‘Next man up’ for Waubonsie Valley

Updated: September 1, 2011 7:12PM

The train keeps rolling on Eola Road under Paul Murphy, as the veteran Waubonsie Valley head coach trotted out his fifth senior starting quarterback in four years and the Warriors didn’t skip a bit as Mitch Stefani went 12-for-16 for 189 yards with two scores against one interception in a 21-7 win over Naperville Central last Friday.

Yes, five different seniors (backup senior Matt Schapen saw time last year for injured starter Tommy Kolzow) have guided the offense since 2008 when Tyler Castro was a senior.

It’s interesting the Warriors treat their quarterback position in sort of an old-school way, at least of late, with the “next man up” philosophy.

I’m not forgetting multiple-year starters like Paul Blalock or Castro, believe me, but since Castro graduated the Warriors have run out Kenny Clay, Kolzow, Schapen and now Stefani. That’s not to say if a freshman or sophomore phenom were waltz into Murphy’s office he wouldn’t play him, but it’s a testament to the kids and the coaching staffs on all of Waubonsie’s levels that they can routinely produce senior quarterbacks that are ready to play.

“You’re talking Class 8A school,” Murphy admitted. “We’ve got good numbers. We play six levels of football. So Mitch played in all our (junior varsity) games last year. So even though he wasn’t playing at the varsity level all the time — he got in some mop-up duty at the end of games — he was playing on Saturday’s at the JV level, which is still a higher level than what the sophomore’s play at because you’ve got juniors and seniors that don’t play Friday night trying to prove they belong on the field.”

Murphy said Stefani made the most of those Saturday morning reps, just as Kolzow did in 2009 and Clay in 2008.

“At a school with numbers like we have, those kids who don’t get an opportunity to play Friday night get an awful lot of experience Saturday mornings and you hope they develop during the year to help you before the season ends,” Murphy said. “If they don’t, you know they got all kinds of playing time to build their confidence going into their senior season.”

You never would have thought Stefani was starting for the first time as he dissected a DuPage Valley Conference opponent last week — one Waubonsie hadn’t beaten in four years — and moving the ball around to five different receivers as the Central defense rolled toward Dee Gray. In Murphy’s option offense, the quarterback has to make quick decisions correctly and there is no room for a learning curve.

So until the next Blalock or Castro walks through the doors at Waubonsie, they’ll be more than willing to hand the offense to the next man up — 21 wins and three straight playoff appearances proves it’s a method that still works.

© 2012 Sun-Times Media, LLC. All rights reserved. This material may not be copied or distributed without permission. For more information about reprints and permissions, visit www.suntimesreprints.com. To order a reprint of this article, click here.