to carry that on to the next level and then beyond,” he said. Baney added that “We really focused on the mental attitudes of our players.”
Baney spoke of a number of student athletes who had significant contributions to the team this season. He considered eighth grader Ace LaFollette the Steamers’ best asset in the last game, having scored all three championship touchdowns. Baney also praised seventh graders Ayden Gros and Grady Currier for their defensive prowess and eighth grader Chris Crowe for scoring in every game until ending the season with an injury.
The Steamer head coach also applauded Lain Taylor for his success as the season’s quarterback and Eli Dennison for being the best linemen of the year.
Though their season may be over, Pikowski is convinced that the Steamers’ best days lie ahead.
“Keep an eye on this group of kids the next few years because by the time they’re seniors they are going to have a heck of a ball team. We’ve got a lot of up and coming athletes, so football here in Kewanee the next few years is going to be a lot of fun to watch.” Pikowski said.
In case you need your athletic fix met before the Steamers reach KHS, catch the varsity boys basketball team Friday in Brockman Gym.
