Romeoville to rely on Stingily

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On one hand, Cameron Stingily has no problem with grabbing a little more of the glory.

"The more carries I get, the more I like it," the touted Romeoville senior said during a break in last Saturday's University of St. Francis football passing camp at Pershing Grade School.

On the other hand, "I like blocking more than running the ball," he added. "There is nothing better than blowing up a linebacker and opening the hole for one of our backs."

Followers of high school football in the Joliet area recognize Stingily as an all-area linebacker. Eastern Michigan University and Northern Illinois already have offered to bring the 6-foot-1, 235-pound wrecker in as a linebacker. Ball State reportedly may be next to make an offer.

But, hey, if getting his hands on the ball more often, or opening holes with his blocking more often, is what the Spartans need to be successful, he is all for it.

"Coach (Jeff Kuna) will take care of how often I play offense and what I do on offense," Stingily said with a smile. "He said one thing is for sure, and that's that I will get no breaks on defense.

"So, if I get tired playing defense, I can't go on offense. I've got to make sure I'm in shape to play both ways."

Stingily plays an outside linebacker in Romeoville's 4-4 alignment. He has been timed at between 4.6 and 4.7 in the 40-yard dash. "But on the field, I think I'm faster than that," he said.

You would not get an argument from any of the Spartans' opponents.

Still, Romeoville has had no success yet in its tenure as a member of the Southwest Prairie Conference. But Kuna, formerly the longtime defensive coordinator at league member Plainfield Central, experienced his rookie season as a head coach a year ago, and while Romeoville went 2-0 in its nonconference games and 0-7 in the league, the Spartans were competitive in many of the conference defeats.

And, Stingily is far from all they have coming back.

Stingily rushed for 288 yards in 51 carries last season, a 5.6 average. Leading rusher Derek Lewis is entering his senior season after gaining 423 and averaging 4.8.

Senior Erick Pierce, the quarterback early last season, will be in the mix as a pass receiver, and Donald Miller came up from the sophomore team in mid-season and provided a boost to the receiving corps.

Plus, junior quarterback Matt Gillis, a varsity baseball catcher this spring as a sophomore, picked up valuable experience last fall, starting the last five varsity games at quarterback.

"We basically have all our skills (skill players) back," Kuna said. "So that's a good place to start.

"Matt Gillis is athletic and has a strong arm, and he had those five starts as a sophomore."

"It's good going into my junior year and knowing the speed of the varsity game instead of starting fresh," Gillis said. "The game is a lot faster on the varsity level."

Gillis said he is using the 7-on-7s this summer to help get his reads down, and get accustomed to working with the Spartans' various receivers.

"Erick Pierce, Donald Miller, Bo Goshorn and Wayne Fitts all are good receivers," Gillis said. "We threw the ball a fair amount last year, but now with the year experience and me knowing the coverages better, we may throw even more this year."

Regardless of how it happens, one given is that Stingily will be in the limelight on offense as well as on defense.

"Cameron Stingily, we just have to get the ball in his hands more, make him a centerpiece of our offense," Kuna said. "We want him to touch the ball 15 times a game, and it's a given that he will play every down on defense."

"Last year, it seemed like every time Stingily got his hands on the ball, he made a big play for us," Gillis said.

Romeoville's numbers are good, Kuna noted. "We have 100 kids with us this summer on the sophomore and varsity levels combined, so that's a good turnout," he said. "That gives us a good base to work with."

The goal, naturally, is to get the Spartans back to the playoffs.

"That's what we want, to get this program back where it was, where the playoffs are the expectation," Kuna said. "The commitment in the weight room has been excellent. All the guys have done something to make themselves better, either played other sports or gotten in the weight room. I feel good about what has been done.

"We were 2-7 last year but we played a lot of underclassmen."

Kuna said that in addition to having a number of skill players back on offense, the Spartans return five starters on defense, and he has some underclassmen he feels will step up there.

On offense, improved balance may be a key, along with Gillis' experience and Stingily getting more touches.

"I think you will see us be more balanced on offense this year," Kuna said. "Miller helped us at receiver last year, and we have a couple younger kids coming up who are better receivers than we have had. So our passing game should be improved."