Romeoville ready to turn the page, start over

The t-shirts that they wore summed up their approach for both the present and the future, "New Era, New Attitude."

That's the slogan that first-year Romeoville football coach Jeff Kuna and his team displayed during last Saturday's University of St. Francis Passing Jamboree at Pershing School.

While words are great, the new Spartan coach realizes that he and his players have a lot of work to do before they can bring the Spartans' program back to the respectability that they once enjoyed.

Romeoville, which made six playoff trips from 1994-2002, has only gone 6-39 in the past five seasons. In addition, it has only won one of its last 16 games and has been winless in conference play for two years.

But Kuna has been around success during his 12 years as an assistant at Plainfield and Plainfield Central and that's a big reason why he believes that he can turn things around in his new setting.

"Romeoville has a strong tradition since the 1980's but it's died off a little bit during the last five years," Kuna said. "We've come up with the slogan, 'New Era, New Attitude," and we're changing the way that we think and the way that we approach things and how we prepare.

"The turnout this year is better than it has been in the past five years. I'm been real happy with their attendance and attitude so far and the kids are working hard and are doing everything that we've asked them to do. It's been a very positive and successful start to the summer."

While 7-on-7 passing events have been a given for most of the area's programs, the Spartans hadn't participated in them and only took part in their first 7-on-7 competition last Tuesday at Bolingbrook.

"This is the first time that they've ever done 7-on-7, so in the last three years, none of the gentlemen we have on the field had ever done this," Kuna said. "How do you play pass defense or expect to pass the ball well if you don't have that opportunity to learn during the summer?

"This is an opportunity for us to teach on the field against an opponent. I thought that our guys responded great on Tuesday. We did a great job defensively and although we were a little slow on offense, we know that it takes a little bit longer to get into an offensive rhythm."

Senior Kentaro Pierce, the team's leading rusher from a year ago, is back. Senior Timothy Johnson and junior Antoine Curry look to be cornerbacks while junior Derrick Lewis is another running back. All four competed on Romeoville's 4 x 100 relay in the state track and field meet.

Kuna looks for a three-year starter, senior linebacker Kevin Smidt, to lead the way on defense. Junior Cameron Stingley figures to help out on both sides of the ball. Senior Westin Wirkus and junior Erik Pierce, Kentaro's brother, are currently battling for the quarterback position.

"Our guys are starting to see what level of commitment is needed for us to be a successful football program and they're combining the philosophies that we're putting forward as a coaching staff," Kuna said. "The nice thing is that we're in the conference that I coached in, the Southwest Prairie.

"They haven't won a game in that conference and that's one of the things we're looking to change. As long as the boys continue to work as hard as they have and if they can sustain that over the course of the summer, I think we can be a successful team since we have a lot of great raw ability."

Beside the obvious benefits that having several individuals who possess speed provides for a football team, players like Johnson realize that the real key to the Spartans' turnaround hinges more on people having the right approach.

"A lot of peoples' attitudes have been negative during the past few years due to our bad seasons," Johnson said. "But Coach comes in and has given us a new and positive attitude and a better outlook because of our potential so everyone's attitude is starting to turn around.

"This group of guys is no longer about me anymore but it's more about the team and helping it get wins. If I have to play a different position to make my team better, then I'll do it. If I have to get up a 2 o'clock in the morning and practice five hours to make the team better, I'll do it.

"We've never done 7-on-7 before and it's a good experience and improves our team chemistry. Each day we're better players since we're learning things correctly. Romeoville has a lot of tradition so even though we've had a few slip ups, we're going to get back up on the horse."