Prep Football: Ties That Bind

Posted October 30, 2015 11:00 pm

There both just a phone call away.

Like many sports, coaches share the trials and tribulations of the job with each other - the good and the bad.

Brandon Hampton and Al Way are no different as the Eldorado and Harrisburg head football coachesembark on what can be an elusive spot in the IHSA postseason.

Harrisburg has missed the last two years in the postseason, but Al Way returned this year after stepping away in 2005, to take a team that went 2-7 a year ago to a 7-2 finish this season.

It's likely that no one expected this amount of success for the Bulldogs this quickly, but here they are, preparing to play a 6-3 Quincy Notre Dame team Saturday at 3 p.m. at Taylor Field.

Harrisburg has made the playoffs now in 18 of Way's 23 seasons on the sidelines where Way was head coach from 1981-2001 and again for that 2005 season.

This will be Harrisburg's 28th playoff appearance, where the Bulldogs boast one state championship, two runners up, six semifinals and 11 quarterfinal showings.

When Way left Harrisburg back in 2005, he landed a job for the upstart Vienna-Goreville program with then head coach Mike Rude. Prior to this season, Way was an assistant for Hampton at Eldorado for two years.

Knowing the difficult climb back up that Harrisburg had to make, no one was more of a believer than Hampton.

"When you really look at what Harrisburg has been able to do, from being out of the postseason to now being in it and had a couple of come from behind victories, it just goes to show you that he's a very good teacher of the game," Hampton said of Way. "He is what I always call an expert in Southern Illinois football. He knew the things that high school teams were going to try to do to his style of offense. He knew some things to do defensively that really limited some people. They were small things, but the reality of it is, they were the big things.

"He's a guy that we constantly communicate throughout the week," Hampton added. "When he wins, I'm happy for him over there. When we win, he's happy for us. It's been a nice little working relationship between the two of us, and I have a lot of respect for him."

But the hardest climb to the top, may have been what Hampton has had to endure during his tenure at Eldorado.

Hampton inherited a team that had missed the playoffs three years in a row, prior to his arrival in 2008. The Eagles didn't make it into the postseason, until 2010, when EHS drew Johnston City - which resulted in a first round loss.

The following year, playing in Class 3A, Hampton and crew suffered a first round loss at Anna-Jonesboro, and a 2012 season in which the Eagles missed the playoffs.

The last two years, Eldorado has had first round losses to Carlyle and Johnston City in the first round.

This year, however, Eldorado is 9-0 and is hosting its first home playoff game since 1996, when Athens rolls into town Saturday at 2 p.m.

One would have to go back to 1988 to find the last time Eldorado won a playoff game as that season EHS knocked off Johnston City 44-0.

Being a part of Eldorado coaching staff for the past two seasons, Way knew the long process Eldorado was working through, and appreciates the solid program Hampton has in place.

"When Brandon came in over there, they were just absolutely horrible." Way said. "He's had to work his tail off and get the right people in place with his little league program and sell his kids on the program. He spends a tremendous amount of time and hard work, and it's paid off for him. The kids believe in what they are doing, and they believe in their system, and he's fortunate enough now that he's got athletes that can run his system, and they're just very solid right now. He's got a good program in place."

At 9-0 some might argue that Eldorado is the best team in southern Illinois that no one knows about. Way says playing in the Black Diamond Conference can have that effect on a team.

"Being in the BDC you don't get as much notoriety as you do in the South Seven, or maybe your big name teams in the River to River, but I think people will definitely notice them, especially with their win over Chester."

As for Hampton, he's not getting caught up in anything, other than enjoying the moment.

"I don't know on that," Hampton said. "I think the knock on us coming out of Week 5 was that we've beaten a bunch of bad teams, and shoot, look at their record, that's probably true. I felt like we've had our kid's attention all year. I think this team needs props on what they've been able to do - some recognition - because undefeated seasons don't come around very often. The ability to win with so many road games this year is something this football team can be proud of.

"What I like about this team is how they go about their business," Hampton said. "You've heard me say it, we've had one bad day of practice all year and that was the first one, because we had some new parts into the equation, but our kids go about their business. They don't get wrapped up in any of that stuff, they care about one another and I think we're a good football team."

Win or lose on Saturday, one thing is for certain come Sunday, Hampton and Way will share a phone call.

Michael Dann covers prep and college sports for the Harrisburg Daily Register. Follow him on Twitter: @spydieshooter.