Football: Lockport returns to winning ways

Updated: October 31, 2011 4:59PM

Lockport’s football season has taken plenty of twists and turns, but the Porters can’t argue with the destination.

After knocking off the Public League’s best team, Simeon, on Friday night at Gately Stadium, the Porters are in the second round of the IHSA playoffs for the first time since they won back-to-back Class 8A championships in 2002 and ‘03.

Lockport (7-3) plays at Homewood-Flossmoor (7-3) this weekend in a rematch of a Week 6 game won 35-0 by the Vikings. “We feel we’ve changed as an offensive unit since that week, and hopefully we’ve gotten a little bit better,” first-year coach Don McKillip said.

The Porters have been good enough to play into November despite losing three starters to season-ending injuries while adjusting to a new offensive scheme introduced by McKillip.

The fact that McKillip, 53, is running the show is yet another twist. This is his first season as a head coach since he ended a four-year run at Aledo in 1987. He then spent almost 20 years at Marian Catholic as an assistant and as head coach of the wrestling, boys track and girls track programs.

He moved to Lockport five years ago, content to continue being an assistant in football. Then Bret Kooi resigned after last season and McKillip, who led the Lockport sophomores to an 8-1 record, was faced with an unforeseen opportunity.

“It was something that I never really expected to happen again,” he said. “When the opportunity came up, I was a little hesitant at first. Then I decided to throw my hat in the ring.”

And McKillip has some talented athletes to work with. Senior wide receiver Tommy Hook has committed to play baseball at Northern Illinois, senior defensive back Shon’Qae McMurtry was a state wrestling runner-up last winter and senior quarterback Billy Reed is a throwback, a three-sport standout who excels at football, baseball and basketball.

Reed is one of the Porters who missed time this season, but he’s back from a knee injury that kept him out of two games and part of another. Three other starters have been less fortunate, going out with season-ending injuries: junior free safety Ted Snidanko (broken ribs), senior offensive tackle Matt Lucenti (neck) and senior defensive end Sam Starcevich.

But the Porters have some depth, which helped them survive in the rugged SouthWest Suburban Blue, where their losses were to powers Lincoln-Way East (10-0), Bolingbrook (9-1) and H-F.

The numbers are there in the offensive backfield, where McKillip has instituted a platoon system. He has what he calls the “senior” backfield of Dexter Taylor (the Porters’ leading rusher), Rich Galvan and Mike Haldeman and the “junior” backfield of Richie Guess, Branden Bays and occasionally Mike Dudek with sophomore Lamar Dawson also in the mix.

All those backs are getting plenty of reps in the Porters’ revamped offense. “We’re putting in a new system as far as running the ball rather than throwing the ball,” McKillip said. “The offense has adjusted pretty well, we just need to gain a little more consistency.”

Part of the transition has been getting a young offensive line used to doing more run blocking as opposed to pass blocking. On the other side of the ball, the Porters have some depth as well, especially in a linebacking corps that includes seniors Brad Johnson and Jon Guess as well as junior Jesse Kwak. Linemen Klayton Soucy and Kegan Anspach and defensive backs McMurtry and Steve Martinez also have been leaders on that unit.

McKillip also wants the Porters to be good off the field as well, so he’s made it a point of emphasis for them to get out in the community. He’s hoping that gets the people of Lockport fired up about football again.

“That was one of my goals coming back in,” he said. “I thought we lost a little of the luster.”

But based on what’s happened so far this fall, the buzz may be returning to Porter football.

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