To say Cody Hilburn’s first season at the helm of Seneca football was a success would be more than a slight understatement.
After a 3-7 season in 2020, Hilburn was introduced as the new head coach to his alma mater and led the Indians to an 8-5 record and a district championship in the process. Looking ahead to 2022, Seneca has its sights set even higher.
“I don’t know that the expectations were extremely high last year,” Hilburn said of his first season with Seneca. “We had to replace a lot of seniors, but we had a group of (incoming) seniors who were committed to what we were trying to do and bought into our ‘One percent better everyday’ motto. By the end of the year, we were playing pretty good football and found a way to win a district championship. Having that momentum going into the offseason helps. Our kids were excited to get back on the field after working hard in the offseason.”
“It was special,” Hilburn said when asked what last season meant to him. “I am not going to lie to you. But, more than just coming back to my (alma mater), it was the kids that I coached. To see a group of kids never as ‘why we are changing this?’ or “why are we doing that?’, they just bought in and did everything we asked them to do.”
While the Indians lost eight starters to graduation, the good news is nine starters are coming back and each of them were pivotal in the success last year.
“I think it’s big to bring back those kids who had a chance to win a district championship and play in an atmosphere like that before hosting a quarterfinal game,” Hilburn said. “We’ve experienced that already. So, the next time that happens, hopefully it will be ‘been there, done that’ for us.”
By class, Seneca returning starters and lettermen are senior linebacker Lincoln Renfro—a first-team all-conference, area and all-state honoree who earned SWMFBCA Player of the Year recognition—senior LB Dominick Wheeler, senior OL/DLs Chris Alexander and Jacob Gravener as well as senior WR/DB Conner Ackerson, who was first-team all-conference and district WR to go along with second-team all-area and conference HM as a DB. Also returning are senior OL/DL Logan Barwick, senior DB Jordan Allen, senior Nicholas Stephens as well as junior SS Morgan Vaughn, junior WR/DB Ethan Altic and junior RB/LB Jackson Marrs, who was a first-team all-district and area as a RB, LB and return man. He also earned second-team conference RB, LB and returner as well as garnering third-team all-state honors as a return man.
Newcomers to the varsity level expected to make an impact include junior Gavyn Hoover, who is expected to start at QB this year for the Indians, senior OL/DL Nash Crane, senior K Enoch Miller, junior WR/DBs Blake Skelton, Eli Olson and Cedar Starchman, junior OL/DL Brian Bigbee and junior LB Kouper Jarvis.
With the bevy of experience back coming off the success of last season, it’s certain no opponent will take Seneca lightly this season. For the Indians to build on the positive way last season closed, Coach Hilburn knows his team will have to be just as prepared and focused, if not more so, than last season in order to be where they want to be by the start of the postseason.
“I think we are going to get everybody’s best this year,” Hilburn said. “There’s no more sneaking up on anyone, or having a team overlook us. There is a whole new set of expectations and our kids are trying to understand that, but it takes reps and it takes weeks to truly figure that out.
Seneca opens the season on the road with a matchup at Aurora before hosting Springfield Catholic on Sept. 2.
