Football: Aaron Bailey the key for Bolingbrook

Updated: November 29, 2011 12:09PM

Bolingbrook coach John Ivlow knew he had to form his offense to fit his team’s strength.

Quarterback Aaron Bailey is quite a strength.

This season, the 6-foot-2, 216-pound junior has rushed for 1,834 yards and 28 touchdowns. Toss in his 50-for-118 passing for 899 yards with 10 touchdowns and he has accounted for over 2,700 yards for the Raiders (12-1), who will face Loyola (13-0) for the Class 8A state title Saturday.

“He’s a tremendous athlete, a competitor,” said Ivlow of Bailey. “With him, we switched our offense to the triple option. Probably 90 percent of our plays have been run out of the option. We scrapped most of our power stuff and we’ve been successful.”

Bailey made an impact on varsity his freshman year at wide receiver. He moved to quarterback as a sophomore, but missed three games with an injury and the Raiders finished 5-5. Still, Bailey had a good feeling about this season.

“I told my mom after last season that we were going to state [this] year,” he said. “We believed. But we’re not just happy with getting here, we’re going to finish.”

Belief is something that has helped Bailey in his quest to take Bolingbrook to its second state title game (the Raiders lost the 1993 Class 5A title game 7-0 to Belvidere). Bailey models himself after Tim Tebow and wears the same jersey number, 15.

“I like the way [Tebow] is off the field,” Bailey said. “You have to have faith that it’s going to happen. This feels great and it’s a blessing. There’s a lot of support for us.”

While Bailey will be back for another season, he knows this is the the final game for the seniors and he wants to help send them out with a title.

“This is their last game as a Bolingbrook Raider,” he said. “I want them to look back and say they won a state championship.”

So does Ivlow, who reminded Erik McDowell and Austin VanMeter — two of his senior defensive players — where they came from after the 22-19 semifinal victory over Naperville Central.

“Remember when you were freshmen and the team’s record was 1-8,” Ivlow asked the two in the huddle following the semifinal. “I told you that senior year you would be conference champions. Well, my apologies, instead we’re going to state.”

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